Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1883-01-06

castle, and get on a friendly footing with
them; for the knight WAS said to have q
handsome daughte-, whom he allowed no one
to see. Even IL these preiiminaries should
take up couple of weeks it was of no con.
seouence. S. Lsenards Day did not come
untii the 1st of November; therefore there
remained still two good months time for the
tiresome pictures.
During these meditations tie painter hap
ply NJ anaged to get his jerkin half on, ana
he now passed iato the spacious hall, his
future studio. finishing lis toilet the while
There things looked rather odd. A fur.
nace, with projecting chimney, stood at the
wall: near it smsll, singuisriy formed
stove, cracibles and eartben pota Of all kinds,
hotties and rstorts, on tables and shelves,
dusty with age and broken. The easel, with
the pictures and painting teolg, had besn put
down in the midst Of all this lumber.
The painter would just draw on his slir-
pers in order to SPY little into the adjoining
room, when the master Of the house appeared,
followed by the warder. who brought break.
fast. They greeted each other 'civilly, and
tie guest thanked his host that he had quar-
tered him so picturesquely. This fantastic
hall especially was made for painter. Quen-
tin Meffis himself hss not been able to deco
rate bis room moro ingeniously with aereea-
bic. neeIess thires. He felt almost Inclined
20 painti st once. By the way, would his
friendly host tell him what this hearth and
stove, together with ali the bottles and re-
tort, really meant?
Short aud concise was the answer OF Won
Hs tenberg: My father built this hall for
an alchenisL, who received much gold from
him, and promised to make hundred times
more gold with it. Bat enc day the geld
maker ran away, and If nothing behi3d him
bu some dirty linen. Thereupon my father
had oil the windows Of this building strongly
srs.eo-as you see; the doors armed with
heavy locks and bolts ,nviace yourself !;
even to securing the chimney from within by
good iron bars-look up there; to climb up
the chimney TO the roof is quite impossible
He hoped to catch the goldsmith again, or
perhaps another, better one, and then an
othsr escape would be impossible. But the
cid gold.msker did not come back fer he had
been hanged meanwhile at Esslingen; nor
was a second to be found. So these rooms
had stood empty until now. But my father
did not have bolts ard bars made for nothing;
for now y6u remain locked in here uatil all
the Fourteen Helpers in Di4tress are finished.
You will not see me sgsin during the time.
or, indsed, see anybody except my trusty
wsrder, who will be your jailer and wsiter.
His face will rot distract you. You have 81
ready painted it, you know. Good appetite
for your breakfast
With thess words the old knight left with
his servant, who shut the door with extreme
quickness and bolted it.
In vain KoDrad Lerz cried solemn protest
against such deeds of violence, first through
the keyhele, then through the window: Z" /
am citizen of the free city; it will liberate
| and revenge ne! l am of the guild of paint
ers /; they will complain for me to the En-.
psror" In vain No one heard him except
some sparrows before the Windows, and they
| fed away much frightened.
".
Konrad's resolution was now more than
| sver to let his brush res, and to use all the
means be possibly could to break out, or to
give his friends news Ct him, that they might
| free him but ell attempts tailed.
| The place was bright and roomy-not ct
all jail like ; only the locks and bars we're so
solid that even o gold-maker, however
nocent painter, could hardly get cut.
| The warder did not By any means bring
acanty prison fare, but excellent food and the
best of wine and provided all comforts. But
| no persuasive art succeeded with the old
! growing bulldog, and so long as he was in
| the room an unseen hand held the door closed
| from the outside.
| The rooms lay on the ground floor, as they
should in devils kitchen of an slchemist
and the windows opened on small, ne.
elected garden, bounded by high wall, be.
hind which there was glimpse of a distant
wooded mountain. Any neighboring part Of
the castle, or even a human BEING, was no
where to be seen. Thus no Carthusian
monk was ever more thoroughly excluded in
| his narrow cell from the worlds distractions,
| tbsn the artist was in his narrow dwelling.
| After eight days spent in doing nothing but
scolding about the knight, and eighty shaking
| the iron bars, this simple occupation began
| to he too monetonous. He locked at his
coarsest brush and said:
eff Won Haltenberg will so coarsely con.
strain me to work | will serve him with my
cosrsest brush Only. l have shown him how
free mon can paint. Now he shall see how
man in letters paints!'
! Now he psintsd on the tablets the remain
| ing Helpers in Distress with the coarse brush
with vast celebrity. st. Erasmus, ST. George,
! st. Egidius, st. Christopher, st. Leonard,
and last also ST. Katherine. They were
drawn like gingerbread men, and colored like
| tin soldiers. Thereupon he sent the whole
batch to the knight, with the remark that
here the gracious lord received his pictures,
and row he might restore the painter to lib
erty. But the warder at once brought the
pictures back with the answer that If the
artist had not alcohol and pupice stone to
wash off tbs tablets, a speedy horseback mes
seDgar should be sept to town for a supply.
| In high 6udgeon Konrad pushed his easel
to the window to put these doll figures or If,
and get better light on them, and by the
sight of them to laugh away his vexation.
| He thought that his work was not quite so
worthless after all, inasmuch as he had with
very good success burlesqued those evel :
ready artists who paint any picture at an
! hours notice. Only here and there peculiar
bungling stroke seemed to be wanting. So
| be took up his brush end pu' still more com.
zeal touches on the csricstures.
| Suddenly = queer feeling came over him,
that made his fash creep. Was be not Gem
hitting a sin? He had wished, indeed, in
the first place, to mock the knight; but had
he not Knocked the saints as well? A master
of the old school would certainly not have
done that. He would probably have paid off
the rude knight in his own coin; but, he
would have painted the saints, for Gods sake,
as handsomely as be could. Suppose the
saints were really angry with him? They
had released the knight from tie heather
prison; might they not keep him forever
stuck fast in the knights prison
In the midst Of these sef-commuuipgs he
looked up. How astonished he was Op.
posite the window recess where he sat before
his easel, hung looking glass, and in the
glass appeared all at once. quite bright and
clear, the bodily picture of st. Katherine
not that st. Katherine whom he had at first
painted and then scrsped eff I; but the other,
handsomer one; she whom he had wished
in vain to paint.
A vision! Did the saint appear to reprove
or assist him? In the first instant IL flight
ened painter believed it TO be an apparition.
| But the lovely maiden-face was entirely too
earthly, too full OF fresh life for that; and
Konrad LEM was not psinter of tine old
| school hut an ENLIGHTENED child of the new
times. Tie efore he rallied quickly, kept
quite still and painted mechanically on. while
he looked asksncs in the glass.
| Quick as lighting he concluded: Accor6in 6
to the laws of perspective The original of the
looking. glass picture must be quite near be-
hind his back, standing before the window
outside watching his work. Already on yes
terdsy as he awoke from his MONDAY nap,
| he thought the same form fitted from tie