The new North-west. [volume] (Deer Lodge, Mont.) 1869-1897, 1883-02-02

Written Jor hc Ncr North. Vest

Written FOR Tie Eerc Eorh.Tcal
At least
have not made my heart heart of stone,
Nor starved my bayhood Of It's gosdIy feast,
Nor walked where beauty is a thing un-
known.
Many man hath. done so; sought 10 fancs
In Straightened bonds the soul that should
be free,
Trodden the dusty road of common sense,
While all the forest sang Of liberty.
-ApoEogia
When II was heralded THAT Oscar Wilde
was about to make his bow before the Amer
lean public, few really understood tbe nature
of bis mission, still fewer were in accord or
, sympathy with the peculiar views he was
known TO entertain. The press, following
the bent Of ,he general sentiment, freely
launched forth railleries and lampooDs dee
risive Of the queer Englishman. These, In
the main, represented him as little more,
perhaps little less, than . harmless Imbe-
cils crazed by an odd and ludicrous concolt.
The inquirer, who naturally turned to the
magazines aud daily papers Cor an explana-
tIon Of the peculiar tenets he was about to
hear expounded, gathered little enlighten-
nent, beyond learning that Oscar was an &C.
centric individual whe sttlred himself In an
sutre garb OF knee breeches apd frilled coats
and wore as q boutontere supfower twice
the size OF his head, and with a lilly delicate
~ held between bis thumb and forefnger,
attitudInizsd much after the manner OF Beau
Fielding. Indeed, the American sense OF
hmor so far exceeded the native curiosity,
that ridicule usurped the province Of inquiry
and prejudice perversely covered her eyes
and cara. Scarcely anyone thought 1t worth
his while TO inform himself Of the real ethic
philosophy entertained by our distinguished
visitor, or as TO the ultimate object Of his
visit.
That the American people are charact eris-
. tically practical, having little time or incli.
nstisn TO cultivate sentiment 10 . supercil-
lious, and yet not altogether an unwarrant-
able change, made against Ms by foreigners.
Our fscetious reception-not Of Mr.. Wilde
but of the theme of which he Is an indlf-
fsrent exponent, seems TO. me TO fortIfy our
reputation for apathy touching matters which
relate less to moneygetting than culture
task he assumed. Aside from his oratorlcal
deficiencies as q lecturer, his discourses
lacked both the dignity and strength to i'm
press truth. But In contemning the teach
er We have no right TO insult the subject.
The cultivation Of artistic taste--not the ar
tlstic taste Of thu. studio alone, but that of
eur own daily life and home surroundings
is certainly ennobling, and merits our most
Thoughtful consideration. -
So far as ] am informed, every common
tator upon Wilde 'and his school
has treated disciple and theme alike as q
huge burlesque, or at best, vapid extrava-
CANA. One Of the best, writing in the
Princeton Rcriep under the title Of "Mod-
ern Estheticism," pedagogically defines the
philosophy as: !. Sentimentalism; 2. SEN
sualism; 8. Scepticism, and terms u deg
radiation of an exalted principle, which
should not be allowed TO prejudice either
the educated or the popular mind against
true nstheticism. lie condemns II because
IL represents the dominance Of sentiment
over intellect, and wakes warm because, as
he afnrms, sin all genuine poetry, as in the
more substantial forms Of prose, truth Is the
subject matter, the love of truth Is the ill.,
spring principle, and its expression to the
world for the wOrthiest ends Its final pur-
pose;" aud he continues: alt Is humiliating
~ we'll as revolving to be the witness OF such
literary travssLie., wheira few inane verses
written in praise VI a flower or al ede'nindte
maiden take precedence of the creative lines
of a Milton, when tswdry sentiment, beft-
ting the nursery only, usurps the place OF
honest Saxon sense, and the poet becomes ir'
rational In order TO cater TO the fanciful fJl.
lies of the hour" lie can see no beauty In
slentium Amoris; Hundnitdd shocks his
prude sense; The Burden Of Itys is inane;
Pdnthed-
1--WE are resolved in the supreme air.
We are made one with what we touch and
sec,
With our hearts blood each crimson sun i,
fair,
With our young lives each spring-impas
stoned tree
Flames into green, ahs widest beasts that
range
. The moor our klndsmen are, all life is one
'and all is change:
From lower cells of waking life we pass
To fullperfection thus. the world grows
old
We who are Godlike now were once mast
OF quivering purple ficcked with bars oil
gold
Unsentisnt or Of joy or misery,
And tossed in terrible tangies of some wild
and wind-swept sea-"
appals him rs pantheistic and pessimistic
and, as Mr.. Wjldes poetry is pernicious, sc
must be the doctrines of which he Is n disci
pie. This writer insists, as do most Of hi
fellows, that sentiment to be valuable mus
be instructive. The story must convey
neral precept. A'summer idyl must davo
of the encyclopaedia or the laboratory, or 4
IL idle indeed. With Mr.. Gradgrind he ex
claims 81 am Thomas Gradgrind, sir; |
man OF realities, sir; man of facts and cal
EQUATIONS, sir"
Surely such writers have misunderstood
Mr.. Wllde's ethics, which, indeed. Is pardon
able II they have looked no further than Mr.
Wilde himself, who IL, AFTER all, very fee
BILE sxpssitor Of an exalted school.
A little less than twenty years ago
society was formed In England for th
avowed purpose Of stripping art Of the I'm
placable technism which confined IL, an
dispsrsged every effort TO insfract the accept
ed dogmas Of the scholastics. II wa
claimed that art had no rules, and beauty n
standard. That 10 beautiful which. inspire
10y and elevates the moral tone. Thu
beauty is none the less beautiful IL found
the humblsst nook or corner Of the worl'
That q bit oil Venetian glass or an article I
"sevres.wars is Ms well calculated to animal
anobie Joy, as the most finished Chef d'ourr
That for art TO be of practical utility
mankind an appreciation Of beauty shsu
be disseminated amongst the. humble
classes Of society, and to that end, instead
looking TO the studios for q standard
taste, we should create . stsndard, each I
himself, and search our immediate 81
roundlngs for fhings Of beauty, and thus
courage and promote desire for the bean
ful in the breasts Of the uncultured to who
- 10 -. /. az ars >rH n q