Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1901-06-15


tiny room buried in a volume Of Long
fellow when II was easy to see that
she was not having the common
necessities of life. but she was always
bright sand ready to chat about this
| book and that, and the recent art ex-
hibitions. --
1t is a mystery why all the clever
/ girls who do such stunning things. do
not make more of financial success.
Perhaps business head and an
artistic temperament do not belong to
the same mortal. The art students
work like fiends, yet they seem to be
content to drudge on simply for the
sake of making pictures every year.
They do not appear to care how poor
they are or whether or not anyone ever
hears Of their work. Doubtless they
would sell you sketch II you went TO
them, but they would not be likely to
call to see you until you bought some
thing to get rid of them. 1t is seldom.
indeed that one hears of an art stu
dents doing anything but study, no
matter how many years she has been
| in the work. The most talented girl
know has been seven years at the same
school. getting a scholarship year after
!
run a Chinaman. and hoping that
something will turn up so that she
can get to Paris to study. l have
asked at least twenty art students
what they are going to do when they
get through studying. and only one of
them has decided. There is a pros
porous look about that girl that is re-
freShing.
The medical students and the girls
who have gone into the normal schools
of domestic science. dancing. gymnas-
tics and the like. are in some ways 70
be congratulated. They have a definite
time to study and then they are either
graduated or dropped. If they hav"
any business ability they succeed, ana
if not they drop out of sight. The art
and music students have no time limit
put on their work. They study until
they feel they are fitted to do some
thing. To be sure they always study
more or leSS-the work is never ended.
But there does come a time when a
student is also an artist. The music
students seem to have more of the
quality of success oftencr than the art
students. One notices that the young
pianist has a few pupils at very small
rates and that the young singer is in
some chorus choir that pays her one or
two dollars a Sunday. No one ever
heard Of a singer living gypsy style"
for seven years. She would seek
other fields of usefulness first. There
is a young artist in New York who Is
a decided success, a rage" in fact.
| He came to the conclusion early in
the game" as he puts it. thsd he liked
art and good clothes and good living.
He was willing to work but he wanted
something for it. He has worked out
his own salvation. He attended an art
school only three weeks. just long
enough to get himself thoroughly dis
liked. But the people in his class are
still at the school. and doubtless will he
for some time. while he at the age of
twenty-five years is making pictures
for leading magazines. Yet his pic
lures are not so good as those Of my
/ friend who has been studying for
seven years, and who. like So many
other young women. started out poor
and has got into the fatal habit of
staying poor.
There is a strong bond of sympathy ex-
listing between girls who are working
with a purpose. ! was present at the
2
( town in Maine recently. when thu hostess
said. You will be glad to know each
other, am sure. because you are both
I studying music in Boston" That was
enough To make them friends. 1t was
amusing to hear them compare notes
1 ITO think that we should both have lived
on the same street and have been study
ing music one exclaimed. What
shame we did not meet then" said the
other, and do tell me, did YOU have
perfectly dreadful time finding a house
I would IA
piano. have been all over the town and
! never have found but one woman that
cious, saying that she didn't care what
went on in the house since her husband
had taken up the trombone. which he
practsed from eight to ten hours Il day.
Il hope you took her address" said the
first girl: she is worth remembering.
The worst thing | had to contend with
was my wall paper. 1t was old and torn.
and simply killed my watercolorS. and 50
one day | went down town and got hun
dred and fifty sheets of stunning green
drawing paper and lot of thumb tacks.
and fitted the paper on almost anyway.
And doesn't one find the most 'heastly
old furniture and carpets in rented
rooms. After a day room hunting ! felt
as though even life had a marble top on
it.
One of these young women is back in
town now. | went to see her the her
day and found her sitting in. the middle
of the floor with hammer in her hand
, and pieces of wood lying all about her.
How do you do?' she said. come righ
in and don't be frightened. | haven't
suddenly gone to running n saw-mili.
This is only spinning wheel that | got
of fossil up in the h.ils OF New lamp
shire this summer | thought | would b ?
gin another year Of study and starvation
by getting a companion. | am sure the
wheel and | will be congenial friends
that is. if | ever get it together again.
Take this chair. That couch really isn't
safe" We had a lively chat for few
moments wnen she said. "Oh. wouldn't
you like to see my new Kitchen with hot
and cold water. gas range. and all the
comforts of a home?" She had taken a
cracker box. put hinges on the cover so
it opened down. and set it on top of .
trunk in a small store room which was
next to hers. 1t was n most amusing af-
fair. She had driven tacks on the inside
of the box. from which hung cups. The
saucers and plates stood against the back
and the sugar and things she had in neat
with .'all the modern improvements
stood two oil stoves. and above them
huns the dish-pan and n few cook IN"
utensils. This girl tells me she gets yer,
tired Of boarding house fare and that sh,
has decided to get one or two meals 4
day for herself to break the monOtony. '
stayed to luncheon with her and we had
the cOSiest sort of a time. She cooked Il
the store room and served the meal on q
cutting table which she covered with a
dainty cloth.
| There was a member of the fratcrnit,
of students "A few wears ago whose story
| is good illustrate of the loneliness
| often found in the lives of girls who