Of Heaven or Hell I have no power to sing,
I can not ease the burden of your fears,
Or make quick-coming death a little thing,
Or bring again the pleasure of past years,
Nor for my words shall ye forget your tears,
Or hope again for aught that I can say,
The idle singer of an empty day.
But rather, when aweary of your mirth,
From full hearts still unsatisfied ye sigh,
And feeling kindly unto all the earth,
Grudge every minute as it passes by,
Made the more mindful that the sweet days die,--
Remember me a little then, I pray,
The idle singer of an empty day.
* * * * *
Dreamer of dreams, born out of my due time,
Why should I strive to set the crooked straight?
Let it suffice me that my murmuring rhyme
Beats with light wing against the ivory gate,
Telling a tale not too importunate
To those who in the sleepy region stay,
Lulled by the singer of an empty day.
--_From "The Earthly Paradise"_
[Illustration: WILLIAM MORRIS]
The parents of William Morris were well-to-do people who lived in the
village of Walthamstow, Essex. The father was a London bill-broker,
cool-headed, calculating, practical. In the home of his parents William
Morris received small impulse in the direction of art; he, however, was
taught how to make both ends meet, and there were drilled into his
character many good lessons of plain commonsense--a rather unusual
equipment for a poet, but still one that should not be waived or
considered lightly. At the village school William was neither precocious
nor dull, neither black nor white: his cosmos being simply a sort of
slaty-gray, a condition of being which attracted no special attention from
either his schoolfellows or his tutors. From the village school he went to
Marlborough Academy, where by patient grubbing he fitted himself for
Exeter College, Oxford.
Morris, the elder, proved his good sense by taking no very special
interest in the boy's education. Violence of direction in education falls
flat: man is a lonely creature, and has to work out his career in his own
way. To help the grub spin its cocoon is quite unnecessary, and to play
the part of Mrs. Gamp with the butterfly in its chrysalis stage is to
place a quietus upon its career.
The whole science of modern education is calculated to turn out a good,
fairish, commonplace article; but the formula for a genius remains a
secret with Deity. The great man becomes great in spite of teachers and
parents: and his near kinsmen, being color-blind, usually pooh-pooh the
idea that he is anything more than mediocre. At Oxford, William Morris
fell in with a young man of about his own age, by the name of Edward
Burne-Jones. Burne-Jones was studying theology. He was slender in stature,
dreamy, spiritual, poetic. Morris was a giant in strength, blunt in
speech, bold in manner, and had a shock of hair like a lion's mane. This
was in the year Eighteen Hundred Fifty-three--these young men being
nineteen years of age. The slender, yellow, dreamy student of theology and
the ruddy athlete became fast friends.
"Send your sons to college and the boys will educate them," said Emerson.
These boys read poetry together; and it seems the first author that
specially attracted them was Mrs. Browning; and she attracted them simply
because she had recently eloped with the man she loved. This fact proved
to Morris that she was a worthy woman and a discerning. She had the
courage of her convictions. To elope with a poor poet, leaving a rich
father and a luxurious home--what nobler ambition?
Burne-Jones, student of theology, considered her action proof of
depravity. Morris, in order to show his friend that Mrs. Browning was
really a rare and gentle soul, read aloud to Burne-Jones from her books.
Morris himself had never read much of Mrs. Browning's work, but in
championing her cause and interesting his friend in her, he grew
interested himself. Like lawyers, we undertake a cause first and look for
proof later. In teaching another, Morris taught himself. By explaining a
theme it becomes luminous to us.
In passing, it is well to note that this impulse in the heart of William
Morris to come to the defense of an accused person was ever very strong.
His defense of Mrs. Browning led straight to "The Defense of Guinevere,"
begun while at Oxford and printed in book form in his twenty-fourth year.
Not that the offenses of Guinevere and Elizabeth Barrett were parallel,
but Morris was by nature a defender of women. And it should further be
noted that Tennyson had not yet written his "Idylls of the King,"-at the
time Morris wrote his poetic brief.
