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 THE 
 
 GATE 
 BEAUTIFUL 
 
 PRINCIPLES AND METHODS 
 
 IN VITAL-ART AND 
 EDUCATION 
 
 By 
 Prof. John Ward Stimson 
 
 Graduate of Yale, and The National Art Academy of France. 
 Formerly Educat'l Director "N. Y. Metropolitan Museum of Arts"; 
 The N. Y. "Artist-Artisan" Inst.; State "Art ca. Science" Inst., 
 Trenton, N. J.; Art Professor or Lecturer at Princeton, Cornell, 
 Columbia and other leading Colleges, Museums and Schools 
 
 AN HI^TQRi'JO :'i^:Eiri^p ^'Jl,Nn 
 SVMPdS/UMbti Hh'Life and Im- 
 portant Work by Eminent Publicists and 
 Educators, Including; Gov. Joshua 
 Chamberlain of Maine, Prof. Raymond 
 of Princeton University, Edwin 
 Markham, Joaquin Miller, Rev. Dr. 
 Heber Newton of N. Y., Editor B. O. 
 Flower, Etc. 
 
 (reprinted from the arena magazine) 
 
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ARENA MAGAZINE 
 
 ARTICLE 
 
 ON 
 
 Prof. John Ward Stimson 
 
 An Artist, Author and Educator 
 With Twentieth Century Ideas 
 
 I. 
 
 "Art-for-Art's-sake may be very fine, but Art-for-Progress 
 is finer still. To dream of castles in Spain is well ; to dream of 
 Utopia is better. * * * Some pure lovers of art * * * discard the 
 formula, 'Art-for-Progress,' the Beautiful-Useful, fearing lest 
 the useful should deform the beautiful. They tremble to see the 
 drudge's hand attached to the muse's arm. According to them 
 the ideal may become perverted by too much contact with real- 
 ity. They are solicitous for the sublime if it descends as far as 
 to humanity. Ah; they are in error! The useful, far from cir- 
 cumscribing the sublime, enlarges it. * * * Is Aurora less splen- 
 did, clad less in purple and emerald ; suffers she any diminution 
 of majesty and radiant grace — because foreseeing an insect's 
 thirst, she carefully secretes in the flower the dewdrop needed 
 by the bee?" — "William Shakespeare," by Victor Hugo. 
 
 The Needs of the people are greater and more complex to- 
 day than at any previous period in history. A full stomach no 
 longer suffices for the toiler. Thanks to the printing-press and 
 the freedom inaugurated by the Reformation and carried for- 
 ward by the great revolutions of the last one hundred and 
 twenty-five years, the millions now demand food for the Imagi- 
 nation and for the Intellect. The Lighter Side of Life must be 
 ministered to — not of a life, not of the life of a class or of a priv- 
 ileged few, but of All the People. 
 
 In earlier periods the vast majority of all nations were piti- 
 fully ignorant. Their narrow little lives were lived much as are 
 those of the lower animals. The great masters in art, music, 
 and literature were usually the "pensioners" of the Crown, of 
 
rich nobles, or oi an "opulent" Church; but for the millions the 
 rare pleasure ihat conies from an awakened Imagination and 
 a schooled Brain was unknown. Now all is changed. Education 
 has become widely diffused throughout Western civilization. 
 Contact with Music, Art, the Drama, and Literature has quick- 
 ened the dull imagination of millions of toilers, who now hunger 
 for more than bread ; and with this broadening of the intellectu- 
 al vision, this awakening of the soul, and this appreciation of the 
 finer things of life, comes the more illumination of the real 
 Leaders of civilization — the men and women of Ideals — the 
 Advance-guard who through all ages have blazed the pathway of 
 progress. And these leaders are appealing to the conscience of 
 the world to recognize the next great basic truth of human ad- 
 vancement, which society must necessarily accept before further 
 lasting progress can be made — the Brotherhood of man, with 
 all that the term implies. They insist that the demands wdiich 
 the Larger-Life of the people calls for be promptly met. It is 
 not enough that all men have work to do that shall enable them 
 to eat and sleep in comfort. The hunger and the thirst of Mind 
 and Soul must be appeased. And thus we find the twentieth 
 century leaders in every department of endeavor working for 
 the enrichment of the life of all. Victor Hugo said: "No one 
 can forsee the quantity of light that will be evolved by placing 
 the people in communication with men of genius. The 
 combination of the heart of the people with the heart of the 
 poet will be the voltaic pile of civilization." And what is true 
 of the influence of the poet is equally true of the influence of 
 art on the mind and life of man. It is important that the eyes 
 of the soul, of every toiler, be opened to the Beauty-side of 
 Nature, and that the art spirit be so cultivated that Beauty will 
 be lured into every home — an angel of joy whose influence refines, 
 exalts, and dignifies the humblest cot. Here, then, is a fruitful 
 field for the Prophet-of-progress and the apostle of Humanity; 
 and here we find pioneer souls have already entered. In Eng- 
 land John Ruskin and William Morris wrought a splendid work : 
 and in this country a labor quite as commanding and important, 
 though less widely heralded, has been achieved through the 
 effective and persistent labor of Prof. John Ward Stimson. He 
 is a real representative of the Brotherhood-of-the-New-Day ! 
 
 II. 
 
 Professor Stimson was born into a New York home several 
 decades ago. Those who believe in hereditary influences will 
 find in his life confirmatory proof of their contentions. His fath- 
 er was of Scotch and Puritan descent — a sturdy man. possessing 
 that strong moral fiber that marked tlie great ethical protest 
 
 2 
 
which ciihninated in the Reformation, and which at a later day 
 made New England a powerful factor in the world's great strug- 
 gle for liberty and a higher standard of life than had prevailed. 
 His parental grandfather had devoted his life to missionary 
 work in the mountain regions of New York. His mother was a 
 granddaughter and grandniece of the eminent Huguenot broth- 
 ers, Elisha and Elias Boudinot, who were famous jurists and 
 prominent Revolutionary patriots, sharing the confidence of 
 Washington and the Continental Congress ;the former signing 
 the treaty of peace with Great Britain as President-of-the-Con- 
 gress when the war closed. 
 
 It is an interesting fact that a large proportion of the most 
 virile and versatile among our leading men and women carry in 
 their veins the mingled blood of nations or races of markedly 
 dissimiliar character. Robert Browning, for example, inherited 
 from his ancestors English, Scotch, German, and Creole blood: 
 and Professor Stimson, as will be seen, was of Puritan, Scotch, 
 and Huguenot descent. Whether blood tells or not, certain it is 
 that the noble traditions of moral heroism that light up the 
 pages of a family history exert a very marked influence for good 
 on the plastic mind of the child, if his early environment is nor- 
 mal or favorable to the development of moral enthusiasm. 
 
 HI. 
 
 A\'hen his preparatory education was ended, Professor 
 Stimson entered Yale College, carrying with him that enthus- 
 iasm for Humanity and that high ethical fervor which is fre- 
 quently found among the freshmen in our universities; and. 
 happily for the world, his scholastic training failed to dampen 
 his ardor or develop a spirit of cynical unconcern for others, 
 which is too frequently a blighting influence of the modern col- 
 lege and its environment. 
 
 He graduated from Yale, and shortly after leaving 
 college sailed for Europe to perfect his Art education ; for he 
 had determined to devote his life to the advancement of Art 
 culture in the New World. He first entered the National French 
 Academy-of-Art, at Paris, from which, after graduating, he 
 journeyed forth to study art and the art situation in the great 
 centers of continental Europe and Great Britain. During this 
 period, being of a philosophic turn of mind, he gave much time 
 and thought to the historic evolution of art and to its vital un- 
 derlying Principles and Methods. After an absence of six years 
 he returned to America with mind aflame with the idea of furth- 
 ering in our Republic a vigorous Original Art, which should l)e 
 democratic in influence, reaching and awakening an apprecia- 
 tion and love of the Beautiful in the hearts of our millions. He 
 
 3 
 
knew that true art wielded a magic influence over the imagina- 
 tion of man; that it refined, exalted, and enriched life, and 
 ijrought those who truly came en rapport with it into intimate 
 communion with the Master-Artist and Workman of the Uni- 
 verse. He realized what all "master-artists," from the Golden 
 Age of Hellas unto the present, have well understood — that 
 nothing fosters Joy-in-Labor like the possession of the Art- 
 Spirit, and the opportunity adequately to express it in Work; 
 or at least to have its expression blossoming around the worker. 
 In modern times, and especially in the New World, art has been 
 for the most part enjoyed by a rich and favored few. Its mar- 
 velous influence in developing the Spiritual-Side of man, and 
 giving to life that indefinable satisfaction and joy known to us 
 only after we had been trained to see and feel the beauty in 
 Nature and in the creative work of man, was a sealed book to 
 the majority of artisans, and indeed to most of our people. Art. 
 Professor Stimson contended, should be democratic instead of 
 exclusive. Every child of God should be so educated as to en- 
 joy the Beauty that floods the w^orld, and he should be so imbued 
 wtih the art Spirit that he would carry it into his life's work. 
 
 Besides and beyond this right of every citizen in a republic 
 to enjoy the refining influence of an Imagination trained to ap- 
 preciate Beauty, Professor Stimson saw with the clear vision of 
 a philosophic statesman that a broad and comprehensive Indus- 
 trial-Art-Education would be of inestimable commercial value to 
 our country. This fact France. Germany, and other Old World 
 nations have long appreciated and they have endowed and 
 multiplied their schools for Industrial Art. They have fostered 
 Artist-Artisanship by giving rich prizes for superior designs and 
 original conceptions of beauty. They have furnished in all their 
 larger cities noble art collections and specimens of beautiful 
 handiwork, while seeing to it that the attention of the children 
 has been systematically called to the marvelous Beauty of the 
 artist-artisanship of God. 
 
