Fort Worth gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1891-1898, 1891-08-27
CHAPTER I.-AMRITl0N

tllGeQ Dy Snlne OF sun or SladoW-StatneG.
Through fowery valley or unwholesome fen,
Thrice blessed in thy Joy, or in thy Woe
Thrice cursed of thy race, thou art ordained
To share beyond the lot OF common men.
Hood.
See here, Blobbe, our two hours talk
has only screwed Inc up the tighter (Give
me another Of your PerfectosJ I like your
warnings mot So much as your smokes,
though, and you have indicated points
tthe thing won't light)-but all the same
I've got to put this thing through so
through-it-goes, Blobbe."
"Or-well, we've done with the business
talk now; let's change the subject What
do you think of my bust here2'
y Our-O. L see, your marble bust.
Wei, it's just you, Blarraby Your golden
smile beamed upon Genius, and its artful
touch transmutes the shapeless block into
the petritied image of your soulln
Beautiful sentiment, Blobbe; but it was
4 ten Thousand dollar smile"
''Ah; dirt cheap for the only immortality
one can be sure of getting--thc Immortality
Of Art
Whether the fowery compliment missed
fire through the outward associations Of
the words ''pctritied" and soul or
whether the Perfecto failed to draw, some
thin9 or other sent Blarnaby into palpa-
Bile tit Of guinness. He took dozen
strides around the room, pulled up short at
facing the only blank bit of wall there was.
and stood there full minute. with his
hands, one of which held the extinct cigar,
folded behind him, mute as q mummy.
We'll, I guess ! must drive down to
Fotheringharn's pretty quickly if I'm 10
catch him to-day. WeN finish this by Fri
day. Goodbye
While the Hon. Dewitt NJ. Blaruaby is
still absorbed in the soul-retiecting mirror
less wall. we will quiz the new bust of Car
rara marble, the masterpiece of the famous
sculptor Chisiliui Of Florence 1t is one of
those faces we look at with a, curious lin
gering which yet fails TO satisfy-hand-
some, but not winning, lit by an intellect
that strives to pass for genius, and assumes
an air of placid Indifference to hide the
failure. a face that tells of severe self-disci-
pine, OF persistent strivipgs after complete
self-control; which, being attained. has ex-
ceeded its proper function, and has grown
into an ineradicable habit of unconscious
self-disguise. These features seem incapa-
BILE OF Frightening into natural joyousness.
The facial muscles have been subjected to
lifelong drill so perfect that they obey only
the strategic orders of the external circum-
stances Of the moment Scarce an earth
quake could distort them into even sudden
expression of dismay; but If it did, their
wonted discipline would return before tho
second twinkle of the quiet eye. a .'canny''
man, this, so the Scotch portrait-iudger; Il
clever man TO the Irish; a strong man
to the English eye; a solid man to the
Dutch; and a smart man to the Down
Easter. Being, in point of fact, blend of
the whole five types, MIR. Blarnaby could
not but feel flattered If he heard these i'm
aginary tributes to his bust
Now he turns round, we see how faith
fully the artist has wrought. The bust IS
the man, as the poetical Blobbe SO elo-
queutly expressed it. Blarnaby really had
drilled his features; and his marvellous
hold of the face-reins was great achieve
ment for temperament SO volatile and
free. Il had served many purpose it
had borne the master scatheless through
many 4 storm. Complete command of the
artificial had come TO be his very nature.
The only art now beyond his power was
that of pure naturalness.
Blarnaby, the Hon Dewitt Mackboodle
Bl3rnaby. had a fixed belief that renarka-
bic laen have remarkable experiences, and
as his own were a never-diminishink source
of establishment TO himself, he reasoned
that he himself must be, and was, mark
eddy remarkable parsonage. He was right
And never did he feel more cockSure OF II
than IN the moment when, after a pro-
longed consultation with his closest friend,
factotum and professional adviser, Ichadod
". Blobbe, he decided to pursue his own
scheme in his own way.
The consultation came about this way.
had just returned from England, |
where he had gone on what he lightly |
termed "trip" but 1t was more like a |
mission, momentous expedition, calculated |
to make a good many others trip. financi- |
ally and otherwise He was magnate in |
the commercial world, and had served q |
long enough apprenticeship TO politics to |
start MIN III patriotism and craftsmanship |
had he mind to- He was already in love |
- h.. oil 4 f1,,I l. Tafr 4
4 second time during the voyage; and before
le set foot aboard the Fortuna, on the re-
urn trip, his susceptible heart yielded to !
-hird coil OF the willy serpent. When he |
started he was in love with himself, his |
,ldest fame: his latter fiirtations with am-
oition soon glowed into fervid affection
FOR the scheme. which the unwonted leisure !
If loneliness ons shipboard had enabled his
senius TO develop; and these passions were
low capped by the unanticipated enslave-
nent of the Hon. Dewitt NJ. Blarnaby TO an
english lady OF high rank and title.
His problem was how TO carry on this
trinity of courtships to a sauctifed consum-
nation without destructive jealousieS or
arS.
The two men-or, rather, the master and |
lis maD-had their high palaver in the |
library of the eminent publicist. Blarnaby
,ept snowy house in New York, though
lome he had none, being most of his time
N the wing. He would lose no time in
cling his visitors that the Gothamesque |
iocodo style of architecture was far from
rs taste, but when he was newcomer
rom the wilds of provincialism. he thought
good tactics to conform to the canons of
he social powers that were Nor did he
isguise his opinion of the curiosity shop
raze in the drawing-room.
Some DAY. sooner or later, hope to &C.
upy as prominent position in society as I
ave for some years held in politics and COM
lerce, and then you will see at least an eff
ort TO redeem our great and inimitable re-
ublic from the reproach of not originating
ny strictly American style of domestic ar
hitecture and interior decoratioul''
If we had been present at the weighty de-
berations Of Blarnaby and Blobbe we
Tould have discovered that even the stout
ST heart-or perhaps it might be better to |
ay, even the adroitest actor-experieuces
loments of weakness, so sudden, so utter |
nat 1t is impossible to stop the grip of |
lerciless nature as she snatches the mask |
way. Not that Blarnaby was in any sense |
culprit who assumed the mask OF limo
ance. He was most respectable person
lily, and notable political leader to boot;
nd then, who can define delinquency now
daysf Elarnaby had an abiding convic-
on that his one failing was want of push
hat would not have been the epitaph the
ord would have writ on his tombstone;
Ut he felt quite certain this was his ami
Die, but possibly fatal, weakness, because /
e had always observed that the more he
ad pushed the more he had prospered;