Another author that these young men took up at this time was Ruskin. John
Ruskin was fifteen years older than Morris--an Oxford man, too; also, the
son of a merchant and rich by inheritance. Ruskin's natural independence,
his ability for original thinking and his action in embracing the cause of
Turner, the ridiculed, won the heart of Morris. In Ruskin he found a
writer who expressed the thoughts that he believed. He read Ruskin, and
insisted that Burne-Jones should. Together they read "The Nature of
Gothic," and then they went out upon the streets of Oxford and studied
examples at first hand. They compared the old with the new, and came to
the conclusion that the buildings erected two centuries before had various
points to recommend them which modern buildings have not. The modern
buildings were built by contractors, while the old ones were constructed
by men who had all the time there was, and so they worked out their
conceptions of the eternal fitness of things.
Then these young men, with several others, drew up a remonstrance against
"the desecration by officious restoration, and the tearing down of
time-mellowed structures to make room for the unsightly brick piles of
boarding-house keepers."
The remonstrance was sent in to the authorities, and by them duly
pigeonholed, with a passing remark that young fellows sent to Oxford to be
educated had better attend to their books and mind their own business.
Having espoused the cause of the Middle Ages in architecture, these young
men began to study the history of the people who lived in the olden time.
They read Spenser and Chaucer, and chance threw in their way a dog-eared
copy of Mallory's "Morte d' Arthur," and this was still more dog-eared
when they were through with it. Probably no book ever made more of an
impression on Morris than this one; and if he had written an article for
the "Ladies' Home Journal" on "Books That Influenced Me Most," he would
have placed Mallory's "Morte d' Arthur" first.
The influence of Burne-Jones on Morris was marked, and the influence of
Morris on Burne-Jones was profound. Morris discovered himself in
explaining things to Burne-Jones, and Burne-Jones, without knowing it,
adopted the opinions of Morris; and it was owing to Morris that he gave up
theology.
Having abandoned the object that led him to college, Burne-Jones lost
faith in Oxford, and went down to London to study art.
Morris hung on, secured his B.A., and articled himself to a local
architect with the firm intent of stopping the insane drift for modern
mediocrity, and bringing about a just regard for the stately dignity of
the Gothic.
A few months' experience, however, and he discovered that an apprentice to
an architect was not expected to furnish plans or even criticize those
already made: his business was to make detail drawings from completed
designs for the contractors to work from.
A year at architecture, with odd hours filled in at poetry and art, and
news came from Burne-Jones that he had painted a picture, and sold it for
ten pounds.
Now Morris had all the money he needed. His father's prosperity was at
flood, and he had but to hint for funds and they came; yet to make things
with your own hands and sell them was the true test of success.
He had written "Gertha's Lovers," "The Tale of the Hollow Land," and
various poems and essays for the college magazine; and his book, "The
Defense of Guinevere," had been issued at his own expense, and the edition
was on his hands--a weary weight.
Thoreau wrote to his friends, when the house burned and destroyed all
copies of his first book, "The edition is exhausted," but no such
happiness came to Morris. And so when glad tidings of an artistic success
came from Burne-Jones, he resolved to follow the lead and abandon
architecture for "pure art."
Arriving in London he placed himself under the tutorship of Dante Gabriel
Rossetti, poet, dreamer and artist, six years his senior, whom he had
known for some time, and who had also instructed Burne-Jones.
While taking lessons in painting at the rather shabby house of Rossetti in
Portland Street, he was introduced to Rossetti's favorite model--a young
woman of rare grace and beauty. Rossetti had painted her picture as "The
Blessed Damozel," leaning over the bar of Heaven, while the stars in her
hair were seven. Morris, the impressionable, fell in love with the canvas
and then with the woman.
When they were married, tradition has it that Rossetti withheld his
blessing and sought to drown his sorrow in fomentation's, with dark, dank
hints in baritone to the effect that the Thames only could appreciate his
grief.
But grief is transient; and for many years Dante Rossetti and Burne-Jones
pictured the tall, willowy figure of Mrs. Morris as the dream-woman, on
tapestry and canvas; and as the "Blessed Virgin," her beautiful face and
form are shown in many sacred places.
Truth need not be distorted in a frantic attempt to make this an ideal
marriage--only a woman with the intellect of Minerva could have filled the
restless heart of William Morris. But the wife of Morris believed in her
lord, and never sought to hamper him; and if she failed at times to
comprehend his genius, it was only because she was human.
Whistler once remarked that without Mrs. Morris to supply stained-glass
attitudes and the lissome beauty of an angel, the Preraphaelites would
have long since gone down to dust and forgetfulness.
