Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1909-07-14
TIE oSIGNZZE -

There are natures of the mystical,
contemplative order who seek instinc-
lively to correlate their scenery with
some mood or aspiration of their inner
ilife-who are not satisfied till they
Ihave linked It on somewhere intelli-
gibly with their deepest being, writes
Algermon Blackwood in Country Life.
Before given landscape, that is, they
find the explanation Of their emotion by
translating the color, distance, confor-
nation and so forth unto definite spir-
itual sensations; passing thus, with
out too great confusion, from the finite
to the infinite. Until this is success
fully accomplished there is a sense of
disquietude almost of pain; the love-
illness blinds. But, once that inner
key is found, the result is peace; the
beauty becomes comprehensive with
a personal message as it were. They
dramatic the view in the terms of
soul; doors open; wells lift. there
come-wings.
The kind of scenery that best does
this varies, of course, with individ
ual temperament. For some the great
plains, or the mystery of forests; for
others, again-the majority, perhaps,
the grandeur and terror of mountains.
But to all who understand this process
of mind the world appears as the ex-
preston of something spiritual and
alive, and common objects become a
source of vivid revelation. Such per-
sons endow common objects" with
something of their own life; nothing
seems quite the same once their trans
forming imagination has looked upon
it.
To me, personally, however, it al
ways seems that the kind of scenery
which, more than any other, admits
of this transformation, of this spirit
ual alchemy, is the scenery of cloud
and sky. There is that about it which
suffers the change without violence.
1t belongs, really, to the same cate
CORY as the vast scenery of dreams
to that which is phantasmal, protean,
infinitely fine; capable of interpreting
the gentlest moods of the soul, as well
as her great terrors. Cloud-scenery,
especially when sketched against big
mountains, has the two qualities of
expressing immense power and exceed
ing delicacy; power, by means of
sheer size, depth and grandeur Of
form; delicacy, by the silken tracery
of the torn edges that float away into
the viewless air. Cloud-scenery
touches all notes in the scale, runs
through the entire gamut of the souls
emotions. The mind wanders delight
fully beyond the confines of sense into
the region of unrealities; but the solid
background of the mountains brings
1t back again, and supplies the sub
stantial foundation from which such
dreams may be INDUCED without fool
ishness. Phantasy, thus rooted in re-
atty, is surely an exercise of the i'm
agajnation that produces useful. not
harmful, results. To be Gin the clouds"
among the mountains is an expert
ence Of value, but to be among the
mountains, and above the clouds.
comes to many as almost an entirely
new revelation. The whole strange
world of dreams slides across the from.
tier into waking life. The result is a
kind of exquisite bewilderment.
The immensely Of cloud-scenery has
already been noticed. Let the eye on
a June day travel up and down the
blue lanes of sky between the masses;
and with the eye send also the mag
ination. The gradual comprehension
of the piled and heaped-up vapours
holds in the end something that ap-
pals.
In the. high Alps the wind currents
that for ever suck through the deep
valleys marshal the details with be,
wildering effects; the black depths,