462 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



cities have been 'decorated' with large and beautiful photographs of 

 famous works of art. But the want of harmony in the proportions of 

 the rooms, the ugly color of the walls and woodwork, the hopelessly 

 commonplace paneling, and the inartistic seats, make the pictures as 

 much out of place as mailed knights in a modern regiment. While 

 such incongruity may make the vulgar stare, it can not but make the 

 judicious grieve. 



During recent years the cause of art has been espoused by pro- 

 fessional esthetes with whom art is merely a fad. They use it as a 

 means of self-advertisement. Such persons have no feeling for art 

 and are blind leaders of the blind with the well-known result. As Mr. 

 Whistler says in ' Ten 'clock ' : ' The voice of the aesthete is heard in 

 the land and catastrophe is upon us.' For only he can teach, in whom 

 the spirit of the artist dwells. 



Considered and taught from the standpoint of appreciation, art 

 becomes a vital force in the lives of men and forms an important factor 

 of their effective environment. Each person, gratified at his growing 

 powers of appreciating art at first-hand, is led to re-survey the sur- 

 rounding world with this new artistic standard. This quality of 

 expressing its maker's delight, which many objects possess and nearly 

 all may possess is sought for without any other stimulus than the 

 pleasure derived from gratifying the esthetic sense. Each object is 

 made to stand a new trial and respond to a new set of demands. All 

 the elements of environment are scrutinized, then condemned or 

 approved ; for, contrary to the popular notion, the majority of mankind 

 have a latent power of appreciation for art, but like the water hidden 

 in the rocks in Cyprus, it will come forth only when struck in the right 

 place and manner. 



If a woman, with a good esthetic standard, goes forth to buy furni- 

 ture, she is no longer in a mood to be persuaded to buy an object, unless 

 it comes up to her conception of beauty. Neither gilded ugliness, 

 expensive tawdriness, nor the 'latest thing out' is wanted, but a char- 

 acter which she can live with and enjoy. Such a demand on the part 

 of a goodly portion of purchasers would materially change the character 

 of our manufactured product and leaven our social and industrial life. 