* * * * *
The year which William Morris spent at architecture, he considered as
nearly a waste of time, but it was not so in fact. As a draftsman he had
developed a marvelous skill, and the grace and sureness of his lines were
a delight to Burne-Jones, Rossetti, Holman Hunt, Ford Madox Brown and
others of the little artistic circle in which he found himself.
Youth lays great plans; youth is always in revolt against the present
order; youth groups itself in bands and swears eternal fealty; and life,
which is change, dissipates the plans, subdues the revolt into conformity,
and the sworn friendships fade away into dull indifference. Always? Well,
no, not exactly.
In this instance the plans and dreams found form; the revolt was a
revolution that succeeded; and the brotherhood existed for near fifty
years, and then was severed only by death.
Without going into a history of the Preraphaelite Brotherhood, it will be
noted that the band of enthusiasts in art, literature and architecture had
been swung by the arguments and personality of William Morris into the
strong current of his own belief, and this was that Art and Life in the
Middle Ages were much lovelier things than they are now.
That being so, we should go back to medieval times for our patterns.
A study of the best household decorations of the Fifteenth Century showed
that all the furniture used then was made to fit a certain apartment, and
with a definite purpose in view.
Of course it was made by hand, and the loving marks of the tool were upon
it. It was made as good and strong and durable as it could be made. Floors
and walls were of mosaic or polished wood, and these were partly covered
by beautifully woven rugs, skins and tapestries. The ceilings were
sometimes ornamented with pictures painted in harmony with the use for
which the room was designed. Certainly there were no chromos and the
pictures were few and these of the best, for the age was essentially a
critical one.
A modest circular was issued in which the fact was made known that "a
company of historical artists will use their talents in home decoration."
Dealers into whose hands this circular fell, smiled in derision, and the
announcement made no splash in England's artistic waters. But the leaven
was at work which was bound to cause a revolution in the tastes of fifty
million people.
Most of our best moves are accidents, and every good thing begins as
something else. In the beginning there was no expectation of building up a
trade or making a financial success of the business. The idea was simply
that the eight young men who composed the band were to use their influence
in helping one another to secure commissions, and corroborate the views of
doubting patrons as to what was art and what not. In other words, they
were to stand by one another.
Ford Madox Brown, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Burne-Jones and Arthur Hughes
were painters; Philip Webb an architect; Peter Paul Marshall a
landscape-gardener and engineer; Charles Joseph Faulkner, an Oxford don,
was a designer, and William Morris was an all-round artist--ready to turn
his hand to anything.
These men undertook to furnish a home from garret to cellar in an artistic
way.
Work came, and each set himself to help all the others. From simply
supplying designs for furniture, rugs, carpets and wall-paper they began
to manufacture these things, simply because they could not buy or get
others to make the things they desired.
Morris undertook the entire executive charge of affairs, and mastered the
details of half a dozen trades in order that he might intelligently
conduct the business. The one motto of the firm was, "Not how cheap, but
how good." They insisted that housekeeping must be simplified, and that we
should have fewer things and have them better. To this end single pieces
of furniture were made, and all sets of furniture discarded. I have seen
several houses furnished entirely by William Morris, and the first thing
that impressed me was the sparsity of things. Instead of a dozen pictures
in a room, there were two or three--one on an easel and one or two on the
walls. Gilt frames were abandoned almost entirely, and dark-stained woods
were used instead. Wide fireplaces were introduced and mantels of solid
oak. For upholstery, leather covering was commonly used instead of cloth.
Carpets were laid in strips, not tacked down to stay, and rugs were laid
so as to show a goodly glimpse of hardwood floor; and in the dining-room a
large, round table was placed instead of a right-angled square one. This
table was not covered with a tablecloth; instead, mats and doilies were
used here and there. To cover a table entirely with a cloth or spread was
pretty good proof that the piece of furniture was cheap and shabby; so in
no William Morris library or dining-room would you find a table entirely
covered. The round dining-table is in very general use now, but few people
realize how its plainness was scouted when William Morris first introduced
it.
One piece of William Morris furniture has become decidedly popular in
America, and that is the "Morris Chair." The first chair of this pattern
was made entirely by the hands of the master. It was built by a man who
understood anatomy, unlike most chairs and all church pews. It was also
strong, durable, ornamental, and by a simple device the back could be
adjusted so as to fit a man's every mood.
