her hand, although an independent study of the art offers a
wider range of interest, the student is, for that very reason, exposed
to the risk of involving himself in a labyrinth of confusing and
ineffectual theories. The fact is, that neither method can at the
present time be exclusively depended upon as a means of development;
neither can be pronounced complete in itself nor independent of the
other. The only sure safeguard against the vagueness of theory is
constant practise with the tools; while, to the craftsman in the full
enjoyment of every means for exercising and increasing his technical
skill, a general study and intelligent conception of the wide
possibilities of his art is just as essential, if it were only as an
antidote to the influence of an otherwise mechanical employment. The
more closely these contradictory views are made to approximate, the
more certain will become the carver's aims, and the clearer will be his
understanding of the difficulties which surround his path, enabling him
to choose that which is practicable and intrinsically valuable, both as
regards the theory and practise of his art.

If the student, through lack of opportunities for practise, is debarred
from all chance of acquiring that expertness which accompanies great
technical skill, he may at least find encouragement in the fact that he
can never exhaust the interest afforded by his art in its infinite
suggestion to the imagination and fancy; and also that by the exercise
of diligence, and a determination to succeed, he may reasonably hope to
gain such a degree of proficiency with the tools as will enable him to
execute with his hands every idea which has a definite existence in his
mind. Generally speaking, it will be found that his manual powers are
always a little in advance of his perceptions.

Thus the student may gradually work out for himself a natural and
reliable manner of expressing his thoughts, and in a way, too, that is
likely to compensate for his technical shortcomings, by exciting a more
lively interest in the resources of the art itself. The measure of his
success will be determined partly by his innate capacity for the work,
and partly by the amount of time which he is enabled to give to its
practise. The resources of his art offer an infinite scope for the
exercise of his powers of design, and as this is the side which lies
nearest to his opportunities it should be the one which receives his
most earnest attentio