The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1911-11-07
TIE EVENING STORY
QUO After BIackhirds.
[By John Philip Orth.1

| 10y JO4ll1 Gn1Ap OILQ.
Miss Clara Pagent was an artist
She painted landscapes on canvas
| that IS, she had painted a single one
| and her grandmother, who had
| brought her up from the age of 10
10, had raised her hands above her
/ head and exclaimed:
How beautiful There isn't an art
! lst in all America who could have done
better It's just as natural as if !
! stood looking at the real thing. My,
/ but almost expect that COW tC throw
/ UP her head and bawl out. Don't you
ever think of getting married Clara.
! You just keep right on painting such
| pictures as that"
Thornapple hill, half mile from the
| old red farm house. There was a spot
ted COW in the foreground, together
with stump or two. Then there were
! bushes and trees, and in the perspec-
tive las if one were looking through a
joint of stovepipe, was duck sailing
on pond. If not told it was a duck il
might have been taken for the eagle
that Tapped his wings and screamed
at the battle of Bunker Hill.
If the COW had thrown up her head
and beloved it would have been with
| pain. Her horns We're longer than her
legs and her tail would have reached
around q haystack. The trees and
bushes seemed to have been sawed olt
fer the occasion, and the greensward
was such as no herbivorous animal
ever yet SIdZ6u OH AJn, yes, II was an
oil painting all right and it would
be mean person that would criticise
it to the face of the artist or grand
mother.
1t was the artist herself who found
just 4 teenty- weenty bit of fault She
discovered that one of the eyes of the
COW looked up and the other down, and
this didn't seem quite natural The
picture was taken back to Thornappie
hill for closer study. The spotted
COW could always be found there, and
it would not take long to catch her
true attitude. The painting was on tae
easel and the artist was all ready when
the COW stepped out from behind the
bushes. So did something else. but
while the COW faced the artist the
something else advanced from the rear.
Mr.. Burt Delevan was not q land
scape painter. He was Just the Junior
partner in a real estate firm i'll the
city and was taking a fall vacation On
the farm of his brother and shooting
a few blackbirds by way of diversion.
1t was quite by accident that he ran
across the artist but it was rather
impertinent of him to sneak close up
and scan the picture for two long min
utes, and certainly impudent to OBJ
serve:
Il know you mean that for a COW
i'll the background, but
'tSirl' exclaimed the young lady as
she sprang up in such confusion that
the easel was overturned and the COW
started to walk away.
II beg your pardon said Mr..
Delevan, as the cap came off. but l
spoke unconsciously."
ooh. you did. Then you are an ar
list yourself?"
mo. not exactly. That is
THAT is, you have seen a cow -
Yes
this COW, and therefore you criticise %
But, Miss, you see-see-'
Yes, she saw that he had made a
blunder and was confused over it, and
that her cold stare at him was trou-
bling mere than a dose of bird shot
He Iad snoaked up and was an inter- |
lopa- and SO she had all the Ivan |
tage. He made no further defence but !
retreated with gun in one hand and |
cap in the other. A look of disdain /
followed him, but he was only out of /
sight when Miss Clara began to have |
her doubts about that COW. To doubt |
the COW was to doubt the duck and the !
trees. Grandma had piled on the !
praise, but she might not be critic |
In ten minutes that horrible doubt |
crossed the artists mind"was she a I
born artist, or was she only a dauber .
When this doubt came there were |
c1ly two things to do-throw a stone |
at the COW and then go home and tell |
grandma all about it.
why, the unhung villainl" exclaim- |
ed the old lady when the tale had been |
told. You say he sneaked upon you?'
And began right off about the
yes
Didn't wait to introduce himseIf?"
No
And stammered and blushed with |
guilt as he sneaked away?"
Il think 1T was with guilt
'Of course it was. Clara, that man
had poisoned somebody's well and was
fleeing from justice. Don't you pay any
attention to what he said. That pafn--
ing IS going to have a 81 frame and
hang in tho parlor opposite Napoleon
Crossing the Alps -
But haven't I got the cows eyes
wrong?" asked the artist. should one
of them be looking UP and the other
DOWN."
.'They should. dearie. That's what
first made me think you were a born
artist I've watched COWS a thousand
times. They always keep one eye on
the grass and roll the other up as If
thanking heaven for the fodder. Don't
You worry about her eyes
But what was the young man so
ing to criticise If hadn't stopped him?''
Land Only knowsi When a person
is mean enough to poison a family
we'll you can't tell what he will say |
Or do next At first I thought the
COWS tail might be too long, but then
remembered that it must be in fly
Iime-she was painted. You just chirk
right up and forget that villain. If II