The Bellefontaine Republican. [volume] (Bellefontaine, Logan County, Ohio) 1855-1905, 1903-09-04
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u A TALE 1TLHIA1T
y y BOE]IE M]DA

! of myths and troubadours' ro-
mances. Models that fit about from
studio to studio make themselves
agreeable I'm the oriental fashion by
telling stories which pass current read.
lily. though few have any basis in fact.
Yet so strange are the actual happen
ings among the talented and erratic
Bohemians that the most improbable
tale OF all Ia likely TO be the true one.
Therefore beware how you rashly
doubt the reality OF the adventure
which l am about to relate. My infor-
nation Is obtained from the most un-
Trustworthy sources. yet ! have occa-
sionally known the truth TO come from
the same quarter.
Young Mr.. Edward Hardy Is an art
ist OF such versatility that in the seven
years since he came out of an art
school he has probably drawn every
thing that any man can draw except a
salary. He has quaked At the land
lords knock. and he has known hunger.
but not recently. IL Is now almost a
year since he succeedcd-and how no
man knoweth-in having his portrait
OF Mime. Alba. the primh donna. hung
in the parlor OF very swell hotel
The portrait was made from n photo
graph. and IL looks no more like the
real Mime. Alba than IL does like Agui-
naldo. yet It suggests her in n curious
way. and. though the lady is. TO speak
truly. q somewhat cumbersome and
mature pcrion. the picture is the
sprightliest thing that ever charmed an
eye.
IL had not been upon the wall more
tan a week when lady OF society
whose present style of beauty requires
sery much the same sort Of artistic
treatment that Hardy had given Alba
engaged the yOUEg artist ~ paint her
portrait He promptly borrowed suit
Of clothes from a friend and essayed
his task His work was highly salts
factory and really mcrited praise. He
unquestionably possesses the technique
that gives life To a portrait. and he has
n superhuman comprehension OF Ia
dy's ideas OF hersPlf-tgat merciful de
lusion that no mirror can dispeL
From this beginning Hardy gained
some acquaintance with persons OF
wealth and position. and thus he came
to know~Mr and Mrs. Albert c. Brock
well and their charming daughter
Edith 1t was MIR. Brockwell whom
Hardy first encountered. and In a man
ner most unfortunate. The gentleman
called at the studio under Mrs. Brock
wells orders He is n self made man,
and his clothes have a habit OF looking
as f they. too. had made themselves.
Hardy unhapplly mistook his visitor
for an ornithornicus (which Is a beast
hauteur which man just beginning to
get money assumes toward his credit
ors.
Such a mistake Is hard to rectify,
and Brockwell went back to his family
with a heart full of bitterness. Mrs.
BrockweIl is n woman who does not
Rrieve overmuch when some one takes
her husband down n peg or two. She
likes to do II herself The result Of her
husbands prejudiced report was that
she wrote a very polite note to Hardy,
asking him to call ut the house and
discuss a matter of portrait painting.
Hardy called upon the lady and had
the pleasure of seeing her daughter
whereupon he for the first time return.
ed adequate thanks to Providence that
be had not been permitted to starve to
death In the days when 4 ham sand
wich had resembIed a government
bond.
He called a second time. on which oc
easion Mr.. Brockwell was present The
old fellows nature discloses the same
mixture Of shrewdness and stupidity
that you Will always find In the man
who has progressed too fast He saw
at q glance that Hardy was smitter