THE BEAUTIFUL* 



WHATSOEVER is true is beautiful; whatsoever is 

 good is beautiful; whatsoever is beautiful is both 

 true and good. The world is delightful because it is beau- 

 tiful, not because it yields us food and raiment, warmth 

 and ease. Science and philosophy delight us, not be- 

 cause they afford us knowledge, but because the true in 

 the world external to the soul attunes so beautiful a har- 

 mony with the soul itself. The truths of science and 

 philosophy we apprehend and utilize; it is the beauty and 

 sublimity of the truth which we enjoy. The sight of 

 spotless virtue, or of a great and noble deed, sends through 

 the heart a thrill of pleasure; but not because some bene- 

 fit comes to the world; it is because there is something 

 in the human soul which stirs in sweet response to a 

 thing which is sweetly and grandly good. 



How large a volume of pure enjoyment is conferred 

 upon man in the existence of the beautiful! The beauti- 

 ful seems created for no other purpose than the enhance- 

 ment of the happiness of sentient beings. Blot out of 

 existence all which appeals simply to the aesthetic sense, 

 and we should still live, and eat, and think, and wor- 

 ship, but how would the rewards of thought and wor- 

 ship shrink in our esteem! Erase from the soul the power 

 to discern the beautiful, and the result would be the same. 



* A commencement address before the State Female College, Memphis, Tenn. 



100 



