THROUGH LIBRARY WINDOWS 175 



the right colorings of nature, textures and quali- 

 ties, always so discriminating, so loyal to the 

 true spirit of art, it was a real joy to listen to 

 them. Gradually they were drawn into a dis- 

 cussion of the real merits of the impressionistic 

 school of artists and their work. The discus- 

 sion was spirited and all took part in it, but woe 

 to the luckless one who sided too sympatheti- 

 cally with the extremists. How clear and keen 

 the critcisms of Fitz, who told us that the eyes 

 vary more widely in the way they see than do 

 the cameras, that the realism of nature is ever 

 variable as the angle of incidence, no two per- 

 sons see alike that the same landscape painted 

 by two of the famous Barbizon artists gave two 

 different pictures, that the standard "true to 

 nature" varies as the individuals and as the 

 country in which they live; all art is more or 

 less provincial and especially significant of its 

 environment, that a work of art appeals more 

 strongly to its own people than to any other, 

 and so for an hour this artistic discussion ran on 

 most profitably. Captain Waldron, a lover of 

 art and possessed of a poetical temperament, 

 gave us some word picturings of old ocean in 

 calm and storm, and at times his descriptions 

 were thrilling. Mr. Baer extemporized an 

 easel, and in a most sprightly way sketched 



