,,right ,,living ,,as ,a ,,fine ,,art ,a ,study of ,channing's ,symphony as an ,outline of the ,ideal ,life and ,character ,,newell ,,dwight ,,hillis ,illustration ,fleming ,h4 ,revell ,company ,new ,york ,chicago ,toronto #aijc ,,copyrighted #ahih-ahii ,,by ,,fleming ,h4 ,,revell ,,company4 ,contents ,,one ,a ,study of ,channing's ,symphony as an ,outline of the ,ideal ,life and ,character ,,two ,channing's ,vision of the ,beautiful ,life ,,three ,the ,largest ,wealth ,,four ,the ,world a ,whispering ,gallery ,,five ,how ,knowledge ,becomes ,wisdom ,,six ,the ,disguises of ,inferiority ,,seven ,strength ,blossoming into ,beauty ,,eight ,life's ,crowning ,perfection ,and let the beauty of the ,lord our ,god be upon us2 and establish thou the work of our hands upon us2 yea1 the work of our hands establish thou it4 ,psalm xc3 #ag4 ,,my ,,symphony4 ,to live content with small means2 to seek elegance rather than luxury1 and refinement rather than fashion2 to be worthy1 not respectable1 and wealthy1 not rich2 to listen to stars and birds1 babes and sages with open heart2 to study hard2 to think quietly1 act frankly1 talk gently1 await occasions1 hurry never2 in a word1 to let the spiritual1 unbidden and unconscious1 grow up through the common--this is my symphony4 ,,william ,,henry ,,channing4 ,a ,,study ,,of ,,channing',s ,,symphony ,,as ,,an ,,outline ,,of ,,the ,,ideal ,,life ,,and ,,character4 ,to the revival of learning in the fourteenth century1 to the revival of religion in the sixteenth1 and the revival of liberty in the eighteenth century must now be added the revival of the beautiful in this new era for art4 ,in former ages man was content if his house was dry1 his coat was warm1 his tool strong4 ,but now has come an era when man's house must have beautiful walls1 when woman's dress must have harmonious hues1 when the speaker's truth must be clothed in words of beauty2 while in religion if the worshiper once was content with a harsh hymn1 now man best loves the song that has a beautiful sentiment and a sweet tune4 ,always the useful had a cash value4 ,now beauty has become a commodity4 ,to-day1 to hold his place1 the artisan must become an artist4 ,the era of ugliness1 with its clumsy tools and ungainly garments1 has gone forever4 ,no longer content with lending strength to coat or chair or car1 manufacturers now vie with one another in a struggle to make the garment take on lines of grace1 and colors soft and beautiful4 ,society seems to be standing upon the threshold of the greatest art movement in history4 ,best of all this1 revival of the beautiful promises to be a permanent social possession4 ,very brief and fitful that first art epoch when ,phidias polished statues1 the very fragments of which are the despair of modern sculptors4 ,all too short also that era when ,raphael and ,botticelli brought the canvas into what seemed the zenith of its perfection4 ,it was as if the vestal virgin of beauty had drawn near to fan the flickering light into a fierce flame only to allow it quickly to die out again4 ,but if other art epochs have been soon followed by eras of ugliness and tyranny1 it was because formerly the patrician class alone was interested in the beautiful4 ,in that far-off time1 ,pericles had his palace and ,athens her temple1 but the common people dwelt in mud huts1 wore coats of sheepskin1 and slept on beds of straw4 ,the beauty that was manifest in pictures1 marbles1 rich textures1 bronzes1 belonged exclusively to the cathedral or the palace4 ,now has come an era when art is diffused4 ,beauty is sprinkled all over the instruments of dining-room1 parlor and library4 ,it is organized into textures of cotton1 wool and silk4 ,even in the poor man's cottage blossoms break forth upon floor and walls1 while vines festoon the humblest door4 ,once1 at great expense1 a baron in ,france or ,germany would send an artist into ,italy to copy some masterpiece of ,titian or ,tintoretto4 ,now modern photography makes it possible for the poorest laborer to look upon the semblance of great pictures1 statues1 cathedrals1 landscapes--treasures these once beyond the wealth of princes4 ,having made tools1 books1 travel1 home1 religion to be life-teachers1 ,god has now ordained the beautiful as an apostle of the