The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 18??-1935, 1900-01-26
JOHN RUSKIN.
Writer, Poet, Artist; But Greater Than
All of These, Humanitarian.

The death of John Ruskin has re-
moved unique figure and a great light
from the world of English letters.
Ruskin became known TO the literary
world at the age of twenty-four. For
more than half a century his name has
been foremost among the distinguished
writers of the Victorian age of English
literature. He has lived in retirement
for several years and his productive
work was finished a good while ago
The last time he was prominently before
the public was when Mr.. Gladstone ten
dered him the position of poet laureate
made vacant by the death of Tennyson,
an honor which Ruskin declined. The
incident created much surprise because
Ruskin as not known as a poet. He
had taken the pr}ze for English poetry
at Oxford when student at the uni
Versity, and had written some good vers-
es, but his title to distinction was not
won in the field of poetry. But Ruskin
vas poet nevertheless, and had he
turned his attention towards making
verse he would have no doubt ranked
high as q poet The spirit of poetry
breathes through all his writings, and
only the metrical language is wanting to
designate them as poetry. He was a
master of beautiful English, a fact
which he attributed largely to his
thorough acquaintance with the Bible, a
book which his mother required him to
study diligently in his youth. He is
known to the world as teacher of
ethics, an idealist. He was an idealist
4 bf rbn ,t1t h iC 10
tice and he worked hard with tongue
and pen towards the attainment of his
ideals. He argued that true progress
did not consist in amassing material
wealth, but in regarding the spirit of the
| brotherhood of man. The narrowness
and heartlessness of the established
order of economic principles aroused his
sympathies for the working class, and
his influence along these lines was far
reaching IN its effects The modern
social settlement movement which is do
ing such extensive work in the great
cities, is one outcome of the ideas which
/ he advanced, and the books through
which he is most widely known to the
reading world were courses of lecture to
Workingmen. He sought to elevate the
/ thought of the masses through such
books as Sesame and Lilies, " "Crown
of Wild Olive" "Ethics of the Dust u
etc. He sought to teach intellectual
| life the duty it owed to the life of toll
by bringing the two in actual contact
In these movements Ruskin was stimu-
ative force to public thought. With
/ his lofty ideals of life and gifted above
most men, he possessed a spirit of bold
ness in defending his principles which
did not fail to impress the world with
the truth of what he uttered. Talent
and wealth were both at his disposal
and he deyot, d them both freely tC
heiping his fellowmen. His life wa,
eminently one ''pure in its purpose anC
strong in its strife.
He was an artist who loved art fol
arts sake: he was an art critic of the
highest authority; but the needs of the
great living world appealed to him aboy,
the demands of art. 1t was to him al
the voice of conscience and it turneC
the current of his life's work into thos,
channels which promised to beneti
humanity As the prophet of a new
era in the brotherhood of man he die
his best work; and will be remembered
long after the world has forgotten tina
he was an artist