Springfield globe-republic. (Springfield, Ohio) 1884-1887, 1886-09-12
THE STUDY OF ART.
PICTURE OF GIRL STUDENTS LIFE
IL A PARIS ATELIER.
Work-A Pleasant Bit of student Life.
SUNDAY Afternoons-Not Lnfeminizcd.


work-A Pleasant Bit of student Life.
Sunday Afternoons-Not Unfeminizcd.
Better than any words uf mine is what one
of these girl students says herself in some
notes which | asked her 10 make for me in
addition to the sketches made by another girl
AT the same atelier | give them just as they
are:
I For any girls coming 10 study art in Paris,
to live as we do in quiet hotel, is far better
and more economical than to board with
French family or pension, unless with wish
TO master the language. Nothing can be
more simple than our habits We have one
room. and We descend to table d'hote when
we choose-not otherwise. We cook our own
breakfast over n spirit lamp at q. III. and go
straight to the atclcr, where we work till =.
Then dejcuner at cremerie and work again
till ) p. III. Returning to our hotel we can
dine if we like, but more often we boil our
kettle. have tea and an egg, and spend the
evening over book. 1t sounds rather
monotonOuS life, Vet we all find it very at
tractiye, and the weeks slip by only too fast.
Even the regular morning walk is pleas
ant. At the hour the Quarter Latin is filed
with street sellers wheeling their stalls about,
housewives marketing i'll their white caps,
and little children in black pinafores mot
white ones being taken to school by their
bonne or garcnn. Streams of men, too on
their way 10 business. a newspaper in one
hand and a roll in the other, imply that hard
working Paris is waking up 10 its daily life.
STUDY OF CHARACTER.
"Our atelier gives us every opportunity for
the study of character In daily work to-
gether most peoples natures are clearly dis
played. There is the elderly spinster, pre-
vented from study in her youth, and always
envying the younger students who have their
life before them Beside her is a patient
artist who has been toiling for years without
making any visible progress but who still
hopes to succeed one day. Another, equally
harlworking. with her whole soul in her
work, scOrls such a thing as outward ap-
pearance, and her dress, once aesthetic, looks
like a worn out role de chambre slowly
melting into Il bundle of rags. But a few
who combine the love of fashion with the
love of art comes here in costumes more
suitel to the Champs Elysees than our
crowded studio, where they are IN serious
danger of rubbing against pallets, knocking
down eaSeis, etc.
"Compauionship is one of the pleasanteSt
bits of student life Our frugal tea parties,
when the hostess bois the kettle and sets the
table, and we all sit round the fire and dis
cusS the last exhibition, especially our own
professors work therein, or the success of
one of US i'll getting into she salon, which is
held as a universal triumph to all COnver-
Sation never flags, for some of us have lived
at the ends of the earth, and can describe
them well, and others are political spirits who
belong to a debating society, and wish to re
construct tine world after their pattern.
which the rest guOd-naturedly but reSolutely
diSappruvc. Then where to spend our Sun
day afternoons is always an important con
sideratiOu. Nearly always we go out Of
town by road or rail, and after six days
spent in the atelier, its close atmosphere reek-
ing with oil and tuIpentine, the smells, sights
and sounds of the country are only too de-
lightfuL
INTERESTED IN WORK
"SuCh are our pleasures; but, after all, the
most interesting thing is our work. Every
Monday We have the excitement of posing the
new model We begin enthusiastically, but
Tuesday, after the professor has criticised our
drawings, our spirits usually sink little
Lower still they get Wednesday and Thurs
day: by Friday, when the second professor
comes, they are usually down at zero. Satur-
day finds us in deepest despair, only comfort
ed by the resolution to do better next week, /
and that day is generally devoted TO water
colors, or pen and ink sketches, or portraits
of some picturesque fellow student, usually
kept as u souvenir when the time for leaving !
the atelcr comes, and the girls who have been
working together all winter 90 their several |
ways, 10 meet again-when and where, who |
knUwst Probably never"
But still they have done good work, poor |
girls, and mingled it with great deal of in |
nocent enjoyment. And though Paris is, |
most will agree, not a desirable place for a |
girl to study in alone, still necessity has no |
law, and i'll community is much safety. Then |
young students seem to so through the ordeal |
unscathed, and, 50 far as | could judge, with |
out being unfeminized For they are work |
ingwomen, and, as they honestly say, have |
mo time" for anything but work 1t Is idle |
leSs which breeds the folles, or worse than |
fOllies, of many young people, teaching them |
to substitute Irritation for love, and the cray
ing for mere admiration instead of that self
devoteincSs which, however sad, is, at least,
more noble than the selfish vanity of a con-
querng beauty. The busy life of a working
woman may harden her little, but it will |
never degrade or deteTiJTatc her.-Harper's !
Bazar.
Photographing Convicts at Alton