Akron daily Democrat. [volume] (Akron, Ohio) 1892-1902, 1901-02-09
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hears with increasing frequency. The
lady has achieved something that may
almost be called fame. though she is
not yet "a.
happen to know that her success is
due to singular chance, and as the
revelation of this fact may please the
envious and will not worry Jane in the
least 1t is here set forth.
At the age Of 20. when Jane found
that she would have to make living.
she turned naturally to literature. So
many people do! Jane had written tup-
completely romances In blank books
with black covers and had once sold Il
poein to comic weekly for the gen
erous sum of $2 She felt that she had
the gift.
IT. chanced that she enjoyed the ac-
guaintance of an estimable old maid
Miss Prudence Whistler-who earned
$50 a. week as a reader of manuscripts
for a publishing firm, and with this
lady she found haven when depend
snce upon her dead fathers relatives
became no longer tolerable.
Miss Whistler occupied quaint apart
ments In building that harbored
saesroom for secondhand pianos on
the ground floor and a strange collec-
ton of artistic people-most of them
damaged by wear, like the panos-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 fullncss
OF my heart that these mythical ladies'
are very distressing company. More
over Prudence Whistlcr's little paror
wns furnished In q 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 CEN
ter table was n strange thing, long and
bnck. Jane thought It must have serv-
ed an undertaken as rest for collins.
The pictures were not bad, being most
ly details reproduced from famous
paintings-faces and figures expressing
woe.
The condition of James nerves after
q month In this place was such that if
any one who suddenly dropped a feath-
or pillow behind her she would have
jumped right up through the ceiling
into the studio OF Diomed Guern. 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-
questionubly fatality in first stories
similar TO the so called "beginner's
z luck" that lures men into the vice of
3 gambling. Let philosophy wrestlc with
( the explanation while history records
the fact that Miss I.estrell sold her
iirst story without any trouble Mt all
and received SD for It,
4 Don't lose your head. my dear" said
( the experienced Miss Whistler at
Z may be D7 years before you sell an
other one"
Jane did not put any faith In this
gloomy prophecy ana she went to
work upon her second romance with
high hope and fierce determination.
But she was nervous. as have already
remarked aud her condition was ag.
grayated by the performances of n
gentleman named Franz Reinhardt
whose studio OF music WAS directly
beneath Miss Whistler's abode
The tenants In this building knew
little OF one another, yet there was n
rather definite runor that Reinhardi
was an excellent musician In eXcep
tionaily hard luck. II was said that
he accepted pupils at the absurd rate
OF 80 cents an hour. and that most OF
them never paid him.
Jane. who was very fond of music
believed during the first days of hel
residence there, that she should enjoy
hearing Rainhardt and his pupils Sing
There was u register In the wall-G
relic OF the days when the building
had been a private residence heateC
by a furnace-and 1t admitted sounds
from the studio of music with remark
nble distIncmess. They did not annoy
Jnne IN the least until she began I,
f be bothered with that second story
aud then she suddenly awokc to III,
fact that Relnhardt sang only ON,
song-"l'alm branches" and drllcC
all his pupils-men. women and chll
M dren-in one single vocal exercise.
Every morning AT 0 precisely h
would put himself into condition 70
the days lahors by singing pain
lhuUEltH ibbl AlHl'ns Nnlhk Ali' i'lliAl
words. which be pronounced with
strong German accent palm Branch
esr is beautiful hymn of praise, bu
enough OF II Is enough II became S
familiar I'M Miss Whstler's apartment
that the lady's canary bird used to sin
II. The top Of the long black tnbl
echoed II like sounding board, an
the legs OF the haircloth chairs dunce
solemnly In perfect time.
H II rang In James head until she sin
ply had to sing IT, There was no othe
way 10 get II out OF her mind. In th
earlier days she would hum II gentl,
Later. when the habit had grown upo
her. she found no relief except by sin
ing IL right out at the top of her vote
At first she was afraid that Mr. Rel
hardt would hear her aud take offens
but afterward she was afraid that
wouldn't
She found herself initiating his voc
methods. II was mimicry, aud il WI
very rude but she absolutely could n
help II. When the professor was dri
ing that song into one OF his pupils aI
Jane was struggling with her story, r.
would find nothing in her mind at la
bit '1'alm Branches" and only |