250 DEMOCRATIC ART 



The heroic lies within our reach, if we but stretch a finger 

 forth to touch it : l 



Lads ahold of fire-engines and hook-and-ladder ropes no less to me than 



the Gods of the antique wars ; 



Minding their voices peal through the crash of destruction, 

 Their brawny limbs passing safe over charred laths their white fore- 

 heads whole and unhurt out of the flames. 



Whitman expels miracles from the region of mysticism, only 

 to find a deeper mysticism in the world of which he forms 

 a part, and miracles in commonplace occurrences. He de- 

 thrones the gods of old pantheons, because he sees God every- 

 where around him. He discrowns the heroes of myth and 

 romance ; but greets their like again among his living com- 

 rades. What is near to his side, beneath his feet, upon the 

 trees around him, in the men and women he consorts with, 

 bears comparison with things far off and rarities imagined : 2 



I believe a leaf of grass is no less than the journey-work of the stars. . . 

 And the running blackberry would adorn the parlours of heaven. . . 

 And I could come every afternoon of my life to look at the farmer's girl 

 boiling her iron tea-kettle and baking short-cake. 



It is the faculty of the seer, of one who has understood the 

 wonder of the world, whose eyes pierce below the surface, to 

 recognise divinity in all that lives and breathes upon our 

 planet : 3 



Painters have painted their swarming groups, and the centre figure of all ; 

 From the head of the centre figure spreading a nimbus of gold-coloured 



light; 

 But I paint myriads of heads, but paint no head without its nimbus of 



gold-coloured light ; 

 From my hand, from the brain of every man and woman it streams, 



effulgently flowing for ever. 



Pursuing this line of thought into the region of plastic art, we 

 find the elements of dignity and beauty apparent in all forms 

 of sane and healthy manhood : 4 



1 Walt Whitman, 41. * Ibid. 31. 



3 'Leaves of Grass,' 4. 4 'I sing the Body Electric,' 2. 



