THE LANDSCAPE BEAUTIFUL 



is beautiful, as to tell him that the Sistine 

 Madonna, of which he has seen only poor 

 copies, is beautiful. Or, if more instruction 

 is required, it would seem to be quite as 

 easy a task to explain to the pupil wherein 

 the rugged sky-line, with its countering 

 points of emphasis, is beautiful as to explain 

 to him the beauties of Dante, written in 

 a language which he knows not, and con- 

 ceived in an age which his own generation 

 can not understand. In any event, the 

 pupil gains nothing until there awakens in 

 his own soul some response to the beauties 

 set before him by his teacher. The success 

 of this sort of teaching is measured exactly 

 by the breadth and depth of this response, 

 and not, as many persons seem to imagine, 

 by the conventional values placed upon 

 certain classic properties (epics, pictures 

 or statues) which are used in the edu- 

 cational processes. And it seems clear to 

 the writer, who has had some experience 

 in teaching, that a quicker and more natural 

 response is to be expected toward the 

 simple and familiar, though sometimes sub- 

 lime, beauties of the neighboring woods, 

 fields and hills than toward the unfeimiliar 

 and recondite beauties of literature, 



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