Sources of Joy and Factors of Happiness: Lessons X–XII

Sources of Joy and Factors of Happiness A Study for the Advanced Senior Classes of M. I. A., 1921-22 By Dr. George H. Brimhall Lesson X. — Art Science gives us truth, and art gives us beauty. In the presence of one we are possessed of the truth emotion, in the presence of the other we are possessed of the beauty emotion. Art not only im- itates nature, but she adds to it by selecting the best from nature, thereby combining and making an ideal. In literature we have ideal char- acters, in art we have ideal places and faces. The common eye often fails to see in a landscape what it may find in the picture of a land- scape, because the picture is the landscape as seen through the art- ist's eye; consequently, when we view a mountain painted by a skil- ful hand, directed by a mind trained in seeing beauty, we may find beauty in the painting that we overlook in the mountain. Then again, art catches nature at her best, and holds it fast that we may examine it at leisure. As an example of this fact, take Rosa Bonheur's "Horse Fair." Only the trained eye could see the marvel that has been wrought on that small piece of canvas. The achieve- ment of producing so many indi- vidual horses full of strength and action, could not be accomplished save by one who adds skill to ge- nius. Art is to vision what literature is to events; in the first, beauty is brought to the fore, in the latter, the spirit is emphasized. Art is a source of joy through her emphasis of beauty. It is a truism that "a thing of beauty is a joy forever." It is the beauty of nature that makes it especially enchanting. With every season of the year, as nature changes one garb for another, and as the sky presents her varied hues, we ex- claim, "How beautiful!" Art draws not only on the re- productive powers of the mind, but on its creative ability. As a factor of happiness, art contributes to our lives in innumerable ways, through the camera, through the blanket-weaving of the Indian, the exquisitely wrought embroidery of the Japanese, the plans of the skil- ful architect, the designs of the landscape gardener, and of the professional dressmaker, tailor, and milliner and maker of furni- ture, as well as the work of the professional illustrator, whose ser- vice is sought after so eagerly by magazines and newspapers. From all these sources, and many others, art is a source of joy, and a factor of happiness, as well as in its more noted achievements that come to us through the medium of great painting, great sculpture, and great architecture.

SOURCES OF JOY AND FACTORS OF HAPPINESS 145 Other things being equal, the more art in a utensil the better the article. It is said of some scientific instruments made in France, that they not only equal the product put out elsewhere, but in addition they are beautiful. The same goods made into clothing artistically are more useful than they could possibly be if fashioned inartistically, because the use of anything is to be measured by its contribution to those for whom it is made. The artistic setting of a table adds to the value of the food served on the table, because it con- tributes to the refinement of those who partake of the meal, which serves a tripple purpose; the sus- tenance of the body, the gratifi- cation of the appetite, and the cul- tivation of a taste for the beauti- ful. Art contributes to our hap- piness by a wide distribution of the beautiful, calling for the doing of common things in an uncommon way, and bringing uncommon en- joyment to the common people. True Art Endures. — Standards of beauty change like standards of ethics, but there is real beauty as there is real good. We never tire of beauty in the absolute any more than we weary of good in the ab- solute. There are masterpieces of literature that endure; ideas of righteousness that "though crushed to earth will rise again," styles of buildings that never become an- tiquated, and there is beauty which is everlasting, despite all oscilla- tions of fashion. We no more tire of true art than we tire of the sun and the moon and the stars. The Uplift of Art. — Like the universe, of which it is a part, art is lifting upward. Such art as jazz, may have its day of dalliance, but like all other forms of error will die amid its worshipers. To live most is to live among the best, and art is among the best of the constant sources of elevative enjoy- ment. Our People and Art. — America has not come to its own in art. France and Italy are the ac- knowledged leaders in occidental art, while Japan leads in oriental art. The Greeks gave us the old masters at whose feet all