The slow, uncertain, and expensive work of the poor toilers
who made watches by hand has been superseded by the swift, unerring, and
beautiful operations of machinery and steam. Now, sir, the great purpose
of my life is to introduce machinery into art, and, ultimately, steam.
And yet I will have no shams, no chromos. Everything shall be real--the
work of the brush. Here, sir," he continued, showing me into a long room
filled with workmen, "you see the men engaged in putting together the
frames on which to stretch my canvases. Every stick is cut, planed, and
jointed at a mill in Vermont, and sent on here by the car-load. Beyond
are the workmen cutting up, stretching, and preparing the canvas, bales
upon bales of which are used in a day. At the far end are the mills for
grinding and mixing colors. And now we will go to the upper floors, and
see the true art-work. Here, sir," he said, continuing to talk as we
walked through the rooms on the various floors, "is the landscape and
marine department. That row of men are putting in skies; they do nothing
else. Each has his copy before him, and, day after day, month after
month, paints nothing but that sky; and of course he does it with great
rapidity and fidelity. Above, on those shelves, are sky-pots of every
variety; blue-serene pots, tempest pots, sunset pots in compartments,
morning-gray pots, and many others.
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