COUNTRY LIFE
A War-Cured Eyesore
A view of rural England that has delighted many of us was being grievously marred by the extension of an unlovely factory. Quite suddenly the old view has been restored. " A sponge has wiped out the picture "—so it seemed at the first blush ; but when the eyes were rubbed the disguise of the snake in Eden was penetrated. The factory had been subjected to the new art of camouflage. Yet the view was beyond question greatly improved by the sham ; and the question arises whether such deceptive art should not be practised in peace as in war-time. Many a prospect is ruined by just one eye-sore—a stye of insignificant pro- portion. What Shakespeare said of the human eye is true of the eye of scenery: so small a thing is tumultuous there. Your gaze is morbidly attracted to the spot of ugliness. Though the art may be bad in principle, camouflage has the power of curing this false emphasis.
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