The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1897-10-23

written tor Inc IrlDune'
1t was my good fortune sevcral years
ago while residing in the North of
England to be invited by John Ruskin,
the great art critic Of Great Britain,
&c spend a few hours with him at his
private residence which Is called
Brentwood" and is situated on the
margin of Coniston lake in the English
Lake district.
That was an interview which I shall
never forget for his personal appear
ance, his urbanity of manners, his pc
culiarly interesting conversational
powers, made an indelibe impression
on my mind.
AS it is well known that the Ameri-
cans are great admirers Of Professor
Ruskin and that his works are widely
read in this country L am inclined to
believe that the constituency Of The
Tribune will gladly receive a few items
of information in reation to this great
scholar and thinker, which have not
been made known to the general public.
MR.. RUsKINS HOME.
On the day and at the hour n was
good enough to name, l proceeded to
his residence Mr. Ruskin met me in
the hall, and after a very cordial shake
VI llt ldllNl, StNt IN u bA'oS i'''NA -
welcome to brentwood" The build
ing itself is not very large nor very at
tractive except to an antiquarian, but
it's situation is lovely. 1t nestles
among the green woods for which Con-
iston is famous. At the rear and on
either side of the house, are tall trees
with far spreading bOughs, and were at
that time of the year adorned with the
richest foliage of Varbagated hues,
which under the influence of a gentle
breeze presented a gorgeous picture of
exquisite beauty. In front is lawn of
rich green grass sloping down from the
house. at the end of which is a pleas
ant walk and just below that the blue
ripping waters of the placid lake.
When received by Mr.. Rusliin I was
at once conducted into his library. II
was not Il very large room, but it was
most richly furnished with books and
all the appliances you might expect to
find In the library of such a celebrated
scholar. Not only were there many
books of the very highest order, but
they were all bound i'm the choicest
style and quality. After taking a gem
erai survey of this room my host kindly
pointed out some of the special features
of some Of his paintings, and gave me
a synopsis of his most favoritc books.
RUSKIN IN CONVERSATION.
l was then asked to take a seat at a
small round table on which were soon
placed some light refreshments. While
here Mr. Ruskin spoke very freely, and
with evident intimate acquaintance of
the leading men of the principal de-
nominations of Christians in England
both of past ages and the present gen.
Grafton. lie referred to the late Mr.
Spurgeon in very cOmmendatory terms.
and of the Rev II. Stowell Brown, of
Liverpool, he said: Mr.. Brown is do
ing a good work among the working
classes During the conversation on
this subject the name of John Bunyan
was introduced, when suddenly and
with considerable earnestness he in
quired And which of Bunyan's works,
sir, do you consider the best?" Such
a question from such an able critic
caused me to pause for a moment and
then replied, saying that l considered
the "Pilgrim's Progress" the best of
his works. mo doubt" said Mr. Rus
kin. land ninety-nine out of every
hundred would say the same, but
must say that I prefer his Holy War.
] remember reading it with great avid
ity when l was a lad. and it made an
indelible impression on my mind"
Conversation was now directed into
other channels and to other subjects
At this stage / took the liberty to ask
the professor a question in reference
to the stones of Venice" one of his
FIRST published books. Immediately he
lifted up his eyes and in tones of ap-
parent astonishment he inquired:
why, what do YOU want to know
about the Stones of Venice for? |
did not expect that any gentleman in
England ever thought anything about
that book in these days" When l in
formed him that my inquiry was the
result of a very able critique on the
book, which i had recently read, Mr.
Ruskin said, with a pleasant smile on
his face: wherein did you see the
critique? Strange to say" he con-
tinued, II never read a newspaper, but
my niece here (referng to Mrs. Sew
erns) tells me that the outside world
are saying that John Ruskin has gone
mad" AS soon as l informed him that
the review of his book to which l re-
ferred had been written by the late
Rev. 7. w. Robertson, of Brighton,
England, he at once told me the object
he had in view when he wrote the
'Stones of Venice" was purely politi-
cal, and he proceeded to give me an
epitome of the book in an uninter-
rupted flow of elegant phraseology
and rich diction, which lasted for about
ten minutes.
THE ST. GEORGE SOCIETY.
Leaving the question of books, we
conVersed about a society which Pro-
fessor Ruskin had established some
years before in the city of oxford,
which had given rise to some private
comment and no small amount of
newspaper correspondence. 1t was
called 1.-THE st. George Society,"" Among
other things l asked him if he would
be good enough to tell me what the
qualifications for membership were,
and what were the main object Of the
society. He at once replied: THE
qualifications for membership are, a
belief in God and honesty all round"
Whereupon l ventured to say, II fear,