But he
courteously proposed to keep the question impersonal, and he went on to
consider it himself: "Well, I don't suppose any one can satisfy you fully.
But I should say that it put such men under a double strain, and perhaps
that is the reason why so many of them break down in a calling that is
certainly far less exhausting than business. On one side, the artist is
kept to the level of the working-man, of the animal, of the creature whose
sole affair is to get something to eat and somewhere to sleep. This is
through his necessity. On the other side, he is exalted to the height of
beings who have no concern but with the excellence of their work, which
they were born and divinely authorized to do. This is through his purpose.
Between the two, I should say that he got mixed, and that his work shows
it."
None of the others said anything, and, since I had not been personally
appealed to, I felt the freer to speak. "If you will suppose me to be
speaking from observation rather than experience--" I began.
"By all means," said the banker, "go on;" and the rest made haste in
various forms to yield me the word.
"I should say that such a man certainly got mixed, but that his work kept
itself pure from the money consideration, as it were, in spite of him.
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