Jasper County Democrat, Volume 6, Number 17, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 1 August 1903 — The Finishing Touch. [ARTICLE]

The Finishing Touch.

The small boy with his eyes open often knows more of things as they are than the artist who draws things as they are not. An illustrator who is winning laurels by his fine work maintains that his most valuable critic is his son, a boy of twelve. He knows little about drawing, says the artist, but he has a quick sense for beauty and a keen imagination as well. Not long ago I had to make a drawing of a street full of people running to a fire. I flattered myself I had made a lifelike and moving Beene and submitted it to my boy with a feeling of satisfaction. He surveyed it for a moment, hands in his pockets, head on one side. Then he said: “The people are all right, but where’s the dog?” “The dog?” I inquired. “What dog?” “Any dog,” he said in a tone of pity for my dullness. “Why, father, don’t you know there’s always at least one dog running alongside and getting under everybody’s feet when you're going to a fire? Haven’t you ever been to a fire, father, or seen a crowd going to one?” When I thought it over I knew he was right, and the dog went in.— Youth’s Companion.