The Cape Girardeau Democrat. (Cape Girardeau, Mo.) 1876-1909, 1895-07-06

that if we came again 70 the boom
within ar hour and forty minutes that
would connect with his boat and with
the car back to the city. So my wife
and L strayed over the meadows and
wished that we had brought the
sketching outfit, and then sat down on
the grass and made all sorts Of plans
for our future"
And the majesty of the distant
mountains slowly impressed itself upon
you as they doomed in the back
ground?"
Not at all. 1 do not think that there
were any hills in sight. We were so
~engrosscd that we did not notice the
uprising of a bank of threatening
clouds
"Ah, see. 1t was their outlines
Outlines nothing! 1t was their
wetness, their profuse, i~nopportuue,
wrung-out- rom-all-the-sponges-of-the-
sky wetness. In a moment we were
soaked, u shoes squelched, the color
of the blue cornflowers in my wife's
hat dripped down upon her neck. We
were a sight to see. l fancy hat the
captain of the launch thought of our
plight and made all haste to rescue Us
but the time seemed long to Us.
However, we tried to take it as 4 joke.
But the popularity ceased the next day,
when my wife developed 4 case of acute
bronchitis. A physician was called.
who pronounced it a trlfie, if treated
promptly. He prescribed 4 mixture
for the cough, and told me to paint
her back, between the shoulders, with
iodine.
80 with a phial of tincture of iodine
and a small camel's hair brush I set to
work. My anxiety for her was re-
lieved, the impression of the beautiful
solitary landscape that we had seen
was fixed upon my mental retina-and,
first that 1 knew, l was painting that
scene in iodine monochrome on the
shoulders of my patient! l declare to
you, Ingraham, l had completely for
gotten hat l was not painting on can
vas, instead of a human surface, like
chicken skin, delicate, white as Aus
tin Dobson sings of the Pompadour's
fan. My, wife wondering at the length
of the application, at last inquired:
But have you not almost finished. Vic
tor?' And 1, still oblivious, replied:
"A few more touches, and it will be
ready to frame She gave a funny
little hoarse shout of laughter-my
wife had a sense of humor. Then |,
too, saw the joke. She ran to the
dressing table, and, by means of a
hand-mirror, surveyed her shoulders.
Why, this is a lovely Iandscapet she
said. 1t is too good to lose. Find
kodak, Victor, it is in one of the
trunks, and photograph your master
piece before it begins to fade out She
was delighted; the iodine and the fun
together soon cured her cold, so that
in a few days we came home to New
York.
''Of course 1 had the photograph en-
larged, and it succeeded so well that I
placed a few copies in Goupirs, hoping
that some of my friends would like
them. The original painting has long
since disappeared; | shall make your
replica from the photograph. And l
shall try to recall the silvery greens
and the somber Olive-browns which
you rightly attributed to the land
scape.'
But all this does not account
for those grandoise, superhuman
curves, the visible presence of the
earthquakes"
"Ah. | rubbed down the outlines all
that l could. But it is not easy TO oh
l~iterate in a photograph. Those curves
Il told you they were owing to the
shape of the canvas My wife's Shout
ders, of course, came out large in pro-
portion to the landscape painted on
them. She is o titanic, nor even.
perhaps, a goddess. But she is an ex.
ira nice little woman, all the same"