The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1886-10-13
A PICTURE TO ORDER.


ing in better-days quarter of New
York
Across the front of this smoke-be
grlmed pile is emblazoDed q legenc
which, if of recent origin, must have
been put there in sport. 1t runs: "En
terprise Building
The wn-broker, the tallow- chandler
aud the old-clothes- are in possession
of the ground floor, while the sign:
adorning the stairway -jambs tell to what
motley crew the upper regions have
been abandoned.
Within this portal, almost blo:Fadine
it with his broad shoulders, stands 8
man of type more numerous in the
6fties than now. A genuine s'Forty,
niner"-red shirt. corduroys, boots,
leather belt, broad hat. sunburnt face.
His great, rough hand is fumbline
irresolutcly through his big, tangled
beard. as he regards intently sign upon
the stairs which reads: PORTRAITS and
Landscapes tainted. Room 39."
He has plainly been successful IN his
gold-seeking. Even his back shows
that. 1t is q broad. well-to-do, one
hundred-cents- ont thc-dollar back. Per-
haps he has had enough of ''roughing
IT., and longs for taste of the refined
delights denied him in his exile.
Whatever his intention, he seems half
ashamed of it, he takes hurried glance
up and down the street, and hcsitates
again before his resolve is taken, and his
heavy boots so numbering up the stairs.
In little room on the top floor sits a
shabby man, the physical opposite of
the first.
The well-worn books uron the shelves
and the bullying portfolios of ''studies"
digger after treasure, but Of another
kind, and his face gives evidence that
he has found it.
His wide, shadowy eyes see more than
they rest upon, and his high brow teens
with fancies far above the groveling
horde about him.
Upon the canvas before him his hand
combines the fruits Of research. observa-
tion and reflection in results too good to
win the general applause-too perfect
to be widely understood.
His labors have not brought him the
robust health, nor yet the material re-
wards Of the other.
He is thin and weak and miserably
poor. Strive as he may with his un-
busincsslike, unpract cal nature, he can
but keep himself half fed.
The day is bitter cold, and he pauses
often in his work to beat together his
blue fingers, almost as numb and lifcless
as the little, rusty, unused stove in the
corner
How unequally the goods of this world
are divided!
What pity such as this cannot ex-
change Of their possessions to the point
of equalization with that other class rep
resented by the wearer of the heavy
boots now numbering up toward him.
What a pity-ah, yes, but Fate doesn't
often lend IN ear to Pity.
Perhaps he was ruminating somewhat
to this effect when the clump- -clumping
of the top boots, followed by vigorous
tombardmcnt of his door, interrupted
him.
He risen and opens the door, starting
half in fear half with pleasure at the
talwart figure before him.
With such a model he could paint
men.
"Gd mornin', stranger says the
"Forty- miner"
Good morning. come in," the othel
replies, holding the door Hospitality
open.
"Cn look at the pictures''
"Certainly."
The visitor steps over the threshold
and by the time the artist has closed the
door and seated himself at his work, hi
has gone around the room, has "looked'
at them and plainly failed to find some
thing ne as plainly hoped to see.
He stands now and watches the artis
laying the colors on the canvas.
''Ah," he says. Il don't care much fol
pictures. They don't look like out
doors. They don't look like the place
want to see. Say, stranger! could y
paint pictur' list as I'd describe it t'ye
SO it'd look like tn very place."
II am afraid not Words are no
.eadily translated into form and color
The usual terms of description are TOT
indefinite, capable of too many ard TOT
v"ried interpretations: too liable to dis
tortion through the transforming inhu
ences of the painters own imagination
to render success probable"
"No, no; don't mean anything like
that. Jus, make it the way III tell ye
Kinder pan around, an I'll help Vt
strike it. Try it, stranger. I'll stant
the damages. M if ye make t lool
like the place, I'll pay ye we'll f'r it."
The inducements are irresistible to tn
hungry Bohcm an, so he puts fresh can
vas on the easel and seats himself
palette in hand, to make the attempt.
The other shuts his eyes moment il
retrospection, and then says: "Well
there's a river runnin' right through tn
middle of this pictur' that want t see
Not big river. j'st kind of an over
grown creek. Big enough f'r trout ar
sunfsh that ID do boys eyes good t
look at. But that amt mu:h of dc
scription,is is it," And he scratches hi
head in a puzzled way, and tries again
"Well, this river is about forty foot wild
on the average. J'st paint it about ths
wide right across the middle there, wi
We? Kinder windin' around, like this.
But the other doesn't paint it. II
stead, he says: ''There is nothing tar
gible in that. The water itself IS n
more visible than the air we breathe
We only seem to see it as it reflects otht
things, as the objects upon its banks
the sky overhead, or shows US colo
t1qp tks salts Of sQi!s held in suspension