diff options
| author | nfenwick <nfenwick@pglaf.org> | 2025-03-03 08:22:41 -0800 |
|---|---|---|
| committer | nfenwick <nfenwick@pglaf.org> | 2025-03-03 08:22:41 -0800 |
| commit | e83ac852f5bb74b1ea1563ff313bd6bc9571c66a (patch) | |
| tree | f63c298448d0f21676595d1cb24e3a78aae48c1e /43303.txt | |
| parent | 45ddd93b3c1c39c637c0d3015e885c53a2661871 (diff) | |
Diffstat (limited to '43303.txt')
| -rw-r--r-- | 43303.txt | 4052 |
1 files changed, 0 insertions, 4052 deletions
diff --git a/43303.txt b/43303.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 082f6d5..0000000 --- a/43303.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,4052 +0,0 @@ - LURES OF LIFE - - - - -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 http://www.gutenberg.org/license. - - - -Title: Lures of Life -Author: Joseph Lucas -Release Date: July 25, 2013 [EBook #43303] -Language: English -Character set encoding: US-ASCII - - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LURES OF LIFE *** - - - - -Produced by Al Haines. - - - - - LURES OF LIFE - - - BY - - JOSEPH LUCAS - - AUTHOR OF "OUR VILLA IN ITALY" - - - - T. FISHER UNWIN, LTD. - ADELPHI TERRACE, LONDON - - - - - First published . . . . January, 1919. - Second Impression . . . . June, 1919. - - - - - *CONTENTS* - -CHAPTER - - I. THE LURE OF LIFE'S AFTERGLOW - II. THE LURE OF HAPPINESS - III. THE LURE OF SELF-DENIAL - IV. THE LURE OF MAGIC WORDS - V. THE LURE OF AN OLD TUSCAN GARDEN - VI. THE LURE OF THE MONTELUPO PLATE - VII. THE LURE OF PLUCK - VIII. THE LURE OF OLD FURNITURE - IX. THE LURE OF PERSONALITY - X. THE LURE OF NICE PEOPLE - XI. THE LURE OF THE NEW DEMOCRACY - XII. JESUS CHRIST THE LURE OF THE AGES - XIII. THE LURE OF THE LIVING WORD - XIV. THE LURE OF THE EUCHARIST - - - - - *LURES OF LIFE* - - - - *I* - - *THE LURE OF LIFE'S AFTERGLOW* - - -A friend put me in remembrance that I had a birthday recently. Birthday -emotion with an old man is an extinct crater. When I was young a coming -birthday set my pulse throbbing to mad music weeks beforehand; it filled -me with delightful anticipations. Romance gathered round the happy -event. Our thoughts tripped capriciously along the primrose paths of the -future. I felt myself preordained to greatness. The hoarded treasure -held in bond for me was surely there awaiting delivery, and Time the -magician's wand would wave its largesse into my outstretched eager -hands, and, clothed in honour, I should ride prosperously all the days -of my life. - -To the youngster starting on the grand tour of life, the journey is a -splendid venture. The cup held to the lips overflows with rich, ripe, -sparkling liquor; every draught of it is nectar, exhilarating the -spirits, expanding the experience, and discoursing music on every chord -of the harp of a thousand strings. It is superb doing, riding life on a -flowing tide when the warm south wind blows, and the air is redolent -with aromatic spices, when driftwood floats from distant climes, and -shore-birds sail in the central blue signalling that the Land of Heart's -Desire will soon be reached. Truly youth takes life with a zest of its -own. - -Yes, the birthday is a happy day to the young. You rejoice that you are -a year older and of added consequence and stature in the world of men, -and a step nearer realizing the daydreams sweetly dreamed in school, -when the magic of life filled you with wonder and awe. Birthday joy -increases immensely until the period of ecstatic joy crowns all, when -you score twenty-one years and write yourself down a man. You are no -longer a flower in the bud worn in anybody's buttonhole, but a -well-developed plant on your own root growing in the open. When you get -twice twenty-one birthday joy cloys on your palate, and you begin to -resent the intrusion of the natal day as an unwelcome guest that you -have seen too often. He reminds you that you are growing old and growing -older. Your friends may crown the day with roses and toast you at the -evening dinner in your best champagne let loose for the occasion, but -the obvious remains, and your response to their unblushing flattery is -not gushing as of yore. You tire of birthday greetings and birthday -festivities; your vivacity flags; your digestion suffers. The thoughts -that adorn the occasion are chiefly reminiscent, for the horizon of the -future is narrowing down and leaves less space for Fancy in which to fly -her kite. - -When I had covered my half-century a curious feeling like an electric -shock chased along every fibre of my being on facing the cold, hard fact -for the first time; I had grown old, and done it surreptitiously. Time -glides smoothly, silently, swiftly, and startled as from a deep sleep, -one marvels at the hot haste of the rolling years. You dread nearing -the vortex of the great unknown to which we all inevitably steer, and -finally sink beneath its swirling surface. The outlook is disturbing. -Can't you put down the brake and gentle the pace? Will no opiate drug -Time into forgetfulness? You try the rejuvenating influences of Mrs. -Allen's Hair Restorer, but nothing happens. The bald spot on the crown -of your head increases in baldness and shining splendour. The longer -you watch it, the larger it grows. Time baffles your artful devices, -smiles at your wild alarms, and drives from you the crimson days of -youth, with their vigour and vivacity, leaving in your possession a -feeling of comfortable lethargy which solidifies into pacific -blissfulness. Insensibly a change has passed over you with the mounting -years. How the change wrought you do not know. Where you crossed the -frontier which in the twinkling of an eye ranked you amongst the elders -you cannot say. Who can tell the moment when summer ends and autumn -commences? Who can cut a clean cleavage between afternoon and evening -hours? - -However, you settle down to an old man's pleasures. You dislike being -hustled after dinner. You prefer a quiet rubber at Bridge in a cosy -room, with shaded lights, and a silent cigar with cronies of a choice, -familiar brand as playmates. You prefer it to strenuously dancing in a -stuffy, glaring ball-room till morning hours chase the stale and weary -dancers to their homes. It is too fatiguing an amusement to make -pleasure for you, as there is no new romance to be looked for after -fifty. Anticipation at your ripe age is wasted stimulant. Boys dream -of the future, old men live in the present. Youth, once upon a time, -was an asset held in hand, a rich inheritance to be proud of, but now -the treasury of youth is spent to the last coin and only the empty -coffer remains, a memento of the vanished wealth of early days. You are -a middle-aged man aged fifty, and you settle down to it solidly and -squarely and comfortably. You will never be young and flippant again -this side the harbour-bar. - -As we steer cautiously into the sixties and face the grand climacteric, -life grows pensive. Sober reflections automatically cast their -lengthening shadows over us. We have drunk copiously of the wine of -life, and are now coming to the dregs of the bottle. We get moody. -Meridian sunshine has not fructified the promise of youth as we -appointed it. Lean years have eaten up years of plenty. We have -gathered tares with the wheat which brought disappointment into the -storehouse. Varied experiences have chequered life with cross lights -and shadows. The grand ideals of sanguine youth have dissolved like -dreams at daybreak, and instead of the great achievement ours is the -common lot. Rates and taxes are hardy annuals that flourish undisturbed -amidst the ruins. Are we downhearted because the romance of life has -fizzled out like spent fireworks and left us in darkness? We did not -expect to finish up in obscurity. Are we downhearted? No; after the -struggle and stress of conflict we get our second breath; and the calm -of age overtakes us. The halcyon hours set in to cheer us. I now move -airily along the line of least resistance, and this brings tranquillity -of mind in my advancing years. We are no longer broody. Experience -breaks one in gently to the monotony of daily routine, and the collar -neither frets nor rubs the shoulder, for the velvet lining of -contentment softens the friction and we trudge along serenely going -West. - -Everything contributes to make an old man's lot happy if the salt of -life has not lost its savour. We have played the game, and now we watch -others take their innings. It is good fun to watch. I tell you it is -music to the eye watching the gay young world go its own way. The -swagger, the _bravoure_, the buoyancy of its manners, stagger the dull -parental mind. There is rhythm in its movements, there is character in -its gaiety. It tops the record of the far-off days of splendour when -we, their portly ancestors, were down in the arena beating up the dust -of conflict, and considered ourselves the cream of modernity and the -finest goods in the market. The youth of to-day has its hand on the -wheel and the joy-car pads merrily, heedless of speed limits, for time -has no limit and life sings a pleasant song to boys of the new regime. - -Life's afterglow is the period when the past is viewed through the -golden haze of memory and we live over again the days of our youth, the -splendid days of hope and promise. Pleasant things and pleasant people -are remembered, and disagreeable events that vexed us are forgotten. We -wipe clean from the slate memories that are unwelcome. From the mellowy -distance we admire the picture in its broad outlines; its uninteresting -details drop out of sight. It is the vivid patches of colour upon the -canvas where the eye lingers lovingly and long. It is the happy past -that enchants the memory to-day. - -An old man glances over his shoulder adown the long pathway of receding -years hungrily, and muses to himself, "Oh, to be out in the world again -as I knew it fifty years ago, with the same sunny people about me; to -meet them on the old familiar footing. We had capacious times together; -we understood one another and loved one another with kindred hearts and -flowing speech. I talk with people nowadays, but these new friends of -mine are not responsive. There is a glass screen between us as we talk -together; we sit near one another, but we are far apart. I catch a -far-off glint in their eye which holds me at arm's-length. Our lips are -restrained, our thoughts are bottled up. It seems like sitting together -in a room with blinds drawn, talking in the dark. Yes; new friends at -best are but amiable strangers, for we met one another only when the -flower of life had wilted and the leaf was sere and yellow on the tree. -The full, unrestrained days when the sap was rising, the blossoming days -of youth, were lived apart. I do not know these good people intimately, -and I never can, and they can never know me. We each have a buried past -which is sacred ground where the other never treads." - -I met recently a grey-haired man who was a schoolboy friend of mine. A -wide sundering gap of years lies between us since our previous meeting, -but at once we grasped hands and knew each other intimately, although -mid-life with each had been filled with a fulness the other knew nothing -of. As boys we chummed together, and now we renewed our ancient -friendship on olden lines. We had studied the same lessons, slept in -the same dormitory, sculled in the same boat, fought in the same -playground scrimmages, and, having met again after long intervening -years, we had endless youthful reminiscences in common to discuss and -life-histories to relate. There was no need to sit on the safety-valve -to throttle down the conversation. Talk came, a flowing stream bubbling -up from the hot springs of the heart. Our meeting had the perfume of -romance clinging to it, which made golden the precious hours in the -spending. Two grey-haired men chattering with their heads together for -the nonce were merry schoolboys. The present was forgotten; the past -was everything to them while the old enthusiasms flared up brightly and -shot a warm rosy afterglow athwart life's pleasant evening hour. - -Loafing is a privilege of one's declining years. It is an agreeable -form of laziness which sits well upon old shoulders. It is that mellow -state of stagnant content which pervades the mind when the natural force -abates. I do not extol it as a virtue, I claim it as a privilege. It -helps to fill gaps in the daily round when business no longer engages -your attention and office hours are a dread ordeal done with for ever. -Having dropped out of the marching line and become a spectator of the -passing show, what more natural than that you manifest a livelier -curiosity in other people's activities than in your own sluggish -movements. I love to spend a sunny morning lingering on the old garden -seat, chatting to a friend, or watching the energetic youngsters at play -amongst the roses. I find it enjoyable to take my pitch on the pierhead -with the gay summer crowd ambling along, passing and repassing my post -of observation, and watch the pretty and well-accoutred girls angling -for admiration, and the budding men in spotless flannels flashing -answering glances to catch the lasses' eyes; an endless conversation -going on without voices whispering a word; they look at each other and -laugh, and the incipient mystery of the thing slips into their blood. - -I was once reluctant to relinquish youth. Its passions and pleasure made -my life intensely joyous in a clean, healthy way. I resented the horrid -fact that with encroaching years I was no longer able to wake the old -thrill of existence by any of the old methods. The call came to me, but -nature responded not to its alluring voice. The spent fires could not -be rekindled; and in a tragic moment the truth stood uncovered in its -stark nakedness: "I am growing old!" I had to readjust my bearings in -life to meet the new situation. I found it better to walk in step with -the years and melt into middle life with all the gentle conciliations of -an easy mind than to clutch at the hem of the garment of departing youth -and hold on frantically to a corpse; and so it came to pass youth, with -its frank, jovial, devil-may-care lightheartedness, was surrendered -ground, and I put on a splendid face, taking up a new position in the -rear as an old fogy, a little moss-grown, but still alive, healthy, -happy, and hearty. - - - - - *II* - - *THE LURE OF HAPPINESS* - - -The joy of living is to grasp life in its fullness just as it comes to -us clean and sweet from the hand of God; to eat the grapes that grow in -our own vineyard; to feed on the honey captured from our own hives; and -to bask in the sunshine blessing our own garden plot. Some people -cannot do this. They were born sour and fail to ripen. They remind me -of the Church of St. Lorenzo at Florence, built but never finished, and -showing a dejected mien to the passer-by. They hold on to life timidly -with cold and clammy hands, and smile with glum visage and call it all -vanity and vexation of spirit. Happiness frets them like a lump of -undigested pickle lying heavy on their chest; they want to throw it off -and be at ease in their misery. They consider it wickedness to enjoy -things--to wallow in sunshine. They say we ought to content ourselves -with bare commodities needful for existence. The primitive man was -happy. He had no shirt to wash, no taxes to pay, no barns to fill with -plenty. We must be primitive to be happy. Deplete the wealthy of their -wealth; sink society to a common ground-level (allow us boots to wear in -this muddy climate, if you please), and then everyone will be healthy, -happy, and poor. Stepping out of his well-appointed motor-car, the -up-to-date man spurns the primitive craze and blazes forth, "Is thy -servant a dog that he should house in a kennel?" Surely civilization -means creature comfort; everyone wants something larger than bare -necessities to embellish life. The Creator rears us on finer lines than -He raises cattle on the marshes. Year by year He lavishes before our -eyes Nature's prodigal store of ornament. Every yard of hedgerow, -"those liberal homes of unmarketable beauty," contradict the crank who -would confine us to the needful. - -The dusty utilitarian sees the world only as a crowded granary, a -chattering marketplace in which to buy and sell and get gain. The Divine -Artist enriches the picture by painting in exquisitely the flowering -hawthorn and fragrant violets, and by tuning the throat of the skylark -to rarest melody; and concurrently He attunes the soul of man, which -thrills appreciation, and delights in these manifestations of Sovereign -goodness. He not merely appeases the hunger of the human body, but feeds -the rarer appetites of the human mind with radiant viands; and the more -godlike in stature man grows, the more fully he appreciates God-given -art and beauty flung like flowers across his pathway. - -Everybody is happy in his own order. The history of many a man's life is -the story of a soul's wandering in search of happiness. Some people are -happy in their misery. Even when nursing their spleen they do it -comfortably. They dilate on their grief with real zest of morbid -enthusiasm that it flings a blazing cheerfulness over their cold grey -lives. It sets them purring with sweet content when an auditor listens -to their woeful outpourings. This is the cheapest form of happiness, -and reflects an impoverished mind thrown back upon itself. - -Hazlitt, the essayist, gently prods these crazy egoists with a sharp pen -and says, "Pure pleasures are in their judgment cloying and insipid; an -ounce of sour is worth a pound of sweet." Farquhar, the lively -dramatist, mocks their folly when portraying the gushing Lady Constance, -who, on finding the miniature of her absent lover lying on the floor, -picks it up and exclaims: "Now I am fitted out for sorrow. With this -I'll sigh, with this converse, gaze on his image till I grow blind with -weeping. It is the only thing could give me joy, because it will -increase my grief." - -Happiness is a gift of temperament. The occupation that makes one man -happy the day long would be capital punishment to another man. I have -known people to possess everything and enjoy nothing; others, who -possess little, dwell in paradise. It is a braver thing to extract -honey from the hive of life than to leave it rotting in the comb. Alas! -these weak-kneed, nervous mortals who are afraid of being too happy: -they tremble as they sit at the banquet. They toy with a lean and -hungry fate and dare not clasp a full-bosomed blessing. They prefer -misery as a diet, with a spice of religion thrown in to flavour it. -They fancy self-inflicted misery is a virtue to be cultivated, and a -grace to be counted for righteousness. We shrewdly detect in such -conduct a pose. It lacks the grace of sincerity. Such people, overfed -on misery, fatten on it incontinently. It is the diet of a low, -melancholy temperament. - -There is no standard-pattern happiness planned to suit the temperament -of everybody like the map of a city which all travellers follow to find -their bearings. Happiness is a city that each person maps out for -himself; its highways and byways are of his own engineering and grow to -match his own requirements. Happiness is not a sloppy garment like a -ready-made coat that you buy in a store. Happiness must be made to fit. -In fact, every man makes his own happiness. - -We all distil pleasure out of life in our peculiar way. Only our ways -differ as the poles asunder. One man cannot understand where the other -man's relish for life comes in. What is nauseous as bitter herbs in one -mouth tastes delicate as the wines of Orvieto on another palate. A -famous American millionaire found greater satisfaction in the simple -pleasure of attending funerals than in all the superb luxuries which his -millions brought him. We do not envy his simple pleasure. It was an -innocent method of enjoyment peculiarly his own. - -I knew a man who made an income of over L10,000 a year by hard work, and -his pleasure was immense in doing it. One half of his relaxation in -life was making more income, and the other half his amusement consisted -in lecturing people on the evil of extravagance if they spent "tuppence" -on a bus fare instead of walking three-pennyworth of leather off the -soles of their boots. He never spent "tuppence" himself if he could -save it. He drove life at high pressure, and enjoyed the sensations of -a quick run. People called him a money-making machine devoid of fine -feeling. People made a mistake. His nature was highly strung. He was -keenly sensitive to pleasure--the pleasure of money-making. It was the -poetry, the luxury, the fine art of life all rolled into one, and it -quickened the gay emotions within him that seeing a good play, hearing -an eloquent sermon or driving a spanking four-in-hand to Ascot on a fine -June morning, excites in other people. There are various buttons to -press, but they all send the same thrill of earthly pleasure tingling -through the human frame. Different hands strike the same chords on the -harp of life, and they tremble into song. - -Some heroically minded people assert there are only two things in life: -duty and happiness. It is not everybody who wants to do his duty--that -is a special gift of Providence few enjoy. But everyone wants to be -happy, and happiness is the greatest thing of all: other people's -happiness as well as our own. We are not all sagacious to discern the -angel of duty when she comes mixed in a promiscuous assembly of spirits -less honourable than she. They all dress becomingly and smile -bewitchingly that you cannot mark her down; her radiance shines no -brighter than other luminous spirits that accompany her. We should try -the spirits whether they be good or evil ones. However, they move -first, and try us with their beauty, their flattery, and their gilded -promises. According to the gospel of St. Robert Louis Stevenson, there -is no duty we so much underrate as the duty of being happy. - -A third thing some people suggest makes life worth living is experience. -Experience, they maintain, is a more valuable treasure than happiness; -experience is a pearl of great price, and we must sell all we have to -possess it. The world is spacious; range it widely, breathe its bracing -airs, sail its deep seas in search of experience. Pursue it, and if in -the pursuit you are blown about by the fickle winds of fate, the -buffeting may be disagreeable, but it is most exhilarating and healthy -to the earnest seeker after experience. Provided you are blown, and -blown violently, the direction of the gale matters not; the north-easter -and the zephyr both teach. Experience builds up character and increases -knowledge, though during building operations your wisdom may remain a -stationary virtue. If you come out of the conflict with only experience -to your credit at the other end of the struggle be thankful. Life is -very good. Its chief spoils may be anguish and sorrow, yet experience -makes it full and rich. - -The logic of this cold philosophy needs consideration before adopting it -as gospel. If a dinted shield and a broken sword are the only spoils you -bring home from the wars and hang up in the family parlour as trophies -of victory, it is not an adequate recompense for the rich and vital -experience gained in the fight. Experience was what Don Quixote in the -slippered comfort of his home hungered after. It was what he found on -his travels, and after passing through much tribulation it was the one -prize he brought home with him at the journey's end. Experience many an -ambitious man has found to be as an empty goblet to his thirsty lips. - -When the Creator was busy in the minting-house He did not cast his -creatures all in the same mould, or coin them of the same metal. Some -people are of fine temperament, cram full of emotion; they are all -feeling, and express their feeling vigorously. Other people are of -baser metal. They are stolid, and pass through life neither contented -nor discontented with their lot; they are neither happy nor miserable. -They are well-regulated clocks running slowly down to the last tick, and -then ceasing to tick at all. Monotony is the bane of their existence, -blighting it with double dulness. They feel little and say nothing -about it. One never knows what hidden compensations life provides for -its multitudinous offspring. These torpid people must have a secret -well of satisfaction from which they dip refreshing draughts in thirsty -moments. - -The child of emotion is more vivacious; he has colour, romance, -movement. He is of a rarer vintage; there is sparkle in the wine of -life. Occasionally the wine turns sour and drops flavour. Disagreeable -people do exist for some veiled purpose of Providence, as the species -never becomes extinct in the land. In infancy they were rocked in the -cradle of discontent, and they have seldom slept out of it since. They -have grown up in a nursery of their own. They are highly strung, and -have a genius for living in the moment--irritably. Their wit is -brilliant, it scintillates like running water in the sunshine, but it -cuts like a razor. Everybody within reach of their tongue, even innocent -people, feel the whip of their capricious temper. I suppose some grim -pleasure feeds their fiery nature when they subdue friend and enemy -under them. It is an unenviable pleasure which they enjoy; nobody -shares with them, and when their ill-humour dies down it must leave a -nasty taste in their mouth. - -If you want to be happy, do not expect too much from life. Do not ask -more from friendship than you give, for eventually the balance is sure -to adjust itself. Do not ask more than your share of good things; if -you do exceed the limit, disappointment will dog your footsteps all the -day. You cannot expect to be always happy. Trouble and sorrow come to -all of us, with a difference. Some people extract comfort out of -trouble, and it assuages their grief; others add worry to their woe, and -it aggravates their vexation of spirit. - -Motor-cars carry a little dynamo on board and generate their own -electric current as they travel, and after dark, with the great -headlights glowing, they travel pleasantly and safe. A contented mind -is a dynamo we can carry with us, and it generates its own happiness as -we travel. It illumines the journey of life and makes it pleasant to -ourselves and agreeable to friends travelling in our company. - -Do not grizzle over chances missed in life and "might have beens" which -sprinkle your past like gravestones dotting a churchyard, inscribed -"sacred to the memory of cherished griefs still hugged and spasmodically -wept over." Convert the mossy tombstones into wayside shrines which -loving hands garland with fresh flowers, while grateful hearts fondly -linger there, recalling pleasant things and sweet companionship which -gladdened your pilgrim way. Do not erect mural tablets to dead -ambitions in the little sanctuary of your memory; build altars there -instead whereon you can offer acceptable oblations of praise for evils -escaped and for the crown of loving-kindness with which the Everlasting -Arms encircle you. - -If we only had the gift of humour on us it would make "life more amusing -than we thought." Our eyes would open to a new world wherein kinder -people dwell and where brighter sunshine warms the heart's red blood and -chases down the gloom we anticipate to-morrow that may never come. - - - - - *III* - - *THE