Frostburg mining journal. [volume] (Frostburg, Md.) 1871-1913, 1908-11-14

NO, uOI l wait any DlbtlI- II II
leaves just four, l want to see the
last one fall before it gets darN: then
I'll go too"
"Johnsy, dear" said Sue. Lending
over her. will you promise me to keep
your eyes closed and not look out the
window until | am done working: |
must hand those drawings In by tom "
row. l need the light or | would drrw
the shade down"
'Couldnt you draw in the other
room?" asked Johnsy coldly.
I'D rather be here by you,' said
Sue. Besides, | don't want you to
keep looking at those silly ivy leaves"
'Tell me as soon as you have fin
ished," said Johnsy, closing her eyes
and lying white and still as a fallen
statue "bccauSe want to see the last
one fall. I'm tired of waiting. I'm
tired of thinking. | want to turn loose
my hold on everything and 90 sailing
down, down. just like one of those
poor, tired leaves"
TRY to sleep" said Sue. Il mus;
call Behrman up to be my modcl for
the old hermit miner. I'll not he gone
a minute Don't try to move till l
come back"
Old Bchrman was a painter who
lived on the ground floor beneath them.
He was past sixty and had Il Michel
angeles Moses beard curling down
from the head of IL satyr along the
body of an imp. Bchrman was Il fail
ure in art Forty years he had welded
the brush without getting near enough
to touch the hem of his mis- Q; IS robe.
He had been always about to paint
masterpiece but had never vet l.r%un
it. For several years he had painted
nothing except now and then a dIuh
in the line of commerce or advertising
He earned little hy serving as a
model to those young artists in the
colony who could not pay the price of
a professional. He drank gin to eX-
cess and still talked of his coming
MASTERPIECES For the rest he WAS a
fierce little old man. who scoffcd terri,
bly, at softness in any one and who re
gardcd himself as especial mAStif in
waiting to protect the two young art
lists in the studio above.
Sue found Behrman smelling strong
ly of juniper berries in his dimly ii-IN-
ed den below. In one corner was a
blank canvas on an easel that had been
waiting there for twenty-five years to
receive the first line of the master
piece. She told him of .JohnSys fancy
and how she feared she would indeed
light and fragile as leaf herself, aoat
away when her slight hold upon the
world grew weaker
Old Behrman, with his red eyes plain
Iy streaming shouted his contempt and
derision for such idiotc imaginingS.
"NaSs" he cried is dcre people in
de world NIT der foOlishneSs to die be
cause leafs dcy drop off from con
founded vine? | haf not heard of such
thing No. will not bose as a model
for your fool hermit dunderhead. Wy
do you allow dot silly business to come
in der pran of her? Ach, dot poor
lettle Miss JohnSy"'
''She is very i'll and weak" said Sue,
"and the fever has left her mind NOR
bid and full of strange fancics Very
we'll, Mr.. Behrman, if you do not care
to pose for me. you needn't But
think you are a horrd old-old tlibhcr
tigibbet"
"You are just like a woman"' yelled
Behrman. who said will not bose?
Go on. | come nit you. For half an
hour l haf peen trying to say dot | am
ready to bose. Gott, dis is not any
blace in which one so goot as Miss
JohnSy shall lie sick. Some day will
baint masterpiece, and We shall all go
away. Gott yes"'
Johnsy was sleeping when hey
went upstairs. Sue pulled the shade
down to the window sill and motioned
Behrman into the other room. In there
they pcered out of the window fear
fully at the ivy vine. Then they looked
Mt each other for a moment without
speaking. \ persistent cold rain was
falling, mingled with snow. Behrman.
in his old blue shirt, took his seat as
the hermit miner on an upturned ket-
tie for a rock.
When Sue awOke from an hours
sleep the next morning she found
Johnsy with dull, wide open eyes star
ing at the drawn green shade.
"Pull it up; want to see" she or
dered in whisper,
| WeariIy Sue obeyed.
But 10, after the beating rain and
fierce gusts of wind that had endured
through the livelong night there yet
stood ont against the brick wall one Ivy
leaf. 1t WAS the last on the vine. Stll
dark green near its stem, but with its
serrated edges tinted with the yellow
of dissolution and decay, it hung brave
ly from branch some twenty feet
above the ground.
/ at is the last one" said JOhnsy. II
thought it would surely fall during the
night | heard the wind. 1t will fall
today, and I shall die at the same
time"
"Dear dear" said Sue, leaning her
worn face down to the pillow, think
of me If you won't think of yourself!
What would | dO?'
But Johnsy did not answer The
lonesomest thing in all the world is a
soul when it is making ready TO so on
It's mysterious far journey. Tie fancy
seemed to possess her more strongly
as one by one the ties that bound her
to friendship and to earth were loOsed.
The day wore away, and even
through the twilight they could see
the lone ivy leaf clingng to its stem
against the wall. And then with the
coming of the night the north wind
was again loOSed, while the rain still