The National tribune., 1907-12-19

up on the dock for the various ships,
and on one of the supply vessels $4,000
pounds of high-grade chocolate bon
bons We're stored. Uncle Sam is, after
all, a pretty good, indulgent parent to
his dutiful children, and Jacks life on
shore might be far less comfortable and
interesting than upon one of our great
battleships.
A well-known barber in one of our
large cities says that women would be
surprised to know how many men wear
false hair badness. it seems, is much
more prevalent among the rich and
fashionable class than any other, and
or such young men, when the hair from
the top of the head falls off, a false
piece is made just to cover the patch,
which is easily adjusted and positively
defies detection. These false pieces are
expensive, but, of course, that makes
no difference so long as the device is
successful. These artificial adjuncts of
the masculine toilet can be brushed in
any way desirable, and used just as if
the hair grew on the head. 1t must be
rather embarrassing to a very bald
young man who has concealed his de-
feet in this way to have his beautiful.
thick locks admired by some girl he is
perhaps intending to marry. VIII he
confess beforehand?
Leonardo Da vinci, painter, sculptor,
architect, civil engineer, inventor, bot
anist, chemist, geologist, astronomer,
anatoEist, critic. explorer, musician,
courtier and diplomat, is said by Philip
Gilbert Hamerton to have lived the
richest, fullest and best-rounded life of
anyone known to history. He was in
deed divinely endowed not only with
exceptional mental gifts, but with a
personal attractiveness so great as to
make him almost irresistible. The ra-
dance of his face was said to be SO
beautiful that it brought cheerfulness
TO the hearts of the most melancholy.
His physique was magnificent, and in
feats Of mere strength, as well as in
wrestling, running, yaulting or swim
ming he had no equals. Had football
been in vogue in those days one of his
greatest claims for glory, in the eyes OF
some, would undoubtedly be his bril-
, liant work as captain of his team.
Where his amazing genius came from
| is a question which staggers the wisest
for ais mother was peasant woman
and his father, Piero Da Vinci, an or
dinary Florentine lawyer, of no notable
gifts. tho of noble family. Leonardo
Da Vinci was born about 1919, and was
an illegitimate child. His mother, as
before remarked, was a peasant, and
said to have been servant in the Da
Vinci family, which sounds probable
Her relations with Piero Da Vinci seem
| to have entirely ceased at the time OF
the birth of their remarkable child
and she married year later one of heI
own class, the little Leonardo going tC
| live with his fathers people. During
his career he had four stepmothers sue
cessively, each of whom, together with
his father, made an idol of him, while
his 10 half brothers were proud YET
| jealous of him, alternately boasting OF
/ his kinship and fiouting him. He never
married, and no love story comes to Us
in the recorded history of his life, but
that he loved the beautiful woman who
posed for his Mona Lisa" the world
feels confident. We are told how La
Gioconda sat for the picture, and how
| the artist invented ways of amusing
her by stories, recitations, the Turing
strains of hidden music, flowers, etc
He was over SO when he began this pic.
| ture, which took him more than foul
years to complete, and which he after.
ward sold to the King of France fol
over $4,000, an enormous sum in those
days. The picture was not for sale, the
artist had painted 1t for himself, bu
the King of France was determined tc
have it, and offered such a fabulou.
sum that Leonardo could not very wei
| refuse MIN. Wnlle at milan he founded
the Milan Academy of Art, and hi.
scheme of building a canal from Pts;
to Florence and diverting the water.
Of the Arno was carried out exactly a.
he had planned, 200 years after hi
death, which occurred in 1885, in tn,
9th year of his age.
Great as Leonardo Da Vinci was II
the realm of art, the most famous
painter of his country and generation
and one OF the most celebrated tha
the world has ever produced, one can
not help wondering what he might hav
accomplished had he attempted moth
ing else. He paid the penalty of hi
versatility, and tried TO perform task
and solve problems too manifold 70
any single life. The consequence wa
that in art he was able to carry com
paratiyely few undertakings to compile
ton. and in science to bring no full
matared researches to the light. In
short sketch, however, it is impossibI
to speak of all he did accomplish in hi
/ different lines of activity, but the worl
by which he has been best remembered
and vii! always be remembered, is hi
| painting, and that one Of the most re
markable of these pictures should nov
be forever lost to the world is indee
a matter of universal sorrow, in whicl
all art lovers join.