diff options
Diffstat (limited to '36695.txt')
| -rw-r--r-- | 36695.txt | 1084 |
1 files changed, 1084 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/36695.txt b/36695.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..a966509 --- /dev/null +++ b/36695.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1084 @@ +Project Gutenberg's Right Living as a Fine Art, by Newell Dwight Hillis + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Right Living as a Fine Art + A Study of Channing's Symphony as an Outline of the Ideal + Life and Character + +Author: Newell Dwight Hillis + +Release Date: July 10, 2011 [EBook #36695] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK RIGHT LIVING AS A FINE ART *** + + + + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Alex Gam and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + + + _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 H. Revell Company + New York Chicago Toronto + 1903 + + COPYRIGHTED 1898-1899 BY + FLEMING H. REVELL COMPANY. + + + + +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 us; and establish thou the +work of our hands upon us; yea, the work of our hands establish thou it._" + +_Psalm xc: 17._ + + + + +MY SYMPHONY. + + +To live content with small means; to seek elegance rather than luxury, and +refinement rather than fashion; to be worthy, not respectable, and wealthy, +not rich; to listen to stars and birds, babes and sages with open heart; to +study hard; to think quietly, act frankly, talk gently, await occasions, +hurry never; in a word, to let the spiritual, unbidden and unconscious, +grow up through the common--this is my symphony. + + WILLIAM HENRY CHANNING. + + + + +A STUDY OF CHANNING'S "SYMPHONY" AS AN OUTLINE OF THE IDEAL LIFE AND +CHARACTER. + + +To the revival of learning in the fourteenth century, to the revival of +religion in the sixteenth, and the revival of liberty in the eighteenth +century must now be added the revival of the beautiful in this new era for +art. In former ages man was content if his house was dry, his coat was +warm, his tool strong. But now has come an era when man's house must have +beautiful walls, when woman's dress must have harmonious hues, when the +speaker's truth must be clothed in words of beauty; while in religion if +the worshiper once was content with a harsh hymn, now man best loves the +song that has a beautiful sentiment and a sweet tune. Always the useful had +a cash value. Now beauty has become a commodity. To-day, to hold his place, +the artisan must become an artist. The era of ugliness, with its clumsy +tools and ungainly garments, has gone forever. No longer content with +lending strength to coat or chair or car, manufacturers now vie with one +another in a struggle to make the garment take on lines of grace, and +colors soft and beautiful. Society seems to be standing upon the threshold +of the greatest art movement in history. Best of all this, revival of the +beautiful promises to be a permanent social possession. + +Very brief and fitful that first art epoch when Phidias polished statues, +the very fragments of which are the despair of modern sculptors. All too +short also that era when Raphael and Botticelli brought the canvas into +what seemed the zenith of its perfection. 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 again. But if other art epochs have been +soon followed by eras of ugliness and tyranny, it was because formerly the +patrician class alone was interested in the beautiful. In that far-off +time, Pericles had his palace and Athens her temple, but the common people +dwelt in mud huts, wore coats of sheepskin, and slept on beds of straw. The +beauty that was manifest in pictures, marbles, rich textures, bronzes, +belonged exclusively to the cathedral or the palace. + +Now has come an era when art is diffused. Beauty is sprinkled all over the +instruments of dining-room, parlor and library. It is organized into +textures of cotton, wool and silk. Even in the poor man's cottage blossoms +break forth upon floor and walls, while vines festoon the humblest door. +Once, at great expense, a baron in France or Germany would send an artist +into Italy to copy some masterpiece of Titian or Tintoretto. Now modern +photography makes it possible for the poorest laborer to look upon the +semblance of great pictures, statues, cathedrals, landscapes--treasures +these once beyond the wealth of princes. Having made tools, books, travel, +home, religion to be life-teachers, God has now ordained the beautiful as +an apostle of the higher Christian life. + +Recognizing the hand of God in every upward movement of society, we explain +this new enthusiasm for art upon the principle that beauty is the outer +sign of an inner perfection. Oft with lying skill men veneer the plaster +pillar with slabs of marble, and hide soft wood with strips of mahogany. +But beauty is no outer veneer. When ripeness enters the fruit within a soft +bloom steals over the peach without. When every drop of