Westport High School - Herald Yearbook (Kansas City, MO)

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hanges an in- int of ulture, nd for uses as ad the the re- ver be- never ay. t com- of the to for 1 could And came a contin- rnained .turally as the ned by f a suf- 'esulted me peo- mscinat- an in- . The ig only period hd gar- can lay d itself ields of rtellect- of nov- i much arac-ter. to and zentury, 3, C011- 'hteenth THE WESTPORT HIGH SCHOOL HERALD. 19 century. An intellectual revolution has again been going on among the people. Never before was the public so intelligent and never before was the world of readers so extensive. Greater and more important political and social changes have continued to develop the mind of the aver- age individual. And the great increase in wealth has only added an advancement in the culture and refinement of the people. Again is the demand for books fast exceed- ing the supply and again has the publisher be- come the only means of filling the wants of the public. The competition between publishers has become stronger, and as a result of this com- petition has grown the rapid advancement in the price and in the quantity of literary mate- rial. Again have commercial interests forced genius into the background and again has book- making become a business. But with this spirit 0-f commercialism hold- ing all things in its grasp, may we not hope that a. demand fo-r genius will arise and that true art may again find its place 5 that we may look forward to the coming of writers who care not for themselves, but who write because they are prompted by a superior intellect, by an un- common vigor of mind, by great and peculiar gifts of nature, which we call genius? Have we not a right to expect the return of an Augustan age of literature, to which even great- er geniuses will contribute even greater master- pieces? In future years will not thispeace and prosperity afford opportunity for a greater in- telligence and culture in the people at large? And may not these be new forces which go to the making of a higher degree of excellence from which genius itself may arise? ' N ettie llfiedenmann. Prof. E. 'A. Huppert, supervisor of draw- ing, judged the wo-rk of the pupils in the Art department. Mary Abercrombie received the first highest honor for her life-size charcoal drawings from the cast of St. John by Donatello. 9 EMERSON. At the beginning of the nineteenth century, American literature was undergoing a radical change: writers and readers alike began to re- volt against the prevailing style. Intellectually, America was now as closely bound to the mother country as she had been politically in the old colonial. days, she needed as yet another Dec- laration of Independence to become entirely free. A few patriots ardently championed the cause, but with little success, it remained for Emerson to liberate American thought in his address, The American Scholarf delivered at Cambridge in eighteen hundred thirty-seven. The force of his appeal was wonderful, he was hailed as a liberate-r, and henceforth his writ- ings were to have an important and direct bear- ing on our literature. Thus was the great phi- losopher of 'the West first made known to the world. ' I ' In eighteen hundred thirty-sin Emerson had published his first wo-rk, entitled Nature,,' which, although it created but little impression then, is now considered an epoch-making book, his conversion to transcendental philoso-phy prompted the writing of this essay, as it did all of his others. Those advocates of a new school ha.d for the most part allied themselves to this system of ethics. But Eme-rson found himself the natural leader of this group, and in Na- turev the first tru-e western interpretation of this eastern doctrine was given. In this work, however, his sentiments were in advance of the peo-ple. It took his Cambridge o-ration to gain him recognition. In the West, transcendentalism realized in Emerson its truest and most faithful disciple. It did not long remain as a forceful doctrine in America, but it awakened a great philoso-pher and furnished an avenue for some of the most sublime thoughts t.hat have lighted the produc- tions of American authors. In his interpretation of this system, he dif- fers slightly from its mystic founders. He combines with his ideal standard a stern prac- tical rectitude, inherited from his Puritan an- cestry. He seems never able to accept the pure

