330 ANNUAL, REPORT OF THE Off. Doc. 



Let US now look to the forensic world for an example of the third 

 use of ornament. Used very largely by lawyers and poli- 

 ticians to conceal the wrong idea, by decking it out in gorgeous plu- 

 mage, it thus becomes a cloak, and too frequently leads to decisions 

 and acts in which judgment has no part. If you do not believe this, 

 note the decision of juries, and see how frequently a verdict is out of 

 accord with the facts in the case. Then if this is not sufficient to 

 convince you, follow some strenuous orator several thousand mHes 

 as he seeks the support of his "fellow-citizens," and hear the shouts 

 of the people as the heroic speaker hurls at them with unerring 

 logic his garbled thunderbolts. I tell you many a man has gone 

 from a political meeting ashamed of himself, because on a calm, 

 second thought he sees he has acted as one bereft of reason. 



But there is another slightly different side to this question. It is 

 worth our while to bear in mind that ornament may be inseparably 

 connected with use. Why are buildings painted? Why are certain 

 kinds of fence more desirable than others? Obviously for the two- 

 fold reason that fine appearance and usefulness here go together. 

 Do we not also prefer good horses and cattle that present a fine ap- 

 pearance, to those merely good or fine? And, by the way, have you 

 ever stopped to calculate how much more it would cost the other 

 fellow to keep really good stock about him than some he now has? 



After all, do we not allow ourselves to be influenced at times by 

 these same considerations in our relation to other people? Isn't it 

 easier for the natural man to learn to regard a fellow-being more 

 highly if the latter be virtuous and of flue appearance? I ouce heard 

 a young lady say of another who had an unsightly scar on one side of 

 her face, ''I always like Miss Blank a great deal better from the one 

 side than from the other." The ancient Greeks thought beauty and 

 virtue inseparable. They couldn't understand how the homely Soc- 

 rates could be virtuous. 



Next, we shall consider the progressive use of knowledge. Little 

 space will suffice for this point, which might also be termed know- 

 ing in circles. In general, we may say people of like occupation or 

 profession are given to exchanging accounts of experience with a 

 view to entertainment, instruction, or personal satisfaction. We all 

 know that drummers relate, practically, the same yarns. Physi- 

 cians keep one another posted — in fact, have some knowledge that is 

 almost, if not quite, exclusive. Scientists and inventors are watch- 

 ing one another, eager for something new. Witness Edison and 

 Tesla, and note what fun the incredulous are having at their expense. 

 Then there are those in every community whose delight, and it seems 

 sometimes whose sole business, is to do as the Athenians did in Paul's 

 time. In Acts XVII, 21, the writer says, "All the Athenians and 

 strangers who were there spent their time in nothing else but either 



