Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1873-06-26
WOODSTOCK, VT, THURSDAY, JUNE 26, 1878.

| COttlu see OuTSetCeS.
"1've no doubt you can, said Mrs
Jessup. "Artists are always glad te
show their pictures. Run over to
morrow morning and walk in. Tel
him you thought you'd be neighborly
and see what he was painting. It's {
small house. You'll be sure to SEE
her.
"We1l do it, said Mrs. Bray; "and
if we do see her, I'll go with you tc
speak to Jessie. People that hear this
thing always say no one can live with
out breathing the air, and say you've
taken picture for real woman"
"Now that tries my patience" said
Mrs. Jessup. GAS ifI could make
such a mistake. Pictures are painted
flat on canvass. !. He put his arm
round this ones waist. She was as
solid as you are, Mrs. Bray"
"Not doubt of it." said Mrs. Brey;
"and we'll get peep, if we can"
The ladies, then, having filled thei1
respective pals with water from the
village pump, where they had gossip
ed, separated, and Mrs. Jessup hur-
ried home, muttering to herself:
ga picture! They must think I'm
a mad woman. I'll show them their
pictures. Stuff and nonsense !"
Mrs. Jessup loved gossip, but in
this case at least she knew what she
was talking about She had thrice
seen the mysterious lady who inhabit-
ed the cottage which Mr.. Palette the
artist had hired for the summer, and
she did not, to use her own expression,
"like her looks at all.
About two o'clock the next day
Mrs. Jessup was on thelook out, peep
ing between the green blinds of her
parlor windows. At halfpast two
Mrs. Bray and Mrs. Grill were seen
to enter the artists cottage in their
best shawls. AT three they emerged,
and crossed the road almost at a run.
Mrs. Jessup was at the door of her
house in moment.
''Come in" she said. know by
your faces you've seen her. Martha,
come here. I knew it. It's picture,
is it ? Come. you've seen hery
Martha, with her hands covered
with flour, and a big linen apron on,
ran in from the kitchen. The four
gathered together in the parlor, and
with an air of mystery which might
have caused one to believe that they
were concocting a new gunpowder
plot, and Mrs. Grill opened the ball.
"The audacious thing!" she said.
'The bold creature p said Mrs.
Bray.
81 never would have believed it y
said Mrs Grill
'Do tell us" said Mrs. Jessup.-
"What was she doing? How was
she dressed? What did she say?"
"She didn't so much as speak to
us, said Mrs. Grill.
"She was dressed in black velvet
and white cap, said Mrs. Bray, ga
kind of a pointed cap, and she was on
her knees in a corner
"On her knees ?" cried Mrs Jessup.
"Now, Peggy Bray, don't tell me
that"
"She was" said Mrs. Grill.
eve went straight into the room
where he was painting, and he show
ed us his pictures, and wasn't one bit
took aback, and there she knelt with
her back around. looked and look
ed he didn't offer to introduce her.
After while says:
"I'm afraid we're interrupting that
lady
"'Oh no. said he, mo fear of dis
turbing her devotions He said it
sort of queer, you know, with laugh
l never expected to see such thing
in myllife. Such aposition. Must
have been to insult us.
81 think she was scared" said Mrs.
Bray.
"Well," said Mrs. Jessup, "we1l call
tonight )" and the ladies answered
eyes" in chorus.
That evening, at the other end of
the village, the good old clergyman
sat with his daughter on their vine
wreathed porch. Both were very
quiet, for on that day a very import
ant event had occurred
Jessie Gray had, with her fathers
consent, affianced herself to the young
artist, Mr.. Palette. He had just left
them, and was walking down the road
in the blissfal condition of mind COM
mon to accepted lovers, when the gar
don oota oloprod ond Mr., Io,s,,,