The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1870-08-11
ART EDUCATION.
Written for Tho MteRIgsuetr.

| nFNtfnJOF MS HHeHIgeNCtF'
The Anglo Saxon character has ever
been characterized by one grcNt element
Of success-that Of self reliance. In mat
tiers Of art, TINT in which the race las sue.
ceeded least, it has been characterized Dy
the very reverse. Instead Of boldly think
Ing Tor ourselves we have ever been IN u
state Of AFFECT reliance on the decision OF
others. With strong heads to plan, skill
full hands TO make, and powerful wills TO
carry forward all those things which our
convictions have taught us 10 regard rs
valuable and useful, we have shown IN
utter apathy and disregard OF those very
embellishments OF the utilities OF life,
which after all VIC affect to admire, aud
indeed do admire; but about which we
have never dared TO think for ourselves,
since we have been borne down with the
conviction that we did not, nor ever could
be brought to understand them that TO
do them Tor ourselves was utterly imp0ssi.
BILE !; and simply because VIC have never
tried, we never were to try, or If We did
try, and succeeded, why then there
was some mistake, and II was much better
to believe that others did it, than 10 be-
Iieve that we were The originators our.
selves. Schools oil Design spring up now
and then in different parts Of the country,
but theymcct with so little encourage
ment that they seldom prove u success,
and It Is q fact that they who are the most
dependent upon foreign talent for designs
as applied to their productions, have been
among the "pOOh-pooh" section Of society
WHO would not see any good in them.
Not that this p0oh.poohing ever reached
the point Of actual opposition, but ttserved
10 click the advancement OF art educa'
ton, ind the result is this, that Ameri'
cans, with oil their energy, talent and in
dustry, havc not yet sufficient percep-
ton Ot their own interests to teach their
children to draw, or to encourage those
who llave been SO taught, and that they
think il better 10 60 TO Paris and pay
twenty dollars for design, than to spend
five al home 10 educate their own Coun-
trymen The fact, However is before us,
that the talent is required, but that we
have not yet faith sufficient in our.
selves To push forward, but prefer o
slavfsh dependence on our foreign neigh
bors and rivals, and in many instances
paid more for the sweCpings Of their de.
signers, or the respected Of their manu-
factories, than would suffice 10 have af'
forded ample encouragement to the rising
talent around u.s. We believe in our sci
cnce, we believe in our power TO manutac-
ture. A proposition in mechanics rarely
startlcs us nowadays, and chemical dis
covcries arc 80 common that the CONVEX
sion Of u thing into It's very Oppositcs is
not deemed Itopian; but we do not be-
licve in Art, still less do we believe in
our power TO do for ourselves Nll we want
in this direction. With undcniable and
almost boundless invention and skill in
mechanics, with analytic knowledge and
power equal probably superior-to most
people, we doubt our power 10 render
mechanical and scientific skill available
for the production Of the elegant utilities
of life, and prefer getting that ut second
hand, which, If we were sufficiently i'm.
pressed with our own powers and relied
upon faithfully, We would be enabled to
obtain fresh and unchallcngcd.