Show y A The Dentist t ty A Ay y y A Ay y A Who Wanted to Be Bean t t an Art Artist st y A A Ay y A AF r By Y F Fannie aDDIC H Hurst t. t t. t t a fd c by Syndicate F ANYONE had asked Howard IP IIi Masters why he lie took up dentistry as his profession he would have answered quickly and somewhat bitterly bitterly bitterly bit bit- terly Because my grandfather father father fattier fa fa- fa- fa ther two brothers and a sister are dentists and the period of training was shorter and less expensive than that of most other professions No unsound reasons and yet lackIng lackIng lackIng lack- lack Ing In every fundamental principle upon which usually the choice of a alife alife life Ufe work needs be founded In Howards Howard's case to his bitter realization the fundamental principle pIt pie love for his work was lacking It was difficult to cross his family In Its unanimous desire for his electing electIng electIng elect- elect Ing dentistry His grandfather and father were about to retire his two brothers had removed to remote western cities clUes there to develop practIces practices practices tices and his sister about to marry was torn between continuing her profession or following the wish of her husband to be that she retire It was therefore expected of Howard Howard How Bow ard that he would go Into dentistry and keep alive so to speak the Masters Masters' Masters Masters' Masters Masters' Mas Mas- tradition In the Middle 1 West city where for generations there had been a Doctor Masters DDS Well Howard qualified all aU right as a student profiting by the tile elders who were constantly at his elbow with help and advice during his term and graduated If not with high honors at least with sufficiently sufficient sufficIent- ly good standing to start him offwell off offwell offwell well In his practice Not Not only that there was ready and waiting for Howard a certain clientele which would Just naturally gravitate to a n Masters Certain of the old families of the town would let a n tooth ache rather than take it to an anyone one besides a n Masters As the grandfather and father said It was Impossible for either one of them to actually retire until Howard Howard How How- ard got out his shingle The town Insisted upon a n Masters for a den den- Strangely the first year was not so bad There were so many side Issues to divert First the new office office of of- fice flee to be furnished with all the modern modern mod mod- ern and expensive appliances which the older Masters had managed to o foreswear Then the novelty of putting Into practice the theoretical Information he he had achieved In classroom and laboratory and nod half half- applied In lu his clinical work and as apprentice In the office e of an older dentist The new dentistry with Its growing growIng growing grow grow- ing relationship to medical science and the various aspects or oral surgery presented during the first year Interesting vistas of experimentatIon experimentation experimentation and research Then one day a slip of a girl from one of the towns town's newer families es whose whoso right molar he happened to tobe tobe tobe be filling tIlling looked up at him between between between be be- tween sessions of of grinding and said How In the world would a aman aman aman man ever eer choose to be a n dentist And off-hand off Howard Boward began to realIze realize realize real real- ize to what extent that same questIon question question ques ques- tion was pushing against his con con- science How In the theo o world ld did he Howard Howard How How- ard Masters whose fingers Itched to paint and the tho secret corners of whose room were Jammed with oils and water colors done at nt odd moments moments moments mo mo- mo- mo ments between dental lectures and clinical sessions ever choose to be bea a dentist As a matter of fact It came surging over oer him In a slow sort of anger he It bad had been planned thought decided for him and he resistant non-resistant had Imd allowed al- al allowed allowed al al- lowed a senile half grandfather and anda a n father accustomed to rule to carve out his destiny as 1 If It had been so 50 much soapstone And what sort of a destiny The I destiny of a dentist I 1 A filler of molars An engineer of small mouth bridges and false plates for the toothless He Howard Ho Masters with the soul of ot an artist grinding fillIng fill fill- lag Ing bridging and crowning his days ays away Realization like an avalanche u set setIn setIn setin In motion by the pebble of a slip of ofa ofa a a girls girl's remark began to roll In thunder Into the mind of Howard awal awakening ening him to the tine enormity of his discontent filling him with a n kind of humiliation causing him to openly loathe his profession Thus It was that very car early In his career the first IS 18 months to be exact exact exact ex ex- ex- ex act lassitude and an indifference that were nothing nothing- short of appalling appall appall- ing lag to his parent and grandparent began to lay hold bold of Howard Appointments Appointments Appointments Ap Ap- Ap- Ap he regarded with none of the rigid observance demanded of his profession bridge work because because because be be- cause he lie despised Its Intricacies he did In a loose slipshod fashion and andon andon on one occasion when an old and revered