82 



HOME AND FLOWERS 



often be found at fifty cents, and her 

 gracious dignity makes lier presence a 

 thing to be desired. All the standard 

 statues are reproduced in plaster, and may 

 be found in the art stores, or ordered by 

 mail, at low cost. 



In seeking to develop one's self and 

 one's own artistically it is well to begin 

 with an object of admitted beauty, for it 

 is safe to assume that the decisions of the 

 cultured minds of age^ must have had 

 some basis in truth. If one does not see 

 wherein the beauty lies let one study the 

 object until the beauty is felt, because 



beauty is felt even more than it is seen. 

 Begin with old masterpieces, as they es- 

 cape being a fad — something not unknown 

 even in art — and one thus avoids an in- 

 fluence which makes a true opinion very 

 difficult at times. 



With every point one gains in the appre- 

 ciation of beaut}', one enjoys more, and 

 finds with it a broadening of the mind 

 and of the sympathies which has a reflex 

 action upon the soul also. It is not easy 

 to love the beautiful — the visible expres- 

 sion of the thought which produced it — 

 and then to follow evil. 



How Sunshine Came to Be 



'By Cynthia TVestover Alden 



[President-General of the International Sunshine Society.] 



I ^WAS a wicked oLd Magician, when this 

 care-worn w'orld was young. 

 Who contrived a scheme far meaner than 

 was ever said or sung. 



Long his soul had hated Sunshine, since it made 



all mortals smile 

 With the kindliness of welcome on the noble or 



the vile. 



Cudgeling his brain he sought to split this 



blessed Sunshine up; 

 Found a prism in the handle of his horrid poison 



cup. 



Henceforth some were red and angry in revolt 



against the strong, 

 Quite forgetting that the mighty had not sought 



to do them wrong. 



Some were glittering in orange and could see no 

 other tint; 



Charitable to their fellow^s, to outsiders hard as 

 flint. 



They w^hom time had touched severely, in the 



sere and yellow leaf. 

 Thought their children were ungrateful, and 



could not forget their grief. 



Green were some with jealous feeling, never 



owning they were blest, 

 Hurling mud and filth of envy at the pleasure of 



the rest. 



Others, whatsoe'er their portion, claimed the 



right of being blue, 

 Sure that Providence denied them what was 



nothing but their due. 



Deeper natures seemed to revel in their shade of 

 indigo. 



Finding pleasure in their ever-present conscious- 

 ness of woe. 



Last of all, the violet children, pettish in their 

 elegance, 



Lent to half-clad want a war cry that had deep 

 significance. 



So, for ages, human weakness lifted up its 



childish hand, 

 Urged to malice by the colors it was helpless to 



command ! 



Split-up Sunshine narrowed kindness in the Red, 



the Green, the Blue, 

 And the wicked old Magician had done all he 



sought to do. 



Such the genesis of Hatred: Love is what we 



ought to praise; 

 Hatred springs from color-blindness: we would 



re-collect the rays ! 

 Sunshine, as it comes, unprismed, on the world 



is freely shed: 

 We will never cease our effort till this spectrum- 

 fright has fled; 

 Goodness lives within the palace, goodness in 



the cottage dwells, 

 And, that each may see the other, we would n-ow 



undo the spells 

 Of that wicked old Magician whose aggressi\'e 



heathenism 



Found the mightiest of weapons in his hateful 

 old-time prism ! 



