Lexington weekly intelligencer. (Lexington, Mo.) 1871-1887, 1885-11-28

of foutwardforms This is done by indnG-
,fromthe inner life oU:wardly.
Practice and cultivation teach us t"
see the beauty in the fine arts, give us
new thoughts and perceptions as We
gaze at the tiny flower or the expause
of sky or sea. We must seek instruc~
ton and familiarity by indroctrinatio"
and practice. These processes should
be sought just SO much as they are
required, and no more. When shall art
begin? In infancy, the first day Of
life. The eyes of the babe should fall
upon forms OF beauty.
An author says, "We live in trag-
ments" We have periods in life with
totally different enjoyments. Our
retrospect gives US bushes, for what
we once loved on hated.
LOngfelow said: ave learn little
irreverencc for the dreams of youth"
1t should not be so. There could be
certain analogy between the gradations
of life, so that the variations would be-
come less, and the character more conf
pletely developed. We should make
childhood what we would wish the
middle life or old age of our children
10 be. What in beauty of form,
thought and life, we would find wor-
thy to be carried Oh and on to the high
est development.
Finest art is simple. The forms of
art and simplicity are welded. Lux
ury concerns no form OF highest art.
In ease and luxury, art degenerated in-
to the garrish and the obscene; art is
among the manifest of things, luxury
among the most unmanly. Ithas been
said: "When luxury steals in, the heart
is pretty nearly ut All end.' Travel
abroad over the world! Where
art is found in its perfection
there is no luxury to be seen. The
palaces of the Romans and Greeks of
old contained art in its truest forms
and expressions, but simplicity was
there, no luxury. There is, to-day,
10 luxury in the palaces of the CONT
nent, except where the royal taste was
spoiled by the northern barbarians.
Those most welded to artistic life,
whose souls respond to the beautiful iii
the world, live most simply.
A worthy purpose of art is to draw
out the aesthetic sense by putting the
human soul in contact with the beauty
of the world. The education of child
life should be first through the gym
nastic and aesthetic spheres. The little
life should be filled with amusement,
not idleness, but occupation. For the
word amusement means occupation
with the muses.. Children should be
taught purpose in amusement. All
good and all evil is learned in hours of
amusement. The hours of work are
engrossing, mechanical, automatic.
Hours of occupation in the lines of
amusement for profit or pleasure are
those from which all highest good or
lowest evil is derived. 1t is a crown
ing defect in our system of education
not to teach children how to amuse
themselves and why-the purpose
with the pleasure. Education is an
amusement. Art is q serious amuse-
} ment. No one ever heard of heaven
except as a place of delight and amuse-
mtnt. 1t is not place of hard work.
The female mind has SO often been
criticised for making special effort to
adorn the female body. All that is
said against women making Them
: selves attractive and beautiful as possi-
BILE Is biasphenOus-it is cheap talk.
!; Women may set worthy examples for
} men to follow by the adornment of
their persons and homes, SO long as it
3 falls within the artistic and excludes
the snowy and gaudy, and holds aioOf
r from luxury which is to be deprecated
when substituted for artistic simplicity
In Athens, to place an ugly picture
l or statue in view, is to invite law
8 suit. 1t should be 80 in onr couDtry.
i The placards on our streets are such as
to merit municipal penalties upon those
D who expose them to view and enact
the same scenes upon the stage. What.
ever outlet the human soul finds to
ward exterior beauty should beacceptet
+ they should yield to this natural i'm
pulse. Their own doorway to outward
e art is the proper one. Do not turi
j them abruptly from their natural o
d chosen pathway!
o The love for the beautiful, for art
for nature, for God, is but an index {
i the soul which expresses its lofty an
pure love in these outward forms .
d admiration and impulse. We should
o render utter. devotion to seeing, t,
y learn to know the quantity of what We
: see, how much OF what we see is il
y light; how much in shade. This is tn,
next element to what we see, and it
: quantity. Color comes last in the list
Color is secondary to form in the kin.
o tergarten, though, by mistake, it is no
d so considered in many schools. Out
s. line is first and of most Importance
j. A perfect outline, perfect engraving
!, is tar better than an imperfect painting
!, The pure white form of the Grcel
d sculpturing was superior to the statue
If which they colored at times. 1t is be
ii cause souls are dead and lack enthusi
10 asm that all the paraphernalia we be
come accustomed to see and to use il
Is art, is required. Gaudiness in taste o.
: art is not essential or natural accom-
d paniment to the artistic.
g. The end of education is to create ell
% thusiasm, hunger for the beautiful, {,
n produce perfect intelligence, huma
o love and perfect energy DO not cr
at down enthusiasm and impulse. The
is are God-given qualities. Rather pra
l. to be delivered from the apathy an,
IS Incidence which yields no fruit. En-
y thusiasm and energy 60 hand in hand
TO Their work is good.
Heroic deeds and words are tn
re proper and the grandest subjects for ar,
of Such they were in past ages. Art i
l. not only good for man and moral life
but is the only good thin
= for man and his moral life
IL 1t is akin to God and leads the soul t
at Him through his own avenues of dc
D. light.
ID 10 place in harmony the astheti
lie sense with the good and beautiful; t.
" see God everywhere as a part of fevery
thing; to be lifted from the worshi
70 of his forms to the worship of his be
le ing; to find the divine element i
I'd nature through art; and to trace i
le back to its divine source; to yield tn
TO perceptions as we'll as the heart an
soul to the Infinite giver of all that
e. true and beautiful and good in tn
le universe; this is the purpose and en'
,e OF the education in art. All art i
I'd pure; it excites the enthusiasm, alon:
i. with the consent of the conscience
ID Can any one deny the moral impres
l. slveness of Macbeth as a drama?
is believe no one attempts this. Amon
he all the art treasures of Greece, ther
he was found to he but one single pictur
l. or object that could be denominate,
a obscene.
a. The measure of civilization is TIN
depth of sympathy. The appreciation
> of art arises from the elements of al
h enlightened soul, hence union of th'
q beautiful in mind and the beautiful il
If form is a precursor of truest sympathy
lc whether with nations or individuals
} A spiritual basis for sympathy, in IT.
10 l. Il T..