"
Mr. Wain believes there is a great future for black and white work if a
man is careful to keep abreast of the times. "A man should first of all
create his public and draw upon his own fund of originality to sustain
it," he says, "taking care not to pander to the degenerate tendencies
which would prevent his work from elevating the finer instincts of the
people." Says a recent visitor to the Wain household: "I wonder if Peter
realizes that he has done more good than most human beings, who are
endowed not only with sense but with brains? if in the firelight, he
sees the faces of many a suffering child whose hours of pain have been
shortened by the recital of his tricks, and the pictures of himself
arrayed in white cravat, or gayly disporting himself on a 'see-saw'? I
feel inclined to wake him up, and whisper how, one cold winter's night,
I met a party of five little children, hatless and bootless, hurrying
along an East-end slum, and saying encouragingly to the youngest, who
was crying with cold and hunger, 'Come along: we'll get there soon.' I
followed them down the lighted street till they paused in front of a
barber's shop, and I heard their voices change to a shout of merriment:
for in the window was a crumpled Christmas supplement, and Peter, in a
frolicsome mood, was represented entertaining at a large cats'
tea-party. Hunger, and cold, and misery were all dispelled. Who would
not be a cat of Louis Wain's, capable of creating ten minutes' sunshine
in a childish heart?"
Mr.
Pages:
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170