Ottumwa semi-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1899-1903, 1900-02-15

Der was doing fulllength blacR-and-
white draped figure. Aftermath he
called it. 1t was wonderful thing.
The eyes looking out under drawn
hood. He showed me the sketch, and
he said: There's something will keep
people guessing"
"Yes-his pictures are like puzzles to
me. 1t is finished?"
'No. You see Dauber had an accident
at his studio, but with the absolute
frankness that characterizes the man,
he came Immediately to the Office to
explain the delay. Dauber was so busy,
that he was working nights and it
seems the model got mad at something
and kicked over the lamp"
"The model kicked ?"-
"Yes-the young lady who was pos
ing for Aftermath said he made her
feet too big, and it seems she has a
great deal of temperament and it as
serted itself at this moment and set
the studio on fire."
well. just fancy-I should think it
dangerous to have things like that hap
pen!"
"Oh, this artistic temperament is a
queer thing to stack up against. But,
you get used to it. That is, you get
used to being surprised. You begin not
to count on anything being what you
expect it to be. Then, one of our artists
we have to lock up in side room with
out windows when he starts picture.
and we have his meals sent in to him
until he finishes. His capacity is enor-
NOUS"
"For wors?"
mo, for food. He seems to absorb
it; but his pictures have delicacy of
feeling, a quivery, moonlight effect
that would make you think they
evolved from rose leaf and dew diet.
But they don't"
Talking Of food" said Mrs. Dobley,
''when called at the Office the other
day I noticed very tired, pale little
girl eating sandwich in a corner,
Who was she?"
"Oh, that was Rossiter Ross, who did
those spicy sketches signed Racy Ross
IN the Tablet before we began taking
her poems on the Giraffe. Her style
is very misleading. She writes entire
~ about race horses, actresses, men
about-town, birds and bottles. FAM
cied her as dashing person who
would come to the Giraffe office in a
cab with footman.
You can imagine when this pale lit
tie girl came in I was stunned. She
was so timid she would hardly speak
above a whisper, but she sat down and
wrote a sketch in ten minutes, 'HanA<
som Land at Midnight that simply
reeked with luxury and magnifcence
of all sorts. Then she asked If we
would mind il she had a bite of lunch
before she went out, as she had an
oyster sandwich in her bag"
"An oyster sandwich! I had never
heard of such thing"
Nor I. But she had one and a bot
tie of milk, and she sat down calmly
and finished them before. she went out.
learned afterward that she supports
her mother and works 20 hours out Of
every "A.
1--WE have another interesting char
acter on the staff" said Mr.. Dobley.
HE is the Enthusiasm Engenderer."
'3The Enthusi-" began Mrs. Dobley,
wonderingly.
"Yes-it's an idea Of my own. But
the day will come when every maya
zine will have an Enthusiasm En-
genderer. OF course, he is supposed
to be an editor, but his real work is
to get the writers and the artists out
of a nut. You see, Mrs. Dobley, poe+a
| and artists, like people in other voca-
| tions, regard their days work very
much as something that is to bring
in bread and butter and buns. They
write for the market and try to turn
out good sellers.
"Now, our Enthusiasm Engenderer
is a young man who knows his busi-
ness. He talks of art with a big 'A'
| and condemns everything in sight in
the literary and artistic line except
the Giraffe. This wakes up all the
dormant enegries that have been
choked by commercial ambition. Here,
at least, say the poets, in the Green
Giraffe we can put the poems that no
one will buy. Here, cry the artists,
is haven for that good stuff that I
have been piling up at home in my
portfolios. They go away from the
Office after an interview with our En-
thusiasm Engenderer, walking on air
and generating good IDEAS. In this
way we have large unconscious staff
working. FOR us without salary
what remarkable idea,'' said Mrs.
Dobley. admiringly. ''Then poets are
almost as odd as artists, aren't they?"
"Quite. There's Daisy Dimple, whose
exquisite Lines to Baby Dewdrop'
| you admired so much. She is stout,
matronly woman, who wears specta-
cles and rainy day Dress
Il was very much interested in Miss.
Barripgton's article on the Develop
ment of the Infant Mind,'" said Mrs.
Dobley. "That, will be bound, was
written by a truly feminine woman"
"I,et me see,'' said Dobley. mo,
that was written by Darlington Chubb,
| poet that we have on salary He 10