 Even little Japan, the Greece of modern times, has not been 
 slow to appreciate the commercial as w^ell as the religious and 
 ethical value of the democratizing of Art ; and perhaps no na- 
 tion today is doing more to encourage its people to study the 
 beauty of Nature, — "the azure from above, whence falls the 
 ray which swells the wheat, yellows the maize, rounds the apple, 
 and gilds the orange," — that art which purples the grape and 
 tints the morning sky, wdiich glistens in the dew-drop and wakes 
 to Beauty in rose and lily! The Japanese encourage their peo- 
 ple to turn from absorption in sordid, prosaic, and materialistic 
 commercialism and behold DEITY come to earth in the 
 
 4 
 
Beanty-of-Natiire. There are certain days in spring when the 
 population of cities, towns, and villages repairs to the country 
 to behold the cherry-trees clothed in glory, and the wisteria vine 
 — a vision of beauty, a haunting dream of pure delight that 
 lives in the vivid imagination of the sight-seer long after he has 
 returned to his home. And from these studies of Nature and 
 the contemplation of the Master Artist-Artisan at his work, the 
 Japanese turn to their labors with minds aglow with Beauty ; 
 and into their toil they weave the loveliness that lingers in the 
 brain, wdiich the Western world gladly buys, to the immense 
 enrichment of the land of the Mikado. 
 
 And while Europe and Japan are thus engaged in utilizing 
 art industrially, to their enormous gain, America is neglecting 
 the vital work. We have been like the man who once found a 
 gold piece in the mire, and wdio ever afterward went through 
 life with eyes riveted on the ground, in the hope of finding more 
 gold. As Professor Stimson said on one occasion, "We have 
 destroyed our national character by the gluttony and greed of 
 raw material, left to raw ideals and animal appetites; till the 
 very plague has undermined social and political life, and the 
 very ''Church" itself." 
 
 IV. 
 To awaken our people to the importance of Democratic 
 Art became the overmastering concern of Professor Stimson. 
 on his return to the Republic ; after his six years spent in the 
 study of Art in the great centers of Europe. He first accepted 
 an invitation to lecture at Princeton College, and from this posi- 
 tion he w^as called to direct the art educational work of the 
 New York Metropolitan-Museum-of-Art. Subsequently for 
 several years he was actively engaged in organizing on broad 
 lines, and successfully building up, practical courses that soon 
 became immensely popular. He laid special stress on the Ap- 
 plication of art to industry; and under his splendid direction and 
 oversight many hundreds of young men were trained to suc- 
 cessful careers. It is not strange that the enthusiasm of the 
 teacher became contagious, or that his work aroused a degree 
 of interest not before known in Art-Instruction in America. His 
 labors differed radically from those of the ordinary instructors, 
 in that his broad and complete grasp of the underlying Princi- 
 ples, upon which true methods depend, enabled him to appeal 
 to the reason and philosophic side of life; while stimulating and 
 awakening the Spiritual energies in the student; thus making 
 him feel that witchery which the poet and artist nature only 
 knows wdien profoundly stirred by Beauty that appeals to all 
 the Higher faculties of Being. Professor Stimson also insisted 
 
 5 
 
on letting the natural bent, taste, and aptitude of each pupil 
 determine the special branch of work ; for he understood enough 
 of human nature to know that only in this way could the best 
 results be obtained; and he had also observed that this true 
 Spirit had ever prevailed in the great art epochs of history. 
 Under his directorship the growth of the art classes was 
 phenomenal. From a few students and two or three depart- 
 ments, the School increased until it numbered hundreds of 
 scholars; with more than a dozen instructors, in principles, 
 form, color, light, composition, technique, construction, carving, 
 cabinet work, architecture, sculpture, metal work, jewelry, 
 etching, illustration, decoration for walls, ceilings, ceramics, 
 stained glass, stencils, silks, and textiles generally; with the ad- 
 vanced work of portraiture, landscape, and "life-model" work. 
 
 The one serious drawback to the full success of the great 
 work was found in the lack of hearty official co-operation from 
 certain rich but "dilettanti" members of the Museum board. 
 Their attitude led to a vigorous protest on the part of Professor 
 Stimson, following which he withdrew from his position in the 
 Museum, and having become thoroughly convinced that he 
 could build up a far greater and more beneficent work untram- 
 meled by those who believed that art should be "exclusive" in- 
 stead of "democratic," and who favored imitating or borrowing 
 from the Old World rather than developing a vigorous, inde- 
 pendent, and original movement in America. 
 
 Some time previous to his withdrawal he had coined the 
 hyphenated term "Artist-artisanship" as best illustrating 'the 
 idea for which he was striving; and he now founded the Artist- 
 Artisan-Institute in New York. The movement thus set afoot 
 inthe Western world was for original national Art-Develop- 
 ment, and toward genuine self-culture, self-expression, and self- 
 defense in Industry. It will be seen that in this work Professor 
 Stimson was giving practical expression to theories and ideals 
 similar to those that William Morris was working out in Eng- 
 land; though he was at the time unacquainted with the British 
 poet, artist, and social dreamer's work in this direction. In 
 speaking to me of the founding of the Artist-Artisan Institute 
 Professor Stimson said: 
 
 "I appealed to all 'patriotic practical firms' to stand by an 
 Institute founded expressly to unite Art and Industry upon a 
 generous democratic basis, for specifically American national 
 character, experience, genius, taste, and material applications, 
 as distinct from petty and narrow poses in foreign plumes, or 
 dependence on importing speculation. I wanted especially to 
 
 6 
 
open the public eye to their own rich natural and national en- 
 dowments and sources of inspiration; to train up the young to 
 recognize and apply immortal elements of Beauty everywhere, 
 and cardinal Principles of good taste, selection, adaptation, etc., 
 that applied indefinitely on all materia ; showing them the road 
 to sincere personality, native character and style, organic lines 
 of Nature knowledge and method; New World culture and in- 
 spiration ; so as to break the yoke of blind mimicry, affectation 
 and fad, foreign mannerism, and dilettante pose. 
 
 "I met, of course, the sharp opposition of all elements in 
 any wise opposed to such "national" independence in vital edu- 
 cation : the mechanical 'copy-book' trusts (whose special plunder 
 was the innocent and ignorant public schools) ; the importers 
 who cried foreign wares ; the idle and affected dilettanti ele- 
 ment who 'played with art' only as a pleasant social pose or 
 back parlor preserve, and 'objected to its popularization;' and 
 especially the speculative and ephemeral, who view art as a 
 dextrous 'technical trick' or 'craze' by which to catch pennies 
 or a fleeting self-advertisement. 
 
 "But time told. The Museum awoke too late to the wrong 
 they had done! In spite of desperate eft'orts, their fine school 
 of hundreds went all to pieces in three years, and they gave it up 
 — the students having fled to the new movement! So for thir- 
 teen years the work went broadly and successfully on upon ever 
 more wide and independent lines; drawing forth from, and re- 
 turning to all the States hundreds of young people prepared to 
 disseminate and reapply the educational and artistic principles 
 taught them, 
 
 "Credit must be given to many noble men and women who 
 rallied zealously to our aid during those long years ; like George 
 Jones of the New York Times,. who stood long and manfully by 
 me till his death ; as did his assistant editors, Messrs. Parrish 
 and DeKay. General Joshua Chamberlain (ex-governor of 
 Maine and former president of Bowdoin College) joined the 
 active committee, with the Rev. Heber Newton, Horace Fair- 
 child of the silk guild, and others. Leading educators, like Dr. 
 Hailmann, United States Commissioner of Indian Affairs and 
 head of the Kindergarten Association, and leading artists, like 
 William Hamilton Gibson, Olin Warner, Candace Wlieeler, 
 Walter Shirlaw, Curran, Ruckstuhl, etc., did yeoman service; 
 and most of the artistic and far-seeing firms, like Tiffany, Gor- 
 ham. Cottier, Cheney Brothers, etc., assisted financially." 
 
 As anticipated by its founder, the school soon became a 
 great Success. The broad, free, and enthusiastic spirit of Pro- 
 
 7 
 
fessor Stimson permeated the Institute. The scholars became 
 infected, as it were, and threw into the work that ardor and 
 passionate love which are essential to the grandest results. It 
 would be impossible adequately to estimate the influence it ex- 
 erted on the nation, through the young people going forth 
 aflame with love of art to scatter abroad the lessons they had 
 imbibed in all parts of the land, founding schools, entering edu- 
 cational institutions, and furthering the practical work in hun- 
 dreds of fields. 
 
 After thirteen years of constant application, the health of 
 the earnest and tireless teacher gave way. He was taken with 
 severe illness and had to seek perfect quiet in the Adirondack 
 mountains. Nature and rest restored his health, and, in response 
 to an invitation from Trenton, New Jersey, he accepted the di- 
 rectorship of the Art-and-Science-Institute of that city; and here 
 the same work along the same lines as that formerly accom- 
 plished in New York, but which his illness closed there, is be- 
 ing successfully renewed. In addition to this Professor Stimson 
 has recently greatly enlarged and elaborated a work of immense 
 value, an outline of which w^as prepared some years ago, deal- 
 ing with "The Principles and Methods in Vital- Art-Education." 
 This work, from wdiat I know of it, will aid materially in foster- 
 ing an interest in an Original and Vital Art work in America. 
 
