Now, just to end with let us read a few words from a book I trust we
all may read some day: [33] "Great art is the expression of the mind
of a great man, and mean art of a weak man." Let us remember that in
choosing things to play.

Further on Ruskin says: "If stone work is _well_ put together, it
means that a thoughtful man planned it, and a careful man cut it, and
an honest man cemented it." [34]

Likewise in these things one can see what is classic--work out of the
heart and well done, and that comes from a thoughtful, careful, honest
person.




CHAPTER IX.

WHAT WE SHOULD PLAY.


"But blessings do not fall in listless hands."_--Bayard Taylor._

We already begin to understand what the classics are. Year by year as
our interest in the beautiful increases, we shall gain more definite
knowledge about classic art. That which is classic will begin to
announce itself in us. Our own choice indicates our taste but does not
always indicate what is best for us. And one of the purposes of art is
to improve the taste by setting before us the finest works; in these,
by study, we find beauty with which we are unacquainted. Thus we