Democratic Northwest. [volume] (Napoleon, Ohio) 1869-1894, 1890-06-19

said.
Then Uncle Martin read the Iettered
board in front.
Pictures" he said, ''now on exhibi-
ton, What do you say to stepping in9
l declare 1 got kind o. tired seeing them
Old Masters up TO the Museum yester-
day, along with your pa. I'd really like
to see something fresh and new. Pic
lures, you see, amt plenty up to West
Montville. Les Jest go in and see 'em. Z"
And Willis tossed the lines to the foot
man in the back-who was q perpetual
curiosity to Uncle Martin-and followed
Uncle Martin in.
No sooner had he mounted the broad,
inner staircase, than he became aware of
an atmosphere of familiarity. He caught
sight of well-known faces, and recognized
coats and capes, and was soon nodding
right and left to acquaintances.
The fashionable element was in the
majority this morning, and the explana-
tion was plain; almost everybody stopped
in on his way home from the fower-show
to see the Academy's spring exhibition.
Willis saw Grace Hallam's handsome
face where she stood with her mother,
absorbed in a superior study of an old
boat. Grace had sound ideas of art as
we'll as of literature in her clear brain.
'Would Minnie drop in9" he ques-
toned.
Uncle Martin passed through the cor
ridor, looking admiringly, but slight
ingly, at the rows of pansies and pinks
and roses. apples and peaches and
oranges.
"Yes, yes" he said, ''fowers and
fruit, to be sure. But what l likes the
regular pictures; men and women, and
houses and horses; pictures that's got
stories to em. That's what enjoy"
"We'll find some, said Willis, smiling.
He liked Uncle Martins originality, and
was not the snob to be distressed, if he
was talking rather loudly and tanning
himself with his hat. He was his
fathers brother, and good old man.
In the west gallery Uncle Martin
warmed up.
''There nowG" he said, exultantly.
"Look at that one, Willis. There's a
girl sitting on the front porch; father and
mother, too. Vines climbing up the
porch-pillars and flowers all along the
walk. And the girl, she's looking down
the road, and way off. Down there you
can see fellow coming on horseback;
and that's jest what's she's looking at,
too. Wal, walY"
His enthusiasm rose over a flock of
sheep, and waxed warm over a we'll
executed clover-feld. But it eliminated
in the south gallery, whittier they pre-
sently strolled. Getting his sharp, spec
tacled eyes upon a distant painting,
Uncle Martin'made a bee-line for it, with
Willis faithfully attendant.
Standing before it, Uncle Martin put
his hands in his pockets and stood the
embodiment of keen satisfaction.
"Soapmaking!" he said to Willis tri-
umphantly. "Yes, sir, soft-soapboiling
If that amt natural as lifel Soft-soap,
sure's you livep'
Uncle Martin was "a little deaf, and
never conscious of how loud he was
speaking. Now, in his excitement, his
remarks were perfectly audible through
out the gallery.
Involuntarily Willis cast an apprehen-
sive glance around.
"Sure's you're alive" he reiterated.
"Now where did that feller see it going
on to git it pictured out so natural9 See
that old woman with her skirt pinned up
and an old red bandanna tied over her
head! If that amt jist the way your
Aunt Marthy used to git herself up soap
boiling days, 1 swan! And there she is
stirring up the kittle with stick. Looks
fairly like the broom-handle your Aunt
Marthy used to use!"
The best-bred people have an eagerness
for amusement which occasionally over
tops politeness.
Willis was aware of growing silence in
their immediate neighborhood.
A considerable group was ''taking in"
Uncle Martins effusions.
Willis would not have been human had
he not been family dismayed. But what
caused sudden cold shiver to run down
his spine9 Oddly enough, it was the
fact of his getting glimpse of his own
pretty betrothed coming through door
= a glimpse which ought to have brought
comfort surely.
If Minnie had gone to the fiower-show
with her father, she had lost him on the
way home. A certain tall young English
man-the younger son of nobleman he
was, too-was with her. They were
coming nearer.
"Wonder how much the feller wants
for his pictureW said Uncle Martin. cpd
like to buy it first-rate. Willis, you amt
looking at it. See that great big black
kittle, with the SCOT taking off and the
streaks where the soaps boiled over!"
Uncle Martin chuckled. "And there's
the ash barrel that's how they make the
lye, you know. Jest the way ours looks
to home. Well, l can't believe but what
that feller was up to West Montville
when he made that picture. I can fairly
smell the soap a-boilingl"
Uncle Martin went on and on. The
painting, which had in truth all the realis-
tic merits he aseribed to it, reused him to
the point of oblivion to all else.
He went on, broad smile lighting his
face and his eyes cheerfully shining.
At last Willis, standing Loyalty close
to his Uncle Martin, mustered the cour-
age to look around again; and saw what
his heart, orhis experience, had told him
that he should see
Minnie Coles stood now within earshot
of Uncle Martiu-which was not neces-
sarily near. She looked like a statue, or
a figure carved in ice. Her red lips were
curved in smile not pleasant to behold