The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1895-03-23
SOME REASON FOR 1T.

A continuous stream of persons
passed. at the Worlds Fair, through the
| American Department of Fine Arts; and
a lady sitting before some favorite pict-
ures in one of the rooms listened with
no little amusement to the comments
made upon certain small portrait, by
| one of our foremost American artists.
| The picture was of young girl sitting
bolt upright on straight backed chair.
a small hard pillow placed stiffly be-
| tween her back and the chair. The
child had on little blue sack, and
looked out of the canvas with bright,
wistful eyes.
1888. Oh, Sargent! OF course. How
exactly like him, with his continual
mannerisms! To pose the poor child in
that awkward and difficult position!
No girl would ever sit so of her OVID &C.
cord!"-such were the frequent express
sions of the many. Finally, an older
woman, beautifully dressed, her face
alive with intelligence, came, in evident
search Of particular picture. Stopping
before the small head with manifest
satisfaction, she gazed at it long and
earnestly, and turned to her companion
with moist eyes. at is perfect" she
declared. "You know this dear child
has great affliction, hardening of the
spine so that her back is stiff, and this
is the way she habitually sits. She has
a lovely character, as any one may see
shining from her eyes, and Sargent has
translated it to the life; but, without the
| pose he has given her, something would
have seemed lacking. AS it is, it is sim.
ply perfect"
The lady on the bench grew thought
full. Is it always SO, she asked herself
that everything has its explanation?
| that what we condemn as exaggerated
or false is simply something we do not
| understand? that our hasty conclusions
merely stamp us as ignorant, and that
we do not enjoy because we are unable
to appreciate?
She had still a half hour before her
friends should come for her, and. lean
ing back, she opened the magazine she
carried, and read, as if in answer to her
thoughts, an anecdote told by daughter
of Thackeray:
Mrs. Grote, the celebrated wife of the
celebrated historian, was woman utter
ly unconventional. One afternoon,
when my sister and l went to call upon
her, she proposed to take US drive in
her buggy. She put on a gray hat with
green feather and long green veil.
There we're only two seats, so my sister
had to cling on as best she might. and in
this style away we dashed, Mrs. Grote
driving, down Bond Street and through
the crowded Park. We were in high
glee; but Mrs. Grote remarked on the
ill breeding of the English, for they
would stare. 1t never occurred to her
or to me that there was anything to stare
at"
Oh, yes, Mrs. Grote, the lady MUIR
INJURED to herself, there is always some
reason for it. If people stare at you,
look at yourself in mirror; if people do
not like you. ask yourself if you are lika-
BILE; if your accounts do not come right,
look to your addition; if your neignbor
is 'luckier" than you, initiate his courage
or energy or perseverance; if your chill
dren are disrespectful. consider your
training; before you stamp symphony
as dull, inquire if you are a competent
judge of classical music; before you
criticise portrait. think of the charact-
eristics of artist and sitter, of which you
are wholly ignorant.
There is always some reason why!-
The Outlook.