Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1900-04-14

man: or shall I follow the accepted mod
AS YOU will but prefer your own ideal
your idea of what perfect man should be-
/ in body soul. mind ana strength Do you
not recall your own Youthful ambition .
How many times have | heard YOU say
some day / will paint a Christ" This is
your opportunity Do il. my friend. Make
| it the work of your life Put your heart
Your best energy and your whole soul in
the work"
Il will paint it. Roderick." replied the
| artlSt SLOWLY VIII not disappoint YOU.
WITHIN the month | will send you my ad-
dress. 1t will be somewhere in the co,n-
| try Goodbye. God bless you You have
done more for me today than words can
tell Goodbye
Philip Switzerland di1 not totter when he
walked away from the church that he had
so reluctantly entered scarcely more than
ar hour before. There was no more criIg
ing in his attitude, NJ s!Ouching despond-
thcy IN his gait. He forgot that he was COL
! larless- that his hair was unshorn and his
chin unshaven; that the soles of his shoes
/ We're almost gone, and that his trolIsrr;
We're ragged around the bottom. He knew
moreover, where were located dealers in
clothing who did business on SUNDAYS. al
though their doors were barred, and to one
Of them he Went
When that Easter evening came he SIT
alone in a little hotel room engrossed in a
| book which he had that day succeeded in
purchasing at Bowery stand. 1t was
Ittcher Lie OF Christ, and within him
SER ne was hghting the most terrific battle
or MS life. for every impulse he possessed
/ save one-his promise 10 Roderick Douglass
| cried out for the stimulant his appetite
Craved.
! Many times during the day he had almost
/ surrendered. Twice he forgot himself So far
: as TO enter d saloon and order the Iouor
which he feared he must consume or die
| Once he had 1t to his lips, but with hands
/ that trembed he replaced it upon the table
! PAID for II and silently but Sorrowfully
! walked away. Now. beside him were a bot
! tie and glass, and the glass was filled TO
| the brim with the red fluid. but he did not
! taste. A full half dozen times he RAISED the
! glass to his lips, put it away and deliber-
! ateiy poured the contents in the cuspidor
| but only TO fill it again and fight the batt!a
| out again and yet again.
/ And the night passed and morning
! dawned- The bottle was empty. but not one
/ drop Of its contents had passed the artist 5
, lips.
/ On the outskirts of quiet Connecticut
| village. in the north wing of an old colonial
mansion. Philip Switzerland had his studio
\ and there, day after day week after week
| and month after month, he studied and
! shetcned and dreamed and sketche5 asain
| the ideal perfect man, and while he toled
/ persistently. his eyes grew brighter. deeper
! and more glad. his checks We're round and
elOwed with health, and his touch beca me
/ firm and steady.
| The wide stretch of canvas facing the
/
| walls of the room were gradually papered
1 with the sketches he made.
Summer came and drifted away for the
! adven, of autumn, and it was not until
/ Thanksgiving day that the artist mixed his
1 pigments, and prepared his palette and
| brushes for the great work he was to do
| Once begun the task absorbed him as
nothing else had ever done. During those
! months of study just passed he had mac
sketches of the boy who had interviewed
the wise men. both hearing and asking
them questions of the young man who
had worked for years at the carpenters
trade, developing sinew. muscle and sterling
manhood; of the man who as a fisherman
when his friends gave themselves up for
| lost, in the violence Of storm, took them
safely TO shore: of the man who when the
| mob threatened him. faced it unf1inchinely
l demanding that he who was without sin
| should cast the first stone: of the man who
/ alone and without human aid, drove the
| money changers from the temple to the
! street; of the man who facing a starving
! multitude, compelled it to silence and to
patience until the hungry could be fed; of
J the man who in the humility that Is en-
| gendered by strength of mind and power of
! physique could forgive Peter for his
t treachery and of the man who possessed
| the ior1tude. the courage and the muscle
| TO bear the rude cross from the place of
condemnation 10 the place of execution
He had studied carefully every initial incl
| dent in the life of that one perfect man
ana mad made his study OF each incident
oiStinct from every other. Now with the
| canvas before him and his pigments pre-
| pared, ne sought to reproduce u composite
Of those IDEAS
| AS ne became more and more absorbed
| oS MS work he never left II while there
| was lght sufficient to continue his labor.
and all the while his own eyes became rnors
| and more imbued with the fervor OF b;s
| task AS the stalwart masculine figure ON
the canvas achieved proportions his own