Omaha daily bee., 1903-06-08
BEAUTY As A SIGN OF GRACE
Mental and Spiritual Side Of Man Are
Involved in Esthetio,
WHAT ART SHOULD Be CULTIVATED MORE
Chancellor Andrews B~Rccalaureate
sermon 90 the Graduating Class
of the ~Univeraity of
Nebraska.
FROM a STAR correspondent.)


From a STAFF Correspondent)
LINCOLN, June T-(Special Telegram,)-
Chancellor Il. Benjamin Andrews delivered
the bacoalaureate sermon to the graduating
class of the University of Nebraska today.
His theme was Beauty and he found his
text In Psalms xc. II: Let the beauty of
Jehovah our God be upon u.s." Chancellor
Andrews argued that both beauty and the
capacity for enjoying beauty spring from
mental and spiritual conditions, rather than
from physical, and that the direct proper
ton to the mental and spiritual advance of
man his capacity for the enjoyment OF the
beautiful is Increased and he is increased
in beauty himself. In developing this line
Of thought he said:
The sense of beauty is an of
all men, we find Il even in savages. In
nearly all 1t has some degree of cultivation.
Moreover, we all instinctively feel that IL
ought TO be cultivated, that to be a person
OF taste is a legitimate, desirable, and val
liable attainment. 1t is a remarkable fact
that this is the sole purely natural pro-
pensity which can be cultivated without
limit ana not do the person the slightest
moral harm. OF no form OF appetite can
this be said. Appetite, too, is natural
and has to be given a certain scope In our
life, yet we have not a single appetite
which does not carry with 1t a positive
danser; and most of us are. well aware
the, power of one Of the lower impulseS
which, after all, we cannot eradicate and
ought not to eradicate. The love of beauty
Is not a source of evil in any such sense
as that. Undoubtedly this part of our
nature too can be employed and developed
suits, hut II so the evil must come from
downright abuse of the esthetic sense, and
fSnh0t arise from the mere exercise of
and never noxious to ethical w%ell-being
our esthetic nature can lead us astray
only In the same way as our religious ma
ture may.
Application of the Argument.
HIS application of his theme is couched
in the following language:
The thought which we have been re-
viewing of the esthetic in it's various
manifestation as just the radiance OF the
moral, has both its. personal lesson and
Its social lesson. The personal lesson is
that In the relation enounced we may
ma a true test of esthetic cultivation as
real or nominal, as deep or merely super
fetal. Real esthetic cultivation will be
IN its possessor a moral force, and any
esthetc sensibillty or power which does
not thus make for righteousness is either
1~Tauqulent or as yet desperately feeble,
Inc beautiful is as yet nothing for us If II
does not move and shore us to the good.
II any of us are interested in art, II we
are touched by beauty and are not affected
by the spirituality of it, we are as vet
but wretcned smatterers in this department
or truth. Real esthetic cultivation in
wolves insight, enabling you to read the
hieroglyphics of beauty as we'll as It's plain
SNAABNs IGdA GElltllC COnSeCIaIlOn is a
virtue and q grace.
The social lesson which the truth of the
hour inculcates is that no man or woman or
community or nation can do too much to
propagate among the people a love for
true art, Just as the art work in our pub-
Tic schools Is jeered by many as a fad,
so, no doubt, many think of every agency
for teaching art as quite without social
Significance or function, an extra elegance
Tor the wealthy and the leisurely, meant
solely for such as would themselves enfoy
lie, but have no wish to enrich, purify OF
strengthen the life of society at large.
ception. The spread of esthetic taste
among the citizens is a vast public benent
worthy the patronage of every patriot.
mere necessities of life, no expenditure of
capital is Of greater social utility than
that which sets before the peoples eyes or
brings to peoples ears prominent crea-
tons of true beauty.
Art end Morals.
There Is a common impression that N.
periods in mankind's history when the fins
arts have reached their choicest bloom,
moral degeneracy. Were this true I IN he
sense usually meant by those who prs
E Rieup 10 n aes S'a eSeTy pro l5 w9sld give give r6 Shs
this hour, But it is not true in that sense.
Times Of rank moral decline in human
when moneys are lavished in art commits
sions and when artists of grace and finish,
as distinct from artists of originality, null.
tiply and thrive. Praxitiles and his like
will be in their studios then, thronged by
rich nobodies with gold galore to place
any creator. you will be told, oh. that
v~irtuoso died a hundred years ago" The
artists OF finish, marking times of moral
decadence, come after the creators and
stand upon their shoulders. The creators
had given way, and the immortal c~reators
were able to become such because in thei-
times real art spirit was rife and multi
tudes who never attained fame were creat-
ing as best they could.
I deem this esthetic education of the
people one of the most promising unused
moral resources which society now has in
reserve. Many moral evils compass our
modern communities about. The outlook
for progress is In various ways discuur-
aging Cnough. At some points our course
is retrograde, Thinking Of the human
time, the sage queries to himself oftener
than he likes to say 1t aloud,
Is the great flock
For the good Bladder or I'll Evil Iok?
In not a few of it's worst phases our age
exactly matches that which preceded tho
dissolution Of the Roman empire. Many
terror of some signal social paroxysm that
shall end our age and open another Of we
may como. The Power over us may please
again to purify the air by, a cyclone or to
earthquake. But there is one incalcuiabIe
difference between the civilized society VI
today and hat Of the ANCIENT world when
education and they had not. The art power
and the consequent moral power Of our
education we have as yet hardly begun TO
apply. In most citizens, young or old, tho
art sense is still dormant. Duly awakened,
developed, trained and directed, II will be
an incalculable force for virtue.
Celebrations to Continue,
Tomorrow evening will occur the law col
lege address by Francis Marion Burdiek OF
Columbia university. He will talk on Tho
Lawyer; a Pest or a Panacea.' Tuesday
morning at the Oliver theater will occur
the senior class play. This will begin at 10
o'clock. At the same place at s on Tuesday
evening win be presented the commence
ment concert, Wednesday is alumni day.
In Memorial hall at 1890 Judge William c.
Hastings win deliver the Phi Beta Kappa
grafton on Social Pessimism." At noon the
society will give a luncheon at the LindeIl
hotel. At s the chancellor will make his
report of all colleges before the alumni.
The alumni address will be delivered by
Judge Lincoln Frost on the Monroe Doc