 Professor Stimson is, in the truest sense, a man of Twen- 
 tieth Century Ideals. He possesses the passionate hatred of 
 oppression and injustice, and the Love-of-Liberty which marked 
 in so eminent a degree his ancestors on both sides of his fam- 
 ily; and he also appreciates the Newer and Broader implications 
 that have come with the advance of civilization. At times the 
 wrongs of conventional society, of Church and State, call from 
 his pen some burning protest, sometimes in prose, sometimes in 
 verse, but always breathing forth the spirit of a man who has 
 dared and suffered much for the rights and happiness of others. 
 A short time ago, when the Russian church excommunicated 
 Count Tolstoi, and the State (the subservient tool of the 
 Church) refused to allow the Count's picture to be publicly ex- 
 hibited. Professor Stimson penned the following thoroughly 
 characteristic lines (dedicated to Tolstoi) : 
 
TO CAIAPHAS. 
 I care not a coin for yonr crown ! 
 
 Ye priests of the science of "self." 
 AA'ith phylacteries falling low down, 
 
 But yonr prayers and your poses for pelf! 
 Ye climb to your steeples so high, 
 Yet mock at the heroes — who die ! 
 
 I care not a coin for your blame ! 
 
 Ye drones that lay burdens so vast 
 Upon Life — with its rapture and flame ; — • 
 Yet out of your temples it cast ! 
 
 I gladly haste forth from your wall 
 To find Mercy and Beauty for all! 
 
 Ye trees that are "barren of figs," 
 
 While ye rustle and flutter your leaves ! 
 I fly from your concourse of prigs 
 To gather Life's sacredest sheaves. 
 "Ye neither pass in at The Gate, 
 Nor suffer the sad" — that there wait 1 
 
 Go, gather your harvest of dust. 
 
 And whitewash your charnel of bones I 
 Go, heap up your wealth, if ye must, 
 And pile up your crumbling stones. 
 
 Build houses "till there be no room" — 
 They shall fall at the first crack of Doom! 
 
 I care not a coin for your pride, — 
 It is false, it is barren and drear! 
 It is waste that is washed by the tide ! 
 It is chaff — when the harvest is sere ! 
 
 Let me live — let me love — till the last! 
 
 I will still live and love — when all's past ! 
 
 To Professor Stimson the Unity-of-Life and the Brother- 
 hood-of-AIan are splendid facts, which bear with them august 
 duties for the individual and the State. He realizes that CO- 
 OPERATION is the ke3mote of twentieth-century progress; 
 that justice, freedom, and loving fellowship must pervade the 
 oncoming generation if civilization is to suffer no eclipse. His 
 love of Art is great, but it is because he feels that Art is the 
 handmaid of progress, happiness, and spiritual development. He 
 demands that each child of earth shall have the same rights to 
 ask for himself, and shall be led into, the enjoyment of the 
 ampler life which (through progressive changes) has now for 
 the first time been made possible on earth. He is a child of the 
 
 9 
 
Xew Time — a worthy representative of the chosen torch-bearers 
 of the ages, who have ever been ready to sacrifice personal com- 
 fort, ease, and even health and life, for the enlargement and en- 
 richment of the common lot, and for the furtherance of the hap- 
 piness and elevation of all the people! 
 
 "Such earnest natures are the fiery pith. 
 
 The compact nucleus, round which systems grow! 
 
 Mass after mass becomes inspired therewith. 
 And whirls impregnate with the central glow." 
 
 B. O. FOWLER, Editor. 
 Boston, Mass. 
 
 ON THE STOA OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY. 
 ETHICAL AND UTILITARIAN VALUE OF VITAL ART. 
 
 O. Professor Stimson, as the man perhaps of all men in 
 America, best qualified intelligently to discuss the artist-artisan 
 movement and the influence of art — true Art — on the minds of 
 the humble workers ; I desire to obtain for our readers your 
 views on this Vital question. How did you happen to interest 
 yourself in the Art educational field, and wdiy did you devote 
 your university-trained forces to the more democratic side of it? 
 A. I suppose we are providentially born or driven to our 
 life roles when we do not deliberately obstruct Intuitions. My 
 one credit, perhaps, is that I heard a "still, small Voice" cry 
 within my conscience, "Whom shall I send on a hard journey of 
 educational uplifting to American labor?" And I dared not hold 
 back my little. I owe much to old Puritan ancestral conviction 
 of the individual right of every soul to be freely taught of 
 "every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God ;" and to 
 French Huguenot ancestry I owe a consciousness that Beauty 
 is one of His greatest Words; Art one of His richest Voices; 
 Nature the very concrete Expression of His skill, taste, and 
 esthetic Principles; while to make Beauty forceful and vital it 
 must be as democratically embodied in every daily life, (as are 
 principles of physics or ethics) in the full spirit of "Liberty, 
 Equality, Fraternity." The Christ said: "If you do not believe 
 me for my Words, believe me for my Works' sake ! My Father 
 worketh hitherto, and I work." And Saint James adds, "Show 
 me faith without works, and I will show you faith by my works," 
 We need no nobler "aristocracy" of True Labor than this ! 
 The "vulgarity" is in the wantonly idle, rapacious, and tyranni- 
 cal. If "actions speak louder than words," the Deity may be 
 
 10 
 
speaking louder through his Cosmic Bible of Works than 
 through any local Bible of words (Hebraic or other)! 
 
 The mysterious Spirit of Light, Life, Truth, and Beauty, 
 back of things, seems pressing into our planet everywhere, ac- 
 cording to the various receptivity of localities or susceptibility 
 of souls; andthe poor, honest, and oppressed ])roducers. of the 
 Earth, are often more open to the mighty voices of the Creator 
 than the selfishly complacent and smug. It is certain the 
 Hebrews themselves were more receptive and amenable after 
 exile, sorrow\ and pilgrimage than when they waxed fat with 
 material wealth and intellectual conceit. In their early demo- 
 cratic age they heard the Lord's call for "all in whom I have 
 put ]\Iy Spirit to work cunning workmanship in every material," 
 to come forward to help l^eautify His tabernacle; but in their 
 later official decadence they crucified the carpenter Messiah, 
 whose purity and nobility the common people recognized gladly, 
 and who urged everybody to "consider the lily, how it grows" — 
 as Paul cried, "Whatsoever things are lovely, consider these!" 
 Even David denounced "those who consider not the works of 
 the Lord nor the operation of His hands." 
 
 O. Then you do not think the Puritan iconoclasm and 
 antagonism toward Beauty were correct; or that Christ was op- 
 posed to it when he declared to the beautiful stones of the tem- 
 ple that "not one would be left on another?" How do you con- 
 nect Beauty and Ethics? 
 
 A, The iconoclasm of the Puritans was but a temporary 
 reaction against the Romanist abuse of Art ; and against the 
 vain show of monarchists who hid their tyrannous selfishness 
 under specious pretenses of "art patronage;" much as robber 
 barons today make pompous donations for libraries and art gal- 
 leries to cloak political corruption and rascality in their acquisi- 
 tions. Such art stimulus is apt to be spurious and sporadic; and 
 can never take the place of sincere, genuine growth in the public 
 at large. I think the old Puritans had (at heart, under a grim 
 exterior) much tender appreciation of Beauty-in-Nature ; and 
 certainly of Honesty-in-workmanship (which are at the bottom 
 of all good "artist-artisanship"). 
 
 To me physics, ethics, and esthetics are but different facets 
 of the same great prism of Truth. The same white light of J'V^ve*, 
 Equilibrium in planetary motion. Sir Isaac Newton sees it in 
 ted by temperament and colored by different applications to ma- 
 terial. Take, for instance, a living principle, like Unity and 
 Equilibrium in planetary motion. Sir Icaas Newton sees it in 
 physics and calls it "gravity" ; an ethicist sees it in the moral 
 world and calls it "temperance," "continence," etc. ; while an 
 
 II 
 
artist, seeing the flanking towers and doorways of a cathedral, 
 calls it "Constructional Balance." It is so with a host of other 
 great principles, snch as Harmony, Order, Regularity, Propor- 
 tion, Propriety and Fitness, and Selection and Adaptation, etc. 
 \Miether as a Messiah, or as the noblest type of Manhood that 
 our race has produced, Christ would not have discarded any 
 Living Principles that are portions of elemental Truth. He 
 merely called attention to the fact that all cosmic principles 
 would be seen to be International rather than local, and "writ- 
 ten on the heart" for universal application rather than confined 
 to Samaria or Jerusalem or to any place or temple. Historic 
 religion has not destroyed the essential Beauty of any truth 
 or race — Greek, Hebrew, or Latin. What was vitally helpful 
 then, in art or thought, is more alive today than ever, both to 
 reveal their civilization and to reanimate ours. I find those who 
 catch principles virilely, in one field, are more likely to detect 
 them in another; and to develop character more proportionate- 
 ly. At Pentecost the Spirit declared, to varied personalities col- 
 lected, "the wonderful Works-of-God," each "in his own langu- 
 age." .So, by any window that Truth enters into a house, it 
 "giveth light to all that are in the house !" 
 
 We Americans should keep this fact closer to national con- 
 science and application. Our educational systems fail to recog- 
 nize essential principles and their unities. Art and Beauty 
 suffer from educational narrow^ness and prejudice. Labor is 
 stifled and atrophied from lack of Vital Art-Inspiration; and be- 
 comes dead, mechanical drudgery! "Commercialism" (another 
 term for selfish materialism) will not save us but destroy us; and 
 quantity will not replace quality. Our colleges fail of the true 
 "university" spirit toward light, beauty, art, and all their applica- 
 tions. It was because I found so many rushing from my own 
 university (of Yale) to crowd old avenues of law, medicine, 
 theology, etc., that I preferred to pioneer in newer and more 
 needed (though less lucrative or conventional) lines. 
 