blood in the veins +is pure a beauteous flush overcasts the young girl's cheek. When summer +hath lent ripeness to the harvests God casts a golden hue over the sheaf +and lends a crimson flush to the autumn leaves. For beauty is ripeness, +maturity and strength. Therefore when the seer says, "God maketh everything +beautiful in its time," he indicates that God's handiwork is perfect work. +When some Wordsworth or Emerson leaves behind men's clumsy creations and +enters the fields where God's workmanship abounds, the poet finds the +ground "spotted with fire and gold in tints of flowers"; he finds the trees +hung with festooned vines; finds the forests uniting their branches in +cathedral arches; finds the winds making music down the long, leafy aisles; +finds the birds pouring forth notes in choiring anthems, while the very +clouds rise like golden incense toward an unseen throne. Though the +traveler journey far, he shall find no bud, no bough, no landscape or +mountain or ocean, that is not overcast with bloom and beauty. + +We are not surprised therefore when we see that as man's arts and +industries go toward perfection they go toward beauty. Carry the coarse +flax up toward beauty and it becomes strong cloth. Carry the cocoon of a +worm up to beauty and it becomes a soft silken robe. Carry rude Attic +speech up to beauty and it becomes the language of Homer or Hesiod. Carry +the strange face or form tatooed upon the arm of the savage up to beauty +and it becomes a Madonna or a Transfiguration. Carry a stone altar and a +smoking sacrifice up to beauty and it becomes a Cologne cathedral or a +Westminster Abbey. Indeed, historians might use the beautiful as the +touchstone of human progress. The old milestones of growth were metals. +First came the age when arrows were tipped with flint. Then came the iron +age, when the spear had a metal point. The bronze age followed, lending +flexibility to ore hitherto unyielding. Later came the steel age, when +weapons that bruised gave place to the keen edge that cuts. Perhaps the +divinity chat represents our era will stand forth plated with oxide of +silver. + +But his ideas of beauty would measure man's progress quite as accurately. +In that first rude age beauty was external. Man twisted gay feathers into +his hair, painted his cheeks red or yellow, wore rings of bright shells +about his neck. But our age is high because beauty has ceased to be mere +personal adornment. Man now seeks to make his books beautiful for the +intellect, his library and gallery beautiful for taste and imagination, his +temple beautiful for worship, his home beautiful in the interest of the +heart, his song and prayer not simply true, but beautiful with praise to +the unseen God. If in rude ages beauty was associated with physical +elements, the glory of our era is that beauty, unfolding from century to +century, is now increasingly associated with those moral qualities that +lend remembrance to mother and martyr, to hero and patriot and saint. + +To-day, fortunately for society, this world-wide interest in art is +becoming spiritualized. From beautiful objects men are passing to beautiful +thoughts and deeds. We begin to hear much of the art of right living and +the science of character building. Having lent charm and value to column +and canvas, to marble and masterpiece, beauty now moves on to lend +loveliness to mind and heart. For it seems an incongruous thing for man to +adorn his cottage, lend charm to its walls and windows, make its ceilings +to be like the floor of heaven for beauty, while within his heart he +cherishes groveling littleness, slimy sin, light-winged evasions, brutal +passions. He whose body rides in a palace car must not carry a soul that is +like unto a savage. Having lingered long before the portrait of Antigone or +Cordelia, the young girl finds herself pledged to turn that ideal into life +and character. 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 +motherhood. + +When the admirers of Shakespeare bought the house in which their hero was +born, they planted in the garden the flowers which the poet loved. Passing +through the little wicket gate the pilgrim finds himself moving along a +perfumed path, while to his garments clings the odor of violets and roses, +sweet peas and buttercups, the columbine and honeysuckle--flowers these, +whose roots are in earth indeed, but whose beauty is borrowed from heaven. +From these grounds men have expelled the poison ivy, the deadly nightshade, +all burdocks and thistles. And the soul is a garden in which truth, purity, +patience, love, long suffering are qualities whiter than any lily and +sweeter than any rose, whose perfume never passes, whose beauty does not +fade. And having succeeded in transforming waste places into centers of +radiant beauty, man encourages the hope that he can carry his own reason, +judgment and ambition up to full symmetry and perfection. + +What a transformation man has wrought in matter! Nature says, here is a +lump