Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1884-06-24

your silence. I shall see that it be done T
''Oh, no, no, you will not do this thing,
Senior Rubensw exclaimed the monk "It
will be wrong-very wrong. Take the
picture if you like, but leave him who is al
rest in peace to the end l speak in the
name of Godl Yes, know this great man
as you call him. This wretched, blind
mortal, as call him. l loved him, com
forted him, redeemed him from amid the
waves of earthly passions and miseries
where he was drowning. There was time
when he had forgotten God. Now he is
very near to eternal blessedness. Glory,
fame! Do you know Of greater ones than
those to which he aspires. What right
have you to seek to inflame once more with
earthly vanities soul in which there now
only burns the love of God. Do you know the
| fierce battles that man fought with his own
heart before he gave up the world-before
he renounced riches, fame, power, youth,
love, all the things for which human GREAT
ures thirst in which they glory? Do you
know the anguish, the bitterness, the su-
preme illusions which led him to realiza-
ton of the utter vanity Of all things here
below? Would you drag him back to the
heat of the fray when he is so near to final
triumph?"'
"But this is to renounce Immortality"
ssIt is 10 aspire to win it." I.
III And with what right do you thus place
yourself between this man and the world?
Let me speak to him-let me decide"
''With the right Of an older brother, of
q teacher, of a father-for am all that to
him. I repeat. do it in the name of
God. Respect my right as you hope for
the welfare of your soul.'
A. =. L: l.
monk glided swiftly by the church
MASTER" said one of Rubens's pupils,
who during the foregoing conversation, had
been attentively scrutinizing the prior's
features, F'did it not strike you that there
old friar and the dead monk in the pic
ture?"
''Trlily, you are right" said all in one
breath.
s'Substract the wrinkles and beard and
the thirty years which the master holds
have elapsed since the picture was painted,
and | think we shall find that he was right
when he said the dead monk was the por-
trait of the artist himself, and, moreover,
that this is the work of none other than
the prior of this convent"
Rubens, sombre, shamed, and deeply
moved, looked after the retreating form of
the old man. Before disappearing, the
monk turned. and crossing his arms on his
chest bowed low to the painter.
'1t is he-yes, yes, murmured Rubens.
"Come, let us go. That man is right.
What is the greatness that I have as COM
pared to his? Let him die in peace"
And with a last look at the wonderful
canvas he left the church and repaired to
the palace, where he was to dine with the
King and Queen.
Three days later Rubens, alone and un-
attended, made his way back to the modest
chapel, once more to see the wonderful pic
ture and the artist.
But the painting no longer hung in it's
place.
In the nave of the chapel stood bier,
and around it knelt all the members of the
community, chanting the office of the dead.
The master approached On the bier lay
the prior
''He was great painter,' said Rubens,
after q long pause, filed by many mixed
emotions. "Now is the time when he looks
most like his work."