460 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



art is not something afar off; to discover, as well, that every object 

 made by man is full of meaning, having not only a character of its own, 

 but being also an epitome of its maker's biography and a page of the 

 history of his time. In fact it is a truer record of human action than 

 printed page or spoken word. 



With such a wide range of objects, the choice must be left to the 

 teacher who can guide only where his love and appreciation light the 

 way. As any object will do for a sign-post to beginners in this field, 

 let us take a good specimen of a Chippendale chair which we place 

 before the pupils. We call attention to its simplicity ; lead the pupils 

 to see the sincerity shown in its workmanship ; to feel the dainty touches 

 of originality in working out a pattern ; help them to see the sufficiency 

 of clean wood, free from ostentatious ornament, sham graining, and 

 specious varnish; point out that the carving does not vaunt itself but 

 artlessly adds to the charm of the whole; aid them to find out that no 

 small curve could have been left off without loss of beauty; lead them 

 up to appreciate its symmetry and unity the highest notes in a work 

 of art. 



To place beside this a costly and gaudy chair, and to contrast it 

 point for point with the Chippendale, will clarify many hazy esthetic 

 perceptions. A mere hint will persuade most pupils of the futile 

 attempt to make an ugly object beautiful by excessive ornamentation; 

 that the chief end of varnish seems to be to fill cracks and cover up 

 faulty workmanship ; and that a chair filled with twistings and turnings 

 is not unlike the fool who thinks he will be heard for his much speaking. 



Let the young people but look at and think of the two chairs, and 

 the simple dignity of the one will soon bring to view the braying 

 vulgarity of the other. Their character will come out strongly if the 

 pupils are prompted to strip off, in thought, as much as they can from 

 each chair, without marring its beauty or taking from its utility. The 

 Chippendale will bear the loss of very little, if any; whereas the other 

 can give up a large heap of rings, warts, grooves, paint and contortions 

 without taking from its usefulness, but, on the contrary, adding much 

 to its beauty. Now as a better chair rises out of this rubbish, an 

 economic truth will come into view: that a large amount of labor is 

 spent to produce ugliness to debase raw material. As one by one the 

 artistic objects of common life are examined in this way and approved 

 by this quickened power of appreciation, the non-artistic, also, will 

 be forced to stand before the bar of the esthetic judgment to give an 

 account of their purpose in the household. In most houses, the great 

 number that will have to plead 'guilty' to the charge of worthless, 

 defective or faulty must lead to an inquiry as to the function and 

 relation of articles in the home, and an added zest will be given to this 

 study of decoration by the discovery that the choice and arrangement 



