technic of your art. To acquire fame, you have only to paint pictures of
fast women who have no morals at all--making them appear as innocent
maidens, because they have the price to pay, and, in the eyes of the
world, are of social importance. Put upon your canvases what the world
will call portraits of distinguished citizens--making low-browed
money--thugs to look like noble patriots, and bloody butchers of humanity
like benevolent saints. You need give yourself no uneasiness about your
success. It is easy. Get in with the right people; use your family name
and your distinguished ancestors; pull a few judicious advertising wires;
do a few artistic stunts; get yourself into the papers long and often, no
matter how; make yourself a fad; become a pet of the social autocrats--and
your fame is assured. And--you will be what I am."

The young man, quietly ignoring the humor of the novelist's words, said
protestingly, "But, surely, to portray human nature is legitimate art, Mr.
Lagrange. Your great artists that the West is to produce will not
necessarily be landscape painters or write essays upon nature, will they?"

"To portray human nature is legitimate work for an artist, yes"--agreed
the novelist--"but he must portray human nature _plus_. The forces that
_shape_ human nature are the forces that must be felt in the picture and
in the story. That these determining forces are so seldom seen by the eyes
of the world, is the reason _for_ pictures and stories. The artist who
fails to realize for his world the character-creating elements in the life
which he essays to paint or write, fails, to just that degree, in being an
artist; or is self-branded by his work as criminally careless, a charlatan
or a liar. That one who, for a price, presents a picture or a story
without regard for the influence of his production upon the characters of
those who receive it, commits a crime for which human law provides no
adequate punishment. Being the famous Conrad Lagrange, you understand, I