vi                       THE CRAFTSMAN

'wi   his court from  chateau to chateau; avoiding his burgher-capital,
Parts, test his 'waste of Ueaflh should Indte the honest artisans and shop-
keepers to discontent and Insurrection.
                        Now, let a reproduction of this style be attempted
 In the heart of our American metropolis, as has been done in several
 notable Instances. The result Is no longer either pleasing to the student
 and connoisseur, or satisfying to the masses.  The feuddal architecture
is
 by centuries out of place In a modern dty, presumably the home of civic
 la'w and order. The broad avenues, teeming 'with the life, movement and
 Inventions of a scientific age, form an Incongruous selling for these old-
 time Jewels of art. The fantastic ornament, the gargoyles and griffons
 'which over-run the whole and cut the sky-line In a hundred curioas 'ways
 have no longer a reason for existence.  They have lost the sense of
 mystery 'with 'which they were once Invested.  Their meaning has passed
 from the vital state Into the domain of historcal Interest. In the evolution
 of art, their place has long been supplanted.
                        We can thus go on seleding examples at 'will, and
sure al'ways of arriving at the same conclusion.  As .we pass through te
Place Vendome, Paris, we are at once impressed by the formal, stately
grandeur of the surrounding architecture. The eager shopper 'with his eyes
still dazzted by the glittering ftivolities of the rue de Ia Palxkis unconsciously
sobered by confronting the gra2e buildings of the historic square; Uhite
the "
student delights to Imagine the space as it must have appeared under Louis
le
Grand: animated by lumbering coaches and gilded sedan-chairs, elth their
freight of pompous gentlemen in flowing 'wigs, and of ladies in heaby velvcet
and brocade gogns.
                        Again, as in the first case cited, let the external
 of this style be copied in America. The result 'will be a spititless, literal
 translation, wanting the life and soul of the original. A sense of unfitness
 and unreality will fore7,er pervade and haunt the imitation %hich, through
 the lack of spontaneity, has no justification for being; 'which has no basis
 of artistic truth, and'which represents no dominant thought of the period.
                        So, advancing from instance to instance, Ue reach
the conclusion that any art worthy of the name must strike its roots deep
Into the life of the people, and must produce as freely and naturally as
does the plant in summer.
                        We have thus far drawn our examples from arch!-
 tecture, but as the smaller is contained in the greater, so are the lesser
ars
 related to that of the builder. Sculpture and painting are its handmalds,
 and household decoration its adjund and ally.
                        The objects which form our material environmed
 exert upon as an Influence that is not to be 'withstood. If'we, our children