Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1899-04-08

ing his gospel of the beauty of nature
and the necessity of reproducing this
beauty in art, had begun to see that
the gospel which he preached was not
bringing forth fruit Architecture was
ugly. Pictures. were false to nature.
Nature herself NJas befouled and de-
graded. Man himself shared in this
universal debasement. The working
classes were miserably fed, clothed
and housed. To Ruskin, human life,
in its bafI1ed struggle and blind search
for that which would satisfy the needs
of the human soul and mind, seemed an
ugly satire on all his attempts to es-
tablish art and beauty in England. I'm
til social conditions were improved all
his work, he felt, was futile. With a
feeble wavering foundation, nay, de-
caying, falling one, what appropriate
ness in adornment, in mere empty dec
Grafton of life? First reform, rebuild,
then beautify, was his watchword.
All this Morris learned and believed.
From Ruskin he began to draw inspira-
ton for social reform. He saw that his
mission in life was something other
than writing poems and romances of
far-away time He saw that either
art or the mad rush of modern indus
trialism must perish. His mission, he
felt, was to see that art did not per-
;ch al
handiwork, the making with ones own
hands something which shall express
the love of the worker for the refined
and graceful, which shall be the tan
gible expression of a beautiful thought,
of happy and contented mind.
Dr.. Raymond then described in de-
tail Morris ideas On labor. Morris be-
lieved that the golden period of English
labor was five hundred years ago. At
no time since have the English work
ing classes been as free in the right
sense of the word as were the citizens
of the free cities of the middle ages,
with their communal organizations.
Then the worker loved his work and
took pride in the product which he saw
growing before his eyes hour by hour.
This, Morris asserts, was art, true art,
the beautiful handiwork of the artist
ture ever produced by famous painter.
1t is this phase of art-the art Of labor
on which Morris thought and wrote
and which he succeeded in putting into
actual practice. The central tenet in
his creed is the happy life of the work
man, who has leisure enough, who loves
his labor. who is doing something
worth his while and doing it well.
From this thought Morris constructed
for himself an ideal system of life in
which there is no dull, monotonous
drudgery, no savage elbowing in the
field of labor where now the weaker
are destroyed by the stronger This
! system is securely established in his
own business, for Norris now became a
| business man, uniting with his artist
friends, Burne-Jones and Dante Ga
briel Rossetti, in forming an art firm
with the ayowed purpose of demon
strating to the world that labor is an
honorable, a glorious thing; that in it
lie countless possibilities for the de-
velopment of human character; that
art may be made a part of labor, and
that this union will bring into the
commonest life. transcendent beauty
and happiness. The work of the firm
was the designing and manufacturing
Of stained glass windows, mosaics, wall
papers, artistic furniture and general
household decorations. The business
grew rapidly until at the time of his
death Morris controlled a great fac
tory at Merton Abbey in Surry, with
salesrooms in London and New York.
The speaker then described the fac
tory at Merton Abbey-a novel kind of
factory, inasmuch as it is situated in
great park among beautiful trees and
flowers. All the workers are happy
and healthy. They work at hand
looms. The spirit of fellowship per
vades the place. Old men and women
contentedly ply their shuttles, happy
in their work, knowing their work is
sure, and that they will not be thrust
out Of their places simply because they
are old. DR.. Raymond then described
the various departments in the factory,
enlarging on the excellence of the work
done, and the ideal conditions of labor
an eight hour working day and the
| highest wages known to the trade.
DR.. Raymond went on to speak of
| Morris writings during this later per-
iod of his life, and defined Morris
views on capital and labor. Morris
believed that labor distributed as it
| ought to be would be a most delightful
| burden. Work would be so pleasant
| that in very truth labor would be life
| Morris also believed that if men could
| be relieved of the fear of starvation,
| labor would be regarded not as drudg-
| cry but as recreation. He believed