New Ulm review. (New Ulm, Brown County, Minn.) 1892-1961, 1892-05-25
SMITH BAKERS LECTURE,
The Minneapolis Divine Addresses a Small
Audience on Art in Religion.

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Audience on Art in Religion.
There is Some Of the True Artist, he says
IN every man.
At the Congregational church on Mon
day evening; Rev. Smith Baker lectured
on tart in Religion" The speaker was
advertised to deliver an address son
Manhood but upon hearing of Mrs.
Fletcher's visit to the city few nights
ago with a similar subject for discourse,
he cleverIy excused himself and changed
the subject.
The doctor started out by saying that
there was some of the true artist in every
man; a little of the carpenter, a little of
the architect, a little of the mec hanic, a
little Of the singer, a little of the speak
er, a httleof the painter, a little Of art
in every well-rounded person. For in
stance there We're those who could enjoy
music, who could not read single note :;
there were men who could listen with
pleasure to a fine speech, who could not
speak ten words, and there were those
who relished a dish of IFegetables who
understood nothing of the art of culinary
preparation. This, he said, was the dis
tinguishing line between manhood and
beasthood - the power to appreciate the
beautiful. Next to the spiritual it was
the highest faculty of the soul. We see
it in the cultured love for the flowers
that bloom and the stars that glisten and
in the baby as it crawls out over floor to
kiss the morning sunbeam.
Turning then to art as it related to re-
igion, the speaker made the broad asser-
ton that Christian art was the best way
of doing the best things so as to touch
the noblest parts of mans nature. But
to,be art at all it must be natural dis
tlnct and appropriate. A woman might
clothe herself in $500 dress and look
odd, whereas another might ,adorn her
self with three cent calico and seem
beautiful. A thing must be real to have
the semblance of good art. Edward
Everett's polished and gnished periods
at Gettysburg We're poor art when fol-
lowed by the matchless speech Of Abra-
ham Lincoln, whose words were the nat
ural outburst of his soul. In speaking,
true art consists in meaning just what
you say. sabominable. And
that is just what constitutes the differ
ence between eloquence and tameness
Art is that which bubbles and flows out
of one; it is to be able to be understood
and have your auditors Know what YOU
say Daniel Webster could make sena
tors listen, while farmers would hang to
his every word, for they knew that they
meant something. Henry Clay could
thrill senates, but he could also move
back-woodsmen. The artist of speech is
the one who sweeps the whole keyboard.
The speaker, at this point burst forth
in beautiful blending of words, when
he said: There is language in music;
language in the songs of the birds; Ian
guage in the organ, in the wall of the
winds and in every tone of the human
voice. Sound itself has a language of
It's own. Why, we have music at the
cradle Of the baby, music at the death
bed; music at the wedding and in politi-
cal gatherings; the savage has it in in his
war dance the high churchmen in his
chants; the great cathedrals in their ma
ny throated organs and the choirs Of the.
world in their matchless voices. WHY?
Because there is language in sound and
beauty in music"
He concluded with vivid portrayal
of the scenes that he had visited during
his travels in Europe and was eloquent
in many Of his word pictures. As a lee
ture, however, it savored too much of the
sermon to prove popular.
Wagner y Saverin make a specially of
reupholstering old lounges and chairs.
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