Gilpin observer., 1901-02-21


lady has achieved something that may
almost be called fame, though she is
not yet "a.
+ I happen to know that her success is
due to q singular chance, and as the
revelation of this fact may please the
envious and will not worry Jane in the
least it is here set forth.
? At the age of 20. when Jane found
that she would have to make n living.
she turned naturally to literature. So
many people do! Jane had written (un-
completely romances in blank books
with black covers and had once sold a
poem to a comic weekly for the gen.
erous sum of So. She felt that she had
the gift.
1t CHANGED that she enjoyed the ac-
.quaintance of an estimable old maid
Miss Prudence Whistler-who earned
$40 a week as a reader Of manuscripts
for q publishing firm, and with this
lady she found a haven when depend
ence upon her dead fathers relatives
became no longer tolerable.
Miss Whistler occupied quaint apart
ments in building that harbored a
salesroom for secondhand pianos on
the ground floor and strange collec-
Ition Of artistic people-most of them
damaged by wear, like the pianos-in
the rooms above.
: Her friend was away all the day,
and Jane sat alone with the muses.
Permit me to say, out of the fullness
of my heart. that these mythical ladies
are very distressing company. More
over, Prudence Whistler's little parlor
was furnished in style to wear upon
the spirits of youth. The chairs and
the sofa had come from the ancestral
home. They were stiff and straight
and upholstered in haircloth. The GEN.
ter table was strange thing, long and
black. Jane thought it must have serv-
ed an undertaken as n rest for coffins.
The pictures were not bad. being most
1y details reproduced from famous
paintings-faces and figures expressing
woe.
The condition OF James nerves after
n month in this place was such that if
any one who suddenly dropped a feath-
er pillow behind her she would have
jumped right up through the ceiling
into the studio Of Diomed Guerin, the
animal painter.
+ 1t may be that this state Of the nerv-
Gus system is favorable to literary
work; have heard that theory advo-
Gated. On the other hand. there is un-
questionably fatality in first stories
similar to the SO called beginners
luck" that lures men into the vice Of
gambling. Let philosophy wrestle with
the explanation while history records
the fact that Miss Lestrcll sold her
first story without any trouble at all
and received SO for It,
Don't lose your head, my dear" said
the experienced Miss Whistler. ut
may be 81 years before you sell an
other one'
Jane did not put any faith in this
gloomy prophecy, and she went to
work upon her second romance with
high hope and fierce determination.
But she was nervous, as have already
remarked. and her condition was ag-
gravatcd by the performances of n
gentleman named Franz Reinhardt.
whose studio of music was directly
beneath Miss Whlst!er's abode.
The tenants In this building knew
little of one another. yet there was a
rather definite rumor that Heinhardt
was an excellent musician In excep-
tionally hard luck. It was said that
he accepted pupils at the absurd rate
of 30 cents an hour. and that most Of
them never paid him.
Jane. who was very fond of music.
believed. during the first days Of her
residence there. that she should enjoy
hearing Reinhardt and his pupils sing,
There was register in the wall-a
relic of the days when the building
had been n private residence heated
by n furnace-and ii admitted sounds
from the studio Of music with remark
able distinctness. They did not annoy
Jane In the least until she began TO
be bothered with that second story,
and then she suddenly awoke 10 the
fact that ltclnhardt sang only one
song-"l'alm Branches"-and drilled
all his pupils-mcn. women and chi!-
dren-in one single vocal exercise.
Every morning Mt o precisely he
would put himself into condition for
the days labors by singing Palm
Branches" four times. using the Italian
words. which he pronounced with II
strong German accent. palm Branch
es" is beautiful hymn of praise. but
enough of 1t Is enough. Ii became so
familiar In Miss Whistlcr's apartment
that the lady's canary bird used to sing
1t. The top of the long black table
echoed 1t like n sounding board. and
the legs of the halrcloth chairs danced
solemnly in perfect time.
1t rang In James head until she sim
ply had to sing It. There was no other
way to get 1t out OF her mind. In the
earlier days she would hum 1t gently.
Later. whrn t.r habit had grown upon