THROUGH LIBRARY WINDOWS 127 



inspiration. "Talent for any art is rare, but 

 it is given to all to cultivate a taste for art. 

 The more things one learns to know and enjoy 

 the more complete and rich will be the joy of 

 living." So it is we cultivate art and daily 

 reap some of life's best things. Art in all its 

 forms, as expressed through the eye or ear 

 to the very soul of man, has contributed more 

 to social well-being than any other one force. 

 It has made the plain beautiful; it has trans- 

 formed nature into something more than na- 

 ture. 



I am sure you can see why we love pic- 

 tures. They are educators. Their educating 

 power is greater than we are wont to concede. 

 Silently but none the less really do they impress 

 us. The eye is a marvellous instrument, and it 

 seldom forgets. It is more accurate than the 

 ear. A family of four boys, raised far back in 

 the country, ran away to sea, one after another, 

 before they came of age. The mother was 

 lamenting this to a friend, who noticed a beau- 

 tiful steel engraving of a full-rigged ship, plow- 

 ing the waters, a thing of life and beauty. It 

 was a very attractive picture and had hung over 

 the mantle during all the childhood of the boys. 



There is little danger of paying too much 

 attention to the various details of home adorn- 



