San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1888-07-21
STORY OF A PRESENT.

June mornings In Antwerp three hun
dref years ago were ar bright as they are
in our own land In those later times, and
young men we're much the same In 1861 a.
they are today The earliest worshiper
In the cool. shsdowy cathedral hurried
through his prayers, fancy. and made his
way quickly out into the sunshine Of the
Grand place and through the narrow.
crooked old streets toward his lodging In
the Rue 'Orfevres
He would be thought singularly de
vout young man nowadays to go to church
at all in the early morning Of his wedding
day. but times have changed, and dare
say be was no better and no worse
than lots of us who have not been reared
under the eternal vigilance Of careful
priests or under the no less constant
watch of stone saints and Madonnas look
ing down from every street corner shrine
He was a strapping young fellow. and a
gallant figure for a bridegroom as he
strobe along toward the street OF the gold
smiths Now see the compelling power
of girls eyesl They had drawn Quinten
Massys from his humble anvil at Louvain
uE TO magnificent, queenly Antwerp,
where wealth and power and luxury vert
at their highest tide just then. to run his
life race with other men, and not as q
blacksmith. but as an artist. Frans Floris,
tho famous painter. wrinkled his ragged
old brows and hoisted his shoulders up to
his ears 1t the idea Of Q son In law who
swung . hammer instead Of welding Q
brush; and the young man determined to
show himself capable of work as worthy
tc live through years to come as anything
that even FlOris could produce.
So to Antwerp he came and labored for
his prize, and now he had WOE her. and
today he was to claim his wife His
painting was praised by all the great artis
tic city and even the emperor himself
mad looked with approval at his work
And the favor of Charles V was q splendid
marriage portion with which to endow
the girl who had created his ambition for
him.
But-human nature Is a queer thing
Quinten Massys had begun as q worker in
metal and his heart was in the cunning
artifce of hammer and forge. And so he
had made wedding present for his bride
with his own hands. and it was not the
production of painter. but of smith.
With the most loving care he had fash
Toned a tiny silver box, whose double
cover showed the hand of master. Its
outer case was deliberately beaten and
chased with the device of the order that
the emperor had bestowed upon him. and
which he had taken for his family arms
The inner clasp was q network Of silver
cobwebs. wrought in q design that he
copied from a piece Of tapestry from
Bruges And in the tiny hollow be had
placed little ball Of aromatic gum that
an Arabian merchant had brought to Ant
werp-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 morning Of the gathering cloud of
the lnquisition. of the Spanish soldiery
or of the fourteen months siege that
should leave barely two-thirds of Ant
werp's 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 after
noon into the cool shade of the gray
tower. people said so radiant bride had
not trodden the stones of the Grand place
since Charles was king.
H.
The solid old houses Of Blocker street
sheltered no happier young people, in the
year OF grace 1910. than William Van
Corlear and his wife. Lucy Ellsworth had
led her lover tho usual dance to which
popular girls are apt to treat their ad
mirers. but the Dutch incapacity TO give
way TO encouragement 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 Eve years that had passed
since the wedding day.
The young husband was walking home
from bis business on the afternoon of his
anniversary 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 tina, this foolish young matron,
unless kept away by accident. was sure
to be watching for her spouse and to be
the first to greet his comingf 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
wandered from case to case. His wife
already had all the ornaments she cared
to wear What was he to selectf The
salesman finally fshed out little antique
pungent box, whose cover bore q strange
coat of arms. nearly effaced by long years
Of use in many generations Of soft hands
whose dust would now scratch the
smooth silver. Here was . dainty trif1e,
surely
You will not find anything like it in
New York. sir. said the salesman 'This
was picked up at an auction of the bric-a.
brac collected from every corner of the
world by German prince who committed
suicide last year at Monaco think 1t IL