Europe sits; while Japanese art is reputed to be as old as that of the Greek. There is cause for general pride in the production of art by the Latter-day Saints. Within the area of three contiguous blocks in Salt Lake City the artists, George M. Ottinger, Alfred Lambourne, Alma Wright, Lee Greene Richards, and M. M. Young, have had their homes. A few years ago the Jour- nal of Education, of Boston, con- tained an article, from the pen of its editor, which stated that for its population, Utah county had produced a greater number of art- ists than any other county in the United States. Some of these art- ists are John Fairbanks, and his sons Leo and Avard, of Payson, Cyrus E. Dallin, John and Virgil Hafen, of Springville, Calvin Fletcher, of Provo, E. H. East- mond, of American Fork, and Har- wood and Evans of Lehi. Art in Religion. — One of the reasons given for being religious is that so much of the work of the great masters has been inspired by a desire to depict and perpetuate religious thoughts and sentiment. Raphael's Madonna, The Last

146 IMPROVEMENT ERA Judgment, by Michael Angelo, and The Last Supper of Leonardo Da Vinci, are all examples of great paintings that have adorned the churches and cathedrals of Chris- tendom. The temples of the Latter-day Saints are decorated with mural paintings. The monuments on the temple grounds witness the skill of their sculptors. In all this, the divinity in man is reaching for a realization of the object of his existence, as stated in the Book of Mormon, that "man is that he may have joy," and a constant progress- ive fulfilment of the declaration in our thirteenth article of faith, that if there is anything lovely, or of good report, or praiseworthy, we seek after these things. Truly art is lovely and of good report and praiseworthy. Questions and Problems 1. In what respect is the artist a cre- ator? 2. Arrange to have some good paint- ings at the meeting, and have some one well informed point out the features that entitle it to be rated as a work of art. 3. What does simplicity in art mean? Illustrate. 4. What is meant by color harmony, as applied to household decorations? 5. At what point in home decorations is art substituted by "stuffiness"? 6. Is it simply a change in fashion, or an advancement in real art, when plain surface supersedes the highly ornamental in furniture? Give reason for your an- swer. 7. Discuss this proposition: A picture worth looking at is worth hanging where it may be seen to good advantage. 8. Describe a fence that growls at the passerby. 9. Illustrate the truth of the saying: "A thing of beauty is a joy forever." 10. What does it mean to be a lover of art? Illustrate. 11. Explain the traveling art exhibit system. 12. Discuss the practicability of having an M. I. A. art club in your commun- ity. Make a list of L. D. S. artists. 13. How may art best be encouraged? 14. Discuss the proposition: "Better two good paintings in a home than a score of common pictures." 15. Describe an artistically set table. 16. Suggest decorations for a wage earning family's dining room. 17. What is lost by failure to attend art exhibits? 18. Describe the joy value of having parlor art and sale exhibits of the paint- ings of our local artists. 19.What is meant by artistic individ- uality in dress? Lesson XI. — Literature Literature reveals itself in two forms; it may be spoken or writ- ten. From the former we obtain the literature of tradition, folk lore; from the latter, our books of poetry, essays, and fiction. From the beginning, the story has been preeminent as a source of entertainment. "Arabian Nights," "Canterbury Tales," stories of Sir Walter Scott in prose and verse, the narrative poems of Alfred Tennyson and Henry W. Longfel- low, are notable examples of this fact. Literature comes to us from the Indian tepee, and from the palaces of the kings. Literature has preserved and handed down through the ages the spirit that accompanied great his- torical events. One of the oldest poems is Mir- iam's song of victory, recorded in Exodus, 15. It is a song giving lit- erary illumination to a marvelous series of historical events. The

