New-York tribune., 1903-04-12
n Girl of the Latin, Quarter.
BY LLOYD OSBOURNE.

of
IRON ana material. the hundreds of busy men
the mast high pillars of steel changing with
hammers and drizzily supporting long armed
oeTrickSs the whole ordered and disciplined ami
NATION Of an important engineering enterprise
She was impressed to see de BrousSard whom,
she I remembered as so inconspicuous figure at
lhe nm table, moving here and there in the
CONFUSION, calm, masterful and smiling as he
gave orders and received reports his watchful
eyes allowing nothing to escape him as he made
ms rounCs She trembled when he jumped on
a rising spar Of steel bound with RUSTY chain
ana nonchalantly sgnaled with his hand to
the oonkeyman above; and she held her breath
as he mounted in the air. until finally a mere
dwarf against the azure. he stepped out on the
crazy scaffolding at the top.
When he came down again. this time with his
feet in a giant iron hook Leslie was there to
meet him and wish him Good morning" He
poWeo, talked little about the weather and
MS work, and learning that she was going back
10 Morny for breakfast begged permission
accompany her. This was the beginning of a
strange friendship between the pair and the
nrSt or their homeWard walks together. Every
morning after that Leslie made her way to the
aqueduct and hung about until the engineer
was ready to return with her De Broussard
made no attempt TO see her at any other time
and even in his conversation was careful to
keep on general and impersonal topics. He let
II be understood, though she at a loss to
know exactly how, that he was to be regarded
as a mere acquaintance.
Accustomed she to winning the out
spoken devotion of men, Leslie was piqued by
ms apparent Indifference. 1t seemed kind of
slight to her beauty and attractiveness that the
engineer was content to leave matters as they
began and make no use of those dewy mornings
to push his suit She was unaccustomed to men
who had no suits to push, and who could throw
away such exceptional opportunities as she Of
Tered him daily She would sometimes look at
her charming face in the glass and wonder
what he failed TO find there. There must be
another woman she would say to herself.
She found il very hard to draw hi out about
himself. but little by little she extorted some
thing of his history. He had been born to
money and position. At twenty-eight the death
Faf r2Tr0 fl1n iat he info hot
the person Was woman had made him look at
the world with fresh eyes. His sorrow, he
said, had revealed to him the sorrows of others
He perceived that the social fabric was out OF
gear. that it was founded suffering and
misery, that much of it. that most of it. was
rcmGdlabIe. He determined to do something
himself. to attempt to stem the universal cal
lousness and selfshness, to denounCe, as best he
might the triumphant materialism OF the age
He talked and wrote and lectuTed. and was
called a madman for his pains He went among
the poor, to raise once more if possible the
standard OF idealism in France; to preach new
religion on the ashes of the old; to tell OF that
new life. SO real to himself, which it was within
the power of the humblest to lead One day
deClaiminy 10 crowd OF gaping factory OYER
atives. a derisiye old had taken him to
task Who are you to lecture u.s." he shouted
who are you to teach us how to live: to cali
francs day-you whose clothes were bouGhI
with dead mems money; you who would starve
TO death if you were turned out OF your dead
mans house tomorrow?
Il perceived ali at once said de Broussard,
that to reform others one must first reform
ones self: not by words alone but by the sterner
measure Of acts. I shook the old fellows hand;
I told him. before them all. that he was right;
1 apoIogiZed for my presumption. Yes sad
a man must earn the right to live before he
breaches. l Will come back to you when am
tie was tventv-nine when he took up the
study Of engineering; he was thirty-tWo When
he went to America for four years practical
work He was now fOrty-One, and already q man
of some mark in his profession. With Hcreas-
ing years he had grown humble, and realized
that the reach of one man arm Is snort III
deed. .,,.
perhaps I serve my cause best by building
good bridges" he said, 'and leading an honest
life before my men,
one morning Leslie brought him to her studlo
and took off the wet sheets that enVelopeo heI
a-roup that kept her clay from cracking
81 have seen your work., she SAID NO"
Won must see mine" -. 49,.
De Broussard studied the figures WIN 49,. aste4.
tion He moved away so as to get fresh eIlecls
Of 1ight and shadow. He came close ana ndI
ro1,IIy examined the modelling. All this without
or6 while Leslie stood by and waited, with
siDeIIIar breathIessness, for his unspoken YER
..It ;s charming" he said at last.
she made a little mOue of annoyance.
'-Charming!" she protested oaS II ID e000 -
..VoT TrouId not like to be frank. ne salG: %:
"Are we not good enough friends Ior lha''
she asked. .,n ho .oi5
You do not like II siie a0heN'
g. -ent to the window and looked out 80.
.s-ou me what's bad in it?' she salo' 'uIiii-'9'
10 raised his hand appeaHnGly. - to
1sparbans you know nothing ABOUT diS'
said ,.. be eaid looking at
fAiio .arys+l,-- in art there is no place Ioi