The Virginia enterprise. [volume] (Virginia, St. Louis County, Minn.) 1893-19??, 1898-11-18
PORTRAIT on A LADY.

With sadness it is that confess to the
emptiness of Dick Whittingtons tobacco
| pouch, and with still greater sadness tina +
| he could not afford to refill it.
Things had come to this pass therefore,
and Dick had come to the end, not only of
| his wits-in the matter of what to do
| but also of all his spare clothing. As for
| watches, studs, opera glasses, walking
| sticks and such like superhuous possess
sions, let sympathetic tear fall on my
| manuscript as l admit that they had all
gone in exchange for cash long ago.
IL will get a pipe somehow exclaimed
| Mr.; Wilmington vehemently.
| HIS desperate eye, rowing round his one
| room, lighted on his pipe rack. 1t also
| took IN OH its way bed, deal table, a
| chair or SO, an easel, a washstand, a
| square of looking glass and a dog-his
! sole remaining personal property. But it
| was with the pipe rack that he had bust
! ness at that moment. He advanced
| toward it fiercely-so fercely that Blob,
the terrier, shot out of the room and be-
! took himself to the street. Dick laughed,
and taking all his old friends out Of the
rack, proceeded to scrape their bowls IN
| til ne had succeeded in collecting enough
tobacco ash to fill his pipe.
He was. OH the point of lighting I'D.
when a putting and blowing noise In the
passage fell on his ear and sound Of
g0nderous footsteps hastily advancing.
| Then Blob re-entered the room at head
| long pace, with Mr.. Winckelmnnn close
behind him. Mr.. WinckelMann was of
German birth, of Israelitish extraction
"AehF' he cried; " toia ' det e aoKlt
veel gift you kitten ihsteti'
"A kitten!' exclaimed Dick holly.
WAT do you take me forT'
| ,Certainly not an arteest," replied Mr..
Wlnckelmann hastily, CHANGING at the
! hanlicnnlshed canvas on Dicks easel.
Of course Dick knew that Mr.. Winck-
elmann was picture dealer, but his
| knowledge did not deter him from ad-
yancing toward the little German in a
| threatening manner and observing:
good afternoonT'
"FotH' shrieked that obese limb of a
great fatherland; .'goot aft'noon? Not
till l hat obtain satisfaction for your
daWg almost terrifying into witt the
lady Eat as the honor to be my wifet'
Mr. Wilmington actually laughed.
when mans pockets are quite empty,
when his luck seems to have fled forever,
when nobody cares for him and appears
determined to let him die in the gutter
and be hanged to him, that man generally
laughs. -. ,'~~''
| he observed, still smiling. "What recon-.
pense do you require?" = '.' =
Il could ave you fned," said the pic
tu a' dealer: II could summons you to re
can bay me yive bounds now, and I veel
luke ovare re matter"
Dick burst into a roar of bitter mirth.
Five pounds! He hadn't five pence to
bless himself with. What a joke! Five
pounds! Ha, hav -
Suddenly, however; he stopped laugh
the shoulder quite seriously. - =" - -
'See here, = he said, I'm sorry Blob
frightened Mrs. Winckelmann.. Please
express my apologies to her. And, by
way OF recOmpense suppose you take one
of my pictures. l haven't enough to buy
baccy with even. SO l can't possibly pay
| line, you know" H2%e - g. ~ A..
Dick pointed to a heap of canvas in q
Winckelmann made his way, and began
| to- turn the sketches over in a severely
critical manne:. c--.: :s-}.. =
"Bah!'' he retorted at length, "zese are
I no goot. Eat is w you ave no money
I to buy tobaggo with. If you made Eat
,orrible dawg off yours dip. his baws in
re: balette and run ovarex the canvas, e
would make quite as goot pictures as
zese. Do you baint with your eyes
shut r. zs:3 as. - =. >
The German knew that it was per-
fectly safe to insult a beggarly artist who
couldn't even afford to purchase tobacco.
humored reply, when Mr.. Winckelmann
suddenly drew in his breath sharply.
| Mein Colt! But dis is ze Jingle dia-
mond Of re dust heap! Mein Cot! vot
bickture Il - f e. sSs.
Dick, who was lighting the serapings
OF his pipe, looked toward the corner
with surprise. .ass:s & II 81 az: 4.
Which is. thatY. he asked. 8. "a:
.Denie-f from Memory, !" replied the
dealer, quoting the hastily-scra wled
words at the foot Of the sketch. Ss. IS. 5
Dick went across: the room at two
bounds and wrenched the painting out
of Mr.. Winck elmann's hands with sud-
dennesss that sent the dealer Keeling up
against the wall Il
ot--v6t is--yo - he stammered,
Not tor IS raped ont Dick, Aug-