The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1898-01-23

Same old Dam" 1 thought. who
would imagine 1 was q stranger in New
York looking up an old fellOW-strug-
gier on his native heath? II I didn't
know better, 1 might fancy his ire
mendous success had given him the
same opinion OF himself that America
has of lin. But no. nothing VIII change
him; the same furious devotion to his
canvas once he has 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 sud
denly gone east? Why this new kind
of composition crowded with figures
ancient Jews, tOO2 Has he been taken
with piety, and is ne SONG hencefor-
wards ostentatiously TO proclaim his
race? And who is the cheerful cen
trail figure with the fine opel face? l
don't recollect any such scene in jew
ish history-or anything so joyous. Per
haps it's a study of modern Jerusalem
Jews, to show their life is not all Wall
ing Wall and Jeremiad. Or perhaps
it's only decorative. America is great
on decoration just now. No, he said
the picture had a meaning. Well, l
shall know all about it tonight. Any
how, it's a beautiful thing"
Same old Danl" 1 thought even
more ~decisively as, when 1 opened the
llNlI u liz lLALG &EL@ u - gAA~CLA
bearded figure with audacious eyes
came at me with a grip and a slap and
a roar of welcome, md dragged me
to the quiet corner behind h billiard
tables.
I've just been opaliziug 3our absin-
the for you" he laughed as we sat
down. But what's the matter? You
look kind o. scared"
ITS your Inferno of a city. AS I
turned the corner of Sixth avenue, an
elevated train came shrieki1g and
rumbIing, and i swirl of wind swept
screening round and round, e~nveIoping
me in a whirlpool of smoke and steam,
until. dazed and choked in what seem
ed the ~scSlding effervescence of a COLI
sion. l had given up all hope Of ever
learning what your COMPOUNDED picture
meant.
"Ahar' He took a compIacent sip.
at 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 %feverous tension of his long
days work
yes. it did. old fellow" I said, affec-
~tionately. The JOY and the glow of it,
and yet also some strange antique sim
plicity and re%stfulness you ave got
into il, I know not how, have been with
me all day, comforting me in the midst
of the tearing, grinding life of this
closing nineteenth century after
Christ"
4 curious smile fitted across Dams
face. BE tilted his chair back, and
rested his head against the wall.
There's nothing that takes me so
much out of the nineteenth century af-
ter Christ he said. dreamily, "as his
little french cafe. 1t watts me back
10 my early student days, that lie
somewhere amid the enchanted mists
of the youth of the world; TO the Zest-
full toll of the studios; to the careless
trips in quaint, graz Holland, or fam
ing. d-eVil-may-care Spain. All what
scenes shift and shuttle in the twinkle
of the gas jet in this opalescent liquid
the hot simmer Of the arena at the
Seville bull fight, with its swirl of color
and movement; the ~torchlight process
sion and pilgrims round the church at
Lourdes, with the one black nun pray
ing by herself in q shadowy corner;
the lovely valley of the Tauba, where
the tinkle of the sheep-bells mingles
with the Lutheran hymn blown to the
four winds from the old church tower:
wines that were red; sunshine that
was warm: mandolins." His voice died
away as in exquisite reverie.
And the east?" 1 said, slyly.
A g~ood-natured smile dissipated his
delicious dream.
"Ah. yes" he said; my cas- was the
Tyrol."
1.-The Tyroll How do you mean?"
Il see you won let me out of that
story"
"Oh, there's q story, is there?'
"Oh, well. perhaps not What you
literary chaps would call a story. No
love-making in ii, you know"
Then it can wait. Tell me about
your picture"
But that's mixed up with the story"
"Didn't I say you had become an
arecdotal artist2"
"It'S no laughing matter" he said
grayely. you remember when we
parted at Munich q year ago last
spring, you TO go on 10 Vienna and
TO go back TO America? Wei, I had 4
sudden fancy to take one last European
trip all by myself, and started south
through the TyrOl with a pack on my
pack. The third day out / fell and
bruised my thigh severely, and could
not maxi my little mountain town till