234 What We Lose 



they have any capacity for the divine art, it 

 will not make itself felt. It is so rare to find 

 among even our so-called best people of the 

 town any understanding or appreciation of the 

 meaning and beauty of literature, music, and 

 art, that the fear that my children may not 

 know something of these things because they 

 do not habitually associate with these so-called 

 best people, seems really comical to me. The 

 well-to-do people of the city will spend money 

 upon anything but art ; they will cheerfully 

 lavish dollars upon mahogany furniture with 

 stucco veneering, but it will never occur to 

 them to try pine and have their children taught 

 to understand a Beethoven sonata. It has 

 been said that under such a system as mine 

 my boys are likely to grow up fishermen, and 

 nothing more, and that my girls will probably 

 know how to make good butter. Even taking 

 this material view of the matter, I am not at 

 all sure but that an intelligent fisherman who 

 lives in comfort the year round, harassed by no 

 anxieties, and getting the most out of the sea- 

 breeze and the sunlight, has not a far better lot 

 than his city brother who wears more expen- 



