Lost. Whether or not a particular object will call
forth such an attitude, however, depends upon the
state of mind of the individual at the time.

Our æsthetic pleasure in the successful adjust-
ment to the ordinary things of daily life is more
common than is perhaps realized. Equally fre-
quent is the pain caused by our inability to find a
satisfactory outlet for those responses which are
the expression of our impulses and desires. The
great function of art is to provide this outlet.
When we are beset with perplexities of life which
are beyond our power to solve, and our imagination
is inadequate to create for ourselves a desirable
situation, we turn to the artist who gives us all
that he has and who asks from us little more in re-
turn than that we shall be an echo of his thoughts
and pleasures. It is not surprising, then, that the
artist is so often allowed a social freedom denied
to others, for his joy is the joy in creating and in
the generous sharing of his treasures with others.

In the many and varied forms of art each in-
dividual can find his particular refuge. The strong
and the weak, the rich and the poor, the prude and
the libertine, the prince and the peasant, can one
and all select that form of art in which they can
best realize a harmonious adjustment of the con-
flicting impulses which tend to torture and distort
the soul. Each can find comfort according to his
nature, whether it is in jazz or symphony, melo-
drama or classic tragedy, folk song or polyphonic
prose.

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