Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1901-10-17
By ". HEIMBURG.

"Oh, then, do let us drink our tea
in the other one, he cried, interrupt
ing her.
Herr Doctor but you must make al
lowances. Leo says the room is per-
! fectly dreadful
'I cannot understand Leo Frau Jus
nitz. How can man persist in living
il state apartments like this? The
room ought to show the character of
/ its occupant; it ought to be comfOrta-
! BE and home-lke. This room is sim
ply collection of the requisites for a
stage decoration of an old French
comedy. And you are not in the least
=, like a rocco sheperdess.'
He spoke quite sharply as he fol-
lowed her down the corridor. II
really cannot understand how Leo
can ever manage to paint picture in
his studio. 1t is full of color and it
must confuse and distract him. Do
you know what Gothic says,
Frau Jussnitz? He says that sim,
pie. tasteful, surroundings stimu
late his thoughts; that magnifi-
cent rooms with elegant furnish
ings are for people who have
no thoughts, or wish TO have none"
She had just put her hand on the
handle of door, and she turned at
this. ''It is possible that Gothic may
be right, she replied quietly. "a man
can write poetry when he is bind, but
a painter makes poetry with his
eyes"
He looked at her in surprise, but
she silently crossed the threshold of
a small room, and said with a graceful
gesture Of invitation: "Now, find a
very comfortable seat, Herr Doctor
II you will allow me, will take a piece
of work.
All, this was just what he had fan
cied her surroundings should be.
ut is very cozy here" he said to
himself, looking round the little room
with it's simple and yet graceful furni-
ture. There was her workable by
the window under a group of broad
leaved plants. The writing-table. the
comfortable sofa, over which hung the
portraits of a gentleman and a lady,
probably the parents of the hostess;
the Water-cOlOr sketches beneath them
no doubt portrayed the home where
Ante had spent her youth All sorts
Of girlsh ornaments were hanging and
scattered about. A piece of half-fn-
ished work lay on the table, with a
book beside it. Maiberg could see
that it was a cookbook. Nuremberg
Gingerbread, after old German re-
ceipts, he read on the title-page But
he could not smile, for he was carried
back to the old, long forgotten-days,
when he was a little fellow standing
beside his stately mamma, opening
wide his little mouth for a taste Of the
sweet dough of the Christmas cake.
And as he went up to the writing
table to read an illuminated text
which hung above it, those wonderful
words of the New Testament came to
his mind:
Though | speak with the tongues of
men and of angels, and have not
charity, | am become as of sounding
brass or tinkling cymbal" And:
Charity suffereth long and is kind, is
not easily provoked. seeketh not her
own"
He turned and looked at her as if he
saw her now for the first time. She
was sitting at the table, busying her
elf about the tea How noiselessly
how gracefully she did the honors!
The little red-embroidered apron was
so becoming to her, and the lamp-lit
shed such pretty glow over her
and the lilies ofthe-valley sent out
such a delicate fragrance through
the room. From the adjoin-
ing room came the voice of the child.
who was playing with her toys. 1t
was a world full of an indescribable
homelike charm. Maiberg felt as if
he had already lived through hours
like this; but where and when? Or
was it the ideal of his dream of the
future, which he had so often pictured
from his young hostess hand and
sat down opposite her, but she put
out the lamp under the tea-urn and
took up her work--it was a childs
apron. And then she said: Tell
me something about Leo, Herr Doctor.
when he was a gay and carelSess
youth and wandered about the world
with you. He always declares that
was the happiest time of his life He
was quite different then, was he not?''
she added.
He was silent and stirred his tea
with his spoon without looking up.
II was not until he saw that she had
dropped her work in her lap that he
began, without answering her last
question:
Yes, yes, that was merry time
everyone has to go through it some
time. But that sort of thing always
seems much pleasanter on looking
back, because one forgets all the disa
greeable part of it."
He could think of nothing better to
say than this commonplace, and cas-
about for another subject of converse
ton.
Then he heard her say:
Don't you think that Leo suffer-
r horribly from the want of recognize
. that his talent meets with?''
f Leo is still young, Frau Jussnitz
!. and besides, he is only just beginning
o TO work in earnest
!. She pricked her finger just ther
IThQ hand fhaf hold tho nnndIn rhcn-