Life as a Fine Art. 425 



" No man liveth for himself alone." Helpfully serve others 

 less favored than yourself, not by unwise charity but by in- 

 spiration to self-help. Give wisely of your abundance if 

 you will, but, above all, give yourself. Remember that 

 wise word of Herbert Spencer: "No one can be perfect- 

 ly free till all are free ; no one can be perfectly moral till 

 all are moral; no one can be perfectly happy till all are 

 happy." It is a noble saving of the Buddhist scripture, 

 worthy of universal repetition : "Never will I seek pri- 

 vate, individual salvation ; never will I enter Eternal Peace 

 alone." 



The Art-Spirit also commandeth us, Love books. They are 

 embodied thoughts. They bring to your mind the wisdom 

 of the past, the companionship of master minds. Make 

 good books your companions and friends. But choose wise- 

 ly : shut the door to those which belittle life or dissipate its 

 golden opportunities. Do not become a mere book- worm 

 or encyclopaedia of undigested facts. Be something more 

 than a copyist of the style or thought of other men. " Read 

 only to start your own team," Mr. Emerson said to his stu- 

 dent friend. Good advice, if it be interpreted to mean the 

 team of independent and original thought If it be taken 

 as an invitation to authorship, receive it cum grano salis. 

 It is a pity to spoil a good farmer, mechanic, or doctor to 

 . make a poor hack writer. Do not live exclusively on books. 

 Mingle also with the living world. Cultivate the love of 

 learning ; this, says Sir John Lubbock, " is better than learn- 

 ing itself." 



In your reading do not neglect history ; but see that it is 

 real history, the true story of man upon the earth, not a 

 mere string of dates, the annals of princes and dynasties. 

 These are the accidents of history, not its vital incidents. 

 Learn something of the past of the human race ; for, as the 

 works of the artist can only be truly known as they are re- 

 lated to his temporal environment, to the tendencies, modes, 

 habits, religion of his time, so we can not master the nobler 

 art of HI e apart from its environment ; we can not know 

 society to-day without keeping step with our father, Man, 

 in his majestic march through the centuries. As art de- 

 generated in the early Christian period through neglect of 

 the living model, so will the art of life be lost if we neglect 

 the living man the man of to-day and the man who was 

 the life of history. 