higher ,christian life4 ,recognizing the hand of ,god in every upward movement of society1 we explain this new enthusiasm for art upon the principle that beauty is the outer sign of an inner perfection4 ,oft with lying skill men veneer the plaster pillar with slabs of marble1 and hide soft wood with strips of mahogany4 ,but beauty is no outer veneer4 ,when ripeness enters the fruit within a soft bloom steals over the peach without4 ,when every drop of blood in the veins is pure a beauteous flush overcasts the young girl's cheek4 ,when summer hath lent ripeness to the harvests ,god casts a golden hue over the sheaf and lends a crimson flush to the autumn leaves4 ,for beauty is ripeness1 maturity and strength4 ,therefore when the seer says1 ,god maketh everything beautiful in its time1 he indicates that ,god's handiwork is perfect work4 ,when some ,wordsworth or ,emerson leaves behind men's clumsy creations and enters the fields where ,god's workmanship abounds1 the poet finds the ground spotted with fire and gold in tints of flowers2 he finds the trees hung with festooned vines2 finds the forests uniting their branches in cathedral arches2 finds the winds making music down the long1 leafy aisles2 finds the birds pouring forth notes in choiring anthems1 while the very clouds rise like golden incense toward an unseen throne4 ,though the traveler journey far1 he shall find no bud1 no bough1 no landscape or mountain or ocean1 that is not overcast with bloom and beauty4 ,we are not surprised therefore when we see that as man's arts and industries go toward perfection they go toward beauty4 ,carry the coarse flax up toward beauty and it becomes strong cloth4 ,carry the cocoon of a worm up to beauty and it becomes a soft silken robe4 ,carry rude ,attic speech up to beauty and it becomes the language of ,homer or ,hesiod4 ,carry the strange face or form tatooed upon the arm of the savage up to beauty and it becomes a ,madonna or a ,transfiguration4 ,carry a stone altar and a smoking sacrifice up to beauty and it becomes a ,cologne cathedral or a ,westminster ,abbey4 ,indeed1 historians might use the beautiful as the touchstone of human progress4 ,the old milestones of growth were metals4 ,first came the age when arrows were tipped with flint4 ,then came the iron age1 when the spear had a metal point4 ,the bronze age followed1 lending flexibility to ore hitherto unyielding4 ,later came the steel age1 when weapons that bruised gave place to the keen edge that cuts4 ,perhaps the divinity chat represents our era will stand forth plated with oxide of silver4 ,but his ideas of beauty would measure man's progress quite as accurately4 ,in that first rude age beauty was external4 ,man twisted gay feathers into his hair1 painted his cheeks red or yellow1 wore rings of bright shells about his neck4 ,but our age is high because beauty has ceased to be mere personal adornment4 ,man now seeks to make his books beautiful for the intellect1 his library and gallery beautiful for taste and imagination1 his temple beautiful for worship1 his home beautiful in the interest of the heart1 his song and prayer not simply true1 but beautiful with praise to the unseen ,god4 ,if in rude ages beauty was associated with physical elements1 the glory of our era is that beauty1 unfolding from century to century1 is now increasingly associated with those moral qualities that lend remembrance to mother and martyr1 to hero and patriot and saint4 ,to-day1 fortunately for society1 this world-wide interest in art is becoming spiritualized4 ,from beautiful objects men are passing to beautiful thoughts and deeds4 ,we begin to hear much of the art of right living and the science of character building4 ,having lent charm and value to column and canvas1 to marble and masterpiece1 beauty now moves on to lend loveliness to mind and heart4 ,for it seems an incongruous thing for man to adorn his cottage1 lend charm to its walls and windows1 make its ceilings to be like the floor of heaven for beauty1 while within his heart he cherishes groveling littleness1 slimy sin1 light-winged evasions1 brutal passions4 ,he whose body rides in a palace car must not carry a soul that is like unto a savage4 ,having lingered long before the portrait of ,antigone or ,cordelia1 the young