Proverbs 9:9 Give instruction to a wise man, and he will be yet wiser: teach a just man, and he will increase in learning. President Lincoln once said that he was willing to learn from any one who could teach him anything. Dore seems to have had a like spirit. Some years ago, a clever young Englishwoman — something more than an amateur artist — was brought one day by some friends to Dore's studio. Unlike most Englishwomen, this was a very impulsive and irrepressible young person; and she offered the frankest criticism of all the works around. The picture on which Dore was then engaged occupied her attention particularly; and not content with recommending various improvements, she suddenly caught the brush from the artist's hand, and saying coolly, "Don't you think, Mr. Dore, that a touch of this kind would be an improvement there?" she actually altered the artist's work with her own audacious fingers. Her friends were rather astonished, and one of them afterwards took occasion to apologise to him for her impulsiveness. Dore seemed only surprised to find that any apology or explanation should be considered necessary. He thought there was some justice in the suggestion thus practically made, and it seemed to him quite natural that one artist should help another. It did not seem to have occurred to him that there was anything presumptuous in the volunteer effort of the young beginner to lend a helping hand to one of the most celebrated and successful artists of the day. Parallel Verses KJV: Give instruction to a wise man, and he will be yet wiser: teach a just man, and he will increase in learning. |
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