of mud; man answers, let it become a beautiful vase. Nature says, here +is a sweet briar; man answers, let it become a rose double and of many +hues. Nature says, here is a string and a block of wood; man answers, let +them be a sweet-voiced harp. Nature says, here is a daisy; Burns answers, +let it become a poem. Nature says, here is a piece of ochre and some iron +rust; Millet answers, let the colors become an Angelus. Nature says, here +is reason rude and untaught; man must answer, let the mind become as full +of thoughts as the sky of stars and more radiant. Nature says, here is a +rude affection; man must answer, let the heart become as full of love and +sympathy as the summer is full of ripeness and beauty. Nature says, here is +a conscience, train it; man should answer, let the conscience be as true to +Christ and God as a needle to the pole. Marvelous man's skill through the +fine arts! Wondrous, too, his handicrafts! But no picture ever painted, no +poem ever perfected, no temple ever builded is comparable for strength and +beauty to a full-orbed soul, matured through a widely trained reason and a +sober judgment--mellow in heart and conscience, pervaded throughout with +the spirit of Jesus Christ, the soul's master and model. + + + + +CHANNING'S VISION OF THE BEAUTIFUL LIFE. + + +Among those gifted spirits who have toiled tirelessly to carry the +individual life up to unity, symmetry and beauty, let us hasten to mention +the name of Channing. The child of genius, he was gifted with a literary +style that lent strange fascination to all his speech. But great as he was +in intellect, his character shone with such splendor as to eclipse his +genius. He was of goodness all compact. + +Early the winds of adversity beat against his little bark. Invalidism and +misfortune, too, threatened to destroy his career. But bearing up amid all +misfortune, he slowly wrought out his ideal of life as a fine art. +Patiently he perfected his dreams. Daily he practiced frugality, honor, +justice, faith, love and prayer. He met storm with calm; he met provocation +with patience; he met organized iniquity with faith in God's eternal truth; +he met ingratitude and enmity with forgiveness and love. + +At last he completed his symphony of an ideal life, that he hoped would +help the youth and maiden to make each day as inspiring as a song, each +deed as holy as a prayer, each character as perfect as a picture. For he +felt that the life of child and youth, of patriot and parent should have a +loveliness beyond that of any flower or landscape, and a majesty not found +in any cataract or mountain, being clothed also with a beauty that does not +inhere in Canova's marble and a permanency that is not possessed by Von +Riles' cathedral, a structure builded of thoughts and hopes and +aspirations, of tears and prayers, and purposes, whose foundation is +eternal truth. + + +THE FOUNDATION OF HAPPINESS. + +In founding his ideal life upon contentment with small means, Channing +pleads for simplicity and the return to "plain living and high thinking." +He would fain double the soul's leisure by halving its wants. + +Looking out upon his age, he beheld young men crazed with a mania for +money. He saw them refusing to cross the college threshold, closing the +book, neglecting conversation, despising friendship, postponing marriage, +that they might increase their goods. Yet he remembered that earth's most +gifted children have been content with small means, achieving their +greatest triumphs midst comparative poverty. + + + + +THE LARGEST WEALTH. + + +The Divine Carpenter and His immortal band dwelt far from luxury. Poor +indeed were Socrates, the reformer, and Epictetus, the slave, and Virgil, +the poet. Burns, too, and Wordsworth and Coleridge, with Keats and +Shelley--all these dwelt midway between poverty and riches. When that young +English scholar learned that his relatives had willed him a fortune of +L5,000 he wrote the dying man begging him to abandon his design, saying +that he already had one servant, 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 night. + + +A PLEA FOR SIMPLICITY. + +Here are our own Hawthorne and Longfellow--"content with small means." Here +is Emerson resigning his church in Boston and leaving fame behind him, that +upon the little farm at Concord he might escape the thousand and one +details that robbed his soul of its simplicity. Here is Thoreau building +his log cabin by Walden pond, living on forty dollars a year because he saw +that man was being "destroyed by his unwieldy and overgrown establishment, +cluttered with much furniture and tripped with his own traps, ruined by +luxury and heedless expense, whose only hope was in rigid economy and +Spartan simplicity." + +Ours is a world where Cervantes writes Don Quixote living upon three bowls +of porridge brought by the jailer of the prison. The German philosopher +asked one cluster of grapes, one glass of milk and a slice of bread twice +each day. Having completed his philosophy, the old scholar looked back upon +forty happy years, saying that every fine dinner his friends had given him +had blunted his brain for one day, while indigestion consumed an amount of +vital energy that would have sufficed for one page of good writing. + +A wise youth will think twice before embarking upon a career involving +large wealth. 