Practical References
tricities; they have tints, tones, personalities.”[1]
To the majority of us, words are merely parts of speech; they perform only the primordial functions of language. To this same majority, architecture means little more than a “pretty” exterior of a building. The masses are interested more in the usefulness of a building than in its architectural features. The attitude of mass-consciousness is similar toward the various forms of art; that is to say, the question of beauty rightly enough is secondary to that of utility. A meal to a hungry traveler is of more importance to him than is polished diction. A few creature-comforts obtained through crudely constructed phrases of ugly words are more to be desired than is beauty of language if it must be coupled with privation. This is the rule primitive and primordial. But there comes a time in the progress of a people when the laws of beauty are operative because the
- ↑ Japanese Letters—Hearn.
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