Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1885-07-23

into day and night and summer and
winter for the sake of the rich. alone.
and seems to say: at is time for the
millions to have chance A new
dwelling-house comes with its
cheap gables, its singled bands,
its rs little sprinkle of stained
glass, its red, yellow and dark green
colors. with its pine finish, with its
carpetless floors. with its tinted walls,
and behold nothing in the world is
more pleasing or better adapted to the
wants of father. mother and child. As
we ride along through the suburbs of
Boston, Philadelphia or Chicago the
flying train carries us through a kind
of paradise. The great old costly
homes within the old city are poor
things compared with this outlying
encampment of the rich and poor. If
the great Patti were to volunteer to
sing her most popular song on the
porch of some of these suburban struct-
ures she would not know whether the
house which cost two thousand or the
house which cost twenty would the
more deserve the music and eloquence
of Home, Sweet Home" g..
The color art has come in to the aia
of the common pocket-book. When
beauty lay in marble or stone or brick
or heavy columns Or in imported woods
the ord nary money-purse gave up
hope, but recently came the color-art to
rival carver and sculptor and the gold
smith; and color being an inexpensive
form OF beauty, it has set up the COM
mon man above his old humble condi-
ton. No dealer in stucco or in costly
frnc oov oil Ey,.c h
ed in terra-cotta paper relieved by a
broad band of blue. The common cal
| chimes. and wall papers have gotten
the old high style artists into corner.
and seem to say to them: ''Beat us if
you cam 1t was the age of kings and
aristocrats which set going the idea
that beauty is expensive. The age of
democracy is finding out many of the
cheats of the past. Each child that
came in from the woods with arms full
of flowers ought to have made us sus-
pect long ago that Gods beauty is to
be found without much money and
much price. We ought long ago to
have discontinued taking lessons of
kings and to have gone to that Nature
which can make lily surpass Solo
mon. ..-
Ruskin taught us that beauty is as
the quantity of labor exhausted upon
decoration. Often this is law of
measurement, but often it is not true,
for while the cheap bronzes made by
the new process do not stand for much
labor. they atone for this defect by fill
ing us with amazement at the wonders
of nature and the splendor of that mind
which can learn the secrets of the ma
terial processes. The new art can take
a fern leaf or the feather of a bird and
reproduce it in bronze in a few hours;
it can copy your dead dog in bronze so
that each hair will DE in place in the
new image. Work quick and cheap!
But Mr.. Ruskin must remember that
mans genius lends as great charm to
his products as would be impaired by
slavsh toll. An ornament filed out of
brass by twelve-month's of filing
should not wholly surpass the same
ornament when made in a minute. We
are under some obligation to admire
the inventive intellect of man.
Passing by these theories Of beauty,
it is evident that beauty has come at
last to the poor mans house. He can
have his perfect bronze leaf or bird or
vine or portrait for sum of money
quite small. If he can not reach these
are made of only compressed paper.
the old stilted height and can now be
found on the level of the average hui
mainly, The elegant photograph is
better picture of wife or child than old
Parrhasius could have painted.
Taste thus has found a new field, a
field not covered with gold nor occu-
~.<>I II ,ol flryo of hn
most attractive women of Chicago drew
all the opera-glasses toward he- box by
the unusual beauty of her dress. The
stylish make of the garment and the
delicate tints in its colors gave the OPP
era-glass holders as much delight as
they drew from the play. But it was
not fve-hundred dollar dress from
Worth's; it was a fifty-dollar dress
made at home out of Saline. 1t was
taste, not gold. that made the success.
Thus is the earth coming to the res
cue of us hark-workers. The word
.'cheap' is not to be any longer term
of disgrace. A cheap house! Yes, but
very good, very attractive. Cheap or
naments! Yes, but could the old mas
tiers do better? Cheap garments! Yes,
but can Worth himself make a toilet
any handsomer? What we all need is
the ability to get away from the old
prejudice of co t, and to know real
merit without caring what was paid
for il. We will always be in distress
and darkness when we can not enjoy
ANYTHING unit we have learned that it
was bought with great price. The
ra nbow and the coming clouds do not
cost rs nything.-Dacid Swing, IN
Current. r.-. ....s -,,.-