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THE LAND OF THE LION      11775

been conceived, it seems to one that they all go through nearly the same stages. A "brilliant idea," a great rush, great excitement, great pleasure in work. Then one by one the great hopes you have had vanish, the various qualities you knew you were going to get fail to materialize, the lights go out — what misery — then it is that determination to succeed has to be evoked, work is a "drudge" — but again light begins to appear and with it a picture, sometimes quite a little different in details from your original idea, but one on which work is a pleasure.

It has very often seemed to me that many painters of religious subjects (in our time) seem to forget that their pictures should be as much works of art (regardless of the subject) as are other paintings with less holy subjects. To suppose that the fact of the religious painter having a more elevated subject than his brother artist makes it unnecessary for him to consider his picture as an artistic production, or that he can be less thoughtful about a color harmony, for instance, than he who selects any other subject, simply proves that he is less of an artist than he who gives the subject his best attention. Or for him to suppose that his having such a subject can by any manner of means be construed as an excuse for making a picture in which the literary side shall be its only quality, or in which a so-called religious sentiment will take the place of the qualities loved by artists, thus furnishing an excuse for giving to the world an uninteresting canvas, is equally false. I believe most sincerely in a religious sentiment in religious pictures but, so far, have never seen it in a canvas which did not possess also artistic qualities. There is more "bogus" sentiment in poor pictures — pictures in which the artist has tried to convince the world that nothing else was necessary — because he had nothing else to give. It is as hard in art to give something when you possess nothing as in anything else. Religious art has come to mean an uninteresting, inartistic production. Who is to blame that this is true? The large number of painters of very mediocre attainments who have painted religious pictures because they have found that the selection of such subjects has enabled them to draw more attention to themselves than would their mediocre rendering of any other subject. This has made many artists place an equality sign between religious art and mediocrity. Religious pictures must measure up to the requirements of good art or they can never command respect. The want of high ideals in religious art will, as in other things, be fatal.

THE LAND OF THE LION
III
ELEPHANTS
BY
DR. W. S. RAINSFORD

[[strikethrough]] MR. HOEY and I had worked quite conscientiously for elephants since we had arranged our partnership, and had turned from no spoor that was at all promising, till all reasonable chance of coming up with our game was gone. So long as elephants are not thoroughly alarmed, or have not had your wind, or smelled the safari, it is well worth while to follow on and keep following, even if the trail, when you "cut" it, is quite twenty-four hours old. They may be found dozing under some shade trees only a few miles in advance, or cooling their rugged flanks in the moist mud of one of the numerous marshes. Or they may be resolutely forging ahead at a pace just a little faster than that at which your splendidly agile natives can follow, never to pause or rest or feed till some dearly loved haunt of theirs, known only to themselves, is at last won. 

Following up spoor, then, is often trying work, far harder work than the hunter is called in to undertake in the pursuit of any other animal. Of course, many men get elephants [[/strikethrough]]