El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1910-10-24
BOHEMIAN LIFE
By Paul Marguerite.

w THEN Thomas KirieIl.-the fam
w Gus painter. Lad shown me
MS fkss5fes I was seized
with admiration of this mans work,
! Ior IL vas only after he had reach ed
the 2ge of SO that he had attracted
! any attention because of the noble
and pure beauty of his paintings He
listened to my words of admira ton
with smile and said sadly: IF 1
only had not wasted my glorious
youth"
L was very much surprised, for 1
knew that for years he had worked
from four in the morning until late at
night, hardly allowing himself time
TO eat, but while filling his pipe he
continued: You see 1 have led the
same good-for nothing life as all the
rest of us. Until 1 was 20 1 never
moved finger and drank like a
trooper As 1 was as poor as a church
mouse, 1 thought I had a right to live
this proud Bohemian life. The rich
have their pleasure too, haven't they
1t was much later that 1 learned that
only one thing justifies- poverty and
makes it honorable-worki And DO
you know only how L realized this sim
pie truth? 1 will tell you
He took few whiffs from his pipe
and began:
1T was a Christmas eve about Z
o'clock We had been on a spree for
whole month and were barely able to
stand We had no money and our
credit was dead and buried long ago.
Our gang, fine collection of choice
specimens of humanity, consisted of a
painter. a little long haired poet, a
government clerk a man about town
in reduced circumstances and a pho
tographer. Every one of US had sold
and pawned everything we had. The
government clerk had taken UP a whole
months salary in advance, the pho
tographer had sold his camera, the
man about town had pawned his fur
lined coat and was now. wearing a
light yellow spring coat. I had sold
a painting to a Jewish pawnbroker
The poet was always carrying under
his arm volume of 'Ransard' he had
bought on the auays for 20 sous and
which he tried to sell for 20 francs in
every book store we passed The
painter only had contributed nothing.
He was always waiting for a money
order from home, and we let this pass
because he was such a jolly good fell
low.
mo money on a Christmas eve and
a strong desire to celebrate it WORTH
ly. The butclsershops were full Of
tempta tons. Fat chickens and plump
series. Everybody looked happy, car
rying parcels and bundles and bottles
wrapped in white paper.
I'VE decided to have an absinthe on
Montmatre. We were coming down
from the very top of Montparnasse. 1t
was a long way but the hope of get
ting an absinthe on credit from lSa-
loon keeper with a weak spot for ar
lists buoyed us up. Absinthe was ev-
erything to us; it made us feel rich,
happy and mighty
I'VE reached MontmarIre and a
mighty groan went up when we found
the cafe closed. Then the photog
rapher remembered customer of his,
who use to take supper in a restau-
rant on Boulevard Sebastopol. We made
a rush for it, but the man had just
left. The photographer did a master
stroke, he struck the waiter for two
francs which we Immediately turned
into absinthe. But that was not enough
The evening must be celebrated wor-
thily. With empty stomachs and I'M
steady legs we tottered back to Batig-
nolles. The painter felt sure the mon
ey order he had been expecting for
two months must have come. Surely
his landlady would let MIN nave ~
francs until he could cash It, We en-
tered upon his idea without having
any faith in it which was we'll enough.
The letter carrier had left nothing for
the painter but bill and summons.
Then we searched all the cafes in the
hope of finding somebody who would
lend us some cash. The government
clerk alone met with some success,
a friend offered him glass of beer.
When we returned, we sauntered down