LURE OF SELF-DENIAL* - - -Self-denial is not the highest form of virtue, nor is it a permanent -condition of life for man to live in; yet it is a lure that draws men to -martyrdoms as the flame collects moths to the burning. Man was not -predestinated to a life of self-abnegation. Self-denial is a compromise -between misery and happiness. Human nature does not thrive on -compromise; it does not develop in austerities. Self-denial has its -value in the scheme of moral education. Training is good for man if he -does not carry it too far. You can overtrain. The scholar trains; he -discreetly withdraws from gay life and inflicts on himself long hours of -lonely study that he may rank in the list of University honours. The -jockey trains, and punishes himself in so doing that he may ride to win. -It is the same the world over: pain is joy in the making. Where -self-denial is the driving power in religious life it leads, not to -happiness, but to asceticism: to the lonely cell of the misanthropic -monk, the pedestal of St. Simon Stylates, or the self-torture of the -Indian fakir. Deluded people these, who build up life on self-denial as -the pinnacle virtue to which man can soar while on earth. None of these -people set self-denial in its proper place in the human economy--viz., a -means to an end. It is the end-all in their vision of life, and so -their life is dismal in the living and disappointing in its purpose. - -Self-denial is necessary and serves a healthy purpose. It is necessary -to man's spiritual welfare as medicine or the surgeon's knife may be -necessary to his physical health. - -Man is of twofold nature: the animal and the spiritual, the good and the -bad, the superior and the inferior--label it as you please. Self-denial -is putting the inferior quality under the superior one; self-denial is -following the higher inspiration at the expense of the lower instincts. -"Self-denial": the very word implies, repressing desires, renouncing -pleasures, suffering pain. It means living from choice on the shady, -dank side of the street rather than basking in the open sunny piazza -when only a few steps place you there, where the children play and the -old men foregather deep in the hallowed sunshine. Self-denial is not -the crowning virtue--it is just the market price we pay that we may -garner a harvest of happiness in the recompensing days of autumn. - -The Divine purpose in man is growth, not repression of growth; it is to -expand, to unfold, to develop character. To pass from bud to flower in -moral and spiritual excellence, not to stunt manhood till its fairest -features are arrested in growth, and moral atrophy sets up a canker in -the bud, and ugliness usurps the seat of beauty in a man's character. -Ugliness everywhere may be left to the devil as his monopoly. -Self-denial is the grubby chrysalis; happiness is the golden butterfly -on the wing. - -Not self-denial, but enjoyment, is the highest good and the truest test -of character. Enjoyment; rejoicing in that which ought to delight us in -this our earthly life--this is a finer attainment than self-denial. -Enjoyment means a full life, living upon our whole nature, and -well-balanced withal in the living. It seems an attractive and sinless -programme to subscribe to, yet it is difficult to draw a boundary-line -between enjoyment and excess. This is where the crux comes in. This is -verily the fire that tries every man's work of what sort it is. It is -cruel punishment to crush your passions and pleasures out of -existence--that is self-denial. It is splendid discipline to give them -play and at the same time hold them in control--that is enjoyment. -Success in this great endeavour brings the victor into marching-line -with the angels, and yields a finer exaltation and a larger recompense -than trampling on the lilies. - -It is more difficult to hold steadily a full cup than to carry an empty -flagon. It is a doleful religion that uproots every flower in the -garden as a noxious weed until only the naked brown earth remains to -gaze upon in the blessed sunshine. It is a scurvy trick of virtue to -spill the heady liquor on the ground and then with a flourish place the -empty chalice an offering on the altar. Abstinence is the morality of -the weak, temperance is the morality of the strong. - -A deep enjoying nature is one of God's best gifts to man. The happy man -is generally the best of his breed. The good are usually happy, and the -happy are usually good. There are no short cuts to being happy, you -must be really good to win through. If our daily occupation is -congenial to our taste and disposition, our mind dwells at ease and our -nature mellows in the sunshine of agreeable surroundings. Our sense of -contentment radiates good humour and makes us kindly and benevolent to -others. We are not chafed and fretted by duties irksome to us, because -uncongenial. We are fulfilling destiny, and fulfilling it with -completeness of purpose. Those around us feel the warm, penetrating -sunshine of our hearts, and they grow warm under the mystic touch of the -sun. It is for this reason that happiness becomes a holy quest with us, -for out of it spring the virtues which robe life in beauty and gladness. -One of the most precious of human faculties is the power to enjoy. - -Self-denial is either a tyranny or a virtue, and should be praised with -circumspection. Many feverishly religious people debase its moral -currency. They hinder their own happiness and thwart the happiness of -others as far as in them lies, and fancy in so doing they keep the whole -ten commandments of God. - -Self-denial for the sake of self-denial is a pagan rite: cold, pitiless, -sterile. Renunciation and suffering prove nothing. Men have renounced -and suffered for the greed of gold, for the lust of ambition, for the -honour of a blood-stained idol, and lost moral stamina in so doing. The -experience of ages brands deep the flaming truth upon us that sacrifice -must be valued according to the object for which the sacrifice is made. -Sacrifice for its own sake weaves no crown of glory for the martyr's -brow. It is a form of amiable suicide. If you starve yourself for the -sake of showing mastery over self, what thank have ye? The heathen do -even the same--and do it better. It is an act of self-torture, and -ministers to your pride of purpose. But to give up a meal when hungry -that one you love may have it puts a better complexion on the deed. To -bear pain for the grim joy of bearing it brings no reward. Do not even -the Stoics the same? But to bear pain rather than surrender truth or to -cover a suffering friend is a loving and heroic act, meriting a V.C. -when spiritual honours are distributed. - -The old painters pictured in glowing witchery of colour the ordeal by -suffering as the master-key that opened the gates of paradise to -macerated mortals. The old writers drove home the same insidious error -with all the pious fervour of their fluent pen, and thus men became -fascinated with the doctrine of self-immolation as the highest good. In -mediaeval times the _via dolorosa_ was the well-trodden public way -travelled by sainted pilgrims seeking a better country. - -Meritorious misery won through, for it was aureoled with the Church's -benediction and rendered attractive by her promise of eternal rewards. -Surely this daily human life of ours was not ordained to be a pageant of -austerity reaching from the cradle to the grave. The Creator, having -given this beautiful world as a temporary home for His children to dwell -in, expects agreeable people to occupy its furnished splendours for a -space of three score years and ten, more or less. If not, then the -Creator's gift is wasted bounty flung to dull and unappreciative -mortals. - -Brighter and healthier views of life emerge out of the crude -misconceptions which enveloped the past in religious gloom, although -there yet remain amongst us people who revel in the luxury of -self-denial as in a feast of fat things, while the genial side of their -nature remains dormant, starved, stunted. I have seen such-like in the -flesh, spoken with them and touched their cold hands. They are -unattractive people to know, and not companionable to travel with. They -are faultless, methodical, patient, but they have no endearing -friendships, no entwining intimacies by which you can fasten on them and -love them. They are isolated and self-contained, lacking the charm of -some little human weakness which makes us all akin. They may have a -warm heart, but chilled blood circulates round it. Their eyes glitter -like glaciers at the call of duty. They hurry from committee meeting to -committee meeting, and forget to lunch between engagements. They shine -in the performance of self-imposed errands of mercy, and live by rule -relentlessly at any cost to pocket, health, or reputation. They -minister to the sick and poor assiduously, and mother a class of poor -factory girls in the evening, but their home is shivery to enter as a -cold storage. A cold storage is a curious place to visit, but an -impossible place to dwell in, except for frozen goods. - -It is possible to make the best of both worlds without an uncomfortable -sense of sin nagging you like toothache; it is possible to work for -others and yet tend your own vineyard with whole-hearted joy garnered -from the wonder and beauty and sunshine of this our earthly home. The -man is not a miscreant who laughs heartily and often: the person is not -a saint who starves his body to save his soul. - -The harassing question is, How can we make the best of life as it comes -to us a day at a time, and yet sail on an even keel? It is the problem -that prophets, savants, and theologians have hammered at through the -ages, but have not yet forged in fine gold the key that unlocks the -mystery; thus there is an opening for us to cut in before the final word -is uttered and the discussion battens down under a unanimous show of -hands, which crowning mercy will be the last far-off result of time. -The question agitating the moment is, What shall we do with the fair -flower of our earthly life? Shall we enjoy it as we would the beauty -and fragrance of a rose, thanking the good God for a gift so sweet and -precious, or shall we with peevish fingers pick the rose to pieces petal -by petal and crush it under foot, fearing its beauty may seduce our -virtue and its perfume poison our soul? - -Let us preserve the rose inviolate. Its role is to be joy-giver on the -earth. I would sooner sit with Jesus Christ at the marriage feast in -Cana of Galilee and drink with Him wine of the best vintage that ever -flowed on festive board than sup with John Baptist in the wilderness on -his menu of locusts and wild honey. The exquisite scene my imagination -quaintly pictures is Jesus Christ and John the Baptist sitting together -at the banquet, and each enjoying the meal with equal zest. - -The Renaissance which fascinated half Europe in the fifteenth century, -like a carillon of joy-bells ringing through the land, stirring the dull -pulses of the people and reviving generous and graceful ideals of life, -was just open rebellion against the crabbed austerities of the Church, -practised in the name of religion falsely so called. The people threw -off the galling yoke of forced asceticism and found liberty of spirit -and peace of mind in literature and art, and in the spontaneous and -natural flow of healthy human life. Unfortunately, there was a fly in -the amber; the people borrowed most of their new pleasures from pagan -Greece, and the old Greek gods came tripping back from fairyland hand in -glove with Greek culture, which was embarrassing. - -The advent of the light-hearted Cavaliers in England, flinging colour -and warmth and gaiety over the land, was a sharp recoil from the drab -severity of Puritan rule. The Puritans were men of strong personality: -half soldiers and half preachers. They were honest without charm; -strong-minded without pose; mighty in conscience, but mean in heart -qualities. They were clean livers, but as they aged their visage grew -hard and sour as unripe fruit, and their geniality of temper withered -like a winter apple. They forgot to smile; the solemnities of life -crushed them. They were grave and sagacious citizens lacking vivacity -and humour, with plenty of flavour, but no sweetness. They dreamed of -invisible kingdoms and fought for eternal verities. They command our -admiration, but do not win our love. Their God was of the best theology -mechanically constructed at Geneva by John Calvin, built up in parts -composed of Righteousness, Justice, Holiness. Beauty was barred as a -Divine attribute. The dismal meeting-house where they worshipped was the -whitewashed prison in which the captured Deity dwelt. The burning light -of this dread Presence enraptured the elect souls and intimidated the -uncovenanted and graceless sinners, while the vast multitude of the -nation held aloof, dreading contact with a religion so fierce and yet so -gloomy, and they waited patiently through the shivering night of -Roundhead rule, like watchmen on the city walls, for the coming of the -king to set English homes once again humming with joy. - -These two strong currents of life--Self-denial and Enjoyment--are -flowing side by side in our midst to-day, dividing men in thought and -purpose, driving men into open collision, only to relax their -strangle-hold on one another to get firmer grip and fight again another -day. These two different ideals of life represent two antagonistic -sides of a man's nature that clash with each other, and the man has a -stand-up fight with himself, which is an experience fiery temperaments -often plunge into. Each side carries a half-truth and half an error. -Blend the two half-truths into an intimate and harmonious whole and sink -the errors into the bottomless pit from whence they came, and you -discover human nature touching its highest and ripest form, approaching -the Christlike in character, which combines the two elements in true and -everlasting union. - -Jesus of Nazareth, whose knightly character embodied all that the sweet -romancists of the Middle Ages dreamed of and pictured in the faultless -knight-errant of their day which won their hearts' devotion and consent -(_preux chevalier sans peur et sans reproche_), and all that our own age -typifies and holds dear in modern character of good repute when in a -single phrase it proclaims the man a perfect gentleman--Jesus Christ -means all that and more to us. Christ is not a withered flower on a -broken stem torn from the Tree of Life; He is not a damaged idol of an -effete civilization which modern progress sweeps aside in its forward -march; He is not the Lord of an ancient faith whom the fires of -scientific criticism have burnt up and left only His ashes in a cinerary -urn reposing on the altar of our heart. He is the world's one -fulfilment of the faultless and the ideal in human nature, blending all -that is beautiful and enjoyable with all that is holy and vigorous. - - - - - *IV* - - *THE LURE OF MAGIC WORDS* - - -Beautiful language is the flower of poetry. The magic of diction, of -enchanted words transformed into radiant, marvellous sentient things -pulsing with life and passion, capture our attention, and deep within us -something vibrates in answer to their mastering call. - -A writer with perfect felicity of expression voices thoughts and -emotions of our own heart that we cannot give utterance to, yet of which -we are dimly conscious. These ghostly creatures of our mind, half a -memory and half a thing, peep and mutter within us; we try to hold them, -but they are illusive as shadows on the wall. From the well-written -words there leaps out something that has life and form and comeliness in -it, and instantly we recognize an intimate returning from a far country -laden with spoil. Words liberate the imprisoned thought that fretted -within us and set it free: gloriously free for you and me and all the -world to make familiar with. - -There are words--spectacular words that print indelibly pleasant -pictures on the mind, reveal in a sabre-flash thoughts that burn and -things that were hidden. There are words--vivid, striking, portentous -words that unfold noble vistas of truth in which happy, emancipated -people walk freely in sunlight and song. There are melodious, aromatic -words that ring tunefully through corridors of the mind like a carillon -of merry bells charming the heart with far-reaching joy. There are -strong, fiery, tempestuous words that crash and rattle and reverberate -like rolling thunder through your being, and kindle the spirit of man -into blazing passion and heroic fervour. There are dull, prosy, -somnolent words that baffle like a London fog, envelop the writer's -meaning in dense obscurity, and lure the reader's mentality into -quagmires of perplexity and doubt. - -There are ambrosial, honeyed, ornate words that regale us with fair -visions of life, and steep the mind in dreams of romance and intoxicate -with amorous delight. There are treacherous, lying words that distil -murder in the air as they wing their evil flight. They strike deadly as -a keen stiletto, or spit poison like a venomous adder in the grass. - -There are discordant words that harrow up the feelings, and there are -smooth, velvety, caressing words whose sweet sorcery holds us in their -thrall, and that flow on and on harmoniously like the rippling of many -waters that never fall out of tune. - -Words cannot be measured with the measuring-reed of a man; they are -spiritual forces; "they are angels of blessing or cursing. Unuttered we -control them, uttered they control us." A man may have much wisdom -packed into his capacious mind, but to unfold it attractively so that it -glitters in the public eye and arrests attention is where the master art -of handling words comes in. - -One secret of successful writing is to express your thoughts in as few -words as possible. Be frugal in your expenditure of words as a miser -over the outlay of his hoarded gold. Write clearly, tersely, compactly, -for words, like coins of the realm, are most esteemed when they contain -large value in little space. The more briefly a thing is said, the more -brilliantly it is put. The rarest of all qualities in a writer -is--measure, saying exactly as much as you mean to say and not a word -more or less. If a picture is complete, everything added is something -taken away. - -The "command of language" is often a snare of the devil into which men -fall and do themselves grievous hurt. A redundancy of flowery words and -empty fluency of speech confuse the thought and confound the meaning; -skip half the telling and you know more of the tale. Oh the dreariness -of some solid reading I have done in my time!--very learned and logical -dissertations, but dulness crowned it all; even the dry bones of -scientific matter clogged with technicalities can be made to live by a -touch of style. Cartloads of words rumbling along the rutty road of -argument slowly to their destination are not half so forceful as an apt -image which flies straight to the point on wings of inspiration, and -gets there first. - -No subject is uninteresting if discoursed with an engaging pen, for -words throw colour-magic on things that are common-place and give charm -to them. I have watched Italian sunlight playing on the crumbling -plaster walls of a peasant's cottage on the Tuscan hills, drenching them -in opal and rose-carmine splendours, changing them into the image of a -fairy palace. Words cast sunlight on commonplace, familiar things, -flushing them with a radiance all their own, and so awaking our mind to -see new beauties, or old beauties made manifest in a new light which had -been staled by the lethargy of custom. Miss Mitford's village was an -ordinary Berkshire village mute in the annals of English history, but it -was surprised into fame by the romantic pen of its lady historian. A -splendid accident of literary achievement adorned it with immortality, -for it unfolds vividly before our wondering eyes the beauty of petty -things and plain people in village life. The world owes to her genial -pen a debt of gratitude; for it has won our sympathies, and in reading -her book we can read our own village with interest instead of boredom, -and see for ourselves the beauty and pathos and comedy of common people -and homely things around us. - -Art is the gift of God to man. It is impossible to buy or barter for -the possession of it. You may cultivate, improve, perfect the -indwelling talent, but the Divine seed is sown mysteriously in the life -of the child when brought to birth. In whom the secret power lies -dormant none know until the appointed hour reveals its budding graces. -Inscrutable is the Divine favour; none can tell whence it cometh or -whither it goeth. It is not inherited like gold or lands; it is not an -entailed honour which accompanies the family title. Genius seldom, like -an heirloom, passes from sire to son in direct succession. - -A man may possess the advantages that education, training, culture give, -yet all these excellent acquirements combined cannot manufacture an -artist. It needs the live coal taken from off the altar to kindle the -sacred flame which illumines the artist's soul. - -The painter's art is subject to this very mysterious law. Philip -Gilbert Hamerton describes the working of the artistic spirit in man. -He says: "Painting is a pursuit in which thought, scholarship, -information, go for little; whereas a strange, unaccountable talent -working in obscure ways achieves the only results worth having. Here is -a field in which neither birth nor condition is of any use, and wealth -itself of exceeding little; here faculty alone avails, and a kind of -faculty so subtle and peculiar, so difficult to estimate before years -have been spent in developing it, or wasted in the vain attempt to -develop where it does not exist." - -There are pictures you and I dearly love, and they are priceless -treasures in the market; yet there is no deep thought or display of -learning in them to win our admiration. They violate facts of history, -they outrage the grammar of academic art, and even their drawing may be -inaccurate. Why, then, are such works cherished and treasured? Because, -with all their faults, they have power, they have feeling; they speak to -the heart. The men who painted them were unlearned and ignorant, but -they were artists to the finger-tips. There is a spiritual something -breathing beneath the surface of the true painter's work which leaps to -the eye and draws upon us and bestirs our emotions. Other -pictures--laboured, scholastic, monumental, they leave us cold and -passionless, and we pass them by on the other side. - -A good architect also is to the manner born. The principles of -proportion in designing a building are difficult to adjust to give -pleasure to the eye. Now, the sense of proportion is a gift which some -men possess and others lack; although they are architects by profession, -they are amateurs in construction. Without that subtle sense of -proportion a man blunders through his designs, and puts no feeling of -beauty or joy in the finished structure which is the work of his hands. -Ruskin says: "It is just as rational an attempt to teach a young -architect how to proportion truly and well by calculating for him the -proportions of fine works as it would be to teach him to compare -melodies by calculating the mathematical relations of the notes in -Beethoven's 'Adelaide' or Mozart's 'Requiem.' The man who has eye and -intellect will invent beautiful proportions, and cannot help it; but he -can no more tell us how to do it than Wordsworth could tell us how to -write a sonnet, or than Scott could have told us how to plan a romance." - -What the faculty of feeling is to the artist, what the sense of -proportion is to the architect, the gift of style is to the writer. -Style is the witchery of words; style is clothing thought in captivating -language. Style is the setting of the gem. The gem may be rare, but it -needs the aid of the goldsmith's art to make the most of it. It is the -skilful setting that holds up the sparkling gem to our admiration. -Style is everything in writing; it makes the thoughts sparkle. Niceties -of style you cannot explain by rule-of-three, nor dissect its -individuality by the drastic deed of vivisection; you cannot slash the -heart out of it with a critickin's reckless knife. You can unravel a -piece of rare old Flemish tapestry, and destroy the beautiful design and -harmonious colouring of it. In fact, you can reduce the tapestry to a -heap of valueless threads of worsted fit only for burning; but style in -literature you cannot pick to pieces. You cannot find the master-thread -on which the secret of the pattern runs, and which reveals the cunning -of the workman's craft. By some mysterious process the writer weaves -words together that the chambers of our imagination may be hung with -tapestries rare and pleasant to behold. No explanation of the gift of -penmanship is possible. Moulding words into forms of beauty is not an -achievement: it is a gift of the gods, and no handbook of literature, -however diligently pursued, can turn an artisan into an artist cunning -in gold-minted phrases. - -When Castiglione sent the manuscript of his book, "The Perfect -Courtier," to Vittoria Colonna for her approval, she replied in a -flattering letter thanking the author, saying: "The subject is new and -beautiful, but the excellence of the style is such that, with a -sweetness never before felt, it leads us up a most pleasant and fertile -slope, which we gradually ascend without perceiving that we are no -longer on the level ground from which we started; and the way is so well -cultivated and adorned that we scarce can tell whether Art or Nature has -done most to make it fair." - -It is expression that counts, and the writer who expresses himself -simply, vividly, concisely, boldly, and plays upon our heart-strings at -pleasure, is naturally a "gifted" man. He not only sees in clear, full -vision himself, but he brings his vision home to our cloudy brains and -makes us see clearly; that is the wonder of it. It needs all the art -and magic and persuasion of language to accomplish this difficult task. -We _see_ the subject presented as a picture when he writes with a -graphic pen; we _feel_ poignantly when his sharp and polished periods -pierce like a rapier our understanding; we are _fascinated_ when his -impassioned eloquence flows, glittering like running water in the -sunlight, dazzling our bewildered brains. And when he scores by his -native wit and writes in his trenchant, racy mother-tongue there is a -smile in the stalls and loud laughter in the pit. - -How mysteriously beauty steals into language and warms up the radiant -face of poetry with glowing vitality. There is no beauty in stale -prosaic sentences like "Trespassers will be prosecuted" or "Rubbish may -be shot here," because they say exactly and completely all that they -have to say and nothing more can be squeezed out of them. There is -beauty in a sentence like "The bright day is done. And we are for the -night," or "He shall come down like rain upon the mown grass," because -in them, although they seem quite simple, the poet is trying to say -infinitely more than he can pack into words. It is the effort to do -something beyond the power of words; it is the effort to investigate the -alluring Infinite with a mind closely fettered within the cramped and -narrow finite that can only stretch forth a hand here and there between -prison bars and touch the azure of infinitude which is the dreamland of -the soul; it is this reaching out that brings beauty into language: it -enflames the imagination; it ruffles the emotions; unutterable thoughts -linger on the lips and fail to break away. There is a greatness in -these winged words feathered with beauty because they mean a thousand -times more than speaks on the surface. - -When I was young the magic of words took possession of my virgin mind. -The first master of language that I served under was John Ruskin. The -aim of good writing is to communicate feeling; Ruskin did this -intensely. The indefinable richness and power of words as they flowed -from his pen, the musical and measured cadence of his prose, and the -limpid clearness of his thoughts when cast on paper, placed an hypnotic -spell upon me. When reading one of his books, I dwelt in dreamland. -Another reading that I enjoyed with avidity in the seventies and -eighties of the last century was the long literary leaders, never too -long for me, in the _Daily Telegraph_. The best literary talent of the -day wrote them. Many of them I cut out and placed in my scrap-book; -alas! to be buried in decent sepulchre, for I never see them now. Lord -Burnham, the proprietor of the _Daily Telegraph_, put himself into these -leaders, although other pens wrote them. They were his special hobby, -and grew under his inspiration. His biographer tells us: "He had the -rhetorical sense strongly developed. He liked full-blooded writing, and -had a tenderness for big words and big adjectives, well-matched and in -pairs. He revelled in the warmth and colour of certain words, and the -more resonant they were, the better he liked them." Words carry not -only meaning, but atmosphere with them. Sometimes a single word well -chosen and well placed in a sentence gives feeling, and lights it up -with a glow of beauty. J. A. Symonds says: "The right word used in the -right place constitutes the perfection of style." In my youth a -literary friend was pruning a crude essay I had written; he paused in -his reading on the word "fallacious," and he said: "That's a good word -and well chosen; it's the right word." It was a revelation to me at the -time that one word was better than another if they both meant the same -thing. On thinking it over, I saw that no two words do mean exactly the -same thing, and that there is only one right word in a hundred to -express exactly your meaning and to give life to it. The other -ninety-and-nine words are but poor relations--nay! they are all dead -corpses. - -Perhaps you remember Millais' wonderfully popular picture called -"Cinderella." A beautiful healthy English child, with deep dreamy eyes -and long wavy golden hair sits on a stool by the kitchen fire holding in -her hand a birch broom emblem of her kitchen toil. It is a fascinating -picture. At home I look on a coloured print of it nearly every day of -the week. The most brilliant thing on the canvas is the patch of -scarlet in the dainty cap the child wears. That single dab of red seems -to concentrate in itself the whole colour-scheme of the picture. It is -the keynote. Now a single word in a sentence sometimes gives a -startling effect. It strikes a strong, clear, ringing note which keys -the writer's passing mood, fascinates us with its vividness, and sticks -in the memory ever after. It is a colour-patch in literary art which -dominates the picture and arrests attention, as in Shakespeare's - - "Every yesterday hath lighted fools - The way to _dusty_ death!" - -Or, - - "The _primrose_ path to the eternal bonfire." - -Or Pope's - - "Quick effluvia darting through the brain - Die of a rose in _aromatic_ pain." - -Also - - "Cease, fond Nature, cease thy strife, - And let me _languish_ into life." - -And Gray's inimitable couplet: - - "There pipes the song-thrush, and the skylark there - Scatters his _loose_ notes in the waste of air." - - -It is the height of literary skill to gather up your thought into a -single word and fling it flaming on canvas. It is more convincing than -a long chapter of dull argument which drugs the senses. Tennyson knew -the magic of a single epithet in the thought scheme of the moment when -he sang: "All the charm of all the muses often flowering in a lonely -word." It is not as easily done as eating hot cakes for tea, for it is -not the first word that comes sailing into a man's head that is the -right word. "The comely phrase, the well-born word," is a prince of -high degree, and you may wait in his anteroom days before an audience is -granted. The elect word does not sit on the tip of the tongue and drop -into its place at call. You may search diligently and not find it, and -presently of its own free will it comes to you, a happy thought flashed -from the void where whispering spirits dwell. Gray's Elegy is the most -perfect poem in the English language. It was not thrown together -carelessly in an idle hour one sleepy summer afternoon. Every word and -every line of it cost thought, was written and rewritten, and patiently -polished over again. For eight years the author held the poem between -the hammer and the anvil, beating it into shape before he passed it into -print. He damaged reams of paper developing a fair copy of those -immortal verses. - - - - - *V* - - *THE LURE OF AN OLD TUSCAN GARDEN* - - -A delightful French writer says "to grow old in a garden in sight of -softly undulating hills, beneath a sky variable as the human soul, is -very sweet, very consoling, very easy. One becomes more of a child and -for the first time a philosopher. Poetry and wisdom on every hand -permeate the close of life, just as the oblique rays of the setting sun -penetrate into the heart of the densest foliage, which is impervious to -the vertical beams of noonday." This charming writer touches the spot; -experience, tenderness, and sympathy flow from mellowed lips well -rounding to the autumn of life. Old age does reflect more discerningly -than impatient youth, and in a garden, too, surrounded by a heavenly -host of flowers whose blossom is as laughter and whose perfume is a -song. Romance sketches wonderful pictures with such a beatific -background to inspire it, and imagination wanders into a carnival of -dreams. How many pleasant thoughts and noble thoughts have been brought -to birth in a garden which afterward grew into brave deeds and gentle -lives contributing generously to enrich the sum of human happiness! - -I sit under an ilex-tree in an old Tuscan garden which in course of many -generations has belonged to many owners. A haunting beauty fills the -ancient place, which one can feel, but cannot understand. A friendly -atmosphere that pervades old gardens saturates the solitude. It is more -than atmosphere, it is influence--a caressing influence almost human -that holds us up and tantalizes. Vague ancestral memories of old -families flash upon the mind; for more than four hundred years men and -women have walked and talked and thought in this Tuscan garden of mine, -and tended its flowers and enjoyed its tranquillity. Children have -played in it, often going to bed tired and happy after romping in it the -livelong day, and so generation after generation mankind repeats itself -in the life-story of the old garden on a Tuscan hillside. The spirit of -the past haunts it in shadow and in sunshine, because wherever men have -been they leave a little of themselves behind in ghostly exhalations. - -When one is in a contemplative humour a garden is full of object-lessons -interesting to study. By dint of watching leaf replace leaf, insects -come into life and die, blossoms change into fruit, fruit ripen and -fall, the swallows come with the daffodils and depart when the hunter's -moon frightens them away--by watching these things methodically and -silently accomplishing their allotted tasks, I have come to think about -myself with brave resolution and resigned conformity to natural laws. I -grieve less over myself when I regard the change which is universal; the -setting sun and the dying summer help me also to decline gently. Life -is a splendid heritage to hold in fee, but we quit and deliver up -possession when our lease expires. The light must be kept burning if -our own little taper flickers into darkness. - -A young girl visited us in Florence one spring-time. She lived in the -garden among the flowers, caressed them, talked to them, and gathered -them by the handful, the armful, the basketful. She decorated the rooms -with flowers, filled glass bowls and bronze vases with flowers, and her -art touched its zenith in glorifying the dinner-table every evening with -the choicest of them all. She chatted, smiled, and sang whilst doing -it, for she dearly loved the flowers that she fondled. - -We took her to the Uffizi to see the world-renowned Old Masters there; -but she yawned in front of masterpieces of art, and her eyes wandered -round searching the smart costumes of the ladies in the room. We took -her to Rome and showed her the sights of the Eternal City, but Bond -Street and Regent Street interested her more than St. Peter's and the -Coliseum. We visited the Forum with its ruined temples and triumphal -arches, and trod the Via Sacra; but the place was only an old stoneyard -to her, devoid of interest, so we left her to herself, and she wandered -over the Forum on other pleasure bent, and we found her afterwards -picking violets amongst the ruins. - -When at home again a friend asked how she enjoyed her visit to Rome, and -had she seen the Forum? In blank despair she appealed to me to help her -out of it. "Yes," I replied, "you saw the Forum; that is where you -picked the violets." The Forum to her was deadly dull and forgotten -even by name, but a bunch of wild violets lived vividly in her memory as -the crown and flower of her heart's desire, more excellent than all the -ruins of Rome. - -Dulness comes to us in uncongenial company and occupation. You may be -surrounded by objects of interest and beauty which amuse other people, -but if these worthy objects do not fit your taste, for you they contain -no element of delight, and you are bored utterly with them whoever may -sing their praise. It is a question of temperament. The heart is not -dull if the head is _triste_. Every eye makes its own beauty and every -heart forms its own kinships. Put me in front of a post-impressionist -picture and dulness covers me like a funeral pall. The beauties of the -glowing picture composed of significant form and bunkum are lost on me -completely. Here is something tremendously original that makes demands -on my intelligence that I cannot meet. I am mentally bankrupt in front -of this maddening art. - -Looking at a post-impressionist picture, you see only shapes and forms -tangled together within the limited area of a gilt frame; you see -relations and quantities of colour splashed on canvas meaning anything -you choose to label it, but in the likeness of nothing God made or man -ever saw. It distorts nature and scoffs at portraiture. "Creating a work -of art," trumpets the evangelist of post-impressionism, "is so -tremendous a business that it leaves no leisure for catching a -likeness." "You look at a landscape, and you are not to see it as -fields and cottages; instead you are to see it as lines and colours." -Yet up against this lucid statement I observe no reason why the portrait -of a man should be drawn like a peculiarly shaped market-garden divided -into plots for growing vegetables. Nor can I explain why the picture of -a village street should look like a fortnight's wash suspended in a -cherry orchard, and the policeman standing in front of the village inn -at the corner should look like a laundry-maid hanging out the clothes. -It requires uncommon genius to work the illusion successfully, and to -start an indolent British public frivolling with the captivating puzzle. -But it leaves me cold and passionless, for I am slow of understanding -these things. They say an impressionist picture of top-note character -is a painfully exciting object for the spectator to worship. To do it -justice, he must squirm in front of it, for it is a picture that creates -a thunderstorm of rhapsody, a deluge of delight, a roaring cataract of -aesthetic emotion in the soul of the man who understands its cryptic -language. The artist who limned the picture suffers agonies whilst -working up significant form, being pricked with pins and needles of -excitement, and is continually dancing on the hot-plate of rapture. The -spectator's duty when viewing a work of art is to come into touch with -the mind of the artist. To do this no wonder the spectator has a bad -time when digesting a whole gallery of post-impressionist pictures. - -Their religion is as bewildering as their art. For their moral vision is -out of kilter, as their eyesight is out of focus. The aforesaid -evangelist of the cult says: "I doubt whether the good artist bothers -much more about the future than about the past. Why should artists -bother about the fate of humanity? If art does not justify itself, -aesthetic rapture does.... Rapture suffices. The artist has no more -call to look forward than the lover in the arms of his mistress. There -are moments in life that are ends to which the whole history of humanity -would not be an extravagant means; of such are the moments of aesthetic -ecstasy." - -We return to the garden, for the lure of a garden relaxes not. The joy -of it entangles you in its toils. Each successive season of the year -unfolds new developments which lead you on to the next season. So you -are handed on from one month to another throughout the gardener's -calendar by endless enticements which keep the interest gently -simmering. The procession of gay flowers that promenade the sheltered -borders and disport themselves with flagrant pride on open beds during -spring and summer days, tricked in rainbow colours, dazzle the eye with -splendour, win the heart's endearment, and pay in noblest coin full -recompense for the chill, dull toil given in grey winter hours. - -A lady friend who lived to a ripe old age said to me jocosely, "To be a -good gardener you need a wooden back with an iron hinge to it, for you -are bending and stooping all day long in the garden." Only by constant -labour spent on the good brown earth can you become candidate for -possession of this useful garden requisite, a wooden back with an iron -hinge to it, or the neatest imitation offered on the market. In the -garden you get in touch with Nature, breathe fresh air, cultivate a -contented mind, and never stagnate in idleness or degenerate into ennui. -Your body, inured to all weathers, escapes many little ills of the -flesh, and gradually you harden into an iron constitution, which is the -nearest earthly substitute to a wooden back hung on iron hinges. - -You never need remain indoors to smoke or sew or yawn because there is -nothing doing in the garden: you can weed there the livelong day in the -open. This lowly service offers immediate reward; it begets a healthy -appetite at meal-times, and develops a night's sound sleep, which is -some pleasure no millionaire can buy with his millions. Weeding puzzles -my blind gardener Emilio. - -I have two brothers gardeners, Enrico and Emilio. Enrico has sight only -of one eye, Emilio is blind both eyes. The two brothers work together -in brotherly love, and have only one working eye between them, yet it is -wonderful how much good work the one eye accomplishes per day. Emilio -sees with his hands. It is weeding that puzzles him most. He never -pulls a flower instead of a weed--he feels the difference between them. -It is the weeds that elude his fingers as he works along the border that -grieve him. Weeding is a fascinating occupation to me. Nice people -won't profane their hands grubbing in common garden soil, but, being a -groundling myself, I enjoy the fun of coming into contact with my native -element. Clean, sweet, caressing earth, it is the last flowery coverlet -all of us will sleep under; why shun thy friendly touch to-day? There is -always an abundant crop of weeds to practise on in an Italian garden, -and your fingers itch to uproot them to the very last offender. I -suppose it is the ruthlessness and slaughter of the deed, the close -handgrip on the enemy, that compels you on; and when the skirmish is -over, surveying the ground cleared of the foe and the heaps of the slain -withering at your feet gives a pleasurable thrill of excitement in the -hour of victory. You exult, for there is something done, and well done, -to show for your backache. - -The gardener's lure is irresistible. The devotee walks in flowerland of -his own creation. In dreary winter hours he dreams splendid dreams of -himself surrounded by summer harmonies, summer fragrance, and summer -flowers, for which he has planned and planted and patiently tended along -the covering months of winter and spring. The hour of full realization -approaches when the roses mass their rival glories and spread their -coloured raptures in the garden that he loves. This puts the crown on -the brow of summer. This is the gardener's festival of the year. He -invites his horticultural cronies to tea on the lawn, and they all talk -rose jargon together. He takes them on a tour of inspection round the -garden, and they congratulate the founder of the feast of flowers. They -are happy as a band of Sunday-school children spending the afternoon -out. They sit on the lawn under the spreading ilex-tree, which casts -ample shadow for their comfort, and the summer sunshine lays ardent on -the green-sward around them. It is a genial gathering, but the man who -understands not roses would be speechless in their midst and not a -little bored. Conversation cools off, the evening shadows lengthen, and -in an interlude of silence there is a sort of whispering stillness in -the warm evening air, as if the flowers and grass and trees are all -saying kind words to one another, for having done their best to please. -The lure of the garden is never so poignant as at this great moment, for -your heart is brimming of sweet content, and you say to yourself: "Can -it be true? Can anything in the world be more beautiful?" - -There is another lure that lays hands on a man like grappling-irons -tackling a Spanish galleon laden with treasure, with a grip which cannot -be shaken off: I mean the writer's lure. I am fond of reading. The -enticements of a good book are hard to resist, especially if you have no -inclination to resist, but tumble a ready victim to the writer's charm. - -What is the writer's lure? How does it cast its spell? You can talk -round the subject by metaphor and symbol and figure of speech, but -cannot solve it like a problem in Euclid and add Q.E.D. at the end. The -writer's lure is the vividest way of saying things. It is a bolt shot -from the mind that hits the penman's mark. The writer's lure fixes you -even as a beautiful sympathetic picture holds you up by its witchery of -art. In the picture warmth of colour, grace of line, melting tints, -dreamy distance, and an added mystic charm brooding over all, voice -lovingly your taste in art, and, like a haunted man, you carry the -landscape about with you all day long. It intrudes on your mind midst -pressing business affairs; the sunlight sleeping on the hills creates a -pleasant interlude of thought when engrossed in life's little worries. -Turner's "Crossing the Brook" in the Tate Gallery is a picture that -bewitches me when I see it. It stimulates my imagination and sets my -thoughts sailing over the country carried on the breezes which blow -across the Turner landscape. - -A book haunts you in the selfsame way as a picture. You read a book, -and it stirs your emotions and captivates your fancy, and for a time it -possesses you like a living spirit. The writer's lure holds you in its -grip. The book soaks into you. A sentence here and there leaps to -memory during odd moments of the day; the rhythm of the language ripples -musically as a chime of bells, and you repeat the sentence to yourself -again and again. The aptness of an image is lifelike, and a vision -floats across your mind; the happy turn of a sentence sticks. The fresh, -clear-cut thought shot out boldly from the writer's brain conveys a new -idea; you recall the touch of humour resembling a patch of warm sunshine -twinkling on the landscape, and your lips curve into a smile. There are -passages of tenderness also that you treasure, because they find your -heart like shafts of love feathered with joy. All these things in the -book come back to you vividly, and whisper their fond message over -again. - -One cannot explain the writer's lure. You may name it, but you cannot -catch it in the reviewer's trap of criticism. It is illusive as the -angel who visited Manoah and his wife, wrought wondrously, and vanished -leaving no trace. It is a secret of pencraft which defies definitions -and eludes analysis, yet it is the vital element in composition. It is -not a question of conforming to correct standards of good writing by -which literary excellence is judged, the writer being blessed or cursed -by the censors according to the measure of his allegiance to their -literary creed. Some writers violate every literary canon set up to -guide their pen in the way of righteousness, but they are alive with -literary fire; the vital element is fecund within them, and they riot in -the power of it. There are no rules in art that great writers have not -shown us how to break with advantage. You cannot resolve the writer's -lure into its component parts as you can a potato. Like electricity, it -defies analysis, but, like the electric current, you feel it in your -bones. - -Blind Emilio does not work by rules taught in popular garden manuals; he -gathers inspiration for his craft direct from the heavens. He is an -oracle of occult information and prevision almost uncanny, concerning -things in the garden and out of it. However, he is a cheerful soul and -a born optimist, so we consult him often and rely on his wisdom, -because, like honey, its flavour is pleasant to the taste. - -The moon is the guiding providence regulating some of Emilio's important -duties. He observes the phases of the moon with the reverence of an -astrologer of legendary days. He awaits the waning moon in February to -prune the rose-trees. A potent mystic virtue dwells in a waning moon -according to his garden lore, which is old as his pagan ancestors. If -you prune rose-trees in a waxing moon the new growths will be long, weak -shoots, and the crop of roses in the summer poor, puny things. Prune in -the waning moon and the new growths will be short, sturdy rods bearing -large flowers, and an abundance of them. Garden seed must be sown under -the auspices of the waning moon if you want your flower-beds in the -summer-time to be renowned for beauty, to make your friends envious of -your success and yourself just swaggeringly happy. - -What applies to roses and seed applies equally to pruning vines and -grafting fruit-trees. Bulbs and potatoes may be planted any time. They -move in the spring when Nature signals whether they are in the ground or -out of it. They are outside the ritual of the moon. - -We had a heavy crop of diospyros last autumn, drawn from four trees in -the kitchen-garden. These fruits are fat, round, rosy fellows, plump as -overgrown tomatoes. The flesh of the ripe diospyros is Nature's jam, -soft and mushy, delicious in flavour, and eaten politely with a spoon. -Our neighbour who hails from Cincinnati grew a crop of small, -sickly-looking fruit. "Ah!" said Emilio, "now that you see the -difference in the two crops, you must believe me. Their diospyros were -gathered in the growing moon, and they shrivel and lose colour and -flavour; ours were gathered in the waning moon, and keep beautiful and -sound to the end of the season." There is good luck under the waning -moon. Another explanation of the difference in the crops has merit, -which Emilio considers treason to the honourable tradition of his -fathers. Our fruit was grown in the kitchen-garden on manured soil; our -American neighbour's trees stand on a rocky bank in the wild garden -which is never dressed with manure. The blessing of the moon falls on -the crop that is best nourished in the days of its youth. - -In the garden is an avenue of lime-trees about one hundred and sixty -feet long. In the summer it forms a deliciously shady walk; in rainy -weather it is a clean and pleasant promenade, for it has a paved pathway -in it. The north end of the avenue terminates in a large semicircular -stone seat mounted on a stone base one step higher than the pathway. -The seat has no florid decorative carving on it to arouse hostility or -provoke criticism. It is just a plain seat of simple Roman type, roomy -and comfortable to sit on. Behind the seat curves a semicircle of -thirteen cypress-trees screening the north winds. Again, behind the -cypress-trees is an interesting old stone wall about twenty feet high, -forming the boundary of the garden. Above the wall, rising in gentle -slope, is the south shoulder of the hill, on the hill-top sits Fiesole, -the famous Etruscan city of history and legend. The slope is covered -with olives and vines, forming a mantle grey and green with its leafy -fringe dropping on our garden wall. - -This great retaining wall is old as the villa which was purchased by -Domenico Mori in 1475. The history of the house earlier than this date -is lost in the mist of antiquity. The ancient wall is a feature in the -garden, for on two sides it towers like a cliff, forming a charming -background to the scene. It has weathered beautifully with the ages, -and is an immense stretch of canvas for the display of masses of colour. -In places it is bleached silvery-grey, and elsewhere the tinted lichen -mottle it with saffron and orange and brown, and every delectable shade -and tone which Time, the great decorator, with loving hand, imparts to -old stone. It looks warm and gay and friendly, and grows a rock-garden -of its own, for wild flowers bloom in its cracks and crannies and red -valerian flames upon its heights, side by side with golden broom. Ivy -clothes it in parts, and most mysteriously so, for years back the plants -were cut off their roots, and the ivy now exists only on nourishment -drawn from the wall, and it exists vigorously on the meagre diet the -wall supplies. When the sunshine pours down upon its hoary time-worn -face, the old wall is transfigured into a thing of triple splendour, for -its colours glow and blaze with spiritual fervour imparting that -artistic touch of nature which is the happy gift of garden plaisance. - -Deeply set in the wall is the ruin of a small shrine. Once upon a time -this shrine was the home of the Madonna, but now no Madonna occupies the -niche. Some pious ancestor of the house implored gracious protection of -the Mother of Jesus on behalf of his vines and olives, fruits and -flowers, and he set up her Ladyship's sheltered image in the little -vaulted temple on the wall as guardian of the crops, hoping that fat -harvest would follow his devotion to Our Lady of Plenty. The vacant -shrine is desolate and crumbling and mossy now, and so is the -sentimental faith of those ancient days. It was a hallowed sentiment in -its way, this worship of the Madonna. Men lived up to it, and felt -happy in their prayers to the Lady of Heaven. Nowadays men win good -harvests