Frostburg mining journal. [volume] (Frostburg, Md.) 1871-1913, 1908-06-27

An riht, my J0ridt fUiCr OF Bdgddd."
ply out of you, with footnotcs, ap-
pcndiX and unpublished fragments,
Oh know what to do when | see
yictualS coming toward me in little
old Baglad- d-On-thcSuOway. | strike
the asphalt three times with my fore
head and get ready to spiel yarns for
my supper. | claim descent from the
late Tommy Tucker, who was forced
to hand out vocal harmony for his pre-
digested wheatcrina and spoopju.'
Il do not ask your story" said Chal-
mers. Il tell you frankly that it was
Il sudden whm that prompted me to
send for some stranger to dine with
me- | assure you You will not suffer
through any curiosity of mine
"Oh, fudge" exclaimed the guest, ell
Enthusiastically tacklinS his soup. Il
don't mind it 4 bit. I'm Il regular ori-
entail magazine with a red cover and
the leaves cut when the caliph walks
abroad. In fact, we fellows in the b d
line have sort of union rate for things
of this sort. Somebody's always stop
ping and wanting to know what
brought us down so low in the world.
For Il sandwich and a glass of beer
tell 'cm that drink did it, For corned
beef and cabbage and a cup of coffee |
give EN- the hard hearted landlord
six months in = the hospital lost job
story \ Sirloin steak and Il quarter
for bed gets the Wall street tragedy
Of the swept away fortune and the
gradual descent This is the first
spread of this kind I've stumbled
against. | haven't got story to fit it.
III tell you what, Mr.. Chalmers, I'm
going to tell you the truth for this if
you'll listen to it. It'll be harder for
you to believe than the made up ones"
An hour later the Arabian guest lay
back with Il sigh of satisfaction while
Phillips brought the coffee and cigars
and cleared the table.
Did you ever hear of Sherrard Plu
mer:" he asked. with Il strange smile.
Il remember the name said Chal-
mers. He was a painter. think, of
good deal of prominence few years
ago"
Five years" said the guest. Then
l went down like chunk of lead. I'm
Sherrard Plumcr. | sold the last por-
trait l painted for $1,000. After that
| couldn't have found a sitter for
gratis picture"
What was the trouble?" Chalmers
could not resist asking
Funny thing" answered Plumer
grlmly. "Never quite understood it
myself. For awhile | swan like n
cork, broke into the swell crowd
and got commissions right and left
The newspapers called me a faShiona
bic painter. Then the funny things
began to happen. Whenever | finished
picture people would come to see it
and whisper and look queerly at one
another.
81 soon found out what the trouble
was. | had a knack of bringing out in
the face of a portrait the hidden char
acter of the original. | don't know how
l did it-l painted what | saw-but |
know it did me. Some of my Sitters
were fearfully enraged and refused
their pictures. | painted the portrait
of Il very beautiful and popular society
W ltu II WIS lllllSHeu ucG nus
band looked at it with peculiar ex-
preston on his face, and the next week
he sued for divorce.
Il remember one case of a promi-
nent banker who sat to me. While !
had his portrait on exhibition in my
studio an acquaintance of his came in
to look at 1t. Bless me- says he, does
he really look like that? l told him it
was considered faithful likeness. Il
never noticed that expression about HIS
eyes before said he. 4 think I'll drop
down town and change my bank ac-
count lie did drop down, but the
bank account was gone. and so was
Mr.. Banker.
at wasn't long till they put me out