visionary or a madman. Other works of this practical period are _Time and
Tide, Fors Clavigera, Sesame and Lilies_, and the _Crown of Wild Olive_.

The latter part of Ruskin's life was a time of increasing sadness, due
partly to the failure of his plans, and partly to public attacks upon his
motives or upon his sanity. He grew bitter at first, as his critics
ridiculed or denounced his principles, and at times his voice is as
querulous as that of Carlyle. We are to remember, however, the conditions
under which he struggled. His health had been shattered by successive
attacks of disease; he had been disappointed in love; his marriage was
unhappy; and his work seemed a failure. He had given nearly all his fortune
in charity, and the poor were more numerous than ever before. His famous
St. George's Guild was not successful, and the tyranny of the competitive
system seemed too deeply rooted to be overthrown. On the death of his
mother he left London and, in 1879, retired to Brantwood, on Coniston Lake,
in the beautiful region beloved of Wordsworth. Here he passed the last
quiet years of his life under the care of his cousin, Mrs. Severn, the
"angel of the house," and wrote, at Professor Norton's suggestion,
_Praeterita_, one of his most interesting books, in which he describes the
events of his youth from his own view point. He died quietly in 1900, and
was buried, as he wished, without funeral pomp or public ceremony, in the
little churchyard at Coniston.

WORKS OF RUSKIN. There are three little books which, in popular favor,
stand first on the list of Ruskin's numerous works,--_Ethics-of-the-Dust_,
a series of Lectures to Little Housewives, which appeals most to women;
_Crown of Wild Olive_, three lectures on Work, Traffic, and War, which
appeals to thoughtful men facing the problems of work and duty; and _Sesame
and Lilies_, which appeals to men and women alike. The last is the most
widely known of Ruskin's works and the best with which to begin our
reading.

The first thing we notice in _Sesame and Lilies_ is the symbolical title.
"Sesame," taken from the story of the robbers' cave in the _Arabian
Nights_, means a secret word or talisman which unlocks a treasure house. It
was intended, no doubt, to introduce the first part of the work, called "Of
Kings' Treasuries," which treats of books and reading. "Lilies," taken from
Isaiah as a symbol of beauty, purity, and peace, introduces the second
lecture, "Of Queens' Gardens,