Rural

4068

- Ruskin

eley, Cal.; and Spokane, Wash. In 1923,
twelve intermediate credit banks were estab-
lished to assist in the operation of the twelve
land banks. See also UNITED STATES, NEW
DEAL.

Rural Schools. Rural schools may be de-
fined as schools in country districts. Con-
siderable thought has been given in recent
years to the needed reorganization and im-
provement of rural schools by providing bet-
ter buildings and better trained teachers, and
by standardizing schools. But it is recognized
that the problems involved are not educa-
tional merely, but a part of the wider prob-
lem of improving country life in general
throughout the country. To this improve-
ment such organizations as the General Edu-
cational Board and the Division of Rural
Education hi the U. S. Bureau of Education
are bending thsir efforts.

Rusby, Henry Hurd (1855-1940), Amer-
ican botanist, born in Franklin, N. J., and
graduated from New York University (M.D.
1885). From 1888-1930 he was professor of
botany, physiology, and materia medica at
Columbia University, and from 1897 to 1902
was also professor of materia medica al Bel-
levue Hospital Medical College. , In 1907-09
he was connected with the U. S. Bureau of
Chemistry as an expert on drug products. He
has written widely on medical subjects con-
nected with plant life. f ^

Rush, Benjamin (1745-1813), American
physician and patriot. -Elected a member of
the Continental Congress, he signed the Dec-
laration of Independence (1776). In April,
1777, he was appointed surgeon-general, and
in July physician-general, of the Continental
Army. He was a founder of Dickinson Col-
lege, of the Philadelphia dispensary, the first
in the United States, and of the College of
Physicians, and was active in the establish-
ment of public schools.

Rush, Richard (1780-1859), American
lawyer and diplomat, in 1817 was for a short
time acting Secretary of State, and was then
sent as Minister to England, where he re-
mained until 1825.

Rush-Bagot Convention. After the War
of 1813, Sir Charles Bagot signed with Act-
ing Secretary Richard Rush an agreement, re-
vocable at six months' notice, that each na-
tion might build or keep on the Lakes only
four vessels with one i8-pounder each. Rev-
enue cutters and training ships were not
barred. This Convention has never been re-
voked, and during the century of its existence

has been an immense gain toward peace.

Rusk, Jeremiah McLain (1830-93), Am-
erican soldier and legislator, was born in
Morgan co,, 0., and was occupied as a farmer
in early life. In 1871-6 he was a Member of
Congress; in 1881 was elected governor of
Wisconsin, and twice re-elected; and from
1889 to 1893 was the first Secretary ,of the
Department of Agriculture.

Rusk, William (1756-1833), American
sculptor, born hi Philadelphia, the son of a
ship's carpenter. Among his earliest works
were the fine figureheads for the American
frigates United States and Constitution, A
full-length statue of Washington for Inde-
pendence Hall in Philadelphia (1814) is con-
sidered his masterpiece.

Ruskin, John (1819-1900), English author
and art critic, came into general notice with
Modem Painters and other treatises on the
fine arts; in later life he was best known as
a lecturer and essayist on ethics, education,
and philanthropy. He was born in London.
He had long been an admirer of the pictures
of Turner and impatient at the popular mis-
understanding of what he conceived to be the
painter's aims in his later work. Ruskin's in-
terest in architecture produced The Seven
Lamps of Architecture (1849) and The Stones
of Venice. These books were not merely a plea
for Gothic forms in building, but an attempt to
trace the conditions of artistic craftsmanship,
which the author found in the social system
of the Middle Ages. This line of thought was
partly developed in Lectures on Architecture
and Painting, given at Edinburgh in 1853 J in
The Political Economy of Art, lectures at
Manchester in 1857; and in The Two Paths,
in 1859. When the Pre-Raphaelites came into
notice, Ruskin took up their cause, and
promoted it with both his purse and his pen.
Carlyle's influence contributed to develop his
range of thought from art to social and eco-
nomic studies. In December, 1864, Ruskin
addressed Manchester audiences on the use
of books and the influence of women, and
published the discourses as Sesame and Lilies
(1865). At the same time he was writing
his monthly Letters to the Working Men of
Englandt under the title of Fors Clavijera.
In 1871 he bought a cottage—Brantwood, on
Coniston Water—and spent the next four
years chiefly at Coniston, occupied in work
for his St. George's Guild, He promoted* art
classes and home industries — notably the
hand-spinning and weaving of linen. His
Complete Works appeared in, 1904-6.