on more scientific lines. They put trust in deep ploughing and -artificial manure rather than in prayers and oblations to the Mother of -God. - -The personal intervention of the Deity in the affairs of men strikes a -homely note in the world's domestic management, and brings the Heavenly -Father in close touch with His earthly family; but the dear God's -blessing is level-handed, and favours His children, bad or good, who -work the hardest, and add intelligence to their toil. - - - - - *VI* - - *THE LURE OF THE MONTELUPO PLATE* - - -My friend Federico wandering through Tuscany on one of those delightful -excursions that he loves, passing from town to town and village to -village picking up "old things" _en route_, called at a dealer's shop in -Bagni di Lucca. In the miscellaneous collection of antiquities there -offered for sale he found nothing to please him. To console him in the -hour of disappointment, the little dealer, named Grosso, said: "I know -of a beautiful Montelupo plate that will take your fancy. Come with me; -it is away up the hills, a pleasant ride for us. Give me a few francs -for my trouble, and you can buy the plate." So they took a vettura and -rode up the mountains in quest of the Montelupo plate. After an hour's -delightful drive they stopped at a contadino's cottage on the roadside, -and there, boldly on view to the passer-by and stuck on the -weather-beaten front of the cottage over the doorway, was the Montelupo -plate, the very heart's desire of the two adventurers. It was a brave -plate, round as the sun and about thirteen inches in diameter. In the -centre of it, painted in flaming colours, trotted a soldier on horseback -with drawn sword in hand, but no painted foeman visible into which to -bury the thirsty blade. The interior of the plate surrounding the -warrior was a mass of rich deep orange ground; the colour much esteemed -by collectors of this rural pottery. The contadinos in Tuscany once -owned numerous specimens of these rustic dishes, which were used daily -by them in their homes as common household crockery. They were nothing -thought of in those far-off days of the fifteenth and sixteenth -centuries. They were made for the peasants' service, and if a plate was -broken another was bought for half a franc in the next market town. The -day came when the supply stopped and the plates could not be replaced. -Some other novelty in kitchenware had the run of the market, and nobody -wanted Montelupo plates. - -Fashion set in about twenty years ago to collect this crude, curious, -neglected pottery, so grotesque and humorous in design and coarse in -workmanship, but when reposing against the wall of a well-lit room -certainly showy and decorative for all time. They carry amusing and -picturesque subjects, comical or satirical in treatment. Not very -artistic, but cleverly and freely drawn with a few bold lines to catch -the peasant's sense of humour, which was easily tickled. The plates -revel in brightness and colour. Colour holds the eye and courts our -admiration, and fancy prices rule the market. - -The rarest plates to find are those burlesquing the Churchman. The -soldier, the farmer, and the serving-maid took the joke kindly, but the -plates in which the monk was caricatured offended the Church -dignitaries, and these specimens were bought up mysteriously, quickly -destroyed, and now cannot be found. - -When the fashion set in, wandering dealers and touring collectors made -haste to buy. They spread themselves over the country; knocked at -cottage doors in out-of-the-way places in Tuscany, begged a glass of -milk, admired the plates on the kitchen dresser, and offered to buy at a -few francs apiece. The contadino soon found he had something good, and -the price rose to ten francs each. Still the plates were admired by -tired travellers resting in out-of-the-way cottages drinking a glass of -milk. The price rose incontinently to twenty, thirty, fifty francs, -until the peasants discovered a gold-mine in their old kitchen crockery, -and now their stock is sold out. To-day the plates are found only in -the hands of dealers, and good specimens command prices anywhere between -a hundred and two hundred and fifty francs each. - -The owner of the Montelupo plate over the cottage door asked sixty -francs for his family treasure. My friend borrowed a ladder, that he -might have it down to examine. "No," said the owner; "you must buy it -where it is, and pay for it first." Federico's fancy was caught with -the pretty toy; he submitted to the hard terms, and paid the sixty -francs. Little Grosso now mounted the ladder to bring down the plate. -"I can't move it; it is cemented into the wall," he called to the new -comer, standing below. So he borrowed a hammer and chisel, and ran -nimbly up the ladder again and began chipping round the plate. - -Immediately the whole village was on the spot, standing round, excited, -chattering, watching the job. A noisy man, the cock of the village, -slung himself forward and shouted strenuously. He demanded to know what -they were doing: "That plate has been there for over a hundred years. -It is a very important piece, and is worth much money. It is of great -value. Who has bought it? What have you paid for it?" - -"I have bought it," said my friend; "I have given sixty francs for it, -and as you think it so valuable, I will sell it to you for sixty francs. -Will you have it at the price I gave for it?" - -Federico has a lovable disposition. He takes life placidly. He takes -taxes placidly, he takes bad trade placidly, he takes the war placidly, -he takes a human tornado placidly. The noisy man exploded--shouted -louder and louder, and scattered his arms about in the air, -gesticulating like the sails of a windmill racing in a stiff breeze, but -he did not buy the village treasure. Grosso on the ladder kept on -chipping round the plate, the crowd watching him critically. - -Presently he called out, "Signore, the plate is in two pieces!" My -friend said to the noisy man: "Do you want to buy the plate? It is in -two pieces--you can have it for fifty francs." He did not take on, but -continued talking, gesticulating, and exciting the onlookers. Grosso -continued chipping round the plate. He called out again, "Signore, the -plate is even in three pieces." So my friend said to the village bully, -"You can have the plate for thirty francs." But he did not buy at the -price. Grosso resumed his work, hacking round the plate. He called out -again, "Signore, the plate is in many pieces!" So Federico shouted to -the troublesome man: "Now is your chance; you can have the plate for -twenty francs. I paid sixty for it; will you give me twenty?" - -The man folded himself up and slunk off; the crowd also melted away, and -Grosso went on chipping, and put fragment after fragment of the plate in -his pocket as he released them from their cement setting. He came down -the ladder with the broken plate in his pocket in ten pieces. They rode -home to Bagni di Lucca, feeling a bit miserable on the journey. At -Bagni di Lucca my friend comforted Grosso with a good dinner in the -restaurant and gave him seven francs for his trouble. "And what about -the plate?" said Grosso, when my friend bid him good-bye. "You keep it, -Grosso. I don't want it." "No," said Grosso; "the plate is yours. You -have treated me well and given me seven francs. I am more than -satisfied." "Keep it," was the reply; and away Federico went home, just -a little disappointed with the result of his expedition up the -mountains. The lure of the Montelupo dish had proved a failure. - -Next year he visited Bagni di Lucca in quest of antiques, and called -upon Grosso the dealer. On entering the shop he saw the Montelupo plate -hanging against the wall, looking gay as ever without visible crack or -cleavage on it. The dealer had cunningly dove-tailed the plate -together, and it looked faultless to the eye. "It is yours," said -Grosso; "I have kept it for you. Customers wanted to buy it. I knew -you would come again to see me." After much persuasion and a -consideration, Federico took the plate home and hung it in his studio -amongst a collection of treasured antiques which he has gathered round -him there and are the joy of his heart. It was much admired, and the -romance of its history, often related, was as often listened to with -amusement and laughter. - -One day a Florentine dealer visited the studio and fell in love with the -Montelupo plate, and bought it for ninety francs. - - - - - *VII* - - *THE LURE OF PLUCK* - - -It happened in Rome; in our apartment on the Piazza di Spagna. We had a -visit from a Countess. She was heralded by her visiting-card, on which -blazed a coronet--an awe-inspiring visiting-card, imposing enough to -reduce to the ground the most blatant democrat. What did the unknown -Countess want? we asked each other with palpitating hearts. Had she come -to invite us to visit her ancestral castle in the Sabine Hills? Was she -a messenger from the Queen of Italy summoning us to an audience in the -Quirinal Palace? What did this high-toned lady want? My wife faced the -music alone. She entered the room, and saw a shabbily dressed old lady -rambling about amongst the furniture. - -"Ah!" exclaimed the Countess; "please excuse me the liberty of admiring -your old Italian furniture; it is very fine indeed. I am so fond of it. -I used to have my rooms full of it, but we sold it all to dealers. They -gave us a good price for it. We are reduced in circumstances now, and I -have called to ask if you would buy some jam from me. I make it myself, -and have good clients among the English and American residents. I -charge 3.50 lire for a jar, and allow 50 centimes for the empty jar if -returned when I call again." - -She produced some glass jars of jam and honey from a basket she carried -under her cloak. Refined-looking jars; artistically labelled jars, -assuring the purchaser that the jam within was made under perfect -hygienic conditions. The wording of the labels was printed in accurate -English; but the Countess could not speak English, not a broken sentence -of it could she utter. The conversation was carried on in French. We -bought a jar of jam and a jar of honey, and are looking hopefully for -the return of the 50 centimes on the empty jars when next she calls on -business intent. - -It is no hedgerow jam, no common cottage mixture of blackberry and apple -she offered us, but highly aristocratic peach jam from choicest fruits -grown in coroneted orchards. And the honey she offered was superior -honey; not the produce of old-fashioned garden flowers and wild heather -from the hills--anybody breeds that plebeian honey. Her bees were -classic to the core, lived in the garden of Hesperides, and fed only on -orange-blossoms and acacia. No honey had an aroma equal to hers. - -Dear, good old soul! There was lots of fine metal in her character; she -was a piece of rare old silver plate with hall-mark clearly impressed on -it, but in somewhat battered and bruised condition. She had been -roughly handled in the hard-hammering world. She had lost everything -but manners and breeding. She could sell jam with the grace and dignity -of a Queen bestowing royal favours on a subject. She was striving to -maintain herself honourably in the sight of all men, and she would die -in the last ditch rather than beg. Her pluck lured her on to the -winning-post. - -There are sensitive people who, when hard-hit by Fortune, mope like -moulting fowls and creep into dark corners of the earth; they do not -strut in the market-place and shout loud-throated their woes to the -crowd; they lower their flag and surrender themselves to fate. Their -vanity supports their poverty, and their poverty breaks their heart. -Really, these people are victims of false shame. False shame deludes -their common sense. It discolours their imagination, enfeebles their -will-power, and drives them on to the rocks to feed with the goats. -Their misfortune assumes an exaggerated character in their own minds. -They fancy that the world stares coldly on them in their adversity and -whispers contemptuously against them behind their backs, and they -collapse in the frigid atmosphere with which they surround themselves. - -Their vanity betrays them into surmising unwholesome things. They -fidget about themselves in their supersensitiveness. They adore public -opinion, and fancy themselves filling a large place in its -consideration, and they dread the smiting lash of its hostile criticism. -The truth is humiliating but very refreshing to our morbid disposition, -and the truth is that people are not thinking much about us, however -conspicuously we imagine ourselves to be painted in the picture. We are -only one of a crowd of common people, nor even the most interesting -figure in it. It is unwise to esteem ourselves to be of immeasurably -more consequence than we really are. The busy world at best gives us -only a passing thought. Dr. Johnson bluntly said: "No man is much -regarded by the rest of the world. The utmost which we can reasonably -hope or fear is to fill a vacant hour with prattle and be forgotten." -If a man thinks no more seriously of his own misfortunes than his -neighbour thinks of them, his troubles will be lightly borne. - -However, the world is much more good-natured than the man of morbid -temper gives it credit for. Penetrate through its cold reserve, and you -often find within a warm, sympathetic heart. The good English heart is -oft-times hedged by a _chevaux de frise_ of English hauteur hard to -break through, but get within the lines and you receive a cordial -welcome. - -Our sturdy Countess was not afflicted with false shame. She had pride, -but not vanity. Vanity is a coquette and says, "What do you think of -me?" and tremblingly awaits your verdict. Pride says, "I am as good as -you are, and I don't care a damn." It is not every decadent Countess -who sells jam to keep her end up in this see-saw world. It requires -grit and a rare brand of pride uncommon in the quality to rise to the -occasion. There is a vain pride that welters into nothingness in the -dismal hour of failure, and starves tragically like a rat in a trap -rather than help itself or accept help from others. There is another -pride--robust, full-blooded pride--that spurns the conventionalities of -caste, takes off its coat and fights misfortune face to face resolutely -for its daily bread, and wins through. This is where our heroic -Countess steps in splendour. - -Why immolate oneself on the altar of family pride? A false goddess sits -enshrined there on a false throne. Why live on the reputation a -forefather won in the Middle Ages? That reputation is now spent -capital; it is worthless scrip on the social market to-day. Build -another reputation for yourself, clean and sweet and new. If ill luck -drops you in the ditch, to maintain inviolate the family honour you must -get up and with ungloved hands work your way out of it like a man. Sell -jam. - -Perhaps you hate wearing a brand-new reputation. It sets on you like a -misfitting coat. You are an heir of the glorious past, and exult on the -length in your ancient lineage. Remember also you are a trustee of the -splendid future; the shining days to come demand your thoughtful -consideration. Do rare credit to your sacred trust. It is better to -transmit honour to your descendants than to borrow fame from your -ancestors. It is better to be lovingly remembered than nobly born. That -grim old ancestor of yours who built the family fortune out of nothing -and grimly fought every inch of the way up to renown single-handed would -despise you for a poltroon lying derelict in the ditch of despair. If -the family fall throws you to the ground, are you going to lie there -indefinitely and rot like offal? Sell jam. - -An Italian nobleman went to America to repair his fallen fortunes. He -refused to soil his hands in trade; his old family title was the magic -key he carried to open the treasure-chests of the New World. So he -arrived in America armed with a despatch-box full of introductions to -money magnates there. He called upon a banker in New York, and -presented a letter of introduction. The banker asked him what he knew -about business. "Nothing," replied the nobleman; "I am a cavalry -officer." "Sorry I cannot help you," said the banker; "the circus left -our town yesterday." The nobleman was floored. Enraged at the magnate's -laconic insolence, he destroyed all letters of introduction contained in -his despatch-box and tackled the world on his own. He folded up his -family pedigree, laid it in lavender, went into the market and sold jam. -In the market-place a long head is a better weapon to fight with than a -long pedigree. He worked out his own salvation, and returned home and -lived contentedly amongst the orange-groves and sunshine of Southern -Italy. - - - - - *VIII* - - *THE LURE OF OLD FURNITURE* - - -Eight old Chippendale chairs and two settees sold recently at Christie's -for 5,600 guineas, and report says quickly after the auctioneer's hammer -dismissed the lot they changed hands again at L1,000 profit to the -buyer. There must be great charm in old furniture when people scramble -for it regardless of cost. I suppose money is dull stuff to own heaps -of unless you can exchange it for things that give the heart a passing -thrill of pleasure (the great sport is in the making it); and the more -money you make, the more it takes you to work up the thrill. A -millionaire's smile is an expensive hobby to cultivate. Gathering a -bunch of wild primroses in the sunny April woods gladdens the heart of a -child amazingly, and he dreams the pleasure over again in his sleep. It -costs over 5,000 guineas to tingle the feelings of a rich man. The -child's outlay is more economical, but it fetches as much enjoyment. - -Wherein lies the secret charm of old furniture? I love it myself, and -for that reason ask the question for the pleasure given in answering it. -I am only a trifler in antiques, possessing a few pieces of exquisite -old oak of the seventeenth-century period; also several pieces of walnut -furniture which are old Italian. The Italian pieces lie fallow in a -villa just outside the barriera St. Domenico, Florence, where we live -with them half the year round. Beautiful old walnut furniture counts -much more in its own homeland, while the alien oak of England, which we -love here, is cold and expressionless in the rooms of an Italian villa -on the sunny slopes of Fiesole. It loses its aura in a strange land. - -Old furniture with a time-worn glossy face on it is interesting because -it is made by the hands of man; and the man used his brain in making it, -as well as his hands; surely man's delight is in man's work. A piece of -old furniture reflects the mind of its maker in every detail of its -construction, and that is a very fascinating feature to me; for we are -told on high authority that "hand-work possesses character, almost -personality," and we believe the high authority with all our heart. - -Modern furniture has no personality, and so it transmits no message; it -is machine-made, and I hold no kinship with machinery to cherish warm -feeling in its favour; but handcraft ever commands our respect, and when -well done wins our widest admiration. - -Machine-made work carries a lie on the face of it; it imitates handwork. -The machine simulates a trouble that has not been taken. It produces -beautifully designed and ornamented imitations of ancient handcraft at -trifling cost. Who cares for beauty produced by formula? Beauty is the -flowering of noble labour linked to useful purpose. Cheapness and -showiness are the flaring advertisements of the mechanical cabinet-maker -to-day, and he hits with precision the public taste. - -Give me to admire something a man has laboured lovingly and honestly to -produce, not what a machine vomits out standard pattern; something a man -has put the power of his brain into as well as the dexterity of his -hand. William Morris quaintly remarks: "If you have anything to say, -you may as well put it into a chair or a table." The cabinet-maker -speaks to us with his tools in a language of his own invention. The -cabinet-maker has helped to make English homes comfortable to live in, -and for so doing we owe him a debt of gratitude. His tools are not the -sword and the cannon, but the plane, the chisel, and the swift-moving -saw. His art is not destructive to life, piling on misery to man's many -woes, but he enriches life manifold by adding comfort and luxury to the -widening circle of human happiness. His rewards are not stars and -garters and hereditary honours conferred by princes for brave deeds done -on the field of battle, but just the recompense that the master of the -tools' true play appreciates; the simple pleasure of good work well and -truly done sent forth to take honourable place in the stately homes of -England, knowing that by such fine hand-craft he will speak from his -grave to people unborn; and he even cherishes the inspiring hope that -those who are possessors of his treasured work done in oak and walnut -and sweet satinwood will, in the hereafterward, in the quietude of their -sequestered homes, surrounded by familiar furniture of high lineage, -bestow on the workman a passing measure of praise; for these worthy -craftsmen put the best of their lives into the labour of their hands. - -Old furniture is delightful in your home because it is old. Age has an -alchemy of its own that ennobles the work of man. A brand-new house is -deadly unromantic, even if it is a dream of architectural excellence. -Its appearance is garish and crude. New stones and raw bricks are ugly -in the days of their youth, but age transforms the place, be it -manor-house or thatched cottage, until enchantment haunts the fabric. I -dearly love the grace of antiquity that mellows the venerable homesteads -of England and blends the intermingling lustre of tradition with the -roll of their lengthening years. - -Age likewise has a mellowing influence on furniture. Obliteration of -exactitude of form is essential charm in it as it is in a man or woman. -You resent the loudness of a newly made rich man. His manners smell -strongly of varnish just put on; his vanity and self-importance are -unsavoury morsels to swallow without salt. He is a terror to his polite -neighbours and a stranger to himself. Wait and see; he will tone down -as the mills of life grind off the sharp angles and smooth him into a -decent fellow. - -Good taste resents primness and self-assertiveness in new furniture; its -raw outlines and sharp angles offend the eye. When these stubborn -features are subdued by centuries of wear and tear and the wondrous -old-time bloom of rich deep colour glorifies the ripened oak with -softness and transparency of tone, that quality so delightful to sight -and touch which distinguishes genuine antique furniture, then -sentimental feeling waxes strong and renders the work attractive to us. - -Vague and visionary thoughts of past owners flit across the mind, and -kindle emotions in the presence of an ancient piece of furniture of good -repute. It idealizes in our minds, and becomes beautiful to us. It is -a call of the past. It is an unwritten chapter in some old family -history, and we want to handle the key of the legend locked up in it. -There may be tragedy or comedy, or a mixture of both, recorded in the -family log-book, and the stately old carved-oak court cupboard dozing in -the banqueting-hall, generation after generation, saw it all through -from beginning to end, but it whispers away no family secrets to -inquisitive people. An evil day broke the family fortunes. The -venerable court cupboard vacated its place of honour which it occupied -for centuries in the Yorkshire manor-house, and has taken up quarters -with us in our Sussex home. It is no longer mere chattel; there is -human interest in it. - -I wonder if it takes kindly to its new home? Land, they say, sometimes -resents change of owners, especially passing from a family who had held -lordship of the soil for generations. When the old squire dies, the last -of his line, the land grieves. It seems to know that it is going to be -sold and broken up, and it loses heart. It goes rotten like apples. A -patch goes wrong here and a patch goes wrong there, and the rottenness -spreads and runs together. It takes the land long to get used to a new -master. - -Has our old oak court cupboard sensitive feelings like the ancestral -acres? Or is it silently and sullenly indifferent to all the changes of -fortune that befall it? - -I have an oak armchair with a unique story to tell. The back of it is -one large panel carved with heavy flora and foliated decoration; on the -cross-rail below the panel is carved in bold raised letters: - - 16 ELLIN RYLAND 94 - -The two arms are bountifully carved, and the carving terminates in a -large Tudor rose forming a knob at the end of each arm. The arm-tops, -through constant use, are smooth and shine like unto burnished bronze. -The supports and front legs are twisted in good Jacobean manner, and the -broad stretcher is carved with two long feathery, flowing -acanthus-leaves curling round gracefully at the tips as if under -pressure of a strong breeze, and crouching within their embrace nestles -a rose in ambush. The chair has been mothered with lifelong care, and -the bloom and beauty of age sit upon it like a crown of glory. So Ellin -Ryland has won for her name immortality among the roses. - -We often think of Ellin and question the chair about her, but -information does not flow freely from that quarter. Did Ellin order the -chair from the cabinet-maker herself? I think not; perhaps her lover -gave it her on her birthday, or her husband on their wedding-day. No -doubt the chair's existence celebrates a red-letter day in the annals of -the family. The name now is only a legend to us, but there it is, -legible after the flight of two hundred and twenty years. The old chair -is a better monument to Ellin Ryland's memory than a stone slab in a -damp churchyard, with her name graven on it in crumbling letters. - -I dare say Ellin had a thin slice of vanity in her nature; we all have, -and would like our names printed somewhere imperishably. During two -hundred and twenty years the moss and lichen, the sun and the frost, -conspire together to obliterate any lettering in churchyard stones, but -the writing in tablet-oak on the armchair is as brave as ever. The name -is only a legend, but it keeps her memory green. - -I do not turn my house into a museum of antiques, but certainly I choose -interesting old furniture to live with where choice is possible; it has -a cheery influence on your temper. I love to walk amongst my treasures -and touch them with my hand and admire their cloistered beauty. I -started housekeeping in Victorian days, after the orthodox manner of -Englishmen about to marry, by buying new furniture. To get the genuine -article I bought it in framework and had it upholstered and finished at -home, under my eye. As years rolled on, piece by piece the Victorian -furniture vanished from our rooms and old pieces supplanted them, and -the rooms grew pleasant to look upon and cosy to sit in. Your furniture -has a subtle influence on your disposition. You live with it daily all -the year round as you do with your wife, and you married her because she -was the girl you loved best in the world, and since the wedding-day her -influence has coloured your life more than you can measure and -contributed mysteriously to make you the manner of man you are. Your -furniture adds much to your pleasure and quiet enjoyment of home life if -you have the right sort. Old furniture with quietness of line is the -best to live with--it is suggestive of repose. - -I love old furniture because its workmanship is artistic. Style in a -chair or table is the all-important thing. A piece of furniture, -however simple in design, if it is wrought artistically, stimulates the -imagination, arouses the emotions, and provokes endless delight in the -connoisseur. We are keen observers to-day, and curious over work done -centuries ago. We handle a well-bred piece of furniture with respect as -we trace the skill shown in beauty of line; the eye travels joyously -over its well-balanced proportions and hovers with admirance over its -downright dexterity of carving. No literal copy of antique furniture -made in the forcing factories of to-day has feeling in it. It is very -accurate in line and detail but it lacks expression, and that is where -the artistic spirit enters, that is where the charm holds us. As old -Higgery the carpenter explained himself out of it when Lord Louis Lewis -complimented him on being the finest carpenter of his age: "Ah, sir," he -replied, "Chippendale was the finest cabinet-maker of his age and -Sheraton of his; but they went beyond that. They had the Idea. I can -use my tools as well as either of them--better, maybe, for 'tis a subtle -thing to give a semblance of age to a new piece, but I haven't got the -Idea, and never had. If the imagination had gone with the craft, King -George might have seen his period of furniture as well as any of the -others." - -Chippendale and Sheraton were without doubt the cleverest cabinet-makers -of their age; but many an unnamed workman of their period has left us -the splendid legacy of his "ideas" in furniture which is scattered over -the comfortable homes of England, with no pedigree attached except the -imprimatur of a master craftsman's genius. - -Speaking of artistic furniture, I do not mean elaborate furniture -overladen with a heavy ornament which confuses its lines and perverts -its beauty into vulgarity. Simplicity is the fairest form of art. -Simplicity consists not so much in plainness of production as in -singleness of purpose. The essence of simplicity is the absence of -self-consciousness. A combination of simplicity of character and great -artistic power is difficult to find, but when found it is the most -perfect combination and produces finest work. Art is often -self-conscious, and quickly runs to seed in superfluous ornamentation. -The Louis Quinze style is unwholesome as poison. It is brilliantly -clever, but it is fascinatingly demoralizing. It reflects in art the -luxury and insincerity, the licentiousness and effeminacy of the age -that invented it. - -Gaudy and overornamented furniture is teasingly self-conscious, and -conceited stuff to live with. Its lines are vulgar and sensuous curves. -It is always staring at you, grinning at you, ogling you, and saying, -"Observe me, and admire." Just the very character of the frivolous -women, the Pompadour and the Du Barri, who ruled the voluptuous Court of -Louis XV., and who squandered the royal revenues in extravagance of art -and craft, so that the artist's taste was wasted in riotous designing -and the craftsman's skill debased in excesses of ornament. - -Sumptuous furniture and splendid apparel are closely wedded together, -and cannot be separated with success. If I lived among Louis Quinze -furniture I should often see in the room with me ghosts of gallant -courtiers, dressed in long silk coats, embellished with gold braid, and -vests of rainbow hue, with cravats and ruffs of billowy lace, carrying -at their hips a long rapier, and toying with a bejewelled snuff-box as -they moved noiselessly with an elegant devil-may-care swagger, mixing -with superbly decorated marqueterie cabinets and tables and bronze -statuettes and Sevres china _bleu du roi_; and shadowy ladies of high -degree would be there, wearing capacious and flowery dresses and -powdered hair, sitting in the chequered light of evening on seats richly -upholstered in pale rose Gobelin tapestry, smiling dreamily on the -exquisites of the old regime--all of them fatally gifted mortals with -manners polished as the hard, shining surface of the parquet floor they -gaily tread: the whole scene a vision glorious, composing an harmonious -blend of colour, grace, and beauty. Modern men lounging in tweed -Norfolk jackets, or dressed sombre in black swallow-tail coats, with a -cigarette lolling on their lips, and ladies tailored into close-fitting -costumes of neutral tints, however beautiful in themselves, would be -completely out of the picture. - -A peculiar reason why old furniture is coveted by many people is because -it is fashionable and scarce. The quantity that remains in the country, -drawn from the homes of our easy-going port-wine-drinking Georgian -forefathers, is decreasing, and buyers are increasing, so competition -runs riot for really good pieces. - -There is plenty of worthless old furniture for sale, as there are -worthless "Old Masters" asking for buyers. Americans are the greedy -collectors who raid the market with their unlimited dollars and pay -sensational prices for the prize pieces to adorn their town houses in -New York or Chicago. - -Collecting is a fascinating hobby. I have found pleasure hunting for -antiques far away from the heated atmosphere of Christie's -auction-rooms. The joy of the chase is great, and the habit grows upon -you. I have made many enjoyable excursions into the country with a -clear-cut object in view which gives zest to the journey. Rummaging -through second-hand shops in the back streets of provincial towns or in -out-of-the-way villages searching for spoil is an alluring pastime to -indulge in, and if you love the country through which you travel for the -country's sake you will be very happy on the trail, and want to go again -whether much or little plunder falls to your quest. Old cathedral towns -yield the best results. There are many sleepy second-hand shops -loitering round the cathedral waiting for customers to step in after -visiting the sacred fane. There is much lumber and little treasure in -most of them; but if you don't find what you want, in looking for it you -may find something that pleases you better, like the man who was digging -a hole in his garden to bury a dead dog and unburied a Greek statue of -Venus. - -Calling at the smart antique dealers' spacious establishments in London -is an edition de luxe version of the same story. Here choice pieces are -assembled, polished and poised adroitly to arrest attention. Some of -these elegant salons resemble museums; the surroundings breathe order, -calm, refinement. Prices rule high as the aristocratic character of the -place you visit. - -Nothing is cheap in these sanctuaries of the old nobility of furniture -and art treasure except courtesy and affability, which are supplied -gratis by the faultlessly accoutred gentleman of the department, who -checks you on entering and conducts you round. Any object you look at he -explains for your edification. He rivals the showman at Windsor Castle -or the Tower of London for knowing his part and throwing at you torrents -of information as he strides along. He revels in it, and his importance -and intelligence mesmerize you and keep most of your five senses -stirring. You admire him as an oracle of antique lore, and listen to -him with fear and trembling. His beaming smile encourages you to live, -and politely you ask another question. - -Here the business of selling is practised as a fine art. The attendant -is so well bred, well groomed, so condescending and obliging you feel -yourself a criminal if you escape him without making a purchase. You -say: "I should like to go back and see that satinwood chair again." -"Ah," he replies, "that is a most interesting piece; King Edward often -sat in that chair. It belonged to the Hon. Oliver Grimes, a great -friend of King Edward; it was the King's favourite seat when he visited -the Hon. Oliver at Redcote Manor. And here is the oak table you admired -so much as we passed along. We know the pedigree of it. It came from -Monkwood Hall, Derbyshire. It has been in possession of the family -since the year 1620. We bought it at the Hall last week, and so it has -never been in the trade. How beautifully the frieze is carved; what a -fine patina it has formed; it shines like a mirror; surely the butler -must have polished it every week when he waxed the oak floor. It has -never been damaged or repaired; it is genuine all over. It is a -precious and faultless piece of Jacobean oak, and the price is only...!" - -There are dangers and pitfalls besetting the buyer of old furniture. -Even in the garden of antiques a slimy serpent spoils the smiling -landscape. Fraud is not unknown side by side with honest dealing. Not -all furniture is old as it looks. That is where that predatory rascal -called the faker creeps in and preys upon humanity in general and the -innocent amateur in particular. - -There are sly manufactories of old furniture busy to-day in shoddy -workshops, building up immaculate high-grade chairs, tables, cabinets, -out of oddments of oak and mahogany collected from the scrap-heap of -broken and decayed furniture. New wood is added in parts where -necessary to complete the transformation, and when these modern antiques -are blended, stained to harmonize in colour, and a glowing patina rubbed -on by the artful dodgers, it takes a keen eye to detect the villainy of -the deed, as that arch-swindler Gaspero Bandini said to his -fellow-conspirator: "We must make it as antique as possible: we must -sell the old wine with the dust on the bottle." - -There is no fixed market value to old furniture as there is to -postage-stamps or War Loan stock. The dealer sets his own price on his -goods, and the cupidity of the public guides him how best to do it. He -is a keen observer of human nature, and plays up to its little -weaknesses for his own advantage, and he does it smilingly. - -It is wonderful how environment works on our feelings and baffles our -judgment. In the twinkling of an eye it changes the value we place on -things. Dress the same man in two different suits of clothes, and you -have all the difference in our cursory opinion between a lord and a -tinker. The same article exhibited in shop-windows East or West of -London changes its value appreciably, and we are blindly content to buy -in the dearest market if it is the most elegant, and fancy we get full -value for money. - -I know a man in Florence who wanted an old Tuscan table, and he padded -round the city looking for one. In a small shop where much furniture -was crowded into little space he saw the article that pleased him. The -dealer asked twenty-four pounds for it. He tried to beat down the -price, but the dealer would not humour him, so he left without buying. -Presently a large dealer in antiques entered the shop, fancied the -table, and paid twenty-four pounds for it straightway, and removed it to -his own premises, which are spacious and commanding. The man in quest -of a Tuscan table visited the spacious premises and saw the table in its -grander home, fell in love with it again, and bought it for forty -pounds. Afterward he told the dealer in the small shop that he had -found the table he wanted at Mr. So-and-so's, and, quite elated, he -described his purchase. "Yes, I know about it," replied the rejected -dealer. "You have paid forty pounds for the table I offered to sell you -for twenty-four." The buyer looked foolish, and said: "But it was so -much better displayed at Mr. So-and-so's shop that I did not recognize -it being the same table; it looked worth twenty pounds more in his place -than it did in yours." - -The auction-mart frequently governs the price of old furniture and gives -it an upward lift. The psychology of the auction-room is an interesting -study. The loaded atmosphere of the place has a compelling influence -that gets the better of one's judgment. In a shop a man scoffs at the -tall price of a piece of furniture and haggles doggedly with the dealer -to reduce it thirty shillings; in the auction-room if the same piece -were offered he would compete with the crowd to raise the price of it -incontinently. It is the consistent conduct of inconsistent human -nature. It is that bellicose little devil who hides himself at the -bottom of every human being, impelling him down into the danger zone to -fight, who is guilty of the rash and feckless deed. A man enters the -auction-room in a happy, breezy frame of mind, not to buy, just to look -on and see what things are fetching. The serpent of the place tempts -him, and he is a lost soul. His good resolutions evaporate like water -on a hot plate, leaving no trace behind. The fighting impulse in him -leaps up, and he bids and bids again, and eventually he finds himself -the possessor of a rare old mahogany bureau hatched in the reign of our -King George, but inadvertently described in the catalogue as a -masterpiece of the cabinet-maker's craft composed in the times of Queen -Anne! - - - - - *IX* - - *THE LURE OF PERSONALITY* - - -Personal influence is a subtle impalpable sovereign power that man -possesses; sometimes it possesses the man, for influence often is an -unconscious element in his life which exhales from him like the -fragrance from a flower or miasma from a swamp. You cannot investigate -it. It is moral force. Some men possess much of it, others less, the -residue of mankind none. That is the mystery of influence. You cannot -regulate it, calculate it, or tabulate it in standard quantities. Its -operation is noiseless as a shadow, dangerous as lightning, profound as -eternity, beautiful as the five wise virgins, or devilish as -Mephistopheles. - -We speak here of personal influence. There is an influence of a baser -sort which is powerful in its way--the influence of money. Money is -extraneous matter. Wealth magnifies a man in people's eyes, but the man -himself may be small without the money inflation. Strip the rich man of -his shekels, and you strip him of his significance. He counts no more -than an empty egg-shell after the rats have eaten the meat out of it. -Frequently the extraordinary man is only an ordinary man placed in -extraordinary circumstances. - -There is also the influence of position. That is not the genuine -article. It is alien honour conferred like the odour of attar of roses -clinging to an empty earthen jar. Position gives power. Some people who -sit in the chair of authority use their power to the full, but it is the -power of position, not of character or individuality. The only -advantage of power is to be able to do more good than other people. All -the world knows the difference, the ghastly difference, between Cardinal -Wolsey in favour and Cardinal Wolsey in disgrace. Catastrophe lies -between these extremes of fortune. The man remains the same in both -states, but the world moves with the times, and gives no credit to an -overrun banking account. He is a fallen star. He drops out of the -seventh heaven of popularity into abysmal darkness. Banished the Royal -presence, who cares for Cardinal Wolsey? He has no favours to transmit. -No man is his friend, for he can befriend no man. Position makes and -unmakes a man, like sunshine makes or unmakes a summer day. - -Influence of truest and finest brand is personal. It emanates from the -man, not from his circumstances. Some men handle their fellow-creatures -with dexterity and ease, like an experienced whip controls the horse he -sits behind. Quietness and firmness are in the human touch, and the -animal bends submissively to every movement of the reins; so some men -command their fellow-creatures, and they submit their wills to the -master mind that rides them, and how the spell governs they cannot say. -Other men are ciphers in society. "Only Mr. So-and-so" consigns a man -to the outposts of social extinction, and mixes him up with the -unclassified masses of limp, negligible, and insignificant people who -welter and gambol with their kennel companions, but they cannot head the -pack on hunting days. - -Influential men are not common in the community. Only the elect few -shine; many are reflectors of borrowed light. Influence is a gift. It -is caught, not taught. It is all decided for us when nestlings in the -cradle, and perhaps before we nestle. The schoolboy unconsciously -wields a mystic power in the playground, and his chums hover round him -as king of the revels. Animal magnetism exudes from every pore of his -youthful skin. He leads in every escapade, and others fall in without -question. He is not taught the trick; it comes natural for him to lead -as for the rank and file to follow. - -On what principle Nature bestows her favours it is difficult to hazard, -more difficult than to discover what principle guides the British -Government in distributing her coveted decorations to the British -public. Nature is romantic. Exercising her sovereignty she gives her -honours as she pleases. No money can buy them. Blue-blooded pedigrees -have no preferential tariff. Nature mocks our conventionality, spurns -our orders of merit, and winks at our social somebodies. Often she -openly prefers a costermonger to a King--stamps aristocratic grace on a -gipsy, and refuses it to a Duchess. There are insignificant great men -who would be hustled in a crowd if they wore no badge, while to social -nobodies Nature attaches a halo of distinction which the crowd delights -to honour as subjects offer incense to a King. - -Personality is an attribute that carries a man far on the road to -success. Personality is an endowment which proclaims a man one of -Nature's aristocrats. It is Nature's advertisement of her best, and she -is proud of her handiwork. Personality is a fascinating asset; it lends -dignity to common clay; it gives a man a standing outside the crowd, -which he occupies with ineffable content and full advantage to himself. -Some people have "an air" about them, and the atmosphere they move in is -intoxicating to those dwelling under the spell of their presence. You -cannot crush people who have personality. Over and over again it turns -the scales in their favour in the competitions of life. Their virtues -may not be of the celestial, their talent may lack glitter, but their -personality grips you with its pomp and splendour, and they sit amongst -the mighty, imposing themselves on gods and men. The envious man admits -their success, and slurringly says: "They are commonplace: there is -nothing astonishing in them except their success." He consoles himself -with the banal reflection that, other things being equal, he is quite as -good as they. But the strange mystery of presence steps in and prevents -other things ever being equal. - -Some men lack engaging personality, they have no physical charm or -force, yet they exert strenuous influence. They possess great mental or -moral qualities. There is a Divine spark in the clay that scintillates -and collects attention. They are luminous bodies, and emit light. They -are men with virtue in them, and virtue flows out of them. The -extremely fascinating character of Jesus Christ moves in splendour adown -the ages, giving out vital energy. It draws men to-day irresistibly, as -it constrained men nearly two thousand years ago to follow Him homeless -and penniless through the highways and by-ways of Palestine, without -worldly honour or pay to recompense them. There is a strange, silent, -penetrating, perplexing, yet mighty influence working round about us; it -is the influence of the life of Christ holding us up. I do not mean His -life as crudely reflected to us in the modern Church. Jesus Christ has -a larger influence outside the Church than in it. Christ would be a -stranger in the sanctuary to-day if He visited it as the peasant of -Galilee. - -Jesus Christ never commissioned His disciples to build up in the world -such a colossal organization as the Church has swollen itself into with -windy pride. In every country in Europe the Church is the biggest -business concern and the wealthiest institution, the most aristocratic -society and the most retrogressive force. The national Churches are -slavishly worldly and chastely genteel concerns; they would boycott the -kingdom of Christ if they thought it were trying to enter the world -through their gilded gates. - -The kingdom of Christ is democratic. It might interfere with tithes and -endowments and vested interests. I fancy Christ will establish His -kingdom without calling in the Church to help Him. I could not picture -Christ making use of a Bishop in knee-breeches, lawn sleeves, and with a -seat in the House of Lords, when engaging disciples to evangelize the -world. But I can picture Christ falling speechless when brought face to -face with a Bishop geared in full canonical uniform; and if in His -ignorance of ecclesiastical functionaries Jesus politely inquired, "Who -is the aristocratic old gentleman wearing knee-breeches and a -broad-brimmed hat, and to what institution does he belong?" on being -told he was speaking to one of the leading representatives of His own -spiritual institution, I can picture Christ melting away in anguish of -heart from the venerable presence of the great divine to solace Himself -in the company of fishermen and mechanics--men whose hearts are warm and -manners natural, even if their creed is a bit unorthodox from the -ecclesiastical standpoint. - -And there is the good St. Francesco, the stainless and blameless saint, -born of the little Tuscan hill city, the perpetual flowering rose of -Assisi, whose godly fragrance gives off for ever to sweeten the life of -mankind--St. Francis of Assisi, the humble child of God, the dear -brother of men, dead these five hundred years gone by; but he is now -lying warm upon the lap of Christendom, nursed for one of the noblest, -gentlest spirits, aglow with the fervour of an endless life. He is a -living, controlling force to-day in the world's long battle for -righteousness, and ever pouring into our ears the sweetness of Christ. - -Men are governed more wisely by the dead than by the living. Interned -within the calmness of their shades, the mighty dead speak to us, and no -cross-currents of envy, prejudice, or malice ruffle the serenity of -their counsel. Influence is not always beneficent; it is malignant -sometimes, and contaminates like the plague. Evil qualities can be as -attractive as wholesome virtues. The poets brand the Devil with a -commanding personality. John Wilkes, the notorious demagogue in the -reign of George III., was the ugliest man in England, yet he impressed -himself marvellously on his generation. He was a popular hero; he -possessed natural gaiety of disposition and an irrepressible fund of -impudence and wit. He was the most brilliant controversialist of his -day. He was a charming rake with an insinuating smile, and he wore the -manners of a fine English gentleman, which captivated his enemies and -conciliated the King. He had exceptional powers of fascination, and he -boasted that--ugly as he was--with the start of a quarter of an hour he -could get the better of any man, however good-looking, in the graces of -any lady. - - - - - *X* - - *THE LURE OF NICE PEOPLE* - - -Our friend Mrs. Alinson took me sharply in hand one day, and tendered me -good advice gratuitously over the tea-table. Mrs. Alinson is a lady -magnificent in bulk, energetic in action, torrential in tongue, and -warm-hearted in disposition, second to none amongst the daughters of -men. - -When as a young man I first came to town she adopted me, mothered me -socially, and manoeuvred for my success. She did not approve of my -associates, and rated me soundly in her loud, pushful, stridulant voice, -which commands attention: "Mr. Drake is not a desirable acquaintance for -you to pursue, my dear. He don't belong to our set, and his reputation -is tainted; unpleasant rumours cloud round his name. Take my advice and -cut him. You only want to know nice people." - -Shrewd, disinterested, motherly advice for Mrs. Alinson to bestow on a -tenderfoot unfamiliar with the pitfalls of society. Surely only a lady -of sweet discerning disposition could give it; a lady whom everybody -loves and whom nobody gainsays; a lady the final arbiter of taste in -"nice people" who opens the door to a new-comer and no man shuts, who -shuts the door on a new-comer and no man opens. I accepted her dictum -as good current coin of the elect world we moved in, to be honoured -without reserve. Its metal rang genuine on the social counter. Mr. -Drake henceforth is a stranger to me; it would imperil my position in -society to know him. - -After tea we parted, and I went to the cinema. I often go to a cinema -because it amuses me when I want amusement. It is light and inexpensive -diversion. Superior people sneer at the cinema, and call it low-grade -amusement: a common glanty-show that pleases common people. However, as -I have no shares in music-halls or wasting investments in theatre-land, -I am impartial in my pleasures, and can take a shilling seat in a -picture palace with clean conscience and merry heart. In the cinema we -met our dear friend Lady ----, who was enjoying the moving pictures. -She invited us to her reception on the following Saturday afternoon; at -the conclusion of the show, when parting from her, she said: "It's very -kind of you to promise for next Saturday. Please don't tell Mrs. -Alinson you are coming, or she will be sure to come too, and I don't -want her. The friends I am inviting don't care to meet her." - -This was a staggering blow struck at the serene goddess to whom we bent -the obedient knee. Was there another social kingdom where she had no -sovereignty, where her passing shadow, like a malign influence, was a -thing to be shunned? Was she a false goddess, or no goddess at all? -She pictured herself the controlling hand which steered the current of -gay life in our midst. Was she at the helm, or was it a mild illusion -that muddled her amiable brain? Here are people actually who will not -open their doors to receive her, nor permit her feet to tread their -dusty carpet--and she thought omnipotence was in her nod. - -These colliding facts perplexed us. They suggested the ridiculous, and -offer food for reflection on the comedy of human manners. Here, on the -one hand, is a portrait we draw of ourselves, and there opposite hangs -on the wall a portrait other people draw of us. Place these two sketches -side by side and consider, do they represent the same person? Is there -resemblance between them enough to establish identity in a British court -of law? How can there be? We do not see ourselves as others see us. -We each observe the interesting object that engages our attention from -different points of the compass. We see our good points of character and -make the best of them; our neighbours detect our little sins and make -the worst of them. So we clothe ourselves in sunlight and paint our -neighbours drab. Mrs. Alinson, fortunate woman, had no glimmering idea -what other people thought of her; it was not given her to see herself as -others see her. She lives stolidly; eats, drinks, dresses, talks, -surrounded by a shining halo of self-complacency through which her -mentality cannot penetrate. She is good-natured, thinks excellently of -herself, and believes other people's feelings