The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1906-12-30

Ny picture of "Boonville Creek Bridge
at Sunset" was hung m the window of
the dry goods store and praised in the
local papers.
| OF course, the nattery went to my
head. The notice told upon me be-
gan to act the part-and dress it, BY
instinct, assisted by pictures and the
descriptions OF several heroines in artis-
| tic novels-I became as limp and trail
| ing and dfaphonous and queer as If 1
i had lived in studios all my life. I be-
gan to be superior. found that Boom
| vile existence was "crude and unfin-
| ished." I learned-and stated-that 1t
| lacked atmosphere and color
All this, as may be imagined, Gid not
| tend to render me popular. But 1 ar
gued that the artistic nature was diff
ferent, and could not naturally exist
on the lowly level of everyday life. Like
all exalted spirits, / was destined to be
lonely. After g picnic had been ar
ranged without me. decided that I
would exist solely for my art.
went to New York. had made up
my mind to go from the first. felt /
should find there all I longed to have
At school Molly Simpkins had been my
dearest friend. Her soul longed for mu
sic as mine did for art. She had visions
of applauding audiences in grand opera,
while salon medals dangled before my
eyes. She had already chosen her
name AS she was born in Denver, she
was going to call herself Colorado. ]
wrote TO her at once. and we joined
forces In the prettiest little apartment,
with her Aunt Matilda for chaperon.
There was no trouble about money, for
papa was Boqnville's leading citizen"
and always gave me everything 1
wanted.
We settled and set to work / never
shall forget the first day when found
myself in big, dusty room with casts
looking like ghosts of departed chef
doeuvres glimmering in all the dark
corners. There were heads and arms
and feet everywhere. One might have
thought there had been a horrible plas-
ter Of Paris accident, and the unfortu-
nate victims had been thrown all over
the place OF course, ! had to begin
with one of the scattered members. The
glories of the Milo or the Discobo1us
were not for me. l was obliged to pun
in my time with bony hand claspiny
what might have been the rod of en-
pire or a, section of clothesline. My
days I divided between that and a foot
with the heel raised for some unknown
reason on a block that would put the
highest talon of French shoe to
shame. This, however. did not last. 1
made unequaled progress. I was. be-
lieve. the admiration and wonder of the
place. l broke the record in getting
into the Portrait Class" and there-f
came on Julian Melrose.
The result for my young affections
was In no way unprecedented There
was not one girl in the class who was
not interested in him. Nine-tenths
Of IN, 1<.x-
Who was not would have been thought
to show culpable disregard of popular
op,nion-would have been regarded as
something of an outsider not evincing
a proper fellow spirit 1 had never
seen anything ike him before, and the
effect was instantaneous He was very
large; no one thought Of saying that
he was fat. His pointed beard and short
hair were perfectly black-none even
whispered that be was slightly bald.
When his tall figure lounged into the
room with his hands in the pockets Of
his very baggy trousers, stood en-
tranced. His sombreness CT expression
impressed me at once His melancholy,
far-off gaze attracted me. I felt I'M
nedfately that he was the living. walk
ing embodiment OF the Spirit of Art
which I had sought. knew the rever-'
encc In which he was held for his work
had seen some OF it, and pretended SO
hard that 1 understood 1t that I fin
ished by satisfying myself that 1 truly
did.
As he strobe forward and stood
frowning down on a girls easel 1 al
most held my breath waiting to seize
the precious words. Casting up his
eyes and his hands to heaven, he drew
long breath. Then he shuddered
slightly.
"Horribley' he murnured, ''horriblep'
I saw the girl shrink. / could tell
from her face that she was ready TO
cry.
did you ever try shoe polishing?"
he asked, gisncing down at her bril-
liant. neat little tan footwear.
NO" the girl half sobbed.
You had better practice that form
of art" he sneered leaving the girl
openly weeping. You will make more
of success of it."
thought this horribly frnpertinent
and was most uncomfortable, but no
one seemed to notice it.
With the next student his method
was different. Pausfng, he cast him
self into an attitude of affected ad-
mfratfon. I noticed the corners Of her
mouth began to tremble.
Ah! he cried. what breadth. what
colorl Notice the drawfng-so accurate.
L do not observe that one side Of the
models face is half the size Of the 9TH
or. Undoubtedly some fault OF my Wis
ion. cannot see that the sitter is
broken out with smallpox Something
must be the matter with my sight. Ali
We must look to our laurels--"
One may imagine the stats IN which
the girl was by this time with all the
others listening and eigeling 10 the
most fattering manner at his huunor.
She was crying. too, and indeed in his
progress he left train OF weeping
maidens behind him.