 Great w^orld-exhibitions were beginning to reveal America 
 as far behind in art and artisanship; while open marts and com- 
 petition were certain to grapple and destroy our blind depend- 
 ence on raw materials in "raw" hands. Hence the pressure to do 
 what one could to help, in time, our nation's better conscience, 
 thought, taste and capacity toward Industry. W^e can never be a 
 true Republic until we honor Labor by ennobling it educational- 
 ly. It has suffered too long from our hypocritical shoddy and 
 veneer, and the unjust degradation and weakness this imposes. 
 National self-protection can only come by self-respect and self- 
 development. It must be organic, internal, genuine, not artificial 
 
 12 
 
and extraneous. Tyranny and selfishness in the trusts beget a 
 like retaliation in labor unions — though these latter have at 
 least learned self-sacrifice for members and fair play by arbitra- 
 tion. Our present morbid industrial condition gives rise to 
 monstrous political charlatanism, hocus-pocus tricks of poli- 
 ticians, to ''protect" our weakness (by tariff and revenue para- 
 sites), when only generous and general Artist-artisanship can 
 fortify us ! 
 
 I have had manuacturers of American carpets, etc., say they 
 would not let their own wives furnish home with products from 
 their personal factories, because the "colors would not hold," 
 and "the patterns were not as good as foreign"; but they com- 
 pelled other Americans to buv their bad productions by high 
 tariffs! They themselves jump the fence they put around oth- 
 ers ! Meanwhile they degrade labor, and deny it the education 
 that could protect home products legitimately ! Americans should 
 meet fire with fire, intelligence with intelligence, taste with taste, 
 skill with skill — for the industrious producing classes of our 
 country must ever be the true life, soul, and support of liberty. 
 We need a nobler "aristocracy" than that of speculation, greed, 
 chicane — something born rather of sincere Culture, social Serv- 
 ice, self-respect, self-support, self-defense — the nobility of true 
 Production, instead of parasitism and plunder. In this renova- 
 tion, Art has a great and noble function to perform, but it must 
 itself be genuine, vital, national, constructive, inspired, and uni- 
 versal in application, based on Living Principles — not spurious- 
 ly mimetic of other times and peoples ; not borrowing their 
 castaway clothes but applying eternally fresh and Living Princi- 
 ples. American art has too many fads and faddists — little posers 
 who monkey foreign mannerisms and peddle foreigntricks. They 
 start so-called "art schools," which do more to discourage genu- 
 ine native talent, and to pervert sincere American taste, than 
 they do liberally to enlighten, enlarge, and empower it. Worst 
 of all are the speculative "book trusts" or "copybook" syndi- 
 cates, which exploit the public school system with cheap art 
 sawdust; and massacre the innocents with esthetic "wooden 
 nutmegs ;" choke off inspiration ; and disgust wholesome aspira- 
 tion that ought to attain real usefulness and bloom. The young 
 come from Heaven full of God's splendid ideality, imagination, 
 and hunger to create ! These faculties are some of the most 
 precious for later productive prosperity. The good designer is 
 worth more than the fabric ; and the inventor is worth more than 
 the mechanic; for Mind gives matter most of its attractiveness 
 and value. 
 
 13 
 
O. But, i\Ir. Stinison, some people seem to imagine that, 
 while art is good for the cultured and those in easy circum- 
 stances, it would harm the artisans by making them "discontent- 
 ed"' with their lot and surroundings — something that to their 
 minds is "not desirable." What are your views, based on exper- 
 ience, first in regard to the influence of art on the minds of the 
 toilers, and secondly as to the effect for good or ill of the dis- 
 content that art might awaken in the minds of the artisans? 
 
 A. Such objectors and objections are the familiar fossiliz- 
 ed ones that ,from of old. have struggled to bolster ignorance 
 and the tyranny that thrives on it. Noble discontent is the soul 
 of progress; and true progress is the only true conservatism! To 
 tie up the circulation of blood in my finger is not to conserve 
 it, but to destroy the finger! Nine-tenths of the people who 
 hide self-interest and timidity under the folds of nominal "con- 
 servatism" are arrant rogues or cowards, who prevent the True 
 Conservatism of genuine Popular Life ! They "profit" in the 
 humiliation, ignorance, and suffering of human brothers whom 
 they ought to help to light and liberty; but pride and selfish 
 caste blind them, and "they fear to come to the light because 
 their methods are evil." Yet true progress and vital education 
 in Living Principles would profit all true souls, all true inter- 
 ests, and "protect" permanently all worthy of protection. But 
 unjust repression or suppression of popular talent, taste, self- 
 culture, and honest aspiration must radically weaken the na- 
 tion ; discourage development ; deflect progress and prosperity 
 to wiser localities; and arouse the very "discontent" dreaded! 
 The Australian republics and even Switzerland and Japan are 
 out-running us in broad, generous humanity and true civiliza- 
 tion, while we are returning "like the sow that was washed, to 
 the mire" of medieval Bourbonism and imperialism. 
 
 My experience among artistic workers in other lands is that 
 their interest and inspiration for beautiful work become the 
 soul of contentment as well as of prosperity. When heart and 
 mind are fed, as well as the stomach, we have better guaranties 
 of happiness throughoutall society. The empty-handed inca- 
 pacity and idleness, among the children of rich homes, often 
 become their despair and desolation — the fruitful mother of 
 folly and ennui. Our public schools should not turn our child- 
 ren into mere parrots and machines for measuring tape and 
 counting columns, or those who despise the "use" of their 
 hands. The kindergarten and manual training departments 
 should be strengthened; but especially the love of Nature, 
 Beauty, Art, Taste, Skill, Invention, and Design should be 
 
 14 
 
kindled like a mighty conflagration to enable us to catch up with 
 the rival nations attacking us ! For, so, new avenues of useful- 
 ness and constructive worth are opened ; precious faculties and 
 talents are quickened and employed; vast resources of national 
 wealth, industry, and ingenuity are unveiled, by adding the 
 values of GENIUS to those of crude matter. No greater need 
 presses upon this country than to give to the term "prosperity" 
 a far deeper and safer significance than the mere surfeit of the 
 appetite and bloating of the pocketbook ; and no more sacrileg- 
 ious impiety exists, today, than the dethroning of God by gokl. 
 and calling it the "Almighty;" instead of those Splendid Capa- 
 cities of patriotism, devotion, invention, construction, and pro- 
 duction, by which the Creator enables a noble artist-artisan to 
 give all metals superior "value" ; and to all materials Spiritual 
 Beauty and Usefulness. 
 
 Are not the intelligence, refinement .contentment, and pub- 
 lic confidence of our productive classes as sacred and pressing 
 an element for general "prosperity," as the vanity, idleness, and 
 affectations of the "(HIettante" class? Surely no profounder na- 
 tional shame and peril await the American Repul)lic, than to 
 find her Ship-of-State has been boarded (while patriots slept) l)y 
 mercenary pirates, hypocritically waving old flags (for which our 
 forefathers once died), but which robbers and murderers today 
 recklessly dishonor and trample under foot, in imperiahstic greed 
 and rapine ! The honest skilled labor of the Nation is its very 
 Life-Blood! Whoever degrades or attacks it destroys national 
 hope ; whoso uplifts and enlightens it most deserves the title of 
 Patriot or Christian. 
 
 O. Do you regard art education as vitally essential to the 
 ethical development or Soul culture of the individual, and as 
 essential to triumphant Democracy? What influence, aside from 
 all commercial thought, does Art exert over the normal mind? 
 Does it bring the soul into sympathetic rapport with the Divine 
 life, and serve to refine sublimate, and ennoble life? 
 
 A. All Vital Principles (whether physical, etliical, or 
 esthetic) must, of course, do this. The crime of educational his- 
 tory has been the feeding, to mankind, of the technical husks 
 "that the swine do eat ;" instea dof the sweet kernals of Active 
 Principles "that give Life." Chinese praying-machines never 
 kept moral life alive in that marvelous old land, half so much as 
 the one living principle of the Golden Rule which Confucius laid 
 down (upon its obverse side). W^e have our religious, political. 
 and educational "machines" too; but the nation needs, far more, 
 a few simple, vital teachers — as Confucius, Socrates, Paul, Luth- 
 
 15 
 
er, Jefferson, Froebel and Spencer — to make Living Principles 
 clear, accessible, and applicable. In Art it is the same as else- 
 where — in laboratory, Church, or State. The Christ did not 
 offer to men the stale cisterns of convention, but the Living 
 vSprings of Workable Principle. This offended priestcraft and 
 politicial harpies ; but it saved Liberty, Humanity, Civilization ! 
 
 It is the only thing, again, that can rescue our staggering 
 Republic from the growing materialism that is its imminent 
 peril ! Eternal vigilance, and the crusade of a deeper Educa- 
 tional Conscience, can alone save it from a decadent Mammon- 
 ism. Art must do her part. She revives the Ideal, spiritualizes 
 "matter," reveals the Divine in Nature and in daily labor, revives 
 the canons of eternal Beauty and the estimates of broader pro- 
 portion and truer perspective ; while cheering, refining, and con- 
 soling the necessary toil of existence. In its direct combina- 
 tion of mind-with-matter, ideality-with-reality, poetry-with- 
 practise, vision-with-visualization, a noble "Artist-artisanship" 
 is the first step in Practical Christianity! It is the first requisite 
 of wholesome citizenship — "a sound-Mind-in-a-sound-Body." 
 
 Q. Is it not true that, from a purely commercial point of 
 view, — laying aside for the moment all thought of the influence 
 of art on the higher nature, — artist-artisan schools would prove 
 the best possible outlay for money devoted to the enrichment 
 of the nation? Are not France, Germany, Japan, and other na- 
 tions far ahead of our Republic in the appreciation manifested 
 for Art; and have not the Art Schools of certain great European 
 governments, and the prizes offered by nations like France, (for 
 example of the finest designs in tapestry, pottery, and other dec- 
 orative effects) resulted in immensely increasing the real wealth 
 through Trade, brought to the nation that thus exerted Wisdom 
 in developing artistic sensibilities in the artisan class? 
 
