ART- FROM A PRACTICAL STANDPOINT. 431 



fashion of the day is for the feminine world to spend its leisure hours in the pur- 

 suit of art, though these same women seem not to have the slightest idea of mak- 

 ing a study of what is to them only amusement. 



They have, as a rule, no knowledge of the art of former centuries and epochs, 

 almost none of that of to-day, their taste is fed and formed solely l^y the inartis- 

 tic surroundings of American exteriors; they know nothing, or almost nothing, of 

 drawing, perspective or coloring, are incapable of drawing the simplest object 

 correctly from the life, and do not dream of originating either conceptions, plans, 

 or even the worst rudimentary drawings for their work. No matter what kind of 

 art work they do, it cannot help but be viciously executed, since it is begotten 

 and bred up in ignorance, and it not only ruins the taste of its authors and ob- 

 servers, but occasions a waste of time which is frightful to contemplate, because 

 it might have been so employed as to bring a rich return both to the individual 

 and the world. The hours which women spend upon the fancy work called 

 "art," are precious possibilities dropped into a gulf of oblivion, which swallows 

 up not only the souls of the perpetrators but sometimes numberless other inno- 

 cent and helpless ones dependent upon them for the consolations of an enlighten- 

 ment, which to many human beings can only come from personal contact and 

 inspiration. 



I have heard of a woman who wears a whole dress of "rick-rack," and has 

 no idea of the infamy sewed into it; of another who sends her children to a ques- 

 tionable kindergarten to " keep them out of mischief," while she spends hours of 

 every week in embroidering designs copied from advertising cards, or in painting 

 Cupids, heroes and goddesses, with muscles and members in such perplexing con- 

 fusion that a Greek could only look at them and die. Many a woman ruins 

 health and life, and perhaps deprives herself of the sweet blessings of motherhood 

 for just such folly as this, and never wakes up to the fact that a real love of art 

 and devotion to it would lift her into an intellectual region where each one of 

 her follies and prejudices would assume a quite different aspect, and might draw 

 her into the fields where the winds and breezes could blow away her frivolities 

 and sweep into her mind a little of their own freshness. 



"But what shall we do with ourselves ? " says some fair devotee of art needle- 

 work, for in spite of eating cares and unskillful Bridgets, the women of to-day 

 have more time to spend as they choose than did our grand-mothers. We 

 answer, paint and sew, and pound brass, if need be, but do it intelligently, and 

 with a wide-eyed independence which will put an effectual end to servile 

 copying and ignorant imitation. There is, perhaps, no study among the many 

 which women can pursue nowadays, which would be richer in results than that 

 of art, rightly pursued, and none more unfortunate in its general results, as it is 

 followed at present. 



Every woman who wishes to do even the simplest painting or embroidery, 

 should teach herself to draw with such skill as will enable her so to change and 

 combine designs and patterns that she will not be forced to depend upon slavish 

 copying for the idea and soul of her work. In any kind of art-work the charm 



