It should
be made into something more permanent. The golden gates at
Florence are as beautiful to-day as when Michael Angelo saw them.
We should see more of the workman than we do. We should not be
content to have the salesman stand between us - the salesman who
knows nothing of what he is selling save that he is charging a
great deal too much for it. And watching the workman will teach
that most important lesson - the nobility of all rational
workmanship.
I said in my last lecture that art would create a new brotherhood
among men by furnishing a universal language. I said that under
its beneficent influences war might pass away. Thinking this, what
place can I ascribe to art in our education? If children grow up
among all fair and lovely things, they will grow to love beauty and
detest ugliness before they know the reason why. If you go into a
house where everything is coarse, you find things chipped and
broken and unsightly. Nobody exercises any care. If everything is
dainty and delicate, gentleness and refinement of manner are
unconsciously acquired. When I was in San Francisco I used to
visit the Chinese Quarter frequently.
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