SOURCES OF JOY AND FACTORS OF HAPPINESS 147 glorifying of hardship in that never-to-die hymn, "Come, come, ye Saints" puts it in the class of literature that has embalmed the past. The descendants of ancient Is- rael still recite with joyous fervor the lines recorded in Exodus 15, and modern Israel untiringly re- peats the prairie poem of William Clayton. David may elevate us with his Psalms; Solomon makes us wise with his proverbs, and guides us to a choice of the highest values by his "Ecclesiastes," and the prophets of ancient Israel lift us out of our sordid selves, and give to our bet- ter selves the power to soar above the carnal, sensual and devilish, if we will consent to communicate with them, through the medium of the printed page. The parables and the sermons of the Master draw us into the light of knowledge, inspire us with courage and fill us with kindness. We become acquainted with power and are taught patience by the spiritual eloquence of the prophet's prayer at Liberty Jail. We are indebted to literature for making travel worth while. — Apart from the joy one experiences in travel, conies the added joy to the traveler of seeing attractive spots through the eyes of a great writer. Loch Lomond and Loch Katrine have an added charm because of Sir Walter Scott; and the English lake districts because of Words- worth; the country of Lorna Doone, because of Blackmore; London, because of Dickens and Thackeray; Paris, because of Vic- tor Hugo, and Venice and Rome because of Lord Byron. The "Village Blacksmith," from the pen of Henry W. Longfellow, has immortalized Brattle Street, in Boston; "The First Snow Fall," of James Russell Lowell, Mount Auburn Cemery; while the In- land Sea of Alfred Lambourne, has made the Dead Sea of Amer- ica radiant with interest and beauty. Books make us acquainted with the best minds of the past. Dr. Holmes speaks of a librarian as a sexton calling him "Sexton of those alcoved tombs where men in leathern cerements lie." Milton says, "For a good book is the life blood of a master spirit embalmed to a life beyond life." Channing says: "It is chiefly through books that we enjoy intercourse with superior minds, and these invaluable means of commu- nication are in the reach of all. In the best books great men talk to us, give us their most precious thoughts, and pour their souls into ours. God be thanked for books. They are the voices of the distant and the dead, and make us heirs of the spiritual life of past ages. Books are the true levelers. They give to all, who will faithfully use them, the society, the spiritual presence of the best and greatest of our race. No matter how poor I am, — no matter though the pros- perous of my own time will not enter my obscure dwelling, — if the sacred writers will enter and take up their abode under my roof, if Milton will cross my thresh- old to sing to me of Paradise, and Shakespeare to open to me the worlds of imagination and the workings of the hu- man heart, and Franklin to enrich me with his practical wisdom, I shall not pine for want of intellectual companion- ship, and I may become a cultivated man, though excluded from the best so- ciety in the place where I live." Questions and Problems 1. Wbich books of the Bible are rec- ognized as possessing high literary merit?

148 IMPROVEMENT ERA 2. Name one production from each of the following authors that has contrib- uted largely to the happiness of the world: Tennyson, Longfellow, Brown- ing, Bryant, Milton, Bunyan, Key, Payne, Eliza R. Snow, C. W. Penrose. 3. What is there about Lincoln's Ad- dress at Gettysburg that makes of it a classic? 4. What does a love of good literature say of its lover? 5. What Utahn will be widely remem- bered for his free distribution of choice books? 6. Show the relation between one's reading and his optimism. 7. Discuss this proposition: Books are the real levelers. 8. If you could have only ten books what would be their titles? Lesson XII. — Music Introduction. — Man is a musical being. He loves music whether he creates it or not. Shakespeare says: "The man who hath no music in his soul, and is not moved by concord of sweet sounds, is fit for treasons, strajtagems, and spoils. Let no such man be trust- ed." To be entirely unmusical, that is, incapable of responding to mu- sic, would be to be an element of discord and out of harmony with the universe. Man in his infancy is lulled to sweet slumber by the lullaby of his mother. In youth he is urged upward by some sort of mating song. In manhood he is aroused to ac- tion by song, cheers, and martial strains, and in the higher circles the sacred rights of his departure from this world is hallowed by the harmony of sound. Nature is full of music; long be- fore the reed, the pipe, and the string were instruments of sweet song, nature sent forth her sound- harmonies for the joy of man. The bird's song, the brook's murmur, the wind's whistle, lent to the en- chantment of Eden. As the aim of man's existence is joy, his very nature has caused him to cling to the nature sources of joy, and struggle to increase them, and so music became an art, a fine art, the divine art. The