girl finds herself pledged to turn that ideal into life and character4 ,the copy of the ,sistine ,madonna hanging upon the wall asks the woman who placed it there to realize in herself this glorious type of motherhood4 ,when the admirers of ,shakespeare bought the house in which their hero was born1 they planted in the garden the flowers which the poet loved4 ,passing through the little wicket gate the pilgrim finds himself moving along a perfumed path1 while to his garments clings the odor of violets and roses1 sweet peas and buttercups1 the columbine and honeysuckle--flowers these1 whose roots are in earth indeed1 but whose beauty is borrowed from heaven4 ,from these grounds men have expelled the poison ivy1 the deadly nightshade1 all burdocks and thistles4 ,and the soul is a garden in which truth1 purity1 patience1 love1 long suffering are qualities whiter than any lily and sweeter than any rose1 whose perfume never passes1 whose beauty does not fade4 ,and having succeeded in transforming waste places into centers of radiant beauty1 man encourages the hope that he can carry his own reason1 judgment and ambition up to full symmetry and perfection4 ,what a transformation man has wrought in matter6 ,nature says1 here is a lump of mud2 man answers1 let it become a beautiful vase4 ,nature says1 here is a sweet briar2 man answers1 let it become a rose double and of many hues4 ,nature says1 here is a string and a block of wood2 man answers1 let them be a sweet-voiced harp4 ,nature says1 here is a daisy2 ,burns answers1 let it become a poem4 ,nature says1 here is a piece of ochre and some iron rust2 ,millet answers1 let the colors become an ,angelus4 ,nature says1 here is reason rude and untaught2 man must answer1 let the mind become as full of thoughts as the sky of stars and more radiant4 ,nature says1 here is a rude affection2 man must answer1 let the heart become as full of love and sympathy as the summer is full of ripeness and beauty4 ,nature says1 here is a conscience1 train it2 man should answer1 let the conscience be as true to ,christ and ,god as a needle to the pole4 ,marvelous man's skill through the fine arts6 ,wondrous1 too1 his handicrafts6 ,but no picture ever painted1 no poem ever perfected1 no temple ever builded is comparable for strength and beauty to a full-orbed soul1 matured through a widely trained reason and a sober judgment--mellow in heart and conscience1 pervaded throughout with the spirit of ,jesus ,christ1 the soul's master and model4 ,,channing',s ,,vision ,,of ,,the ,,beautiful ,,life4 ,among those gifted spirits who have toiled tirelessly to carry the individual life up to unity1 symmetry and beauty1 let us hasten to mention the name of ,channing4 ,the child of genius1 he was gifted with a literary style that lent strange fascination to all his speech4 ,but great as he was in intellect1 his character shone with such splendor as to eclipse his genius4 ,he was of goodness all compact4 ,early the winds of adversity beat against his little bark4 ,invalidism and misfortune1 too1 threatened to destroy his career4 ,but bearing up amid all misfortune1 he slowly wrought out his ideal of life as a fine art4 ,patiently he perfected his dreams4 ,daily he practiced frugality1 honor1 justice1 faith1 love and prayer4 ,he met storm with calm2 he met provocation with patience2 he met organized iniquity with faith in ,god's eternal truth2 he met ingratitude and enmity with forgiveness and love4 ,at last he completed his symphony of an ideal life1 that he hoped would help the youth and maiden to make each day as inspiring as a song1 each deed as holy as a prayer1 each character as perfect as a picture4 ,for he felt that the life of child and youth1 of patriot and parent should have a loveliness beyond that of any flower or landscape1 and a majesty not found in any cataract or mountain1 being clothed also with a beauty that does not inhere in ,canova's marble and a permanency that is not possessed by ,von ,riles' cathedral1 a structure builded of thoughts and hopes and aspirations1 of tears and prayers1 and purposes1 whose foundation is eternal truth4 ,,the ,,foundation ,,of ,,happiness4 ,in founding his ideal life upon contentment with small means1 ,channing pleads for simplicity and the return to