Year: 1872

ferior to that OF q rate-book 70 one OF
legion insurance companies, or an al


manac tor gratuitons distribution in


1872. have before me Rev. Geo.
II. Hepworth's Talk on Lite lnsur-
ance." Insurance Companies scatter


this little tract around in dress SO


elegantly fitted up, that man Of
taste cannot help giving it, at least, a
cursory reading. You read the ad


vertisement-for such it is--not be


cause you want to become acquaint-
ed with the thing advertised, but be.
cause OF the attractive form in which


you find it. Indeed, advertisers pay


tor and get, work which is a marvel


for elegance and perfection. Neces-


sity is upon them. They must have


the best; for the public eye is becom.
ing too aesthetic to buy an article ad-


vertised in ugly fashion. Thank our


stars! The press is sort OF technic-


al schod at which the masses receive


a common culture in aesthetic percep-
tions and preferences. The carriers
New Years address; the catalogues


Of books and of institutions OF learn
ing; the Illuminated covers Tor, an5


the illustrations in, periodical publi-


cations both for young and for old;


counting house calendars and even


the advertisements OF eccursed quack


nostrums. .,all are put in dress, which


though it sometimes dignifies most


unworthy subject, and, in some cases,


ministers to false refinement, still


tells OF the glory with which the ty-


geographic art is daily covering itself.
The grand improvements in this
art are a fit representative OF the ten
dency toward perfection in all the


arts and sciences, and, one may say,


even the human race itself. The chill


dren's books school them IN matters


of taste and make real art critics of
them before they are aware OF it


Under the influence Of beautiful
printing, as under the influence OF
every other beauty, they grow un-


consciously into love tor the beau
tiful, aud give promise upon that
ground Of making a better race in
matters of taste than the present


As in trade, SO in the ministration
to taste, demand brings supply, and
therefore it is certain that in all the
multiplied means for transferring inn
pressions to prepared surfaces tor the
qualification OF sense and the culture
OF soul, the continued gradation will
be as heretofore from one degree OF
perfection to another Thus, who
can tell what possibilities the present
state of this art will create, since all
of us, while we feed the mind by the
very attractiveness Of the page we
read, still more and more satisfy the
eye by its artistic elegance. The
pleasure derived from books in this
way increases their use to us and Gre
ates, also, a constant demand, because
q capacity, for something still higher
and better. We aie moving-be-
cause we must-to future of more
thorough sonl-culture, and we shall
reach it, as all genuine reforms are
reached, by a slow process and a
deep plowing that shall stir the soil
OF every society and expose it to the
genial wal NTH she'd down from the
accumulated wisdom of ages. Every
new success in the attempt to bend
matter to the service OF body or soul,
or both, and every victory gained
over the forces of nature, lends its
share to hasten forward the better
time so that one may state, almost
with the certainty OF phrophecv, that.
when We have thoroughly conquered
nature; when we have learned to burn
water tor light and fuel, as doubtless
we shall SOME day +; when I'VE navi-
gate the air as now we sail the sea-
when we so thoroughly understand
the human system as that we shall be
sick no more, then shall we also have
50 far overcome the ugllness and de-
tormlty Of everything we handle
and enjoy, that there will be little to
offend in all the earth. Who will as
sert that the millennium may not thus
glide quietly in upon us through the
peaceful, beautifying influence OF an
accumulated wis dom applied to the
arts and sciences, to labor and thot.
-Whittaker's Nev Monthly Magazine.