Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1898-01-22

thing you haven't seen You haven't been
in the cast. have you?"
III had. l haven't got time to jaw about
il now. Come and have an abSinthe at the
Cafe Victor in memory of old Paris days
9th avenue-any of the boys will tell you.
Let me see. daylight till sIx-haif-pas six.
Au 'yoir, au voiri
AS l went Gown the steep, dark stairs.
Same old DAN" I thought. who would
lima CINE / was a stranger in New York
looking up an old fellow struggler on his
native heath? If 1 didn't know better,
might fancy his tremendous success had
given him the same opinion Of himself that
America has of him But no. nothing will
change him; tie same furious devotion to
his canvas Once he fas quietly planned his
picture, the same obstinate conviction that
he is seeing something in the only right
way! And yet something has changed him.
WHY has his brush suddenly gone east
Why this new kind of composition crowded
with figIres-ancient Jews, too? Has he
been taken with piety. and is he going
herceforward este cautiously to proclaim
his race? And who is the cheerful CEN
trail figure with the fine open face? don't
recoliect any such scene in Jewish history
anything so Joyous. Perhaps It's study
of modern Jerusalem Jews. TO show their
life Is not all Wailing Wall and Jeremiah.
Or perhaps it's only decorative America
is great on decoration just now. No. ne
said tine picture had a meaning. Well. l
shall know all about 1t tonight Anyhow,
it's beautiful thing.
Same old Dam / thought even more
decisively as. when / opened the door OF
the little cafe. buriy, black-bearded fg-
ure with audacious eyes came at me with
a grip and a slap and roar of welcome,
and dragged me to the quiet corner be-
hind the billiard tables
I've Just been opalizing your absinthe
for you" he iaughtd as we sat down
But what's the matter? You look kind
o scared
ITS your Inferno of a city. AS 1 turned
the corner of 9th avenue an elevated train
came shrieking and rumbling. and swirl
OF wind swept screeching round and round.
enveloping me in a. whirlpool of smoke
and steam, until daZed and choked in
what seemed the scalding effervescence of
collision. / had given up all hope OF ever
learning what your COMPOUNDED picture
meant
Aha He took a complacent sip.
cit stayed with you. did it%' And the
light of triumph, flushing for an instant
his rugged features. showed when it waned
how pale and drawn they were by the
feverish tension of his long days work.
Yes. II did. old fellow" 1 said affec-
tionately. The Joy and the glow of 1t,
and yet also some strange antique SIM
plicity and restfulness you have got into
IL. know not how. have been with me all
day. comforting me In the midst of the
tearing, grinding life of this closing nine
teenth century after Christ"
curious smile fitted across Dams face.
He tilted his chair back. and rested his
head against the wall.
There's nothing that takes me so much
out Of the nineteenth century after
Christ he said. dreamily. las this little
French cafe IL watts me back to my
early student days. that lie somewhere
amid the enchanted mists of the youth of
the world. to the zestful toll of the stu
dos: to the careless trips in quaint, gray
Holland or flaming. deyil-may-care Spain.
All. what scenes shift and shuttle in the
twinkle OF the gas jet in this opalescent
Iiquid-the hot simmer of the arena at
the Seville bull fight, with its swirl of
color and movement; the torchlight pro-
cesSion of pilgrims round the church at
Lourdes, with the one black nun praying
by herself in a shadowy corner; the love-
~ valley of the Tauba, where the tinkle
of the sheep bells mingles with the Luz
theran hymn blown to the four winds from
the old church tower: wines that were red !:
sunshine that was warm: mandolins" His
voice dled away as in exquisite reverie.
And the east2" / said slyIy
good-natured smile dissipated his de-
1icious dream
All, yes. he said. My east was the
The Tyrol, How do you meangr
story"
on, there's e story, is there?'
oh. well. perhaps not what you liter
airy chaps would call a story No love-
making in it. you know
Then 1t can wait Tell me about your
picture
But that's mixed UP with the story
DIDN'T l say You had become an anec-
dotal artist
IT'S no laughing matter" he said
grdveiy. You remember when we parted
at Munich year ago last spring. you to
go on 10 Vienna and ! to go back to
America? Well. l had sudden fancy TO
take one last European trip all by myself.
and started south through the Tyrol with
a pack ON my back. The third day out
fell and bruised my thigh severely. and
could not make my little mountain town
TIL moonlight And I tell you 1 was