| Show EACH LIKE A PRINCE How Rosa Bonhenr Entertained Rocky Bear and Red Shirt ADMIRATION AND BREAKFAST Indians Pronounced Superior na Models to the Civilized Product as ilnmau Specimens For THE SUNDAY HERALDCopyrighted rlaturally I have always been a great admirer ad-mirer of Rosa Bonheur Her name has been familiar to me from childhood When I had the opportunity of meeting her some two years ago in Paris I ran over in my mind what I had read and heard of her to try to form some idea of her personality person-ality Recalling the stories of her partiality partial-ity for masculine apparel and her aversion to society I came to the conclusion that I should not find her exactly an agreeable sort of a woman When I came to meet her I found her so gentle and refined so dignified so natural and with such perfectly simple manners that she gave me instantly the idea of a great lady whose intellectual character was so predominant as to make one forget the more conventionalities of dress I met her in Paris where she wears practically the costume of her sex It is only in her studio and her chateau at Fontainebloau that she wears the dress of a man because of its greater freedom During the exposition at Paris Mile Bon heur came to the city to make some studies of the American Indians there exhibiting at Neuilly Mile Bonheur came to me for assistance in making these studies and during the several weeks she devoted to them I had several conversations with herThero There was nothing in her manner to impress im-press one with the idea that she was a rn markable woman She had the air of an amiable country lady who had come to Paris to look about and to make a few purchases pur-chases She was invariably dressed in black There was no attempt to produce an artistic effect by any trick of feminine adornment She always camo to the Indian camp accompanied ac-companied by a Parisian picture dealer who danced about the painter obeying her slightest gesture and never presuming fore moment to place himself upon anything approaching ap-proaching an equality with herS her-S GREATLY IMPRESSED JJ T LO It was difficult to make the Indians understand under-stand at first the reasons for showing her any deference They posed for her because be-cause they were paid to pose Their vanity was pleased with the sketches but their attitude toward her was one of cynical good natured indifference l HEit Ptnisrt DRESS It was but natural that Mile Bonheur should be much interested in the Indians They wero so solemn so dignified so grace fU in their bearings and so indifferent withal that tho imaginative artist clothed them with intellectual and spiritual attributes attri-butes corresponding to their superior exteriors ex-teriors The interest of the artist in the Indians was specially stimulated by a princely commission of SOOOOOf for a picture pic-ture entitled Tile Buffalo Hunt and she could not praise cnouch taese grand and stately men so calm so dignified and so royally Indifferent in their majestic naturalness natur-alness i I never had the Heart to distroy any of the illusious concerning the noble red men as conceived by this great painter She had first found the American Indian in the works of Gustavo Aimard and tho Sioux type seen in Paris fully realized as she saw them the ideals of her early < < readings To do tho Indian justice they played their parts well when they loomed what was wanted of them Men who were thieves by nature who would rather beg than work any day who had no conscientious conscien-tious scruples about taking human life who were incapable of telling the truth even for payin fact almost without a single redeeming virtue appeared before Mile Bonheur as raro types of natures noblemen Her admiration culminated one morning in an invitation to two of the Sioux chiefs Rocky Bear and Hod Shirt known to the Parisians as LOurs des Eochors and hLa Chemise Rouge to a midday breakfast break-fast at one of tbeoutdoor summer restaurants restau-rants of the Bois do Boulogne 5 S EQUAL TO Tn EMERGEXCr This breakfast was given by her as par > U I I it I k S > r eLS tial compensation to the two chiefs for their patience in posing in the foreground of several sketches Thev brought with them their interpreter who also had a special invitation Thia interpreter was a tall hatchet faced man of the extreme western typo Among the Indians he was known as a jquaw man on account of his having married an Indian woman He spoke no French but was thoroughly familiar with the language of the Indians At this Breakfast which was served under S tLi1 I S J fit fi-t I AT BREAKFAST WITH RED SHIRT AND ROCKY SHiN BAR a glass covered porch the two Indlansl with their interpreter were ranged upon one side of the table while the artist and several of her friends were upon the opposite oppo-site side I sat at her loft and translated to her he flowery phraseology of the Indians In-dians imparted through tho interpreter who in turn translated into tho Indian tongue the questions and remarks of the artist after I had rendered them in Eng lishThe The Indians were a constant source of study to the artist Rocky Bear watched carefully the movements of everyone and used his knife and fork with perfect correctness cor-rectness A glance told him anything that he wished to know concerning table oti quette while Red Shirt had in his previous previ-ous visit to Europe acquired a very correct knowledge of what constituted good table manners They appeared so dignified so ri a the way of originating a compliment than the sluggish minded Interpreter Mile Bonheur spoke with regret that she had never been able to visit America She had always been anxsous to see its broad prairies its high mountains and the free life of the west She had longed to study close at hand the gracious and simple types of our children of nature At the close of the breakfast she bade the Indians adieu with almost affection Standing in the light of a warm midday sunhersli almost fragile figure afforded a striking contrast to the blanket draped stalwart forms of the Indians Her costume cos-tume was a strange combination of the dress of the two sexes She was entirely in black Her skirt was made of a comfortable com-fortable walking length Over this she wore a loose slightly fitted coat of the same material trimmed with a broad black braid and falling away from a rather long mannish looking vest In the buttonhole of her vest was fastened a mans gold watch chain and the watch at the end was larger than the watch usually carried by n lady Perched upon her short gray hair was a very plain black bonnet of the shape usually worn by old ladies A veil fell away from the top of this bonnet over her right shoulder Her face and head free from womanly adornments would suggest sug-gest those of a refined selfcontained dignified dig-nified man T C CRAWFORD |
