WITH RUSKIN. W 



but how could he ever find a phrase with 

 which to picture a gulf -cap, as I see it yonder 

 in the far south-west, suspended between sea 

 and sky? The fact is that here on the gulf 

 coast I find some of the most delightful 

 weather and many of the most charming bits 

 of scenery I have ever enjoyed. One could 

 almost afford to have a sharp attack of in- 

 flammatory rheumatism in order to get sent 

 down here (for a month or two 0f convales- 

 cence) where one may lie on a log like an alli- 

 gator and listen to the wind and the sea and 

 the roaring pines, while an obliging friend 

 sits buzzing and humming over a volume of 

 Ruskin like a bee over a flower. Few books 

 will bear reading in the open air, in the full, 

 strong light of nature. Even Ruskin would 

 suffer under the test. 



How apparent becomes the utter isolation 

 of a mind like Ruskin's when one gets thor- 

 oughly apart with it and at a great distance 

 from the clashing activities of worldly life ! 

 Emerson, Carlyle, and Ruskin -three lonely 

 spirits talking to mankind in the language of 

 seers and prophets, and all without much re- 

 sult, so far as effecting their purposes is con- 

 cerned. This is good mind-food, all this bril- 

 liant literature, suggestive, thought-provok- 

 ing, soul-delighting; but the old world and 

 the new world heed not its philosophy, flinch 

 not under its goads, adopt not one suggestion 

 it offers. A few read and are strangely af- 

 fected; they feel a fertilizing element flung 

 into their minds, and they wonder why all 

 the world is not down at Carlyle's, or Emer- 

 son's, or Ruskin's feet; and yet even these 

 few do not go much farther than mere recep- 

 tivity impels. The activities of life are, in- 

 deed, little influenced by the great abstract 



