Hazard of New Fortunes, a — Volume 2 by William Dean Howells
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page 7 of 132 (05%)
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suffer some more; and you'd say, 'She is, rather,' and that would give
him courage, and he'd say, 'I don't mean that she's so very--' 'Of course not.' 'You understand?' 'Perfectly. I see it myself, now.' 'Well, then'---and he'd take your pencil and begin to draw--'I should give her a little more--Ah?' 'Yes, I see the difference.'--'You see the difference?' And he'd go off to some one else, and you'd know that you'd been doing the wishy-washiest thing in the world, though he hadn't spoken a word of criticism, and couldn't. But he wouldn't have noticed the expression at all; he'd have shown you where your drawing was bad. He doesn't care for what he calls the literature of a thing; he says that will take care of itself if the drawing's good. He doesn't like my doing these chic things; but I'm going to keep it up, for I think it's the nearest way to illustrating." She took her sketch and pinned it up on the door. "And has Mr. Beaton been about, yet?" asked her mother. "No," said the girl, with her back still turned; and she added, "I believe he's in New York; Mr. Wetmore's seen him." "It's a little strange he doesn't call." "It would be if he were not an artist. But artists never do anything like other people. He was on his good behavior while he was with us, and he's a great deal more conventional than most of them; but even he can't keep it up. That's what makes me really think that women can never amount to anything in art. They keep all their appointments, and fulfil all their duties just as if they didn't know anything about art. Well, most of them don't. We've got that new model to-day." |
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