DEMOCRATIC ART 249 



this life. It also involves the conception that there is nothing 

 beautiful or noble which may not be discovered in the simplest 

 human being. As regards physical structure : l 



Whoever you are! how superb and how divine is your body, or any 

 part of it. 



As regards emotion and passions which throb and pulsate 

 in the individual : 2 



, 



Wherever the human heart beats with terrible throes out of its ribs. 



Whoever ' and ' wherever ' are the emphatic words in 

 ese quotations. The human body in itself is august ; the 

 heart has tragedy implicit in its life-beats. It does not 

 signify ^uhose body, or ivhose heart. Here, there, and every- 

 where, the seeing eye finds majesty, the sentient intelligence 

 detects the stuff of drama. 



The same principle is applied to the whole sphere of nature. 

 Miracles need not be sought in special occurrences, in pheno- 

 mena which startle us out of our ordinary way of regarding 

 the universe : 3 



To me, every hour of the light and dark is a miracle, 



Every inch of space is a miracle, 



Every square yard of the surface of the earth is spread with the same, 



Every cubic foot of the interior swarms with the same ; 



Every spear of grass the frames, limbs, organs of men and women, and 



all that concern them, 

 All these to me are unspeakable miracles. 



At this point science shakes hands with the democratic ideal. 

 We are not forced to gaze upon the starry heavens, or to 

 shudder at islands overwhelmed by volcanic throes, in order 

 to spy out the marvellous. Wonders are always present in 

 the material world, as in the spiritual : 4 



A morning-glory at my window satisfies me more than the metaphysics 

 of books. 



1 ' Starting from Paumanok,' 14. 2 Walt Whitman, 33. 



3 ' Miracles.' 4 Walt Whitman, 154. 



