The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1900-03-06

" IL NM Will IL oC4Nt VI 4lIIt4N -
began to write as a protest against dog
matism in art; he ended by being equally
~dogmatic. To the last he believed. Will
many another %rcforlncr, that it lay in hin
IL stem the tendencies Of the world; he
would not learn that the most that any
may do is 10 20 with the tendencies
ana III u measure control and direct
them.
Ills INFLUENCE on LETTERS.
As deep and radical as was Ruskin's
influence OF art, however. it is not
through it but through his Incompatible
books that he will live. The schools OF
art will forget him. for his hated word
taste is variable, and men will follow
their bent: bnt i'll literature it is apt to
he long before another Shall take up his
field or make it bear so rich Il harvest.
John ltuskin was the first to write Of art
III terms Ineligible to the average: drop
hmm out Of English letters and who is
there TO take his place! Other men
nave written Of art; other men have writ
ten of nature. Is there any who has
written OF both at once so charminglv. <,
POLITICALLY, 50 con~yincingly: \ picture
cannot be multiplied. 1t must ap-
peal always to a limited number of men:
1t IS Il JOY Of the few. bu, .ovlls-thero
ls no end to their multiplication. lit has
been Ruskin,s business to appeal to that
love of the beautiful which lies,
often u~nsuspected and undeveloped, in
the souls of the many. He is q larger
Matthew Arnold preaching Z higher Hei-
preaching it with an elo-
quence 50 rich that he who once falls
under its spell may not forget: preaching
NJ N-Ifh on. n n,o- 49, - 49,
sided, that who so reads finds new treas
ures hat he will not by any means give
up.
Ruskin has his faults of style. to be
sure. He is gramliose at times: he piles
it on, YOU say? Doubtless. But is there
any master of style upon whose faults
even the school girl may not lay her
fnger-ln these days. when critics are
multiplied: Carlyle is rugged and irreg-
Ular; De Quincy is loose and hopelcssly
complex; Macaulay is verbose and over
fond Of the adjective. Iuskin said that
he formed his style from the Bible and
carlyle; but 50 far as appears, Ruskin's
style Is his OWn. One thing is certain
he has wrought With it nightly. and that
when all is said. is the supreme test.
1t Is worse than useless to attempt to
fix Kuskin's place in literature. That
may Very well be left for the present to
those who live by doing that sort Of
thing for the magazines, and who posses,
ready made Pantheons with a properly
book for each immortal. They
VIII tell US shortly who looks down on
1tuSkll and who looks up to him. Let us
not dare to suggest that this is not the
proper way to treat the immortals. !.
Ills ECONOMIC TIEORI ES.
IuSkin's influence on economies has
been far less wide and on the whole OF
much more questionable character than
his influence on art and letters. His
theories of political economy were rooted
the protest Of his artists soul against
the hldeCusneSS of the contrasts in mod
'tn society. lie undertook to reform So
He1y as he had reformed art-and failed
most mlserably. In economies he has
nothing more than to become the
patron saint of coln1nunistic societies. the
Of the man with Il hardluck
story. His theory is noble and beautiful.
Jut not very new nor very original-being
based on the postulate that it is a very
wicked thing for man to be selfish and
lot to love his neighbOr as himself. He
hreW himself into the promulgation of
MS economic views with a fire and passion
wen greater than that with which he
'hanlEoEcd the cause Of Turner in
Modern Painters" He SnlLandpred !;
arge Part OF his fortune in his attempt
o make bis theory Il reality. 1t is need
to say the attempt WAS worse than
'utile. He did not. like Tolstoi. recant in
us old age; he believed to the last that
lis great work was his writings on polit-
economy. He declared repeatedly
hat Unite This Last was his greatest
jook. His Indictment of the present or
Ter Of things Is very we'll summed up in
his passage from his "Fors Cavigcra:
The guilty thieves of Europe. the real
sources Of all deadly war in it. are the
'apltallSts-that is to say. peolle who
we by percentages on the labor Of others:
Of by fair wages of their own.
All social evils and religious or
arise out Of the pillace Of the labor
II by the idler; the idIer leaving him only
'nouSh to live on land even that miscra-
ilyJ. and taking all the rest of the pro
luce OF his work TO spend lii his own lux
Try or IN the toys with which he bcrrjIos
lis idleness."
But human society is not art. and Ian
:uage however forcible does change the
IatureS OF men. natures gotten in that
atler strenuous scramble whose out
IS the survival of the %tittest.
1illSkln views III art are found very
Eell liid down III three books-"Mcdcru
'alnteFs, The Seven Lamps Of .Archi-
.ecture,' and The stones of Venice"
lis economical theories arc embodied in
Unto This Last" 'Fors CHayigero
Time and Tide and "Munara ~
il
Upon the first his claim to the grateful
ttention of his fellows must chiefly
& y
In the March Forum George f.. Rob
Director Of the United States Mint
[ Washington. comes to the rescue of
ecretary Gage in an article ON Gov
Deposits i'll Banks" Henry O.
'"uSht writes of Our Mohammqdau ;
ards. George /. Becker takes the +
dc Of England strongly in Rights and ,
rongS IN South Africa William Ord !,
ay Partridge tells of the True ReIa- +,
on OF Scripture to Architecture.' The {
ersatlle Andrew Lang d~escants or :
ldbretti." while Mr.. Ho Vow, >
hlnese Consul General to the United i
latcs, enlarScs on "Wcstern Benefits t