Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1894-05-10

ings of birds and flowers. Very mag
nIhcent was the effect; for the paint
ings on all four sides of the rooms,
from floor to ceiling were on a ground
Of gold, and the splendor of the lac
quer work on the beams, together with
the marvellous beauty of their gilded
jointureS of chased metal, awakened
the sense of a universally diffused
glory of sunshine. And yet in every
thing was revealed the Japanese SIM
phcity of sensation. One thing at a
time. and without excitement or hurry.
Go, on the other hand, through the
apartments of European palace, and
in each room the attention is distract
ed by an endless multiplicity of OBJ
jects. The paintings are here a land
scape. here a cattle piece, here a group
of figures, here a portrait; and the
mind is exercised with the distressing
psychological problem of seeing how
2lany things it can take in at the
same moment without missing any or
enjoying any. How different in the
rooms of the Shogun's palace! Enter
ore Of thcm, and you find it entirely
given SD 10 marvellous delinea tons Of
VII Se6se,-wild geese swoopi IL
down Ii flock TO a pond. wild geese
started with fright and beating the
wafer with theil wings in. their swift
attempt to rise, wild geese floating
gracefully on the limpid mirror of the
surface, in the double beauty of re-
Election. Evidently, the subject of in
tereSt is wild geese themselves, and
not Il competition of attraction be-
tween them and cupids, elephants, the
battle of Waterloo, and Hamlet i'm
proving the occasion of Yorick's skull
for moral reelection. Now, the result
of all this is a proper wild-goose frame
of mind. You become absolutely fas-
cinated over this realm of nature; and,
if you have a side thought, it is only
to wonder why Titan and Raphael
should have ever wasted their powers
on madonnaS, saints, and VenuseS,
when they might have consecrated
them to wild geese, Should you hap
pen to be a lowly brother in the min
.iStry, you inevitably say, "Oh, that /
could master such a wild-gooSe art
of preaching, so as, like this man,
to drive all thoughts of bonnetS and
stocks out of the minds of my audi
tory, and concentrate attention solely
on the beautiful birds of paradise l
want them to enjoy with mer'
Then, again, you enter another room
The artist who here has the whole
field to himself is evidently a devout,
mystical worshiper of bamboo. There
is but one vegetable production,-bam
boo; and [ am it's prophet" is the sum
and substance of his creed; and in 10
minutes he has converted you to the
only sound and orthodox faith. Why
care any more for riches, hOnOrs, lux
uries, so long as bamboo exists $50
exquisite in it's grace" as the French
artist said. that we can even forgive
it for being usefulT To live, move,
and have your being for a time in the
mind of such an interpreter Of bam-
boo,-this is, indeed, one unspeakable
privilege Of life, the immediate reve-
lation to you that this end of art is
to put a soul into you which hence
forth shall be one with the lit of stem
and dip and rise of ostrich-plume
foliage of such a plant as this.
These are but a couple Of illustra-
tons of hundreds that might be given
from this same MILO palace. And yet,
delightedly as [ felt them, had [ had
al(nS with me a bright, happy, en-
thUsiastic little girl Of seven, she
would have felt them just as keenly
While in a Dresden or Florence gal
lery she would soon have yawned
win " eariness over so much that was
beyond her reach of thought and feel
ing, here she would have taken in
everything as naturally as though her
self in the woods or on the shore of
a lake. Thus becomes clear the reason
for the universal popularity of Japan
es2 art,-the reason why, sweeping all
before it, it has informed and il
lumined with its spirit every branch
Of even the humblest manufacture.