6o KANSAS ACADEMY OF SCIENCE. 



that there are the boughs of the tall trees and their quivering leaves, 

 and all the hazy passages of sunshine, the blades of the shaking 

 grass with all manner of hues of variable, pleasant light out of the 

 sky; and the bottom seen in the clear little bits at the edge, and the 

 stones of it, and all the sky, and the clouds far down in the middle 

 drawn as completely and more delicately they must be than the real 

 clouds above. For the ugly gutter that stagnates over the drain- 

 bars in the heart of the foul city, is not altogether base ; down in 

 that if you will look deep enough you may see the dark, serious blue 

 of the far off sky and the passing of pure clouds. It is at your will 

 that you see in that despised stream either the refuse of the street, 

 or the image of the sky; so it is with many other things we unkindly 

 despise." A painter who is a nice observer enough to notice all 

 this, will be equally exact and discriminating in all his observations; 

 ten to one lie will be as ready in giving you a verbal account of 

 them, as in a pictured one. Ergo, a good Artist should be an enter- 

 taining writer and an eloquent orator. Indeed, I can think of noth- 

 ing with the exception of religion, as remarkable as Art for its 

 universal adaptability, its all-preserving character. To the poor a 

 means of support and source of rich enjoyment. To the scholar 

 opening fields of critical study and connoisseurship, cultivating the 

 tastes of the rich, so that their wealth is not mere vulgar display, 

 but made the patron of luxury, which is aesthetic, and elegance which 

 is the perfection of loveliness. 



If, like religion, it enters into all our humdrum cares, beautifying 

 our homes and glorifying the humblest occupation, what then must 

 be the happiness of one allowed to minister as priest in the Holy of 

 Holies, and leaving the application, devote himself exclusively to 

 High Art ? I maintain there is but one vocation equal in beauty, in 

 honor and sacredness, to that of the Artist. That one is the Christian 

 Ministry. Men there are who disgrace' both callings ; it seems to 

 me to be worthy of either, a man should devote his life to the work, 

 and be filled with such a holy passion, such a calm but overmaster- 

 ing enthusiasm that nothing earthly — fame, friends, fortune, happi- 

 ness, applause, high honor, even love — these, or the loss of any or 

 all of them should materially affect him. Nay, he should be able 

 to say with the Apostle Paul, "I am persuaded that neither death, 

 nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, 

 nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, 

 shall be able to separate me from the love of God as manifested in 

 my most sacred calling." 



Only an amateur as yet, standing as a novice at the outer gate, it 



