River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1872-10-18

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Upon the easel is family outlined
picture of a lady, blonde and beauti-
ful with smiling lips and eyes-the por-
trait of the young pupil herself. On
one side a bass-viol leans against the
wall, remainder of the merry music
which sounded 50 often through the
studio, and in the background appears
Frau Katherine bearing refreshments
for her husband and pupils.
Indeed, there had been no dearth OF
music in the Leyden studio. Ii Dow
were weary, or the sky gray and over.
cast, Anna must sing in hersweet voice,
or the artist Terburg come over with
his violin, and Franz play the brass
viol. Poor Franz was sadly angry that
Anna never seemed moved by the plain
tive strains which he drew from his in
strument, and answered only by ro-
gish smiles all the languishing glances
with which he accompanied them. The
maiden could not be made to under"
stand the sentiments of this susceptible
heart. She TESTED with merry indiffer-
ence, deaf of his half uttered declara-
tions of love, and at last told him plain
ly that the gay, light-hearted Franz
Mieris pleased her thousand times
more than his quiet, melancholy doubt
A wonderful instrument is woman's
heart. The most practiced hand often
fails to elicit harmonious accords from
it's delicate strings, while sometimes,
beneath unskilled fingers, sound forth
the sweetest melodies. So the heart of
the fair Anna, impervious to the ardent
eyes of Franz Mieris, melted before the
gentle chances of the young sculptor,
Jacob Hers, who, having just return
ed from Rome, was frequent visitor
at Garhard BOWS studio. The music
al entertainments now received a new
impetus, for Hers could strike the
lutte with a master-hand. Sometimes
the returned prodigal discoursed with
eloquent enthusiasm upon the wonder
land of divine statues, ana q sky per-
ennially blue. How they all listened |!
Even impatient Franz, but most of all
the lovely Anna. Her eyes rested with
an expression of devout admiration
upon the dark, earnest face of the
speaker, falling only when his soft
glance met her own, which happened
oftener and oftener, The rose glOwed
deeper on the maiden's cheek, her
breath grew quicker, and her smile
more radiant, and thus the blue flow
err of first happy love unfolded in
Gerhard BOWS studio.
Frau Katherine was soon the conf
dant of the girls over-full heart, and,
after the manner of women, she con-
stituted herself the guardian of the
lovers. 1t was she who arranged for
Anna seat beside herself in the twi.
light at the parlor window which looked
out upon the street, where Jacob Hers
was sure to pass, bow respectable
greeting, and then step little nearer.
Then the housewife would suddenly
remember some important matters de
handing her immediate presence.
There seemed always to be a kettle
boiling over in the kitchen, and there
were no such iunketing cats in all Ley
den as in Gerhard BOWS house.
Meanwhile the young people were
left alone. Their conversation was
carried on very softly, the little blonde
head peering so shyly from behind the
yellow violets and rosemary. Some
tunes mans hand, strong and shape
ly, stole IN, and rested upon the win
dow sill-perhaps to set the flower-pots
right--no wearisome labor, surely
yet the rosy, girlish fingers FASTENED to
aid that hand, and so they were held
suddenly in warm, sweet imprison-
ment, until Frau Katherine came back,
and the dungeon opened itself But
the lovers were not seldom startled in
o more ungentle fashion. A rain OF
coarser garden vegetables would fab
among the flowers, accompanied by a
shrill whistle, or a sneering laugh.
Whence came the these insults
Gerhard Dow, whose eyes were wont
to observe so closely every lineament
of the human face, seems strangely
blind to the plain declaration of the
two happy faces, but Franz Mieris S
dark blue eyes were all the keener, and
his heart was torn with angry jealousy.
Perhaps he had made love to the
charming Anna more as a pleasant
pastime than in sacred earnest, yet none
the less had his manly vanity received
a painful stab. Such wounds are al.
ways hard to heal Was not Jacob
Hers head shorter than he9 What
comparison between that slender
form and his own perfect proportions
Did not all the beauties of Leyden de-
clare his black eyes unsurpassed ?
Had even any one, except Anna Smy-
theirs of Client, withstood his eloquent
lips and fearless glances9 And yet
she preferred that insignificant follow /!
Had he possessed the arm of a giant,
how gladly would he have flung Jacob
Hers back to that Rome whence lie
camel Anna no longer appeared with
her accustomed regularity in the
studio. Awoman in love seems in that
blessed time to forget for one thing all