Art Out-of-Doors 
reason alone. If a work of art is agreeable 
to look upon, we may be glad to possess it 
even if it commemorates a well-meaning no- 
body. 
But the question of artistic excellence is 
very important, and not only from the 
purely artistic point of view. A bad work 
of art bearing the name of a great man de- 
grades his memory, persistently imprinting 
upon the people’s mind a weak or false or 
grotesque idea of him. Who can be won 
to admiration of the poet by the contorted, 
ridiculous figure at the entrance of the Mall 
in Central Park, which bears the name 
of Burns ? Or who can gain a fresh sense 
of the service which Seward rendered the 
Republic by contemplating his statue on 
Madison Square ? But Farragut is really 
commemorated, really honored, by the fig- 
ure which stands not far away from the 
Seward. Each time we pass it we think 
with gratitude and admiration of him, while 
we receive an impression of pleasure from 
the sight of the work of art as such. Nor 
need it be thought that the humblest among 
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