towards her are equally -well disposed. You and I, happily, are unconscious of the quaint esteem -in which our neighbours hold us, and wisely there we ring the curtain -down. If the truth were told, half our acquaintances are our -enemies--behind our backs. - -Soon after the split in the Liberal party on the first Home Rule Bill, -which sundered so many political friendships, Frank Holl was painting -the portrait of John Bright. He mentioned to his sitter that he was -about to paint the portrait of Mr. Gladstone. "It must be a very -painful thing to you, Mr. Bright," he hazarded, "that after all these -years of comradeship you two should sever your connection?" "Indeed it -is," replied Bright with a sigh; "to think that after we have so long -worked together we should be forced apart in the evening of our lives! -And by what? A bogy that has risen up within him, beckoning him away -from duty and sense. Do you know, Mr. Holl, I seriously fear that my -dear old friend's mind is giving way." - -When the artist was at Hawarden painting Mr. Gladstone, the subject of -Mr. Bright's portrait cropped up. "Ah!" said Mr. Gladstone, "and how -did you find him?" "Fairly well; and he spoke very affectionately of -you, Mr. Gladstone." "Did he indeed?" replied the sitter sorrowfully. -"It was a cruel blow that parted us--and on so clear a question, too! -Tell me, Mr. Holl"--and here his lips quivered, for he was evidently -moved with strong emotion--"tell me, did you notice anything in the -manner of my old friend which would lead you to suppose that his reason -was becoming unhinged?" - -We cannot see another man's personality in full rounded vision. We get -peeps at him; broken lights and flickering shadows of his character -dance before us. We chase the shadow, and think we can capture the man -and rifle him of his every locked-up thought and uncover his soul's -nakedness. - -The popular writer analyzes, probes, dissects human character on paper, -and we marvel at his subtlety in reading so far into people. He plucks -the gay plumage off the poor bird he has trapped, and leaves the -stripped and quivering body an unpleasant spectacle for the public to -contemplate through the glass case of a six-shilling novel. The novelist -is a crude, fumbling workman at his trade. His hand is too clumsy for -his tools. He dissects his paper dolls as they pass before him in a -paper world, but the tangled, unbalanced, erratic human being pulsing -with mystic life, even his next-door neighbour, baffles him on the -doorstep. The novelist is a cunning artist, but an unskilful -philosopher. He works like Conan Doyle's great detective Sherlock -Holmes, who can unravel any mystery he himself concocts in the pages of -the _Strand Magazine_, but is no use to Scotland Yard in tracking a real -murderer or laying bare an elusive crime. - -If some famous men who in their day and generation lived in cheap houses -and mixed with common people, and died unparagraphed in daily papers, -could see themselves now, as we see them, promoted to illustrious -companionship with the mighty dead, their heads would spin with -amazement at themselves for having arrived in splendour; they would -stagger at the worship paid them by reverent posterity. - -During life they were great artists in mufti. They were regarded as -unimportant persons by their own contemporaries, and to-day they are -posted amongst the demi-gods of history. They knew themselves to be -good workmen who did a good day's work for a fair day's pay, and then, -like other honest day-labourers, at nightfall, with clean consciences, -they laid down their tools, and their life-story ended there. They -little knew that they had the bud of immortality swelling in their -veins, soon to break and flower into endless renown. - -Human nature is a conundrum to itself hard to crack, as it is to other -people, even its friends and neighbours who eat and drink with it at -table. We do not know that heaps of posthumous fame may presently cover -our strange next-door neighbour. To us he is only a negligible quantity -in the affairs of the day, with a little gift of the pen or some queer -scientific hobby that absorbs him. In this swift age of ours Time and -Space are being brought to heel in masterly control, but our neighbours -remain mysterious to us as Adam was to Eve until the affair of the apple -found the man out. Even Shakespeare to his contemporaries did not -appear a towering genius, but only one of themselves--a common literary -hack with an uncommon gift of turning a sentence and making it tell. It -was a trick they all tried to catch from him, but he just went one -better than they. - -Shakespeare's fellow-craftsmen were unconscious that they were -entertaining an archangel unawares. Nothing he said or did outside his -scribbling for the playhouse is on record. He had no trusty Boswell at -his elbow to note his pothouse wit and succulent wisdom, sparks from the -fire of his genius, flung off impromptu in merry moments at the Mermaid -Tavern over a flagon of malmsey. His pals thought him a jovial fellow -well met, and when he died no crumbs of biography were swept up by -loving hands to keep his memory green. - -But strangest of all, did Shakespeare think much of himself? He was -utterly careless of the fate of his own literary labours. He never -published one of his own plays. After his death the stage copies of his -plays were carefully collected together by two prudent men, Heming and -Condell, with an eye to business. Seven years later the first folio -edition of Shakespeare's plays appeared in print. The first edition is -full of glaring blunders, compiled as it was from the stage -versions--the manuscripts that the players used in the theatres. Those -well-thumbed dog-eared copies of the plays, very interesting documents -to own if one could be placed on the market to-day: worn and torn, -scored with erasures, interlined with emendations, stained with spilt -wine and small beer, greasy with handling of midnight study, and -crumpled after pouching in the players' pockets cheek by jowl with -incongruous trifles--could you expect literary finish to adorn these -fugitive children of the playhouse? Ever since that day learned -commentators have laboured assiduously correcting the text of the plays -and combing out the tangle, quarrelling fraternally amongst themselves -over the correct word for the place and the correct place for a word. -The quarrel of the commentators still flourishes, for the muddle of the -text has yet to be tidied up. - - - - - *XI* - - *THE LURE OF THE NEW DEMOCRACY* - - -Democracy is the rising star, mounting clear and bright over falling -kingdoms and toppling empires. Crowns are going cheap in the market -to-day, and the divine right of kings is a broken weapon flung in the -mud of the world's scorn and picked up as a toy for _Punch_ to provoke -laughter. The old nobility is losing its ancient charter to sit -exclusive in the high places of honour, and the common people--the new -caste--are coming into possession and power. The working-man must be -tailored to the grand part he plays in history. He will feel uneasy -perhaps wearing his first new dress suit--it will worry him like a -misfit. But clothes add splendour to our common lot. With the -salvation of the country dependent on his nod he must cast the stodgy -cloth cap that clowns his head on bank holidays and nod heroically to -the admirers who retinue his movements. - -Democracy is the unknown god it will be fashionable to worship when the -war is over. Now we are all wasting ink and paper and taxing our small -brains prophesying what the world will be like in the flowering-time of -peace, when everybody will become deliriously happy, wise, and good. We -shall move more cautiously then, like a cat stepping circumspectly over -broken glass on top of the garden wall. We will make no mistakes, as we -did in the feckless past, bringing us not only bleeding feet, but -wounded hearts. There must be no party politics in the land as there -used to be when politicians sold their country to buy their party into -power, and sold themselves to keep the power which they had bought. -Everyone will want to do good to his neighbour, and our neighbour will -want to do good to himself, and so social reform now and henceforth is -the compelling idea that holds the public fancy. - -But no two social reformers think alike or advance the same doctrines of -reform, although the same idea dominates the mind of all the -doctrinaires. An idea is an abstract, invisible, impalpable, thing that -enters into the mind of man naked and unadorned. Before exposing this -naked idea to public observation it must be clothed and attractively -dressed. Confusion comes in with the clothes. Fashions in clothes -differ so that the same idea differently dressed appears to be a -different object. However, it is not. Ideas do not differ: it is the -expression of them that differs. It is when you clothe your idea with -words and deck it in literary plumage that the mischief stalks in and -divergent opinions clash and confound us. - -We all believe in Utopia, but none of us hold the clue to the high road -that gallops straight into it. We take trial trips over new ground and -get sloughed up on false trails. Plato and Socrates, Francesco d'Assisi -and Philip Sydney, Ruskin and Tolstoi, have each been famous architects -of Utopia in the dim dreamland of the past, and each propounded his own -scheme as being the very healthiest and happiest earthly paradise ever -constructed for man to dwell in. They all have some aims and ends in -common, considering thoughtfully the welfare of the people bodily and -morally: but the distinctive personality of the architect slyly creeps -in, and on the rock of personal vanity they split into rival factions -and a general quarrel ensues, rending the best-laid schemes man ever -devised for the emancipation of the human race. And so the egg of -social reform gets addled before it is hatched, and alas! the glittering -city of ten thousand joys for mankind to dwell in recedes farther and -farther into the sweet dreamland of the future. - -One architect of Utopia proposes to upbuild the city of Human Happiness -by hand labour. Brick by brick it is to rise in colossal proportions -and flowering beauty. He starts with the individual as the foundation -and finishes with the individual as top-stone. He works by gradual and -peaceful process to attain his splendid purpose. His method of work is -unpopular because it is slow. - -Another architect proposes to work by machinery, and to force it to a -hasty finish. Organization and legislation are the instruments of -torture proposed for the rapid promotion of his purpose. Human -society--social and industrial--is stricken with fell disease, which can -be cured promptly by Acts of Parliament and Orders in Council. By this -drastic method the "organic welfare" of society is to be builded while -you wait. The State is to be organized, thought is to be organized, the -will is to be organized, and happiness is to be organized, and nothing -of consequence is to be left unorganized; while the mere individual is -to be wiped from the map as an unnecessary dot of disfigurement upon it. -Wealth is to be handled by a new and better process; wealth is to be -conscripted, which means one man is to make it and another man is to -take it. Labour is not to be dealt with as a marketable commodity. It -is an insult to the dignity of labour to measure a man's work and pay -him exactly what his day's toil is worth in the market. The working-man -is a member of the universal brotherhood, and needs elbow-room in the -community to spread himself. He must have the wages he hankers after, -and when too weary to work a pension granted from the State to make -comfortable his latter end. In fact in Utopia every man, woman, and -child claims sufficient income independent of work, and the State must -be Paymaster-General. - -Alas! universal happiness on these idealistic lines of compulsion and -greed is like an echo. It answers your call but does not come. Socialism -makes no progress in saving men; it has eyes to see man's misery, but no -hands to lift him out of it. - -The longer I live the more I am convinced that this great and vital -problem of social regeneration is to be engineered only by slow -gradations and with infinite patience and gentleness. Society is -composed of dense masses and millions of frail, erring human beings, and -to schedule a sudden inrush of perfect laws on the statute-book will not -breed an improved strain of perfect citizens who can live up to the pose -of perfection. You cannot legislate selfishness and weakness and -greediness and vice out of human nature quickly, as you wring dirty -water out of a wet sponge; neither can you pump purity and patience and -brotherly love into humanity by Act of Parliament, and out of such -shoddy material weave an ideal State in one round of the clock. Perfect -laws are scarce as perfect men. Laws will grow better as we grow -better--gradually. Laws and men act and react upon one another in -mystic collusion. The great incoming tide of righteousness which shall -fill all things will fill them. You cannot complete and furnish the top -floor of the Palace of Humanity before you have laid the foundation -solidly and deep on the rock of righteousness. - -Labour has not yet won its charter of rights because it has neglected to -perform its role of duties. Labour has to look the social problem -squarely in the face with both eyes open. At present it only opens one -eye--the eye which sees magnifically its rights. The other eye is shut -which should observe its duties. The eye of Labour that should see its -duties is sealed in darkness. The scales of Justice must balance truly -before mankind is happy ever more. - -Free labour is as necessary a commodity as free sunshine in a -well-balanced State. If a man does his work well and does not require -so much beer and tobacco and time for football as another man, he should -be free to dispose of his labour as he chooses, without being picketed -or bludgeoned by lewd fellows of the baser sort. Until there prevail an -all-round correct idea of work, legislation will be a dead letter. God -has not made one sun to shine on wages and another on capital, nor has -He made two varieties of justice. He is God over all of us, and His law -is impartial justice. - -Capital is not immaculate. It sits the great god incarnate on its high -gold throne, ruling men with sovereign power and using men as a means to -wealth. Its vestments are of purple and fine linen. Costly raiment to -wear, but unseemly smirched with the mud of gutter complots and stained -red with blood sweated from the poor. Capital wants washing thoroughly -from its iniquity and purging with hyssop before it is fragrant and can -discourse virtue to the working classes. - -Capital and Labour must forgive each the sins of the past, and as Brains -and Hands work together in mutual confidence and esteem. Brains and -Hands are not hard-set hereditary foes. They are blood relatives, -members of the same body-politic, and must hold together for their -common good. They are not even business opponents with clashing -interests spoiling to cut each other's throat and smash the opposition -concern with fiery glee of heart. They are copartners in the same -business concern, and must combine, each having their own department to -superintend. The interest of one is the interest of the other. If one -department breaks, the other falls with it deep in disaster. Yet these -two copartners of the same business firm are hating one another with a -hot historical hatred that defies the flight of ages. They are locked -together struggling for mastery, each hoping to throw the other and -become top-dog and dictate new terms of partnership which never would be -kept, for the articles of treaty would soon become merely "a scrap of -paper." It is not conquest: it is co-operation that will bring peace -and concord between Capital and Labour. - -The world is ripe for a new social programme. The war has altered the -map of Europe, and it will alter the map of men's minds. The war has -swept away old crusted conventions which cobwebbed the mind, and false -foundations of social science upon which men laboured vainly to build -Utopia. These things must be reassessed at new values. - -The working-man wanted to get in the sun and own his patch as a free and -independent citizen. There is no such thing in the world as -independence, complete and arrogant: either in art, science, revolting -daughters or commerce. Independence is a fool's word or an anarchist's -battle-cry. The nearest approach to it in the realm of reality is -interdependence. Substitute this word "interdependence" in the place of -the other insolent and erroneous one and you have a working proposition, -for you establish a sense of justice between man and man, and you have -gathered together raw material out of which to build a new heaven and a -new earth. - -A pre-war panacea for curing the ills of unrighteousness which blight -society was the amelioration of environment--a sonorous, windy, academic -platitude having more sound in it than sense. It was the pet scheme for -manufacturing good citizens out of bad ones; it began at the outward -condition of mankind and worked inward. It started with the barber, the -schoolmaster, and the politician. By pursuing this method they started -with folly and ended with failure. It is like telling a man to polish -his boots when his heart wants cleaning. The favourite speculation of -theorists was that perfect circumstances create perfect character. This -is attractive reading in cheap handbooks of political economy for the -working classes, but in this wicked world it fails to pan out when put -to a working test. It is more important a man should start by mending -himself, and his circumstances will quickly mend themselves. - -To expect by flattening down inequalities, removing temptations, and -giving everybody a living wage of L2 per week, England will flower into -a Garden of Eden where people are all good and happy and pay no taxes, -and where angels will come and converse with us in the cool of the day, -is to expect the impossible. To expect by adapting the lot to man -instead of adapting man to his lot you will create an earthly paradise -out of a world of wickedness is to expose your ignorance of human nature -and to admit your incapacity for adjusting its wrongs. - -They tell us that in the New Democracy patriotism will be scrapped. -Love of country is a parochial virtue; it will be swamped in the greater -love of humanity which will rise like a swelling flood and cover all. -In the new Garden of Eden we shall be a happy brotherhood, for the -dangerous serpent will be scotched. This doctrine is maudlin -sentimentalism with a tang of grotesque to flavour it. Humanity is an -immense crowd to fall in love with _en bloc_; each individual will -receive a very thin slice of your affection if all the world is to share -in it alike. Love will die of starvation fed on these lean rations. As -a _padre_ fresh from the Front persuasively raps out the truth, "the -would-be cosmopolitan who will not narrow himself to love of country is -rarely capable of any real self-devotion to the international ideal -which he worships. The lover of humanity is more often than not utterly -miserable travelling in a third-class railway-carriage." - -Patriotism must survive as a national virtue, however violently the -universal brotherhood flourishes, because the love of country is founded -on the love of home and family, and the love of home and family is -founded on the love of a man and a woman. You can never get over this -nature-logic while men and women remain human beings with natural -instincts which draw them to love one another and preserve the family -feeling. I would rather be the victim of every insular prejudice -possible than have no British prejudices to stir my British blood. - -Another hope of the ages that has failed us in the hour of need is the -Church. If all other saviours of society failed there remained the -Church as by law established to rely upon as the great regenerating -power in the land. Alas! the Church in our midst cannot cast out evil -spirits. It has lost the gift of healing through respectability. It -worships an ancient creed instead of the living Christ. Jesus of -Nazareth is the great International Democrat of history. He was a -tradesman's son and a working carpenter Himself. This fact shocks -respectability. How many more people would be Christians if Christ had -been born in a palace and not in a stable! This is the unsavoury feature -of religion, and the exclusive dignitaries of the Church hover round it -dubiously. They admit the historic fact with candour, but slither away -silently from its indelicate associations as far as decency permits. - -We have been told that bishops in gaiters and aprons harmonize daintily -with the quiet cathedral close, shadowed by immemorial elms and the -other minor glories of the Establishment; but bishops in gaiters do seem -badly placed in a carpenter's shop, where their Lord and Master served -His 'prentice years. The apron is an ancient figment of clothing -bishops now wear in common with the working carpenter at his bench. It -is a kind of retaining badge, signalling their humble origin and ancient -descent. - -Bishops, in general, are cultured and amiable men, more renowned for -their learning than their piety. They are appointed by the State, and -form the executive of the ecclesiastical machine to run the traditional -piety of the land. They sometimes quarrel amongst themselves as to who -is orthodox and who is not on the episcopal bench--quarrelling amongst -bishops is only a human diversion--but touching the righteousness which -is in the law they are all blameless men. There is something faulty in -the religion they inculcate, for it does not grip the people. It is -dreamy; it is not real. It is the vague pursuit of an unknown god -ranging through a maze of decorative ritual and symbol, and there remain -great arid spaces in our nature which it never fills up. - -It has been said that the visible Church stands in the way of spiritual -enlightenment of the people, just as stone idols of the heathen stand in -the way of apprehension of God. What the eye sees before it the mind -settles down upon, and roams no farther searching for a fuller vision of -spiritual truth. The savage sees his stone idol, and never thinks -beyond it religiously. It was his father's god, and it is god enough -for him. - -The good Churchman is equally content to know nothing beyond the -religious ceremonials which the Church ordains in the place of God, the -Spiritual Father of us all. These ceremonials, sanctified by long -observance, quenched the religious thirst of his forefathers, and they -quench his thirst and he is satisfied. The Church is tenacious of her -hold on men, not suffering the allegiance of the people to be shifted -back to God the Father. The Church is said to be the one and only -sacred aqueduct through which Divine grace can flow. The curse of the -community is the middleman. He takes a heavy toll of profit in every -business that feeds the people bodily or spiritually. - -The New Democracy must return to the teachings of Jesus of Nazareth to -lay a solid foundation on which to build social righteousness and -national greatness. The secret elements of social rectitude slumber in -the words of Christ, and the volcanic action of the war will blast them -into life and power. - -Jesus Christ was not a theologian or schoolman of the fossil type of -Gamaliel or Calvin, learned in booklore, but ignorant of men. He was -not a stump orator inflaming the radical passions of the masses, bating -them into red fury by pictorially describing the wickedness of the -classes. He proposed no easy road to riches as a trap to catch the -envious poor. He did not sit in his study formulating a scientific -creed to mystify people with a religion of words and phrases; He lived -in the open air a noble life that men could see and believe in. It is -the mind, not the soul, that asks a creed to help its faith; the heart -believes without the crutches of theological formula to support it. He -stood for goodness pure and simple, for rich men and poor men alike. -His teaching is exemplified in His life, and His life is a beautiful and -faithful commentary on His teaching. - -The careless world did not relish this straight talk on goodness--indoor -and outdoor goodness. It was too realistic, too personal in its touch; -but men are growing sensible now as the world grows older, and with -reawakened conscience ask for the truth instead of its theological -counterfeit, which does not heal the wounded spot. Out of the teachings -of Jesus of Nazareth grow eternal principles that build up the best -governments and the wisest laws, that train the finest citizens, and -regulate society on a basis of righteousness and mutual honour. The -seeds of all possible national prosperity and generous manhood lie -embedded in these teachings. Nations may rise, flourish, and decay, but -the nation with the blood of Christ in its veins is immortal and shall -endure for ever. May it be the British nation! - - - - - *XII* - - *JESUS CHRIST THE LURE OF THE AGES* - - -Jesus Christ is the lure of the ages. He is the most interesting figure -in history. History says little about Him, yet that little means much to -us. It whets the appetite for more knowledge. The little is distinctly -fascinating; what would be a full record of His sayings and doings, -suppose such a narrative displayed in faded manuscript were unearthed -from the musty archives of an old Eastern monastery and brought to -daylight in the twentieth century? The fragmentary record that we hold -is sufficiently vital to have kept His memory green for nearly two -thousand years. What a glorious find a continuation of the wonderful -story would be to those hungering for larger knowledge of their Lord's -earthly life! - -Jesus Christ is the unplaced figure in history. He occupies no niche in -the secular temple of Fame. No historian of the country in which He -lived paged His name amongst the worthies of the age or gave it mention -in a footnote of history. Outside the covers of the Sacred Book Jesus -Christ is an unknown quantity. During His lifetime the insignificance -of the movement He promoted in Galilee was unworthy of serious attention -from the authorities. His disciples were men of obscure origin, a mere -handful of ignorant peasants and fishermen, rated as misguided, harmless -fanatics following a crazy leader to oblivion, the foreordained end of a -madman's escapade. Others before Him had started forth on the splendid -expedition to set the world in order and were interrupted in the -performance of their formidable task. It was towering madness to -suppose permanent results could follow a single-handed fight against the -world; to think that He could disturb the well-founded authority of King -Herod or challenge Caesar seated in purple power on the seven hills of -Rome: as likely He might uproot the seven hills themselves which cradle -the imperial city on their nursing-lap. Yet to-day He ranks above all -competing heroes and overlords earth and heaven in the compelling -influence His solitary life imposes on the world's activities, and that -influence is only just beginning to be felt by us; eventually it will -succeed in