hich he inaugurated in
London, Edinburgh, and other cities. If men can only be taught to see,
and to think, and to worship, according to Ruskin they have always
sources of happiness at hand, of which no outward force of circumstances
can deprive them. This is a great and a true gospel, and would there
were more such eloquent proclaimers of it as Ruskin! what could be
better doctrine for the men and women of this generation than this:--

"In order to teach men how to be satisfied, it is necessary fully
to understand the art and joy of humble life; this at present, of
all arts and sciences, being the one most needing study. Humble
life,--that is to say, proposing to itself no future exaltation,
but only a sweet continuance; not excluding the idea of
forethought, but only of fore-sorrow, and taking no troublous
thought for coming days. The life of domestic affection and
domestic peace, full of sensitiveness to all elements of costless
and kind pleasure, therefore chiefly to the loveliness of the
natural world."

Again he sums up these costless pleasures in sentences weighty with
meaning:--

"To watch the corn grow, and the blossoms set; to draw hard breath
over plough, hoe, and spade; to read, to think, to love, to hope,
to pray,--these are the things which make men happy; they have
always had the power to do this, and they always will. The world's
prosperity or adversity depends upon our knowing and teaching these
few things, but upon iron or glass, or electricity or steam, in
nowise."

Ruskin has always had a quarrel with the railroads, and says that all
travelling becomes dull in proportion to its rapidity. "Going by
railroad," he affirms, "I do not call travelling at all; but it is
merely 'being sent' to a place, and very little different from becoming
a parcel. A man who really loves travelling would as soon consent to
pack a day of such happiness into an hour of railroad as one who loved
eating would agree, if it were possible, to concentrate his dinner into
a pill." Walking he commends most heartily to young men, and considers
it one of the rarest pleasures of life. In this country walking-parties
are as yet almost unknown, but in Europe they are extremely common,
especially among students. What could be better for the youth of our
land than such a pastime as this for their vacations?

He has also a great contempt for some of