I have
done. Pynsent knows my work, too, every line of it. I ask you both: Am I
wasting my time?'

"Neither answered.

"'No mediocre success will content me,' continued Mark. 'I ask you again:
Am I wasting my time?'

"'Yes,' said the master gruffly. He put on his hat and went out.

"'He's not infallible,' Pynsent muttered angrily.

"'Then you advise me to go on? No, you are too honest to do that. I shall
not go on, Pynsent; but I do not regret the last three years. They would
have been wasted, indeed, if they had blinded me to the truth concerning
my powers.'"

WHEN THE DIVINE FIRE IS NOT AFLAME

The art schools of Paris! History, fiction, reminiscence, your own
knowledge, perhaps your own experience, join in piling mountain-high the
tale of wasted years, blasted ambitions, broken hopes and shattered
ideals. Worse than this, perhaps, they tell of homes, galleries and shops
disfigured with mediocre work and criminally hideous daubs.

The music studios of Paris, Berlin, New York, and other large cities, the
schools of dramatic art, the theological seminaries, and the departments
of literature in our universities could add their sad testimony.
Theatrical managers, editors of magazines, publishers, art dealers, and
lyceum bureaus are besieged by armies of aspiring misfits.

Probably there is no more difficult and hazardous undertaking in all the
experience of the vocational counsellor than that presented by people of
this type. The mere fact that a young man has painted scores of pictures
which have been rejected has no bearing on the case. Artistic and literary
history is studded with the glorious names of those who struggled through
years of failure and rejection to final success. This is, in fact, true of
nearly all of the great artists and writers. True, the mere dictum of any
authority, however high, would have very little effect in turning the true
creative artist from his life work, but what a pity it would have been if
Richard Mansfield, Booth Tarkington, Mark Twain, and a host of others had
paid any attention to the advice of those who told them they never could
succeed! And yet, unless the vocational counsellor can encourage and urge
on those who have the divine spark, and turn back from their quest those
who have it not, he has failed in one of his most important tasks.

ELEMENTS OF SUCCESS IN ART

Let us, therefore, examine some of the elements of success in art. We have
seen that the born arti