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 comforts, conveniences and happiness. Yet wise Agur's +prayer still holds: "Give me neither poverty nor riches." Whittier, on his +little farm, refusing a princely sum for a lecture, was content with small +means. Wendell Phillips, preferring the slave and the contempt of Boston's +merchants and her patrician society, chose to "be worthy, not respectable." +Some Ruskin, distributing his bonds and stocks and lands to found +workingmen's clubs, art schools and colleges, that he might have more +leisure for enriching his imagination and heart, chose to "be wealthy, not +rich." Needing many forms of wisdom, our age needs none more than the grace +to "live content with small means, seeking elegance rather than luxury, and +refinement rather than fashion." + + + + +THE WORLD A WHISPERING GALLERY. + + +When the sage counsels us "to listen to stars and birds, to babes and +sages," he opens to us the secrets of the soul's increase in wisdom and +happiness. All culture begins with listening. Growth is not through shrewd +thinking or eloquent speaking, but through accurate seeing and hearing. Our +world is one vast whispering gallery, yet only those who listen hear "the +still, small voice" of truth. Putting his ear down to the rocks, the +listening geologist hears the story of the rocks. Standing under the stars, +the listening astronomer hears the music of the spheres. Leaving behind the +din and dirt of the city, Agassiz plunged into the forests of the Amazon, +and listening to boughs and buds and birds he found out all their secrets. + +One of our wisest teachers has said, "The greatest thing a human soul ever +does in this world, is to see something, and tell what it saw in a plain +way. Hundreds of people can talk, for one who can think. But thousands can +think for one who can see; to see clearly is poetry, prophecy and religion +all in one. Therefore finding the world of literature more or less divided +into thinkers and seers, I believe we shall find also, that the seers are +wholly the greater race of the two." For greatness is vision. Opening his +eyes, Newton sees the planets revolve and finds his fame. Opening his ears, +Watt hears the movement of steam and finds his fortune. Millet explained +his fame by saying he copied the colors of the sunset at the moment when +reapers bow the head in silent prayer. The great bard, too, tells us he +went apart and listened to find "sermons in stones, and books in the +running brooks." + + +THE SECRET OF CULTURE. + +It is a proverb that pilgrims to foreign lands find only what they take +with them. Riding over the New England hills near Boston, Lowell spake not +to his companion, for now he was looking out upon the pageantry of a +glorious October day, and now he remembered that this was the road forever +associated with Paul Revere's ride. Reaching the outskirts of Cambridge, he +roused from his reverie to discover that his silent companion had been +brooding over bales and barrels, not knowing that this had been one of +those rare days when October holds an art exhibit, and also oblivious to +the fact that he had been passing through scenes historic through the valor +of the brave boy. + +Of the four artists copying the same landscape near Chamouni, all saw a +different scene. To an idler a river means a fish pole, to a heated +schoolboy a bath; to the man of affairs the stream suggests a turbine +wheel; while the same stream leads the philosopher to reflect upon the +influence of great rivers upon cities and civilizations. Coleridge thought +the bank of his favorite stream was made to lie down upon, but Bunyan, +beholding the stream through the iron bars of a prison cell, felt the +breezes of the "Delectable Mountains" cool his fevered cheek, and stooping +down he wet his parched lips with the river of the waters of life. Nature +has no message for heedless, inattentive hearers. It is possible for a +youth to go through life deaf to the sweetest sounds that ever fell over +Heaven's battlements, and blind to the beauty of landscape and mountain and +sea and sky. There is no music in the autumn wind until the listener comes. +There is no order and beauty in the rolling spheres until some Herschel +stands beneath the stars. There is no fragrance in the violet until the +lover of flowers bends down above the blossoms. + +Listening to stars, Laplace heard the story how fire mists are changed to +habitable earths, and so became wise toward iron and wood, steel and stone. +Listening to birds, Cuvier heard the song within the shell and found out +the life history of all things that creep or swim or