The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1921-04-18

A HeIpmeet.
BY MARTHA MCCULLOUGH
WILLIAMS.

| of big New York. We were but
part of the picture in a gathering of
celebrities-the most celebrated of
course set in the forefront of battle,
! high on a rostrum for all to see and
hear. Never mind what for-our talk
| didn't in the least interrupt anything.
We were rather far back, and in
sort of eddy that saved US from crowd
| ing yet gave us clear view.
.Look! O, the good fellow, bon!
bon.f' Mamselle calculated as a fine,
straight figure, not over tall but
crowned with a face that was like l.
! benediction, came clearer into view.
He is good! So goodi Also he
is great. But his wife is greater. She
made him-he will tell you so if you
give him the chance. He had not need
| to tell me. You see. I saw the max
| ing. In Paris-the two of them were
| therein a house away from all the
world-except the people thick about
who did not count. They paid 900
| francs yearly for the~ small place
| tiny is no name for it-but it sheltered
| love and art and happiness-and
real lionheart. A woman heart at that.
Madame You see yonder," nodding
beside the man. when they married
in America he was all business-an
| office all day-her people called him
rising-she was happy tho they had
d
4 she saw he was not.
"'What is it2' she asked him. He
told her-he wanted to paint. Then
do iti' she said There is the night
school. You can at least try it, But
after a month he say: 1T is not
Then take it.' she said. We shall
manag
He obeyed-quit his work
painted, painted. Oh. very bad things,
no doubt-but somehow he could not
stop. By and by, unknown to her, he
thought he spent walking. Presently
he told her: Z must have Paris
You shall have it, she say back to
him. So they make ready to go.
he will not take it. L might never
pay it back he say. But they come
they find the house-She does every
thing in it-cooks, washes, sews,
mends-makes over garments kind
people send her, tends the little gar
dent helps them to eat.
'She is so kind she would cook my
potatoes with her own. I will not
have it she say I must not pay.
I find her always smiling, always sing
fresh as spring-her hands never idle
one minute of the day. She goes
errands now and then, she reads to a
blind man. she takes out the dog OF
! a rich charcutiere. Oh, there is moth
, ing honest she will not Go to help
M sieur the artist. He works too
terribly, wasting no daylight, driving
, himself as tho he were a troll. You
, do not know the trolls? We believe
. in my country that they could if they
chose do the work of the world, never
) firing, buc that they help only a little
! fearing men will harness them Sc
, tight they will never get free again
, wished sometimes a great troll
would help him-being SO strong they
must know much more than poor
. mortals.
+ 'M'sieur the artist worked many
ways. Sometimes he made a little
profit from it-never much. And il
went for paints and canvas-pictures
do not grow like flowers. Many
, / times when he looked gaunt with
hunger she begged him to let her ask
: | the help that only waited on asking
/ He would not. So they lived on. keep
a ing house, for all their shifts, many
times with hunger and thirst.
+ "But they work on-they love on
! No repinings, no harsh words. She
/, Sings and sweeps and darns ant
. patches, always the lady, almost the
+ grande dame, always the kindly hui
man soul, eager to help all she car
= if by chance she find a place for help
. ing. They belong, those two, to the
y soul-aristocracy, which alone is real
! Maybe they loved the better, drew
the closer, for the hard life. 1 do no
know-but- surely they were happy
q in spite of their grim ,housemates
by and by came the third season
! He sent a picture to the salon.
was hung-well hung, praised-wel
praised; people f1ocked about it-thert
| were offers of purchase. But some
how he hung back-he wanted all the
sunshine of knowing it valued, or
] those walls, to shine in his heart.
But after a little while he said tC
> madame: Now you may write.
o will not let you starve and freeze ant
r work fingers to the bone any longer
am artist have shown it. I car
7 paint. 1 can sell. Write instantly tt
4 the kind soul who would have helped
t us. Tell him we accept-and poke
It our pride so far as not asking him tt
e accept other security than ourselves.
= But behold-before madame go
S pen and .paper-came the POSTWAR
: with a letter from America. 1t said
|, I hear you are not living, but suffer
n ing-that 1 cannot permit to go on
: Spend the money Enclosed with fire.
: hearts-more will come quarterly, s.
=? long as you may need it.
'tAs If that were not enough, cam'
= a dealer with patron-who gave
q price unbelievable for the salon mas
/ terpiece. Now-if he chose he coul'
# sell it for ten times as much-evel
. though the world has many other pic
L lures from that same hand. M'sieu
It went UP, up, straight up.
g But a while they kept to the small
$ house-only making it fresh and fin
q within and without. This is how w
n give thanks for its shelter madam
d said She made me sometimes com
and stay with thenl-cooking potatoe
for me neutrality-suspicious. she did no
\ raise them herself. She forgot no
body, sighted nobody-read now an
10 then to the blind man, and once q
n least toolz out the wheezy dog. An
=. the POOR cannot tell you all sh
e did for them-because she harsel
r would never tell any of it.
p by and by they went otherwhere
10 4 also did the same But so lon
as they stayed abroad 1 saw them a
y intervals. When long after they ha
come home I followed them to Amer
Of lea, they were nearly the first to we
" come me and wish me luck The