The Andrew County Republican. [volume] (Savannah, Mo.) 1871-1876, 1876-07-13
The Romance OF n Model.

A contributor TO Appleton's Monthly
tells the following story Of a Roman
model: Annins, another Of the fortu-
nate models, was from the town Of An
l first saw Nina in Rome some
Is years since, leading about her father,
who was blind, and begging for him.
She was a graceful, fair-complexioned
girl of Is or IA. Her hair wss golden
and her eyes of a dark blush gray. She
had ahappS faculty In getting sous out
q the pockets OF susceptible elderly
gentlemen, who found her sparkling
and merry laugh irresistible-for the
girl never asked for aims in q whining
tone, and looked as II she would give a
kiss for every sou, and the more sous
the better. The women, of course, did
not approve of Nina, and called her a
bold, impudent little mink. The moth
or Of Nina was a licensed
beggar, who touched PEG.
pies hearts by eloquent talking
Of better days, from which she had been
driven by terrible misfortunes, and
which might possibly be true, for the
old woman had the air of a fallen
Countess, and exhibited the remains of
a once handsome person. She was wise
and prudent enough, whatever she had
been, or was at present, to look care
fully after her attractive daughter, and,
when her blind husband died, accom-
panied Nina to the studios, where she
began to find plenty of employment for
her fine, undraped, classical figure. Its
approximation to the Greek type made
her a valuable model for the sculptors,
and her pure complexion, auburn hair,
and soft, dreamy eyes, made her a
favorite model for the painters. From
her rise, leaving begging to do the
model, Nina abandoned her former
lightness Of manner, and was noted for
her modest, retiring department; no
one could say she had any longer the
manners of a /" brazen mink"
She had for some months been occu-
pied by a pension student of the French
academy at Rome. He was a young
of great promise, and was mold
ing a very clever figure. for which he
consulted only Nina's proportions.
Every morning, as l took my early
walk upon the Pincio, l saw the Grip
pied old mother with her cane hobbling
along the road toward the French
academy to accompany her daughter to
the studio of the student. Who that
has found admittance into that stately
edifce (once the residence of Catherine
de Medici, now a school of fine arts for
the best of the students of France) and
passed into the grounds behind it, will
not remember the grove of lick, with
its profound shade above on the right,
its charming n below on the left
and has noticed its fountains, vases,
fragments of interesting bas-reliefs
upon the facade of the palace; its
quaint collection of all sorts of objects
sacred to art and taste, and will well
remember, As he strolled through
the %layrinthian walks, leaf woven over
head, flowers, and hedges, shrubbery
on either hand, and also remarked,
nearly hidden in foliage, several stu
diosp In one Of these romantic dteiiers
posed daily, to the pension ,udent, the
bella Anticolana, while the mother took
snuff, dozed, or perchance counted her
beads; and day by day more perfect
grew the scupltor's work. Then came
the last sitting, and the figure must be
cast. When the next day came, and the
student saw no pretty Annina in his
studio, he felt there was something
missing, and finally had to confess to
himself, and then TO his fellow-students,
that he had fallen in love with his
model. They laughed at him and
chaffed him numerically, hooted at his
talk OF honest sentiment and matri-
mony. at was a betiSe not to be thought
of, and he a deluded Don Quixote," bu,
the young sculptor was serious, and was
determined to marry Nina if she would
have him. The girl was already
engaged to marry a rustic
OF her W town, who
had nothing in the world but his shove,
and his strong, sunburnt hands to main,
tain her. Annina went home to spend
the summer, and shortly was to wet
her afianced contadino. In the mean,
time the student grew more earnest
and in his desperate passion followed
her to her squalid home, used the infu
ence of her friends and the counsels O
the village priest to dissuade her from
marrying her present lover, and risk
ing the poverty and wretchedness i
would entail. At length she was pre-
vailed upon to give up Pietre and be
come the wife of the rising Frencl
sculptor. Married, he returned l.
France with his Nina, and now wear
the proudest decoration of his country
one of its great artists. The model
they say, has proved to be a model wife
nd thew are very happv.