plain living and high thinking4 ,he would fain double the soul's leisure by halving its wants4 ,looking out upon his age1 he beheld young men crazed with a mania for money4 ,he saw them refusing to cross the college threshold1 closing the book1 neglecting conversation1 despising friendship1 postponing marriage1 that they might increase their goods4 ,yet he remembered that earth's most gifted children have been content with small means1 achieving their greatest triumphs midst comparative poverty4 ,,the ,,largest ,,wealth4 ,the ,divine ,carpenter and ,his immortal band dwelt far from luxury4 ,poor indeed were ,socrates1 the reformer1 and ,epictetus1 the slave1 and ,virgil1 the poet4 ,burns1 too1 and ,wordsworth and ,coleridge1 with ,keats and ,shelley--all these dwelt midway between poverty and riches4 ,when that young ,english scholar learned that his relatives had willed him a fortune of ,l#e1jjj he wrote the dying man begging him to abandon his design1 saying that he already had one servant1 and that added care and responsibility meant the cutting off of a few minutes for study in the morning and a few minutes for reflection at night4 ,a ,,plea ,,for ,,simplicity4 ,here are our own ,hawthorne and ,longfellow--content with small means4 ,here is ,emerson resigning his church in ,boston and leaving fame behind him1 that upon the little farm at ,concord he might escape the thousand and one details that robbed his soul of its simplicity4 ,here is ,thoreau building his log cabin by ,walden pond1 living on forty dollars a year because he saw that man was being destroyed by his unwieldy and overgrown establishment1 cluttered with much furniture and tripped with his own traps1 ruined by luxury and heedless expense1 whose only hope was in rigid economy and ,spartan simplicity4 ,ours is a world where ,cervantes writes ,don ,quixote living upon three bowls of porridge brought by the jailer of the prison4 ,the ,german philosopher asked one cluster of grapes1 one glass of milk and a slice of bread twice each day4 ,having completed his philosophy1 the old scholar looked back upon forty happy years1 saying that every fine dinner his friends had given him had blunted his brain for one day1 while indigestion consumed an amount of vital energy that would have sufficed for one page of good writing4 ,a wise youth will think twice before embarking upon a career involving large wealth4 ,some there are possessed of vast property whose duty it is to carry bravely their heavy burden in the interest of society and the increase of life's comforts1 conveniences and happiness4 ,yet wise ,agur's prayer still holds3 ,give me neither poverty nor riches4 ,whittier1 on his little farm1 refusing a princely sum for a lecture1 was content with small means4 ,wendell ,phillips1 preferring the slave and the contempt of ,boston's merchants and her patrician society1 chose to be worthy1 not respectable4 ,some ,ruskin1 distributing his bonds and stocks and lands to found workingmen's clubs1 art schools and colleges1 that he might have more leisure for enriching his imagination and heart1 chose to be wealthy1 not rich4 ,needing many forms of wisdom1 our age needs none more than the grace to live content with small means1 seeking elegance rather than luxury1 and refinement rather than fashion4 ,,the ,,world ,a ,,whispering ,,gallery4 ,when the sage counsels us to listen to stars and birds1 to babes and sages1 he opens to us the secrets of the soul's increase in wisdom and happiness4 ,all culture begins with listening4 ,growth is not through shrewd thinking or eloquent speaking1 but through accurate seeing and hearing4 ,our world is one vast whispering gallery1 yet only those who listen hear the still1 small voice of truth4 ,putting his ear down to the rocks1 the listening geologist hears the story of the rocks4 ,standing under the stars1 the listening astronomer hears the music of the spheres4 ,leaving behind the din and dirt of the city1 ,agassiz plunged into the forests of the ,amazon1 and listening to boughs and buds and birds he found out all their secrets4 ,one of our wisest teachers has said1 ,the greatest thing a human soul ever does in this world1 is to see something1 and tell what it saw in a plain way4 ,hundreds of people can talk1 for one who