Their coming turned the current of talk upon matters of art, which made Rose feel perfectly certain she was getting at the heart of Chicago artistic life.
Mr. Davidson inveighed against America, and Chicago especially, for its "lack of art atmosphere."
"If you've got the creative power you can make your own art atmosphere," his companion hotly said. "You always start up on that thing." Evidently it was a source of violent argument between them.
"The trouble is you fellows who paint, want to make a living too easy," Mason remarked.
"You ought to stay and do pioneer work among us," said Isabel.
"I don't consider it worth while so far as I am concerned. I prefer Paris."
"You're not very patriotic."
"There is no patriotism in art."
"That's the regular Parisian jabber," returned his friend. "I talked all that myself. What you need is a touch of poverty. I'd like to see your people drop you in a small town where you had to make your living for a little while."
"All the hard conditions of Chicago are changing," Isabel interposed, with peaceful intent. "All that was true a few years ago is not true now. The materialism you war against, no longer dominates us. We are giving a little time to art and literature."