The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1895-04-08
IN ART.

omar, the son Oh 6aSSan, mad nVeQ
seventy-fve years in honor and prosperity.
The favor of three successive caliphs had
filed his Golfers with gold and silver.
Young men just entering the serious cur
rent of life were im~portunate to have him
give up the keys of trust and the seals
of secrecy by which he had attained such
eminence. To these he unfolded his plan
of life. In the pell-mell, hurry-scurry of
American life we often miss the mark we
strive to gain. Go about among men and
you will find an unsettled, aimless atti-
tude pervading them. The engineer thinks
he might have done better as a farmer.
The farmer pines for the glories of the
legal world. Fenimore Cooper tried to be
a sailor and General Grant thought he
might succeed as a cavalry general. They
think there is better fishing on the other
side of he creek. So they shift their posi-
ton to find that the finny tribe has fed
to other and remoter regions. Just so
in art. There are the superficial dabblers.
who start well, they love art in a sort OF
n-oncommittal way. but this unprofessional
lack of zeal soon gives place to slackened
effort and we find them settling back in
inaction and oblivion. The matter of self
discipline is severe, unpleasant and often
p Earyl ons spn aanssdls in S art. another rni ! % does se net.
Pursue the successful one back into his Sc
cret methods, into the very holy OF holes
trepid zeal that knows no limits nor bounds;
a persistent forging on through thick and
thin-mostly thin. The science of art is
easily mastered. You may learn the prin-
ciples of drawing IN. an hour, but 1t viii
lake you q long lifetime to master , 10th, the
Nothing new in the elements of art but an
infinite variety of application of old prin-
tires too soon. One of the greatest popu-
lar ~fallacies is that great works OF art are
t t1i in the kingdom Of art. attentiveiy APP
plies every element Of his being and at
the end Of a waning life the Z, aPpiardin as
they would say rather Behold what dill
Ben Franklin hit the logical sequence of
experience when he said in Poor Richards
Almanac Diligence is the mother OF good
luck" We alb want to succeed, but some
would dissipate the idea. from the mind or
the young that by one free stroke of gen.
session of prosperity and rest s~upinely
through all futurity on the fame thus at
that they knew how much. blood it has
cost me" was the soul yearning of Michael
Angelo. when a work OF his so,eaii LED gen,
who can say with the Dutchman. az am
glad when | am going up nil. for 70 ! know
ly'' is a lesson hard for us to learn. The
bee sips the nectar from bloom to bloom,
fixed principle to accumulate provision for
the winter time. The d~ilettante roves about
into the out-of-the-way places in an uIi,
in disappointment and sorrow The true
artist is not the dreamy creature that he
is wont to be pictured in almost forgotten
lore; who sits idly by waiting for the
muses. and myths to move him to action;
who skins the surfaces and keeps aloof
from all serious and deep interests of man
that eccentric, long-haired, mysterious in
diyidual whose personal appearance fills
you with awe; but, instead, he is every inch a
man, Who has a connected, rlethodical sem
sible scheme. lie is a student and he plies
and applies himself along the lines of rea-
sonabie expectations. The summum total of
his life is well-directed energy. When the
nath of life is rough and days grow dark
he expectorates on his hands and clings
to his settled purpose. And to all such the
Way becomes smooth again, the darkened
sky clears away and the sunshine's golden
CLEAN is thrown about. him sgain,he wins.
indianapolis, April 6.