The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 03, No. 19, May, 1859: A Magazine of Literature, Art, and Politics

In Short

This third volume issue of The Atlantic Monthly gathers an eclectic mix of Victorian serialized fiction, political commentary, history, and cultural criticism. Its contents range from scholarly essays on ancient Greek physical education to firsthand Revolutionary War correspondence, observations on Mormon society in Utah, and table-talk philosophical essays. Through short stories of domestic melodrama, art history biographies, and sharp book reviews, the periodical reflects the intellectual preoccupations, social anxieties, and expanding territorial horizons of pre-Civil War America, preserved for its vivid snapshot of mid-century thought.

The Story

The volume opens with a historical and educational inquiry into the ancient Greek curriculum. It contrasts classical Athenian education—which elevated gymnastics and music to develop mind and body in parallel—with modern scientific neglect of physical form. It examines the Swedish movement system of Pehr Henrik Ling, contrasting empirical exercise with balanced muscular development, before shifting into serialized domestic drama. In a quiet country home, a narrator observes the emotional distress of Miss Agnes, who is confronted by a handsome, domineering suitor who physically blocks her with a marble table while defending his past actions regarding a lost ring.

The narrative scope then widens into historical documentary, presenting authentic revolutionary correspondence from August to December 1776. A soldier writes to his father on the eve of battle in New York under General Washington, commending his family to Providence while facing imperial forces. This historical reflection transitions into local industry and geography, recounting Benjamin Jones’s late eighteenth-century investment in the pine forests of New Jersey. There, near the Rancocus River, iron works were established, casting heavy cannons that Commodore Decatur later tested against the surrounding trees before taking them to war against Mediterranean pirates.

Political and social reporting follows as the issue examines the Utah Territory. It details the tension between the federal army and Brigham Young’s Mormon hierarchy, documenting how Gentile merchants broke down religious non-intercourse by refusing depreciated local paper currency. It also surveys the neighboring native tribes, such as the Shoshonees and Utahs, detailing their precarious subsistence and the Church's political manipulations.

Social critique turns toward urban hypocrisy in a study of high-society mendicancy, focusing on the refined yet impoverished Miss Sandford. In a neighboring narrative, her acquaintance Mrs. Sandford offers motherly comfort and needlework employment to Alice, a grieving young woman harbouring a secretive romantic past.

Maritime travel brings comedic relief through a vivid account of shipboard seasickness, describing helpless passengers recovering on broth and pickled oysters while a Bostonian hopelessly dances with a bowl of gruel. The philosophical thread resumes with a dynamic breakfast-table conversation between a narrator and a divinity student, debating the nature of human salvation, the dogmas of the Middle Ages, and the spiritual elevated nature of women.

The issue concludes with domestic comedy and scholarly debate. In a Newport home, seamstress Miss Prissy fits a silk dress for Mrs. Scudder, gossiping about past suitors and court fashions from London. Meanwhile, a scathing literary review dismantles a speculator's pseudoscience claiming Phoenicians settled ancient America, followed by a tribute to the late Pre-Raphaelite painter Thomas Seddon and a register of recent publications ranging from George Eliot’s Adam Bede to treatises on chess and landscape gardening.

How It Unfolds

The classical body The collection opens by contrasting Athenian gymnastics with modern physical neglect, arguing that Greek sculpture flourished because artists routinely observed active, harmoniously developed human models in public gymnasiums.

The romantic shadow In a tranquil home, a young observer witnesses Miss Agnes weeping, only to be confronted days later by a handsome, intimidating stranger who maneuvers a heavy marble table as a barricade between them.

The war correspondence Authentic letters from 1776 reveal the anxieties and stoic resolve of a Revolutionary War soldier awaiting a massive British offensive in New York, entrusting his young family to Providence.

The forest foundry A historical sketch traces the rise of an iron-smelting settlement in the New Jersey Pines, where tons of molten metal were forged into cannons later tested in the forest by Decatur.

The Western frontier An essay details the economic and political friction in Salt Lake City, showing how Gentile traders destabilized local Mormon church authority by refusing their paper currency.

The urban parasites A sharp social commentary dissects upper-class begging, spotlighting the fashionable Miss Sandford, who maintains a luxurious wardrobe without income or position, while her kindly relative Mrs. Sandford quietly assists a grieving girl named Alice.