fly. Listening to +babes that have, as Froebel thought, been so recently playmates with +angels, the philosopher discovered in the teachableness, trust and purity +of childhood, the secret of individual happiness and progress. Listening to +sages, the youth of to-day garners into the storehouse of his mind all the +intellectual treasures of the good and great of past ages. That youth may +have culture without college who gives heed to Channing's injunction "to +listen to stars and birds, to babes and sages." + + + + +HOW KNOWLEDGE BECOMES WISDOM. + + +When all the caravans of knowledge have gone trooping through the eye-gate +and the ear-gate into the soul city, Channing reminds us that these +knowledges must be assorted and assimilated by "studying hard and thinking +quietly." + +If some rich men fill their shelves with books that are never read, some +poor men fill their memory with facts upon which they never think. The mere +accumulation of truths about earth and air, about plants and animals and +men, does not mean culture. Education does not mean stuffing the mind with +Greek roots, as the husbandman stuffs his granary with vegetables. It is a +proverb, that no fool is a perfect fool until he can talk Latin. Looking +out upon land and sea and sky, the educated soul sees all, and appreciates +all. Culture lends the note of distinction and acquaints the youth with all +the best that has been said and done. Trying to steal the secret of the +honey bee, a scientist extracted the sweets of half an acre of blossoms. +Unfortunately, the vat of liquor proved to be only sweetened water. By its +secret processes, the bee distills the same liquor into honey. 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 +culture. + +In studying the French Revolution Carlyle read five hundred volumes, +including reports of officers, generals, statesmen, spies, heroes, +villains. Then, closing all the books, he journeyed into Scotland. In +solitude he "thought quietly." Having brooded alone for weeks and months, +one morning he rose to dip his pen in his heart's blood and write his +French Revolution. In that hour the knowledge that had been in five hundred +books became the culture distilled into one. + + +THE INFLUENCE OF THE REFLECTIVE MIND. + +The youth who plans the life of affairs is in danger of despising the +brooding that feeds the hidden life. We can never rightly estimate our +indebtedness to those who have gone apart to "think quietly." + +All law and jurisprudence go back to Moses for forty years brooding in an +empty, voiceless desert upon the principles of eternal justice. All +astronomy goes back to Ptolemy, who looked out upon a weary waste of sand +and turned his vision toward a highway paved with stars and suns. Our +poetry and literature begins with Homer, blind indeed to earthly sights and +sciences, but who traced with an inner eye, the strifes of gods and men, +and gave his inner thoughts immortal form and beauty. All modern science +begins with that scholar who for fifty years was unknown in the forum or +market-place, for Charles Darwin was "studying hard and thinking quietly" +in his little garden, where he watched his seeds, earthworms, his beetles +and doves. + +The air of London is so charged with deadly acids that the lime tree alone +flourishes there, for the reason that it sheds its bark each year, thus +casting off the defiled garment. But there is a mountain peak in the +Himalayas so high that it towers beyond the reach of snows and rains, and a +scientist has said, an open page might there remain unsoiled by dust +through passing centuries. And to those who "think quietly" it is given to +rise into the upper air. Dwelling upon the heights, these may look down +upon all heated centers with their soot and grime, their stacked houses, +reeking gutters, the din and noise of wheels, the hoarse roar of the +clashing streets, and in these hours of reverie, the soul marvels that it +was ever tossed about upon these furious currents of ambition. + +Hours there are when Fame whispers, "Joy is not in me." Ambition, worn with +its fierce fever, whispers, "Joy is not in me." Success confesses, "Joy is +not in me." 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 +away." + + + + +THE DISGUISES OF INFERIORITY. + + +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 maxims, "Act frankly, talk gently, await occasions, hurry +never." + +The principle of acting frankly demands truth in the hidden parts, rebukes +him whose method is "the iron hand in a velvet glove," smites the +Machiavelian policy of smiling gently while arranging instruments of death. +In their ignorance shrewd men advise the youth to cloak his keen desire +beneath an outer indifference. But small men use lying artifices and +disguises to protect themselves. Conscious of weakness, inferiority fears +frankness. Great men are as open as glass bee-hives and as transparent as +the sunbeams, for they are conscious of their enormous reserves. Nature +permits no flower or