patient of his grandfathers grandfather's came to him requesting to have his teeth cleaned Howard flatly told him his repugnance for such work and sent him to a rival rIal classmate who had hung up a shingle Of course the result was Inov- Inov Inevitable Hable but It cam camp came none too soon to suit Howard Within a six-month six to the consternation of his family I and antI his own secret satisfaction his office so far as business was concerned concerned con con- was dead as the proverbial doornail and stacked against his fine new apparatus was canvas after alter canvas testifying to the leisure hours he had spent In his office that were applied to activities other than dentistry The uP upshot of It all was that after a year ear and a half with one hundred dollars In his bis pocket the tine lightest heart he had ever eyer known and the reluctant blessings of his family on his eager head young young Masters turned his face toward a certain remote remote remote re re- mote art colony on the Pacific coast there to take up the work that lay closest to his heart water-color water and oil oll Verdun The Sea turned out to tobe tobe tobe be all he had dreamed It would be Crags closed It In the Pacific rolled up to Its curving coastline like a alazy alazy I lazy blue tongue cottages nestled In Inthe inthe I Ithe the pale sands and for a pittance the young oung artist could rent himself a studio along the straggling bit of Main street where all day youths In flaring collars and no hats and girls in tams and flaring smocks hurried back and forth with canvas and camp chairs under their arms A careless Improvident picturesque little art colony with tea rooms room's along Its Main streets called Ye Tiny Ye Rembrandt tune Inne Ye Mortar Board and a two-story two building called the Auditorium where a shaggy-haired shaggy barefoot Hercules of a man called Master by the students delivered lectures every morning and held classes In ln modeling during the afternoon It was all as ns In a dream to Howard Howard Howard How How- ard who released from the horrible arduousness of ot a profession that had repelled him found himself the very first day attired In one of the open-collared open shirts duck trousers trousers trousers trous trous- ers sandals on bare feet teet treading on warm sands to a class In modelIng modeling model model- Ing presided over by the Master It was exhilarating beyond anything anything anything any any- thing that had ever happened to him The fact that the M Masters after six weeks had never neer so much muchas as ns paused by his canvas except to mark It with a bit of ot red chalk which meant do lido It over did little littleto to daunt his enthusiasm Free uninhibited uninhibited un nn- un- un inhibited and according to the demands demands demands de de- de- de mands of Howards Howard's heart he lived this life among the students at Verdun The their carefree habits learning their arty patter relaxing the long evenings I through gh on studio floors or over endle endless s hours of discussion in Ye This or the Ye That Tea room on the Main street Then one day about his sixth I I month there earning his precarious ous living by serving tea and scones at Ye Tiny he met a Miss Alice Moore of whom he had heard daughter of the well known artist of Myron Troll ope who lived in a town yn called Briarcliff ten miles mites away It was one of ot these Immemorial cases of love at first sight Alicia who was eighteen slender bobbed and forthright as a boy western In bearing and relentless In frankness gave one look Into the brown responsive responsive re re- e rather frustrated eyes of Howard and forthwith as she said sald of herself fell feU The same me applied to Howard Boward to such an extent that precisely three days after he had served her tea and s scones ones at Ye Tiny they were engaged on prospects so slim that alongside them Mica said a toothpick looked fat Myron particularly after one look at Howards Howard's work took tooka a stand and remained adamant The young people were entitled to one another If they Insisted but Howard Howard Howard How How- ard would have to establish his abil ability ity to make his girl a n living and somehow was not Inclined to think he be could do do doso so with his palette It n was at that moment that his palette became becam a deterrent to How How- ard I Im a graduate dentist he told Ws hits beloved's father In a state of Irate self-defense self of his earning power Im not like most of the artists around here dependent only upon a n palette and brush I can pass any kind of state examination tomorrow and open dental offices in ln any town I want It seemed to Howard Doward that the father father fa fa- fa- fa ther of Alicia Myron the distinguished landscape painter literally literally lit lIt- fell fen upon his neck Good Lord boy these two towns of Briarcliff and The Verdun By Sea have been begging for a dentist the past five fl years Ive I've been preaching preaching preach preach- I ing for exactly that long that the bright young fellow who puts a dentists dentist's shingle out In these two towns can reap a n young fortune Can you have Alicia You Just bet betas betas betas as a DDS you can have haye Alicia I 1 Thus It was that another Masters used a n brass plate as background for fame and fortune |