Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1889-06-07
PAUL JONES'S ALIAS,
BY DAVID CHRISTIE MURRAY.
Autisor of "JoSeph's Coat" Aunt RachL
81" "Cy7stc Fortune" Etc.

"You will see very little of me" he said,
"for the next three or four days. The
great work is already advertised, and the
date fixed for its publication. I am at
work on the final batch of proofs, and
have quite collection of words that /
want to save for the appendix"
9TH. dictionary" said the new arrival,
smiling at is actually Oh its way to
print"
.'It is actually in print, SIR" cried the
other. 1.-THE dialects of the Riviera are
classified for the first time. The philo-
logical bridge between France and Italy
is complete to its last arch. Nothing re
mains but to pass the roller over its ma
cadam; and that, Paul, will be my bust
ness for perhaps week. In the mean
time, you will have to amuse yourself for
the most part, and give you carte blanche
for the daytime, but will never have you
out minute after sunset. In the even
ings shall always be at your service,
partly because | am by nature compass
sionate and social, and partly because these
old eyes of mine will not stand close work
by lamplght"
The millionaire, Paul Jones, had found
3 pleasanter home than money could have
bought for him, and as good a physician
as any fees, however extrayagant, could
have paid for In the daytime he drove or
rambled or made brief railways excur-
siOns, and in the evenings he sat Mt home,
playing chess or holding pleasant converse
with Doctor Morris. He visited Monte
Carlo, and there saw our friend the Major
playing a tremendous game with amazing
fortune, and Captain Medhurst sitting by
him, calm and quiet, riaking no money of
his own, but pencilng a card for his COM
panion. The millionaire watched the
game, unseen by either of his chance ac-
quaintances, for half an hour When the
Majors luck turned and he began to lose
little heavily, he rose from the table at
which he had been sitting and carried his
system to another. The crowd which had
stood by to watch his play followed him,
and the Duisy talked loud and staggered
here rs he had talked loud and staggered
in Paris, and was obviously delighted to
afford such n sensation TO the hGbjtIIeS of
the place. Neither he nor Medhurst OBJ
served the valetudinarian, who was glad
enough To slip away in his own retiring
manner without "A recognition.
That afternoon in the railway carriage,
as he rode homewards, some English peo-
pie spoke enthusiastically about the beau
ties Of Juan-lcs Pins, and next morning,
being in some doubt as to how to pass the
day he decided to go there. 1t was a very
pearl Of days when he started. The sea
lay in such malachItes, violets, blues,
aud grcys as he had never until then be-
held. The January sun shone hot and
bright, and cool playful breeze tempered
the heat with no severity. He was alone,
MS he chiefly cared to be, and alighting at
the roadside station, the sole passenger
left by the train, he questioned the anna
Bile funCtiOnary who unites in his own
person the offices Of statiOn-mastcr, ticket
clerk, tiCkct-collcCtor, and signalman, and
was by him directed to the hotel. Every
body who knows Juan-lcspins remembers
the glorious Clumps of trees from which
the pluCe takes its name. The millionaire
dlverged from the path and turned into
the shadow of a lordly, natural cathedral
of tree stems To the right. His steps went
completely silent ON the brown carpet OF
shed tir-nccdlCs, the ungathcred harvest
of many scores Of years. The sunlight fell
in patches through the riffs of foliage
overhead, lying golden on the closely
matted carpet of the fir-needles, and shin
ing in vivid reds and siennas and rich
browns on the great trunks of the trees.
The calm sea lay beyond, with as many
tones to the full as delicate and pure
The solitude and the beauty of the place
drew him on, and he fell into "a reyerie
Walking with his eyes bent towards the
ground, he started suddenly to find him
self in the net of marching into an empty
camp-stool; md looking up, he saw, only
two or three yards before him, a painters
umbrella aud an easel with IL picture
mounted upon it. The paint was still
wet in places, and from where he stooa he
could make out nothing of the work but d
glare of vuriously-colorcd light lie
moved step or two to the left, and Sc
cured perfect view of it. The artist had
evidently left his work for IA while, and
not Il human creature was i'll sight. There
was a dim sound of voices SOmcHhe
two or three hundred yards away; but
that and the artistic belongings bt fore
him were the only evidences of humanity
no could discover, The work upon the
easel, though yet unfinished, charmed him
So much that he stood to look 40 it until
lie became altogether tOrgctful of his
whereabouts. II was painted with won.
derful brio, rs the art -slang goes-a sort
of happy mpotuosty and careless surety;
aud it looked like what it was-an impas-
stoned, single minded, and simple-hcarted
reproduction of Natures self TO the
Observers mind, the salt of the sea and
the odor OF the pines were on it, and It
had one rare and excellent yirtue-it held
sunlight
The millionaire Paul Jones stood so en-
rapt-for he was by nature and cultivation
lover Of pictures, and had been wide
awake dreamer all his days-that he did
not hear the step uf the artistic Paul until
1t was almost upon him. Then he turned
and found himself confronted by that jolly
and burly presence. The younger Paul
recognized him at once. and addressed him
with hoistcruus frankuess.
'llillol You come down here2 Lovely
country, amt IL? Don't let me drive you
away'-for the shy millionaire made
motion as il he would go. cit don't fret
me n hit to have folks around while I'm
working. Fact, | rather like it."
The millionaire had something of sense
Of shame upon him. One of his common
est forms Of sadness took its rise in the
opinion that he was good Mt nothing. He
had tried most of the arts in his day. and
had surrendered each in turn with an
ahortlve sense of want of power over it.
He had painted and modelled and played
and had written verses, and had never got
beyond the amateur stage IN the pursuit
OF any one OF those delightful arts. lie
called himself one of those microscopic
Michael Angeles who infrst idle and
monCycd societies, and. mt times, believed
that he had no spur at all towards any
one of the pursuits he had adopted save
such as were afforded by idleness and
vanity. lie thought poorly indeed of the
dollars he owned ms a claim to distinction,
and he revcreuccd, with an almost boyish
enthusiasm, those people who could do
what he had failed in doing. a painter,
n musician, sculptor, poet, WAS man
before whom he could have knelt if he had
not been altogether too shy to make such
proclamation of enthusiasm. And now,
In this rufus-haired and noisy young
giant whom he had condemned and dis
liked from the first word he had heard
him utter. he found an actual artist-a
man capable of understanding the sweet
and complex speech of Nature and of
translatiug it for the charming of his fell
low-men. He hardly knew enough how
to be ashamed of himself.
The artistic Paul, knowing nothing of
these self-upbraidiugs, and perfectly at
home and at ease with himself and with
all the world, seated himself upon his
camp-stool and drawing from one pocket
a cake of tobacco of a deep golden color
and from another a Misunderstanding
81 l.Dffa ShraIiai enny1srh If fha yyaaj