Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1900-06-30

ing rule that the materials used should
| be very cheap and coarse the cutting
| OUT was a proverb for bad and skill
| less work, and the sewing careless.
Without any intention of contempt for
| poverty, it was an unwr'tten law that
anything that covered nakedness was
| good enough to answer the purpose,
| and the idea of arousing better aspira
| tons by lifting the sordid out of the
| realm of ugliness and meanness was
not often heard of.
To the young women of England,
Mr. Ruskin said: Make some little
| piece of useful clothing every day; sew
| it with your own fingers as strongly as
| it can be stitched: embroider it or
| otherwise beautify it moderately with
| fine needle-work, such as "A girl may
be proud of having done. Accumulate
these things until you hear of some
| honest people in need or clothing.
| which may often too sorroWfully be.
You must be. to the best Of your
! strength, usefully employed during the
| greater part of the day. 50 that you
may be able at the end of it to say, as
proudly as any peasant. that you have
not eaten the bread of idleness."
! Though life-giving energy has found
wonderfully broadening channels
through which unselfsh labor seeks to
uplift those who are Vet in the heather
darkness Of ignorance ana poverty,
these words are yet strange sounds.
uttered in an unknown tongue. in
many ears This unWonted introduce
ton Of Il semi-critical paper into tn.
severely practical columns of HONE
( is. i'm IaF,
ana loving acknowledgment ~ per
sonal obligation To Mr.. Ruskin. gladly
as such due would be paid but in
earnest appeal that our eager young
! people shall. while his recent death
! stirs our memories, be made familiar
with his counsel.
Let our girls read with their mothers
the revealing pages If Sesame ana
Lilies" let the mothers experience,
7 which must endorse them with a
\ thankful appreciation Of his eXaltation
# our sex lend to the words Of the
poet THE music of her voice" SO that
not one inspiring suggestion fails To
ach the young ears. Let our boys
.rdy that seIdom-read lecture on
ar" which after arousng the en-
\ !.r'o soldiers at Woolwich to knightly
fervor. ran the circuit Of the world.
appealing to the chivalry of men and
the loyalty Of woman for an ideal
mobility.
I have turned the pages of these
essays eagerly, seeking the most
salient paragraphs and hoping TO
grasp such vivid sentences for quota
/ ton as should make a stronger appeal
for their value than any feehler words
Of mine. But the richness Of the
treasure holds my hand-this. and this,
and this, and this; the portion of this
/ page allotted me would never suffice to
hold the Illustration Of my argument.
In the glaring light Of those awful
| battlefields of South Africa, in the
midst of those cordons Of a hundred
mutilatng pieces of artillery sending
forth shot and shell. night and day,
| With what majestic calmness those
knightly sentences fall upon our ears.
in which this dead lover Of truth and
courage, while he lauds every manly
struggle. from the boys contest on the
cricket-fiel to the man-to-man com
bat on heroic backgrounds. defines
the horror of modern warfare:
IF YOU take masses Of men from all
| industrial employment,-to feed them
by the labor of others.-to provide
them with destructive machines. va
red daily in national rivalship Of in
tventive cost; if you have to ravage the
country which you attack.-to destroy
for a score Of future years. its roads.
its woods. its cities, and its harbOrs;-
and if finally having brought masses of
men. counted by hundred of thousands,
face to face. you tear those masses to
pieces with jagged shot. aL[ leave the
| living creatures. countleSSty beyond all
| help of surgery. to starve and parch,
through days Of torture down into
| clotS of clay-what book of accounts
shall record the cost Of your work
what book of judgment sentence the
guilt Of it?''
I do not think the average boy of
/ fourteen or fifteen could follow the
subtle, exquisite discrimination be
tween the glory and grandeur of a
mans dedication of himself to his
country's defence. and the slavish
| necessity to fight with the awful
ministry of modern weapons. battles in
which obedience requires a soldier to
take up arms for causes which may
seem to him neither righteous nor
worthy. But any lad of sixteen or
eighteen can grasp the exalted demand
for every attainable power and all self
mastery as needful eoncomitants of
great and noble soldier. and find food
for his best thoughts whether his own
battles are to be fought with the sword
or the pen. And the woman. old or
/ young. who should do less than hope
to acquit herself bravely as the crown
| N inf n hprDpG'
must be dead to the most inspiring
homage man could say to her power,
if these words move her not.
Perhaps the very young would find
| 1.-THE Mystery Of Life and It's Arts"
too full of intellectual casuistry for
their full understanding, yet we who
We're young when the words were first
uttered found our hearts throbbng
| with delight as we read. The poetic
I had almost said rhythmic-s is