things, my Father, but I believe that you are right.”

Kiar stroked his thick, short beard, and said:

"Now, truly, my Daughter, whether or no I be a wise king, though, as you say, of course there have been persons kind enough to consider, and in petitions, too However, but be that as it may, and putting aside the fact that everybody likes to be appreciated, I can imagine no gift which would at this high season be more acceptable to any husband than the ashes of that magical robe."

"This is a saying," Olrun here declared, "well worthy of King Kiar; and I have often wondered at your striking way of putting things."

"That, too, is a gift," Kiar said, with proper modesty, "which to some persons is given, and to others not; so I deserve no credit for it. But, as I was saying when you interrupted me, my dear, it is well for youth to have its fling, because, as I have often thought, we are young only once; and so I have not ever criticized your jauntings in far lands. But a husband is another pair of shoes. A husband does not like to have his wife flying about the tree-tops and the tall, lonely mountains and the low, long marshes, with nobody to keep an eye on her, and that is the truth of it. So, were I in your place, and wise enough to listen to the old father who loves you, and who is wiser than you, my dear-why, now that you are about to marry, I would destroy this feather and this robe in one red fire, if only Count Manuel will agree to it. For it is

he who now has power over all your possessions, and not I."

"Count Manuel," said Olrun, with that lovely, tranquil smile of hers, "you perceive that my father is insistent, and it is my duty to be guided by him. I do not deny that, upon my father's advice, I am asking you to let perish a strong magic which many persons would value above a woman's pleading. But I know now"-her eyes met his, and that which Manuel found in the eyes of Olrun was to him a joy well nigh intolerable"but I know now, very certainly, that you, who are to be my husband, and who have brought wisdom into one kingdom and piety into another, have brought love into the third kingdom; and I perceive that this third magic is a stronger and a nobler magic than that of the Apsaras. And it seems to me that you and I would do well to dispense with anything which is second rate."

"I am of the opinion that you are a singularly wise woman," said Manuel, "and I am of the belief that it is far too early for me to be crossing my wife's wishes in a world wherein all our sins are nourished by our beliefs."

All being agreed, the Yule log was stirred up into a blaze, which was duly fed with the goose-feather and the robe of the Apsaras. Thereafter the trumpets sounded a fanfare to proclaim that the king's collops were cooked and peppered, his wine-casks broached, and his puddings steaming. Then the former swineherd went in to share his Christmas dinner with the king's daughter Olrun, whom people everywhere had called the Unattainable Princess.

I. SCULPTURE AND ARCHITECTURE

W

HEN the results of human endeavor have been misapplied, they must be either destroyed and built up anew or they mustbedirected into their proper channels. We must admit that during the war science and invention have carried the whole world completely beyond control. Before the war, science had raised itself steadily to the level of the arts; with the coming of the war, it was employed to destroy; in other words, a great human work was being misapplied.

During the winter of 1917 the art schools all over America were losing their students; the men were volunteering for the army, to take up work entirely opposite and contradictory to their chosen professions. They unselfishly thrust from their minds the thought of their art. Instead, they devoted themselves to the employment of military science with all its resources, so as to reëstablish civil science in its legitimate constructive human purpose.

In anticipation of the end of the war, which we knew must ultimately come, it was quite natural that the Y. M. C. A., which had already taken up educational work in the hospitals and rest camps, should prepare to avail itself of the wider opportunities which would open when peace came. From the beginning,

through their war organization, instructors were constantly being sent about, in order to prevent the men from losing all contact with their peace-time habits of study and mental development.

An army of two million Americans in Europe, under control of our Government, was placed in a peculiar position when the fighting was finished; that is, it remained under military discipline, thus giving to those interested an ideal opportunity to develop an army educational scheme unheard of and without precedent.

The War Department thereupon united with the Y.M.C.A., and together they secured a building admirably adapted to house under one roof the various departments of the School of Fine Arts. The site was perfect, and within easy reach of Paris, with its stupendous wealth of rare works of art. The French Minister of Fine Arts, specialists in the history of the arts, and all the government schools of France gave freely every assistance possible.

The French masters in different branches of the fine arts opened their studios, so that the young student could see with his own eyes great works in the process of making. Time was short, but the mind of the soldier was ready to receive, and the unselfish effort to give and help in this work was a joy and a privilege to the teachers. With this spirit permeating the faculty, the

students were quickly assigned to their respective classes as soon as they reported.

There are two kinds of aspirants that take up the study of the fine arts: the first is the worker, who gives his ideals concrete form, puts them into motion, and passes them on intothe world, where they follow their natural evolution; the second is the student who spends all his time pondering and dreaming over his ideals. This happens only when the mind and body are still in a very nebulous state. To force one's esthetic ideals into materialization means persistent effort. There were no idle dreamers in the Bellevue School, or, if there were, they were quickly awakened by the stimulating daily routine, which had just enough military snap back of it to act as a bracer.

