Western Kansas world. [volume] (WaKeeney, Kan.) 1885-current, 1892-05-14
THE CHALLENGE.

LIE CHALLENUE.
Painters! don't tell me of painters
fellows who work in canvas! Give
me iron, the stuff that endures fol
everl These pictures that folk cal
immortal, what are they9 One slash
of knife, one dab with stick, even
one scrape of some careless fellows
elbow, and where is all their beauty:
I'll be bound that iron lantern OF
mine up yonder in the church tower
will last longer than any of their fine
immortal paintings!"
"And by that time" said a quiet
voice behind him, cit will have
grown rusty ike its author, and men
will remember it as little as they do
himl"
The new comer-who had Just
stepped out of quiet little tavern in
the market, place of a quaint old
Flemish city, IN front of which the
sturdy smith stood praising his own
occupatiOn-was stout, ruddy man,
in handsome though rather slovenly
dress, and wearing look of careless
good humor which seemed to mark
him as one who was fonder of pleas
ure than of work. But behind this
there lay nameless something in his
large forehead and clear bright eye,
which would have told to an appreci-
alive observer that this was no COM
mon man.
The keen and sudden retort upon
the boastful blacksmith tickled the
fancy of the bystanders, who greeted
it with loud laugh, and shout of
"Wen said, Hans Holbein!"
SLAMS Holbein?" echoed the smith,
turning around angrily at this open
insult to his trade-for in those days
(as may be seen by the example of
Quentin Matsys of Antwerp a skilled
ironwOrker ranked with sculptOrs and
painters, and not unfrequentIy stood
higher than either; ''of truth he
may well think highly of painting,
since he getteth his bread by it. But,
bark We, Master Holbein; men call
thee great painter, and doubt not
but what thou callest myself so, too.
Dost thou think, now, that with all
thy skill thou canst produce any
thing SURPRISING the best that I
can dO?"
81 venture to believe that I can"
answered the great artist, with
quiet smile.
$50 be it, then," reioined the
blacksmith, deflantly. "We will each
of us do our hest. and this day month
will we meet Oh this spot TO try
which of us two is the better man.
Say I well, comrades?"
The group Of listener-which had
BY this time swelled into a pretty
large crowd-unanimouslY agreed that
the match was a fair one; and as Hol-
bein turned to depart, the stalwart
blacksmith nodded his huge head
after him defiantly, with the air of a
man who had settled the matter once
for all
For the next few weeks the chal-
lenger scarcely ever stirred out of his
forge, and public curiosity was on tip
toe to know what marvel he could be
producing; but as the smith worked
with closed doors, and had neither
wife nor child to keep watch upon
him nothing could be learned but
that he was very busy.
As usual in such cases, however,
fancy supplied the place Of informa-
tion. and the less the tOwnsDeoDle
knew, the more they imagined. All
sorts of rumors, each more amazing
than the other. we're in circulation
about the masterpiece upon which
the blacksmith was engaged. Some
asserted that he was making an iron
weathercock which would flap its
wings and crow at sunrise just like
the real bird. Others were equally
positive that the new wonder was a
trap that would bait and set itself.
and throw away the rat when killed
into the bargain; and others still de-
clared that the great artiflcer was
constructing an iron man, who could
walk about the house and wait at
table as well as any living servant
But there was another thing that
puzzled the good folk of the town
quite as much as the mysterious in
dustry of the blacksmith. and that
was the mysterious idleness Of his
rival, Hans Holbein. While one Of
the two competitors seemed to be
doing too much, the other was ap-
narently doing nothing at all Every
one expected, of course, that Hol-
helm would be as busy in his studio as
the blacksmith was in his forge,
laborlng day and night on some