458 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



any reason for granting the claims of production, only, and teaching 

 art in all our schools as though all children were to be nothing but 

 producers ? Is it not as important to use wisely as to make well ? In 

 art, should not children be taught to appreciate, independently of the 

 use of tools ? Certainly, no one will maintain that appreciation depends 

 upon ability to do, but on the capacity to understand. One may enjoy 

 the beauty of a house although one lack the skill to drive a nail ; great 

 pleasure may be had from the splendors of a gothic cathedral without 

 knowing how to build one; and even the primrose may fill one with 

 esthetic delight. 



Here, then, we have two educational ideals. While I do not wish 

 to minimize the great value of technical training in handicrafts as a 

 means of developing character, I wish to insist that learning to do and 

 learning to enjoy are independent and totally different functions. 

 Every writer on economics dwells upon the important distinctions 

 between makers and users, and the common experience of every-day life 

 teaches that it is possible for man to make what he detests and thor- 

 oughly enjoy what he can not do. 



There is no doubt of our ability as producers, and this vast power 

 has been obtained by sacrificing our artistic instincts on the altar of 

 production. Our modern society, like some great oak, has put forth all 

 its vitality to extend one mighty branch, but to do this, it has sacrificed 

 its symmetry and beauty. 



The pleasure derived from an object of art as from any object of 

 enjoyment does not depend upon an external standard, for, though 

 a work of art may be pronounced perfect by competent judges, I may 

 derive no pleasure, whatever, from it. In order to enjoy, I must be able 

 to join hands with the artist and partake of his feelings. Every 

 artistic conception is surrounded by an atmosphere of pleasurable emo- 

 tion, and the art consists in giving expression to this. To be infected 

 with this feeling, the mind of the spectator, like the sensitive plate in a 

 camera, must be prepared to receive it, that is, it must possess the 

 requisite capacity. Let us keep clearly before us that our goal, now, is 

 not the acquisition of facts and opinions; it is not learning esthetic 

 rules, nor relying upon some authority ; these may assist, but no amount 

 of such collateral truths can add aught to one's standard of apprecia- 

 tion this can be done only by the action of the mind itself. The power 

 to enjoy art, like the strength of the blacksmith's arm, is developed only 

 through use. As a meteor entering the earth's atmosphere is set on 

 fire by friction, so the feelings are enkindled by vital contact with art. 

 Now this does not come alone from visiting picture galleries ; attending 

 grand operas, or reading the poets. These are favorable conditions, but 

 in order to increase the power of appreciation, one's esthetic sense 

 must find a place to rest its foot where it may pause with delight. 



