Page:War and the Christian Faith.pdf/47

Rh For an example:—I was saying that music is one of the most exquisite and irrational of pleasures. But, if you come to think of it, you will find that all the exquisite things of life, even the exquisite things of material life, are irrational, or, at all events, a-rational; beyond the bounds and limits of the reason. For example; if you kill the fatted calf and wish your friends to share in the feast, you set them at a table covered with the fairest linen, you set flowers and lights about the board, and you and they alike put on a sacred vestment, called "evening dress." Are these ceremonies rational adjuncts to the devouring of roast veal?

And is dancing irrational? And, mounting higher, are romance and poetry rational? Is it reasonable to spend time in reading about Mr.