Reporter and farmer. [volume] (Webster, Day County, Dakota [S.D.]) 188?-1946, 1888-07-19
The History of a Present.

juno mornings IN Antwerp tnret nunultu
years ago were as bright as they are in our
own land In these later times, and young
men we're much the same in 1850 as they are
to-day. The earliest worshippers in thecool,
shadowy cathedral hurried through his
prayers, fnncy, and made his way quickly
out into the Sunshine ofthe Grand Place and
through the narrow. crooked old streets to-
wards his lodgings in the Rue d'orfevres.
He would be thought q singularly devout
young man nowadays TO go to church at all
in the enriy morning Of his wedding day, but
times have changed and dare say he was
no better and no worse than lots of us who
have not been reared under the internal vigil
lance Of careful priests or under the no less
constant watch Of stone saints and Madon-
mas looking down from every street corner
shrine
He was a strapping young fellow and q
gallant figure for q bridegroom as he strobe
along towards the street of the goldsmiths.
Now see the compelling power Of a
girls eyesl They had drawn Qninten
Massys from his humble anvil Mt
Louyain up TO magnificent, quecnly Antwerp,
where wealth and power and luxury were Mt
their highest tide just then, to run his life
race with other men, and notas d blacksmith
but as an artist. Frnns Floris; the famous
painter wrinkled his ragged old brows, and
boisted his shoulders up to his ears at the
idea of son-in-law who swung hammer
instead Of welding brush, and the young
man determined to show himself capable Of
work as worthy to live through years I'd
come as anything that even FIoris could pros
ducc.
So 10 Antwerp he came and Iabored for bis
prize, and now he had won her, and to-day he
was TO claim his wife. His painting was
al la Sfl eitv
even the Emperor himself had looked with
approval at his work. And the favor OF
Charles V. was d splendid marriage portion
with which 10 endow the girl who had created
his ambition for him.
But, human nature is queer thing. Quinten
Massys had begun as a worker in metal, and
his heart was in the cunning artifee of ham
mer and forge. And so he had made a we'd
ding present for his bride, with his own hands,
and it was not the production of a painter
but of a smith.
With the most loving care he had fashioned
tiny silver box; whose double cover showed
the hand of "a master Its outer case was
deliberately beaten and chased with device of
the order that the Emperor had bestowedu up
on him. and which he had taken for his family
arms. The inner clasp was Il network of sill
yer cobwcbs. wrought IN a design that he
copied from a piece of tapestry from Bruges
And IN the tiny hollow he had placed little
chant had brought to Antwerp-the only city
where such costly perfumes could be sold.
No thought then of the dreadful days that
were comingl. No hint ON that bright June
morhing of the gathering cloud ofthe Inqnisi-
tion, of the Spanish soldieryi or of the four
teen months siege that should leave barely
two-thirds of Antwerps citizens to open the
gates at last TO the Duke Of Parmal
As the young artist and his wife came out
Of the cathedral that summer afternoon into
the cool shade Of the gray tower, people said
so radiant a bride had not trodden the stones
of the Grand Place since Charles was King.
The solid old houses of Bleecker street
sheltered no happier young people in the
year Of grace 1910, than William Van Cor
lear and his wife Lucy Ellsworth had led
her lover the usual dance tn which popular
girls are apt to treat their admirers, but the
Dutch ncapacity to give way to discourage
ment conquered in the end; and st. Georges
bells had rung in their married life with so
merry peal that its echoes had not ceased
vibrating through the five years that mad
passed since the wedding day
The young husband was walking home
from his business ON the afternoon of his an
niversary and trying TO think of some pretty
trife to slip into his wife's hand as she met
him at the door. For, would you believe
that this foolish young patron, unless kept
away by accident, was sure to be watching
for her spouse and to be the first to greet his
comingi But, then, you must remember it
was fifty years ago, and at that time New
Workers had not DOTTED all their provincial
manners.
Van Corlear paused few doors below Dey
street. at Marquand's entered, and wan
dered from case TO case. His wife already
had all the ornaments she cared 10 wear.
What was he TO select2 The salesman finally
iished out a little antique pungent box,
whose cover bore strange coat of arms,
nearly eifaced by long years of use in many
generations of soft hand whose dust would
now scratch the smooth silver. Here was u
dainty trihe, surely
You will not find anything like il in New
York, sir" said the salesman. This was
picked up Mt an auction of bric-a-brae collect
cd from every corner of the world by Ger
man Prince who committed suicide last year
at Monaco. ! think it is the most beautiful
example of early Flemish metal work that
ever saw, though it is but II trihe"
II was quaint little box indeed. Hardly
more than an inch long and half as wide, of
silver, at the touch Of a spring its cover flew
up showing a second hinged cover or clasp of
intricate fhgree work This, when closed,
held in place "A fluff of cotton, which was to
be drenched in whatever salt or essence mad
anne choose. The conceit struck the young
man favorably, and he waited until it was
marked, in try letters on the tiny case. lust
in the centre of the worn old Flemish family
shield.