14 An Appeal to the Young. 



graphs in colors the dewdrop on the leaf of a plant, 

 imitates the muscle in the leg of a cow, or describes 

 minutely in prose and in verse the suffocating filth of 

 a sewer, the boudoir of a prostitute of high degree. 



" But, if this is so, what is to be done?" you say. 

 If, I reply, the sacred fire that you say you possess 

 is nothing better than a smouldering wick, then you 

 will go on doing as 3^ou have done, and your art will 

 speedily degenerate into the trade of decorator of 

 tradesmen's shops, of a purveyor of libretti to third- 

 rate operettas and tales for Christmas annuals — 

 most of you are already running down that grade 

 with a fine head of steam on. . . . 



But, if your heart really beats in unison with that 

 of humanity, if like a true poet you have an ear for 

 life, then, gazing out upon this sea of sorrow whose 

 tide sweeps up around you, face to face with these 

 people dying of hunger, in the presence of these 

 corpses piled up in the mines, and these mutilated 

 bodies lying in heaps on the barricades looking on 

 these long lines of exiles who are going to bury them- 

 selves in the snows of Siberia and in the marshes of 

 tropical islands, in full view of this desperate battle 

 which is being fought, amid the cries of pain from 

 the conquered and the orgies of the victors, of heroism 

 in conflict with cowardice, of noble determination 

 face to face with contemptible cunning — you cannot 

 remain neutral: you will come and take the side of 

 the oppressed because you know that the beautiful, 

 the sublime, the spirit of life itself are on the side of 

 those who fight for light, for humanity, for justice! 



You stop me at last ! 



" What the devil ! " 3''ou say. " If abstract science 

 is a luxury and practice of medicine mere chicane ; 

 if law spells injustice, and mechanical invention is 

 but a means of robbery; if the school, at variance 

 with the wisdom of the ' practical man,' is sure to be 

 overcome, and art without the revolutionary idea can 