refashioning the world after His own heart and conforming it -to the likeness of His own image. - -Jesus Christ is the lonely figure in history. He launched His mission on -the world without human patronage to give it a winning start. -Illustrious men of the age did not do Him reverence, nor contribute -their sympathy and support to stiffen His cause; they were frankly -hostile to Him. He had no family influence to help Him in the great -adventure; His ancestry was illustrious, but His relatives were poor and -uninfluential folk; His father was a village tradesman. He was not a -University man distinguished in letters to gain the ear of the cultured -classes. He had no well-to-do friends to back Him either socially or -financially. No man ever stood more remote from the world's -conventional smile than He did. He was a rank outsider. He battled -onward through resisting foes, upholding the shining truth as a -sun-bright banner for brave men to rally round and fight for the kingdom -of God and the empire of good souls on earth. He dwelt in spiritual -isolation, for a mighty purpose cut Him off from the current influences -of His time. The world's cold stare was the freezing recognition given -Him, and it chilled the finer sensibilities of His loving nature. - -There was nothing professional about Jesus Christ. He was not a -place-seeker. He held no office in Church or State. He was a plain -citizen, plainly dressed. His manner was simple and natural and without -side. His speech was of the people; He was one of the crowd. No -glittering halo aureoled His brow, promoting Him beyond His brethren. -As a prophet, appearances were dead against Him. Why should He rise -above his class-level and teach His betters and superiors high morality -and spiritual truth? He had no crumbs of learning Himself--how could He -feed others out of an empty basket? He had never studied in the schools -and won academic distinction! Surely He overstepped Himself. His -neighbours resented His common everyday look, easy manner, and arrogant -pretensions. These things did not mix well together. They denounced -His new, strange teachings as dangerous to the community; He was an -unchartered, restless demagogue, roaming the country, disturbing the -public weal. They scoffed at this common villager and His idle dream of -founding a kingdom of righteousness built on the dregs of humanity, and -derisively asked "When shall this kingdom come?" - -Now, John the Baptist, hermit of the wilderness, was a prophet after -their own heart. He played up to their ideal. He quickened their hot -imagination. He was aglow with colour. He was a human tornado. His -defiant attitude, eccentric apparel, and mystic fervour, were vividly -picturesque; they caught the eye and compelled attention. He was an -untamed child of the desert; he stood aloof from the common crowd. Even -high-toned Pharisees were glamoured by his romantic pose. They listened -raptly to his fiery message, and were fascinated by his insolent tongue -and audacious words shot bolt-straight at them. His hearers staggered -whilst he thundered burning condemnations on their smug sins and sordid -lives; they writhed in agony as he lifted them from their feet and -suspended them over the bottomless pit, choking in sulphurous fumes -ascending from the fires of the damned below. Such ghastly presentment -of the truth after the good old method of the prophets churned up the -muddy depths of their polluted hearts. It converted the masses quickly, -as a visitation of the plague could drop a panicky city to its knees, -and when the excitement slowed down be as quickly forgotten as a -nine-days' wonder out of fashion. The religious revival subsided like -the froth blown off by the welcome wind of a new excitement. The -emotions of a day spent down on the banks of the Jordan with John the -Baptist, the idol of the people, were exhilarating, and something to be -remembered for a lifetime by these hard-headed old Jews, and an -interesting story to tell their children's children in years to come. -The ministry of Jesus was not effervescent in character. He could have -stormed men's imaginations with flaming pomp and splendour; He could -have ridden a chariot of fire attended by thunder and lightning as -running footmen to announce His presence, but men's hearts would have -been unmelted by such fierce demonstrations of power. It might have -awoke astonishment and intoxicated them into religious frenzy, but -afterward it would have left behind a nasty chill on the heart. - -Jesus Christ had no official position in the Church as a teacher. He -had no mandate from the powers that be to carry on. He did not present -Himself as a high Church dignitary, high as an enthroned archbishop -robed in scarlet and gold; nor was He comfortably placed as a canon in a -snug cathedral stall; nor even a meek young curate casting longing eyes -on Church preferment. The Church of the day would have none of Him. -They flung Him from the synagogue. His ideas were unproven and -unpalatable to His countrymen; He must build a new romantic world for -Himself and His followers to live in outside the orthodox world of His -day, if they wanted liberty to breathe, and so He began at the bottom of -society and quietly built upwards. He was just a man walking amongst -suffering humanity, and was one of the sufferers Himself. He came like -dew descending on mown grass, noiseless, fragrant, healing; silently He -ministered amongst the people, winning home to human hearts by sympathy -and gentleness and love, and gradually the new kingdom of righteousness -grew up in the midst of the weary old world. He gained dominion over men -by their resistible beauty and power of Divine truth which He expounded, -and made attractive by parable and picture and by His own blameless walk -and conversation. His teachings were exemplified in His life, and His -life shines in undimmed beauty the exemplification of His teaching. He -became a living gospel to them which all men could read, and His Divine -personality was a centre of healing power which cured men's infirmities -of body and mind. He had no money to pay for services rendered to Him, -and He gave no hopes of worldly honour or possessions to His followers. -He was homeless and at the mercy of friends for the shelter of a roof -and the hospitality of His daily meals. He had intense sympathy with -men, but He was no deluded optimist. He placed measured value on every -man's pledge of fidelity to His cause, for He knew what was in man; with -clear insight He saw into their dishonesty, selfishness, misery, but He -knew they never had had a chance to do better, and He meant to give them -a good chance all round. He frankly told people their sins, yet with -all His straight speaking He won men and women to Himself. His manner -was gracious, and He was indulgent to the frailties of our human nature -with a sympathy that pardons all. The deep longings of His heart were -for their happiness and uplifting, and the difficulty He encountered in -leading them to follow the things that made for their peace was -heartbreaking to His sensitive nature. - -He had but few friends, and of the inner circle He gathered round Him -all were not loyal; for He was betrayed into the hands of His enemies by -one of the intimates of the band, and was forsaken by all in the hour of -His supreme trial. He returned good for evil, blessing for cursing, and -died in the act of praying for His enemies. No one could bring any -serious accusation against Him, and he was declared innocent by the -judge who condemned Him to death. Yet He was sacrificed as one whose -life did not count; He was thrown as a sop to slake the blood-thirst of -a howling Jewish mob. In the annals of the law-court His name is not -mentioned, and there is no record of His trial and crucifixion to be -found in history. - -Looked at from the standpoint of men of His time, His life was a -failure, and the delectable vision of a kingdom of righteousness on -earth, the coming of which He pictured in glowing, fluent colours, reads -like a dainty fairy-tale spun for children's amusement. Yet He himself -saw through the darkness into the white light of the future, and beheld -the crowning success of His mission. He saw the coming triumph of the -Conquering Cross, which should subdue all things unto itself, and in -place of the finest legend ever planted on human credulity by an artist -in words He saw outlined through the dissolving mists of time, solid and -well founded, the City Beautiful, with its shining streets, its many -mansions and translucent atmosphere, peopled with white-robed citizens -redeemed and ever blest; and the verdict of to-day is that the ministry -of Jesus Christ on earth was the turning point in the world's destiny. -No other personality has exerted such profound influence on the lives of -men as Jesus of Nazareth, the despised and rejected of His day. - -The ministry of Christ on earth lasted about three years in all. Until -He was thirty years of age He was content to rest in deep obscurity. -Nazareth, with its quiet remote valley, was world enough for Him to move -in, and when His hour was come He found Himself. He opened His mouth -and taught the people. He passed from village to village, a travelling -storm-centre, exposing respectable old sins, ripping up time-honoured -religious hypocrisies, vexing the Pharisees, and confounding the vain -traditions of the elders. He laid down new laws of life and conduct for -men's observance, and unfolded the love of God to man in its plenitude -of tenderness and pity; even to waifs and strays and outcasts of city -slums who had never received a kind, hopeful word from the lips of their -own religious teachers. In fact, it was God breaking in upon history, -opening a new permanent way into heaven for lost men to return home by, -and to cull the wayside flowers of joy and happiness whilst homeward -bound. - -Thus Jesus in three short years fearlessly and swiftly accomplished His -world-wide mission, and died triumphantly in full achievement of His -benign purpose. - -Not half the story of those few full, crowded hours of His glorious life -has been collected and cast into history. It is a brief narrative of a -brief career; so little of His life comes in view. Just a few detached -incidents and a few disjointed conversations jotted down from the -mellowed memory of three or four old men years after the events occurred -furnish us an incomplete memoir of His earthly ministry--that is all we -have. There was no adoring pen of a ready writer like Boswell to fix on -the spot His sayings and doings. We possess only stray fragments of the -life-story gathered up from memory and hearsay, and on these gathered -fragments we found all our spiritual faith and base our eternal hope of -blessedness. The structure seems to have been casually and hastily put -together, but its design is the work of the Supreme Architect, and the -house was well built and the foundation securely placed, for it has -sheltered many millions of people through many generations of time. The -roof is still rainproof, and the walls stand firm in their pillared -strength. _It is the living words of Christ that form the stronghold of -the ages_. His words are seed-thoughts dropped into the hearts of men -which bring forth fruit manifold. Again they drop into other hearts, -and springing up yield fruit abundantly unto life everlasting; and so -generation after generation men fall under His gracious spell, and turn -to His words for guidance, for inspiration, for joy. You never reach -the end of Christ's words. They are growing words. There is always -something new springing out of them unexpectedly: new thoughts, new -laws, new problems, new solutions, new enemies, new friends, new hopes, -new consolations. The words of Christ are spending and being spent, but -they are never exhausted. They pass into new meanings, into new -currency, but they never pass away. They are the hope of all the ages. - -The early Christians lived in a state of spiritual elation; they daily, -hourly, expected the Second Coming of Christ. It was the one article of -their religious creed. The end of the world was to be the next -important festival in the Church calendar, so they held in full near -view their heavenly home, which was already feathered for their -reception. At the sound of the Archangel's trumpet the heavens would -open, the dead rise from their graves, and they would be caught up in -the air to meet the Lord, and float off triumphantly into mansions of -eternal rest furnished for their home coming. They saw it all vividly -as a drama soon to be enacted, in which they each would play their -ordered parts. The present was a dream-life to them, a mirage quickly -to melt away. This hope of immortality was the first bright ray of light -the gospel of Jesus Christ shed upon mankind. Having minds heavily -charged with celestial visions, the common round of daily duties became -unreal to them. They had a short creed and no theology. They sat on the -brink of eternity, and the radiance streaming from its shining heights -bedazzled their minds with bewildering raptures. - -After long and patient waiting the heavens did not open, no clarion -voice trumpeted the dead from their graves or welcomed saints into -paradise; the sordid, sin-stained earth remained their polluted -dwelling-place. The illusion of the millennium faded away and -disappointment frosted their early hopes, yet bravely they held on and -died in the faith. The Saviour's promise did not fulfil on the -comfortable lines they planned, but it would make good another way -equally great. The Church learnt to take long views of the promises, -and turned its thoughts to things terrestrial. The affairs of the -present grew interesting to them; they commenced setting their earthly -house in order, and when the Church settled down into the slow, steady -stride characteristic of every long march it became clear that she was -destined to rank amongst the permanent institutions of the world. She -formed new rules of life for her children's guidance, and thus faith in -Christ gradually lost the fragrant aroma of otherworldliness which first -perfumed it, and in lapse of time the plan of salvation became more -thought of than salvation itself. A vast ecclesiastical system was -organized, having endless intricate ramifications, and God was appointed -head of one department of it; and to-day heavy accretions of theology -accumulate and fasten deadly tight on the old Church like barnacles -crusting the bottom of a long floated ship, hindering its speed to port. - -Verily the time has now come that the good ship of the Church be -careened, and the foul accretions of mediaeval theology stripped off and -the solid copper bottom of truth flash clean and bright in the sunlight, -and the truth as it is in Jesus recover its splendour and power as in -days of the early Church. His teachings shall yet win men to -righteousness, and the fruits of His lips bring peace and joy to those -who believe on His name. - -The words of Christ have a future before them in moulding the growing -goodness of the world and in solving the hard problems of social reform -which vex humanity. He is the wise Reconciliator who can adjust society -and bring into harmony the classes of men now gnashing their teeth at -one another on opposing fronts. Jesus Christ is the true Political -Economist, but He taught far in advance of His times--truth always -marches a bit ahead of us. At present in social science we are only -just touching the hem of His garment, and healing virtue flows from it; -presently we shall approach nearer to Him, and, feeling the full throb -of His loving heart, we shall understand Him better, and His life-blood -will pour into our veins and complete the healing of the nations. - - - - - *XIII* - - *THE LURE OF THE LIVING WORD* - - -The English State Church suffers from excess of theology and paucity of -gospel. Our narrow Church creeds, in which the gospel of Jesus Christ is -kept under cork by ecclesiastical cellar-men, must be broken that the -good wine of the kingdom may flow freely. The gospel of Jesus Christ in -the unwholesome captivity of rigid creeds is a feeble, mean, -contemptible gospel, quite unable to save mankind, which business it -undertook to achieve when coming into the world. If the teaching of -Jesus Christ is no larger or kindlier than these old crumbling creeds -show, it deserves to be scrapped, for there is no room in them for -Christ to have fair play. Christianity is not a formula, it is a -passion; it is not theology, it is truth. These dismal dogmas have not -enough spiritual nourishment in them to keep men's souls alive; men -starve on such unleavened food. - -What are these antiquated creeds of the Church which strangle religion? -They are ancient dismantled strongholds where the fighting forefathers -of the faith housed themselves tightly and fought their foes -tenaciously. The modern fathers of the Church still inhabit these -tottering towers of refuge, although their day of usefulness is spent. -Loyal Churchmen still breathe lovingly the chilly, stifling atmosphere -of these spiritual dungeons of traditional Christianity. - -We are living in a new age since August, 1914, and a new spirit -possesses the people. With this terrific war raging new standards of -values in religion, as in politics, have come into operation, shattering -old ideals evermore. To encourage and strengthen them in this era of -strain and conflict men need the larger, cleaner, diviner truth which -fell from the lips of the living Christ. We want these truths to win -through--the spoken words of Christ, with the free airs of heaven -blowing across them, bringing healthiness of life, sanity of faith, and -manifold charities, to all men who dwell on earth. The lure of the -Living Word alone can hold men firm in this age of upheaval, when the -old world has caved in and the plans of the new world are not yet -manifest. There is finer, simpler, fuller spiritual teaching in the -four gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, touching our present need -than in all books of theology ever written and all Sunday sermons weekly -preached. It is these half-forgotten things that matter on which new -emphasis must be thrown. - -Theology is the great imposture planted on mankind as a substitute for -the teachings of Jesus Christ. When one leaves the words of Christ and -strays amongst the words of men, it is like a traveller switching off -the main line whereon his destination lies and losing himself on a -side-track. It is disaster to side-track on the journey of life. Keep -to the words of Christ and you keep on the main line. The gospel as -revealed in the teachings of Jesus is entirely free from the sacerdotal -imperative which nowadays imposes priest and ritual in the path of -spiritual worship and blocks the fair-way to God. Priests and rituals -and creeds are non-essentials; they are only wrappings: they are not -religion, nor the best part of it. We must distinguish between living, -breathing Christianity and the man-made ecclesiastical garments which -clothe it fashionably, because the difference between them is vital and -far-reaching. True religion, however, is seldom found stripped of all -temporary wrappings, but its spiritual vigour survives in spite of -Church-made millinery which encumbers it and impedes its healthy growth. -Strip the religion of Jesus Christ of its grave-clothes and put the pure -gospel in her mouth, and never tidings could be told to weary, -heavy-laden men to-day which would be hailed as half so welcome. The -one thing needful to make this world an earthly paradise, delightful to -dwell in, is for men to live face to face with God, without a screen of -ritual or image or priestcraft obstructing the view of our Heavenly -Father; it is the light of God's countenance that cheers the heart of -man, and strengthens him to live a good life in all sincerity of -purpose. - -Ecclesiastics have built up the Church into a colossal business trust -which corners the Bread of Life and doles it to hungry mortals on terms -of its own making. The Church is a wealthy corporation with immense -property and privilege to safeguard and hold against all comers, and -these temporal possessions engage its keenest thought and ceaseless -activity. So it has important work to do other than saving the souls of -men. To maintain its temporal authority in the world it has tampered -with the teaching of Jesus Christ; by cunning craftiness of man the -gospel has been twisted into theology, and the way of salvation shrouded -behind a dense veil of ceremonial observances which the Church imposes -on people and declares necessary to the saving of their souls. Much -conflicting religious literature is issued annually by free-lances of -the Press to explain the downright simplicity of the truth as it is in -Jesus; and these conflicting opinions add other stumbling-blocks in the -way, for they baffle the brains of the gentle reader, beating up a thick -dust of doubt around him that his faith is smothered in a cloud of -perplexity which darkens the daylight of truth. - -The words of Jesus, when read and pondered over, prove religion to be a -very simple matter. Yet this simplicity is its standing peril. So -little human wisdom is needed to understand the words of Christ that we -are apt to fear they do not mean what they say in plainest language--the -language runs too easy for the majesty and importance and solemnity of -the theme. We think there is an occult mystery lurking behind the -honest homely phrases. Language so often bewilders simple-minded people -that we are hard of belief when told we can find the way to heaven -ourselves without the aid of a bishop's pastoral staff to point it out. -The difficulty is to convince the plain man that he understands the -words of Jesus when he reads them, and that he feels his spirit touch -the Spirit of the Saviour of his soul without a priest between to make -the contact. The Church as a commercial organization would fall quickly -into bankruptcy if the gospel in its naked plainness was believed in -whole-heartedly. - -Very superior people tell us that the teachings of Jesus are only the -beginning of God's revelation to man; they tell us that new revelations -are constantly flowing in upon us through the sacred channel of the -Church, and that the Church alone holds the key which deciphers these -confidential messages despatched from mysterious sources for our -edification. This is ecclesiastical bluff. The teachings of Jesus in -the gospels suffice the spiritual needs of men through all time--time -past, time present, and time to come. When God legislates once He -legislates for aye, for truth is unchanging and cannot be improved on as -the world grows older. No Divine after-thoughts will be added to the -written word nor supplementary revelation supplied to guide men through -the tangling maze of life. The Spirit of God is equal to all -emergencies arising between now and the sundown of time. New-fallen -light may illumine the written word in the forward quest of faith, for -every age makes its own theology and coins new language to express old -truths. The words of Christ are inexhaustible treasure locked in a deep -mine, and in that mine lies many a lode of truth untapped by the -diggers. The old gospel mine yields more and more treasure as the -searchers strike deeper and deeper into its secret heart. The last -nugget of truth has not yet been lifted from the treasure-house of God's -Word. - -Back to the words of Christ: this is the one hope of a truly good -life--national or individual. If we forsake Christ and turn to the -teachings of the Church for our spiritual well-being, we suffer for our -folly in so doing. The real meaning of anything is to be found at its -beginning not in its latest developments. As religious systems develop -and grow old they grow corrupt, and on the earthly journey pick up error -with truth, and the two mixed together look equally sacrosanct to the -uninitiated, simple soul, and even the very elect are ofttimes deceived. -Water is purest at the spring-head; the farther it flows from the -fountain, the more contaminated it becomes. Back to Jesus Christ and -His teachings in the gospels. His words are the very life and light of -men. - -Men often mistake the nature of religion through wrong teaching received -in early years or no teaching received at all, thus giving the -well-rooted weeds of error a long start to grow rampant in the human -soil. Some people think religion is an isolated activity, like -collecting old china, a hobby you can pursue, drop, and pick up again at -leisure. Other people imagine it is the conventional badge of good -society, giving tone to a life of fashionable respectability, like a -carnation slipped into your buttonhole which adds a finishing touch to -your evening dress. But they are not over careful, these conventional -people, to apply its tenets in the privacy of their homes; religion is -never enthroned as a domestic virtue. Lord Melbourne, the early -Victorian Prime Minister, was one day coming from church in the country -in a mighty fume. Finding a friend on the road, he unloaded: "It's too -bad. I have always been a supporter of the Church, and I have always -upheld the clergy. But it is really too bad to have to listen to a -sermon like that we had this morning. Why, the preacher actually -insisted upon applying religion to a man's private life!" - -Their interior life is neither better nor worse for hitching on religion -as a supplementary virtue. Such good people would never miss an -opportunity of attending a missionary meeting at Caxton Hall or neglect -an early morning service at the parish church, but the maid-of-all-work -in the kitchen is not benefited by the religious fervour which perfumes -her ladyship with the odour of sanctity. - -Religion is a state of mind giving purpose and direction to the whole -round of a man's activities. Religion is not like a red holly-berry in -a tumbler of clear water, a hard, insoluble object, pretty enough seen -through the crystal medium, but working no change in the water. -Religion resembles a drop of cochineal falling into the water; it -colours with rose hue the full contents of the tumbler; it tinges the -whole character and conduct of a man; it permeates his thoughts and -feelings and actions, changing the colour of his life for good and for -ever. Religion works a change--a radical change--that is the point. It -is not a question of drapery; it does not merely hang up a decoration -here and there to improve appearances, leaving the secret chambers of -the heart unclean. It makes a new man in Christ Jesus even out of the -coarsest raw material to be found on the human market. - -The Church as established in our midst to-day cannot work a social -regeneration in the land, for it gives forth so little of the teaching -of Christ to the people. The gold of truth it circulates is mixed with -the dross of error of its own minting. It may bear the image and -superscription of Christ on it and pass the world's counter as genuine -metal, but it is counterfeit coin of the kingdom. The Church does not -grip the people. It is a fashionable institution of conventional -high-grade orthodoxy, but it is a thing apart from the people. Its -clergy socially are a multitude of pleasant, amiable, guileless folk -spread over the tennis-lawns and garden-parties of England on a summer's -afternoon, mingling