THE WORKSHOP 



115 



in a rudimentary sort of way, if I have any piece of 

 plain carpenter's work to do, other than the roughest 

 trifle, I take it to a carpenter, because, though it is 

 worth my while to have a general knowledge of how a 

 thing is done, it is not the least worth my while, indeed 

 it would be an absurd waste of time, to put it myself 

 into practice. But the same class of operation that 

 the skilled workman performs in doing any job of 

 plain work may be applied to some piece of decoration 

 that I wish to design and carry out, and that the car- 

 penter cannot possibly do ; because, though every detail 

 of manipulation he could do better than I, yet I, having 

 a certain degree of training in the fine arts and he 

 having none, he cannot, as it were, make the tool 

 speak the same language. 



In many cases the result required of the trained 

 workman is absolutely destructive of good effect. As 

 one example, I think of the finishing of the large mass 

 of silversmith's work, such as in all but the very best 

 houses, is the only thing presented to the public. In 

 nearly every case the brilliant polish of the burnisher, 

 and the frosted surface given by the acid bath, are so 

 much overdone, that no portion of the piece shows the 

 true quality of a pure silver surface. 



But the cause that is most certainly destructive to 

 artistic value is the passing of the piece through many 

 hands, so that the finished article is not any one man's 

 work, but only the lifeless product of the many depart- 

 ments of a factory. This, in addition to a low standard 