measuring of sound, the ar- ranging of tones, the purposeful producing of harmony, were mighty steps heavenward for the race. It was a getting back in ex- perience from whence we came, where harps were handled with angelic skill. The philosopher Spencer placed music among the luxuries to be possessed only by those command- ing leisure, but in the course of events, with the spread of liberty, it became a heritage of the middle classes, and was listed as a com- fort; then came the glorious Now, this epoch of the enjoyment for everybody, when music is being listed as a necessity, and as such coming within the reach of all the common folk. If it be true that "time's latest offspring is the best," then music bears the palm, for it, of all the great arts, is youngest, reaching the zenith of its glory in the last century: the period when Mozart, Beethoven, Wagner, Verdi, and Handel were contributing their best. That was an age in which accumulation reached the apex. Since then the greatness of music as a source of joy and a factor of

SOURCES OF JOY AND FACTORS OF HAPPINESS 149 happiness has been in large meas- ure due to its distribution. Invention, industry, commerce, and education have all contributed to the spread of this art which is the highest expression of the emotional life. No student of sociology, of five decades ago, would dare to dream of a day when a musical instru- ment would be one of the essen- ials of a humble home. Browning, with his poetic vision and musical instinct, ventured to hope that somewhere, somehow, sweet strains of music would be caught and kept for others' use than those who heard them first; and science and invention have made the dream of the great poet a reality; and who dare say that nature is not making record of some of earth's great anthems to be reproduced in the world be- yond. And as nothing but the fittest may claim survival, what becomes the duty of the choicest people in regard to music? May it never be forgotten that the tabernacle choir captured with song, the city from which our ancestors were driven with bayonets and bullets. Nor are we to forget that the singing of heavenly choirs added to the joy of many at the dedicatory ser- vices of the Kirtland and the Manti temples. Man is a worshipful being; wor- ship is one of his chief sources of joy, and music is no small part of worship. The God of the Lat- ter-day Saints loves music, as in- dicated in the references from the Doc. and Cov., and that which Deity delights in must be a factor of happiness. Music has been a theme worthy the pen of the master poets, among whom are Spenser, Shakespeare, and Milton. Music in the Home. — It is a question as to which has added most to the happiness of the home, the incandescent electric lamp, or the phonograph. The former il- luminates our houses, the latter warms our hearts. It is a glorious privilege to have the masters sing or play at our fire sides. Their presence there, if proper recognition is given it, will make jazz music, which is a departure from the correct, unwel- come. Music is mind-food. — Man is not at all what he has, nor is he what he does, he is in a great part what he feels, and he is very much what he enjoys. The decorations of a home often tell more about it than the family record. The class of books found on the center table, and in the library, the grade of the current literature subscribed for, are unmistakable indexes of the grain of the group. None of the standards suggested point more unerringly to the standard of refinement than does the quality of the music enjoyed in the family circle. Merely to have a few high grade records for special display puts the owner in the position of the Indian who kept a newspaper in his wigwam, and held it before him when visit- ors came as a makebelieve that he could read. As the reading of good literature lifts the mind to the appreciation thereof, and a corresponding lack of appreciation tends to lower the entire intellectual and spiritual