can think4 ,but thousands can think for one who can see2 to see clearly is poetry1 prophecy and religion all in one4 ,therefore finding the world of literature more or less divided into thinkers and seers1 ,i believe we shall find also1 that the seers are wholly the greater race of the two4 ,for greatness is vision4 ,opening his eyes1 ,newton sees the planets revolve and finds his fame4 ,opening his ears1 ,watt hears the movement of steam and finds his fortune4 ,millet explained his fame by saying he copied the colors of the sunset at the moment when reapers bow the head in silent prayer4 ,the great bard1 too1 tells us he went apart and listened to find sermons in stones1 and books in the running brooks4 ,,the ,,secret ,,of ,,culture4 ,it is a proverb that pilgrims to foreign lands find only what they take with them4 ,riding over the ,new ,england hills near ,boston1 ,lowell spake not to his companion1 for now he was looking out upon the pageantry of a glorious ,october day1 and now he remembered that this was the road forever associated with ,paul ,revere's ride4 ,reaching the outskirts of ,cambridge1 he roused from his reverie to discover that his silent companion had been brooding over bales and barrels1 not knowing that this had been one of those rare days when ,october holds an art exhibit1 and also oblivious to the fact that he had been passing through scenes historic through the valor of the brave boy4 ,of the four artists copying the same landscape near ,chamouni1 all saw a different scene4 ,to an idler a river means a fish pole1 to a heated schoolboy a bath2 to the man of affairs the stream suggests a turbine wheel2 while the same stream leads the philosopher to reflect upon the influence of great rivers upon cities and civilizations4 ,coleridge thought the bank of his favorite stream was made to lie down upon1 but ,bunyan1 beholding the stream through the iron bars of a prison cell1 felt the breezes of the ,delectable ,mountains cool his fevered cheek1 and stooping down he wet his parched lips with the river of the waters of life4 ,nature has no message for heedless1 inattentive hearers4 ,it is possible for a youth to go through life deaf to the sweetest sounds that ever fell over ,heaven's battlements1 and blind to the beauty of landscape and mountain and sea and sky4 ,there is no music in the autumn wind until the listener comes4 ,there is no order and beauty in the rolling spheres until some ,herschel stands beneath the stars4 ,there is no fragrance in the violet until the lover of flowers bends down above the blossoms4 ,listening to stars1 ,laplace heard the story how fire mists are changed to habitable earths1 and so became wise toward iron and wood1 steel and stone4 ,listening to birds1 ,cuvier heard the song within the shell and found out the life history of all things that creep or swim or fly4 ,listening to babes that have1 as ,froebel thought1 been so recently playmates with angels1 the philosopher discovered in the teachableness1 trust and purity of childhood1 the secret of individual happiness and progress4 ,listening to sages1 the youth of to-day garners into the storehouse of his mind all the intellectual treasures of the good and great of past ages4 ,that youth may have culture without college who gives heed to ,channing's injunction to listen to stars and birds1 to babes and sages4 ,,how ,,knowledge ,,becomes ,,wisdom4 ,when all the caravans of knowledge have gone trooping through the eye-gate and the ear-gate into the soul city1 ,channing reminds us that these knowledges must be assorted and assimilated by studying hard and thinking quietly4 ,if some rich men fill their shelves with books that are never read1 some poor men fill their memory with facts upon which they never think4 ,the mere accumulation of truths about earth and air1 about plants and animals and men1 does not mean culture4 ,education does not mean stuffing the mind with ,greek roots1 as the husbandman stuffs his granary with vegetables4 ,it is a proverb1 that no fool is a perfect fool until he can talk ,latin4 ,looking out upon land and sea and sky1 the educated soul sees all1 and appreciates all4 ,culture lends the note of distinction and acquaints the youth with all the best that has been said and done4 ,trying to