Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1915-10-21
THE DAILY STORY
Watercress


TO be occupying the porch and lawn and
pergola at home.
He was trying to get his picture In
his vision. and was squirting and other
wise distorting his fnce when he saw her
drop into his canvas, as II we're. He was
making bits of scenery to frame for
frieze In his study, and he would not In
the least have minded having the girl
In the picture II he could be sure she
would come again and again until he
had finished But to have her settle her
self down for the time being-perhaps
never TO return again for a sitting-was
rather disconcerting TO the artist. From
his distance he could not tell whether
or not she were pretty. She seemed
merely TO be a girl who was there for the
purpose OF gathering watercress from
the edge Of the stream.
Somehow or other, as young Madison
began to sketch In the contour OF the
landscape and TO work in bits here and
there, the girl seemed a necessary touch,
and he let her take her place on his can
vas almost without meaning to.
IF don't like II tomorrow" he as
sured himself, "I'n obliterate her"
BY the time the light was no longer
desirable and the girl had gone. the
artist began to wish he might expect
TO find his model there on the following
day.
He had hardly begun to mix his oolors
when the same girl In the same dress
ana with the same salt-shaker in her
hand took her seat on the edge OF the
stream and began to pick and eat water
cress George Madison laughed to him
self. 1t was almost weird to think that
che should have returned. and he was
sure she had not seen him. Therefore
he could not account for her presence
He worked fast and his pictures grew
wonderfully under his enthusiastic touch.
And. as before, the girl finished her an
parently satisfying meal and betook her
self on by way OF the winding creek
path.
'If she's there again I'll say she's
nutty," he said inelegantly to himself as
he folded his easel.
But she was there, and she consumed
quantities of watercress and hummed and
seemed content to be alive. The artist
began to be very curious about her. II
she had been picking the watercress and
carrying IL home in a basket IL would
not have seemed so odd, but to come
there day after day and consume such
quantities of 1t was certainly the act OF
an eccentric person.
He began to wish she would notice him,
and yet he could not move nearer and
get the same picture on his canvas He
believed as he looked at his nearly COM
pleted picture that IL was the best thing
ne had done yet. and the girl in her col
orful frock and golden masses of hair
sitting gracefully on the edge of the
stream was not the least of 1t. He fiat
tered himself that It was not unlike
Henner, though he had been true to the
gold of the girls own hair instead OF
trying TO get the Titan red of the famous
artists girls tresses.
Tbara mas l,.rat..
the young man to go again to paint on
his canvas-it was finished. But he could
not resist the desire to seek his place
again and see II perhaps something might
not draw the girls attention away from
the stream.
When he arrived he looked down, and
there' complacently munching the fresh
grass at the streams edge, stood an old
COW. The girl stood nearby, evidently
afraid to sit down. She looked about her
as II for help and her eye fell on George
Madison well up on the hillside beyond.
AS II she had summoned him, he ran
down the bank and picked UP a stick.
Shall chase her away?" he asked.
Winona smiled gratefully. "oh-I wish
you would" she said.
The COW moved on with q little per-
suasion and the artist assured winona
that she was perfectly harmless.
nevertheless, l wouldn't have the
courage to sit down peacefully while a
COW stood near me-" the girl admitted
And 1 must have watercress"
Are you-do you like it so much7"
George asked.
IT'S cure" the girl said.
"A cure?" the man asked, still more
mystihed. Had he painted the picture Of
lunatic, he wondered, a girl who could
be slightly demented? He never had
heard Of watercress being cure for any
thing.
"Yes-it is French cure for bronchial
or pulmonary weakness, and I was not
sure that I had not one of them, SO I am
taking the precaution of not letting any
thing get a hold on me- / must have
health" she declared earnestly.
You look as II you enjoyed it now," the
artist could not help saying as his eyes
dwelt on the wonderful fairness of her
skin.
II am perfectly we'll now, I think"
the girl went on, but ii is due, I am
sure, to the fact that 1 have diligently
followed the advise of this old French
physician whom 1 met in Normandy. |
have eaten watercress to the exclusion OF
everything else, and In order to have IL
fresh and to be out of doors as much as
possible, 1 have come here for It every
day and made my meals of II. I live only
mile from the stream" she added.
And-does 1t satisfy your" George
asked with wonder.
Perfectly; as long as do not see the
family at home sitting down TO tempting
meals of other things. That's another
reason why come here to have solitary
feasts of this"
"And another reason think-is Fate"
the young artist dared to say
What the girl thought of his remark
she did not betray, but George Madison
knew that It was Fate. nevertheless, that
had sent Winona across his path. And
so II proved to be.