Show Art and F 5 Talking about fun abroad broke In the New Yorker shoving back thc folds of his deck ulster and fishing up a fresh cigar from the recesses of his Inside pjoeket incidentally displaying a Parisian Pa-risian cigar case for envious Inspection reminds me of when I took a run down to Rome In midsummer I had for a traveling companion a fellow Id picked up along thc route somewhere an Englishman Eng-lishman named Dennys Wed have called him plain Dennis at home but he was a trifle particular about the s 1 dont remember where I found him but I couldnt lose him once we got together to-gether We just knocked against each other here and there so many times along the road that we concluded It was of no use to try to keep apart and began to make dates right along This Dennys was a corker for plc ales dont you know He loved to roll around old cathedrals nnd spot the old masters and when he got into an art gallery would forget all about dinner Im not particularly = stuck on pictures myself except on those seen at the Alhambra Al-hambra in London and the Chatclot Paris but youre expected to do em when you take In the show But Dennys was a sort of dreamer and we probably liked each other a little because we were different There was only one thing that lied ted Dennys down to earth to real practical practi-cal everyday affairs that was fleas Dennys loved art and the Roman flea loved Dennys Dennys may have occasionally occa-sionally forgotten his dinner but the fleas never forgot Dennys they dejuned and dined and cooped off of Dennys and nibbled at him between meals You know leas havo an artistic taste some people they wont touch others they love to consume They dont fancy me I could pee them hopping all over my bare feet on the stone floor of a Roman hotel but they never even tasted me for some reason or other Meantime they were crazy for Dennys either because be-cause of his being un Englishman or because be-cause r his devotion to high art They pretty evenly divided his attention with alenton the old masters wli Indeed you might say It was nip and tuck between fleas and artthe nipping being principally at Dcnnyss nIpping which kept him on one leg before the old masters one hand scratching the other manipulating his glasses When eometbJog peculiarly beautiful someUDg p6ouh beaUUUl be fore Dennyss vision all the fleas of Italy seemed bent on distracting his attenllon T lost and won a pot of money belling lo myself which would get the upper hand at such critical moments mo-ments Sometimes the fleas got the rake ofT sometimes art came In under the wire ahead It was when we sat down at table dhote that Dennys suffered most At first Dennys would go to his room and take oft everything and shake em and anoint himself with the Idea at least ot eating In peace But fleas that are too smart for an Irishman merely make an Englishman ridiculous They would chase him right down to the table and before wo got down to the roast I could see by the expression of Dennyss otherwise other-wise Immobile face that he was being assaulted in the small of the back being the lime we reached the dessert they were socking it to him at all points ap parently with the absolute knowledge that being an Englishman Dennys would rather die than scratch at the table tablcI was this way all through Hah Rome Florence Genoa Milan Venice Pisa the fleas seemed to fee fie foe Cum at Dennys before they saw him His shins were as raw as beefsteak and he was as speckled as a tattooed man in the show But my recollection of Dennys has ever since been that of 1 man connosering a picture and scratching his shin at the same time New York Herald tmc |