The Somerset press. [volume] (Somerset, Ohio) 1873-1977, 1881-02-24
Things That Have Purpose.

EVERYTHING without purpose is
without beauty says sensible mod
ern writer; land although" she con-
tinues, every thing that has a purpose
cannot, on the other hand, be called
beautiful, yet appropriateness forms so
large a share of beauty that everything
which fulfills its own purpose well may
be said to have some claim to beauty"
In other words, purpose is absolutely
essential to the beautiful, and even
when associated with elements ugly in
themselves, can consecrate them and
olorify them as with a touch of light
from above,
This is truth of absolutely universal
application, and one which runs through
all the duties of life, all the achieve
ments of mans skill, and all the pro-
ducts of his art '.What is it for?'
"Why does it exist?'' these are ques-
tions which we may rightly ask, in
noting every object which claims our
attention; and we should put such ques-
tions in no spirit of materialism or low
utility, but from deep conception that
in this world nothing was meant to have
| no purpose or service, in Gods good
plan. So far as we turn our forces to
the making or enjoying of purposeless
and valueless things, we maltreat and
fritter away gifts which were meant to
have the highest use.
Not only our greatest deeds and our
most priced possessions should have
this element of purpose, but also our
lesser actions and our most ordinary
belongings. Indeed, it is in the orna-
ments of our houses-in the objects of
art with which we like to surround our
selves, or in the many little luxuries
which we gather about US and those
whom we love-that we should most
rigidly demand some salutary and
healthful purpose. There is genuine
character in personal possessions, how
ever ordinary, and in that character is
no element more essential than the ele-
ment OF inherent purpose. That pict-
ure on the wall-what does it mean?
was it chosen for any reason? does it
represent a place or an act which sug-
gests to the eve of the beholder some
wholesome lesson, or presents to him a
sight. of that which is pure and whole
some? That parlor ornament-was it
bought for any inherent and soundly
pleasurable quality of its own, or was
it selected merely because you wanted
to buy something, and didn't see any
thing else that would answer betterf
That book - why is it numbered
among your possessionsP Is il
because it helps you and instructs you,
or because book-agent at the dool
wearied you with his voluble persua,
sions? Questions like these are not
likely to be asked too often, or pressed
too strongly. Nor do they by any
means exclude that which is simply
beautiful. "A thing of beauty is q JOY
forever" says one poet; ''beauty is it:
own excuse for being" says another
and so sea-shell or flower has a.
true a purpose rs an AleXandrint
library or hospital for the insane
But one is quite sure to find that those
who most readily excuse their mean
ingless possessions ON the score of the
mere pleasure or beauty to be found il
them, are the ones who most readily
surround themselves with objects whicl
are lacking in true beauty. A reall,
beautiful thing speaks for itself, ant
7 tells its own story is unmistakable Ian
: guage. 1t needs no excuse from thos,
who ''just thought they would buy it
what was the harm?' or from those VIII,
r ''don't see but it is as good as grea
: many other things" +
, The rise Of a nations character is un
, erringly measured by the character o
, its products and possessions; and n ma
$ ton s decline is unfailingly marked b
t the pleasure it takes in purposeless trl
r fles or mere prettiness of detail. Whe
: its architecture, and its art, and all it
: achievements are purposeful, and hay
9 in them something to be told. u peopl
t is on the upward road. But when tina
9 people delights in whimsicalities an
i frivolities, in the eccentric and Tn
}. startling, in the artful rather than til
artistic, its doom is written on the wal