ON THE ART WHICH MENDS 

 NATURE 



"This is an art 

 Which does mend nature, 



change it rather, but 

 The art itself is nature." 



fN all the old-time debating clubs there 

 were three live issues: the relative 

 destructiveness of fire and water, the 

 joy of pursuit versus the satisfaction of 

 possession, and the comparative beauty 

 of the works of art and the works of 

 nature. Well do I remember how, when 

 our school district was matched against 

 No. 23, adjoining us on the south, 

 I heroically defended the beauties of art 

 against the teacher of the opposing school, 

 who sought to show that only nature was 

 fit to be admired! Oh, those were Homeric 

 days, and the question fitted the times. 

 What think you, my cultured reader, in 

 this year of grace, are the works of art more 

 to be loved than those of nature? 



85 



