ng on Long
Island. And my new interest in pictures ... I shall have a gallery
especially for them.

JOE

Americans haven't done any too much for art so far.

MR. WENTWORTH

Oh, I assure you! I know many men who are continually buying the best on
the market.

JOE

Oh, _that_....

SILVIA

Another cup, Mr. Wentworth? Joe, pass the cake.

MR. WENTWORTH

No, thank you, Silvia. Yes, the cake if you please. Why, it's real English
plumcake!

SILVIA

English things are getting very popular over here. Joe, won't you show us
the new picture? He finished it just before you came, Mr. Wentworth.

MR. WENTWORTH

Indeed! I should like to see it very much.

JOE

There isn't very much light.

SILVIA

No, the light is poor. But even so--and your colors will stand out, Joe.

MR. WENTWORTH

Really, Mr. Carson, I counted on seeing some of your work. I have heard,
nice things about you.

JOE

There. If you stand just here....

SILVIA

Oh, _Joe_!

JOE

What?

SILVIA

It's our little cottage! I'm so glad! That's where we lived last summer,
Mr. Wentworth. I always wanted Joe to paint it. Joe, it's splendid! Don't
you think so, Mr. Wentworth?

MR. WENTWORTH

Yes.... Yes. _Very_ interesting....

SILVIA

Don't you love the bright colors and the firm, flowing lines?

MR. WENTWORTH

Of course, it isn't exactly what I have been accustomed to.... I have
heard that some of the younger Frenchmen and Russians are painting in a
new way, but--

SILVIA

Joe, it's so _alive_! I _feel_ it, every inch of it! You've no idea, Mr.
Wentworth, how Joe's painting has changed me. I used to be such a little
New Englander, _afraid_ of life, but now--

JOE

It isn't only what you call the "younger Frenchmen and Russians" who are
learning how to paint--the modern movement has spread all over.

MR. WENTWORTH

Of course, I don't pretend to be an artist myself, but I have always
studied and loved pictures, and when you say "learning _how_ to paint"--

JOE

That's exactly what it is. Learning _how_ to paint. Learning what art is.
Getting _life_ into it instead of abstract ideas.

MR. WENTWORTH

Art? But art is beauty! Eternal beauty. You can't change art over night,
like a fashion!

SILVIA

But that picture's beautiful!

JOE

Art changes as life changes. Art has always changed. If it didn't, why
isn't your Japanese art just like Greek art? And Greek art like the
Italian?

MR. WENTWORTH

Oh, in th