New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1896-09-20
SOME "REMINISCENCES BY WOMAN.
HOW STEVENSON MET THE LADY WHO BECAME
HIS wIFE-HE RATHER ADMIRED
AMERICANS

was to speak in the language of Paris Bohemia "A
recent discovery" BY those artists who mad been
initiated. slowly and cautiously into full knowl-
edge of the many material and artistic advantages
of Gretz it was pronounced way ahead OF baroi-
Interesting were all he English-speakng PEG,
is that none. even at that time. were az notlceable
sons Bv tacit consent. drawn unexpectedly by me
very OF their superiority every one at iretz
Stevenson known I.npis TO those who vent
ured 10 call him by his first name Let II be added
that there not many besides his cousin VINO
did venture to 50 address him Stevenson the artist
was known as Bob. These two cousins were first OF
we'll saw distingues In such company Of Eng
llsh. Scotch Irish and American artists. the fact
pearance was Significant. Bob Stevenson a
shade taller than his cousin, and had brown eyes
straight 1.-the figure. such outdoor sports give to
so many OF our cousins over the water
A BOYIsH GUIsE.
Robert Louis Stevenson gave to every one the I'm
I'm sp ac Of 9s dssae number Of added
years could ever have tnken away a certain boy
netTres Of him show he retained to tn last There
was in his nature a fountain Of youth that maze MN
nounced blue. his chin shapcly and at the time
Cretz he wore his hair rather long: and the front
lock he often tossed back from his forehead with
eracefml as il was chars cterisc His forehead
high and domelike. white as a fair womans. and the
him blush ike a woman by telling him his head:
particularly the forehead was Ike that OF a asGrg
bumps" than that Of Robert Louis stevenson, but
the domeke marbeke forehead Of IN the sng S TAX
mancer. Stevensons mouth was large and lts ex-
preston peasnS his snesk 9on his ws rrn sgbt
Add this mperfec; description slender and shape
about his appearance-and I think the reader will
have n fairly definite impression OF Robert LOUIS
heir dr"ss"especiaIly that OF the coIsn-in much
that they said and did. I, WAS plain that they were
conventional which usually marks the early career
of those who are. peculisrlv gifted. and In pro
perament. ! suspect tina, he two Stevensons must
have laughed heartily years af;erward, when re-
minded of the horror they then evinced for all that
was conventional
Julian Hawthorne has written that Robert Louis ,rs
Stevenson found his wife in California IT Is true
that he married her in California bu; he met MS
great author was at Gret7 In tho summer Of II. At
the ago OF sixteen she had married In indianapolis
however gone to Paris from m. Art School OF San
Francisco. where both sh" and her daughter. then
pupils Mrs Osborne wps hardly s"ventee years
older than her daughter. and looked so little older
French ever did convince the peasants Of Gretz that
mother and daughter were really not sisters There
then 10 some extent coworker Of Robert Louis
Stevenson. It was small wondoT that artists wn9 9
daughter related that often the students. instead
Of drawing the posed mciel Preferred to PIT on
She who is now Mrs Stevenson had slight. will
9wy figure whose eyery outline ~ |s Ssr n9rohsfg
dark eyes and abundant derk mar, julian Hsw.
may now be true * shs has acquired more repose
AMI languor than she possessed at Gretz There
pectation of seeing new expression ligh, up their
depths. Her head is shsrely and her hair. in the
wavy outlines it then mace around her foreheai.
seemed to belong to an, artistic scheme Of dark
curves. Of which her eyebrows and long eyelashes
formed a part. She excellent listener. and
when she aid tax she always spoke In quiet, eoi-
grammac way WhGh Pos1csssa pcar snar
thought.
MOTHER AND DAUGHTER.
Belle osbourne the daushter. we used to cal cal.
opa IN h5 Sns z aa am er cnor in far they
we're so large ami lus,rous the artists declared they
OF the despair their attennts to reproduce them on
canvas usually caused Ono also had luxuriant dark
ure perfect in the unirammelled grace OF her ex-
uberant young life Hey intense endowment Of the
charming to behold The repetition OF her repartees
and bright observations was ne stock in TRADE trade o,
but 10 watch her cketch or touch up painting
10 understand why her teachers In Paris conplainei
were a little more difficult for her 10 learn, SD that
she might he c9mpeel to be more dlieent ,oo,,.r
Even ans dse N time i Is easy to recall
the bright picture they used to MAKE; as In the
side by side at iheir rase: painting tnc sane DIT
ways took A interested and leading part. Bob was
the greater talker Of the two. but somehow we al
more than remembered. Not that they ever diff
fercd in any way whatever. on the contrary. as be-
fore said, they thought 50 much alike that one was
not always able recall which one had spoken.
Their mutual devotion was rare. II was the quss-
flaming sOlicitu1a often the .ace Of Bob
Stevenson. after tho Two had been separated for
nn t En'h his Cousin was not well man. thai he
was even then an invalid. There was about them
Of ns from asking sny but the most general ques-
tions about tho health or the admired young Scotch
10 but few then at Gretz: least it made
a subject Of general convarsatson, and the modesty
made those who had knowledge Of his authorship
keep from mentioning the subject 10 him Notwlth-
who took a deeper Interest in everything around
Robert Louis Stevenson. one had to meet him but
twice 10 be brought completely under the
out Sns 50 9e T. speak, INTO sort Of "as''a image OF
Even al that time Robert Louis stevenson was
instances at least he learned to kncT them EN-
better he con aha3 nsy R"f@ those T met
in the daily intercourse OF his mother
English colony a. Gretz. he had always a pleasant
word for the village people we met in our rambles
them. often me, young writer. both In the house
and out OF It, had q book in his hard Rc had that
when others are talking yet he never made a pre-
tence OF being so absorbed In what ne was reading
much given TO reading the works OF Nolt1ire, and
sometimes he would translate FOR those about him
massage from this some other French writer
which had particularly pleased him.
LEANING AMERICANWARDS
Louis was generally made umpire when the dis
cusslon of national peculiarities in the use OF our
common mother tongue became so warm that an
appeal and a decision desirable. He always
had a leaning Americawards. and thought much OF
our so-called slang very expressive. lie regard
ei Amercansms not nearly as reprehenslDle as
some OF the. more sturdy Britons stoutly insisted
they were. The Americans knew pretty we'll how 10
hold their own-a fact which the rest we're not as
nulck 10 see as the two bright Sc0chmen.
Louis thought perfectly splendid not whit more
reprehenslbe than "awfuy jolly. and the way we
Americans would tear that lawfully jolly" Into
shreds was quite amusing to him.
There was one, TO US Americans. strange literary
nred,lecton which all the other EnglIsh-sp speaking
people at Gretz possessed In common, and which
was shared in an exaggerated degree By Louis and
his cousin, Bob That an intense admiration