Page:Margaret Sherwood--A Puritan in Bohemia.djvu/148

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A Puritan Bohemia

critic was apparently excited. He called upon his readers to see how unique this work was. What technique! What sentiment! Here the accuracy of the realist was combined with the sentiment of the symbolist. (The art-critic on The Continent was also literary critic for The Spectator). In these pictures one saw not only a new style but a new inspiration. Here was an interpretation of life.

"There is a certain quaintness in the work," the critic said. "Under all the traces of human suffering (note Miss Bradford's rendering of wrinkles) there is a deep, inextinguishable joy in living. These are faces of those scarred in battle, yet glad of the fight. It is a realism that is both joyous and spiritual."

"Permit me," said Howard Stanton, taking off his hat with a profound bow when he met Anne in the street the next day, "to salute the founder of a new school. I'm very sorry for you," he added, a minute later. "What will you have to fight with now?"