Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1875-11-25
a MODEL Boy

den in Venice, fishing with a PIN
hook. He apparently consisted of two
brown legs and thing of shred and
patches called trousers. The rest o;
him was hanging over the lagoon.
'Halloo, young man. ssid /, stay
where you are minute. [ want to
make a sketch of you
He lifted his head and showed me
one of those delicious child faces that
belong only to Da Vinci's angles. Two
great innocent brown eyes looked
frankly and steadily into mine. The
mouth wore that smile shadoTy smile
which Leonardo cast over the lips CT
all his women and children.
/ extended my hand. The young
fisherman dropped his pin-hOok and
laid his dlngy little paw therein.
This is more than mere circum-
stance l said this is an affinity. |
will take this child unto my heart and
adopt him while l stay in Venice. |
am a poor and lonely Bohemian this
delightful boy is also Bohemian,
Judging from his clothes. Let US be
beggars and happy together
1 ended by proposing that he share
my humble home and fortunes, provid-
cd his mother would let him, clean
brushes, go Of errands, amuse the dogs,
make himself generally useful, and
pose for me by the hour.
Il will,' he cried, tumbling off the
wall. Come along, Illustrissimo.'
So we went home to the dull abode
of DO yerty. l introduced Pipo to the
World, Sin and the Flesh. DON'T
tremble in your virtuOus shoes. They
were only my dogs-poor Cutcast ours
that he'd 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 bet
ter friends could an unrecognized art
ist have than three drowning, starving,
miserable dogs? They were four-foot-
ed epigralns against fortune.
1t was too late to begin work that
day; could only form high hopes of
Pipo on canvas. We partook of fru
gal repast. Pipo was initiated into the
use of tie fork. Then | offered for his
consideration the first of a series of
lectures on the manly art of washing
plates. Hitherto the dogs had neatly
polished them and / hBd merely
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 fane are mine, long with visit
full sadness for those dear old days in
far-Off Venice. Something | have lost
which then made life glorious. If
could only step out into my loggia at
sunset, after a 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
plishness. l wanted to paint him
semi-nube, for the sake of that ripe
golden skin of his. But felt that my
picture was destined Tor American eyes
and | merely enlarged the holes in his
garments.
PipO began to manifest an alarming
fondness for brushes and cOlors. is il
possible that ] may prove the Cimabue
to this Giotto? l queried. 'Giotto
rendered sheep and Pipo fished with a
pin-hook. Better that he should
dredge mud from Venetian canals all
his life. He shall never WELD brush
with my consent
This model boy of mine had one vice
which all my efforts could not uproot
from his youthful breast. BE had the
face of an angle, but he used language
that would have brought a blush to the
checks of a shipload Of pirates.
PipO soon settled TO his own satisfac-
ton that when L went to America he
was to go likewise. l encouraged the
idea from educational motives.
'Pipo, how long is it since you wash
ell yorr face"
Pipo counted his fingers.
"A week.
We'll, when you go 10 America,
Pipo, my boy, you'll have to wash your
face every day, and your hands too, for
there, my Venetian ariStOcrat. the peo-
pie have plebeian prejudice in favor
of cleanliness
Pipo went off, and, returning, said,
with a confidential smile, Me clean
now; me go TO America
Pipo came to me shortly after and
with graceful bow offered me ciga-
rette from package in which he had
Just invested. 1t was Saturday; our
weeks work was done; we had squar-
ed accounts, and PipO felt like a mil
lionaire.
l accepted and lighted it. Look
here, young man, when you go 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 oil
eight are not expected 10 be quite As far
advanced in dissipation as old fellows
of twenty
Thus did administer moral instruc-
ton in small doses to my untutored
savage.
Things began 20 look black 10 the
little old house on the lagoun. Pipol
and had been snhsisfino fnr sarna