SPEAKING of Puritanism in relation to American art,
Mr. Gutzon Borglum said: "Puritanism has made us
self-centered and hypocritical for so long, that sin-
cerity and reverence for what is natural in our
impulses have been fairly bred out of us, with the
result that there can be neither truth nor individual-
ity in our art."

Mr. Borglum might have added that Puritanism
has made life itself impossible. More than art, more
than estheticism, life represents beauty in a thousand
variations; it is, indeed, a gigantic panorama of
eternal change. Puritanism, on the other hand, rests
on a fixed and immovable conception of life; it is
based on the Calvinistic idea that life is a curse, im-
posed upon man by the wrath of God. In order to
redeem himself man must do constant penance, must.
repudiate every natural and healthy impulse, and
turn his back on joy and beauty.

Puritanism celebrated its reign of terror in Eng-
land during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries,
destroying and crushing every manifestation of art
and culture. It was the spirit of Puritanism which

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