St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1894-08-11

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| lINNHY kAHxHA Copyright. 1924 By
| NHN[N EMlp' the Author.l
| z,tlIl EEMAF NHE often sat to
| 2lill NEITHTl TX Williot: he
| - ~HNAill, ~ u liked her ex.
2&NM.A NUM- preston and
| kHE n the TIA n
| WIN y tone in lie I
| color. More
over. he grew interested in her from
certain words and hints she let fall.
She was a devout Catholic, but ad'
mitted she had not always been SO.
| One day Williot led her on step by
step to tell her story. and how she had
become devout. They were discussing
matrlmony in the abstract. and she ap'
peared SO conversant with the law be-
tween man and wife that he asked
her how she knew it.
How did come to know the law?''
said she. "Well. because you see
was brought up behind the scenes
born il the property room OF provin-
cial theater, and educated to emerge
gracefully from pantomime pies o.
gigantic rosebuds as a diminutive
fairy. With this refined birth. and
training I learned many. things not
generally impaired to children, A,
any rate. very early knew that.s naf
could legally chastise hissNife, so long
as he never struck her with a.secf
thicker-than your little fingers-sfkne4
this. say, because heard it explained
by the lawyers when my father was
sent to Jail for having beaten my
mother. with something . good deal
thickersthan the prescribed dimensions
permitted" -
Williot smiled and suggested that
that edifying spectacle had apparently
not deferred her from taking q hus.
band herself.
NO., she answered, land was only
seventeen when did marry" i
How did that come about?" /
because was a self-willed young
fool. and l thought loved the other
self-willed young fool. who was ous
assistant scene painter. was playing
general utility in the theater, and he
was painting general utility, as you
might call it."
Ibid you love him them" interposed
Williot.
Yes, say SO. but got to hate him
as well. Love and hate seemed ever
to go hand in hand with me all through.
First one was uppermost. then the
other. A contradictory. violent-tem-
pered young wretch 1 was. never
tried to control my passions-I'd never
been taught. My mother always said
never had a heart; perhaps she was
right"
"Tell me, why did you hate your
husband?"
because l found he had q stronger
will than had. and because he grew
to be more savage and morose as he got
on in his profession. oddly enough. Be
cause, too, he was Is artful as he was
handsome; and he knew the law bet
ter than my father. lie never struck
me with stick at all, thick or thin,
but once, and that once settled the
business. but shall come to that pres
emily. Yes, he was a clever fellow.
too. in his art. He gave up scene
painting and painted pictures instead
that sold at high prices. He used to
make me sit as his model often. and
hated that more than anything. You
may wonder that l didn't run away
from him long before did. The truth
is | was afraid of him. He cowed the
very life out of me. At one time he
made lot of money. but he couldn't
keep it. and finally we had to go abroad
to avoid creditors
I'VE went to Rome. and lived there
several years. In those days an artist
could live there very cheaply. rs we
did. but still he got into debt again,
and for months he was afraid to show
himself by daylight. You can guess
how we carried on, and If you can't it
won't matter, and so. as I've told you
so much. I'll come to that last scene
between us, which, rs l say. settled
the business. 1 seemed to be quick at
languages. and picked up q good smat-
tering OF Italian. and being still pref.
ty he made me sit as a model for other.
painters in order sometimes to get
food. He even went SO far. and /
didn't mind, as to make me 20 and
wait in the Piazza di Spagna. on hire
with the native models. At first thew
were inclined to resent Sig. In
glese's intrusion on their domain, but
they were good-natured people. and
put up with me after awhile.
He was in hiding at that time. and
/ had to go to and from home with the
greatest care, SO as NOT to betray bur
whereabouts. N.Y.; training. on sthe
stage, and then as a model. made me
pretty nimble at dfsahises Sand wear
ing strange dresses. and when l went
on hire to the p;azzas managed to
make up quite like an Italian cpntadina
out Of his studio wardrobe. most Of
which we'd saved. You weuld hardly
have known me from the real thing
square white headpiece or'capss~ch rs
you see in pictures, khespanao - they
call it. and all the rest of sthe costume.
I'VE lived in curious half-ruined
place. part Of what had once been the
chapel of . Bcnedictine monastery. We
hired it Of > kindly old mo nix for song,