The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1897-06-12

Fingers In my memory. and surely II IN not ono that
can share. Am shown . deceived husband killing
his wife. a woman poisoning her lover, q son aveng- |
ting his father. murdered kings, raviShed virgins, i'm.
prisoned citirens--in q word. all tho subiimity OF ira
diuon, but. alas, how superficial and MATERIAL
Blood, surface tear, and DEATH What con I learn
from creatures who have but one fixed idea, and
who have no time to live, for that there IL q rival or
q mistress whom II behooves them to put to dehth7
Ihad hoped to be shown somc act OF life, traced
back 10 is sources and to its mystery by connecting
links, that my daily occupations AFFORD mo neither
power nor occasion to study. had gone thither hop
ing that the beauty, the grandeur. and the earnest.
ness Of my humble day. by day existence would for
one instant be revealed TO mo. was eArning for one
of the strange moments Of a higher life that nit un.
perceived through my dreAriest hours; whereas,
almost invariably. all that I bcheid was but q man
who would tell me. at wcarisome length, why no was
Jealous, why he poisoned, or why he killed.
In Mystic Morality" NJ. Maeterlinck looks
to the noar approach Of that timo when men
shall come into closer communion with the in
finite and with ono another; he sees the good
rather than tho evil In tho world. And for that
which we call ain he would inculcate. moro than
all else, a spirit OF compassion, as for some outer
blcmieh that may leave the soul untouched.
"wnl the basest thought" he asks, "or the
noblcst aspiration leave a mark on tho dia.
mond's surfaced What god that il indeed on
WV Va " mi ~ oul klaNtSb
faults, "a we smile at tho puppice on tho hearth
ruvt And what god would no DO who would not
smile
NJ. Macterlinck, as the reader will have seen,
docs not set out to prove anything, nor does he
arm himself with either a bludgeon or a blunder-
bups; hence, to those who look for sound and
fury, he may seem unconvincing. He writes for
tho humble and the lowly. and Of these there
may be some who. amid much that 10 incompre-
hohsible. will here and there find words of COM
fort in his pages. Mr.. .Sutro's translation ia
careful and scholarly. and he gives tho sense Of
NJ. Maeterlinck's prose. Its almost timid sim
plicity. Its physiological repetitions, and its
cadenccs OF strange and subtle music are un-
transferable.
NJ. Robert de Ia Sizcrannc. n French critic
whose treatise on contemporary English art was
crowned by the academic Franeaise and gained
the Prix Bordin. has written in "Ruskin OF la
Religion de la Beaute" lHachette ct Cic) a SYM
pathetic monograph that, within the compass Of
its $50 pages. gives n more complete and critical
estimate of Ruskin's life work than has rs yet
been published. either here or in England. Hav-
inG made a study Of all tho masters writings
and OF those Of his biographer and favorito pupil.
Mr.. W. @. Collingwood. NJ. De La Sizeranne has
made many pilgrimagcs throughout Europe to
the shrines that Ruskin has done so much to
mako even more interesting to all lovers of the
beautiful.
In Switzerland. at Florence. Venice. Amicns, on
the banks of the Rhine or the Arno. wherever he has
worked. 1 have worked after him. sometimes making
again the very sketches from which have sprung his
theories and his examples. waiting for the rays OF
sunlight that he has prescribed. %wstching. a. It were.
upon the eternal monuments the fugitive shadows Of
his thoughts. Then. before writing. I waited TIL his
system. after many years, appeared TO me no longer
in all Its delightful completely. but in its harmoni.
--- No. tA- 49, .-.-..A 49,. - t--z.
30 well; from near at hand they seem a chaos, and.
as one gradually rctires to q distance. they blend
themselves and Join. 1t the edge Of the horizon. in a
thin. blue l%ine-which is a whole world.
1t is as the artist and the critic that NJ. De Ia
Sizeranne writes throughout, and hence he con.
Germs himself but little with the details OF Rus
kin's private life. We get some glimpses Of
him as a boy. we see the family party trav.
cling in Switzerland. and we become nc.
quainted with the father. a worthy mer.
chant who had "uHe physio0nomie d part
pdrmi les marchdnds de sherry" and whose
taste for art and the beautiful led him to care.
fully cultivate q love for these things in his son
but It Is with Ruskin's development as a writer,
reformer. art critic, and teacher that the book
deals fully. and while the author follows him in
all his protests against the ugliness in modern
life, and in his different endeavors to bring
about q reaction toward the simplicity OF a
former age, the episodes OF his marriage and
its result are dismissed in a paragraph
The author gives many extracts from Ruskin's
writings. and he traces the development of the
earlier style of Modern Painters. THE Stones
Of Venice" and THE Seven Lamps OF Architec
ture,' with their long sonorous and musica,
periods, to the change that came in 1860. from
which time his prose becomes more clear cut
firm, and nervous, and tho short, crisr
sentences Of Queen Of the Air. and For.
Clavigera' replace his former ornate periods
The aesthetic and social aims OF his teaching ar,
considered, and in the final chapter NJ. de Is
Sizeranne draws q picture of the ideal ant
Utopian life. as advocated by tho great opponent
Of the steam engine and the modern machine
O life in which there should be no poverty ant
NO great riches, and in which all men anc
women should have both work and happiness.
All that. one may say. Is impossible. But Ruskin ha
never said that It was possible. He has never spokel
of these things but as one speaks OF = picture 70
which both the canvas and the colors are wanting
and he has never placed them elsewhere than in tn,
isle OF BaratariA- To move the world he has no
counted on mans reason, but on love.
Tho volume contains two excellent portraits
Of Ruskin and is 80 good as to deserve, and. err
long. assuredly to find, a translator.
"Patrins" copeland & Day.. Is the title OF
volume of short essays by Miss Louise Imoge.
Quincy. In the dedication TO Mr.. Bliss CarmaI
she explains its meaning. "A Pdtrin. accord
ing to Romano Laro-Ln. Is O gypsy trail: hand
fuls Of leaves or grass cast by the gypsies OIL
the road. to denote, to those behind, the wa!
which they have taken" And in these 'littl
leisurely adventures In prolonged fair weather
Miss Quincy proves to be a very pleasan
guide. She wanders into by.paths an,
quiet places. away from the noise and dus
Of tho high road. chatting cheerily o.
many things, from pictures to Newfound
land puppies, peppering her discourse witt
innumerable quotations from quaint ant
curious sources, and exhibiting a knowledge o
many almost forgotten authors that soon show
tho reader that the Boston Romanys ar
an erudite and by no means ordinar,
tribe of strollers. AN Inquirendo Into tn
Wit and Other Good Parts Of His Lat
Majesty King Charles tho Second" is tn
somewhat stilted title OF the longest o
these papers. but perhaps the pleasantest is tina