Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1902-05-23
When Mehitable
O Loved. O

IL the very baptismal font, for the
name bestowed upon her, Mehitable
Hopkins, was enough to make a
spinster of the lovliest girl ever
born. When she left school they
bore her off to Europe, where, while
her five years of travel gave her eX-
cellent knowledge of men in the COM
posite, man as an individual was en-
tirely unknown to her. Then fol-
lowed her fathers death and her
mothers long years of illness, when
all the daughters thoughts and en-
ergies were concentrated on the sick
room. Finally, to complete the
bands which all her life had been
forged to keep her in single blessed
ness, she found herself at 35 with
D very comfortable fortune and not
sign of a near relative with whom
to Share it. So that she hadn't even
that questionable excuse of becom-
ing married for the sake of home.
If Mehitable had been a poor girl
she might Rave proved genius, for
she could paint SO cleverly as to
make her rivals decidedly uneasy.
But now that she found herself
lonely woman, with cruelty plain sill
yer lines over her temples, and no
longer any trace of the old-time
dimples where the sharp knuckles
now showed, her only resource was
her palette. One thing she stoutly
refused to do, however, and that
was to make a workshop of the old
family home. She at last hit upon
the tiny brown cottage in the next
square, where all the surrounding,
towering residences looked in heart
less disdain on the tumble-down
frame house which the owner, a
weak-voiced little old man, had chung
to desperately if spite of all his
fashionable neighbors' scorn and the
tempting offers of frantic real es-
tate dealers. The old man had been
found dead one morning that sum-
mer with the rising suns rays trying
to warm his thin, white cheeks.
Then all the residents on the square
sighed in a relieved way, and the
shrewd real estate men began to
hunt up the heirs with new pro-
posals for the valuable bit of ground,
when 10, and behold! 1t was dis
covered that the poor, dead owners
will was being contested by a prodi-
gal son, and therefore the house
would have to remain where it was
until the question was settled.
At this point of suspended hostili-
ties Miss Hopkins conceived the bril-
liant idea of Transforming the dis
puted property into a temporary
studio, to be used until the long legal
bubble should end. Whereat the
entire neighborhood was enthusiast
tfcally grateful.
At last it was finished, and it's tenn
porary owner held reception to the
residents of the whole square. They
came, one and all, and went away
fairly delighted at the result. The
low walls had been done in an I'M
broken gray green, and the floors
laid soft and smooth with something
a shade darker. The poor, battered
woodwork now shone a dark rich
red, while the tiny window panes,
formerly so pitifully cheap looking,
were now voted quaint to a degree.
For the first time in her life Miss
Hetty had time to be really happy,
and the big family house up on the
corner rarely knew her except when
she crept back there at dusk to her
solitary state dinner, and the undis-
turbed nights rest in the big, quiet
chamber on the second floor. Can
: vases seemed fairly to fly from be-
meath her tireless fingers, and pretty
soon everybody came to recognize
her works because of the inevitable
old man, with thin, pale face, who
always stood out against the back
- IL
house. When she one day showed
the last things she had done the
whole square -tip-toed, wet-eyed, out
into the street again, with many a
penitent promise never again to
speak i'll of the battered little house
and its erstwhile owner For Miss
Hetty's masterpiece pictured the
dead, quiet face, there in the early
sun, with the shadows of the morn
ingglory vines across his high, lined
forehead, and with one huge, rosy
blossom trailing in at the open case
ment as though trying to lend some
of it's beautiful warmth to the wasted
patient cheek beyond.
Nov that 1 have so many, think
I shall try to sell Them for the
orphan asylum on the next street is
in sad need of money, 1 hear. But
think I'll not paint any more" she
added, softly, for he's dead now
you know" And poor, fond, foolish
little Miss Hettie sobbed quietly as
she laid her trembling hand tenderly
on the beloved canvas.
Tt was that same evening that Mrs
Wilmarth brought her brother, Mai
noane to see the little collection
Mrs. Wilmarth lived just across the
street from the big Hopkins house
and Miss Hetty had always found {
l. e IL l..