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A SERVICE OF LOVE When one loves ones Art no rvice ems too hard. That is our premi. This story shall draw a conclusion from it and show at the same time that the premi is incorrect. That will be a new thing in logic and a feat in story-telling somewhat older than the great wall of China. Joe Larrabee came out of the post-oak flats of the Middle West pulsing with a genius for pictorial art. At six he drew a picture of the town pump with a prominent citizen passing it hastily. This effort was framed and hung in the drug store window by the side of the ear of corn with an uneven number of rows. At twenty he left for New York with a flowing necktie and a capital tied up somewhat clor. Delia Caruthers did things in six octaves so promisingly in a pine-tree village in the South that her relatives chipped in enough in her chip hat for her to go quotNorthquot and quotfinish.quot They could not e her f-- but that is our story. Joe and Delia met in an atelier where a number of art and music students had gathered to discuss chiaroscuro Wagner music Rembrandts works pictures Waldteufel wall paper Chopin and Oolong. Joe and Delia became enamoured one of the other or each of the other as you plea and in a short time were ma
rried--for e above when one loves ones Art no rvice ems too hard. Mr. and Mrs. Larrabee began houkeeping in a flat. It was a lonesome flat--something like the A sharp way down at the left-hand end of the keyboard. And they were happy for they had their Art and they had each other. And my advice to the rich young man would be--ll all thou hast and give it to the poor--janitor for the privilege of living in a flat with your Art and your Delia. Flat-dwellers shall indor my dictum that theirs is the only true happiness. If a home is happy it cannot fit too clo--let the dresr collap and become a billiard table let the mantel turn to a rowing machine the escritoire to a spare bedchamber the washstand to an upright piano let the four walls come together if they will so you and your Delia are between. But if home be the other kind let it be wide and long--enter you at the Golden Gate hang your hat on Hatteras your cape on Cape Horn and go out by the Labrador. Joe was painting in the class of the great Magister--you know his fame. His fees are high his lessons are light--his high-lights have brought him renown. Delia was studying under Ronstock--you know his repute as a disturber of the piano keys. They were mighty happy as long as their money lasted. So is every--but I will not be cynical. Th
eir aims were very clear and defined. Joe was to become capable very soon of turning out pictures that old gentlemen with thin side-whiskers and thick pocketbooks would sandbag one another in his studio for the privilege of buying. Delia was to become familiar and then contemptuous with Music so that when she saw the orchestra ats and boxes unsold she could have sore throat and lobster in a private dining-room and refu to go on the stage. But the best in my opinion was the home life in the little flat--the ardent voluble chats after the days study the cozy dinners and fresh light breakfasts the interchange of ambitions--ambitions interwoven each with the others or el inconsiderable--the mutual help and inspiration and--overlook my artlessness--stuffed olives and chee sandwiches at But after a while Art flagged. It sometimes does even if some switchman doesnt flag it. Everything going out and nothing coming in as the vulgarians say. Money was lacking to pay Mr. Magister and Herr Ronstock their prices. When one loves ones Art no rvice ems too hard. So Delia said she must give music lessons to keep the chafing dish bubbling. For two or three days she went out canvassing for pupils. One evening she came home elated. quotJoe dearquot she said gleefully quotI
ve a pupil. And oh the loveliest people General--General A. B. Pinkneys daughter--on Seventy-first street. Such a splendid hou
Joe--you ought to e the front door Byzantine I think you would call it. And inside Oh Joe I never saw anything like it before. quotMy pupil is his daughter Clementina. I dearly love her already. Shes a delicate thing--dress always in white and the sweetest simplest manners Only eighteen years old. Im to give three lessons a week and just think Joe 5 a lesson. I dont mind it a bit for when I get two or three more pupils I can resume my lessons with Herr Ronstock. Now smooth out that wrinkle between your brows dear and lets have a nice supper.quot quotThats all right for you Delequot said Joe attacking a can of peas with a carving knife and a hatchet quotbut how about me Do you think Im going to let you hustle for wages while I philander in the regions of high art Not by the bones of Benvenuto Cellini I guess I can ll papers or lay cobblestones and bring in a dollar or two.quot Delia came and hung about his neck. quotJoe dear you are silly. You must keep on at your studies. It is not as if I had quit my music and gone to work at something el. While I teach I learn. I am always with my music. And we can live as hap
pily as millionaires on 15 a week. You mustnt think of leaving Mr. Magister.quot quotAll rightquot said Joe reaching for the blue scalloped vegetable dish. quotBut I hate for you to be giving lessons. It isnt Art. But youre a trump and a dear to do it.quot quotWhen one loves ones Art no rvice ems too hardquot said Delia. quotMagister praid the sky in that sketch I made in the parkquot said Joe. quotAnd Tinkle gave me permission to hang two of them in his window. I may ll one if the right kind of a moneyed idiot es them.quot quotIm sure you willquot said Delia sweetly. quotAnd now lets be thankful for Gen. Pinkney and this veal roast.quot During all of the next week the Larrabees had an early breakfast. Joe was enthusiastic about some morning-effect sketches he was doing in Central Park and Delia packed him off breakfasted coddled praid and kisd at 7 oclock. Art is an engaging mistress. It was most times 7 oclock when he returned in the evening. At the end of the week Delia sweetly proud but languid triumphantly tosd three five-dollar bills on the 8x10 inches centre table of the 8x10 feet flat parlour. quotSometimesquot she said a little wearily quotClementina tries me. Im afraid she doesnt practi enough and I have to tell her the same things so often. And then she alw
ays dress entirely in white and that does get monotonous. But Gen. Pinkney is the dearest old man I wish you could know him Joe. He comes in sometimes when I am with Clementina at the piano--he is a widower you know--and stands there pulling his white goatee. And how are the miquavers and the demimiquavers progressing he always asks. quotI wish you could e the wainscoting in that drawing-room Joe And tho Astrakhan rug portières. And Clementina has such a funny little cough. I hope she is stronger than she looks. Oh I really am getting attached to her she is so gentle and high bred. Gen. Pinkneys brother was once Minister to Bolivia.quot And then Joe with the air of a Monte Cristo drew forth a ten a five a two and a one--all legal tender notes--and laid them beside Delias earnings. quotSold that watercolour of the obelisk to a man from Peoriaquot he announced overwhelmingly. quotDont joke with mequot said Delia quotnot from Peoriaquot quotAll the way. I wish you could e him Dele. Fat man with a woollen muffler and a quill toothpick. He saw the sketch in Tinkles window and thought it was a windmill at first. He was game though and bought it anyhow. He ordered another--an oil sketch of the Lackawanna freight depot--to take back with him. Music lessons Oh I guess
Art is still in it.quot quotIm so glad youve kept onquot said Delia heartily. quotYoure bound to win dear. Thirty-three dollars We never had so much to spend before. Well have oysters to-night.quot quotAnd filet mignon with
