Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1912-06-18

SYCASTLE.'
with a couple Of strings of imitation
pearls, was especially charming. The
natural expression Of her lips was a
smile, and it seemed that any change
in them was from the usual to the I'M
usual. Her neck and shoulders were
curves of beauty.
The first thing for an artist to do to
bring out his genius is to fall in love.
At least that's the way Dante and Pc
trarch and lot of others did. Bouny-
castle proceeded in his own mind to
give Evelyn character suitable to her
physical makeup. For this he had the
ground all prepared for him-that Is.
there were no traits for him to tear
away, because there were no traits at
all. Evelyn may be best described as
Il composite girl. If man is going to
idealiZe a woman or a woman is going
10 idealize a man it is far better that
this should be so, just as it is easier to
draw q picture from the beginning
than to alter one already made.
Bonnycastle confided his love to his
friend Thriftleigh, waxing eloquent on
the girls physical and moral beauties.
One reason for the friendship between
the men was that Thriftleigh never OPP
posed his friends vagaries except when
harm might come of them. He could
see no more harm in Bonnycastle's Gre
| ating an angel out of Miss Forbes than
| d sculptor doing the same thing out OF
| clay. SO he listened to BOnnycaStle )
/ description of what he conceived the
/ girl to be with apparent profound in
/ terest. This suited Bonnycastle exact
| ~. He neither wished his friend to
agree or disagree with him.
Bonnycastle's next step was to write
! love letters to Evelyn. \ critic would
have pronounced them literary master
! pieces. There was feeling in them.
brought out by genius. What that gen
Jus is no one has yet been able to de
| fine, though many have tried. In this
case it was the difference between
! maudlin and that which appeals direct
" to the heart. The literary instinct
/ was 50 strong in ROnnycastle that II IS
/ quite probable the Chief interest he
took in these letters was very much
| like what he would feel at portraying
love scenes in a novel But this he did
not suspect He regarded them as gen
uine expressions of his worship OF his
angel.
Evelyn saw nothing in the letters ex-
. cept evidence that the writer was In
. love with her She had several other
I admirers, who said the same thing In
commonplace way, the method max
ing no difference as to the fact 1t was
sufficient that she was admired Bon
Eycastle derived no advantage from
expressing his love 10 such charming
fashion. Another Of Evelyn's admir-.
ers who sat still and said nothing pro,
dnced even a greater effect
Several Of the worlds literary masters
began their careers by drawing pic.
lures with pencil or a brush instead
Of words, a notable instance being the
great Thackeray. Ronnycasile was
one Of these. He lacked the skill thai
comes Of education and practice o
else he had not that subtle something
which evoives the artist in paint o
clay. He wrote a story and sold /
without much trouble. Then be triet
q novel.
And here his alteration for Evelyl
Forbes came in handy. He made he
the heroine Of his novels and himsel
the hero. The consequence was tina
when the hero talked to the heroine tn
words were impressive. The audienc
that reads novels is more easily touct
ed through the Imagination than Tea
Ity. Though Evelyn had not appr'
ciated BonnycastIe's love letters. sh
would doubtless have done so had st
read them Is the enunciatiOns Of q
imaginary man to an imaginary W.