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18 THE WESTPORT HIGH SCHOOL HERALD. their time to their labo-r. And just as great as were the accomplishments of these men, just so small, taken from a commercial standpoint, were their rewards. The souls of such artists were in their work, and all else was of no signifi- cance to them. Absolute unselfishness prevailed in their hearts and their rewards were such as men feel only when they have fully accom- plished all that they set out to do. The artists of these early schools were, however, not without substantial' recognition. Kings, nobles, and members of the royal fam- ily were looked upon as patrons of the a.rts. To them singers, poets, and painters turned for appreciation and support. And art gallery, li- brary, and public hall owe perhaps to such noble patrons all that remains of the glory of mediaeval art. Even to-day some countries give financial aid to artistic enterprises, but from the time of Johnson royal patronage has gradually and slowly changed into public patronage. As early as seventeen hundred the public had begun to give support to the authors in the way of a small allowance for their works. After J ohn- sonis declaration of independence from the patron, help from individual people was no longer expected and the future of art and lit- erature fell into the hands of the people. Unfortunately the value o-f true art was mis- judged. Authors, instead of being remuner- ated for the literary or artistic merit of their productions, were rewarded according to the amount of work received. By this method quantity grew to be the standard, and not qual- ity. No evil results were immediately felt on account of this system of compensation. Its effects upon future ages time alone' was to tell. During the early part of the eighteenth cent- ury, an intellectual revolutio-n was .slowly tak- ing place among the people. The public in gen- eral was growing more intelligent, and with this increased intellectual development came a nat- ural inorease in the number of people who were interested in the literary efforts of the times. The world of readers was enlarged. The mind of the people was developed by political and social experiences, and with these changes in government and social relations came an in- crease in wea.lth. The increased amount of wealth led to high-er refinement and culture, and this naturally caused a greater demand for books by the reading public. An interest in the works of such geniuses as Shakespeare and Milto-n was revived and the publishers were busy for some time, with the re- production of classical masterpieces. Never be- fore was the sale of these so large and never before were they read with so much avidity. But the work of past authors was not com- prehensive enough to satisfy the Wants of the people. The publisher was appealed to for newer productions, and only through him co-uld the demands of the readers be supplied. And through his enco-uragement literature became a profession. . Even after Goldsmith, the demand contin- ued to grow larger while the supply remained practically the same. Competition naturally arose among the publishers, and just as the price of any article of commerce is governed by the demand and the supply, so the lack of a suf- Hcient supply of literary productions resulted in a continuous rise in the desires of the peo- ple for works of an entertaining and fascinat- ing nature. The publishers' offers were too great an in- ducement for the writers of the times. The prospects of earning a living by writing only tempted many to hack-writing, and this period brought forth the writers of th.e attics and gar- rets of Grub Street, not one of whom can lay claim to other than mediocre abilities. f The intellectual impulse soon showed itself in a greater supply of literature. New fields of- thought opened, and as a result of the intellect- ual tastes of the public came the groups of nov- elists and ro-manticists, who contributed much of a pleasing but hardly valuable character. This activity continued to obtain up to and during the latter part of the eighteenth century, when a real literary revival occurred. At the present time literature is in a con- dition simila.r to that of the early eighteenth

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20 THEWESTPORT HIGH SCHOOL HERALD. transcendentalism of the Orient. He presents always in his best essays an unique combination of the true and his individual version. That characteristic for which Emerson has been most severely criticised is his unsympa- thetic style, which grew directly out of one of the fundamental principles of his ethics-the belief that the present thought should always be expressed without ,regard for consistency or for consequences. Another point of criticism is his 'habit of co-mplacently waiving aside the cherished tenets of his fathers for those which he considered more important. He also culti- vated a petulant irreverence. But in all these he is natural, direct, and original. He seeks for no 'effects and, although his terse, trenehant sentences startle and electrify, the easy flow of his eloquence composes and satisfies. In- some respects Emerson is among the greatest of American poets, but as a philoso- pher he is at his best. A readingof his Rep- resentative Men will give a very clear under- standing of one phase of his philosophy. In it he coneeives. great men as the inspired instru- ments through which great ideas are expressed rather than as the originators of such ideas. The world is made up of the great Over So-ul, of which each human soul is a part 5 but in great men is centered a larger share, by which virtue they are able to comprehend and explain phenomena which might remain unheeded by the ordinary mind. He thinks the example of their lives rather than their actual deeds affects the tide of events. This book is characteristic 5 but in America it is not generally' conceded the best, although it won him fame in Europe. The American likes him best asthe clear expounder of the good and beautiful, as the candid judge, condemning all that is weak and foolish, praising all that is noble and pure, always founding his decisions on a clear under- standing of the principles that underlie condi- tions, and, although often harshly iconoclastic, he is at all times kindly disposed. As a theologian he found sympathy for the greater part of his life with the Unitarians. His ethics and his relieion he mingled verv . D C - closelv. He believed in the possible perfection of every man as he believed in the absolute pur- ity of Jesus, and held it incumbent upon each to seek to attain that development of soul which the Nazarene had attained. For the strict fo-rms of the Christian Church he had no sym- pathy, for which reason he had found it neces- sary to resign his Congregational pastorate. Relying upon the sufficiency of the inner light to direct proper actions, he recognized no abso- lute external authority. ' r When Emerson tried to purify the stagnant waters of Western thought by the crystal drops of Eastern mysticism, he failed 5 but out of this failure have come many benefits, not alone in his actual productions, but, too, in the suggest- iveness of his work and the contagion of his spirit. l A Alberta Cooke, 05. - THE BEGINNING OF SAMANTHA AND JOSIAH'S WEDDING TRIP. Samantha and Josiah were sitting together one evening after all the work was done on the farm, and they seemed unsually quiet. Saman- tha had been trying to carry on a 'conversation for seine time, but without success, as Josiah seemed lost in thought. I Josiah was a tall, lanky man, who seemed all arms and legs and who didnjt know' what to do with them. He had a thin crop of yellow hair and a sc-rawny bunch of sandy whiskers, which he a.lways stroked when thinking deeply. He was one of those happy-go-lucky, good- natured men who always have a good word for everyone and everything. Samantha, on the other hand, was altogether different. She was short, fat, and dumpy, with her dark hair drawn in a tight little knot at the back of her head. She was a nervous, fidg- ety little woman, who loved a good time. An occasional little spat with her husband was not distasteful to her, and it is a question as to who usually came out ahead. After thinking deeply for some time, Josiah seemed to have arrived at a conclusion. It was