The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1899-12-05

formed by Mrs. Adeliza Il. Cha1ee
was held last evening in the parlors of
the Y, w. c. A. There was a good at
tendance. The subject considered was
the quaint old Client and Flemish art.
The dates, including the study Of the
Flemish school of painters, was from
1866 to 1910.
The standard of Flemish art was
compared with the art of other schools.
The claims Of Hubert and Jan Van
Eyck to merit were gone over, and
many authorities and art text books
cited.
During the winter Mrs. Chaffee will
TAX" up the study Of art in central Eu-
rope.
The kindergarten club met yester-
day afternoon at the home Of Mrs.
William Harrington, SO Sever street.
| Mrs. Charles Ranlet read an interest
ing paper on THE ideal mother"
have been deeply interested in lit
tie book just published by Small, May
nard & Co. of Boston. 1t is by Charles
Waldstcin, whose essays on art have
been a notable contribution to contem-
porary thought, and is a small, almost
dainty volume, that is distinctly agree
able to the eye with its broad margins
and fine paper. It's name is THE Sur
face of Things"
At first blush, 1.-THE Surface of
| Things" puzzles you. There is a sizea-
BILE preface about the personal in art
to begin with and after that there is
a lengthy introduction before you get
to the kernel, but the three stories that
form that kernel are not to be appre
ciated i'll their full significance unless
you take the preface and introduction
first.
Now, there are two reasons why Mr.,
Waldsteins little book comes as a nov
city: first, 1t is written from new
| theory; and second, it is thrown into
new form. Mr.. Waldstein sets out
with the notion that the modern novel
| is narrow in it's scope and that social,
| one might almost say, society-proD-
lens are legitimate material for f1c'g)n.
AS a rule, he complains, the novel mas
not got beyond what might be called
| the lyrical stage, in which love" is
| the central topic of interest. By life
novelists appear to mean the life of
| prehistoric man, whose impulses and
| striYings all tend to the satisfaction of
! hunger, thirst and the like, and the
rudimentary passions of the species
We, he says, have developed far beyond
this stage. Not only our highest rep
| resentatives but even the simplest and
| humblest members of modern occiden-
| tai society have a great variety of
| needs and desires that prehistoric peo-
pie could not even understand. One
| of these is the craving we all feel to
! live with people of refined manners,
tact, intellectual sympathy. Man is a
| social animal Considerably more than
! half our waking thoughts and aspira-
| lions are directed towards the satisfac-
| ton Of our social needs. These have
become fundamental to us, and are
worthy of literary treatment.
In the second place, Mr.. Waldstein
holds that while the dramatic novel
will always maintain ITSELF there is
room for a more theoretical form be-
side it-a form that shall appeal to and
reflect the thoughtful side of even our
| aesthetic mind subjects of theoreti-
| cal and ethical nature being employed
as a satisfactory theme for the novel
and short story. And especially in this
connection does he find fault with the
| dialogues that people put in their fic-
ton 1t is neither interesting nor true,
| is his criticism. People do not really
talk in trivial, short sentences, and
they do not generally chatter rapidly.
What delightful and interesting talks
we have had! talks that have moved
! and modified our life and marked
epochs in our existence, yet they have
been connected and coherent, going as
| they did to the bottom of things.
So he has written two stories and a
dialogue working out in a distinctly in
| 4 Toe
of his.
In the first of the stories, Gofdon's
| old mother is deliberately snubbed by
a young man. Gordon de-
1 clines to continue his acquaintance
with the snob 0eatherhead is the
| snobs name) declines to go to houses
| where he is likely to meet him. In
the end he makes Leatherhead i'm
possible" for all the society Of the
| place sides with Gordon.
But why should man who is good
| enough to be the hero of a tale, set
| out to make a fellow being 'impos-
| sible?''
In Gordon's answer to this question,
which it naturally occurred to some of
| his friends to ask him, we get at what
| is the moving impulse of the volume
the sense Of social responsibility: 1.-THE
| insult" says Gordon, can and ought
made, but an act emanating from ra-
| tional and responsible beings can not
| be forgotten or ignored as an index to
| their character. The deca-
| logue of old and our modern laws,
| criminal and otherwise, have taken in
hand the grosser offenses against hui
man society; and our social tradition
enforces the preventive ostracism of
| the law. But there are other offenses,
which highlydeveloped and COM
| plicated social life has produced with
| its advance and refinement and with
which, in their delicate intricacy,
neither the decalogue nor the law can
| deal
"There we have to care for ourselves;
| and a well-organized society must de-
| yelop it's unwritten code to counterfeit
! such offenses. The law deals with the
murderer and thief, with the man who
| falsely steals another mans wife and
| society confirms the action of the law
! by the exclusion of such members from
| it's highest circles. We even ostracize
| the man who cheats at cards. But we
| do not yet punish the man who, in
rapidly acquiring wealth, has passed
! through a moment, however short, in
which he might have lost not only his
| own money, but that of many other
| persons who trusted him; or the man
who wounds to the quick the dignity
! and self-respect of fellow being, as
Leatherhead wounded my mother.
'"Now, not only do I consider the
! brutal manner of that mans offense
| inconsistent with anything approaching
| to beautiful soul, possessed of healthy
! social feeling, so that the ugliness and
deformity are repulsive to me and
make me shrink from contact, but 1
also think it indicative of what is
harmful to society, and think society
ought to be protected against it,"
Miss Kate Sanborns sparkling and
|