Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1893-12-09
AN INVESTMENT.

Up at the top Of the studio building
in three small, cheap rooms lived old
Parkes and his daughter Rose. She
was a very pretty girl, and her figure
was SO good that she always provoked
favorable comment from the men
about town who sometimes strayed into
the precincts Of that Bohemian quarter
IN New York, Washington square. But
Rose, as she went through the park,
kept her eyes modestly bent on the as
phalt walk. apparently quite uncon-
sciOus Of the admiration she excited. It
was the opinion of those who were ac-
quainted with old Parkes' works that
she was by Ear the best thing he had
ever produced.
The truth is. old Parkes did not get
along very well. How he got along ut
all was mystery until Rose and he
became acquainted with little Spacer,
one OF the best fellows that ever lived.
Rose. who was q born fnancier. per-
haps could have explained how they
managed to exist. At ridicnlously
early hour in tho morning she went to
market with basket. ard she had the
knack of making deiiciously appetite
ing dish with very little for founda-
ton. In short, Rose was a genius. and
without her old Parkes would have
found himself long ago in the poorhouse.
Though he was IN excellent painter,
who had spent years Of his life in study
abroad. his pictures somehow never
seemed to sell well. Speaking from a
mercantile point Of view, his handling
was too broad and free, and the people
were not up TO him. Then. too. his
canvases wero generally SO large that
they We're not adapted to the walls Of
the average drawing room. and he cap
ped it all by putting n price on them
that frightened buyers off. AS one we'll
known critic put it, he would have done
much better 80 years hence. Certainly
he would not have done worse.
The few of his fellow artists who knew
him did not Ike old Parkes very much,
though they fully approved of Rose.
His lifelong struggle with poverty had
sourcd his disposition, and the nasty,
cutting things he said were by no means
relished. His overwhelming conceit
rendered him n most disagreeable per-
son. He rated himself lar above the
younger and more successful men-''pot
boilers" he contemptuously referred to
thein-and it daZed him to think that
they should do SO well and he SO badly.
Rose WIS the only person he could get
along with. and he had never said an I'M
kind word to her in his life. Whenever
he looked at her. he would always think
of her mother, dead go many years. and
then he would sigh to himself. Rose,
who knew what he was thinking Of,
would come to him and throw her arms
around his neck, with never a word.
When little Spacer fell head over
heels in love with Rose. their financial
condition materially improved. As l
have already said. he was one of the
best fellows that ever lived. and he was
on the staff of metropolitan newspaper
and enjoyed a very good salary.
He knew nothing at all about art,
which was the reason why perhaps the
city editor gave him SO many assign
ments to write Of it. With few stock
words ard phrases. such as "chiaroscu-
70. ~" fine atmosphere. mastery han
ding" etc. he wrote mp the exhibit
tons. on the whole. quite creditably.
Little Spacer first saw Rose when he
came to her fathers studio for infor-
nation as to where he was to spend the
summer. He had been instructed to
prepare nm article with the title" Where
Artists Will Spend the Summer" Old
Parkes gruftly told him that he wasn't
going anywhere. and he carefully noted
down the fact. When he went away.
he carried with him vision Of Roses
soft black eyes and Roses creamy
cheeks, and he was thinking of them
still down Mt tho Office when he wrote
these words, Mr.. Godfrey Parkes, the
distinguished landscape painter. will
remain in the city to execute . number
of important commissions.
After that, upon one pretext or IN
other, little Spacer kept coming 30 Of
ten that he grew to he source Of pos.
tive dislike to old Parkes. With Rose,
however, it was different. The two
had become such good friends that il
would have grieved her very much il
he had never come again. LittleSpacez
had two rooms neaf by, in West Tenth
street, and he haunted the park in the
hope Of seeing her. Once, when he had
been detained ut the Office very late and
he was coming hQne c0mple1aly tagged
out ut dawn, he had heen reefsehed by
the sight Of Rose going to market, and
he had carried her basket for her, and
they had had jolly time.
Az their friendship grew stronger b
could see how miserably poor she Wa.
and often in his lonely rooms he pom.
dered over some way Of helping her.
A. Roee was such . proud little be.
ing, he realized that he would have t.
ct with the utmost delicacy. Finally
he decided that the best plan to follow
.---- a. H,~,~, oosr.o IF heR fakf1Qpsa mir,