The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1904-01-10

- opened the discussion. She was
just wiping her brushes preparatory TO put
ting them back into the stone jug for the
rest they had earned.
What blessing it is" she said, Ito be
able to do things with your fingers at this
season of the year OF course, you girls
know that if my living, strictly speaking,
does not depend on my earnings, my ordi-
nary expenses and peace Of mind do. And
over and above living expenses. perhaps my
earnings would not exactly justify trip
to the Orient in winter.
81 made the discovery some years ago
that a woman artists income, if she
doesn't manage to make a good thing of
illustrating or the decorative branches.
might be termed precarious. AS for me. you
know 1 am a frank Observation-Disclosures,
decorating a stein here, making a set Of
Illustrations there. with a decorative panel
and worked-up summer sketch for good
measure. It's revenue first, and art in the
second row hack for me. But for the six
weeks preceding the midwinter holidays
keep my wits sharpened; there are so many
calls on my generosity that it makes me
dizzy TO think of them If it were not for
my brush, my pen and wits. sure do
not know what 1 should do Cry probably,
certainly have a week of the blues, for IT
would be out of the question for me to
balance my gift account. What knowledge
1 do have In a drawing and decorative way
is a sort of good genie to me. 1t makes
pretty nicknacks out of odds and ends you
would never look at, and bits of undecorated
ware that can be picked up for next to
nothing, with the help of friends kiln,
turns into something 1 am not ashamed to
see on the mantel of you who are more
artistic"
Here the matronly visitor spoke up. II
have often wondered, DEAR" she said, why
you do not teach. So many women who
have spent time and money acquiring an
art education and yet fail to find the re-
suits of their training in demand, find teach
ing a source of profit, IL not of glory"
The young woman in the despatched
apron answered with a tragic gesture
"Teaching I've tried il, thank you. and
made dismal failure. 1 am confident
from my experience that teachers must
come qualified. like poets. 1 know that
teaching is acknowledged to be profitable
vocation for the person who fails TO do
things on his own account but my dear,
it saps the nervous energy like trimming
soft naples in March.
"Once on time 1 knew a girl who came
out of her full four-years' course with a
well-trained mediocre talent not worth
tuppence In the market. Perfectly grounded
in the rudiments of drawing and the tech
MICS OF painting. she thought herself pow
erful enough mentally to instill these simple
things in the handbook She tried it, She
started her class, pupils varying in age
and ability from the infant of ten who
hated painting like slow poison. to the lank
and intense youth OF nineteen, with the
untidy hair and the unmistakable talent
well. this girl doled her nerves out at
so much per month, and wore the roots of
them TO ribbons trying to teach art To her
bakers dozen Of students who unanimous
~ laid the blame Of their failure TO ad-
vance on her. Poor thing. she wasn't to
blame: she told me that the only thing
that could possibly make her happy would
be TO refund the money she took that year
under false pretense. Therefore, you see
my dear. that knowing this girl and her
experience, and knowing my gifts for their
true value, conscientiously / couldn't. (She