Evening star., 1898-05-07

spinach is more trou-
Bile. but the stomach
of the struggling art student sometimes
Graves for some other vegetables than
''pommes de terre frites," or "choux de
Bruxelles," ready made.
The stomach belongs to an American of
your age, who believes that he has more
brains than money. His money is not much
If he can live on less than dollar day
all told, he hopes to hold out in Paris until
he gets into the Salon-and then he can sell
his pictures in Kalamazoo or Springfield.
Such is the luster of a Paris success. To
get it he pursues art under difficulties in
this studio, which is also his kitchen, din
ing room, bed chamber, as well as work
room, and where he sees his friends.
If this were all of Paris he would soon go
mad, or become cranky at the least But
Paris, the real Paris, is out Of doors, with
plenty Of free shows and freer company;
and he goes on in his studio, consoling
himself with the illusion that he is veri-
table Bohemian, and destined to be great
because his life is sordid, and ill-fed and
uncomfortable generally.
1t is half-past four in the afternoon when
the spinach problem has to be solved. They
are two struggling American art students
who are wrestling with it. They are Just
back from their work in the Julian life
classes. The foreshortening of the model is
changed for the lengthening out of their
regular short-commors. Spinach it is.
One struggling art student hurrieS down
the stairs, five flights, easy to descend,
and buys the vegetable at the general pro-
vision shcc.
Really Like i Cowboy.
Five or six cents buyi the4quantity need
ed to satisfy the artistic eppetites, and he
hLrries back. 1t is bis, turn; to prepare the
dinner in the bleak, bare Studio under the
roof, where these twoT natural-born gen.
iuses-a New York Art league graduate
and ST Louis Fine ARTS dltto-"pig it, to-
gether. Climbing up ire dark, dirty stirs
one way, he is like the cowboy, whose life
is wild romance-but he knows it not.
His life is as aesthetie as amy other Bo-
hemian's., FL
The walls are green washed. except where
he and his companions have incidentally
cleaned their brushes in dabs of variegated
color. There is no windoW from which to
look cut even over the roofs, for the sky
Ing outward. The furniture is impression
tstic, gathered in scraps where 1t cost the
least. There Is long unpainted bench
along the wall. This serves, multitudinous
purposes. At one end are water jug and
basin, with a cake OF soap. The towel,
hanging from nail, does its best to initiate
tapestry. Then scattered artistically along
the bench are a cup, a glass. bowl, a
knives and forks-which does not mean one
apiece-and last of all the spirit lamp, over
which Is set cooking the spinach in water.
And careful American mothers permit
their sons to do all this in foreign land!
There is an Englishman in Dickens who
was sure the French must be a degraded
people, ever since he learned that they
called water 10" Qeau). Spinach in water,
indeed!
Proud of His Fodder.
If 1t were not spinach it would be fried
potatces-in grease, dripping like picture
no Fleming ever painted-which the Amer
lean son would go to buy of the old woman
at the little open-air stall in between two
buildings across the street. They are
cheaper than the spinach, and he would
march back holding it out for all to see in
MS saucepan steaming fragrantly.
When the spinach Is safely boiling he
leaps down the stairs again to hunt the
rest of the dinner.
At the ''rotisserie' he finds meat of
divers kinds, all hot and ready. Four cents
Will Duy the two portions he needs, if he is
content with plain boiled beef, and the
good woman who serves will put in his pan
an unusual portion if he has the sense to
compliment her on her good looks. Chick
en-, 1resh roasted from the spitS that turn
before the open fire, costs something more.
While she is waiting for his order to be
done to turn he goes to the corner, and
for one cent buys q great cut from one Of
those yard-iong loaves of homemade bread
which you see the poor people carry un-
der their arms ii the early morning. A
hard little cheese, cone shaped, is two cents
more, and pint bottle of wine-clear red,
as becomes painterlis ten cents. The
wine is the extravaganza; but it is more
than enough for the two and it is neces-
sary to make the food go down. After all,
foreign stomachs have their food and drink
all OF piece, and when you are in Paris
you must do as Parisians do. That is, you
must wash down fried potatoes and dry
wi fYnn -
der various penalties. The wine is not par
ticularly strong, several middlemen having
already watered 1t down. Each man. wo-
man and child in France drinks thirty
gallons of 1t each year. 1t will not even
keep the color in the cheeks of the Ameri-
can mothers son. AS to his stomach
that is another story.
Two Senses Appeased.
Dinner is ready now. Monsieur is serv-
ed!'
The saucepan and the bowl the cup and
the glass-so that each may at least drink
separately-are now placed, with their
steaming yiands dhe cheese. also steams
the wooden table under the 4kyiight. In or
der tEat what is eaten NRNf4lso be seen.
and so give creature COM l6rt 10 two senses,
hlsn not tn meIe enn,I The table stained ned
two straw-bottomed chs<2g $fe drawn up.
II there is third struggNes merican art
list in the party. one of tk1m Nands or else
sits at intervals on the bed tn the corner.
It is an undoubtedly dol,bie;; ;;bed. for all
that is apparent is an ,imn4ense family
mattress spread on boards oyer SUPPORTS.
with no sign Of head or footAand morning
and evening alike. the bsd lis always made.
" hen the winter darkness comes too early
to dine under the skylieRt. cheap Hlumi-
nation is made by a oda!s4 which costs
less than cent. and Ia} fIr more than
one sitting. There is pSaingl else In the
studio except the INDISPENSABLE easels, on
which stand two of the MANY works which
are by way OF astonishing future visitors
to the Salon and the citizens of Kalamazoo.
Other works-painttngs In the water and In
oils. washes, drawings. sketches and the
rest-aH works of self-conscious genius,
are piled on the fi1er In corners or Jean up
against the wallsI It is to finish them that
the young Americans are making their
| money last for two years instead Of living
for one year like honest Christians. Their
mothers are far away. and II they arc-con-
tent with their housekeeping, whose busi-
ness Is 1t? Besides, In Paris they are in
their own room only when necessary-for
| their dinner, for example, ,becauSe II costs
them least here, and for their private paint
ing. Their study under great masters Is in