In Winter Quarters 



Dame, but few will venture to talk 

 pediments or flying buttresses to archi- 

 tects. I hear the entire pathetic story 

 of "Thais" in that soul-sweeping 

 "Meditation," but some one else will 

 have to write of symphonies, chro- 

 matic scales and orchestration. Any- 

 one may stand uncovered in the pres- 

 ence of the immortal canvasses and 

 marbles of the world of art, but not 

 every one can tell the story of either 

 Leonardo or Praxiteles. 



You therefore who understand the 

 sculptor's art, that power supreme of 

 calling forth the spirits that dwell all 

 unknown to common folk within the 

 rough Carrara blocks, spare me your 

 all-unnecessary anathemas when I con- 

 fess that to my own untutored mind 

 the greatest statue in the world is just 

 Canova's Perseus ; that my large photo 

 of it is my one chief household god, 

 and I do not care to have my idol 

 broken. It matters little to the world 

 that this is so. But it means a lot to 