fruit to conceal its real self. The violet frankly +tells its story; the decaying fruit frankly reveals its nature. No flaming +candle pretends to light while emitting rays of blackness. Victories won by +concealment are lying victories. All these battles must be fought over +again. The law of frankness is the law of truth, that is at once the +foundation of character and crowns the structure with strength and beauty. + +Vast issues also are involved in the injunction "to talk gently." Noise is +weakness. Bluster is inferiority rising into consciousness. The rattle of +machinery means waste power somewhere. Rushing forward at the rate of +thousands of miles an hour, the planets are noiseless as sunbeams, because +they represent power that is harnessed and subdued. Silently the dewdrop +falls upon some crimson-tipped flower. Yet the electric energy necessary to +crystallize that drop would hurl a car from Cambridge to Boston. Those +forces manifest in thunder are nature's weakest forces. Her monarch +energies work silently in the roots and harvests, or lift, without rattle +of engine or noise of wheel, countless millions of tons of water from ocean +into the air. For gentleness is not weakness. Only giants can be gentle. +Fronting an emergency weakness is agitated, but strength is calm and cool. +Gentleness is controlled strength. The giant _is_ gentle, because his vast +energies are restrained, subdued, and wisely used. The test of all great +work is the ease with which it is done. Scott writes one of his priceless +chapters before breakfast. Ruskin says Turner finished a whole drawing in a +morning, before going out to shoot, without strain or struggle. The highest +eloquence also is not a spasmodic effort, but the quiet manifestation of +years of preparation. But this easy effort has infinite reserve lying back +of it. There is a profound philosophy in this injunction, "Talk gently," +and act quietly. + + +SUCCESS AND TIMELINESS. + +But the strongest man needs to "await occasions." The essence of all good +work is timeliness. For the right thing done at the wrong time is as bad as +the wrong thing at any time. Preparing telescopes and instruments of +photography, the astronomer sails to Africa, and there waits weeks for the +moment of full eclipse. At last the "occasion" comes. Nature will not be +hurried. For her finest effects in fruits and flowers, she takes her own +time. In February the husbandman finds the sun refusing warmth, the clouds +refusing rain, the soil refusing seed. Therefore he awaits occasions. And +lo! in May, the sunbeams wax warm, the soil wakens to full ardor, the +clouds give forth their rain, and the husbandman enters into his +opportunity. + +In his reminiscences General Sherman explains his victorious march to the +sea by saying that during his college days he spent a summer in Georgia. +While his companions were occupied with playing cards and foolish talk he +tramped over the hills, and made a careful map of the country. Years passed +by. The war came on. Ordered to march upon Atlanta his expert knowledge won +his victory. Readiness for the occasion brought him to fame and honor. +To-morrow some jurist, merchant, statesman will die. The youth who is ready +for the place, will find the mantle falling upon his shoulders. Success is +readiness for occasions. + +But whether waiting or working, man must "hurry never." It is fear that +makes haste. Confidence is composed. Greatness is tranquillity. Dead +objects, like bullets, can be hurled swiftly. Living seeds cannot be +forced. Slowly the acorn goes toward the oak. Slowly the babe journeys +toward the sage. Slowly and with infinite delays Haydn and Handel moved +toward their perfect music. Filling barrels with manuscripts and refusing +to publish, Robert Louis Stevenson attained his exquisite style. Millet +described his career as ten years of daubing, ten years of drudgery, ten +years of despair and ten years of liberty and success. Man begins at +nothing. Life is a school. Duties are drill-masters. Man's faculties are +complex. Slowly the soul moves toward harmony, symmetry and beauty. He who +"hurries never" has found the secret of growth, serenity and repose. + + + + +STRENGTH BLOSSOMING INTO BEAUTY. + + +If the greatest scientist is he who discerns some law of gravity that +explains the forward movement of all stars and planets, if the great +historian is he who unfolds one social principle that governs all nations, +so he is the greatest moral teacher who discovers some unit idea that +sweeps all details into one glorious unity, as did Channing when he said, +"Let the spiritual, unbidden and unconscious, grow up through the common." +All undefined and indefinable the spiritual glow and beauty that lie upon +the soul, like the soft bloom upon a ripe peach. What song is to the birds, +what culture is to the intellect, and eloquence is to the orator, that the +spiritual is to character. It is the soul made ample in faculty, fertile in +resource, struck