human
Say that last verse again,
gpt
As he, defeated, dying, On whose forbidden ear The distant strains of triumph Break agonized and clear.
human
It is beautiful, isn't it?
gpt
Beautiful? I don't know. I suppose it is. I was thinking that quite likely it is true.
human
But I didn't suppose you would care about it, Karl. I supposed you would feel about it as you did about the statue.
gpt
I wonder, he began, slowly, not seeming sure of what he wanted to say--
human
But dearie, _is_ it true? Why can failure comprehend success any more than success can comprehend failure?
gpt
It's different,
human
How do you know? she asked banteringly.
gpt
What do you know about it? You don't even know how to spell the word failure!
human
Tell me about your picture, Ernestine, he said, quietly, after that.
gpt
Tell me just what it is.
human
The Hidden Waterfall? Why you know it, Karl.
gpt
Yes, but I want to hear you talk about it. I want to hear you tell just what it means.
human
Well, you remember it is a child standing in a beautiful part of the woods. It is spring-time, as it seems best it should be when you are painting a child in the woods. I tried to make the picture breathe spring, and you know one of the writers said that the delicious thing about it was the way you got the smell of the woods;--that pleased me. Behind the child, visible in the picture, but invisible to the child, is a waterfall. The most vital thing in the universe to me was to have that waterfall make a sound. I think it does, or the picture wouldn't mean anything at all. And then of course the heart of the picture is in the child's face--the puzzled surprise, the glad wonder, and then deeper than that the response to something which cannot be understood. It might have been called 'Wondering,' or even 'Mystery,' but I liked the simpler title better. And I like that idea of painting, not just nature, but what nature means to man. I want to get at the response--the thing awakened--the things given back. Don't you see how that translates the spirit there is between nature and man--stands for the oneness?
gpt
I see, he said at last.
human
I wonder if you know all that means?
gpt
Why, yes, I think I do. My next picture will get at it in a--um--a more mature way.
human
Tell me about it.
gpt
I don't know that I can, very well. It's hard to put pictures into words. I fear it will sound very conventional as I tell it, but of course it is what one puts into it that makes for individuality. It is in the woods, too. You know, Karl, how I love the woods. And I _know_ them! It is not spring now, but middle summer; no suggestion of fall, but mature summer. A girl--just about such a girl as I was before you came that day and changed everything--had gone into the woods with a couple of books. She had been sitting under a tree, reading. But in the picture she is standing up very straight, leaning against the tree, the books overturned and forgotten at her feet--drawn into the bigger book--see? It is not that she has consciously yielded herself. It is not that she is consciously doing anything. She is listening--oh how she listens and longs! For what, none of us know--she least of all. Perhaps to the far off call of life and love speaking through the tender spirit of the woods. Oh how I love that girl!--and believe in her--and hope for her. In her eyes are the dreams of centuries. And don't you see that it is the same idea--the oneness--the openness of nature to the soul open to it?
human
And you are going to make the woods very beautiful? he asked, after a little thought.
gpt
More than just the beauty of trees and grass and colour?
human
Then, he said this a little timidly--
gpt
N--o, Karl; I think not. It seems to me she must be open to it in every way to make it stand for life, in the sense I want it to.
human
Perhaps, he said, his voice drooping a little. And then, abruptly:
gpt
Have you done any of that?
human
Oh, just some little sketches.
gpt
Show me the little sketches, he begged.
human
I want to see them all.
gpt
Oh, but Karl, they wouldn't convey the idea at all. Wait until it is farther along.
human
No, please show them this morning,
gpt
I'm a sick boy home from school, he said,
human
And then he looked at her finished pictures; she protested against the intentness with which he looked at some of them, insisting they were not worth the strain she could see it was on his eyes.
gpt
It's queer about finished pictures, she laughed;