 A. From what I have said before, you can readily see that 
 Art must result in such practical and directly beneficial aid and 
 inspiration tothe people that rightly cultivate it. See what a 
 magnificent testimonial by it remains to the sublimity of Egypt, 
 the high intelligence of Greece, and the Christian faith and aspir- 
 ation of European peoples struggling up through the Dark Ages. 
 See what an industrial power it has been to Japan and is becom- 
 ing today to France and Germany ! The exportations of Japan 
 for the last ten years have risen from sixty millions to one hun- 
 dren and sixty — a proportion of growth greater than any other 
 country, and largely due to her artistic culture and skill ; to wdiich 
 may likewise be attributed much of her marvelous plasticity, 
 self-reliance, and adaptability to modern progress. France, at 
 
 16 
 
her great international exhibit, recorded over fifty miUion entries 
 (with all that implies collaterally) — a number twice as great as 
 our Chicago Centennial ! Can any one fail to see the immense 
 elasticity, virility, and receptive power that have blessed these 
 two nations (Japan and France) through their wise apprecia- 
 tion of Nature and their industrial cultivation of skill, taste, 
 aptitude, ingenuity, thrift, and beauty? And how the slower arts 
 of Germany and England are hurrying to learn the mighty les- 
 son contained in industrial history! To the "man-wolf" who 
 only longs to prey upon society and pervert government, these 
 qualities may be irrelevant ; but, to the honest Christian and 
 Humanist, who longs to see a sad world rescued from wolves, 
 and raised into industrial peace, prosperity, and happiness; the 
 lesson of Applied Beauty — or noble "Artist-artisanship" — is 
 convincing! Who cannot see that the great Hokusai (who in- 
 spired Japanese industry in a thousand ways by brilliant arts, 
 and at ninety years of age humbly begged to "know more of the 
 Divine-Beauty-of-Nature that he might be fitted to die") and 
 the sweet and modest painter of "The Angelus" (whose heroic 
 life and labors for God's Beauty in humble toil thrilled this cen- 
 tury) are nobler types of civilization and society (though out- 
 cast and oppressed by these) than the political sharks who raven 
 today thereupon? God is today holding up these two social 
 types of heaven or hell in sharp, inescapable contrast, and ask- 
 ing us, "Whom will ye serve — Producer or Spoliator?" 
 
 O. You use frequently the words "organic and vital x\rtist- 
 artisanship." Please explain the professional sense in which 
 you use this term. 
 
 A. Certainly. I have referred to cardinal Principles in 
 art-life, as in all life. Let us look closer. Is not all creation 
 Art? Plato exclaims, "These things that they say are done by 
 Nature are really done by Divine Art." They are material 
 atoms deliberately arranged in Beauty, Order and System. And 
 this is "Art." That is to say, some latent Ideals, progressive 
 Principles, systematic Methods, are giving Beautiful material- 
 ization and expression to the Divine Will. Accident cannot ex- 
 plain such consistent order, design, and definitely attained de- 
 light as we experience at each bursting spring. A rose reduced 
 to powder is no longer a "rose!" The "rose" has disappeared! 
 What was it? whence came? whither gone? 
 
 Evidently some Informing Spirit had willed those material 
 particles into such relations as conveyed meaning and delight 
 to our spirits ; therefore, it was communication, or "language" 
 — Divine Self-expression ! There were also order, harmony, 
 
 17 
 
unity, balance, proportion, variety-in-unity, appropriateness, and 
 ideality "expressed." So long as God's art was undisturbed, in 
 the powder, all observers adored and wondered at it. Drive that 
 Ideal and those latent Principles out of the atoms, and you have 
 "murdered" the rose! You have driven back its spirit to God 
 who gave it ! Only dust and ugliness remain in your hand ! 
 This is what ruthless tyrants are doing to Divine Ideals of 
 Beauty in human society and labor — depriving them of beautiful 
 principles, and reducing them to wretched material atoms ! A 
 community that so acts drives its best workers and producers 
 elsewhere. The religious persecutions in France exiled the 
 best and most skilled citizens from France, and brought indus- 
 trial light, and competition to alert rivals. The persistence of 
 force is known, and so with great Ideas or Ideals. I doubt the 
 destruction of any divine Ideal — even of a rose or song-l)ird. 
 What persistency and fecundity of ideal in every flower! I Ije- 
 Heve we will find them all again in the Bosom-of-the-Creator, 
 when we appear before Him ; for, with infinite space and fore- 
 sight evident, annihilation is illogical ! The very artist of earth 
 who has seen and caught correctly the Soul of that rose, into 
 his own Soul; can resurrect its Spirit visually upon the canvas, 
 and give back life to the dust. Why should not the Infinite 
 Artist do the same ? 
 
 Our first duty is to awaken the young and the workers to 
 Ideals of Nature and to ideal Principles and methods of Beauty, 
 in Nature; the elements of grace and charm in motion, meas- 
 ure, growth, form, color, light, texture, arrangement. These 
 are all Divine ! Sometimes the Creator seeks the Beauty-of-Use 
 (as in a cal)bage) ; but sometimes the Use-of-Beauty (as in a 
 lily). Who dare say Him nay, or antagonize them to each other? 
 Blessed the soul of aspiration that combines them ! This is the 
 divine desire of the "artist-artisan.'' God Himself — the First 
 Member — was founder of our Brotherhood: for do we not see 
 Beauty and Use together in the "apple-trees" of Paradise? We 
 must nurture (not nip), in the child's soul, the mighty faculties 
 that accompany this gracious gift of natural Beauty: Observa- 
 tion, Perception, good Judgment, Taste, Selection, Arrange- 
 ment, Adaptation — most of all Ideality, Imagination, Original- 
 ity, keen Sensitiveness, Decorativeness, and Invention This 
 makes them derive more direct happiness and joy from natural 
 sources ; it makes them more alive to suggestions of Beauty in 
 work, more contented and valuable as producers. Life now 
 takes on a richer and more glorious Meaning to the worker, for 
 he now sees more clearly the Methods and Meaning of Crea- 
 tion, and l)ecomes a co-worker with tlie great Creator! ^^'hat 
 
 18 
 
can bring a truer inspiration to right service? The employer 
 who deprives the soul of this Inspiration "murders" it, to make 
 it a hopeless and dreary drudge or machine ; and he should be 
 "restrained-by-law" as much as a monster or a maniac! The 
 "artist-artisan," or beautiful worker, is the Ideal producer (and 
 not a parasite) ; and so he is the "Ideal" man. 
 
 Q. You think, then, that William Morris and John Ruskin 
 were among the truest propliets of progress that the nineteenth 
 century produced? 
 
 A. I do, certainly ! And I go further — that similar men, 
 in all ages, were the truest Prophets of all ages! All Nature, 
 of course, is a Divine work-shop and Artist-artisan School. 
 Jesus was a practical constructive "carpenter" most of his life — 
 save the last three }'ears, when he publicly but modestly lectured 
 for the oppressed poor and endured heroic martyrdom for a few 
 far-reaching Divine Principles ! Ruskin and Morris labored in 
 much the same spirit, and endured very similar obloquy, critic- 
 ism, and ostracism — with an essential Christianity greater by far 
 than most official politics or priestcraft. But so also had many 
 noble artist-artisans done through all time in a holy quest for 
 Beautv or its Eternal Principles, tangibly embodied. They be- 
 came the life-marrow of Labor, in all those ages, and created 
 really enduring wealth ; they preserved History, perpetuated the 
 best Ideals, and both inspired and educated posterity by Prac- 
 tical Performances. Egypt, Greece, Italy, and Japan have been 
 full of them ! \\'hat were mighty Phidias, Praxiteles, Raphael, 
 Da Vinci, Angelo, Cellini, the wonderful Ghiberti, whose beauti- 
 ful bronze gates were called "fit-for-Paradise"? Who the 
 Delia Robbias. Stradivariuses, Varrochios, etc. ? \\'ho were the 
 army of beautiful illuminators, carvers, cathedral builders, that 
 by constancy and devotion heroically preserved learning, and 
 upreared the glorious Gothic cathedrals — poems in stone of the 
 divine Adoration they felt for the Holy Spirit? ]Many were 
 martyrs outright — like Palissy and Jean Francois Millet. Yes, 
 verilv! often "destitute, afflicted! tormented, in dens and caves 
 of earth;" they ("of whom the world was not worthy") through 
 faith in Beauty "wrought righteousness; stopped the mouths 
 of (industrial) lions; out of weakness were made strong;" and 
 "endured-as-Seeing that which (to oppressors of labor) is ever 
 invisible"! Europe, and even Asia, is learning to honor those 
 great prophets and martyrs of industry — divine Teachers and 
 Producers of a "Heavenly City" yet "to come" — where all men 
 shall be Brothers in the maintenance of a juster Society; and 
 where the humblest-hearted producer may yet be "First" in the 
 
 19 
 
estimate of the Eternal Judge ! They are planting schools of 
 artist-artisanship everywhere in this industrial centers. 
 
 Q. Will you give us your ideas of what might be accom- 
 plished by an intelligently directed artist-artisan movement? 
 
 A. With the great material means of America there is no 
 reason why this intellectual and moral light in industry should 
 be withheld; for it is national suicide not to provide it liberally! 
 The young people of both sexes, in all strata of society, are 
 really in need of sound taste and executive skill in a thousand 
 forms of inventive and industrial life. Many branches are 
 
 starving for it! Much is left too late in life to learn, or too 
 superficial and affected ; often unillumined by principle or un- 
 fortified by practise. Bad systems of teaching make dry, sterile, 
 and mimetic, what should be vital, inspiring, and creative. 
 
