Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1882-11-15

really a5GOn1Slou TO near n1m guSn aDOuO
her appearance, for he had never paid
any attention to the half dozen other
girls on the block who admired him. L
was serenely unconcerned myself, for to
tell the truth had begun long before to
take an interest in Toms sister, who was
just budding into womanhood. I re-
monstrated when Tom got to neglectlng
his picture to stand at the window and
gaze across the street
There are half dozen other girls
on the block, Tom, and, as far as I can
Judge, much prettier than this one. Be-
sides, she is the daughter of physi-
clan, and [ doubt whether she would
care to make the acquaintance of mere
mechanic.
was mistaken in my estimate, how
ever, for the doctor was really a plain
man of good common sense and model
upon which his family shaped their
ways. Tom embraced the first opportu-
nifty to get acquainted with Annie
Thornborough, and Hugh and !, who
were usually the leaders, were only tail
to Toms kite In this instance, and trailed
along after him and felt little insignifi-
can't when he introduced us two or
three days after he had formed her ac-
quaintance. There was nothing partic-
ularly attractive about Miss Thornbor-
ough to me. She had large gray eyes
soulful, remember Tom called them;
q large mouth, rather tender and win
ming [ admitted, when Tom suggested
the idea; brown hair, that Tom declared
had a golden tint--though there 1 re-
belled and declared that thought it de-
cidedly reddish, much to his disgust
and form which / pronounced pretty,
without any prompting from Tom. She
was ladylil1e, very pleasant and rather
quiet girl, but / really never thought
her worthy of comparison with little Mel
lie Galway-still admit q prejudice. I
actually believe Tom hated his trade
from the day he became acquainted with
Annie, for he had very exalted opinion
of her, and when he grew to love her, as
he soon did, he thought her altogether
too good for a mechanics WIFE You
and 7 can afford to moralize upon a
mechanics worth, but really [ expect
we would have been much like Tom.
1t was rather a sudden attachment on
his part, but [ think he had a good APP
probation Of her worth and admired her
character before he loved her-which is
frequently not the case you know.
The immediate result of the matter
was that Tom kept us awake nights till
IL o'clock and often later talking about
his future, and praising Annie-for we
had no secrets from each other then
while mountain, a river, bridge,
several trees and number of soldiers
gradually put III an appearance on the
canvas stretched across our largest room,
which he called his studio. Toms ideas
were rather grand, ard / don't think he
ever worked on canvas less than six by
ten, and his pieces were all historical.
The longer he knew Annie Thorn
borough the more absorbed he became
in that picture, and he went less and less
frequently acoss the way, for his visions
of the future compared SO unfayorabiy
with the actual present that he grew to
think that somehow she would be con-
taminated by association with a pl0dding
workiDgman, when she was to be the
wife Of famous artist [ don't think he
ever doubted that she would marry him,
and l am inclined to think she had given
him some encouragement, for [ can
scarcely conceive such sublime egotism
of him as must have been the case other
wise. So 1t Is astonishing to me that [
have SO long remained a mechanic" he
would say, "when [ was all the time
possessed Of the divine afiatus, but l
suppose it requiredsome grand object to
develop it.
I would have been little amused at
this, but that [ saw he was terribly in
earnest, and also that the picture was
certainly developing into something far
above anything he had ever attempted
before. Hugh O'Neill went away short
ly after the beginning of ali this, to take
lessons under Grierson, and, { am salts
fed, looked upon Toms love affair as a
little harmless by-play and expected the
picture to go the way all the rest of them
had gone. On one of his visits home,
when Tom was away decorating the ex-
terror of somebody's walls, l surprised
Hugh standing before the picture with a
paint brush in his hand He looked
around as [ entered, with mischievous
twinkle in his eyes.
What fun it would be to touch that
up little according to my taste,' he
said. "There ought to be man fishing
in that stream, for it evidently has fish
In it. There are other improvements I
could suggest, too. :"
L have always blamed myself for not
telling him how much it meant to Tom
IN. relation to the future, but think I
hardly appreciated how it was myself,
and [ laughed at Hugh's criticism in
view of the fact that a desperate encoun-
ter was taking place on the shore of the
stream, and admopished him lightly not
to touch 1t if he didn't want to bring a
hornets nest about his ears.
At another time he descanted upon
its merits as a drop curtsin, and this
time Tom was present, and was aston
ished at the expression on his face. l
believe [ then conceived for the first
time how utterly wrapped up he was in
his undertaking.
Hugh came back from Grierson's
shortly after this to remain for some
time, and he got to spending so much
of his time at DR.. Thornborough's that
I began to feel little apprehensive, for
Hugh was fascinating fellow and q
x1,or+br oy,o too opd nOro gooroo5 0c r.