THE WOMBAT. 83 



THE PLAGUE OF " REALISM." 



We are living in an age of ugliness. Insolent ! Cold-blooded ! 

 Practical ! From the school-miss who yearns for curl-papers 

 and tan-boots, to "grave and Reverend Seigneurs "— the 

 pledged exponents of universal beauty in Art, Music and 

 Literature — we have conspired to evolve an ungraceful, 

 utilitarian creation. 



The chief cause of this deplorable state of affairs is, that 

 we have contracted a habit of peering into things. Like the 

 astute undergraduate, who undertook, with the aid of a 

 microscope, to cure his grandfather of eating old cheese, we, 

 as a generation, have become dissatisfied with the old order 

 of things — we would look beneath the surface. Unfortunately, 

 the comparative few who still cling to the old traditions of 

 beauty are too weak to accept the innovation as philo- 

 sophically as the old cheese -eater did : — he simply testified — • 

 after a careful survey of the writhing mass of animalcula — 

 " Ef they can stand it I can," and resumed his meal. 



But our innate, artistic instincts can not " stand it," and 

 we are prone to fall into the error of attempting reformatory 

 measures, instead of allowing the craze to exhaust itself. 

 When the so-called " realistic " painter and sculptor ; the frog- 

 like bicyclist ; and the betrowsered lady — i.e., female— have 

 had their day, it will be time enough for lovers of beauty 

 to bestir themselves. In the meantime they cannot be better 

 employed than in conserving their strength. It may afford 

 us a kind of melancholy satisfaction to know that considerable 

 guile has been used to foist this plague of "realism " upon us. 

 Who ever dreamt, when the wonders of instantaneous photo- 

 graphy first beguiled us, that the day would come when 

 " snap-shots " of a horse-race would be reproduced in our 

 illustrated papers, as the correct appearance of animals in 

 motion ? The crowd jeers, and exclaim " We have done with 

 conventionalism ! here you have the real thing ! " But it is 

 not the " real thing ! " it is merely an infinitesimal part ! It 

 has no artistic value. It is infinitely further removed from 

 true realism than the wildest dream of the conventionalist ! 



"W\ IB. "VsTILTOISr, 



LEATHER MERCHANT & IMPORTER OP GRINDERY, 

 <-€=* RYRIE STREET, GEELONG. ' s $-> 



CASH Purchaser in any quantity of Rabbit and Opossum Skins, Hides, Calfskins, Sheepskins, 

 Horsehair, Beeswax, Tallow, and Wattle-bark. Highest Cash Prices given. 



