Free press. [volume] (Hays, Kan.) 1888-1908, 1906-02-03
Copyright 1905. by Daily stcry Pub. Coz

Copyright, 1905, by
1T the time when Greece was the
empire of the world celebrated pot
ter who lived in Corinth moulded a
vase. He carried the vase to Thebes,
in which city the great IFlinter APP
peles was then sojourning. and there
upon induced him to paint upon the
vase the, portrait of a woman, the
most beautiful in all Greece. The pot
ter returned to Corinth and cast his
vase in seething furnace, whence 1t
came forth virtually imperishable, a
masterpiece of classic pottery. The
potter believed that the painting of
Appeles would never fade and he
called il THE Amaranthine Vase"
For several months the potter ex-
hibited his vase in his shop and its
fsme transpired throughout Greece.
One day a great noble came TO the
potter and offered a sum that meant
wealth and happiness for all his days.
The vase was sold.
In the year 146 B. c. the Roman
Consul Mummius, at the head of his
legions. entered Corinth. After put
ting the men to death and selling the
women and children into slavery he
pluSdered the city of its precious
treasures-among them the vase. For
many years this gem of the potter's
art remained in Rome and was shown
in the palaces of successive emperors.
--6he passage OF time left no trace on
the magic work of Appeles and the
beauty of the woman remained tran
scendent.
Finally the vase fell into the hands
OF the family of the Medici and after
several centuries was removed to
Paris. where it took it's place among
the treasures of the Louvre. In the
reign of Louis XIV. it was stolen from
the palace and sold to an ignorant
dealer in bric-a-brac. Bought by an
English nobleman it crossed the chan
mel and proved the delight of several
generations of ceramic hunters.
George Chalmers was a struggling
young artist His struggle was not
only for home and to gain the young
girf he loved as his wife, but for the
bare necessities of life. His aspira-
tions aimed at a high ideal in life. In
=
step must needs be that of master,
and therefore most of his time was
spent in building up and tearing down.
One evening as he was going to his
studio-the garnet of one of the better
sort of tenements on the east side OF
New York-he was attracted by a no
tice advertising the sale of artists
materials, which appeared in the
sooty window of dingy junk shop
He went inside. and while overhaulins
lot of brushes and paints his eye fell
on a startling bit of coloring that
cleaned from pile of bric-a-brac in
one corner of the shop. Going over tC
the nondescript heap of rubbish he
leaned down and saw a face about the
size of a silver dollar enameled on the
surface of a vase.
A tremor went through the youns
artists frame; his eyes grew wide
with amazement Surely that was
the work of a great master!" With {
trembling hand he reached down into
the heap of rubbish and. exercising al
the care he could he disengaged i
from the mass of broken china anC
chips of iron and brought it out into
the llSnl. ne lIGmblSQ ali ONSl elS tAl'
conviction seized him that he had dis
covered a treasure of enormous value
A sharp bargain with the owner anC
he hurried out into the street and wa!
soon in his shabby little studio. Dis
placing a bust of the Venus de Milo
which had occupied a bracket on The
wall. he carefully busted off his vase
and gave it the most commanding
place in his studio.
SLong into the night he sat befoi
the vase and studied the transcendent
sfally beautiful coloring of the face. Ii
the uncertain light OF his paint-en
crusted lamp the color seemed Il
come and go in the cheeks of the i'm
maculate face. The eyes, too. were
strangely lifelike. The pupils seemed
to contract and expand as if givin:
rent to the changing emotions of tn,