 The "artist-artisan" idea should be an organic part of our 
 school system ; but vitally and for development — not merely for 
 a little immediate money, nor for manual mimicries. Through 
 many years of direct operation among many nationalities, I have 
 found our American stock just as alert, sensitive, susceptible of 
 beauty, taste, and executive skill as any; and rather more ob- 
 servant of Nature, sensitive to suggestion, refined in general 
 culture, and certainly much more eager and willing to advance. 
 What they have needed most was really first-class instruction, 
 example, and opportunity, and to be delivered from quack 
 syndicates ! Lack of practise and of artistic expression makes 
 our youth ignorant of high standards and awkward and timid 
 as to personal possibilities. This would easily pass into genuine 
 courage and creativeness if noble artist-artisan schools, nobly 
 led, could be scattered generously among the people. Everv- 
 thing would depend on sound principles and right leadership ; 
 for, as Napoleon puts it : "There's no use for us to set guardians 
 — unless we guard the guards!" 
 
 20 
 
PROFESSOR STIMSON'S GREAT WORK ON ART, 
 "THE GATE-BEAUTIFUL." 
 
 A SYMPOSIUM BY GEORGE LANSING RAYMOND, L. H. D.; 
 R. HEBER NEWTON, D. D.; JOSHUA L. CHAMBERLAIN, LL. D.; 
 
 JOAQUIN MILLER, AND EDWIN MARKHAM. 
 
 (It is our profund conviction that Professor Stimson's work, 
 'The Gate Beautiful" is the most vital and fundamentally im- 
 portant book by an American author that has appeared in recent 
 years. Its greatness Hes not only in the broad and masterly 
 handling of the basic principles of Art, and the multitudinous 
 manifestations of Nature's varying moods — (though as a philo- 
 sophical and practical treatise on art is far superior to any work 
 of which we have any knowledge) — but also in its suggestive 
 Revelation-of-Nature in her secret workings; while its Implica- 
 tions and the ennobling Philosophy it embodies, are better cal- 
 culated to exalt the Ideals of the masses, and to stimulate the 
 Highest Aspirations than any similar work from an American 
 pen. If the volume had been merely a fine technical work, if 
 it had been superficial in character, if it had been written simply 
 for the few or to delight the dilettante, we should have been 
 content to dismiss it with a passing notice ; but inasmuch as it 
 strikes at the very root of the Basic Principles that aiTect alike 
 the artist and esthetic as w^ell as ethical and spiritual Verities; 
 because the supreme aim and passion of the author has been to 
 reach the vast masses of the people, and awaken in them such 
 a knowledge and appreciation of great and original Art that 
 they may recognize, enjoy, and cultivate it; because the author 
 is, we believe, the first great Master among our own art teach- 
 ers who has insisted that the pure delight, the refinement and 
 culture born of True Art shall become the precious heritage of 
 the millions; and, finally, because this work is a conscience book 
 as well as a luminous intellectual production — a work of Genius 
 of the highest order that appeals at once to the Imagination, the 
 Reason, and the Heart in dealing with the most vital problems 
 of life; we have secured the following symposium of criticisms 
 and appreciations from five representative thinkers in various 
 walks of life. 
 
 The first three criticisms are by George Lansing Raymond, 
 L. H. D., Professor of Esthetics in Princeton University and 
 author of "Art in Theory," "The Genesis of Art-Form," "Poetry 
 as a Representative Art" and other volumes upon comparative 
 esthetics; R. Heber Newton, D. D., the famous liberal-minded 
 Episcopalian clergyman ; Joshua L. hamberlain, LL. D., who was 
 for many years president of Bowdoin College and whose val- 
 
 21 
 
liable labors for progressive education have been only second to 
 the service rendered to the State on the field of war and as chief 
 executive of Maine. To the criticisms of the art teacher and 
 critic, the divine, and the educator, we have added two brief ap- 
 preciations from poets — representatives of widely different 
 thought-worlds, Joaquin Miller, the mystic poet of the Sierras, 
 and Edwin Markham, the noble laureate of the common life. 
 These appreciations form a worthy tribute to a work which can- 
 not fail to broaden and deepen the culture and exalt the life of 
 every reader. 
 
 B. O. FLOWER, (Editor.) 
 
 I. 
 
 By PROF. RAYMOND, of Princeton University. 
 
 It gives me pleasure to be able to say a few words concern- 
 ing Professor John Ward Stimson's work, "The Gate Beauti- 
 ful." According to my judgment, it has three characteristics 
 which make it an extremely valuable contribution to the art- 
 thought and art-culture of our country. The first characteristic 
 is the minute, and, in most cases, accurate analysis to which al- 
 most every phase of the possibilities of form has been subjected! 
 That so much thought could be sugegsted by sources so appar- 
 ently superficial as Line and Color, will appeal to large numbers 
 (who have never studied the subject) with the force of revela- 
 tion ! and no one, no matter how much he has studied it, can, 
 even in a hurried way, turn over the pages of the book without 
 obtaining an enlarged conception of the importance, the dignity, 
 and the comprehensiveness of the Message of Art for the 
 thoughtful mind. 
 
 The second characteristic of the book is the attempt, in the 
 main successful, to indicate the peculiar tendency of thought or 
 feeling represented by each phase of hue or color. To appreciate 
 the force of the argument presented, it is not necessary for one 
 to accept without limitations the exact significance which Mr. 
 Stimson ascribes to each of the almost infinite varieties of the 
 elements of Form which he considers. No matter how much one 
 may differ from him when explaining details, enough will re- 
 main to cause the candid reader to recognize as well nigh un- 
 assailable that which alone is of supreme importance, nameh'. 
 the truth of the general Principle — which all the details, taken 
 together, are intended to illustrate. 
 
 The third characteristic to which I have referred, one would 
 almost except, owning to the particular object of Mr. Stimson's 
 book, to find lacking. But it is not. Though not emphasized, 
 it is everywhere implied. It is the result of the conception so 
 
 22 
 
difficult to get into the heads of many Americans, especially of 
 the transcendental school — though Mr. Stimson himself, in a 
 sense, belongs to that school — that in order to become artistic, 
 forms of representation, after having been once determined by 
 the requirements of significance, must be developed and elabor- 
 ated according to methods having to do with Form alone. A 
 single architectural arch, for instance, represents a constructive 
 thought, a single musical phrase an emotional inclination. But 
 one camiot obtain a completed architectural or musical product 
 without developing the representative arch or phrase in a way 
 conditioned upon merely Formal considerations. The same fact 
 is more subtly true of products of painting, sculpture, and 
 poetry. The latter, for instance, nothwithstanding the erroneous 
 conception of many of our critics, must be more than merely 
 expressive. This general fact, w^ith reference to Art, Mr. Stim- 
 son never overlooks ; and it is all the more noteworthy inasmuch 
 as he emphasizes so strongly — but not too strongly — the Ex- 
 pressional side. 
 
 These three characteristics of the book are those which 
 have chiefly impressed me, and on account of them alone, to 
 say nothing of other features, I think that all wdio are both book 
 lovers of art and thinkers (they must be both to appreciate this 
 book) will desire to see it placed in all important public libraries, 
 as well as in the private libraries of those wnth whom art is a 
 specialty. 
 
 GEORGE LANSING RAYMOND, L. R. H. 
 
 Princeton University, N. J. 
 
 II. 
 By REV. DR. HEBER NEWTON, New York. 
 
 Some books are manufactures, some are growths. These be 
 lived before they are written. 
 
 The book before us is a life embodied. Like each of the 
 greatest books of earth (ta biblia) the inspiration in it is the 
 record of the inspiration of a life. Rightly to review this work 
 is to reverently read the story of the life before opening the cov- 
 ers of the volume. 
 
 John Ward Stimson fitted himself assiduously for the 
 career of an artist. After studying in New York, he spent sev- 
 eral years in Paris, returning well prepared for the vocation 
 awaiting him. in the expectation of spending his days before the 
 easel, turning out pictures for the art dealer to sell and for the 
 rich to buy. 
 
 Looking around him with those observant eyes of his, which 
 scan alike the heavens and the earth, he saw the crowding hosts 
 
 23 
 
of painters striving to do this work for the few of earth. He 
 saw also the greater host of young men and women without the 
 gifts for such a career, and without the possibility of a training 
 for it, who had within them the artist soul, the inherent love of 
 the Beautiful, vainly seeking an Expression through their un- 
 trained fingers ; men and women capable, if not of painting great 
 pictures, of at least making charming vases and artistic decora- 
 tions and lovely wood carvings; of becoming artist-artisans for 
 the service of the mass of men. He saw the hunger of the souls 
 of them for the chance to do the work of God-for-man to which 
 they felt moved, if only some one could teach them. But, through 
 the length and breadth of the land he saw scarce one attempting 
 to do this service aright. Such few and scattered efforts as he 
 found, he saw to be largely "mechanical," manifesting no Vital- 
 ity, without Spirituality! And so the call came to him, which 
 he unhesitatingly obeyed; as, turning from his chosen career of 
 creative work, he gave himself to the drudgery (as some men 
 w^ould deem it) of creating creators for other creative work. 
 