The voyage at sea A humorous travelogue captures the absurdities of ocean travel, detailing chaotic scenes of sea-sick passengers slowly recovering their appetites aboard a pitching vessel.

The breakfast-table debate A narrator engages a serious divinity student in a theological argument, challenging rigid medieval dogmas and praising the moral purity and saintly influence of women.

The seamstress's gossip Miss Prissy alters a dress for Mrs. Scudder while chattering about local admirations, court fashions from England, and the precise fit of vintage silks.

The critical hammer The volume closes with reviews, including a harsh rebuttal of a theory proposing early Phoenician migration to America and a solemn biography of Pre-Raphaelite painter Thomas Seddon.

The People

• Miss Agnes: A slender, emotionally vulnerable woman haunted by a romance involving a lost ring. She seeks refuge in a domestic household but is confronted by a forceful, handsome man from her past.
• The Revolutionary Soldier: A dutiful son, husband, and soldier under Washington's command in 1776 who writes home on the eve of battle, torn between familial devotion and military duty.
• Benjamin Jones: An enterprising Philadelphia merchant who purchased one hundred thousand acres in the New Jersey forest to build a lucrative iron-smelting empire.
• Miss Sandford: A fashionable, status-conscious woman who navigates high society without fortune or clear employment, relying on charm and social maneuverings to maintain her opulent lifestyle.
• Alice: A tender, sorrowful young woman in mourning who takes up low-paying needlework to survive, eventually forming a bond with Mrs. Sandford while keeping a secret love affair hidden.
• Mrs. Sandford: A motherly, observant woman who acts as a protector to Alice, providing her with discreetly gathered sewing work and gentle emotional counsel.
• The Breakfast-Table Narrator: An inquisitive, opinionated thinker who delights in provoking traditional religious figures and arguing for modern, progressive theological views.
• The Divinity Student: A serious, quiet young man of traditional faith who engages the narrator in prolonged morning discussions regarding salvation, doctrine, and human destiny.
• Miss Prissy: A garrulous, well-connected dressmaker in Newport who fills her sewing sessions with local gossip, news of high society, and accounts of court fashion.

In Its Own Voice

"Living models of manliness, grace, and beauty were daily before the artist's eye."

This reflection on ancient Greece highlights the issue's focus on the harmonious development of the human form and the visual arts.

"If you survive the grand attack hourly expected, or if it is delayed until then, I will write again by next post."

A revolutionary soldier writes to his father from New York in 1776, capturing the immediate, precarious reality of the American War of Independence.

"Life, as we call it, is nothing but the edge of the boundless ocean of existence where it comes on soundings."

The narrator at the breakfast table muses on mortality and human consciousness, framing daily conversation around fundamental spiritual questions.

What It's Really About

Underneath its varied entries, the volume is fundamentally about the tension between rigid systems and living human experience. It contrasts the harmonious physical ideal of ancient Greece with modern industrial wear, and rigid religious dogmas with genuine, lived morality. In its historical and political pieces, it explores how economic forces—whether iron foundries in New Jersey or Gentile merchants in Utah—shape human settlements and break down ideological isolation. Whether discussing the physical tolls of needlework on young women, the absurdities of theological arguments, or the practical realities of frontier diplomacy, the issue repeatedly asks how individual freedom and moral integrity can survive within structured social institutions.

Why Read It Today

This issue of The Atlantic Monthly offers a striking, unfiltered window into the Victorian American mind on the eve of the Civil War. Modern readers will find a rich variety of voices, balancing biting satire and high-minded philosophy with intimate personal drama. Reading it feels like sitting in an armchair in 1859, overhearing the most pressing debates, literary trends, and cultural anxieties of the era.

The collection demands patience. The prose shifts rapidly between archaic historical analysis, dense theological debates, and theatrical mid-century fiction. Some entries feature period-typical condescension toward Native populations and unvarnished accounts of historical warfare. Yet, the writing remains remarkably lively. The comedic account of sea-sickness, the sharp critique of pseudoscientific history, and the gentle domestic realism of the dressmaking scene showcase an energetic, intellectually restless publication that still manages to entertain and inform.