150 IMPROVEMENT ERA tone, so listening to classic music will elevate the taste to a plane where appreciation of the best is made possible. When we say classic, do not ex- clude the simple, lasting composi- tions such as "Home, Sweet Home," "Ben Bolt," "Coming Through the Rye," "Swanee Riv- er," "Old Kentucky Home," or any other pure songs of the heart. Music and Misery. — There may be music attuned to misery, but it is not such as was produced by the shepherd's flute where David fed the flocks of Jesse, nor the harp melodies that tamed the anger of Saul and caused the spirits of evil to yield possession of the king. Why the deamons could not withstand the stream of melody that flowed from the strings touched by the fingers of the Lord's anointed, is not a part of scripture, it is enough to know that it was music that exalted angels loved,and that fallen spirits sought to avoid. Whether it was through a recollection of the harmonies heard in the heavens, or that its very nature was in conflict with the character of the rebellious, we may never learn, but we may con- clude that whatever by the name of music creates rejoicing amid iniquity, leads away from, and not towards, the paths of peace or home of happiness. The coup- ling of good music with immoral or irreverent words, or words in any way unworthy its accompaniment, is like chaining innocence to in- famy and compelling it to com- mit crime. Music in Worship. — The open- ing song of a service prepares the way for the invocation. There is need of worship in the soul of one who attends the church only to hear the music. His seeking is ear- entertainment, not devotion. Church music to such may be a factor of happiness, but not a source of spiritual joy. It sometimes happens, however, that the music so touches the hid- den springs of spirituality that they lift out of the subconscious into the conscious the better part of the individual to the extent of driv- ing indifference from the mind, and supplanting it with a feeling of reverence for things divine, so that those who come for entertain- ment only, remain to worship in spirit and in truth. Aside from the preparatory ef- fect on the people present, good music is a call, an effective call, for the presence, the more than av- erage presence, of that something which proceeds from the great di- vine personal center of intelli- gence and love, God's love. The invocation that follows may be more inspired and the sermon more heart reaching, and then the hymn preceding it, will make the benediction more perfect than it would be without the closing hymn. That God loves music we have ample evidence. The birth of his Son was heralded with song. Mu- sic in heaven. Revelation 14:1, 2, 3. "The song of the right- eous is a prayer unto me." Doc. and Cov., 25:12. "Let the earth break forth into singing," Doc. and Cov., 22. "If thou art merry, praise the Lord with singing and with music." 136:28. "Sing this new song," 84: 98.

SOURCES OF JOY AND FACTORS OF HAPPINESS 151 "Gathering in Zion with songs," 101:18. Henry Ward Beecher, in writing of hymns, said: "They are crys- tallized tears or blossoms of joy or holy prayers or incarnated rap- tures, they are the jewels which the church has worn. No other composition is like an experiment- al hymn. Forty years the heart may have been in battle, and one verse shall express the fruit of the whole. * * * If the angels that Jacob saw sang when they ap- peared, then I know that the lad- der which he beheld was but the scale of divine music let down from heaven to earth." Questions and Problems 1. Show how the troubadors were dis- tributors of happiness in their mean- derings from the king's court to the cot- tages of the peasant. 2. Discuss the following as an apropri- ate slogan: For every home, a musical instrument, for every ward, a choir, for every town, a band. 3. Wherein are choirs and band feed- ers of the multitude? 4. "What are the grounds for this asser- tion: Of all people the Latter-day Saints have most need for musical training. 5. Discuss the relative value of music and mathematics in a girl's education, as they are likely to affect the object of her existence. 6. How would the society of the fu- ture be affected by the universal car- yring over of the slogan: Everybody sing. 7. Prescribe for the cure of a taste for degenerating music. 8. We herewith submit a list of twelve records prepared by Professor Florence Jepperson, Professor of Music Brigham Young University. Twelve Records That Should be in Every Home "American Fantasia" (1 and 2) (double faced record) Victor Herbert's Orchestra. "Onward Christian Soldiers" Victor Band. "Love's Old Sweet Song" (violin, flute, and piano) Victor Record. "Caprice Viennoise" (violin solo) Kreisler. "Toreador's Song" (from Carmen Opera) Sung by Gogorza. "O.Rest in the Lord" from "Elijah" Sung by Mme. Culp. "Sol Mio" (My Sunshine) Sung by Caruso. "Hungarian Dance" (No. 5) Brahms Played by Philadelphia Symphony Or- chestra. "Walz Song" (from Opera Romeo and Juliet) Sung by Galli-Curci. "Love's Dream" (Liszt) Victor Her- bert's Orchestra. "Sweet Spirit, Hear My Prayer" (Nea- politan Trio — Violin, harp, and flute). "Silent Night, Holy Night" (Christmas Carol) Either solo by Culp or Schumann-Heink or Neapolitan Trio (violin, harp, and flute).