HIS PLACE IN THE WORLD 
But, in considermg 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 
357 
