The Birmingham age-herald., 1904-12-04


 Shat the spirit which animates these pages Is not utilitarian. It would be an error to suppose that the simplicity we seek has anything in common with that which misers impose upon them selves through cupidity or narrow minded people through false austerity To the former the simple life is the one that costs least; to the latter 1t is a fiat and colorless existence, whose merit lies in depriving oneself of ev- erything bright, smiling, seductive.
 It displeases us not a whit that peo- pie of large means should put their fortune into circulation instead of hoarding it, so giving life to com merce and the fine arts. That is us- ing ones privileges to good advantage. What we would combat is foolish prod igality, the selfish use of wealth and, above all, the quest of the superfiuous on the part of those who have the greatest need of taking thought for the necessary. The lavishness of Maece- mas could not have the same effect in a society as that of q common spend thrift who astonishes his contempo- raries by the magnifcence of bis life and the folly of his waste. Tn these two cases the same term means very different things. To scatter money broadcast does not say it at all. There are ways of doing it which ennoble men and others which degrade them. Besides, to scatter money supposes that one is well provided with it. When the love of sumptuous living takes possession of those whose means are limited the matter becomes strangely altered. And very strilS- ing characteristic of our time is the rage for scattering broadcast which the very people have who ought to husband their resources. Muni1cence is benefit to society; that we grant willingly. Let us even allow that the prodigality of certain rich men is a safety valve for the escape of the su- perabundant. We shall not attempt to gainsay it. Our contention is that too many people meddle with the safety valve when to practice economy is the part of both their interest and their duty. Their extravaganza Is a private misfortune and public danger.
 So much for the utility of luxury.
 We now wish to explain ourselves upon the question of aesthetics-oh. very modestly and without trespass- ing on the ground of the specialists. Through a too common illusion sim plieity and beauty are considered as rivals. But simple is not synonymous with ugly any more than sumptuous. stylish and costly are synonymous with beautiful. Our eyes are wounded by the crying spectacle of gaudt orna- ment, venal art and senscless and graceless luxury. Wealth coupled with bad taste sometimes makes us regret that so much money Is in circulation to provoke the creation of such prod igality of horrors. Our contemporary nrt suffers as much from the want of simplicity as does our literature too much in it that is irrelevant, over wrought. falsely imagined. Rarely is it given us to contemplate in line form or color that simplicity allied to per lection which commands the e~Hs as evidence does the mind. We need to be rebaptized in the ideal purity of immortal beauty which puts its seal on the masterpieces. One shaft of it's radiance Is worth more than all our pompous exhibitions.
 Yet what we now have most at heart is to speak of the ordinary aesthetics of life of the care one should bestow upon the adornment of his dwelling and his person, giving to existence that luster without which it lacks charm. For 1t is not a matter of indifference whether man pays attention to these 6uperfluous necessities or whether he does not; 1t is by them that we know whether he puts soul into his work. Tar from considering it as wasteful to give time and thought to the perfect ing. beautifying and poetizing of Forms, think we should spend as much as we can upon them. Nature gives us her example, and the man who should affect contempt for the ephem- eral splendor of beauty with which we garnish our brief days would lose sight of the intentions of him who has put the same care and love into the painting of the lily of an hour and the eternal hills.
 
 error of confounding true beauty with that which has only the name The beauty and poetry of existence lie in the understanding we have of it. Our home, our table, our dress, should be the interpreters of intentions. That these intentions be so expressed it is first necessary to have them, and he who possesses them makes them evi- dent through the simplest means. One need not be rich to give grace and charm to his habit and his habitation. It sntfices to have good taste and good will. We come here to point very Important to everybody. but perhaps of more interest to women than to men.
 Those who would have women con eeal themselves in coarse garments of the shapeless uniformity of bags vio- late nature in her very heart and mis- understand completely the spirit of things. If dress were only a precau- tion to shelter us from cold or rain a piece of sackfng or the skin of beast would answer. But 1t is vastly more than this. Man puts himself entire into all that he does. He transforms into types the things that serve him. The dress is not simply a covering; 1t is a symbol l call to witness the rich towering of national and provincial costumes and those worn by our early