The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1896-12-20
Nor AGRElING VIM RUskfN.
Our Art. Culture and -ciencci Our Disc"v-
....... ....d InNruiinnr Our Own.


aptly says: I'VE owe TO the Greeks every
noble discipline In literature. every radl-
cal principle Of art. anc every form OF
convenient beauty ia our household iui-
niture and daily occupations Of lie'
We are unable ourselves TO make rdiiOna!
use OF half that we have received from
them. and OF our own we have nothing
but discoveries IN science, ana me me-
chanical adaptations Of the Cisco'eTeu
physical powers.
1 feel very certain Mr.. Ruskin did not
intend TO beittle. compromise. or In any
wise make any cOnces ions regarding the
many grand things duly accomplished IN
the latter half Of our century l 90 not
understand that he means all OF the
numerous and wonderful discoveries ana
Developments OF which we are justly
proud. have come to US at second hdhd'
and that we have only made the "adapta-
tons" in the arts. sciences. domestic
life. etc. demanded by progress as II de-
velOped the restless. investigating spirit
SO pervasiVe at a period now so sedrcH-
ingly standing and knocking at the al
most-open door Of the twentieth century.
ASH take IL there are no sucn limitations,
no such restrictions. no royal highways
fos human genius NJ any age or period as
Mr. Ruskin's very expressive language
would seem TO indicate If we are 10 take
him seriously at the present mdrket-vaI-
ne of his very exhaustive utterances
which surely appear 20 us as entirely Too
dcrogatory to the very progressive spirit
now so dominant in every department OF
human endeayor.
for one. at least. cannot well sec how
~. fassnH ca al
thinker. how a writer so gifted in eX-
pressing his vast fund Of Information,
can so far part company with all the self
evident genius and greatness of an era
contemporary with his own grand knowl-
edge OF men and things. and Of which
he is a part and parcel.
Certainly then. seeing the matter In
the light we honestly view it. II must be
idle 10 assert ana unjust 10 claim that all
our present greatness IN 50 many ways
II simply made up OF adaptations from
the past all merely remodelied. recast,
and renamed We may doubtless owe
much 10 the Greeks in literature. per-
haps very much as 10 order and discip-
line. but there is surely an honest and
wcll-dchned limit 20 our indebtedness.
which In no wise places In any uncertain
light the assured result OF so much pro-
gress to which we have duly attained.
! think ii is entirely within reasonable
bounds to assert that literature has ox-
perienced no degree OF decsy. received no
unsightly wounds or deadly blows in all
the centuries that are past IN any man
ner affecting its presen. healthy growth
and vigor. Its present grand proportions
can scarcely be due TO any spirit Of imi-
tation. or adaptation apart from the
UA Il Yl.Nl an IA IIfH FUN
trend of our modern civilization. The
survival Of any object either animate or
inanmate. necessarily embraced the
periods Of youth and age: this alike APP
plies to our Earth. which was many
centuries younger when Greece was IN her
prime: yet when all her glory reached
its noon-tide spcndor and then departed.
il was but the rise and fall. the youth
and age of a nation. coming and going
in the grand order Of things and mat
tiers terrestrial. We utterly disclam
being i'm any sense a part or party 10 any
such proceedings by no method Of special
pleading in modern Jurisprudence can We,
even If we would, enter any pleas or
claims looking to an interest as heirs 10
the estate of the long deceased Nothing
Of their possessions ever reached US for
purposes OF "adaptatlO -refore. since
appropriation comes first i'm order the
claim of "adaptation' is matter for
subsequent proof regardless of existing
facts.
As to art and the radical principles Of
art. no nation either before or since,
ever reached such degree Of perfection
as did the Greeks. so that I'm this respect
of human performances we freely admit
the debt we owe but only in being
debtors so far as seeing, looking upon
the evidence in which we had no owner
ship apart from common heritage which
only survived to the world at large in
superb and beautiful fragments. num-
erous and grand enough TO ever preserve
at least to the memory Of Greece, all
that was once great and glorious IN ART
almost divine. In 10 sense. 10 no extent
are we imitators: what merit we may
have. what success we have gained, v g
are willing to stand or fail by. not court
ing comparison with any past age or
people. but hopefully. manfully striving,
Contending for our present excellence as
our own, and i'm being Our own" there
is ample reason fully iustifving us in
denying every charge of imitation. APP
preparation and adaptation
If our language "a heritage greatly i'm
proved in a few centuries is our own so
also is our art. science domestic life.
all the discoveries and their appliances,
constituting as they do such q Wonderful
aggregation as our old earth perhaps
very OLD at no other period OF It's history
has ever witnessed.
when We come 10 investigate the con-
ditions OF our domestic iifo. the most
curscry glance al an the comforts duly
embraced I'm those conditions tell us
most plainly with no uncertain assur-
ancc that we have attained 10 the highest
stage Of all the eXccllencics and Injuries
Of human existence. In no sense have
they come to US Of their own free will.
We are not the heirs ia fee simple OF
any snch estate they are not the herl-
tage Of any past age We heartily dis
claim all knowledge Of any appropriation.
any measure Of adaptation from what
existed i'm the distant past be IL Greek or
Roman.
There comes q time 90 is even with us
nOw) when the twenty. tweniy-fOur and
twenty-siX-story house must be. and is
being built An abiding faith that what
man has done. man can ana will Guido.
is the divine FIRE Gar more pure and true
than Prometheus stole from the ecds). ~
whose sublime inspiration the frozen
music. the crystallzed melody OF the
solid edince with ribs Of steel and iron
gracefully rises into the permanent gran
deur which is ever due 10 the enduring
and we'll conceived Neither history nor
tradition make mention OF any such archi-
tcctural splendor in towering attitudes
as human habifations among the Greeks.
We merely cite this single instance Of
our domestic life because IL is equally
new and conspicuous, in no manner
savoring Of the past. and. therefore. en-
tirelv too original TO possess the least