The soldier-student upon his arrival was first astonished, then overjoyed. He would throw down his pack at the door and wonder if it was really true. This hesitation, however, lasted only a moment. A little later it would have been impossible to distinguish him from the rest of the student group, for he soon became as absorbed in his work as those ahead of him. No chance or thought of dreamy idleness, or questioning of his military orders, could possibly enter his mind; for he soon realized that the Government

had

planned three short months for him, and was not only giving him the masters, but also the time and the tools. When our students entered their classrooms, they found all necessary supplies: each architect was given a new drawing-board, mathematical instruments, and pencils; the painter, a fresh paint-box, tubes of paint, canvas, and easels; the sculptor his clay and modeling-stands. They were not only enabled to study, but actually were paid to study the professions they loved and which they had willingly shelved to enter the war. The man who had been at the front had suffered, and he had seen his companions shot down around him; was there any reason why his life should have been spared or that he should ever have got back again to the study of art? It seemed to be a dream. No one can realize the great joy of the soldier who had staked everything and won, and who suddenly found himself in a well-equipped studio, one of hundreds of comrades, some working over their drawing-boards, some on their canvas, and others with clay, each trying to give form to ideals which he thought he had lost.

The students of architecture and sculpture respectively followed their special studies in separate classes, but they combined in the study of architectural monuments of France: that is, the

châteaux, churches, municipal buildings, art palaces, and city residences. The constructive and ornamental features, and the settings of these monuments in relation to their surroundings, offered invaluable material for both sculptors and architects.

During their course of instruction the students of architecture were given the opportunity of seeing and analyzing buildings in their finished state, and it proved for them an exhilarating experience. With the lines of construction, composition, ornamentiation, and setting actually before them, the teachers were better equipped to explain the points of vital interest found in the magnificent creations of the old masters.

Study trips were planned and conducted by thoroughly competent instructors, men who in previous years had spent their student days at the Ecole des Beaux Arts. With the real spirit of the soldier, these teachers gladly brought to their work all of their wide experience and knowledge, which was eagerly absorbed with spontaneous response on the part of the art students, thus developing throughout the whole school a fine feeling of fellowship, joy, and keen coöperation.

When the average young man goes to Europe to study art, he flounders around more or less for a long time before he realizes that much of his study period in Paris is being wasted. Undecided as to his needs, he does not know

just what to look for, and it takes him some time to discover that the guidebook is nothing but a road-chart, giving dates and places for travelers who never stop to contemplate or to master.

In order to cover as much ground as possible in the short time alloted for this special work, Paris, its environs, and then all of France were divided into sectors. In the Paris sector alone the monumental buildings are so numerous that it was necessary to select only a few of the most important in each case, the students being advised in advance of the monument that would be visited. They were accompanied by an instructor, or some one who knew how to select, explain, and emphasize the salient features of the construction and decoration; the significance of its school, whether pure or mixed, and what effect it had, if any, on other schools.

Trips were made by train to the different sectors outside of Paris, which had been carefully marked off as possessing special architectural monuments that would be of value to the student. It was obvious that these trips to special points of interest were planned by the teachers with as great care as a general in the field would plan a drive. These student-doughboys also were determined to make every drive a success, a victory, so to speak. To make this doubly sure, an order was issued to the art students to bring back from their trips proof of their work. Consequently,

the walls of the exhibition-room in the school were always covered with careful drawings, made on these trips: sketches of bits of architecture in the sunlight, ancient towers, old doors surrounded by beautiful carving, gateways leading to some château in the distance, and many parts of ornamental design taken here and there from the buildings themselves.

Now that it is all over, every student treasures many sketches that will always remind him of the many beautiful points of interest he has seen, bringing back to his memory the ensemble of the châteaux, cathedrals, or some charming little village home, built centuries ago. What an overpowering inspiration these young men have received! And it can never leave them, for it has infused them with such spiritual and artistic force that its influence will be felt through their own work and the work done in their studios here in America.

The students of architecture, having just studied and clearly visualized these

trips, were all prepared to enter the ateliers of the school filled with enthusiasm. The advanced architectural students were then given special opportunities to work out the problems issued by the Ecole des Beaux Arts, which gave them a clear appreciation of what kind of work the best schools in France were doing and of the special aim toward which each school was working. Many of these problems were exceedingly difficult, but the continued enthusiasm of the Americans, aided by the French masters, brought forth in the final result designs that in conception and execution approached a remarkable degree of excellence. The time required to work out many of these problems was a special feature in this class; there were two-, three-, and five-day problems. There were also twelve-, twentyfour-, and forty-eight-hour problems. With these time limits, it is easy to understand why it was frequently necessary for the student to work far into the night in order to be able to hand in on time the result of his efforts to the massier, or head student.

Among other problems set to the students were buildings intended for special social functions only, such as a restaurant by a lake, buildings of utility, an institute of mathematics and physics, a riding-school and stables, which was an exceedingly difficult problem, ertrances to buildings, and architectural gateways for parks. Special classes of instruction in pencil- and water-color work also occupied part of the curriculum, the men learning to express the problems given with ease, accuracy, and effect. A very complete French reference library, which was furnished to the school by the American Library Association, supplied supplied all information needed, and these books were fully illustrated with masterpieces of all branches of the fine arts. Neither was the French language neglected. A special course of forty minutes was given every day to its study, so that the student could better understand, appreciate, and enjoy the great value of these French reference-books.

It will be seen that the opportunities presented were remarkable. To the