power, the force that
gives rise to all progress in art; the appreciation of beauty and the
desire to increase it are the cause of all progress in purely
decorative elaboration. It appears, however, that there is in the mind
no preconceived idea of what that elaboration should be. The mind is a
growing thing and is led forward along the pathways laid out by
environment. Seeking in art gratification of an esthetic kind it
follows the lead of technique along the channels opened by such of the
useful arts as offer suggestions of embellishment. The results reached
vary with the arts and are important in proportion to the facilities
furnished by the arts. As I have already amply shown, the textile art
possesses vast advantages over all other arts in this respect, as it
is first in the field, of widest application, full of suggestions of
embellishment, and inexorably fixed in its methods of expression. The
mind in its primitive, mobile condition is as clay in the grasp of
technique.

A close analysis of the forces and the influences inherent in the art
will be instructive. For the sake of simplicity I exclude from
consideration all but purely mechanical or non-ideographic elements.
It will be observed that order, uniformity, symmetry, are among the
first lessons of the textile art. From the very beginning the workman
finds it necessary to direct his attention to these considerations in
the preparation of his material as well as in the building of his
utensils. If parts employed in construction are multiple they must be
uniform, and to reach definite results (presupposing always a demand
for such results), either in form or ornament, there must be a
constant counting of numbers and adjusting to spaces. The most
fundamental and constant elements embodied in textile art and
available for the expression of embellishment are the minute steps of
the intersections or bindings; the most necessary and constant
combination of these elements is in continuous lines or in rows of
isolated figures; the most necessary and constant directions for these
combinations are with the web and the woof, or with their
complementaries, the diagonals. If large areas are covered certain
separation or aggregation of the elements into larger units is called
for, as otherwise absolute sameness would result. Such separation or
aggregation conforms to the construction lines of the fabric, as any
other arrangement would be unnatural and difficult of accompli