The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1890-08-03
ghe aalieha Daily gayle Sunday or,ne Ansmst g. 1880

rest there were bare stone walls, a stone
ceiling and stone floor; while broad
stone slab. so constructed that it formed
\ part of the solid masonry of the
wall from which it projected, was the
only piece Of furniture in evidence, and
manifestIy answered at once for bed,
stool and table. So much for the acces-
Dries. They were rendered in spirit Of
9xact. almost photographic realism; and
he effect of massiveness. remoteness and
;iooIn, proper to the subject, was wildly
conveyed. And now the interest of the
imposition conferred in the figure of an
Id man, seated upon the broad stone
Jench, with his elbows resting on his
-nees, his fingers buried in his long,
7lite beard. and his eyes fixed intently,
racssntly, painfully straight before him
There was something so irresissibly
pathetic in that old mans face and figure
that I, who had come to cTiticise, felt
myself instantly penetrated by an emo
ton Of distress and sympathy as if I
were looking upon verltable human
being and not upon q mere efRgy in
paint and canvas. HIS fscSs was terribly
emaciatei; the cheekbones and the
bridge of his nose seemed to be almost
starting through the skin. His hair and
beard We're long and white and IN
combed and untrimmed. His skin had
that clayey, ghasIly pallor which results
from long seclusion from fresh air and
sunshine His clothes were old and
worn and they hung baggily about his
limbs as if he had shrunk up within
them. His attitude, limp and bent over
and huddled together, breathed broken
spirit in every line; and his eyes in their
fixed, purposeless stare expressed the de-
spair and the hOpslessness and the deep
dull pain that consumed his heart far
more knowingly than words ever could
have done In examining this picture
you quite forgot to think of the artists
technique, which, however, was excel
lent. Indeed, if the drawing, coloring
and modelling had not been very good
no such final emotional effect could have
been obtained.
Well" demanded the exterminator,
who stood at my elbow, "ow you like
it, eh?"
'.Oh," 1 said, "it is very strong. Very
powerful and imaginative and moving.
But how did she come to choose such
painful subject? And who was her
model? Where did she ever find such
an awfully broken down old man%
"Eh, for the sobjec' she pent wat in
terest her, suppose. The model, e was
the ole man himself"
What old man? Where did she find
him? It's a wonderful face-like the
wreck of a face that had once been
strong, intellectual, almost beautiful"
IVY, don't tell you it was her ole
man, her fazair; DR.. Eczardy, who leeve
Upstairs
WHAT" 1 gasped. Her father? Her
own father"
Eyes. It represent him in the prison
in Rossia, were they keep him five, six
years waiting to be tried, and were g
catch the cawlsumption. You see it
was pretty hard staying all alone there,
in solitar' confinement, one, two, tree,
four, five, six years. e pretty near go
crazy"
"Hardl I should think it was. And
you'll don't see how you can sleep with
that picture in the room"
"Oh, you get use to it," he explained,
with a shrug.
But sac! However she could bring
herself to paint it l can't understand.
Her own father! The subject is horrible
enough in itself. Blt when it comes to
ane's own fathcrl To work over such q
thing day after day, week after week!
l don't see how she could do it. She
she must be young woman of consid-
cradle grit"
Yes, Won right: she his" said Mu-
selle she tOie ne about that picture,
Mr. MUSCLE she tole me, / want to
pent picture witch mex people see 'ow
in RosSia they treat a gentleman who Is
arrested only as suspect, and before e IS
tried to find if e is guilty or hinnocent.
e is only suspect, waiting 10 be tried;
yet for five years they keep him all alone
there, in solitar' confinement like that
till his 'ealth is destroyed, his career in
the world ruined, his heart broken, his
mind almost gone crazy and his family
not kno ng if e is dead or alive, or IN
Rossia or in Siberia, or wat, or were, or
anysing about him She tole me that,
to explain wy she pent him that way