steal the secret of the honey bee1 a scientist extracted the sweets of half an acre of blossoms4 ,unfortunately1 the vat of liquor proved to be only sweetened water4 ,by its secret processes1 the bee distills the same liquor into honey4 ,it is possible for the youth to sweep into the memory a thousand great facts without having distilled one of these honeyed drops named wisdom and culture4 ,in studying the ,french ,revolution ,carlyle read five hundred volumes1 including reports of officers1 generals1 statesmen1 spies1 heroes1 villains4 ,then1 closing all the books1 he journeyed into ,scotland4 ,in solitude he thought quietly4 ,having brooded alone for weeks and months1 one morning he rose to dip his pen in his heart's blood and write his ,french ,revolution4 ,in that hour the knowledge that had been in five hundred books became the culture distilled into one4 ,,the ,,influence ,,of ,,the ,,reflective ,,mind4 ,the youth who plans the life of affairs is in danger of despising the brooding that feeds the hidden life4 ,we can never rightly estimate our indebtedness to those who have gone apart to think quietly4 ,all law and jurisprudence go back to ,moses for forty years brooding in an empty1 voiceless desert upon the principles of eternal justice4 ,all astronomy goes back to ,ptolemy1 who looked out upon a weary waste of sand and turned his vision toward a highway paved with stars and suns4 ,our poetry and literature begins with ,homer1 blind indeed to earthly sights and sciences1 but who traced with an inner eye1 the strifes of gods and men1 and gave his inner thoughts immortal form and beauty4 ,all modern science begins with that scholar who for fifty years was unknown in the forum or market-place1 for ,charles ,darwin was studying hard and thinking quietly in his little garden1 where he watched his seeds1 earthworms1 his beetles and doves4 ,the air of ,london is so charged with deadly acids that the lime tree alone flourishes there1 for the reason that it sheds its bark each year1 thus casting off the defiled garment4 ,but there is a mountain peak in the ,himalayas so high that it towers beyond the reach of snows and rains1 and a scientist has said1 an open page might there remain unsoiled by dust through passing centuries4 ,and to those who think quietly it is given to rise into the upper air4 ,dwelling upon the heights1 these may look down upon all heated centers with their soot and grime1 their stacked houses1 reeking gutters1 the din and noise of wheels1 the hoarse roar of the clashing streets1 and in these hours of reverie1 the soul marvels that it was ever tossed about upon these furious currents of ambition4 ,hours there are when ,fame whispers1 ,joy is not in me4 ,ambition1 worn with its fierce fever1 whispers1 ,joy is not in me4 ,success confesses1 ,joy is not in me4 ,in such hours happy the youth who has learned in solitude to go apart and find that happiness that the world can neither give nor take away4 ,,the ,,disguises ,,of ,,inferiority4 ,and when the soul has gone toward full-orbed splendor and stands forth clothed with full manhood the sage condenses the wisdom of a thousand volumes into four maxims1 ,act frankly1 talk gently1 await occasions1 hurry never4 ,the principle of acting frankly demands truth in the hidden parts1 rebukes him whose method is the iron hand in a velvet glove1 smites the ,machiavelian policy of smiling gently while arranging instruments of death4 ,in their ignorance shrewd men advise the youth to cloak his keen desire beneath an outer indifference4 ,but small men use lying artifices and disguises to protect themselves4 ,conscious of weakness1 inferiority fears frankness4 ,great men are as open as glass bee-hives and as transparent as the sunbeams1 for they are conscious of their enormous reserves4 ,nature permits no flower or fruit to conceal its real self4 ,the violet frankly tells its story2 the decaying fruit frankly reveals its nature4 ,no flaming candle pretends to light while emitting rays of blackness4 ,victories won by concealment are lying victories4 ,all these battles must be fought over again4 ,the law of frankness is the law of truth1 that is at once the foundation of character and crowns the structure with strength and beauty4 ,vast issues also are involved