Vachel Lindsay

CHURCH and state in the United States are
allied at least to this degree: reforms and
revivals take lessons from each other. The
rhythm of each is the rhythm of crusade. When
souls or cities are to be saved, the tambourine
must be shaken, the trombone must disturb the
sky. The roots of the American revival go back
to Jonathan Edwards, that Peter the Hermit of
New England, who found his people sunk in the
dullness of prose and sought to lift them up and
draw them after him in a march upon the City of
God which he believed might be discovered, or
established, on their own soil. The roots of
American reform go back to the poets and orators
of the Revolution, who found their people ac-
cepting too tamely the smug rule of Great Britain,
and taught them to hope and work for a republic
of mankind which was to replace their ancient

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