Evening star., 1927-11-24

In line with the belief recently an
nO,nced in this column that every
one ought to he able to do everything
| the ueAtiOn of drawing abiity oHefs
| Interesting speculation.
The desire to draw comes naturally
to all children yet ii is common OBJ
servation that most little ones cease
| to make any advance in the art after
the sixth or seventh grade in the pub.
lie schools.
| Every child specializes in some one
subject. such AS sailing boats. marine
scenes in general. pretty girls ami
mails. houses. landscapes.
In the DAYS when we were In grade
school the favorite subject of the boys
was the sea picture, particularly the
Yacht. Perhaps the activities Of Sir
Thomas Upton had something to do
with it.
| Girls usually preferred the "pre'ty V
! gill" subject. and no doubt the Glib
son girl" then at the height of her
popularity. had q great deal to do
with their choice.
! Painfully progressing from the first
grade onward, most of the boys got
To the point where they could draw n
very creditabe schooner or other sail
/
| lures of the Constitution and other
mon -of.war of past days.
The Yankee clipper ship, the heroine
Of Cooper's sea tales (Which were very
popular with the boys of that era. As
no doubt they are with the boys Of
today, drew the pencils OF the kids
! TN passing. may we say that we have
no objection to the word kid al
| though we never liked "kiddies?' The
| former is so largely used in convetsa
ton. among all classes, that 1t is more
or less a good Word)
The other day, in an idle moment
we tried our hand again at drawing
A sailing vessel. and discovered. some
what to our amazement. that we coulC
not do "A thing with our old-time ia
vorte subject.
MANY wears have passed over OIL,
head. and in many activities we have
| improved immensely. as perhaps
every one who knows us will admit
hut when it comes 10 drawing Yam
kee clipper ship we are entirely nope
! less in 1927.
As we recall the brave and bcauti
| full ships we drew in sixth grade
behind the cover Of the big geography
| book, we play it up in memory as
| rather neat work with the pencil. Per
| hans il we could actually see some OF
our specimens today we would not
rate our artistic ability of that
| period so high,
The wobbling deck and crooked
masts of our latest production, how
ever, surely would not have passed
muster with fourth-grader. Those
old ships, as memory paints them land
as we believe we did. had straight
lines where straight lines should have
/ been.
The bowsprit stuck out at the
| proper angle, the masts leaned just sc
much. the sails gathered every bit OF
breeze that was blowing on our
painted ocean.
We were particularly pleased with
our waves, we remember Depicting
the ocean with pencil Is no easy
| Job, as any artist will admit. Pen
ciled waves, unless the job were neat
| ly done. had a habit of looking rather
| like terra frma, which was the term
we delighted to use for the earth at
| that period. having just heard it. To
, day we prefer ."earth."
Our oceans looked a great deal like
| water. the highest tribute that can
be paid to any sea picture. IL the
ship appears to he in water instead
| OF sitting on a series of recumbent
earth ripples, the artist has achieved
| his purpose.
As one looks back over these early