Virginia free press. (Charlestown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1832-1916, 1865-08-24
MISCELLANY.
Under the Charcoal.


In New York YOU may live next door to
smother for fivc-and-twenty years, and never
know bis name I'm Paris your own brother
might occupy rooms under the same roof and
YOU might never meet each other. might live and
marry and die there, and never guess the neigh
horhOod Of kinsman. For those who desire it,
j. is the lOnehest place in the world.
No one, unless il was the porter Of the old
Tnany-stsried houso I'm the Rae do, know
thstMonsieurpaul Dupont occupied Gu h'0iseDae
u that dwelling, OF that he was an artist. II
was O matter Of perfect indifference 20 al but
his artist friends. For the matter of that, poor
folks are Of httleconsequcnCe anywhere, wheth-
CT they paint or sing, oract, OF Scribble When
they become rich, it is another thing. and folks
take notice of them, and they should put their
names In the directory aud let the world know
when they are at home. But poor man OF w0-
Inan-bahl Paris, as a general thing. let Mon
sieur Dupont paint alone, and the Emperor had
never visited his studio vet 1t was an odd
place. that StudiO0 UtTOiScMe A litter of port
f,hos and cauyaSSes, and cast and taSSels and
pictures In frames and out of them; where segarS
and meerShaums lay about. and empty wine
bottles, which had contained very innocent and
sour French wines, graced the corners where
there was a north light and a canvass i'm the
lower part oft window, and pot for the ma
king Of chocolate, and q number of oldest old
French books and some modern ones by Sue.
and George Sand and Dumas: there were also
a violin. a flute and guitar sword and couple
al pistols, sometimes hanging up. sometimes
fallen down, and sometimes in use even the piS-
hols for there was painted circle with a spot IN
the centre over the mantel, at which Monsieur
Paul often took aim for practice. without bring
ing in ncighbor OF diScomposing the mind of
the landlord. There are SO many suicides in
Paris that when a man hears the report of a piS-
Sol he only thinks, 1T Is my neighbor blowing
his brains out, and does not interfere with
what does not concern him.
Unro0fng this, a Ia AsmodeuS, TO take peep
YOU might have seen one bright May morning,
Monsieur Paul Dupont standing deSpairngly
before picture-the sort Of picture one might
have expected Of a Frcnchman of threc-and-
twenty-airy, graceful and r0mantin. A lover
Al the feet Of his beloved. in a picturesque
nook. beside fountain, a castle in the distance:
a duenns asleep under the trees on a garden
bench. Apicture destined % be called La Dec
laration.n The youth was handsome. the duen-
ma brown aud corpulcnt the maiden. alas but
a :
Paul could find no model for his beauty. True
there wee plenty who could be hired for so
,nanv sous an hour, but he wanted an innocent
face. and much staring at I'm artists studios had
banished the blush from most of the faces young
and pretty enough for his purpose. Monsieur
Paul had always found it impossible not 10 inn
itate the expression Of his models; and il would
not do for the heroine Of la Declaration TO
look brazen.
AT last he flung down his brushes kicked over
a stool put on his hat with its pendant tassels,
and his velvet paletot, and went down stairs and
out into the Rue de Capuchin. Il was a quiet
street enough. The houses looked half asleep.
The oD;y sound was the distant rumbling Of We
iicles 10 some wide thoroughfare, and the hid
eous vel Of a fshwoman, with a basket ON her
head crving her stock for sale Monsieur Paul
sauptercd on, with his hands deep In the pock-
cts of bis paletOt and looking in the air, forgot
10 watch bis feet. They struck suddenly
AGAINST something and somebody uttered a
s6riek and cried, "Ah. he-has-destroyed themr
Tookine down, Monsieur Paul saw a girl and
an overturned basket Of viOlets. He had run
against a flower girl and thrown down her mer-
c6andize unawares,
An Englishman would have uttered naughty
words and asked her why she couldn't keep out
Of the way You who read this can tell me
best what an American would have done. The
Frencbman stopped downand began 70 pick up
the blossoms with little pardon.
At that the head was lifted, and under gol-