dealing with a great and good man, who is himself more inspiring
than any of his books. In some respects he is like his friend Carlyle,
whose disciple he acknowledged himself to be; but he is broader in his
sympathies, and in every way more hopeful, helpful, and humane. Thus, in
the face of the drudgery and poverty of the competitive system, Carlyle
proposed, with the grim satire of Swift's "Modest Proposal," to organize an
annual hunt in which successful people should shoot the unfortunate, and to
use the game for the support of the army and navy. Ruskin, facing the same
problem, wrote: "I will endure it no longer quietly; but henceforward, with
any few or many who will help, do my best to abate this misery." Then,
leaving the field of art criticism, where he was the acknowledged leader,
he begins to write of labor and justice; gives his fortune in charity, in
establishing schools and libraries; and founds his St. George's Guild of
workingmen, to put in practice the principles of brotherhood and
cooperation for which he and Carlyle contended. Though his style marks him
as one of the masters of English prose, he is generally studied not as a
literary man but as an ethical teacher, and we shall hardly appreciate his
works unless we see behind every book the figure of the heroically sincere
man who wrote it.

LIFE. Ruskin was born in London, in 1819. His father was a prosperous wine
merchant who gained a fortune in trade, and who spent his leisure hours in
the company of good books and pictures. On his tombstone one may still read
this inscription written by Ruskin: "He was an entirely honest merchant and
his memory is to all who keep it dear and helpful. His son, whom he loved
to the uttermost and taught to speak truth, says this of him." Ruskin's
mother, a devout and somewhat austere woman, brought her son up with
Puritanical strictness, not forgetting Solomon's injunction that "the rod
and reproof give wisdom."

Of Ruskin's early years at Herne Hill, on the outskirts of London, it is
better to read his own interesting record in _Praeterita_. It was in some
respects a cramped and lonely childhood, but certain things which strongly
molded his character are worthy of mention. First, he was taught by word
and example in all things to speak the truth, and he never forgot the
lesson. Second, he had few toys, and spent much time in studying the
leaves, the flowers, the grass, the clouds, even the figures and colors of
the car