The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1910-07-07
How Placide Won
the Capital Prize
By FRANCIS LYNDE.

buI VI A>C" ollcdH0-lucIe Is, Ill q
neighborhood so quiet as to seem al
most uninhabited, a quaint old street
door with a furnished plate high be-
tween its panels bearing the legend
M. PLACIDE Keynes, ARTIST.
The building is of the flamboyant
type of the Louis Seize period, with a
BARRIERS shop on the ground floor and
ornate iron balconies to screen the
upper windows and what lies beyond
them. | saw it first on the earliest of
many rambles through the old French
quarter and was moved to wonder
why an artist should choose such an
environment.
Later, when mature curiosity finally
turned the knob of the high plated
door and entered the mystery re-
solved Enthusiastically, l was going
to say, though that is scarcely the
word. The street door gave directly
into the BARRIERS shop, and a brisk lit
tie man in immaculate white jacket
and snowy spats clicked his heels to-
gether and bowed ME to the waiting
chair.
Pardon" said I. 81 am looking for
NJ. Placide Keynes, the artist. Can
you direct me?'
He bowed again. tapping the middle
fold of his shirt front with the index
finger Of hand as delicate and shape
ly as a womans.
"C'est moi, M'sieu'. Shall | mex the
trim of the beard, or the cut of the
hair? | do my utmos' possib' to pliz
M'sieu'," was the rejoinder; and |
was made to remember that one twig
of the many-branched tree of arts is
the tonsorial.
As it Glanced l was only an hour
or two out of the BARRIERS chair at my
hotel, but there was no resisting the
gentle appeal in voice and gesture. SO
put myself under the deft, womanish
hands, and thereupon our acquaint-
ance began.
1t was an idler's interest in trivial
things that prompted other visits TO
the neglected little shop in Royal
street
a life less eventful than that of the lit
tie barber of the French quarter.
Twice a day. for the 11-o'clock break
fast, and again for the six-o'clock din
ner, he would close and lock his door
and patter soberly around the corner
to a lowbrowed cafe with Bismarck
at his heels. At all other hours he
was to be found in the parlor-like lit
tie shop, waiting with the serene pa
thence of a polite and good-tempered
spider for the infrequent fly of Gus
tom.
But one day the plummet of espial
found bottom unexpectedly. Return
ing from a mornings sketching in the
dim old cathedral, | had a glimpse of
Placide walking briskly cityward. |
followed. The chase ended before a
subtreasury-like building in the pur-
lieus beyond the ST. Charles hotel,
and the secret was out. When | came
up behind him, Placide was eagerly
coming the double columns of printed
figures on a freshly pasted bulletin.
so you play the lottery, do you,
Placide?" said | that afternoon, when
the son of hope had creamed my head
for the weekly shampoo.
"Oui. NJ 'sieu'; h-every month
Have you ever drawn anything?'
"One time, yes; hill tex fifty dol
lar"
Would you mind telling me what
you did with it?'
"Pourquoi non? h-Ill pay him back
to M'sieu' Dauphin h.every month
till he is all gone, me-
81 should think you would have kept
it to set over against the losings,
said |.
Placides laugh was decorously con-
temptuous.
"What for I'll gone kip fifty dollar,
Msieu? h-Tll tink bout what the
big Englishman say one time to my
fadder: Eet is the sprat for catching
the whale, nest ce pas?"
"Oh, so you are after the big fish
the capital prize! Tell me what you
would do with it, Placide."
"A,h-h-h!" the exclamation was a
lorg-drawn sigh of anticipative tri'
umph hill JUS put on my at and
go and buy the YER bigges ting what
| can find, me, M'sieu'. Quiz"
Jotting it down after the fact,
sighed to think that one might never
know what Placide's biggest thing
would be But fate was kinder to me
than | dared hope. Three months
later | planned to take the steamer
at Natchez for a river trip to New
Orleans. 1t was after nightfall when
the downriver boat came to the land
ing. [ hurried aboard with my sketch
ing traps, secured a stateroom, and
made my way to the hurricane deck tc
look down upon a stirring scene that
never loses it's fascination for the
river -born-the loading and unloading
of a steamer at night
There was a silent figure STANDING
beside the great bella figure in g
caped topcoat and a broad brimmed
silk hat of the '70s. Something about
the statuesque pose struck me as be
ing oddly familiar l looked again. II
was Placide.
A moment later he was bowling tc
me across the great bell, hand or
heart.
This is YER great 'appiness. M'sieu
is mos welcome to the Belle OF
N'Orle'n'-mos welcome. They ave
treated YOU well in the saloon
Msieu'?"
explained that ! had just come
aboard, and that there were no griev