Page:The Girl Who Earns Her Own Living (1909).djvu/70



a work of this sort, when discussing art as a means of livelihood, we must consider it as a practical profession, not as a divine gift or inspiration. This book is written for the girl who must become economically independent within two years at least. For that reason we will not consider the training, environment and work of the girl who aspires to portraiture, miniature-painting, or oil and water-color masterpieces of that moving character which represent the highest type of the fine arts, and which require years of patient work, to say nothing of more or less genius. Such girls must either have enough funds to study for years in the best ateliers of America and Europe or they must be willing to wage an indefinite warfare against poverty and discouragement.

There are comparatively few girls in America possessed of such boundless ambition and persistency, but there are thousands of young women who show decided artistic talent, and