Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1888-03-08
STORY OF A PICTURE.

vas. 1t was an unannounced exhibit,
| and had attracted great attention, es-
pecally from those best qualified to
| Judge.
Though not as competent as
yourself, old fellow" continued Wharf,
ton, IL do not fail to appreciate the
| technique, the tendreSse of the handling,
the breadth and depth of feeling dis
played, the minuteness of detail, the
rare mixing and laying on of color, as
it were, with a brush guided by the
| spiritual rather than the merely physi-
cal, by refined and gifted human
soul"
"You are enthusiastic.
''Who would not be with such gem
before his eyes.
So it was. The representation was
of little bend in some tranquil
stream, framed in by hills densely COW
cred with evergreens.
At intervals upon the banks were
clumps of trailing willows and dark
| green alders.
Floating upon the surface of water
so clear that one could count the peb-
| bles beneath, were broad lily pads,
above which rose reedy sedgc.
The sky was a mass of drifting
whirling clouds, with the full moon
struggling through their ragged edges,
and casting down a weird, uncertain,
CHASTITY light.
Yet these things alone would not
have accounted for the deep interest
excited, and Wharton was about to
give utterance to his thoughts when
his companion touched his arm and
continued:
This is no place for what have to
tell. Come home with mel mean to
my studio-and | will tell the story as
| know it"
The 'studio." not the regulation
one in some high, dismal, out-of-the-
way building, but cosy attic in pri-
vate dwelling, reached and cigars
lighted, Lamoine resumed:
1.-The painting you have so much
praised was not the result of poetic
fancy or ideal dreaming, but terrible
actually that, of course, came to an
already skilled artist.
without doubt" answered Whar-
ton, ''for none other could have felt
to the innermost core of his heart
what has been so magically pictured.
But go on.
For tie sake of intelligent un-
derstandIng let me assume his in
dividuality. aad speak of the cir
cumstances as if they had actually oc-
CURED to myself.
"As you please agreed Wharton
laughingly, for lie remembered that
his friend had once iabored under the
delusion that he was destined to be-
come a great actor.
That no one not already an artist
could have executed such 4 picture
you have conceded, and am firm i'll
born. not made. Promising this and
that such souls-word and brush
painters-are particularly influenced
by the beauty and goodness of
woman, proceed. THAT is the one
representa- my journeying met
and fell in love-I use the customary
senseless term-with a beautiful girl,
entirely filling my widest imaginings
and longings, artistic and spiritual.
Describe her, please"
"The canvas has already done SO as
far as it is possible for brush and tint to
do it; yet it gives but faint idea of
the glory of the hair fine, soft. and
outshining pure gold; the blue eyes;
the soul that spoke through the car
mine lips"
"And the physical beauty is given
in the picture?'
"Truthfully, not idealised, and next
to matchless.
"You say this after seeing all the
famous statues of the world?'
~ do, and with my hand upon my
heart. You knowing the intensity of
feeling in poetic artist soul, can
we'll understand the warmth OF his
woong. In early summer they met,
and before it had changed to the chill
of autumn they we're engaged, and, by
some strange decree of fate, upon the
very spot now made familiar to you
by means of the picture.
You believe in fate. Lamoine?"
II believe" with one of the peculiar
smiles that cause chill and dread
rather than pleasure, ''in some mys-
FERROUS power that controls human
actions more than is generally be-
lieved. What it is | do not undertake
to assert. Wait until | have finished
and then draw your own conclusions"
''Go on, answered Wharton hoarse-
ly, for the mysterious wis and man.
ner of his friend impressed him deep
ly.
''There was no opposition to the en-
gagement-no known reason why
they should not be married-and life
with them flowed on as smoothly as
farc nf tho liffla CT "
"A placid existence, indeed"
Eyes, and yet to be broken by ter
rible storm. No, not as you imagine;
but by sickness. Perchance there was
no one to blame but myself. | am
speaking. you will remember, as if the
interested party. Such delicate and
highly sensitive organization as that
of Ethel Scott-her name? yes-could
not resist what hardy manhood could.
Wandering in the night air and by the
water resulted in fever, in phrenites.
"And you-the lover, / mean-must
have suffered beyond the power of de-
scription," remarked his friend in low
and sympathetic tones.
mo: and here commences the
strange and mysterious. though strict
ly true, events that give the story its
deepest interest.
Wharton shifted in his seat uneasily,
rested his arm upon a table. his head
| upon his hand, and shaded his eyes as
| his friend continued:
Business called the lover of Ethel
to the distant city. The evening be-
fore his departure they had wandered
late beside the still waters and sat
upon the log shaded by willows you
may have noticed at the right of the
| picture.
Yes; a semi-dark, damp place,
even in the sunlight" was the almost
shivering comment
Just as you describe it; but there
was no realisation of unhealthy vapors.
The night was . glorious one. The
water as quiet as that dreaming round
the Enchanted Isles; the sky as clear
| of cloud as that bending over them;
the breeze as soft and sweet as that
which kisses their shores. 1t was the
night OF nights for love and lovers,
and they clung to each other the
longer and more closely in view of the
days of separation to follow. On the
| morrow the train took an unwilling
heart away and left behind one nearly
broken"
But there is compensation in the
joy of reunion. the fond. the passion
/ ate lingering kiss, of fears banished- Z
~ 4 EHxw~k -