American citizen. [volume] (Canton, Miss.) 1864-1890, 1873-09-06

| Llttle IaulS visits were finally unre
strained. He came and went as suited hi
own capricious will, and Miss Grey be
came the sympathizing confidante o
many of his grave ponderings and mar
Vicious researches. One day the treacher
Gus wind swept back the shading leave:
from the opposite portico, and revealed
the boys golden head pillowed for it,
! afternoon nap on somebody's arm. The
artist father, unseen at his window
sketched the white robed figure and tho
sleeping child; but into the first moment
of satisfaction at his success, flashed I
sudden thought-a swift pain and long
ing-that had never wholly left him since
He fancied that same figure sitting neal
him in his studio, pictured it on his own
moonlit piazza in the evenings, and the
whole household seemed to grow Sweeter
and brighter for the mere dream. 1t came
to him now. All! if it might be, how the
work and the life would grow real, and
| blessed, and bright, once mOrei Paper
and pencils were scattered over the table
beside him; he drew fair white page
nearer, and wrote few hurried lines-not
with any definite intention concerning
them, but only following out vague i'm
pulse born of that haunting fancy.
mildred Grey, dear Mildred! must l
| watch you forever across the way, just be-
yond reach of my life and home and heart
L
| have given you, dearest, not friendship.
| | have learned TO love my neighbor better
| than myself; L want her for my own-my
wife"
| There! the namelesss dream was fairly
| in words; but he smiled little sadly at
the absurdity of having so clothed it, and
suddenly closed his portfolio upon the
| unfinished note.
| mo, no; shall never write or speak
l u, Do, fS,I 70;
possibilities than | can offer. 1t is little
| Paul she loves, not his father, and | must
not mistake her kindness nor risk the
| friendship so invaluable to him, and so
| precious to me, for the faint hope of gain
| ing something dearer."
He sighed softly-a sigh that ended in
| another faint smile-walked over to the
easel, and took up his brushes, and then,
| though it was not in the least sentiment
whistle-sAway dull carer'
| Mrs. Martha caught the sound below
stairs, and accepting it as evidence that
the master of the establishment was en-
| tirely unconcerned about the loss of her
brush and her various other tribulations,
pursed up her mouth still more grimly as
she went about looking after all the
d., wheels, pulleys, and shafts of her uni
| verse. A knock on the open door startled
her. A tall, thin, green-spectacled gentle
man, with a large portfolio under his arm
stood bowling in the doorway like
| heavy topped weed in the wind.
madam, | have here some beautiful
engravings to which l desire to call your
attention.
1t was an inauspicious moment. Mrs.
Martha was in no amiable humor toward
anything of that ilk and frowned as the
case was opened.
II don't want any," she announced
shortly.
but, madam, 1 wish to exhibit to you
some highly beautiful and interesting
works of art which"
THE more artful they are the less like
them. | don't want to look at them" in
terposed Mrs Martha.
The pictorial gentleman looked mildly
embarrassed He had IA set speech, well
learned, and could not feel that he had
done his whole duty unless he repeated it
from beginning to end in each house. He
shifted his position and tried again.
"4es, madam, very true; but then these
beautiful and highly interesting works of
art, that are so ornamental, and, | may
say, SO necessary in every household -
Necessary! There's altogether too
many in this house now" commented the
lady contemptuously. But Just then Paul
drew near with intense admiration in his
eyes, and his presence suggested to the
agent another clause in his address.
"And not only ornamental and neces-
sary, but useful; for the Using genera
ton, madam, must be educated"
That was too much for Mrs. Martha's
endurance. She knew all about that style
of education; it ended in the planting of
feather busters.
and if l had, l wouldn't make lunatic
asylums of them by filling their heads |
with such stuff. Can't you understand |
that l don't want any anyway?' she de-
manded with such unmistakable decision |
that the thin gentleman closed his picture |
case with a snap that had the suspicion
of snarl in it, turned abruptly on his |
heels and walked away
Paul looked after him wistfully for |
moment as he went down the winding |
walk, then suddenly scampered across the !
grass, lodged under Syringa bush, and |
was mounted upon the fence, ready to in |
tercept him by the time he reached the |
gate.
"Thay, do you make loths of money |
thelling pictureth ?" he questioned, earn
estly
The martyr of fine arts gave the gate a |
slightly vindictive kick, and responded
sarcastically:
ooh! my, yes; it's highly lucrative,
this is! A few more places like this nice |
one, and I'll be worth my thousands"
Paul's dark eyes opened wide. He did |
not understand any of it except the chou |
sands" but that was sufficiently astonish-
ing. He gazed after the departing agent |
until he was out of sight, then sliding
down from his post he walked back to
the piazza, and seating himself upon the
steps with his chin between his palms. he
settled into fit of meditation. 1t was a
very long one-nearly half an hour-only
once or twice by chase for IA
butterfly and an inspection of birds
nest, of his own manufacture, to see if any
eggs had been laid in it yet. AT last he
started up with the air of one who had ar
rived at satisfactory conclusion.
81 thpect I'll thell pictureth mythelf and
buy birdth ready ratified"
He trudged up to the studio to confide
this grand project to papa, but that gentle
man, being in no painting mood, had gone
out for walk, and Paul found the room
He did not at all fancy
waiting an hour or two for his fathers
return. He looked from the window, but
there was no sign of his coming; he sur
veyed the picture on the easel, but it was
an historical scene, and held nothing that
interested him except one uD-
finished white cloud.
81 gueth that'th a kite" he commented,
scrutinizing critically. "'Twould look