 He saw in this lack of the land the secret of our industrial 
 inferiority in all the manufactures wherein Beauty is a use. He 
 noted our manufacturers importing trained workmen for the 
 handicrafts which seek to give charm to life. With the Divining 
 Rod which he carried in his soul, he detected the presence of 
 the veins of wealth to be found in men and women capable of 
 such artistic work. He recognized that the true Democracy 
 must make of the Beautiful (as of every other real wealth of 
 life) a communal possession of the people — that Art as well as 
 Religion must be democratized! He perceived the truth that 
 art can only flourish wdien it is not an exotic of the "salon," but 
 a native product in the homes of the people; when it is not the 
 potted plant in the palace of the rich, but a sturdy, out-of-door 
 growth in the yards of the poor, rooting in the common soil of 
 earth ; that we can only have an art of the people when we have 
 a people capable of art, living neither in sordidness nor squalor, 
 but in the modest, honest riches which leave the soul of man 
 capable of discerning that there is a wisdom "more to be desired 
 than gold, yea than much fine gold;" and toiling over a work 
 which does not drain the springs of joy and mock the pride of 
 workmanship; but which makes the daily task a delight, and 
 allows the workman the honor of sharing with the Alost High 
 the Inspiration of creation I 
 
 He saw that a National Art must follow upon the vision of 
 the National Ideals, clearly seen and loyally followed. The re- 
 vival of a genuine-Art, it was given him to see, must come not 
 
 24 
 
from slavish imitation of Old World methods and traditional 
 formulas and copybook rules for turning out pictures ; but by- 
 opening the eye to see the Beauty, all about us on our own soil; 
 and by nerving the hand to dare to draw the Vision coming to 
 the soul, wdien every land becomes a Palestine! Thus to see the 
 beautiful in the nature around us is to discern the beautifulness 
 of Nature itself, the omnipresence of Loveliness in all things; 
 the presence everywhere of the Life which draws beautiful lines 
 and constructs in graceful proportions, and grows forms instinct 
 with grace; the presence of The Spirit dreaming dreams of un- 
 utterable beauty, and throwing them upon the canvas of the sky 
 and sea, the field and mountain, for him to see who can ; who 
 must, in seeing, bow the knee in worship ! 
 
 With such thoughts in his mind and such lofty visitions in 
 his soul, he took charge of the New York Metropolitan-Museum- 
 of-Art, and, developing its work along the lines of such princi- 
 ples, he built up a student membership of about four hundred 
 in a few years. Pegasus does not readily work in double har- 
 ness. Genius is not to be driven easily by a board of trustees — 
 as "idealistic" as are most men of business ! Mr. Stimson left 
 this work and founded the Listitute for Artist-Artisans, wnth the 
 same outward results in attendance. Some years later, after he 
 had been laid aside by ill-health and compelled thus to abandon 
 his work in New York ; upon the first return to health he en- 
 gaged in a similar work in Trenton, New Jersey. Li each of 
 the three schools his influence was something wonderful. He 
 enthused and inspired young men and women, and created a 
 body of artist-artisans — the Vitality of whose work was imme- 
 diately recognized in the w^orld of industry ! Manufacturers 
 found original designers ready-made for them, because a great 
 soul had been at work making men. Those who intelligently 
 looked into this remarkable work recognized the presence of a 
 born teacher, "a man sent from God" to do a special work, and 
 doing it in utter self-forgetfulness, with a devotion which re- 
 vealed the highest of all Beauties — "the Beauty-of-holiness." 
 
 What might not have come of this work if Mr. Stimson's 
 health had held out! To save his life he had to abandon the 
 work dearer to him than life itself, and go into retreat in the 
 Adirondacks — for some years. Like others before him, he was 
 thus led to the mountain of the Vision of God. "Battling off 
 death" heroically, under the bitterness of disappointment — tlie 
 disappointment, not of ambitious schemes, but of the prophet's 
 mission — he has learned the lessons which the saints of old thus 
 learned always. In the leisure thrust upon him, and the wrestl- 
 ing withthe Stranger in the night which he could not escape, the 
 
 25 
 
secret of his Mission has grown clear, andthe spirit has ripened 
 to declare it ! 
 
 The book that has thus grown out of a life expresses the 
 rich and varied qualities of that hfe. Tlie powers which made 
 the work so striking render the book unique! To the writing of 
 it he brouhgt the artistic imagination, the philosophical mind, 
 the soul of the poet, and the spiritual discernment of the mystic. 
 The result is a work which stands apart from everythingelse in 
 its line which our country has produced. It is to American art 
 what Ruskin's "Modern Painters" was to the art of England. 
 
 The book is divided into two general divisions. The second 
 consists of practical instructions in the technique of art. It em- 
 braces a system of methods which is the outgrowth of the 
 Principles laid down in the first part of the book. Concerning 
 this latter section the present reviewer is incompetent to pass 
 judgment. 
 
 The first division of the book is an interpretation of the 
 principles underlying its methods. These Principles are drawn 
 from the Beautiful Order of the Universe itself. They are ap- 
 prehended as Cosmic principles. They are discovered through 
 the spiritual interpretation of nature. Nature is seen to be not 
 a cunning mechanism, but a Vital Organism. Life itself is seen 
 to be the work of the Great Artist, ever seeking to mould all 
 things into forms of Beauty. The Soul-of-the-Universe is divin- 
 ed asanlnfinite-Spirit-of-Beauty — which is one with the Infinite- 
 .Spirit-of-Truth-and-Goodness. Art is the interpreler of the 
 essential Being of all creation ! Its visions are revelations ! 
 
 In this interpretation of the Beautiful Order of the universe 
 the fecund mind of the writer fairly revels in the overflowing 
 wealth of suggestion which opens to him on every hand, as the 
 philosopher and poet blend in the study of science, and the 
 artist beholds the Visions which no man hath ever fully seen, or 
 can see. 
 
 Thus it is that it is not merely the painter who may find in- 
 spiration in this noble work, but the clergyman, the teacher, the 
 thoughtful man and woman, in every line of life, who would 
 fain be led into the Interpreter's House and see the Inner 
 Meaning of things. It is a book to be read and pondered in 
 ouiet hours of deepest thought, when the soul would worship! 
 
 In reading it one is reminded of those immortal words of 
 Plato: "He who has been instructed thus far in the things of 
 Love, and who has learned to see the Beautiful in due order and 
 succession; when he comes toward the end will suddenly per- 
 ceive a Nature all wondrous Beauty, (and this, O Socrates, is 
 the final cause of all our toils), the Nature which is, in the first 
 
 26 
 
place, everlasting; not growing or decaying or waxing or wan- 
 ing; in the next place not fair in one point of view and foul in 
 another; or at one time and in one relation, or in one place fair, 
 at another time and in another relation ; or at another place 
 foul — as if fair to some and foul to others ; * * * hut Beauty 
 Only, absolute, separate, simple, and everlasting; which without 
 diminution and without increase or any chance, is imparted to 
 the ever-growing and perishing beauties of all other things. He 
 who under the influence of true Love, rising upward from these 
 things, begins to see that Beauty, is not far from the End! And 
 the true order of going, or being led by the things of Love, is 
 to use the beauties of earth as steps along which he mounts 
 upward for the sake of that other Beauty. * * * going to all 
 other fair forms, and from fair forms to fair practices, and from 
 fair practices to fair notions; till from fair notions he arrives at 
 the notion of Absolute Beauty, and at last knows what the Es- 
 sence of Beauty is! * * * This is that Life above all others wdiich 
 man should live, in the contemplation of Beauty Absolute ; * * * 
 But if a man had eyes to see the true Beauty — the Divine 
 Beauty — I mean, pure and clear and unalloyed, not clogged 
 with the pollutions of mortality, and all the colors and varieties 
 of human life — thither looking and holding converse w^ith the 
 true Beauty divine and simple ; do you not see that in that com- 
 munion only, beholding Beauty with the eye of the mind, he 
 will be enabled to bring forth not images of beauty, but 
 REALITIES (for he has hold, not upon an image, but a 
 Reality) ; and bringing forth and nourishing true virtue, to be- 
 come the Friend-of-God, and to be immortal — if mortal man 
 may?" 
 
 R. HEBER NEWTON, D. D. 
 East Hampton, N. Y. 
 
 HI. 
 By Ex-GOV. CHAMBERLAIN, 
 (Ex-President of Bowdoin University) 
 I offer a few^ observations, more personal than critical, up- 
 on the remarkable book, "The Gate Beautiful," and the spirit 
 and motive of its gifted author. 
 
 The appearance of the book — the realization of an almost 
 lost dream — brings to those wdio know the author's long and 
 painful struggle, a satisfaction which is more than joy! It was 
 my fortune and privilege to enjoy a somewhat familiar ac- 
 quaintance with Professor Stimson in some of his most strenu- 
 ous years; when he was trying to lead our people to look upon 
 the expression of Beauty not as ''art for art's sake," but Art for 
 Life's sake; to make our hearts the home of Beauty, and so 
 
 27 
 
bring beauty into our homes; to encourage and inspire gifted 
 spirits among our youth to get at the Soul of things; to rouse 
 the artistic spirit of our country to work out its worth — not by 
 servile copying of the work of others, or even the outward 
 forms of nature without entering into their motive and inward 
 law; but, first of all, by studying God's thought in the familiar 
 things to which our earthly sense is open; following up to 
 the Center and source and law of all — the Purpose in the mind 
 and heart of God. He hoped that in this way, by the intelligent 
 recognition of the loving and gracious purposes of the divine 
 Revelation through the Beautiful; and the high and reverential 
 Thought it would awaken ; our people would gradually be re- 
 leased from this habitual sense of dependence on foreign peo- 
 ples for artistic work or workmen ; and develop an artistic 
 
 culture and power of their own, based on Intelligence. 
 
 Conscious of the full mastery of his subject, through pro- 
 found thought and diligent use of ample opportunities for 
 study; deeply assured of the truth of his view and the value of 
 his effort; he went into his work wdth the intensity of one under 
 divine ordering and consecration. To him this revelation of 
 Truth was a Religion. It was certainly to many a novel de- 
 velopment of the principles of Art. But he was not without 
 recognition. Hundreds gathered about him — aggregating thou- 
 sands in the few years of high service during which the sensi- 
 tiveness of his body sustained the ardor of his spirit; and today 
 thousands are blessing him for what he has given, what he has 
 made life to be for them ! 
 
