"
"Certainly, certainly, my dear. What we should strive for is
originality--American originality; but soberly, slowly. Art is evolved
painfully, little by little; it can't be bought ready-made at shops for
the asking like tea and sugar. If we invite designs for the new church,
we shall give the youths of the country who have ideas seething in their
heads a chance to express themselves. Who knows but we may unearth a
genius?"
"Who knows?" echoed Selma, with her spiritual look. "Yes, you are right,
Mrs. Taylor. I will help you. As you say, there must be hundreds of
young men who would like to do just that sort of thing. I know myself
what it is to have lived in a small place without the opportunity to
show what one could do; to feel the capacity, but to be without the
means and occasion to reveal what is in one. And now that I understand
we really look at things the same way, I'm glad to join with you in
making Benham beautiful. As you say, we women can do much if we only
will. I've the greatest faith in woman's mission in this new,
interesting nation of ours. Haven't you, Mrs. Taylor? Don't you believe
that she, in her new sphere of usefulness, is one of the great moving
forces of the Republic?" Selma was talking rapidly, and had lost every
trace of suspicious restraint.
Pages:
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53