good-humouredly with their neighbours, but -ecclesiastically they belt themselves in a compact phalanx of -self-centred, intolerant men with a purpose in life, or by preference -they are self-constituted "priests." They hold the Church as a close -borough, consume its revenues, swear by its creed, and maintain its -privileges. They are strong partisans; the same interest guides them -which governs the business man in upholding his trade interests--the -sacred rights of property. To defend their inherited rights they will -fight doggedly, and surrender only in the last trench. - -Outside the charmed enclosure of the Church the clergy esteem their -Christian neighbours ecclesiastical inferiors, not to be consorted with -on equal footing, and they leave the Almighty to take charge of -outsiders here and hereafter. As a class long years of clerical -assumption has sapped the humanness out of their nature, and only a -priest is left in their skin. - -There are honourable exceptions to this general rule. Many individual -clergymen are thoroughly alive with the spirit of Christ. They are men -of broad sympathies and of intense devotion to their work, but it is -surprising how tightly the Church as an institution grips those who -minister at her altars; the Church is the idol of their hearts, the -centre of their adoration. If the centre of their adoration could be -transferred to Christ; if they could love Christ as devotedly as they -love the Church of England, the result of their ministrations amongst -the people would be gloriously successful; if instead of coddling the -one respectable sheep that never strayed away they rounded up the -ninety-and-nine lost ones and settled them in the home pastures the work -would make their hearts ring with joy. - -I have heard sermons by clergymen in which the Church and the Prayer -Book were exalted as the chief Divine oracles before which we all must -bow in blind submission as though Christ and the Bible existed not in -any corner of the preacher's mind; and the result of such degenerate -doctrine is that preachers add good Churchmen to their flock, but not -good Christians to the fold of Christ. A good Churchman thus becomes a -superior being to a common Christian, as though it were more important -to be a Churchman than a Christian. "Churchman" really is only the -trade name for a man who believes in the State Church. To be a -Churchman is good enough for some people. - -Compare the spirit of Jesus of Nazareth with the harsh, unsympathetic -system represented by the Anglican creed which caricatures the Saviour -in our midst. The cruel system which refuses to bury an unbaptized baby -with its dead mother, or would refuse to allow a man or a woman to have -a chance of happiness in marriage because, through no fault of their -own, they have already suffered great unhappiness; that would refuse -relatives permission to carve the word "Reverend" on the tombstone of a -Wesleyan minister buried in a village churchyard because the dead man -was not of the Church of England. - -The Kikuyu Conference is typical of our bishops' lack of Christ-like -charity and shortage of that kindly touch of nature that makes the whole -world kin. The question lying before the bishops in conference was "the -promotion of a brotherly spirit and the adoption of practical steps -toward unity" in the mission-field; or, should the Church of England -retain its old crusted conventions as an exclusive institution and cold -shoulder all outsiders. The bishops consulted in Lambeth Palace over -this aggravating question, and finally decided that their first duty was -to protect the Church of England in all its ancient sanctities, to -retain the proud boundary-walls isolating those within in strict -spiritual seclusion, and to warn trespassers off their private -ecclesiastical preserves. Their duty to the State Church was clear-cut -and formulated--viz., to maintain its high-cast principles and to avoid -the contagion of the sects. None of the beautiful roses of charity -growing in their garden-close must run over the wall for the wayfarer to -pluck. Their fraternal duty to native Christians won to Christ by -missionary zeal remains obscure. However, no loose form of brotherly -love or Christian fellowship can be permitted in the mission-field or -elsewhere. State Church principles must be upheld. As a sweetmeat and -as a goody-goody sample of what Jesus Christ meant by brotherly love, an -occasional hospitality to other Christian communities may be practised -without prejudice to Church principles; you may come and partake of Holy -Communion with us in our Church, but we cannot partake of Holy Communion -with you in yours. For you to come to us is a privilege, for us to go -to you would be _infra dig_. - -On these liberal lines the bishops expound the teachings of Jesus Christ -and uphold Church principles, and if Christ's principles clash with -Church principles, so much the worse for the principles of Jesus Christ. -The Church is the orthodox institution, and must hold itself inviolate -even against the heterodoxy of Jesus Christ. The Kikuyu Conference and -its deliberations may be summed up briefly as a study in Church -principles and how to maintain them. - -Such harsh decisions bring contempt upon the Church, and widen the gulf -which divides the rubric from the gospels and the clergyman from Christ. -Jesus of Nazareth differs essentially from the Church on earth which -to-day flies His banner and breaks His commandments. Christ declared -for character and conduct as essentials in life; the Church favours -creed and ceremony. Christ worked undogmatically, and the Church, -overweighted with dogma, fails hopelessly in its Christly work. - -Observe the generous, liberal, broad-minded traits which even in the -scanty records of the gospels mark Jesus Christ as the kindliest and -most humane of men. Where there was a choice, He stood on the side of -charity and common sense. He was no misanthrope; He was of social -temperament. He knew well the joy of life, and He did not hesitate to -participate in it. He drank wine Himself, and exerted miraculous power -that others might drink it. In argument upon Sabbatarianism He took the -more liberal view. He instantly and frankly forgave the woman taken in -adultery. His heart went out in gentleness to children, to the poor, -and to everybody who needed support and comfort. It is that golden -thread of kindliness running like flashes of sunlight through His -ministry which wins the love and adherence of disciples to His name. - -A few years ago an English ship foundered on the coast of Ushant. Many -of the crew were drowned and the bodies washed ashore. The villagers of -Ushant showed no little kindness to the shipwrecked strangers. The -interment of the drowned sailors was a memorable scene. The deceased -were all Protestants, the villagers were all Roman Catholics, yet the -villagers performed the ceremony with all the ritual shown to those of -their own faith. The cure officiating had qualms of conscience in -admitting the bodies to the church and reading the Catholic service over -them. An Englishman standing by remarked, "God has no creed." The cure -waved his hand as if to dismiss the objections which perturbed his mind, -and the service proceeded. - -This is a refreshing lesson in humanity furnished by the simple-minded, -good-natured fishermen of Ushant. The spirit of Jesus breathes in it -victoriously over the narrowness of creed and the hardness of heart -which separate men in much party bitterness. - - - - - *XIV* - - *THE LURE OF THE EUCHARIST* - - -A beautiful spectacular ceremonial the Church has wrapped around the -Sacrament of the Lord's Supper, smothering it under the pomp of a -religious service, which works upon the nerves like a subtle, mastering -spell. The senses of the worshipper become drugged with incense, dazed -by the glitter of broidered vestments, charmed with the strains of -alluring music, spellbound with the deep droning voice intoning at the -altar, and all the splendid equipments and sacred associations of the -sanctuary, which tighten you up until a wrapt ecstasy of feeling -intoxicates you in the midst of it all, and you are drenched in the -luxury of strong, dreamy religious emotion. - -For nineteen centuries the spectacle has been growing in significance, -and it is not finished growing yet. Every age adds a decorative touch -to embellish its colossal splendours. Finality in ecclesiastical -evolution lies a long way off in the distance. If one of the twelve -disciples who supped with our Blessed Lord on that historic night could -slip out of paradise and for a few minutes witness a modern high -celebration of the Holy Eucharist, he would marvel much at the imposing -function, and marvel more at men's credulity in mistaking an -ecclesiastical pageant for a simple act of devout obedience to Jesus -Christ. The plain and homely meal which our Lord instituted to be a -remembrance of Himself and His death on the Cross has flowered into an -ornate and flamboyant religious function striking wonderment and awe in -the hearts of mankind by the glitter of its barbaric and imposing -splendours. The Church has worked up the Lord's Supper into a -supernatural mystic rite run on old pagan lines; in fact, it amalgamates -Christianity with ancient magic, and so the spirit of Christ escapes -from the service, and only His traditional dead body reposes on the -altar like the cold ashes of an extinct fire. - -Recall the simple and unpretentious meal of which our Blessed Lord -partook with His disciples on the eve of His betrayal and death. There -in an upper room in the city of Jerusalem is the small assembly, -consisting of the Master and His twelve disciples, and during the meal -Jesus took a piece of bread, "and when He had given thanks, He brake it -and said: 'Take, eat: this is My body, which is broken for you; this do -in remembrance of Me.' After the same manner also He took the cup, when -He had supped, saying: 'This cup is the New Testament in My blood; this -do ye as often as ye drink in remembrance of Me; for as often as ye eat -this bread and drink this cup, ye do show the Lord's death till He -come.'"[*] - -[*] 1 Cor. xi. 24-26. - -On this plain foundation the amazing and pernicious rite of -Transubstantiation has been reared--a veritable temple of divination, -and cloistered within its shadowed recesses the priest casts his spell, -dispensing religious consolations to credulous and confiding mortals -tangled in the coils of the seductive creed. - -Transubstantiation is a pagan heresy grafted on to Christian stock. In -ancient times, when the pagan priest muttered an incantation over the -idol of his god, the spirit of the god was supposed to enter the idol, -and so when the Christian priest now utters a prayer over the bread and -wine it is affirmed they become the real flesh and the real blood of -Christ. - -A brief glance back on the early history of the Church shows us the door -through which this sacerdotal error slipped into the sacramental -service, and how the Church drifted from the words of Jesus Christ and -sought other and strange gods for counsel. For three centuries after the -Crucifixion the disciples held closely together in little groups or -churches in the towns where they abode. Many of them dwelt in Rome, down -in the dark subterranean city of the catacombs, with its maze of narrow -lanes, blind alleys, and cryptic sanctuaries, hidden under the gay, -cruel city of sunlit streets and open air. Here they lived, striving -faithfully and patiently to attain pure, blameless, holy lives before -God in a pagan world, whose sins they renounced and whose hatred they -courted by thrusting the new and unwelcome society of Christ into their -hostile midst. Christians were mistaken for criminals--but there, Christ -was crucified as one. Through all persecutions they held fast to the -teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. Nothing daunted them, nothing -disheartened them. The words of Christ refreshed them in all the -weariness of spirit. In teeth of deadly opposition they grew in number -until a questionable honour was conferred upon the Church which changed -its fortunes and marred its simplicity. The Roman Emperor Constantine -became a convert to the new religion, and now and henceforth the -religion of Jesus Christ is honourable in the sight of all men. It is -the fashionable craze of Rome. The Emperor's Court followed the -Emperor's example and joined up. The Roman world followed the royal lead -and professed conversion. This is the flowering-time of Christianity. -The Christian sect, yesterday the outcasts and scum of the earth, are -now received into polite society, dine in the best houses, and are -welcomed everywhere. The bishops of the Church are dug out of their deep -burrows in the stuffy underground where they practised the simple life; -they put off their poverty of pocket and meekness of spirit, and are -robed in gorgeous raiment and rank amongst the rulers of the earth. -They are transfigured men in mind and in manners. The Bishop of Rome -leaps into fame, wins for himself a palace and a throne in the city of -the Caesars, and a court of red-robed cardinals surge round him with -royal observances and diplomatic intrigue. Our bishops in England become -princes of the Church, have princely palaces, and princely revenues to -maintain the dignity of their princely estate. These gilded grandees of -the Church are considered to be spiritually the lineal descendants of -the Peasant of Galilee who at nightfall had not where to lay His head. -Flattery worked the Church's undoing, for in the hour of her worldly -triumph she gave away all that the early Christian martyrs had died to -win. - -The mass of people who obsequiously played up to Constantine and joined -the Church were not converted to the Christian faith; they did not -believe in Christ with all their heart. To many of them Christ was only -a new Deity added to the many gods they already worshipped. In heart -they remained pagan, but behaved prudently and changed their coat at the -Emperor's bidding. They did not forsake their old religion when they -accepted the new creed; they amalgamated the two. They carried their -pagan superstitions with them into the Christian Church, and, planted in -new soil, there they took root and flourished vigorously in the garden -of the Lord. The old gods became saints; the pagan shrines and images -and festivals were whitewashed and christianized and given a place in -the Church calendar; the magic by which their pagan priests trained the -spirit of the gods to enter the idol at call, the same priestly magic -transferred to the new religion brought the body of the Lord into the -bread and the wine at the service of the Lord's Supper. - -Such galloping progress did the heresy make amongst the mixed multitudes -who mingled their devotions with the elect in the Church that before -long the bread and wine were given to the dead. The Sacrament, it is -supposed, was placed on the breast of dead persons, as a charm against -evil spirits. This superstitious custom was rooted deeply in the -religion of the day, for the Church was compelled to legislate on the -subject. The custom was forbidden in Africa by the Council of Hippo, -A.D. 393; the Council of Carthage, A.D. 397; and in Gaul at the Council -of Auxerre, A.D. 578; yet it lingered tenaciously in the hearts of the -people as a sacred custom to be observed regardless of hostility to it -in high places. Again at the Council in Trullo, A.D. 691, it was -forbidden. An incident in the life of St. Benedict, who died about the -year 540, discloses much to us. A boy who had been disobedient died -suddenly, and his corpse could not rest, in the grave, so St. Benedict -ordered the body of the Lord (the Sacrament) to be placed on the breast -of the boy, and the corpse rested immediately, and remained quietly -buried. - -The miraculous legend of the Lord's Supper obtains in the Church to-day -with perfumed pomp and splendour of worship. The magic of the Real -Presence bites deep into the core of the Church's creed. As the ages -roll the legend develops new forms of expression. Its inferences are not -always expressed, nor is its significance posted on the surface, but it -is the deeply sunk tap-root of the green bay-tree of sacerdotalism which -flourishes in the Church of Christ and binds the people round and round -with disciplinary fetters of steel, captives to priestly power. - -The consecrated bread and wine still are worshipped as being the body of -the Lord. When the priest consecrates the bread and wine on the altar -for the Communion Service, sometimes a part of it is reverently kept -back and is called the reserved sacrament; this reserved sacrament is -conjured with. It is placed in a small box of ornate workmanship called -a shrine or tabernacle, and is deposited on an altar in the church, -which is called "God's resting-place," and is worshipped as the body of -our Lord. - -In preference, a secluded and quiet place in the church is chosen for -the altar of the reserved sacrament. "Admirable arrangements have been -made in some English churches. In one church there is a side-chapel -somewhat out of sight from the main entrance of the church. In another -there is a crypt chapel.... In another there is a chapel reached by -steps ascending from the church. By such arrangements, when the door of -the chapel is kept unlocked and the fact of reservation is known, there -is at once protection to the sacred presence of our Lord, and -accessibility to those who will use it well." To these lonely -side-altars in shadowy places of the sanctuary at any hour during the -day stray worshippers come and kneel before the tabernacle and worship -the body of Christ enclosed therein. "All that Christ can claim of -human love and adoration is due to Him in His sacramental presence," -says an Oxford advocate of the intruding heresy; "the worship which the -Christian soul pays to Him when the sacrament is consecrated is paid -also as it is reserved. It includes the utmost response of which the -soul is capable." - -In past times plain-speaking people called these worshippers of the -sacrament idolaters. That word may reveal the thoughts of many hearts -to-day. Dr. Darwell Stone, in his book "The Reserved Sacrament," -advocates an ample toleration widely extended in the Church of England -on behalf of these idolaters. Facing the accusation of idolatry cast by -his opponents, he throws out a challenge. Speaking of those who make -the charge of idolatry, "from their own point of view," he states, "they -are perfectly right. If the consecrated elements are only bread and -wine after consecration as before, whatever gifts or virtues may be -attached to the profitable reception of them, those who imagine that -they are worshipping our Lord are wholly wrong in seeking the object of -their adoration in His presence in the Sacrament. But if it be true -that by consecration the bread and wine become His Body and Blood, if -our Lord Himself, eternal God, very Man, glorified, spiritual, risen, -ascended, is present in the Sacrament, then in the adoration there is no -idolatry, but rather the worship which is the bounden duty of a -Christian." - -Back to the New Testament, back to the words of Christ, and in reading -them we find no evidence that Jesus at that farewell meal He partook -with His disciples founded an elaborate and miraculous ordinance; we -cannot read into the words of Christ any intention on His part to place -in the hands of Churchmen a spiritual weapon to be used offensively and -defensively in all their struggle and strategy for the Church's temporal -aggrandizement, as it has been used to subdue and flatten down the -people under their spiritual charge. The miracle of the Real Presence -is of man's device. It is an offspring born of priestcraft and pride. -Christ has no part or lot in it. The impression the gospels compel in -us is that Christ was fighting the sacerdotal error in religion -throughout His whole ministry, and for the Church to claim Him as its -founder is the greatest irony of Christianity. - -But time works changes. As the story of the crucifixion of Christ -receded with the lapse of lengthening years and became a distant -tradition in Church history, the desire possessed men's minds for -something tangible to nail their faith to; the desire was to bring -Christ back again somehow into touch with living men and women. The -blank of the long, silent ages grew intolerable. The chilling doubt of -Thomas haunted men afresh; the longing to see and touch the wounded -Christ gathered force. To gratify the religious devotion of the people, -art did its best to portray in coloured pictures Jesus Christ the man -who walked in Galilee and died in Jewry; and the Fathers of the Church -responded promptly to the longing, and found to hand a ready-made -mystery which answered the purpose and helped to stay the profound -religious hunger of the day--a mystery which could be amplified to meet -every expanding need of the people, and the people accepted with greedy -faith the doctrine of the indwelling bodily presence of Jesus Christ in -the bread and wine on the altar. These elements, they were assured, -became changed into the real flesh and blood of Christ when consecrated -by the priest, and the people acclaimed with reverent joy the wonderful -transformation which brought Christ so near, and drew what religious -consolation they could from the sacred illusion imposed upon them. The -olden gods were returning in a new form. - -The people did not know and did not want to know the truth about their -creed. They had neither the leisure nor the brains to think for -themselves. The cake is baked; it is eaten with relish. Hungry men at -table do not analyze their food; they eat it and are thankful. The -people did not know, but the people had feeling. The Church stirred -their feelings to the uttermost, played upon the heart-strings of joy -and sorrow, hope and fear, faith and love, until their tumultuous -emotions were aroused and they believed blindly according to priestly -orders. We would make neither more nor less importance of the Lord's -Supper, only just what Christ made of it to His disciples and to plain -people through all time. Let us try and possess the ancient feeling -that possessed the disciples when they sat at table with the Master, -and, stripped of ecclesiastical emblazonment, we touch the Supper in its -primitive simplicity as instituted in the upper room with the shadow of -death shrouding the Founder of the Feast. He commanded His disciples -after His death to meet together thus and to break bread in remembrance -of Him. - -It is in memory of Christ, if the New Testament report of it is correct. -Christ appointed the solemn rite to be an ever-living witness to His own -love to man, and we in response make it our pledge of undying love and -devotion to Him. It is the Sacrament of the ages. It never varies in -purpose; it never stales by observance. The Lord's Table is the -prepared place on earth where the Church Catholic should assemble to -commemorate the great Sacrifice of Golgotha, and to commune with one -another in spiritual fellowship and brotherly unity. It is a -commemorative act, and as such, uncorrupted and undefiled by human -inventions, it should have come down to us, but the Church has tampered -with the holy thing. Christ did not intend us to idolize the bread and -wine. It is the legend of the Brazen Serpent repeating itself in modern -version. Human folly boasts of little originality. It borrows its sins -from its ancestors and charges them up to the children's children. The -Brazen Serpent that Moses lifted on a pole in the wilderness for the -healing of the people was a symbol of God's saving mercy to the nation. -Alas! the people turned the brass image into an idol and in course of -time worshipped it, and so did evil in the sight of the Lord. Christ did -not intend us to idolize the Sacrament; Christ commanded us to eat and -drink the bread and wine, not to worship it. The Sacrament is in memory -of Christ's sacrifice: it is not a repetition of it. - -To many Churchmen it is the simplicity of the service that savours of an -offence. Human vanity dearly loves display, pomp, emotion, with which to -salt its devotion to the Almighty and make it palatable to the Deity and -to itself. Naaman the Syrian is not the only man who demands splendour -of ceremony to colour a religious function in which he engages. His -pampered soul feeds on fulsome flattery, and if he does not get it he is -angry to the uttermost. - - - - - BILLING AND SONS, LTD., PRINTERS, GUILDFORD, ENGLAND. - - - - - * * * * * * * * - - - - - *OUR VILLA IN ITALY* - - *BY JOSEPH LUCAS* - - _New and Revised Edition. With 25 full-page - Illustrations. Cloth, 5s. net._ - -"Full of the lure of Florence and, indeed, of all Italy.... Mr. Lucas -has written a book which will delight every English lover of that -country."--_The Guardian_. - -"Mr. Lucas has much to tell us of the Italian people, and the -descriptions of his neighbours and servants bring them very vividly -before us."--_The Outlook_. - -"The author has a good knowledge of Italian furniture, which is rare -even among Italians.... His account of his search for rare 'cassoni' and -Tuscan sideboards, chests of drawers ('cassettoni') and chairs is -delightful; and the photographs of his finds, which include a noble -'cassapanca' and two very fine tables, are among the most interesting -features of his book."--_The Athenaeum_. - - - - - - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LURES OF LIFE *** - - - - -A Word from Project Gutenberg - - -We will update this book if we find any errors. - -This book can be found under: http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/43303 - -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. - - - -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 -http://www.gutenberg.org/license. - - -Section 1. General Terms of Use & 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 http://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 -(http://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 MERCHANTABILITY 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, is 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 http://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 -http://www.gutenberg.org/fundraising/pglaf . 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 http://www.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 http://www.gutenberg.org/fundraising/donate - -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 checks, online payments and credit card donations. To donate, -please visit: http://www.gutenberg.org/fundraising/donate - - -Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg(tm) electronic -works. - - -Professor Michael S. Hart is 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. - -Each eBook is in a subdirectory of the same number as the eBook's eBook -number, often in several formats including plain vanilla ASCII, -compressed (zipped), HTML and others. - -Corrected _editions_ of our eBooks replace the old file and take over -the old filename and etext number. The replaced older file is renamed. -_Versions_ based on separate sources are treated as new eBooks receiving -new filenames and etext numbers. - -Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: - - http://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. |