Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1907-03-29
The Utility of Beauty.

The Boston Herald presents some in
teresting figures and facts, and appends
thereto a serious practical question. AS
to figures, the Herald submits that by
spending ST. 900 the great dam at
Assuan, Egypt, can be raised, more Nile
water stored, and an area one and one
half times larger than the present irri-
gated territory brought into use. But
this. says our contemporary, will sub
merge the island of Philae, one of tie
most interesting of historic spots in this
ancient land, and this means the de-
struction of its ruins. for the action of
Nile water on the soft limestone of which
the temples were built disintegrates them
entirely in time. Then comes the ques-
ton: (Which is the better, to have the
useful or the beautiful" In this case
there is perhaps, no doubt that the beau
tiful should go and the useful come.
Ruins of ancient temples are of little
practical use as compared with the bene-
fits to be derived from the great engi-
neering work proposed. Still, the mod
ern world cannot help regretting the slow
but sure decay of ancient structures.
There are no new creations which are
STUDIED with deeper interest by scholars
than are the walls in Greece and Rome
of "those palaces and towers stipend
Gus. of which the very ruins are ire
mendOus."
But beauty and utility are not neces-
sarily antagonistic. Beauty itself is use
full in that it augments the happiness of
life. Take away the flowers and birds,
the varying colors of vegetation, the lit
tie cascades. and the innumerable things
of beauty with which nature has endowed
her scenery, and life would be bereft of
much of its gladness, much that exalts
and embellishes it, much that makes it
more useful to the human family. 1t
may be doubted if any public expenditure
in this city has been more profitable than
that which has given us our Incompatible
and unapproachable parks and reserva-
tions, our countless shade trees, and
equally beautiful profusion of flowers.
Yet, there are men-and even women
so practical, so incapable of approaching
beauty or profiting by the study of it,
that they complain of the loss of time
occasioned by laying out circles at the
junction of streets, like Thomas Circle,
for instance. These peculiar people are
prepared to prove by figures that the ag-
gregate of time thus lost in Washington
amounts annually to several lives. But
it is not loss to most of the people who
ride or walk along our streets. They
drink in delights, and those draughts are
good for the health of mind and body.
A few years ago, through the gross neg
lect of the legislatures of New York and
New Jersey, there was a raid, continued
for many months, on the palisades of the
Hudson, blowing up lodges and carting
them away for paving material. Millions
of citizens in every yart of the country
deplored that incursion of vandals. Com
mercialism has gone too far at Niagara
Falls, and the same may be said of vari-
GUS other sublime and beautiful gifts of
nature. The question whether it were
better to sacrifice beauty to utility is not
always to be answered in the affirmative,
for in many instances the utility that
is inseparable from the beautiful will in
time outweigh the commercial value of
that which is sought to be attained. AS
an educational factor, who can set a limit
to the influence of the beautiful From
Washington Post, March 25th.