The Washington times., 1921-02-27
CHAPTER VIII.

Copyright 1921, by Feature Service Inc.
4 LITTLE GIRL apparently about sixteen years old,
~ knocked one day at the door Of the studio Of
Scarpitta the great sculptor Of whom have spoken
before this page She very pretty shy and, quite
plainly to studio visits in search Of
employment a model.
81 am not planning anything for which have
need of model Scarptta said to his caller 'but might
need one later on. Have you had much any expe.
rencef"
ooh, no, sir have posed. But want to, ever
so much friend OF mine told me artists would be glad
"Oh, these friends!'' Mr. scarpitta could not resist
excaiming "Girls like you should be delivered from
them" r~
The girl was so downcast at this rejoindsr Mr.. Scar
pitta ped her. She seemed to be refined and OF good
breeding. He invited her in.
She told him her name Elizabeth Melton "Of course,
all my friends call Bessie she added She was,
she looked but little than sixteen and her friends
had been atterng when they assured her she was
attractive enough for paintings and statues to be made
of her.
But she had never posed She applied to Scarpitta
without taking her mother into her confidence was
to be girsh escapade. Scarpitta determined to dis
suade her. So young GIRL he thought, should not be
invited into the atmosphere of the studios where shyness
and reserve would have to be put aside and where an
mpressionabe young girl might be made to suffer IT her
strength of will was not sufficient to protect her.
To win her confidence he talked of herself She had
attended schools abroad in France and had been brought
to her New York home the outbreak Of the With
her mother she had been in Louvan when that historic
city invaded and had witnessed the first stirring days
of its destruction When Scarpitta who also had visited
rence she displayed keen appreciation OF the tragedy
that had befallen the ancient unvery city, and with
childish emotion spoke of the spirit OF the Louvan citi
zens and the beauties of their fortude 1t her great
experience of the war, and she dwelt upon it.
I shall always wish that in those few days was there,
before escape was arranged might have done some
thing to aid the stricken city, she exclaimed.
And it out of this WISH expressed to the kindly
sculptor, who himself remembered Louvan so fondly,
there grew wonderful column Of marble "The Spirit OF
Louvain" which His Majesty Albert King of the Bel
gans purchased from his funds during his recent
visit to the United States and presented to the city OF
Brussels to be constant reminder OF the suffering and
courage of his good subjects in the old university town.
The thought of such statue framed itself in the mind
of the sculptor he talked to his young visitor But the
expression Of such idea called for pose IN the alto
gether and though the girl before him gave promise OF
being the ideal model girl just bridging the merge OF
youth into young womanho he hesitated to take advan
tage of her eagerness
az will use you' he said, elf you win your mothers
consent and if she will with you that may tell her
just what shall want of you.
She went away enthusiastic. The next day she re.
turned with her mother, who at frst was shocked at
the thought of her daughter posing in the nude Miss
Elizabeth not to be thwarted, however. She dis.
closed unmsakably that she little autocrat and
soon won her mother consent Even then Mr. Scarpitta
demanded from the girl that when she had COM
peed the pose for him she would not seek another en-
gagement a model in the altogether unless ne passed
upon the artist her and the work to be done
The mother was present at the first disrobng After
that she had such confidence in the artist she allowed Miss
Bessie to 90 to the studio alone She had thought to have
innocent escapad her part in creating the beautiful
became serious undertaking She refused to take
frequent rest periods and tried hard to catch the scup
tors mood.
1t is difficult for sculptor painter to portray
youth and innocence unless both stand before him In his
model Too often nowadays the young model, whose
developed form still has the outlines Of grhood, Is very
sophisticated withinand with capitalization innocence
almost always departs from the girl who 30 young be-
abitue Of the studios and accustomed to their
abandon The knowing sometimes cynical expression in
her eyes ts i'll with the artist vision Of repre-
sordid things of life. With such model her form
refuses fix itself in the artists eye that Of purity
and he finds his lnes painted modelled suggesting
anatomy. Many statues OF Youth" are mediocre
because youth to an idealistc artist innocence,
and without the suggestion of 1t in his finished work that
work is virtually worthless.
This little model of Scarptta. however, thinking