

canvas is not the only way we ought to be studying Art. We must, 

 to be successful, make it a part of our lives, and it is astonishing how 

 it engrosses our whole being, and what a joy and delight this mental 

 analysis of tone and form will become. 



Not even the busiest of us can say we have no time for it. As we 

 pursue our daily work, as we pass on our way through even dull and 

 uninteresting surroundings, there is much to see, and the commonest 

 objects can become things of interest and beauty. 



Some years ago some very beautiful lunettes by the late Edwin 

 Abbey, R.A., were exhibited in London prior to their departure for 

 America, to adorn the dome of the Capitol of Pennsylvania. If I 

 remember rightly, they were subjects representing the industries of 

 the New World ; and one, especially beautiful, represented the Spirits of 

 the Earth bringing the riches of the oil wells to the surface of the world. 

 The idea was, of course, expressed allegorically. Beautiful female 

 forms with brilliant lights in their hands were rising from the ground, 

 and the effect of their light, transparent, white draperies, showing a 

 lovely, soft, indescribable blue against a clear sunset sky, was masterly 

 and wonderful. 



A short time after I was in a smokj- suburban park at the evening 

 hour. Near by, one of our big main lines of railwav- passes over a high 

 embankment. A northern express rushed past, and there, against the 

 luminous sky, those clouds and wreaths of steam from the engine gave 

 me just the same effect I have tried to describe above, while the like- 

 ness to that beautiful picture was still further enhanced by the flickering 

 lights just appearing in the houses and streets near. One could forget 

 the prosaic side of the picture: the kindly indefiniteness of the shades 

 of approaching night had transformed those sordid-looking and ugly 



