The Birmingham age-herald., 1905-12-13
MRS. F|SKE SPEAKS ON ART AT HARVARD Without Art, Says She, Life
 Would be Brutal MANS INNATE SAVAGERY The Great Actress Discusses the Rela. ton of Public Taste to the The
 atre--Bounds of Pub-
 He Sanity.

| the auspices of the Harvard Ethical so- ciety, Mrs. Minnie Maddern Fiske, the actress, delivered an address on "Ths | Theatre in Sanders theatre today. The auditorium was crowded with Harvard and Radcliffe students. Mrs. Fiske spoke | in part as follows:
 Mrs. Fiske Speaks.
 There can be little doubt that the idea at times comes to the worker in any field of art that possibly after all one might better be giving life and thought
 and action to something other than any
 of the arts. That Is to say, when one l contemplates the facts of life about one, 1 there must sometimes arise a confusion
 of impulse as to which of the many ways in the right road of thought and relative effort to follow.
 We see dreamers gazing for hours at the ceiling of the Sistine chapel, oblivious to everything but the thoughts and dreams inspired by that contemplation.
 But ideal as these thoughts and beau- l tiful as these dreams may be, we wonder | if the dreamers might not better spend l their time even under the humble dis cipline of the Salvation army at actual work with an immediate human purpose.
 What Is Art?
 Art often means so little, or seems to mean so little, when contrasted with actualties which in some way seem to rebuke it. Art is product of our civili- l zation, our culture, and the discipline brought to bear on impulsive and labori- ous genius. The things that distract at- l tention from art and inspire the ques- 1 ton as to it's utility survive from sav agery In spite of our civilization and our | culture.
 We are appalled, by the misery all ] al ha In world De- wilders us. Contemplating the horrors | of war, we become blind to beauty and 1 forget the uses of peace Fearful, terrible things happen. There are untold pain and unutterable grief. Deadly passions destroy individuals and their results de- vastate commonwealths. There are an- | guished tokens to the eye of inward soul rending battles. Our vision Is filled with these dreadful and mysterious things. Is ! it strange that we wonder if there is | any place or any time for the contem- plation of art?
 Life Without Art Is Brutal.
 oscar Wilde said that All art is un- necessary Ruskin proves what any philosophy must admit, that life without art Is brutal. Art has a function beyond that of affording pleasure for the mo- ment It should be an inspiration; and 1t should be potent-ndirectly, ~ course, and by degrees-in mitigation of the ter TOTS whose contemplation may induce question as to It's utility.
 "It is not enough to say that Art Is worth while It Is of greater worth. In some forms it's influence works toward the alleviation of the worlds misery. The sweeping terrors and horrors of war may gradually grow less until they disappear | through the education that the arts as- sist verestchagin, the great Russian painter, whose work so largely devoted to f,iot inhumanitV TOTS, and who lost his life In the midst of a carnage that his brush would have revealed to assist In a reformation Of humanity, did not live In vain. Tolstot the great man and great artist. devotes his pen and life to a like end. The pen of Zola, like that of other artists whose purpose 1t has been to picture miseries that they might be cured has wrought and is still working reform In life. The great dramatists of the modern school have aims higher than for the amusement l of the moment. They are striking at the root of evils that mankind, if 1t pro | gresses, must see decay.
 Mans Savage Instinct.
 | "In mankind there survives savage, brutal instinct. It Is a relic or the ages | marked by the murder of all creatures. Those were the ages when the strongest among all classes of brutes enjoyed the | longer lives Ethically, we are reminded today of the persistence of this brutal idea by the brutally logic phrase, The survival of the fittest.' In Spain today one may see cruelties that show how ten acous life mere savagery Is, even under the guise of civilized amusement. In Spain. old horses, worn out in faithful | service to mankind, are blindfolded and | given over to the tortures of the bull- ring. The noble spectacle that these ani- mals, with the fated bulls and gaily | dressed matadors furnish. Is applauded hy brave men and delicate and presum- ably refined women. Little children are also permitted to look upon 1t, The world | has not yet learned that the greatest cow ard is he who treats with cruelty help | less living thing; nor has 1t yet quite learned that the vulgarest soul is that soul which finds pleasures in inhicting pain.
 country-distinguished men, noble men, hrave men find a passionate delight In ruthlessly taking the lives of harmless | kind and beautiful creatures. A brave and Intelligent man, who may be model or kindness to his loved ones and his daily | associates, fires a bullet into the breast | of a bird as 1t wings It's unsuspecting way through the air; and as 1t falls, shat 1 tered and lifeless, its plumage crimsoned with its blood the man feels thrill of l ra nturei In the Outing Magazine the other l day read this advice Take another shot l at a caribou if he doesn't seem to feel l sufficiently hurt at your first When l read these lines was glad to remember | the lines of the poet:
 I would not enter on my list of friends, Tho graced with polished manners and | fine sense,
 Vet wanting sensbility. the man Who needlessly sets foot upon a worm
 Artist Not Huntsman. "The artist in any field of art is rarely A huntsman That means great deal. Nor are artists often advocates of war Be- vond this again may be seen the admir- | able humanity of artists as class In | their contact with the rest of humanity. | A great artist whom I have the happi- ness of knowing, cheerfully refuses to wear an overcoat, even in the coidest weather Nor will he ever wear an over coat. he says, until every other man in | the world who needs one, has one. This l may seem an absurd devotion; yet 1t | shows a spirit that would make for the l betterment of the world If more com monly felt. and the artist has his own | consolation in his sentimental depriVation | A Personal Comparison. l Tt occurs to me at this moment that l perhaps I am like some comet With an | eccentric orbit rather than a star fixed | l-Gx. fa