Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1880-05-29

dom OF hard labor, and gives them to the pro-
| vince OF artistic work.
THE ENDLESS VARIETY OF NATURE.
If all trees were of set patterns-if all the
leaves Of a tree were cast In the same mould,
how monotonous it would be. 1t is the ever
varying curve of the boughs, no two alike-the
different bending OF the tw1g5the uneven
| roughness Of the bark, the ever-changlng hueS
that make the trees so beautiful, and always a
study. so 1t is In faces-in the clouds-the bill
| l0ws-the meadowS-the waving fields OF grain.
Nature is always artistic. Nothing can stale
her infinite variety" She is beautiful and
| i1r' s. and her works are a never-failing foun-
tain Of inspiration. 1t is art education that ena-
bleS us to drink from this fountain-that gives
u skilled labor and delicate taste, apt fingers,
and quickened brain. 1t is this that win enable
our artisans to compete with the
| SKILLED wORKMEN OF OTHER LANDS.
We need not then import from abroad our
dyers, lace-workers, weavers, potters and car
vers. Germany teaches drawing In her Sunday
and evening schools, and one result Of this is,
| that Nuremberg furnishes all countries with
Toy s, and whole FAMILIES even the little children
| In the cottages on the cliffs, aid in the work.
AID 1t is artistic work and early taught them.
| france furnishes us with artificial flowers and
ribands, and from their delicate hues, the grace
ful taste displayed In them, we need not be told
| that artistic workmen brought them to this
| perfection. Why should we not have these ar
! tlstic Workmen as we'll as France? Why should
| we import our inlaid furniture. our bronZes
carvings IN wood and ivory, glassware, paint
1ngs On gass-1n fact, the quantities OF delicate
| wares produced by the educated taste and skill
or foreign WOrkmen.
| UNIVERSALLY OF ART.
! Do not think it degrading to lay your hand to
| the humblest work. Let the artist and work.
man be combined whenever 1t is possible A
man may be great artist, and yet apply his
| talents 10 ordinary, useful purposes. Ii the
| divine Raphael could design patterns for tapes
tries, we should not hesitate TO spend our best
energies IN beaut1fying and ennObling all work.
There are many more artists In this world than
we dream OF. In fact, We are almost all of us
artists In some way. Not that we all have
wonderful abilities, but God has implanted in
OUT natures love for the beautiful and an
irresistible desire to initiate his works, for as
Thackeray says, art itself Is the expression of
our praise and sense Of this beautiful world of
God. We can all do something, and we can all
40 something better than we have done.
The rough hand that takes the alligator's tooth
and polishes and carves 1t into rude orna-
tivat1on. mould more beautiful ornaments; even
the genius OF Benvenuto Chellini might be
slumber1ng there. The hands that weave the
pretty baskets and embrOlder them with stiff
and gailycoored porcupine quillS could be
taught to make graceful and natural looking
flowers as easily as they now make the crude
figures and set flowers in gaudy colOrS The
BOY who sits for hours patiently carving bit
OF wood or tortoise shell into beautiful and
delicate but useless ornaments might never be
able to suspend dome like st. Peters In the
air, but he might be taught to combine his skill
with knowledge and utllity-to enlarge his as
pratiOns-even to cut the elaborate chancel
and carve the cathedral door. All that we have
In this world we must gain by work of
BRAIN AND MUSCLE,
but as knowledge Increases, nature gives more
and more In return for our Skilful labor and
brain and muscle are freed from drudgery to be
employed in higher occupations, and the higher
needs OF humanity give employment to these
IDLE hands AS the days go by, we are less and
less In need OF unskilled labor. The labor-sav-
ing machines are driving it out of the field and
men must be taught that skill which is neces-
willing hands. Schools for drawing and techn!-
cal knowledge and more liberal education In art
Will enable all to find useful and profitable occu
cultivate love for the beautiful. He who can
not soar must stay below. When the building
Is to be erected, he who can work from the ar
than the man who is only able to carry the hod.
He who can design the spire or pinnacle which
shall safely rear its head among the Clouds is
greater than all whose laboring hands combine
10 fashion his creation. Fame, follows excel
lence! We know who designed the magnificent
dome OF ST. Peters In Rome, but we care little
who carried the stone or mixed the mortar.
Philosophers tell us that genius Is application
knowledge Is power. The same natural abilities
nay be found In the architect, the mechanic,
and the lat orer. The difference in their station
In fe may be due to hard study and advantages
OF education In the one case, and neglected 60
pCrtuniies In the other.
ART EDUCATION IN AMERICA AND EUROPE
The Anne r1can people have less art education
han the natives OF European countries In
Fra ce the workmen not only understand much
about art, but they love 1t, and on holidays the
art galleries in Paris are thronged with work
men and their families. 1t is even said that
most OF the mechanics or Birmingham and
Manchester know more about ancient art than
the graduates of American colleges, and it is
not 10 be wondered at, for 1t has long been
taught them, by lectures and pictorial ilustra.
lions, by the establishment OF schools and
museums. In some Of our large cities we have
ali the Sc facilities within our reach. Time was
when we could not have become familiar with
the monuments of ancient art without being
blessed with fortune that We might travel
and see the great museums, old mOnaSterieS
distant Cities and ancient churches; but now,
We have the great works OF antiquity repro
the Old masters fairly copied, and the arc OF
photography bringing all before us. we can
SIT, with piece OF card board In our hands, AID
see the ParthenOn-that classic temple OF an
cient Greece-rise before us. We can wander In
the ruins of the Roman Forum, and fancy that
the eioqueDce OF The ancient orators is ringing
in our ears. We can stand upon the castle Of
st. Angelo and watch the yellow Tiber, with its
buried treasures, flowing at out feet. We can
wander among the ruins OF the acqueducts, or
through the ancient Baths. and climb the m )sS
grown coliseum, fraught with its fearful mem
cries. We can roam through the palace of the
Caesars, or sit with the peasants by the way side
shrines. We can listen to the fountains and
hear the murmurs or the past, dreaming for
hours In land OF interest so far away repcople-
Ing us olden gardens AID forgetting the moss
and1 Ivy on the ruined and crumbling walls. Or,
turning to the realities around us, elnay study
the master pieces Of other lands, and other
times, faithfully repeated by modern art and
skill, and stored in galleries devoted to public
instruction.
TO BE STUDENT OF ART
Is to have many advantages. 1t helps to draw
around you refined and cultured friends Its
history is fascinating and instructive. What a
wonderful record it is-the pages illumin ated
with the blood of heroes. You follow the
thread OF the story, and 1t Is woven in with the
| rise and fall OF empires. How interesting TO
| gather from the silent stone the mysteries OF
| ages, which have lain embOsomed in the earth!
hOwmahywhOleSome lessons to be gathered from
those clumbling bookS-the statues-the pyra-
midS-the temples and the monuments OF
ancient art. We know that we do not build as
firmly and substantially as the ancients and
that we have no monuments which will stand
the test OF time, as theirs have DONE We can
| not hug the unhealthy deus1On to our hearts
| that we are beyond Improvement, when we
know that our architecture Is inferior to that of
| the Greeks-that our sculptors cannot rival
| PhtdtaS, and PraxitileS-thaJ we have lost some
OF their useful arts, and that the pyramids viii
| be standing when our strongest monuments
| have passed into oblivion. The great works
| OF the past, those monuments Of art and
| science should incite us to eXertioD, for they
| are evidences OF what has been done by Others
and what we may be able to accomplish.