. Yellow journalism and rag-time tunes will not help
their taste in speech or song, nor will violent hues improve their taste
in matters of color.

_Balance of Color is to be sought._ Artists and decorators are well
aware of a fact that slowly dawns upon the student; namely, that color
harmony is due to the preservation of a subtle balance and impossible by
the use of extremes. This balance of color resides more _within_ the
spherical surface of this system than in the excessive chromas which
project beyond. It is futile to encourage children in efforts to rival
the poppy or buttercup, even with the strongest pigments obtainable.
Their sunlit points give pleasure because they are surrounded and
balanced by blue ether and wide green fields. Were these conditions
reversed, so that the flowers appeared as little spots of blue or green
in great fields of blazing red, orange, and yellow, our pained eyes
would be shut in disgust.

The painter knows that pigments _cannot_ rival the brilliancy of the
buttercup and poppy, enhanced by their surroundings. What is more, he
does not care to attempt it. Nor does the musician wish to imitate the
screech of a siren or the explosion of a gun. These are not subjects for
art. Harmonious sounds are the study of the musician, and tuned colors
are the materials of the colorist. Corot in landscape, and Titian,
Velasquez, and Whistler in figure painting, show us that Nature's
richest effects and most beautiful color are enveloped in an atmosphere
of gray.

_Beauty of Color lies in Tempered Relations._ Music rarely touches the
extreme range of sound, and harmonious color rarely uses the extremes of
color-light or color-strength. Regular scales in the middle register are
first given to train the ear, and so should the eye be first
familiarized with medium degrees of color.

This system provides measured scales, established by special
instruments, and is able to select the middle points of red, yellow,
green, blue, and purple as a basis for comparing and relating all
colors. These five middle colors form a Chromatic Tuning Fork. (See page
70.) It is far better that children should first become familiar with
these tuned color intervals which are harmonious in themselves rather
than begin by blundering among unrelated degrees of harsh and violent
color. Who would think of teaching the musical scale with a piano out
of tune?

_The Tuning of Color cannot be left to Personal Whim._ The wide
dis