in the injunction to talk gently4 ,noise is weakness4 ,bluster is inferiority rising into consciousness4 ,the rattle of machinery means waste power somewhere4 ,rushing forward at the rate of thousands of miles an hour1 the planets are noiseless as sunbeams1 because they represent power that is harnessed and subdued4 ,silently the dewdrop falls upon some crimson-tipped flower4 ,yet the electric energy necessary to crystallize that drop would hurl a car from ,cambridge to ,boston4 ,those forces manifest in thunder are nature's weakest forces4 ,her monarch energies work silently in the roots and harvests1 or lift1 without rattle of engine or noise of wheel1 countless millions of tons of water from ocean into the air4 ,for gentleness is not weakness4 ,only giants can be gentle4 ,fronting an emergency weakness is agitated1 but strength is calm and cool4 ,gentleness is controlled strength4 ,the giant is gentle1 because his vast energies are restrained1 subdued1 and wisely used4 ,the test of all great work is the ease with which it is done4 ,scott writes one of his priceless chapters before breakfast4 ,ruskin says ,turner finished a whole drawing in a morning1 before going out to shoot1 without strain or struggle4 ,the highest eloquence also is not a spasmodic effort1 but the quiet manifestation of years of preparation4 ,but this easy effort has infinite reserve lying back of it4 ,there is a profound philosophy in this injunction1 ,talk gently1 and act quietly4 ,,success ,,and ,,timeliness4 ,but the strongest man needs to await occasions4 ,the essence of all good work is timeliness4 ,for the right thing done at the wrong time is as bad as the wrong thing at any time4 ,preparing telescopes and instruments of photography1 the astronomer sails to ,africa1 and there waits weeks for the moment of full eclipse4 ,at last the occasion comes4 ,nature will not be hurried4 ,for her finest effects in fruits and flowers1 she takes her own time4 ,in ,february the husbandman finds the sun refusing warmth1 the clouds refusing rain1 the soil refusing seed4 ,therefore he awaits occasions4 ,and lo6 in ,may1 the sunbeams wax warm1 the soil wakens to full ardor1 the clouds give forth their rain1 and the husbandman enters into his opportunity4 ,in his reminiscences ,general ,sherman explains his victorious march to the sea by saying that during his college days he spent a summer in ,georgia4 ,while his companions were occupied with playing cards and foolish talk he tramped over the hills1 and made a careful map of the country4 ,years passed by4 ,the war came on4 ,ordered to march upon ,atlanta his expert knowledge won his victory4 ,readiness for the occasion brought him to fame and honor4 ,to-morrow some jurist1 merchant1 statesman will die4 ,the youth who is ready for the place1 will find the mantle falling upon his shoulders4 ,success is readiness for occasions4 ,but whether waiting or working1 man must hurry never4 ,it is fear that makes haste4 ,confidence is composed4 ,greatness is tranquillity4 ,dead objects1 like bullets1 can be hurled swiftly4 ,living seeds cannot be forced4 ,slowly the acorn goes toward the oak4 ,slowly the babe journeys toward the sage4 ,slowly and with infinite delays ,haydn and ,handel moved toward their perfect music4 ,filling barrels with manuscripts and refusing to publish1 ,robert ,louis ,stevenson attained his exquisite style4 ,millet described his career as ten years of daubing1 ten years of drudgery1 ten years of despair and ten years of liberty and success4 ,man begins at nothing4 ,life is a school4 ,duties are drill-masters4 ,man's faculties are complex4 ,slowly the soul moves toward harmony1 symmetry and beauty4 ,he who hurries never has found the secret of growth1 serenity and repose4 ,,strength ,,blossoming ,,into ,,beauty4 ,if the greatest scientist is he who discerns some law of gravity that explains the forward movement of all stars and planets1 if the great historian is he who unfolds one social principle that governs all nations1 so he is the greatest moral teacher who discovers some unit idea that sweeps all details into one glorious unity1 as did ,channing when he said1 ,let the spiritual1 unbidden and unconscious1 grow up through the common4 ,all undefined and indefinable the spiritual