Page:Life in the Old World - Vol. II.djvu/285

Rh expression of energy and health; she has also that pretty, round, animated countenance, the glance and arch smile of which have something of little Puck in them. She seems happy and full of the freshness of life, and will dedicate her whole life to art.

“Only take care,” said I, “that you don't fall in love!”

“Oh, I have already gone through that,” said she, smiling, with an expression of Puck-like character, “all that is over!”

If I mistake not, this Puck-like character is her own; of course, in a proper degree. But, indeed, without something of the Puck and a great deal of energy, a young woman could not have advanced to—where she is.

Another young American lady, Miss Lander, from Salem, in Massachusetts, is studying also the plastic art in Rome, and for the present, these two are the only female students in this branch of art. Miss Lander came to Rome as the pupil of the distinguished American sculptor, Crawford, but since his tragical death—by cancer of eye—she has worked independently. She has less talent, perhaps, and less originality than Miss Hosmer; but her subjects are noble, and the expression of her heads at once pure and great. Thus, in her young Siberian, and in the bust of the American novelist, Hawthorne, with the striking head. Such an expression as is there given, proceeds from the soul.

A third young American lady in Rome, confers honor on the new world, by her unusual scientific culture; this is the astronomer, Miss Mitchell. She is