 It seems unaccountable that such a work should meet dis- 
 couragement — that this earnest labor to reveal those powers of 
 the Beautiful which should raise the useful into higher planes; 
 to make the artisan's work artistic, and thus bring one of God's 
 best blessings to the cheer and uplifting of our common life ; 
 must needs be a drama of sorrow, almost a tragedy! Among 
 the causes of this may be noted three which lie in different lines, 
 but which combined to make against him; the revolutionary 
 character of his attempt; the humility of his methods; the 
 height of his demonstration! Habit and fashion were against 
 him. Our leaders of "society" sought the works of foreign 
 masters — because these were famous and because they were 
 able to command them. Our own artists were likely to be 
 deemed inferior if not incapable, because they were our own. 
 It was a violent presumption to claim that the artistic suscepti- 
 bilities and powers of our people could be developed from with- 
 in themselves and their own environment, by seeking them at 
 their sources in the natures God had given them ; and not by 
 
 28 
 
rounds of superficial copying and servile imitation. 
 
 Then, too, this new teacher started from the humblest 
 points, and drew his lessons from most familiar things. Christ- 
 like he walked among the lowly, for whom especially his work 
 was. He would waken the slumbering sense and potency of 
 Beauty in EVERY soul, and thus make "common" what was 
 thought by some to be accounted separate and rare and high. 
 
 Then again — and a reason quite different — this demonstra- 
 tion of beauty in its final reaches led to rare atmospheres ; to 
 the Real of abstruse laws, to transcendent Ideas and Ideals 
 which seemed like mystic visions. Those who could not attain 
 these heights, or long follow these paths excused themselves 
 on the ground that he was "visionary." But he spoke from the 
 Heights of life, and not from its dead levels. Every great 
 prophet and seer and preacher has been accounted "mad" or 
 mentally disordered, because he saw things (not as sense- 
 steeped men see them) but as they are in the Eyes-of-God. The 
 discouragement that at times overtook the master led him to 
 size upon companionship and sympathy as if they were dispos- 
 ers of life and death ! In such society he gave himself peace 
 and freedom. And what visions were these for the beholder ! 
 Ever cherished, ever active powers in the soul and character of 
 a privileged few, are those familiar talks of his at a humble soc- 
 ial board, in long evenings, drawn towards the day; taking up 
 some simple object and resolving in deepening scale its ever 
 finer essences ; rising with it to a soaring flight, with steady 
 wing towards the supreme source — till in that assumption both 
 were lost in the light of Heaven. 
 
 After such discourses the hearers would beseech the master 
 to "write a book" — to set forth his whole demonstration in 
 logical development, from principle to application, and to bring 
 in this wealth of illustration to give color, richness, and charm. 
 Long years passed, and he himself had almost passed from life, 
 and this wish seemed to have ended in a dream. 
 
 But now comes the surprise of this Magnificent Book, itself 
 a "Work-of-Art," not only in the fulness and richness of illus- 
 tration, but in all its details of "make-up" — paper, type, print- 
 ing, page, and margin ; even the arrangement of the type upon 
 the page — all worthy of the subject and its treatment! 
 
 It is more than a splendid book, reflecting light from every 
 point and phase! It is a broad book, with a reach and richness 
 of suggestion which possibly obscures the continuity and close- 
 ness of its logical development. It is a profound book, holding 
 to rigorous sequences of method, studying things in the order 
 of their deepening revelations, and comprehending them from 
 
 29 
 
the standpoint of their Central-Law ! Every step of this wonder- 
 ful way seems the fitting place for final rest; but the course is 
 still onward, the vision opens still outward — which in truth is 
 Inward; the ever-widening Harmonies concentric to some 
 Innermost Law; the far symphonies, waves and weavings of 
 the outflow of some Central Heart! 
 
 This book is the outcome, the flower and fruit, or rather the 
 refined Essence, the Transfiguration, of all the experiences of 
 the author's life — vision, aspiration, study, toil, mastery, out- 
 giving, sorrow, struggle, self-renunciation, overpassing faith ! 
 Tones of all these run through the book — the last triumphant 
 one — Steadfast Loyalty-to-Truth ! 
 
 The range of this argument traverses the deep places of 
 physical law, such as were known to the author of the old 
 Book-of-Wisdom, when he affirmed: "By Measure and Weight 
 and Number hast Thou ordered all things." This is a region 
 of Marvels! Look at the drawings in this book before us; the 
 waking motions of the formless mist of matter in spirals and 
 volutes and tangents; the magnificence of the star crystals; the 
 spiritual grace of the voice flowers ! And what marvelous Rela- 
 tions must there be, when the far attractions which form the 
 beauty and perfection of the orbits of the worlds are determin- 
 ed according to the relations and ratios of square and cubes of 
 distance I 
 
 It is not strange that other seers of the Order which makes 
 the Beauty ofthe Universe, have named it "divine." I read the 
 thoughts of God after Him," was the cry of Kelper when he un- 
 rolled this secret of the orbs. He saw still more, and was called 
 "visionary," too, because tracing in the vibrations of (what we 
 call) "matter" the deep interrelations of Form, Color and 
 Sound, he sought to reveal a Sj^stem of Celestial Harmonies, 
 depending on the varying velocities of the planets ; of which 
 there could be but one auditor — He at the Center of all ! How 
 do we know this is not True? If our sense take in the dull hum 
 of a flying cannon-ball, why may there not be other senses so 
 attuned that they can hear "the Song of the Morning Stars" — 
 higher revelation of the same Law? 
 
 It is with such things in their more delicate aspects that 
 this book deals. To take in the scope of this great argument 
 and demonstration is in the largest sense a liberal education ! 
 To look through the vista of this Gate Beautiful is to catch a 
 glimpse of the New-Heavens and the New-Earth, and almost of 
 the Beatific-\"ision ! 
 
 Ex-GOV. JOSHUA L. CHAAIBEDLAIN, 
 Brunswick, ]\Iaine. 
 
 30 
 
IV. 
 By JOAQUIN MILLER, (Poet and Pioneer) 
 
 Never had the world waited so eagerly for a Great Book as 
 it waited for "The Gate Beautiful," and its patience has been 
 abundantly rewarded. John Ward Stimson has given us the 
 •Greatest and best Book — outside of the Bible and Shakespeare — 
 that the world has ever seen; narly five hundred broad, double- 
 columned pages, and nearly five hundred marvelous illustra- 
 tions! The wonder is that one man, in his one lifetime, could 
 do so much and do it so perfectly ! 
 
 "The Gate Beautiful" is a profound book— profoundly 
 scientific, profoundly yet broadly religious; a deep and wide 
 book; yet so beautifully written that it is more entertaining and 
 more easily read than any modern romance. The thousands of 
 illustrations, some of them reproductions of master creations, 
 others original or reproductions from Nature's gallery, are like 
 fresh wells and springs by the w^ay, where we are refreshed and 
 informed at every point! "The Gate Beautiful" is truly the 
 Book-of-Beauty. To know this book is to know the story and 
 glory of Art, from the morning time of civilization to the pres- 
 ent hour! And more than this, it takes the reader into the 
 studio of the Divine Artist-Artisan and reveals "God-at-Work" 
 with crystal and seed, with leaf and blossom ! It shows as does 
 no other work the order, symmetry, and design, as well as the 
 glory of color, in Nature's vast gallery ! 
 
 The central idea of "The Gate Beautiful" is The Beautiful! 
 Of course, there is nothing in Nature that is not beautiful — or 
 trying to be beautiful; but this book is a string of jewels from 
 the deepest seas of Art, from the very dawn to the present day ! 
 
 The Bible says: "And the Lord planted a garden eastward 
 in Eden, wherein he caused every tree to grow that is pleasant 
 to the sight and good for food." 
 
 Observe now, the Lord God first considered the trees that 
 are "pleasant to the sight." The trees that were "good for 
 food" came last in the estimation of God. And this is Nature! 
 The one continuous effort of Nature is to bring forth that which 
 is "pleasant to the Sight" ; to give us "The Gate Beautiful." 
 
 So long as we seek the Gate Beautiful — the Way that God 
 passed and planted in the beginning — just so long will we con- 
 tinue to go forward toward Perfection. But the day we turn 
 aside to picture goblins and monsters, as did the Chinese, we 
 shall surely die ! 
 
 This book, "The Gate Beautiful," is to my mind the whole- 
 somest and most needed book that modem genius, research, and 
 
 31 
 
persistent industry have produced. .No cultured or refiued fam- 
 ily, certainly no library, in the land can afiford to be without 
 it. 
 
 JOAQUIN MILLER. 
 The Heisfhts, Oakland, Cal. 
 
 V. 
 
 By EDWIN MARKHAM (Poet and Critic) 
 
 Professor John Ward Stimson's "The Gates Beautiful" 
 gives us glimpses of the Religion-of-Art and of the Art-or-Relig- 
 ion. It is a thing of joy to look at and to ponder over. It is a" 
 rich book, elaborately made, crowded with vital matter; a book 
 for artists and all lovers of art. I fear that in this age, when 
 tons of trashy books are whirling from the presses, that this fine 
 volume may be overlooked by the many; but I am hoping that 
 it will be sought after by the discerning few who are seeking 
 for a unifying Principle-in-life, and its Arts. "The Gate Beauti- 
 ful" is the utterance of an earnest thinker. This work is more 
 than a book — it is a Man's Soul! 
 
 EDWIN MARKHAM. 
 Westerleigh, Staten Island, N. Y. 
 
 THE GATE BEAUTIFUL was published by A. Brandt & 
 Co., Trenton, N. J., Init was later transferred (to the agency of 
 Principal E. A. RUM LEY, Rolling Prairie, Indiana) by its 
 Author and Owner. 
 
 It can be obtained in two Editions (Both from identical 
 plates) 
 
 The STUDENTS (Cheaper) Edition, $2.00. 
 
 The ARTISTS (Finer) Edition, $5.00. 
 
 Address direct E. A. RUM LEY, Rolling Prairie, Indiana. 
 
 Or for fuller details, the Author, Professor John W. Stimson, 
 (present home) San Buena Ventura, California. 
 
 32 
 
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