L'Envoi

    When Earth's last picture is painted, and the tubes are twisted and
              dried,
    When the oldest colours have faded, and the youngest critic has died,
    We shall rest, and, faith, we shall need it--lie down for an æon or
              two,
    Till the Master of All Good Workmen shall set us to work anew!

    And those that were good shall be happy: they shall sit in a golden
              chair;
    They shall splash at a ten-league canvas with brushes of comets' hair;
    They shall find real saints to draw from--Magdalene, Peter, and Paul;
    They shall work for an age at a sitting and never be tired at all!

    And only the Master shall praise us, and only the Master shall blame;
    And no one shall work for money, and no one shall work for fame;
    But each for the joy of the working, and each, in his separate star,
    Shall draw the Thing as he sees It for the God of Things as They Are!


[Illustration]




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Transcriber's Note:

   Variant and dialect spellings remain as printed. Minor typographical
   errors have been corrected without note, whilst significant
   amendments have been listed below:

   pp. iii, 31, "MCANDREW'S HYMN" amended to _MCANDREWS' HYMN_;

   p. 89, "lea" amended to _lee_:
    "... Whirling like a windmill on the dirty scud to lee ..."