HIS PLACE IN THE WORLD 



But, in considering Mr. Burbank's place 

 in the world, it must steadily be borne in 

 mind that he is primarily not a mere recorder 

 or reporter of facts. Two men stand in the 

 presence of a great historic event, it may 

 be the signing of a treaty for international 

 peace, or the elevation of a prelate of the 

 church, or the inauguration of a president, 

 or the crowning of the King in the historic 

 Abbey by the slow -moving Thames. One 

 man carries a camera, the most perfect of 

 its kind, ready to reproduce everything that 

 transpires, accurate to the verge of painfulness. 

 The other is making mental, and, so far as 

 may be, manual sketches upon paper, the 

 basis of future action ; one is a photographer ; 

 the other a painter. One gives a record of 

 the event, exact to a nicety, perfect in detail, 

 truthful in outward exposition, but as devoid 

 of soul as the sensitized plate upon which 

 the scene is printed ; the other paints a 

 masterpiece in which the splendid scene 

 reappears in its proper perspective with 

 non-essentials eliminated, with essentials in 

 proportion, and, over all and through all, 

 the very soul and spirit of a noble historic 



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