FARMERS' INSTITUTES. 49 



place in God's life and AAork, and a larger one in his own than he had 

 thought. 



THE ENJOYMENT OF BEAUTY. 



Euskin says that every human conception of beauty has its origin and 

 finds its most perfect expression in some tliought of the Creator expressed 

 in material things. This ability, through our sense of beauty, to enter 

 Into the thought of God is surely no mean source of the happiness, the 

 pursuit of which is one of the inalienable rights which our fathers de- 

 clared was the birthright of every human being, and which is as truly a 

 part of the gift of life that comes to a child as any other power; and to 

 aob him of it, or allow it to jierish through lack of use, is a crime as 

 monstrous as to rob him of his liberty, or of his mind, or of anv other gift 

 of God. 



M is an inexorable law that to him that hath shall be given and from 

 liini that hath not shall be taken even that he hath, and use is essential 

 to the continuance and growth of every power or right. And, my friends, 

 I honestly believe that there are man}' children in this State, yes, in this 

 town, who are being wronged through the neglect of the development of 

 their sense of beauty. It will not do to say that your child never seemed 

 to care for such things. Have you ever done anything to develop this 

 sense and power? If we give as little thought to, and as seldom exercise 

 ^ny other power of mind and body as we do this ability to see and feel 

 the beauty which is everywhere about us, would it not become weak, and 

 finally die? 



W'E OWN AT.L BEAUTIFUL THINGS. 



The beauty of everything which God has made belongs to every one 

 of His children to just the .dt'gi'c-e to which they can appreciate and enjoy 

 it, and it cannot be passed on by title deed. A Vanderbilt may build 

 and shut me away from the beauty of a Biltmore, but he cannot thereby 

 possess himself of the enjo^'uient of the beautiful which he takes from 

 me. The grace and beauty of yonder elm, like the beaut}' of the blue 

 sky above, may be just as much mine as the man's who holds the title 

 to the land on which it grows. It belongs in the greatest measure to 

 the one who enjoys it most. The beauty of the lily which I see growing 

 in my neighbor's yard is just as much mine as is that of the one growing 

 in my own. 



We all have a sense of ownership in, and responsibilitj- for, the glory 

 of ©ur nation, and take pleasure in its might and power. In precisely 

 the same way we ought to be willing to give something of our personal 

 comfort and labor to the preserving and adding to the beauty of the 

 country, particularly to its roadsides and other places which are acknowl- 

 •edged public property, for its beauty belongs to all as much as its liberty 

 and glory. It increases any man's love for his country to fight for it. 

 The more he gives and does for her, the more dear she is to him and the 

 more joy he gets from her glory. There is nothing which will do more 

 to make patriotic citizens of our boys and girls, to increase their love of 

 country, than to induce them to give something of care and labor to 

 make their town beautiful. Every tree set and cared for by a boy binds 

 him to the place with cords that become stronger with its growth. What 



