The Kenna record. (Kenna, Roosevelt County, N.M.) 190?-1924, 1913-04-11
GRANDMA'SPARROT
1t Could Repeat the Lords Pray
er From Beginning to End,
and Then Some.
Ry sRYANr c. RoeERs.

Dy 6HIANi u hOGEhO'
Mr.. Fred Derwent was twenty-four
years old. He was referred to as
young Derwent, in order not to mix
him up with any old Derwent who
might have reached the age Of hun
dred.
YouAg Derwent was called an artist.
This was to distinguish him from the
many house painters one saw at work
every fine day.
He was an orphan, adopted and
reared by his grandmother In Connec-
ticut. She had much to answer for.
Young Derwent developed a talent
for sketching with charcoal and chalk.
At nine years old he could sketch a
rooster 80 naturally that hens would
gather around the picture and cluck.
A year later he drew such a natural
face of Elder Comstock on barn
door that his proud grandma had to
pay a fine of $40 to keep him out Of
jail.
Young Derwent managed somehow
to pull through until he was of age.
Then, as 1t was apparent to all but
that he-he was genius with the
brush, he was sent to the city to set
up a studio and blossom out. In the
space of four years he painted three
portraits One was that Of an alder
man, who went to the state prison for
graft within week after his picture
was finished; the second was that of
q saloon keeper, whose wife eloped
and took the picture with her, and
the third was that of bulldog, who
straight way went mad and bit his
master and no one blamed him for it.
When young Derwent was not busy
with his brush he played poker, golf,
polo and attended ball games. He
wasn't at all bad. He did not care
particularly about going to heaven
when he died, but it is simply impos-
sible for one reared under the laws
Of Connecticut to be bad, even with
small 3D."
Most artists fall In love at tender
age and keep it up till they strike
80. Young Derwent had never loved
He might sometime but he wasn't
betting on It. He was sociable, but
did not seek to make himself popular
He was satisfied to go right along be
ing Mr.. Derwent and having his grand
mother foot the bills.
In the next apartment to Mr.. Der
vents studio dwelt Miss Honore Has
well. She didn't call her place an
atelier or a studio. but her office. HeI
line was not mercantile or law, but
literary. She. wrote stories for the
magazines. She read some Of them tC
her intimate friends, but no one ever
read one of them in cold type. 1t al
ways happened that the magazines
were overstocked with stories in hel
line whenever she sent one In. Il
they rejected a sporty story and she
sat down and invented and sent in 9
religious one, It was the same excuse
-overstocked.
Miss Haswell may have been an or
phan or she may not. She may have
had plenty of money, or she may have
had to pinch. Be that as 1t may, she
was no kicker. She piled her reject
ed manuscripts in a corner of her of
fice as they came back.
Mr.. Derwent and Miss Haswell wer,
not acquainted They used the sam,
stairway, and often bumped agains
each other In the semi-darkness, bu
she had never simled at him, and h
had never winked at her. They ma!
have wondered about each othe
sometimes, but it stopped right there
Perhaps this was wise thing on tn,
part of both. but 1t is also to be re
membered that there is such a thint
as carrying wisdom too far.
One morning young Derwent awok
with a troubled conscience. A still
small voice charged him with neglect
ing his grandmother. He hadn't beel
up to Connecticut to see her for thre
months. and 1t had been severa. week
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LockIaw Superstition Exploded.
There is peculiar, but at the sam
time widespread, superstition abou