Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-11-16

months than in the whole of my lifel Dc
you remember Cassavetti, who worked fol
some Continental syndicate, out with tn,
desert column? He was regular Christina,
tree of contraptions, when he took the felG
in full fg. with Ibis water bottle, lanyard
revolver, writing case, housewife, gig-lamps
and the Lord knows what all. He used tc
fiddle about with 'em and show us how they
worked; hut he never seemed to do much
except fudge his reports from the Nllghai
See?"
Dear old Nilghai He's in town, fattel
than ever. He ought to be up here thi.
evening. see the comparison perfectly.
You should have kept clear of all that man.
millinery. Serves you right; and hope il
will unsettle your mind"
.It won't. 1t has taught me what art
holy, sacred art-means."
| you've learnt something while I've been
away. What is art?'
"Give 'em what they know, and when
you've done it once DO it again" Dick
dragged forward canvas laid face to the
wall. Here's a sample of real art It's
| going to be fac simlIe production for a
weekly. 1 called it His Last Shot, It's
worked up from the little water color
made outside Ell Maghrib. Well, 1 lured
my model, a beautiful rileman, up here
with drink, drored him and 1 redrored
him and tredrored him, and I made him a
flushed, disheveled, bedeviled scalawag,
with his helmet at the back of his head, and
the living fear of death in his eye, and the
blood oozing out of cut ever his ankle
bone. He wasn't pretty, but he was all
soldier and very much man."
| "Once more, modest childP'
Dick laughed. "Well, it's only to you
I'm talking. 1 did him just as well as /
knew how, making allowance for the stick
ness of oils. Then the art manager of that
abandoned paper said that his subscribers
wouldn't like it. 1t was brutal and coarse
and violent-man being naturally gentle
when he's fighting for his life They wanted
something more useful, with little more
color. I could have said good deal, but
you might as we'll talk to a sheep as an art
manager. L took my Last Shot back.
Behold the result! put him into lovely
red coat without speck on it. That's art.
/ polished his boots-observe the high light
on the toe. That is art. cleaned his
rife-rif1es are always clean on service
because that is art. Ipipeclayed his helmet
-pipeclay is always used on active service,
and is indispensable to art. 1 shaved his
chin, 1 washed his hands, and gave him
an air of fatted peace. Result, military
! tailor's pattern-plate. Price, thank heaven,
| twice as much as for the first sketch, which
was moderately decent"
"And do you suppose you're going to
| give that thing out as your work?"
"Why not? did it. Alone 1 did it, in
the interests of sacred, home-bred art and
Dickenson's Weekly"
Torpenhow smoked in silence for a while
Then came the verdict, delivered from roll
ing clouds: "If you were only a mass Of
blathering vanity, Dick, wouldn't mind
La ~
mahlstck; but when l consider what YOU
are to me, and when 1 find that to vanity
you add the twopenny- -halfpenny pique of a
twelve-year-old girl, then bestir myself in
your behalf. Thusp'
The canvas ripped as Torpenhow's booted
foot shot through it, and the terrier jumped
down, thinking rats were about.
eff you have any bad language to use,
use it. You have not. l continue. You
are an idiot, because no man born of woman
is strong enough TO take liberties with his
public, even though they be-which they
ain't-all you say they are"
"But they don't know any better What
can you expect from creatures born and bred
in this light?" Dick pointed to the yellow
fog "It they want furniture polish, let
them have furniture polish, so long as they
pay for it. They are only men and women.
You talk as though they were gods"
That sounds very fine, but it has moth
ing to do with the case. They are the people
YOU have to work for, whether you like it or
not. They are your masters. Don't be de-
ceived, Dickie. You aren't strong enough
to trife with them-or with yourself, which
is more important. Moreover,-come back,
Binkie-that red daub ISM going anywhere;
unless you take precious good care. you will
fall under the damnation of the cheque
book, and that's worse than death. You
will get drunk-you'r re half drunk already
on easily-acquired money. For that money
and your own Internal vanity you are will
ing to deliberately turn out bad work.
You'll do quite enough bad work without
knowing it. And, Dickie, as love you
and as know you love ne, am not going
to let you cut off your nose to spite your
face for all the gold in England. That's
settled. Now swear"
"Don't know" said Dick. 1--WE been
trying to make myself angry, but 1 can't,
YOU re so abominablv reasonable. There
will be row on Dickenson's Weekly,
fancy"
"Why the Dickenson do you want to
work on a weekly paper? It's slow bleed
ing of power.
said Dick, his hands in his pockets.
tempt. "Why, 1 thought it was a mani"
said he. ats child"
'No, it isn't said Dick, wheeling
quickly. you've no notion what the GER
tainty of cash means to man who has al
WAYS wanted it badly. Nothing will pay
me for some of my life's joys; on that Chi
nese pig-boat, for instance, when we ate
bread and jam for every meal, because Ho-
Wang wouldn't allow US anything better,
and it all tasted of pig-Chinese pig. I've
worked for this, I've sweated and I've
starved for this, line on line and month after
month. And now I've got it am going to
make the most of it while it lasts. Let them
pay. They've no knowledge"
"What does Your Majesty please to want?
You can't smoke more than you do; you
won't drink; you're gross feeder; and you
dress in the dark, by the look of you.
You wouldn't keep a horse the other day
when 1 suggested, because, you said, it
might fall lame, and whenever you cross
the street you take a hanson. Even YOU
are not foolish enough to suppose that the
aters and all the live things you can buy
thereabouts mean Life. What earthly need
have you for money!"
ITS there, bless its golden heart" said
Dick. "Its there all the time. Providence
has sent me nuts while l have teeth to crack
'em with. l haven't yet found the nut
wish to crack, but I'm keeping the teeth
filed. Perhaps some day you and I will 20
for walk round the wide earth"
"With no work to do, nobody to worry
us, and nobody to compete with? You would
be unfit to speak in a week. Besides, 1
shouldn't go. 1 don't care to profit by the
price of a mans soul-for that's what it
would mean. Dick, it's no use arguing.