Democratic Northwest. [volume] (Napoleon, Ohio) 1869-1894, 1893-11-30
AN INVESTMENT.

Up at the top of the studio building
IN three small, cheap rooms lived old
Parkes and his daughter Rose. She
was very pretty girl, and her figure
was so good that she always provoked
a 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. 1t
was the opinion of those who were ac-
quainted with old Parkes' works that
abs was by far the best thing he had
ever produced.
The truth is, old Parkes did not get
along very we'll. How he got along at
all was q mystery until Rose and he
became acquainted with little Spacer,
one of the best fellows that ever lived.
Rose, who was born financier, per-
haps could have explained how they
managed 20 exist. At ridiculously
early hour in the morning she went to
market with basket, and she had the
knack of making deliciously appetiz-
ing dish with very little for founda-
tion. In short, Rose was genius, and
without her old Parkes would have
found himself long ago in the poorhouse.
Though he was an excellent painter,
who had spent years of his life in study
abroad, his pictures somehow never
seemed to sell we'll. 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 were generally SO large that
they were not adapted to the walls OF
the average drawing room, and he cap
ped it all by putting a price on them
that frightened buyers off. AS one well
known critic put it, he would have done
much better so years hence. Certainly
he would not have done worse.
The few of his fellow artists who knew
him did not like old Parkes very much,
though they fully approved of Rose.
His lifelong struggle with poverty had
soured his disposition, and the nasty,
cutting things he said were by no means
relished. His overwhelming conceit
rendered him most disagreeable per-
son. He rated himself far above the
younger and more successful men-"pot
boilers, he contemptuously referred to
them-and it dazed him to think that
they should do so we'll and he SO badly.
Rose was the only person he could get
along with, and he had never said an un-
kind word to her in his life. Whenever
he looked at her. he would always think
of her mother, dead so 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
have already said, he was one of the
best fellows that ever lived, and he was
on the staff of metropolitan newspaper
and enjoyed 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 stocf
words and phrases, such as "chiaroscu
70, fine atmosphere, mastery han
ding" etc., he wrote up the exhibi
tions, on the whole, quite creditably.
Little Spacer first saw Rose when HI
came to her fathers studio for infor
nation as to where he was to spend thu
summer. He had been instructed tx
prepare an article with the title "Wher,
Artists Will Spend the Summer" Oh
Parkes grufiy told him that he WASH
going anywhere, and he carefully notet
down the fact. When he went away
he carried with him vision Of Rose
soft black eyes and Roses cream.
cheeks, and he was thinking of then
still down at the Office when he wrot
these words, ''Mr. Godfrey Parkes, tn
distinguished landscape painter, will
remain in the city to execute a numbe
Of important commissions.
After that, upon one pretext or an
other, little Spacer kept coming SO Of
ten that he grew to be source of pos
tive dislike to old Parkes. With Rose
however, it was different. The tw
had BE-, ome such good friends that
would nave grieved her very much
he had never come again. Little Space
had two rooms near by, in West Tent
street, and he haunted the park in tn
hope of seeing her. Once, when he ha
been detained at the Office very late an
he was coming home completely fagge
out at dawn, he had been refreshed b
the sight of Rose going to market. an
he had carried her basket for her, an
they had had jolly time.
AS their friendship grew stronger b
could see how miserably poor she wa
and often in his lonely rooms he POI
dered over some way of helping her.
AS Rose was such proud little b
ing, he realized that he would have
act with the utmost delicacy. FINAL
he decided that the best plan to folio
was to buy Some of her fathers pi
lures, and with no other thought tha
to benefit her he began to recklessly il
vest in them.
When Rose appeared in charmi1
new gown and dainty bonnet, lit
Spacsr fairly beamed with delight, al
the arch hypocrite continued his invet
ments even more recklessly than befo1
His bare white walls filled up wi
canvases for which he honestly did n
n 4 - e Tl..