Port Tobacco times, and Charles County advertiser. (Port Tobacco, Md.) 1845-1898, 1875-11-12
A MODEL BOY.

A MODEL BOY.
The first time / saw Pipo he was
lying on the wall of the public garden
in Venice, fishing with a pin-hook.
He apparently consisted of two brown
bare legs and thing of shreds and
patches called trousers. The rest of
him was hanging over the lagoon.
"Halloo, young man." said [; "stay
where You are a minute. | want to
make sketch of you."
He lifted his head and showed me
one of those delicious child-faces that
belong only to Da Vinci's angels. Two
great innocent brown eyes looked
frankly and steadily into mine. The
mouth wore that sweet shadowy smile
which Leonardo cast over the lips of
all hrs women and chtturen.
/ extended my hand. The young
fisherman dropped his pin-hook and
laid his dingy little paw therein.
"This is more than mere circum-
stance" said; .'this is an affinity. l
will take this child unto my heart and
adopt him while l stay in Venice. l
am poor and loonely Bohemian; this
delightful boy is also Bohemian,
judging from his clothes. Let us be
beggars and happy together"
I ended by proposing that he should
share my humble home and fortunes,
provided his mother would let him,
clean brushes, go of errands, amuse
the dogs, make himself generally use
full, and pose for me by the hour.
81 WILL" he cried, tumbling off the
wall, "Come along, Illustrissimo."
So we went home to the dull abode
of poverty. / introduced Pipo to the
World, Sin, and the Flesh, Don't
tremble in your virtuous shoes. They
were only my dogs-poor outcast ours
that-drifted with the tide in the lagoon
to my door. They were lean, hungry
eyed creatures, always on the alert for
blows and kicks. What better friends
could an unrecognized artist have than
three drowning, starving, miserable
dogs? They were four-footed epigrams
against fortune.
1t was too late to begin work that
day; l could only form high hopes Of
Pipo on canvas. We partook of a
frugal repast. Pipo was initiated into
the use of the fork. Then l offered
for his consideration the first of a
series of lectures on the manly art of
washing plates. Hitherto the dogs
neatly polished them and / had mere
ly touched them up with the towel.
This is the poetry Of the artists life.
And yet, now that / have made me
a name, now that friends and honor
and fame are mine, ] long with a wist-
full sadness for those dear old days in
far-off Venice. Something have lost
which then made life glorious. If l
could only step out into my loggia at
sunset, after hard days work, and
hear in the rustic of the trees in the
garden, in the roar of the surf at the
Lido, in the vesper bell sweeping over
the lagoon, THE world is an infinite
possibility. Go forth in the might of
thy genius and youth and conquer the
realm"
painted Pipo just as he was, in his
rags and his dirt and his angelic i'm
pishness. | wanted to paint him semi
nude, for the sake of that ripe golden
skin Of his. But felt that my pic
ture was destined for American eyes
and | merely enlarged the holes in his
garments.
Pipo began to manifest an alarming
fondness for brushes and colors. ''Is
it possible that | may prove the Gina
bue to this Giotto:" l queried.
"Giotto tended sheep and Pipo fish
ed with pin-hook. Better that he
should dredge mud from Venetian
canals all his life. He shall never
WELD the brush with my consent"
This model boy of mine had one vice
which all my efforts could not uproot
from his youthful breast. He had the
face of an angel, but he used language
that would have brought a blush to
the cheeks of a shipload of pirates.
Pipo soon settled to his own salts
faction that when | went to America
he was TO go likewise. | encouraged
the idea from educational motives.
"Pipo, how long is it since you wash
ed your face?"
Pipo counted his fingers.
"a week"
"Well, when you go to America,
Pipo, my boy, you'll have to wash your
face every day, and your hands too,
for there, my Venetian aristocrat, the
people have plebeian prejudice in
favor of cleanliness"
Pipo went off and, returning, said,
with confidential smile, "Me clean
now; me go to America.
Pipo came to me shortly after and
with graceful bow offered me cigar
ette from a package in which he had
just invested. 1t was Saturday; our
weeks work was done; We had squar-
ed accounts, and Pipo felt like mil
lionaire.
| accepted and lighted it. ''Look
here, young man, when you 60 to
America you'll have to give up the
use of the weed. In the land of the
free, and so forth, my friend, little
boys of eight are not expected to be
quite as far advanced in dissipation as
old fellows of twenty"
Thus did | administer moral in
struction in small doses to my untutor-
ed savage.
Things began to look black in the
little old house on the lagoon. Pipo
and | had been subsisting for some
time on shipwreck rations. Never a
foot crossed my humble threshold with
intent to order pictures. Robinson
Crusce and Friday were not more en-
tirely alone on the island than were
Pipo and | there in that water-bound
cottage with only our own bright
dreams and the prophetic glory of
sea and sky to keep lis from utter