The Gisborne Times PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. GISBORNE, OCT. 11, 1906.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXIII, Issue 1902, 11 October 1906, Page 2

The Gisborne Times PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. GISBORNE, OCT. 11, 1906.

Tjie Stipendiary Magistrate of Auckland, Mr C. C Kettle, had a delicate point to decide in tlio much->talked-of cases against two picture dealers for having sold copies of “ Psyche’s Bath” and 11 Nature’s Mirror.’’ He finds that there was no indecency in the pictures themselves, but still he found it necessary to say that he did not sanction the indiscriminate sale of them to persons of immature age. The decision is puzzling to say the least of it, for we hold that the question of age is not one that should enter into the Magistrate’s consideration in dealing with the aspect of the cases calling for his decision. Works of art are intended for public exhibition, or at least are not to be excluded from the gaze of every member of a family that possesses them, and therefore to suggest that these famous pictures from the brush of a great artist who has occupied the honored position of President of the Koyal Academy should not be seen by everyone, young or old, is to suggest that they are not fit to be

exhibited at all, anil should in conso quonco bo completely hidden from view Having vogard to tho eharaetor of the man who paiutod those pictures and to tho faot that thoy havo boon on view bnforo an admiring populoco of (listinctly moral tondoncioa without proteab or objection, ono is forced to tho conclusion that tho prosocutijii of tho Auckland picture dealers was n mistake, and that tho addendum to the Magistrate'll decision in dismissing tin cases was a superfluity, if not an error of judgment Wo havo not tho smallest sympathy with tho puerile condition of mind that is always looking for evil suggestions in ovoryching with puritanical effeminacy. Tho family circlo, any moro than tl o social hall or gatherings in tho public park, is not sacred to tho prying inquisitive-, ness, fault hndiDg, and whispering of scandals by porsons afltictod with this mental diseaso of prudish self-right-oousnoss, and many infinitely bettor persons of purer character and more sublime habits of thought have suffered untold wrong just because their minds are puro and they act incautiously and unsuspootingly by very reason of their iuuoconco. When it is too late they lind that tho gossiping prude has done tho incalculable wrong without remorse of conscience, and happy lives are rnado miserable. “To the pure all tilings aro puro,” but to the nlltictod, habitual fault-findor nothing appears lo bo pure but their own evil dispositions. ICvon the picture of a groat artist cannot oscapo their slanders, though, poor innocent thing ! it cannot so much an display an artful wink or dance a haka, and a sober Magistrate says you may look at it between your lingers without seeing anything to shock you • but you must not let your children look at it at all. If to such concentrated j udicial wisdom we vontuve to oppose our dissent in the true interests of mental healthfulnoss and real morality, we hope that we too may not be misunderstood as the artist aud his picture and the vivacious society entertainer are too often misunderstood and villified without a cause To guard against that contingency it is necessary to say that there is no attempt heroin to shield the real evil doer, who should be hated with a hatred that is fervent aud strong if the object of his or her intention is to drag others down to the same level. But purity unalloyed does not exist in human naturo, and the pretence of its possession is in itself a self righteous deception. Pure gold is made stronger and more durable by the admixture of alloy, and so it becomes a question of ethics which healthy-minded persona must decide for themselves how much alloy may be safely allowed to enter into tho mind to fortify it against tho attacks of surrounding evil influences. It is a matter, too, for those who have tho responsibility of the proper training of other more youthful minds ; but to lay down tho unbreakable law that ignorauco of evil must be the guide in mental culture is to do that which will inovitably defeat the highest aims. Sir Frederick Leighton’s picture, the subject of the prosecution referred to, is an object lesson for young and old alike in this respect. It is ono in front of which tho mother may instruct her pure-minded daughter in the lessons of grace, simplicity, and innocence without the faintest tinge oi immoral suggestion, for the expression of the features dispels all that, or the father may fittingly discourse to his son upon anatomical proportions, the poetry of motion, sanitation, the development-of our race, idealism in femininity (in all of which the picture would servo as a useful object lesson), and a hundred other subjects without offending the keenest sensibilities of right-mindedness. But once teach the student to look for evil suggestions as the self-righteous prude is in the habit of doing, and he may in time discover obscenity in a naked fish.