El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1910-10-26
THE ARTIST
By Radcliffe Martin.

| ~ SWALD CURTIS sat amongst {
3 cheerful group of friends in hi:
- studio They all looked at Os-
valid who was the best fellow in the
world, and none of them looked a
| his paintings, which were the worst
! paintings in the world.
Have some more whisky, you Eel
| lows said Oswald ct isn't very good
| because my regular man won't give
me any more credit, and 1 had to give
| an order to a canvasser for a new kind
Now 1 want to talk to you about my
affairs. You're all old pals, and
think that 1 owe all of you money
There was a general murmur Of as
sent
Now I want to pay every one of you,
but these pictures won't SELL
Higgins, who Is a member of the
New York Art club. glanced round at
the array Of canvases and shook his
head
Brook drank off his whisky ito give
him courage for an agonizing moment,
and then said boldly: Look here, Os-
wald, I'm sure that none of US care
twopence about the trifle you owe US.
We're willing to lend more if you'll
take it But If you want specially to
raise money just now and won't Dor
row, I say sell your frames. There
must be thirty yards of good framing
in this place"
That wouldn't help" said Oswald
gravely. My frame-maker is a grand
old fellow, and if 1 did get anything
for the frames I should think it a
moral obligation to pay him first. But
I'll tell you what I want to sell
picture for. You know that I went
down into the country this summer To
=
Circe turning men into swine. We'll,
Of course, I put up at a farm house,
SO that I could have plenty of pigs for
models. There were some Americans
staying in the neighborhood hunting
up their pedigree-a father and a
daughter, Col. and Mary Waterson. 1
got very sweet on Mary Waterson
whilst I was down there, and-well,
anyhow, she didn't object to it. When
I spoke to her father he was nice
enough in one way. He told me straight
that though he'd pot of money he
didn't object to me because 1 was a
poor man. He'd been poor enough him
self, even though now he was head
of the Chewing Gum trust. And
Mary would have money enough for
two. But the colonel said to me: L
don't care about the dollars only l
want some proof that you can make
good. You've been spending your time
painting pictures; well, sell some to
convince me that you're not of no ac-
count. Anyone eau make thing, but
it takes a derned good man to sell it
afterwards. Just you show me that
you've got some jump in you, and I'll
let Mary have her own way"
Mosby coughed in rather an embar-
raised manner.
esNIoxr 1o0lr hare continued
81 want you fellows to think it over,
and scheme out some way in which
We can create a demand for my pic
lures. 1 promise you in return that
when I'm married I won't paint any
more. Now I don't want any under
hand scheming to buy pictures your
selves What I want is an idea that
Will bring me a genuine purchaser
Pawson and Brook arose together.
They were conscious that their respect
i've newspapers peeded their pres
ence.
That night as Brook sat in his office
at the Daily Wire he was Disguised
at the poor stories the staff brought
in. IF only I could make some of you
that this is a live paper, |
and not a parish magazine" he groan- |
ed We've stories enough Of a sort, I
but they lack the human note"
And at that moment temptation and
the thought Of Oswald Curtis came
into his head together He seized |
some flimsy. scrubbed wildly for |
few moments, and then said to an Of /
flee boy: Here, get me a proof of |
this"
AS he breakfasted at IL o'clock the |
next morning he read with much in !
ward satisfaction q paragraph on the
Daily Wires front page:
ROMANCE OF AN ACADEMY PIC |