RIGHT LIVING AS
A FINE ART
A Study of Channing's Symphony
as an Outline of the
Ideal Life and Character
NEWELL DWIGHT HILLIS
Fleming H. Revell Company
New York Chicago Toronto
1903
COPYRIGHTED 1898-1899 BY
FLEMING H. REVELL COMPANY.
Contents
A Study of Channing's "Symphony" as an
Outline of the Ideal Life and Character
Channing's Vision of the Beautiful Life
The Largest Wealth
The World a Whispering Gallery
How Knowledge Becomes Wisdom
The Disguises of Inferiority
Strength Blossoming into Beauty
Life's Crowning Perfection
"And let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us; and establishthou the work of our hands upon us; yea, the work of our hands establishthou it."
Psalm xc: 17.
MY SYMPHONY.
To live content with small means; to seek elegance rather than luxury,and refinement rather than fashion; to be worthy, not respectable, andwealthy, not rich; to listen to stars and birds, babes and sages with openheart; to study hard; to think quietly, act frankly, talk gently, awaitoccasions, hurry never; in a word, to let the spiritual, unbidden andunconscious, grow up through the common—this is my symphony.
William Henry Channing.
A STUDY OF CHANNING'S "SYMPHONY" AS AN OUTLINE OF THE IDEAL LIFE ANDCHARACTER.
To the revival of learning in the fourteenth century, to the revival ofreligion in the sixteenth, and the revival of liberty in the eighteenthcentury must now be added the revival of the beautiful in this new era forart. In former ages man was content if his house was dry, his coat waswarm, his tool strong. But now has come an era when man's house must havebeautiful walls, when woman's dress must have harmonious hues, when thespeaker's truth must be clothed in words of beauty;[Pg 10]while in religion if the worshiper once was content with a harsh hymn, nowman best loves the song that has a beautiful sentiment and a sweet tune.Always the useful had a cash value. Now beauty has become a commodity.To-day, to hold his place, the artisan must becom