through and through with ripeness, and inflected toward +Christ's own sympathy, self-sacrifice and love. + +The spiritual element also explains the note of distinction in the highest +life and art. Many of our modern painters have failed, because they have +been fleshly. Mud shows in the bottom of their eyes. Their pictures are +indeed so shallow that "a fly could wade through them without wetting its +feet." Fra Angelico, preparing to paint, entered his closet, expelled every +evil thought, subdued every unholy ambition, flung away anger and jealousy +as one would fling away a club or dagger. Then, with face that shone with +the divine light, upon his knees he painted his angels and seraphs, and the +spiritual breaking through the common lent a radiant glow and an immortal +beauty to his priceless pictures. + +Certain pictures of Rubens are of "the earth, earthy." In painting them, +the artist seems to have had no thought save of the flesh tints. The mood +and soul of Rubens' Venus was nothing--her body everything. Here, beauty is +only color deep. Paint is everything--spirit nothing. But with the great +artists in their greatest moods, paint is at best only an incident, and for +the soul aspirations and ideals as seen in vision hours are everything. +Hope, faith, love, joy, peace, sympathy, self-sacrifice, +humility--spiritual qualities these, that shine through the face, and +transform the life. + + + + +LIFE'S CROWNING PERFECTION. + + +Culture can do much, but art, music, books, and travel have their +limitations. When that brave boy returned from battling with the Black +Prince, the tenants gathered before his father's castle and presented him +tokens of love and honor. The farmer brought a golden sheaf, the husbandman +brought a ripe cluster and a bough of fruit, the goldsmith offered a ring, +the printer gave a rare book, while children strewed flowers in the way. +But last of all his father gave the youth the title deeds of his +inheritance and lent him name and power. Not otherwise the soul enters the +scene like a conqueror to whom gifts are offered. The library offers a +book. The lecture hall offers learning. The gallery offers a picture. +Travel offers experience. But the fine arts, wisdom and culture cannot do +everything. Culture can beautify the life, lend refinement to reason, lend +wings to imagination. But God, the soul's father, alone can crown life with +richness and influence. The secret of strength and beauty is hidden with +Jesus Christ. What the great thinkers and seers can do for the intellect, +what the poets can do for imagination, what the heroes can do for +aspiration and purpose, that and a thousand fold more the Christ can do for +the soul's life. He alone has mastered the science of right living. He only +can teach the art of character building. He can lend reason true wisdom. He +can lend taste true refinement. He can make conscience clear, and will +invincible. Freeing the soul from sin, He can crown it with supreme beauty. +He can make life a song, and the soul career a symphony. + + + + +Newell Dwight Hillis + + +GREAT BOOKS AS LIFE-TEACHERS + +Studies of Character, Real and Ideal. + +12mo, cloth, gilt top, $1.50. + + +_Fifteenth Edition_ + +A MAN'S VALUE TO SOCIETY + +Studies in Self-culture and Character. + +16mo, cloth, gilt top, $1.25. + + +_Ninth Edition_ + +THE INVESTMENT OF INFLUENCE + +A Study of Social Sympathy and Service. + +Uniform with "A Man's Value to Society," $1.25. + + +RIGHT LIVING AS A FINE ART + +A Study of the Ideal Character, based upon Channing's "Symphony of +Life." + +12mo, decorated boards, 35 cents, net. + + +_Little Book Series_ + +FORETOKENS OF IMMORTALITY + +Studies for the Hour when the Immortal Hope Burns Low in the Heart. + +Long 16mo, decorated cloth, 50 cents. + + +_Quiet Hour Series_ + +HOW THE INNER LIGHT FAILED + +A Study of the Atrophy of the Spiritual Sense, to which is added "How +the Inner Light Grows." + +18mo, cloth, 25 cents. + + +Fleming H. Revell Company + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Right Living as a Fine Art, by Newell Dwight Hillis + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK RIGHT LIVING AS A FINE ART *** + +***** This file should be named 36695.txt or 36695.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/6/6/9/36695/ + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Alex Gam and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +https://gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at https://www.pglaf.org. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at +https://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at https://pglaf.org + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit https://pglaf.org + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including including checks, online payments and credit card +donations. To donate, please visit: https://pglaf.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + https://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. |