The Montgomery advertiser., 1909-04-11

habit to be quiet. old Jehan Daas said ever to him: We are poor. We must take what God sends--the i'll with the good. The poor cannot choose" But in his heart Nello dreamed of becoming great. And one day there was announced in Antwerp the offer of | prize of 200 francs year to any lad
 of talent, scholar or peasant, under IS. who could produce the best unaided drawing in chalk or pencil Three of bthe foremost artists of the town of Fsu- bens were to be the Judges S4 Nello fashioned an easel of rough lumber. and mounted on 1t a great. rough sheet of gray paper He had gone without bread more than once to buy the poor material; and he possess ed the chalk and crayon, and even then he could buy only the rudest imple- ments.
 In a dreary little outhouse he set up ] the easel and there, day after day, all that spring and summer and autumn he worked, slowly. minutely, ponder
 Ing long before he dared lay line on
 paper, laboring with all his soul. The picture was only that of an old
 man sitting on fallen tree. He had seen old Michael. the woodcutter, sit- | ting so many time. Nello had never soul to tell him of perspective of l anatomy, of light and shade. Yet there grew. under his untrained. inspired l hands. all the weary, wornout old age,
 all the sad patience, all the poetry. of 1 the lonely old figure, sitting there and meditating on the dead tree with the
 darkness ot a descending night clos l ing in.
 l 1t was rude. It was full of faults. | But it was true and 1t was in a man. ner' beautiful
 Patrasche lay by his side hour after hour while he worked. His eyes look
 ed at the picture and at its creator with
 such intelligence that Nello came to
 believe that the dog knew what he I was doing. He spoke to Patrasche as 1 if he were human being, told him | all his hopes and dreams, and said: 'Rubens would give me the prize, I | think. if he knew"
 The drawings were to go in on the
 first day of December. and the decision | was to be given on the 24th, so that
 the winner might rejoice at the Christ | mas season.
 In the twilight of a bitter winter l day NeIlo placed the great picture on l his little milk cart and took 1t to Ant | werp with a beating heart. now quick | with hope, now faint with fear. It seemed to him so vain and daring that l he, a lad with bare feet, who hardly knew his letters. should expect great
 artists, real artists. to look at his l work. Yet when he saw the cathedral | he took heart. The form of Rubens 1 seemed to loom magnifcently before
 him. and the lips with their kindly
 smile seemed to murmur: Nay! Have
 courage! It was not by weak heart | and by faint fears that I wrote my
 name for all time upon Antwerp" That night the sharp winter became
 sharper Snow began to fall. and fell l for many days. Paths and roads were
 last. It became bitter work to carry
 the milk to Antwerp-especially for
 Patrasche, whose bones were growing
 old. Nello tried to spare him and drag
 the cart himself. but the dog would
 not permit it. He hung stubbornly to his harness, and Nello could assist him ! only by pushing behind secretly.
 One afternoon as they came back
 from Antwerp Nello found pretty llt-
 tie ornamental figure, tambourlne
 player all scarlet and gold, lying in
 the road. He tried to find it's owner,
 but failed. Then he thought that it
 would please. Alois.
 l It was quite night when he passed
 the mill house, but he thought it could
 be no harm if he gave her his little
 treasure trove. He climbed a shed l with a sloping roof beneath. her win
 dow and tapped lightly on the pane,
 Alois opened and looked out.
 Nello put the figure into her hands
 Here is a pretty thing I found in the
 road" he said Take it. Alois. and 1 God bless thee, dear" He slipped from
 the shed roof before she had time to
 thank him and ran off through the l darkness.
 That night there was fire at the
 mill and much corn was destroyed | though the buildings were saved un- | harmed. All the village was in terror
 The miller was insured, and lost noth- l ing, but he was furious, and declared | that the fire was due to no accident He thrust Nello aside angrily when he saw him among those who had been
 reused out and had come to help. Thou vert seen lettering here aftef | dark" cried he in his wrath. "and