The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1900-01-21


age OF eighty years, removes from the
world one more of the men who helped to
shape the thought of England in the early
/ fifties. For the last ten years owing to
failing health, he had taken no part in
social or intellectual life. so that his death
may occasion less comment than did his
retirement from active work. 1t WILL how
ever, Inevitably recall to the mind Of the
public the movements associated with his
name and the influence which his books
had at the time of writing and STILL in a
measure, continue to have.
Ruskin was a unique personality. and
his work was as marked in its individual
ity as himself. 1t is not too much to say
that no other time and place than that in
which he lived could have made such a
character possible He possessed an ex-
traordinary sensitiyeness and intuitiye
power, coupled with great, almost eccen-
trio originality; and this peculiar COM
bination of qualities. in an atmosphere so
full Of warning forces and, opposing stand
ards as that in which he lived. could not
fail to result in an unusual character
With his private life it is unnecessary TO
deal. save to remark that the absolute sac
riice OF personal happiness which he made
for the sake of others. sacrifice demand
ed of him by cireumstances-undou
had something to do with the loftiness and
severity Of his writings on the one hand
and with certain pathetic pleadings for
unconventional standards OF living on the
o4ta
the man to whom it is forbidden. and in an
age when the majority of thinking peo
pie we're bound by artificial and conven-
tiunal ideas. Ruskin boldly advocated that
these should be swept away, and all sim
pie. harmless happiness encouraged. This
attitude was probably due partly to his
esthetic sensibility to the beautiful in art
or nature, and partly to the feeling en-
gendered by personal experience, that
since there is SO much necessary sorrow
in the world, it is unreasonable and cruel
to repress natural ioyousness by a multi
tude of petty restrictions arising from
false ideals of duty.
Emerson has been called a New England
Greek; in certain ways Ruskin was an
English Athenian. He had a passionate
devotion to the beautiful, and marvel
ously quick perception of that quality.
whether material or spiritual. Nothing
was too small or too great TO arouse his
enthusiasm. He could speak with equal
delight of the perfection of crystal or
the glory Of kingdom. To both subjects
he brought the same delicacy or conception
and skillfulness of expression. Whether it
was the moral law or the making of a
ruby did not matter; both he argued were
governed by the same principles: the
physical world vas only an embodiment Of |
the spiritual. He did not reason out all
this; he felt it; he knew 1t. He was the /
embodiment of the mental process which |
we sometimes call feminine-the power of
perceiving that a thing is so, and reasoning
about ii afterward. He was the prophet
of that natural law in the spiritual world
which the less poetic Drummond a gener- |
alton afterward presented in way whic b 1
appealed to the multitude
For this reason Ruskin has always ap- |
pealed, and will always speak, to a certain
audience He is magnetic. convincing, re-
assuring powerful; but not through his +
logic. Over the mind OF the young student, /
at the time when his work first appeared, I
he had a power which could have been .
attained by no other man of his day. /
There comes a time in the life of every
young man of quick sensinilities strong
feeling. and aversion 10 cant, when estab- I
lished standards seem to waver. logic .
deeper feelings rise in revolt against the 4
shams Of ordinary society. When such a
student-for the time is most likely 10
come during college life-takes up a
volume OF Ruskin, he finds there just
what he needs. He finds strong assertions. /
which he feels to be true: vivid illustra-
ton, passionate appeal; the soul of
man who. In every fibre OF his being hated .
insincerity and compromise, is revealed I
to the youth who is wondering IL any
thing in humanity is genuine Ruskin .
sometimes skips over steps to his conclu-
sions, but the conclusions are apt to be
correct He lays unnecessary stress upon
some small things, but still his guidance.
even in details, is apt to be worth taking
Of the abstract right, and in this world
OF halfway measures such a man is in
spring, if not always practical.
The reader Of Ruskin must be fully in
sympathy with him to appreciate him
His work will not stand cold -blooded and
analysis, any more than a
poem will. We have all heard people who
have not an atom of poetry in their rom-
position read some stirring ballad or ex-
quisite sonnet in such a fashion that il
sounded exactly like prose II is very easy
to dissect Ruskin, pick flaws in him. de-
story the charm of his work He was man
of moods, and must be read accordingly
The student who throws himself into the
of the masters thought, careless
of previous convictions, and seeking only
TO be swept by a rush Of impetuous argu-
ment TO Unforeseen conclusions will have a
time of it and see the world
and human nature in a new light He will
probably find his own standards of right
and wrong, his ideals Of beauty and wis
dom, considerably higher for the expert
ence. But if he cannot do this-in a word.
If he does not like Ruskin-he will do well
to let the great pre- Raphaelite alone
The Faith Cure.
Despite the absurd and extravagant
claims of the painfully solemn leaders OF
the cult the faith cure continues TO
deplete the ranks of the credulous and
add nov names fO the culinary Iict