The new dominion. [volume] (Morgantown, W. Va.) 1876-1904, 1885-08-29
MODERN VANDALISM,

Reverence for Beauty Superficial Guam.
tity with the Multitude.
In profession, we of to-day are all
Crusaders. bnrning to defend the places
made sacred by the picturesqueness OF
associations of the past In deed. we
are almost all Goths and Vandals, ruin.
ing them without mercy. While the
men who are to come will Judge us by
our actions, we Judge ourselves by our
words. Because the speech of few is
fair, we fancy that all must be right
with the many. Because more is being
said and written about art than ever has
been before, we think that the feeling
for it must be greater in like proper.
ton. In word, we mistake our sow.
ing of good seed for the reapfng Of o
fruitful harvest. Once in awhile, how
ever, we are reminded that all is not SC
we'll as it seems. In the United States,
within the last ten years, art schools
have been established by hundreds.
but when 1t came to finding out what
they accomplished by an art competi-
ton instituted by Harper and Brothers.
the result was shown to be just moth
ing. In England. benevolent men,
strong in their own faith, think to re-
fine the lower classes by the influence
Of art and by making their surround
ings beautiful. But even as they put
up their mosaics in Whitechapel famous
collections of paintings are allowed to
be dispersed, and plans are prepared to
destroy one of the most picturesque
corners in London.
The fact is that the reverence for
beauty, genuine enough with men like
Mr. Ruskin, is superfic al with the null
titude. whose real worship is one of COM
fort. Whenever there is struggle be-
tween the things Of the past and those
of the present, it is easy to predict
which will survive; for in this case fit
ness is always measured by comfort.
Perhaps, after all. when the buildings
and cities In which people live are con
cerned. il is unreasonable to wish it to
be otherwise. 1t may be, as Hawthorne
saws somewhere in Marble Faun, In
speaking of the gloom and chill and in
convenience of the stone palaces in
Italian cities, that dwelling place
should never be built to last longer than
forty or fifty years. Il Is probably more
important that a house should be
healthy and clean and adapted to the
physical well-being OF men who are &c
spend their days in 1t than that it should
give mental pleasure to those who mere
" look att from without. Workingmen
living in the ugly suburbs of London.
or in the red brick monotony of Chris
tian and Catharine streets in Philadel
phia. which no man would go out of his
way to look at. are doubtless better of
than their fellows in Italian towns,
though the latter may be settled in two
or three large, damp rooms on the
ground floor of old palaces which trav-
elers come from afar to see. The few =
q losing remnant in this case-over-
look the wants of the people. Consid-
ering the subject dispassionately, we
must admit that many of the changes
which are fatal to medieval beauty and
quaintness are not wholly unnecessary
or capricious. No one, while the mem
ory OF last summers plague rs still
fresh, can deny. for example, that it is
better to sacrifice the picturesqueness
of some of the narrow, dirty streets OF
Naples than the health and lives Of
thousands of Neapolitans. The major
ity of business men in London do not
question the wisdom of the removal of
Temple Bar, which has made their GO
ing to and coming from the city so
much easier It must be added. how
ever. that those whose occupations do
not lead them cityward wonder what
great good has been done by destroying
an old landmark, declared TO be an OBJ
struction in the street, and then block
ing up the way with n new, meaning.
less monument. r. PcnneH in At-
l0sstic Monthly,