The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1888-11-14

| N0DuCsQ6lueZLdE W q oiN 4"
to the cheek of Eve on presenting the apple
to ADAM" Ito making bride for the Good
Samaritan's horse, and mending one OF his
legs" 'sto putting on new handle on
Moses basket and fitting bulrushes, and
adding more fuel to the fire in Nebuchad'
lated clear down below the majesty Of their
art. The oldest picture IN England. por-
trait of Chaucer, though now Of great value.
was picked out of q lumber garrett. Great
were the trials Of Quentin Matsvs, who toiled
on from blacksmith's anvil. till as painter
he won wide recognition. The first mission.
aries to Mexico made the fatal mistake
of destroying pictures, for the loss of which
art and religion must ever lament. But why
90 so far back when in this year Of our Lord
! 1883. and within twelve years of the twentieth
century, to be a painter except in rare eH-
ceptions, means poverty and neglects Poorly
fed. poorly clald. poorly housed, because
poorly appreciated! When hear man IS
a painter, I have two feelings, one of admlra-
tion for the greatness of his soul. and the
other of commiseration for the needs of his
But so it has been in all departments of
noble work. Some of the mightiest have
been hardly hested. Oliver Goldsmith had
such big patch on the coat of his left breast
that when he went anywhere he Kept his hat
! in his hand closely pressed over the patch.
| The world renowned Bishop Asbury had a
| salary of s64 year. Painters are not
the only ones who have endured the lack
| of appreciation. Let men of wealth take
under their patronage the suffering men OF
art They lift no complaint; they make no
strike for higher wages But with keenness
! of nervous organization which almost always
characterizes genius. these artists sutfer
more than anyone but God can realize.
There needs to be a concerted effort for
the suffering artists of America, not
sentimental discourse about what we owe to
artists, but contracts that will give them
livelihood; for I am in full sympathy with
the Christian farmer, who was very busy
gathering his fall apples, and some one
the father Of which had broken his
leg; and the busy farmer said: "Icannot stop
now to pray, but you can go down into the
cellar and get some corned beef, and butter,
and eggs and potatoes: that is ali l can
do now" Artists may wish for our prayers
but they also want practical help from men
who can give them work. You have heard
scores Of sermons for all other kinds Of suffer-
ing men and women, but think this is the
first sermon ever preached that made
plea for the suffering men and women or
American art. Their work is more true to
nature and life than any OF the master
pieces that have become immortal on tho
other side Of the sea, but it is the fashion
of Americans to mention foreign artists,
end to know little or nothing about our
Greenough and Kensett. Let the atfluent
fling out of their windows and into the back
ward valueleSs daubs on canvas, and call in
these splendid but unre warded men, and tell
them to adorn your walls, not only with
that which shall please the taste, but enlarge
the mind, and improve the morals, and save
the souls OF those who gaze upon them.
Rroollvn pnd all other amnrican cities
need great galleries Of art. not only open
annually for few days on exhibition, but
which shall stand open all the year round,
and from early morning until ten o'clock at
night, and free to all who would come and
20. What a preparation for the wear
and tear of the day, a five min
utes' look in the morning at some
realm than that in which our population
daily drudgel Of what good thing the half
hour of artistic opportunity on the way
home in the evening from exhaustion that
demands recuperation for mind and soul as
we'll as bodyl Who will do for Brook.
w. Corcoran did for W Washington, and what
am told John Wannamaker, by the dona-
tion of De Munkacsy's great picture, Christ
before Plate" is going to do for Phlladel-
phia! Men Of wealth, if you are too modest
to build and endow such a place during your
lifetime, why not 60 to your iron safe, and
take out your last will and testament, and
make a codicil that shall build for the city Of
your residence, throne for American art?
Take some of the money that would otherwise
spoil your children, and build an art gallery
that shall associate your name forever,
not only with the great masters OF
painting who are gone, but with the
great masters who are trying to live; and
also win the admiration and love of tens of
thousands nf pnorlo who pnahIa tl have
fine pictures Of their own, would be ad-
vantaged by your benefaction. Build your
own monuments, and not leave 1t to the
whm of others. Some of the best people Sleep
ing in Greenwood have no monuments at all,
or some crumbling stones that IN a few years
will let the rain wash out name and epltaph;
while some men whose death was the abate.
ment Of a nuisance, have pile Of polishei
Aberdeen high enough for a king, and eulo-
gum enough to eubarrass seraph. Oh,
man of large wealth, instead OF
leaving,to the whim Of Others your monumen-
tai commemoration and epitaphiology to be
looked at when people are going to and fro
at the burial Of others, build right down in
the heart of our great city, or the city where
free musical conservatory, or a free
art gallery, the inches for, sculpture,
and the walls abloom with the rise
and fall of nations, and lessons of
courage for the dishesrtened, and rest for the
weary, and life for the dead; and one hum
dred and fifty years from now you will be
welding influences in this world for good
among those whose great-grandfather was
your great-grandchlld How much better
than white marble that chilis you if you
put your hand on it when you touch
it in the cemetery would be monument in
colors, in beaming eyes, in living possession.
in sp!endors which under the chandelier
would be glowing and warm, and looked at
by strolling groups with catalogue In hand
on the January night, when the metropolis
where the body sleeps is all showed under.
The tower of David was hung with one thou
sand dented shields of battle; but you, oh
man Of wealth, may have a grander tower
named after you, one that shall be hung not
with tine symbols Of carnage, but with the
victories Of that art which was so long agos,
recognized in my text as pleasant pictures.
Oh, the power Of pictures! l cannot deride,
as some have done, Cardinal Mazarin, who.
when told that he must die, took his last
walk through the art gallery Of his palace,
saying: Must quit all this! Look at that
Titan! Look at that Corregio! Look at
that deluge Of Caracci! Farewell, dear pict-
ures." As the day of the Lord of Hosts, &C.
cording to this text, will scrutinize the
pictures, implore all parents to see that
In their households they have neither
in book or newspaper or on canvas anything
that will deprava Pictures are no longer
the exclusive possession OF the attuent There
is not a respectable home in these cities that
has not specimens of woodcut or steel en-
craving, if not Of painting, and your whole
family will feel the moral uplifting
or depression. Have nothing OH your
wall or in books that will familiarize
the young with scenes Of cruelty or wassail; ;
have only those sketches made by artists In
elevated moods and none of those scenes that
seem the product of artistic delirium tremens.