Butte record., 1855-10-06
,IDwELl, BUTTE COUNTY, CALIFORNIA OCTOBER g. 1855

the credit Of ii himself; and ii is a little
in bis style, certainly" "
"And now will tell you what will
do for you be continued. "a little
cousin of NINE wishes me to paint her
before her fathers birth-day but have
too much on my hands just at present.
You shall de- it. You can sometimes hit
upon keness, and if you do not salts
fy her, y by, l viii paint her afterwards
She is rich, and can afford to pay for
two pictures, and ought to encourage
young artists, she has fancy for these
things herself. She has some beauty,
and if you treat the subject srtistically,
you can make pretty picture of it. l
will make the proposal to her this even
ing, and let you know her answer, if
You will call upon me to morrow" And
taking my halfreluctant hand, he bade
me good morning.
Very patronizing = l thought. Gle
will paint her himself if l do not sue
cecd I will have nothing to do with
it, But, young, and beautiful, and fond
of these things-it is temptation. l
will make up ny mind what to do in the
morning" Meantime I considered the
style in which l should paint her. 81
succeed so vel in heads looking up," l
thought, glancing at Iphigenia. 'But |
should not ike to have two pictures alike
even if they were both very good l
might have the face looking down, and a
blue mantle on the he'd, and the hands
folded O0hre would certainly call that
treating the subject artistically, so many
old pictures are painted in that style
She probably has pretty hands, if not, I
can make them So"
The next day, while was yet hesita-
ting whether, to 90 to Ochre's or not,
heard ladies voices and gentle knock
at my door. l few round to arrange
my studio; threw cloth over the Priest
ess, 10 give her mysterious efect-only
few folds of her robe and sandalled
boot were visible; placed sketch on my
easel, and opening the door made low
bow to the ladies, with my palette and
stick in my hand. l fattered myself
that effect was artistic
The elder lady introduced herself as
Mrs. Beljay, who had brought her daugh-
ter to sit to me- Actually there-my
first sitter She was soon seated in the
chair with a blue mantle thrown over
her. ! asked her to incline her head
slightly and to fold her hands--they were
very pretty ones. "Do I not look like
wounded dove :" she asked her moth
er, and they began to laugh.
1 begged her to keep her fsce still,
and going across the room for some
thing, carelessly brushed the cloth from
Iphigenia, hoping the sight of that sor-
roWful ceuntenance would give more
.ubdued expression to hers, hut they both
laughed very much, although evidently
irving not to do SO. They made little
jokes and pretended they were laughing
at those. Miss Be jay said she thought
she could maintain the expression l wish
ed if she had knitting with hee, and other
silly things; but wild faaf shot through
me hat they were laughing at Iphlgenia,
and suddenly took il away. Then
they became very quiet, and I made an
excellent sketch They wished to src
it, bnt could not permit them to, so
soon. Mrs. Beiay said she did not
think it could be like, for Fanny had
never been so sill in her life before. /
started at the name. "She also is Fan
ny - l thought, but not my Fanny
Ann"
When they were going away Mrs. Bel
jay told me they were to have little
party in the evening, and she hoped |
would come with her nephew, Mr.. Ochre.
There was an opening into society |
had nice dress coat and light vest that
had belonged to my father, and had been
made over for me by my mother, two
years before. / bought new cravat,
and spent two hours trying to brush the
curls out of my hair and make it look as
smooth as that of the young gentlemen
l had seen in Broadway. l went to call
for Mr.. Ochre, very well pleased with
myself | certainly looked much better
than he did
Upon entering the room was at first
dazzled, as l had been by the gilt frames
at the Exhibition. There was great
crowd of people, a great deal of noise,
and light and bewilderment withdrew
into corner to regain my co.rossrs :