There has been a sad degeneracy among William Morris chairs; still, good
ones can be obtained, nearly as excellent as the one in which I rested at
Kelmscott House--broad, deep, massive, upholstered with curled hair, and
covered with leather that would delight a bookbinder. Such a chair can be
used a generation and then passed on to the heirs.
Furnishing of churches and chapels led naturally to the making of
stained-glass windows, and hardly a large city of Christendom but has an
example of the Morris work.
Morris managed to hold that erratic genius, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, in
line and direct his efforts, which of itself was a feat worthy of record.
He made a fortune for Rossetti, who was a child in this world's affairs,
and he also made a fortune for himself and every man connected with the
concern.
Burne-Jones stood by the ship manfully, and proved his good sense by never
interfering with the master's plans, or asking foolish, quibbling
questions--showing faith on all occasions.
The Morris designs for wall-paper, tapestry, cretonnes and carpets are now
the property of the world, but to say just which is a William Morris
design and which a Burne-Jones is an impossibility, for these two strong
men worked together as one being with two heads and four hands. At one
time, I find the firm of Morris and Company had three thousand hands at
work in its various manufactories, the work in most instances being done
by hand after the manner of the olden time. William Morris was an avowed
socialist long before so many men began to grow fond of calling themselves
Christian Socialists. Morris was too practical not to know that the time
is not ripe for life on a communal basis, but in his heart was a high and
holy ideal that he has partially explained in his books, "A Dream of John
Ball" and "News From Nowhere," and more fully in many lectures. His
sympathy was ever with the workingman and those who grind fordone at the
wheel of labor. To better the condition of the toiler was his sincere
desire. But socialism to him was more of an emotion than a well-worked-out
plan of life. He believed that men should replace competition by
Co-operation. He used to say: "I'm going your way, so let us go hand in
hand. You help me and I'll help you. We shall not be here very long, for
soon, Death, the kind old nurse, will come and rock us all to sleep--let
us help one another while we may." And that is about the extent of the
socialism of William Morris.
There is one criticism that has been constantly brought against Morris,
and although he answered this criticism a thousand times during his life,
it still springs fresh--put forth by little men who congratulate
themselves on having scored a point.
They ask in orotund, "How could William Morris expect to benefit society
at large, when all of the products he manufactured were so high in price
that only the rich could buy them?"
Socialism, according to William Morris, does not consider it desirable to
supply cheap stuff to anybody. The socialist aims to make every
manufactured article of the best quality possible. It is not how cheap can
this be made, but how good. Make it as excellent as it can be made to
serve its end. Then sell it at a price that affords something more than a
bare subsistence to the workmen who put their lives into its making. In
this way you raise the status of the worker--you pay him for his labor and
give him an interest and pride in the product. Cheap products make cheap
men. The first thought of socialism is for the worker who makes the thing,
not the man who buys it.
Work is for the worker.
What becomes of the product of your work, and how the world receives it,
matters little. But how you do it is everything. We are what we are on
account of the thoughts we have thought and the things we have done. As a
muscle grows strong only through use, so does every attribute of the mind,
and every quality of the soul take on new strength through exercise. And
on the other hand, as a muscle not used atrophies and dies, so will the
faculties of the spirit die through disuse.
Thus we see why it is very necessary that we should exercise our highest
and best. We are making character, building soul-fiber; and no rotten
threads must be woven into this web of life. If you write a paper for a
learned society, you are the man who gets the benefit of that paper--the
society may. If you are a preacher and prepare your sermons with care, you
are the man who receives the uplift--and as to the congregation, it is all
very doubtful.
Work is for the worker.
We are all working out our own salvation. And thus do we see how it is
very plain that John Ruskin was right when he said that the man who makes
the thing is of far more importance than the man who buys it. Work is for
the worker.
Can you afford to do slipshod, evasive, hypocritical work? Can you afford
to shirk, or make-believe or practise pretense in any act of life? No, no;
for all the time you are molding yourself into a deformity, and drifting
away from the Divine. What the world does and says about you is really no
matter, but what you think and what you do are questions vital as Fate. No
one can harm you but yourself. Work is for the worker. And so I will
answer the questions of the critics as to how society has been benefited
by, say, a William Morris book: