be--cry 'halt,' art may get a chance here and there to assert herself.
Look at this," she said, gliding across the room and holding up a small
vase of exquisite shape and coloring, "I picked it up on the other side
and it stands almost for a lost art. The hands and taste which wrought
it represent the transmitted patience and skill of hundreds of years. We
like to rush things through in a few weeks on a design hastily conceived
by a Mr. Pierce because we are so earnest. Now, we won't do it this
time, will we?"

"No, we won't," said Selma. "I see what you mean. I was afraid at first
that you didn't give us credit for the earnestness--for the ethical
part. That's the first thing, the great thing according to my idea, and
it's what distinguishes us from foreigners,--the foreigners who made
that vase, for instance. But I agree with you that there's such a thing
as going too fast, and very likely some of the buildings here aren't all
they might be. We don't need to model them on foreign patterns, but we
must have them pretty and right."

"Certainly, certainly, my dear. What we should strive for is
originality--American originality; but soberly, slowly. Art is evolved
painfully, little by little; it can't be bought ready-made at shops for
the asking like tea and sugar. If we invite designs for the new church,
we shall give the youths of the country who have ideas seething in their
heads a chance to express themselves. Who knows but we may unearth a
genius?"

"Who knows?" echoed Selma, with her spiritual look. "Yes, you are right,
Mrs. Taylor. I will help you. As you say, there must be hundreds of
young men who would like to do just that sort of thing. I know myself
what it is to have lived in a small place without the opportunity to