The mirror. (Stillwater, Minn.) 1894-1925, 1897-10-14

tion of the Creator, thereby enhanc-
ing the religious life of the human
race.
Society had then not risen to that
point of intelligence generally, as to be
enabled to carry their ideal, their God,
within their mind. Some visible ex-
ternal form was needed to help them
grasp the idea of supernatural being
and power guiding and directing them
in their daily life. Notice that the
lsraelites were unable to fully grasp
the idea of God as taught them by
Moses, had gathered their ornaments
together and under Aaron, set up the
golden calf. This was an idea drawn
from the Egyptian worship of the
sacred bull, though the organic con-
ception in each race was widely d.
vergent.
We run our eye over the long list of
strange, hideous or grotesque forms in
craven stone; hawk headed human
forms, dragon headed, two-headed,
winged animals; forms half human
and brute combined; we look at them,
wonder, laugh, and condemn the folly,
and pronounce as ignorant the race or
people producing them. But if those
who condemn would pause long
enough to study their meaning, their
condemnation would be supplanted by
appreciation.
We as race have by constant incul-
cation and association, so habituated
ourselves to looking upon the abstract
ideas of our social life, the underlying
ideas, las faith, love, truth, virtue, hope,
trust, evil, sin, dissolution, death and
the many more) without external aids
to the comprehension of these ideas by
the mind, that we conclude what we
now do naturally, was always so. This
is an erroneous idea, as early social
life and its remains fully prove; for
man anciently required some form to
aid him in grasping new and abstract
ideas, to give him, by the visible form
a method by which to grasp an abstract
idea and convey it to Others. We today
bow in homage to the self-same idols
before which the human race fell in its
early life, but our higher intellectual
ability, due to cultivation through the
ages, enables us to grasp in our mental
processes those ideas which, because of
their recent origin, early society found
necessary to typify by some craven
form. Had they not, by so doing, per-
petuated their ideas to future genera
tions, it would have delayed the acqui-
sition and adoption of fundamental
ideas by society, and delayed it's up
ward progress. Volumes might be
written proving the inestimable value
that should be placed upon man S early
artistic efforts, not for the mechanical
productions bequeathed to later ages,
but for the ideas embodied therein and
perpetuated by them.
Art should be appreciated, not for
what it is, so much, but for what it
represents. The Venus of Milo, has
been cherished for centuries. Why?
Because it represents the highest ideal
in the female form; beauty of concep-
tiOn united with perfect mechanical
expression. The "Larcoon' stands as
one of the worlds greatest groups.
Why? Because of the retributive idea
of punishment it conveys, allied to
most perfect mechanical skill. Yet,
after all, this higher distinctive art is
but the sidelight of ancient life and
was only employed for conveying the
higher abstract ideas-the medium for
expressing new conceptions. Art in
it's broader sense has been the in
spiration of the present, the teacher
of the future; mans debt to it
accumulates with every progressive
act. Stop the progress, the inculcation
of art; forbid inventions in any form;
restrict mans conception to his pres
ent attainments, and within a few
centuries Chinese wall would be
mosquito netting compared to the wall
that ignorance would raise about us.
LEONARD.