Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1901-10-03
CATARlNA
A SKETCH

hans because of such surroundings.
Genius will flourish anywhere, and
genius has the happy faculty OF bend
ing every difficulty to its own advan-
tsge. At any rate, though genius IL
self is apt to be very dubious respect
ing this comforting doctrine, | cannot
but think that Princes road made Cata-
rina. Yet. truly, what a setting for
such a pearl!
Her mother was an italian, her IA
ther had died while she was still q
child, and from that day Catarina was
marked by fate The mother had
bought a greengrocer's shop in that
very unlovely Princes road l have re-
ferred to. and there, ensconced in that
little fortress-it might be truly said
hardly ever quitting guard-she had
begun and carried on through long
years one of those terrible, grim, silent
struggles with poverty, disaster ana
death with which London is replete.
She had survived, she had been always
able just to keep her head above wa
ter, but heaven only knows at the cost
of what heroism, of what intelligence
and of what privations In that little sea
of troubles in which her lot was cast!
The older inhabitants of Princes road
still remember her as a buXom and
high spirited young woman, speaking
English very badly, but shrewd enough
withal But the years had gradually
robbed her Of every trace of her for
mer beauty, and from the first day
knew her she was a prematurely old,
quiet, careworn dame, her face salloW
and withered, her cheeks drawn and
sunken, her hair dry and dusty, and
If any hint remained to give assurance
to the memory of her charms it was in
her Italian eye, sad, but deep, lustrous,
blazing up at times with some inward
fire or occasionally revealing the
strange, yearning, hunted look of
poor child of the sunny south wearing
out her life in somber cline and
among an alien people.
No; there was another testimony to
Der former beauty-Catarinal She was
about 13 when I saw her first, and
most children are pretty at that age,
but no one with the eye of an artist or
with insight into character could once
gaze upon Catarina's countenance
without inwardly resolving that that
strange, foreign looking creature was
predestined TO career"
Catarina was often to be found In the
shop about that time or in the little
"parlour" that served for everything
at the back. She was generally to be
found there, in fact, for, though she
avoided school and was not particu-
larly shining light in the paths of learn
ing, the girl was devoured with a rage
for reading There she was to be
found as often as not with a smudge
upon her short nose from having ham
died dusty potatoes, perched up or
crouched down with a novelette,, q
story book, book of travel, of ad=
venture She was extraordinarily pre-
cocious In her understanding Of the
world, just as much as she was back
ward in physical development, for she
was small for her age. Even then she
was ambitious-she was more than am
bilious; she was fiery and resolute.
One saw it in the fash Of the wonder
full eyes as she glanced up quickly
from her book, seeming in one earnest
dart to look through your own eyes in
to something, possibly the soul, be-
hind!
She was delightfully."- shy, though con-
fident; timid, though fiery; rapid,
though tender. When she dropped her
eyes, there was a fascination that de-
pended on no mere occurrences, that
must indeed have been something I'M
conscious, for it seemed really to be
due to the lashes, with their long and
peculiar fanlike sweep.
Catarina had resolved even to be an
actress. BY sort Of instinct she per-
ceived that that was the only avenue
by which she could escape from the
surroundings of Princes road, which
at the same time she loathed and ae'
quiesced in with a natural and even
affectionate familiarity.
Catarina would weigh out pound OF
potatoes with EAST Lynne" in her
hand She would haggle over an odd
halfpenny with the asparagus man,
dreaming-for she was always dream
ing-of the most brilliant conquests,
the most illustrious situations Of the
boards"
Catarina had been six months in "the
profession" BY dint of what exer-
tions. of what energy, resolution, had
she carried her point! 1t was HEROIC,
but of that kind of heroism which Is
utterly unconscious to the doer Cata-
rina knew n world OF things, and she
had nerves of steel. She had succeed
ed. And then her chance came. Al
most as one tosses a ball of worsted
to a kitten tLey had given Catarina an
interpolated ''song and dance"
She could not sing little bit" for,
though her voice had a quality as
though the sense of touch had some
how been dissolved into it, the volume
of sound in singing was altogether too
feeble The audience laughed, laughed
even at the beautiful Italian eyes, sim.
ply because they were 'new"-untll
AJitsil illd bA7tiA " Nt'AAlNtt NN1 tfNf-
taught her steps for a fortnight, but in
her excitement she had forgotten them.
She fell back upon HE steps her mother
had taught her and upon her genius.
Her dancing spoke, it sang. it laughed,
it teascd-ycs. like the very kitten with
the worStcd-it fasc.a&,cd, it struck
fireworks. it brought down the house
in thundyrclap Of sudden. impetuous,
astonishcd applause.
met her going home one night short
" afterward. She had slipped away
aud was actually rudging or, rather,
stepping it, like a fairy on foot Per-
haps she liked the WALK perhaps it was
the habit of the old days when half
penny loomcd vast as n sovereign.
She was beautifully dressed, though
outwardly enveloped in a coarse cloak,
1t came on to rain, and l suggested
we should take hanson. She con-
sented with the air-in her 1t was nc
I affectation-of a princess, giving me
| her dainty little hand. On the way
down Bayswater road she alternately
| laughed and cried for joy, and hel
! whole pleasure was that she would be
able to make the mater" countess.