Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1913-06-26

40 "N'Ni 'uiH away from ullICulteSi n
allow no fallacy or confusion Of thought
to slide past unchalengcd; and above
ALL insist upon having the meanings Of
Words phrases ana propositions clearly
deilned oefore asserting to them. This
vigorous control Of the negative elements .
may be distastoful to the lagGard mind,
but 1t lays an admirable foundation for
philosophical and ethical culture, yet It Is
not the entire program tho Ideal univcr-
sity has to offer There are other and /
nobler gifts than the power of dissecting (
and articulating knowledge. They are by |
so much greater than this as tho moral !
nature 10 greater than the Intellectual. !
That man or woman who Is all intellect
or even morality, may be sadly incomplete
because devoid of the sense of beauty or
little disposed to cultivate it, The indi- |
gent scholars OF Puritanism vigorously |
fulfilled the requirements of the intelec !
tua nature. Many a brave and frugal
student Of that ilk spent his summers in
hard manual labor that he might return
to his Alma Mater in the autumn, cour-
ageous and determined, as any military
adventurer bent on seeking: The bubble
reputation at the lannon's mouth" We
see him conquering outward obstacles
and entering upon vocatons Of useful
u. - and desert. Yet because Puritanism,
f, which We havo derived tho main
O." nis Of our educational stream, dis
t. 4 acsthctiCism, II crippled the
Ca 'ty of It's children and restrained
IL, .....ol of It's virtues to those outside
its pale. We must often have searched
ourselves for the reasons which explain
I ia, no ~ .t.iea 1nb mr.
ray of Protestant gifts and graces. Ger
tainly the most cultured Puritan who
ever lived, John Milton. knew nothing of
It in his youth. The sad sweet cadcnces
Of II Penseroso and the glad and joyous
trills Of L'Allegro are among the first
fruits Of English poetry which convey the
purest ethic in lyrical loveliness. But
the struggle to destroy traditional usur-
pations of liberty bred a sterner temper
not only in the older Milton but also in
| Puritanisrn at large, which has been both
a strength and weakness. Here we
! have to recover to ourselves the faculty
for proportion, form aud color, in order
that the city beautiful may not be an r-
ridescent dream. For there is a per-
/ petual beauty in art and architecture de-
| rived from the wi2ardrcs of natures per-
feet work, and employed under adequate
| direction for the enrichment of our daily
| surroundings. That some men and women
| cannot perceive this is nothing against 1t,
and the loss for themselves and their en-
| pigments is infinite. Others have 1t in
| them as a consuming passion, They are
| born with an appreciation Tor the genius
of the genuine artist. This ike any other
| native onduemcnt, needs u he aroused
and directed until the universal language
of music and Of satisfying works OF ar
tistry can be heard and answered
| throughout the land. The depressing
contrast between the cities of America
| and those of older countries is convincing
and should be corrective Italy and
| France are more opuent in these elevat-
ing pursuits, if less fortunate in the
blessings of freedom than the western
nations. Nor can we longer plead our jul
venility and ignorance. They are no ex-
| cuse for the unlicensed extravaganza Of
pulpit and platform rhetoric or shoddv
| literature. any more than for the bold and
| reckless brutality of our municipal, mer
camille and domestic structures. Thete
| hideous malforDatOns Of an excessive
and unwilling individuaism are a blot on
our civilization. The prevailing idea of the
mere usefulness of a building or a bridge,
apart from their cores pondeuce Win corr
NreCt taste is maldirecton which soils the
public mind and ministers to its baseness.
Speaking afilrmativelY. such a perennial
spring of ennohling pleasure can no long
er be omitted from any sufficient scheme
of university education True literature
such as Arnold's Essay in Criticism is
art incarnate in words, and the Lincoln
statue of Chicago is art incarnate in
bronze. Its spirit penotrates from them
down to the humblest and most obscure
home. reproaching us for the shortcom-
ings Of the past, prompting US to their
rcctitcation in the near future. Masters
of sculpture, painting. architecture as
well as of music, are for the uprasng of
city and hamlet to the level which the
enlightened ones are beginning to demand
to-day. Money by itself Is ut
terly at loss; II will perpet-
uate these mistakes and evils unless
IT Is controlled by those fundamental
rules Of which the masses are ignorant.
but whose results they can appreciate.
, II liberty is an essential part of the
good Of all things, artistic presentation
Is the queenly garb of those things
And that city or university which re
produces for the twentieth century some
such embodiment as the temples OF
classic renown, san Chapelle" at Paris
? or the angel choir of Lincoln Cathedral
: VIII build an enduring monument already
, becoming practicable under present con
ditionS, monument to the culture and
civic patriotism of the builders which
/ VIII outlast tho memory of commercial
! achievements and the amasslng OF
: immense gains. From these, as from the
| sun of the planetary system, light
, radiates into the tenement and the farm
, stead, healing radiance, before which
! the ugly horrorn Of righteousness and
Of slumdom Will eventually perish.
: Il. Perhaps you are sotcitous that
, should return to what you call the
realities of existence, and remembe,
! that If man could be sure OF n thousand
years he would set himself 10 every
J item in this program. Without admitting
for a moment that artistic culture IS not
= of all realities the third in cducationa
| importance. ranking after moral anC
mental capacities, think It just TO sa!
that the unitarian aspects Of our sys
! ten have, on the whole, been well tC
/ the fore. American educators were quick
! to see that the omission from liberia
a piled science was n matter for serious
: regret Considering the increasing i'm
pOrtance OF science to human interests
its inclusion has been adopted on an ex
, tensive scale, Nobody wishes. least o