And shall labor and education, literature and science, religion
and the press, sustain an institution which is their deadly foe?
The discussion will be continued in my next letter.
R. J. WALKER.
PALMER, THE AMERICAN SCULPTOR.
Sculpture as an art is probably anterior to painting. Form being a
simpler quality than color, the means of imitation were found in a
conformity of shape rather than hue. The origin of sculpture is somewhat
obscured in the thickening mists of antiquity, but it was no doubt one
of the earliest symbols of ideas made use of by man. In fact, in its
primitive development, there is considerable evidence to show that it
was the first essay at a recorded language. The Egyptian hieroglyphics,
those mysterious etchings upon the rock, representing animals, men, and
nondescript characters, were unquestionably rude attempts to hand down
to posterity some account of the great events of those forgotten ages.
The next remove in the history of this art is its employment in the
production of the images of idolatrous worship; and, when confined to
this purpose, it never attained any appreciable excellence. The purely
heathen mind was incapable of conceiving those forms of ideal beauty
which are born of the contemplation of a divine and spiritual beauty
revealed in the word of God and the teachings of his immaculate Son.
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