glow and beauty that lie upon the soul1 like the soft bloom upon a ripe peach4 ,what song is to the birds1 what culture is to the intellect1 and eloquence is to the orator1 that the spiritual is to character4 ,it is the soul made ample in faculty1 fertile in resource1 struck through and through with ripeness1 and inflected toward ,christ's own sympathy1 self-sacrifice and love4 ,the spiritual element also explains the note of distinction in the highest life and art4 ,many of our modern painters have failed1 because they have been fleshly4 ,mud shows in the bottom of their eyes4 ,their pictures are indeed so shallow that a fly could wade through them without wetting its feet4 ,fra ,angelico1 preparing to paint1 entered his closet1 expelled every evil thought1 subdued every unholy ambition1 flung away anger and jealousy as one would fling away a club or dagger4 ,then1 with face that shone with the divine light1 upon his knees he painted his angels and seraphs1 and the spiritual breaking through the common lent a radiant glow and an immortal beauty to his priceless pictures4 ,certain pictures of ,rubens are of the earth1 earthy4 ,in painting them1 the artist seems to have had no thought save of the flesh tints4 ,the mood and soul of ,rubens' ,venus was nothing--her body everything4 ,here1 beauty is only color deep4 ,paint is everything--spirit nothing4 ,but with the great artists in their greatest moods1 paint is at best only an incident1 and for the soul aspirations and ideals as seen in vision hours are everything4 ,hope1 faith1 love1 joy1 peace1 sympathy1 self-sacrifice1 humility--spiritual qualities these1 that shine through the face1 and transform the life4 ,,life',s ,,crowning ,,perfection4 ,culture can do much1 but art1 music1 books1 and travel have their limitations4 ,when that brave boy returned from battling with the ,black ,prince1 the tenants gathered before his father's castle and presented him tokens of love and honor4 ,the farmer brought a golden sheaf1 the husbandman brought a ripe cluster and a bough of fruit1 the goldsmith offered a ring1 the printer gave a rare book1 while children strewed flowers in the way4 ,but last of all his father gave the youth the title deeds of his inheritance and lent him name and power4 ,not otherwise the soul enters the scene like a conqueror to whom gifts are offered4 ,the library offers a book4 ,the lecture hall offers learning4 ,the gallery offers a picture4 ,travel offers experience4 ,but the fine arts1 wisdom and culture cannot do everything4 ,culture can beautify the life1 lend refinement to reason1 lend wings to imagination4 ,but ,god1 the soul's father1 alone can crown life with richness and influence4 ,the secret of strength and beauty is hidden with ,jesus ,christ4 ,what the great thinkers and seers can do for the intellect1 what the poets can do for imagination1 what the heroes can do for aspiration and purpose1 that and a thousand fold more the ,christ can do for the soul's life4 ,he alone has mastered the science of right living4 ,he only can teach the art of character building4 ,he can lend reason true wisdom4 ,he can lend taste true refinement4 ,he can make conscience clear1 and will invincible4 ,freeing the soul from sin1 ,he can crown it with supreme beauty4 ,he can make life a song1 and the soul career a symphony4 ,newell ,dwight ,hillis ,,great ,,books ,,as ,,life-,,teachers ,studies of ,character1 ,real and ,ideal4 #abmo1 cloth1 gilt top1 #a4ej4 ,fifteenth ,edition ,a ,,man',s ,,value ,,to ,,society ,studies in ,self-culture and ,character4 #afmo1 cloth1 gilt top1 #a4be4 ,ninth ,edition ,,the ,,investment ,,of ,,influence ,a ,study of ,social ,sympathy and ,service4 ,uniform with ,a ,man's ,value to ,society1 #a4be4 ,,right ,,living ,,as ,a ,,fine ,,art ,a ,study of the ,ideal ,character1 based upon ,channing's ,symphony of ,life4 #abmo1 decorated boards1 #ce cents1 net4 ,little ,book ,series ,,foretokens ,,of ,,immortality ,studies for the ,hour when the ,immortal ,hope ,burns ,low in the ,heart4 ,long #afmo1 decorated cloth1 #ej cents4 ,quiet ,hour ,series ,,how ,,the ,,inner ,,light ,,failed ,a ,study of the ,atrophy of the ,spiritual ,sense1 to which is added ,how the ,inner ,light ,grows4 #ahmo1 cloth1 #be cents4 ,fleming ,h4 ,revell ,company