of the founders of the Republic, of demonstrating for all time the truth that popular government is not only possible, but that it bears within its abundant bosom the richest blessings man can bestow upon his fellow-man. Nor will the good which the observance of this day has accomplished, decrease in the future; for though, happily, the time will come when the element of sadness which now attends it will have passed away, yet so long as wondering children shall ask and learn whose graves are those on which wreaths and immortelles are yearly laid, will the tremendous cost and immeasurable value of our institutions be emphasized, and thus made secure for the generations yet to live under their benign and blessed light. O. E. BRANCH. THE ARISTOCRATIC SPIRIT: THE FARMER'S FOE. Note 37. (Abridged.) BENEATH all other reasons of the historical condition of the farmer is the fundamental reason, and that is the feudal or aristocratic principle which has always prevailed in various forms in every country, and which oppresses the farmer most of all. It is the theory that God made a little of this human clay into porcelain vases to hold the dizzy wine of exclusive power, but the most of it into common crockery for base uses; a theory that the many are made for the few, or, as Voltaire defined it in government, "It is the art of making two-thirds of a nation pay all it possibly can pay for the benefit of the other third." This system is the fourfold enemy of the farmer. It distributes all the land to a few to these few it gives exclusive political power: it degrades labor by making the laborer dependent upon those few; and fosters their ignorance that they may be willing slaves. Wherever the agricultural laborer does not own the land and has no share in political power, there he will be an ig THE ARISTOCRATIC SPIRIT. 95 norant and degraded man : and the instinct of aristocracy to keep him in that position will, sooner or later, involve any country in the most relentless war. The political history of the United States for a generation illustrates this truth. Our Southern system of society and labor was an aristocracy which controlled the Government by the power derived from four millions of agricultural laborers deprived of every right, and by its alliance with ignorance and avarice elsewhere. Emboldened by its former apparent successes this aristocratic power laid its hand upon Kansas, the heart and garden of the continent. Then, at last, the farmers saw themselves face to face with their old, remorseless enemy who had pursued them in every country and in every age. The snatch at Kansas was the old policy of the aristocracy everywhere and always, to perpetuate ignorance and degrade labor. The response was the tremendous political campaign of 1860, when the battle-cry of the farmers rang from sea to sea, "Free land, free speech, free schools, free men,” and Abraham Lincoln, the representative of the working people against a proprietary aristocracy, was elected President. But aristocracy is brave, and it did not falter. Foiled at the polls it drew its sword to overthrow the Government it could not change. Still the air thrills with the tremendous story. The farmers, whose ancestors in the Revolution had left the plow in the furrow to march to Bunker Hill, did not delay. Over all these sunny hills, through all these silent valleys rolled the loud drum-beat, and the bugle rang. Thousands and hundreds of thousands of farmer boys marched away. Over all these sunny hills, through all these silent valleys are the darkened homes and broken hearts to which thousands of farmer boys returned no more. It is for the American farmer to deal the final blow at the aristocratic spirit and system, the hereditary enemy of equal rights, of skilled labor, of free labor, and consequently his especial foe. Grappling with that, he wrestles with the remote but the efficient cause of the lethargy which has historically paralyzed the primeval art. Bringing that down he brings with it the ignorance upon which it rests. Then by generous education let him reverse the curse fabulously imposed upon labor. Let him heartily believe that to make two blades of grass grow where one grew before is as truly noble a work as to find the Northwest passage or the sources of the Nile; and infinitely nobler than to make one million of dollars two millions by a happy guess or a knavish trick in trade. GEORGE WILLIAM CURTIS. THE SONG OF THE SEA-WIND. How it sings, sings, sings, Blowing sharply from the sea line, How it shrieks, shrieks, shrieks, In the crannies of the headland, In the gashes of the creeks; How it shrieks once more and catches Up the yellow foam in patches ; How it whirls it out and over How it roars, roars, roars, In the iron under caverns, In the hollows of the shores; How it roars anew and thunders, How it roars! THE BIBLE IN ART. How it wails, wails, wails, In the tangle of the wreckage, How it sobs away, subsiding, And across the ground swell rolling, AUSTIN DOBSON. 97 Note 38. THE BIBLE IN ART. FROM the historical facts and characters of the Bible, art derives its grandest models. Limited secular history chronicles the events, not the purpose of the ages. The Biblical narrative carries to every tongue and clime, a broader significance every page discloses the unchanging aim of an Almighty mind. To typify with brush and chisel the divine plan was the work of the Christian artist. The Creation and the Fall, the discipline of God's chosen people, their transgression and punishment, the incarnation, death, and resurrection of the Messiah, these were the models that have found an undying place in art. All the dignity of the sacred story; all the joy of divine promise; all the beauty of Scriptural truth became the treasures of art, and made it the helpmeet of faith, a mediator between God and humanity. Whence comes the majesty of vaulted cathedral; whence the awe of lofty pinnacles? The pictured inspirations of Christian art have answered for all time. It is the glimpse of angelic visions that bends the knee in reverence. It is the sacred story, made an ever present reality, that turns heavenward the mortal thoughts and moves the lips in prayer. Deprive architecture of the Bible, St. Peter's still guards the Vatican; St. Mark's still solemnly towers above the "City of the Sea," but the worshippers return no more : you have deprived their temples of their spirit power; you have shut out from mortal eyes a glimpse of heaven. Beneath the imperial city of the Cæsars is earth's greatest sepulchre. Within its gloomy confines, the early Christians, free from persecution, read the Bible and symbolized its truths upon their refuge walls. Thus in darkness was the dawn of Christian art. With the recognition of Christianity by Constantine, it emerged from its subterranean birthplace and hailed its second dawning. Freedom of conscience was no longer death; culture and progress went hand in hand; the upward course of thought found expression in the works of the artist. Early Christian architecture was followed by the Byzantine and Gothic. St. Paul's arose in stately magnificence, and all over Europe churches and cathedrals began to send their spires toward heaven. Sculpture and Painting, drawing their inspiration from the Bible, became the accessories of architecture. Under the master hand of Michael Angelo, St. Peter's becomes a marvel of glowing color, as well as a wonder of lifeless stone. The myriad-phased struggle between human love and faith, engages the attention of Leonardo da Vinci ; the truth flashes like a revelation upon his mind. The walls of a humble refectory at Milan receive and hold the embodiment of his inspiration. Marred by human passion, dimmed by time's effacing fingers, it still challenges the world to equal its faded beauty. The precious memory of the Last Supper is the secret of its immortality; its power is the power of Eternal love. The Sun of Righteousness warms the ardent Raphael; intellect and affection blend; brush and chisel work in truer, diviner harmony. Albert Dürer looks into the future; he sees no welcome light to cheer his soul: he paints only outward form he ponders the Scriptures and the glory of the eternal life breaks upon his darkened vision; faith guides his brush, and his canvas reflects all that is beautiful in the earthly, all that is sweetest in the heavenly. : M. W. GEORGE. |