TO THE BOYS AND GIRLS OF AMERICA
THIS BOOK
WHICH RECORDS WHAT SOME OF THEM HAVE DONE
IS HOPEFULLY DEDICATED
Some pure lovers of art discard the formula, _Art for Progress,
the Beautiful Useful_, fearing lest the useful should deform the
beautiful. They tremble to see the drudge's hand attached to the
muse's arm. They are solicitous for the sublime if it descends
as far as to humanity. Ah! they are in error. The useful, far
from circumscribing the sublime, enlarges it.... Is Aurora less
splendid, clad less in purple and emerald--suffers she any
diminution of majesty and of radiant grace, because, foreseeing an
insect's thirst, she carefully secretes in the flower the dewdrop
needed by the bee?
Victor Hugo.