The Montgomery advertiser., 1902-05-02
A Girl and a Picture.
BY H. A. KOSHER.


 Copyright. 1902. by Daily Story Pub. co.)
 Outside was the gray. cold twilight of . winters day. But inside the great stone house was warmth and cheer. In the lux- urious comfort of her favorite library cor ner a woman sat gazing drsamiiy into the red embers of the grate ire.
 Marian Read was one to whom all the comforts and luxuries of the world had been granted. The golden spoon had been hers from her birth. As she sat looking at ali. but her eye was ffiied with a, pac- lure which had stirred her heart that afternoon as she wandered through one Of the art galleries of the great city. Aim lessly and with the Ianguid air of one surfeited with the beautiful things of the earth, she had drifted, as she often did. through the great corridors filled with the fruits of clever brains and cunning hands-the art of the old masters and the art of thoses struggling to be masters. There appeared on the walls each week new creations of the painters brush or the sculptor's ehisei, which had won re- cognition among its fellows. Such pic ture she had found this afternoon-cne that had caught and held her attention as it had the attention of many others who had passed that way.
 1t was but the painted picture of a lit- tie child-of & child of nature, and not one of fancy. It was face beautiful in the truest sense of the word; beautiful in the straight-out look from those great brown eyes, denoting perfect fearless ness of surroundings and perfect con ndence in self: beautiful in the promise face foretold beautiful in coloring and perfect in contour.
 For a long time she had stood before this Portrait of a Child" and many thoughts and yearnings had come to the lonely woman as she stood there. The mother heart was strong within her, the love of all children a passion with her, and vet 1t seemed as If the years were of all the material things of the world. was going to miss the fullest and ripesf fuifillment.
 As she sat by the fire this winter after noon all of the many things which that sweet baby face had suggested to her came as in q panorama before her and things and people of whom she had not thought for many years came again be- fore her mental vision. As girl she had held very high ideals of marriage and therefrom. These notions" as they were always called by her parents, had been held well in check during their lifetime by the perfect conventlonality or ner mother, who was rigid in her devotion to society and whose only criterion of good or bad was as to what they" would say or think about 1t. All the maternal persua1ions. however, had never succeed ed in acomplisbing that which she had so much desired. an 'advantageous mar riage for this only daughter. On this one point the daughter was obdurate, though In all other ways devoted and docile. 'sNo mother" she would say, "I will dress as you wish. will go where you will that should, but to marry just for the sake of marrying-you must not ask 1t of me-"
 While yet girl in school she had fallen in love with one who. in his struggling. Htai nd tva hn 1G ha had appealed to all that was noble and romantic in her warm, girlish heart. He was poor, pitfully poor, and struggling, doing manual labor at one of the hotels | for his board in order that his small all iowance of money might be used for his | tuition at the art school. For above all | else this boy loved his art and no sac rifice was too great or no work too me- l nial if t gave him more hope of reaching his goal. His work in oils had been com mended more than once by his teachers and this gave him hope and confidence. His cheerful. sslf-sacrifice and undaunted spirit. finding sunshine where the rest | of the world saw only shadow. and paint Ing it into his pictures with natures own | colors-these qualities had first com l fnended the wholesome respect of this | daughter Oi wealth. Then came admira- | tion and then, though it was unconfessed even to herself for a long time, she gave him her heart though he did not | know it. When her parents guessed that
 she had even the slightest interest in one who, as they put 1t, was not ''of her
 class" she was hurried to Europe, where
 R two years stay served the purpose they | had desired.
 When they came back there was nc | stephen Ward at the old academy. nor | had she ever seen or heard of him since
 But often had she thought of that brave
 boy whom she had loved and wondered | how and where he fared and whither his
 dreams and ambitions had led him.
 Something in those soft brown eyes oi
 the child's portrait had brought back tc her those wonderful. lustrous kindly eyes | The next day she went again to see the | picture which had so won her heart anc | even more than before did the magnet Ism of the face appeal to her yearnlns Saturdays story. "IMPUDENCE."