Show rii THE COMMON i LAWI iBY BY ROBERT ER W. W CHAMBERS I I I i a I. I INSTALMENT 6 Spring came unusually early that year sear By the first of the month a a. afew afew few willows and thorn bushes in the park had turned green then in a a. single single single sin sin- gle day the entire park became lovely with golden flowers bell-flowers and the first mowing machine clinked over the leaving r a n fragrance of or clipped cUpped verdure in its wake Under a characteristic blue sky April I unfolded its myriad leaves beneath which robins ran O over OJ J shaven lawns and purple grackle bustled busily about and the water fowl quacked and ana whistled and rushed through th the water water wa wa- ter tel nipping and chasing one another or sidling or-sidling alongside de began that nodding nodding nodding nod nod- ding bowing bobbing acquaintance preliminary to aquatic courtship Many of the wild birds had mated caterwauling caterwauling cater cater- many were mating amorous wa on back fences made made- night an 1 inferno pigeons pigeons' cooed and bubbled and made endless nuisances of or themselves them them- selves all day long In lofts lotts offices and shops youthful faces whitened by the winters winter's p pallor pal pal- llor l- l lor br appeared at open windows gazing gazing gaz gaz- ing into the blue above or with pretty Ins inscrutable eyes studied the passing throng lifted eyes of ot youth below below below be be- be- be low completed the occult circuit with witha I Ia a smile I And the spring sprin sunshine gre grew hot ari and sprinkling carts cart appeared and the metropolis metropolis' its overcoats and the derby became a a. burd burden n and the annual spring exhibition of f th the National Na National National Na Na- Academy of ot Design remained Neville lunching at the club carelessly caught the ball of ot conversation conversation conver convex tossed t toward ward him and contributed con con- his final comment Burleson and Burleson and you Sam Ogilvy Ogilvy- and nd you Annan all say that the exhibition exhibition exhibition is rotten You say so every year so does the majority of ot people And the majority will continue saying the same thing throughout the coming as there exhibitions ex en- decades as as' long as are any to damn It Is the same thing in other co coun coun- n- n tries For a hundred years the majority ma- ma majority majority ma ma- has pronounced every e salon rot rot- ten And it will so continue But the facts are these the average average average aver aver- age does not vary much A mediocrity not disagreeable always rules su su- su has been is and always will willbe willbe be the stick in the Uie riffle around which the little whirlpool 1 will al alvi always ys s 's center cen cen cen- ter This year ear I Jt happens to be Jose JoseI Querida who stems the sparkling mediocrity mediocrity mediocrity me me- I and sticks up from the bottom gravel making a atine afine fine little swirl Next year year year-or or next decade it may be anybody any any- body you body you Annan or Sam Sam perhaps perhaps he added with a slight smile it might be I. I meme The exhibitions are no rottener than they have hav ever been and its it's up to us to go about our business And Im I'm going Goodbye He rose from rota the table laid aside the remains of his cigar nodded good- good to the others and went out with that quick graceful elastic step which was noticed by everybody and envied by many Hell Hen observed John lohn Burleson I hitching his broad shoulders forward and swallowing a goblet of claret at a aI single gulp its all alt right for Kelly I Neville Naville to te shed sweetness and light over a rotten exhibition where half the people are crowded around his own I picture What a success hes he's having mused Ogilvy looking sideways out of the window at a pretty girl across the 15 street treet I Annan nodded He UHe works hard enough for tor it He Be works all an the time grumbled Burleson but does he work hard A cat scrambling scrambling-in a molasses barrel barrel barrel bar bar- rel works hard observed Ogilvy Ogilvy if if you see any merit in that John Burleson reared eared his huge tram frame and his symmetrical features became more bovine than ever What the devil has a cat in a a. molasses molasses molasses mo mo- lasses barre barrel to do with the subject subject subject sub sub- h he d demanded Annan laughed Poor old h honest nest literal John he said lazily Listen Listen Lis ten from my back iback window in the country y yesterday I observed ori one of i imy my hens scratching her ear with her foot How would you like to be able i ito to accomplish that John I I wouldn't like it at all roared I Burleson in serious disapproval because use youre you're a sculptor and a Unitarian arlan said Annan sculPtor grave grave- ly My G God d shouted Burleson that got to do with a hen hei scratching hing I herself herselt Ogilvy w was w 3 too weak with laughter I to continue the favorite pastime of touching up John and Burleson who I under provocation never exhibited any I em emotion ex except ept impatient wonder a athe at atthe the foolishness of others emptied d his claret bottle with unruffled confidence In his own wn commonsense commonsense and the fu futility futility futility fu- fu of his friends Kelly they say is making a stunning stun ning lot of ot stuff stutt for the Byzantine theatre theatre theatre the the- atre he said in Ills Me honest resonant voice I r wish to heaven I could paint like him Annan passed his delicate hand over his pale handsome face Kelly Neville Neville Ne Ne- ville is without exception the most gifted man I ever eyer knew No uNo the most skillful l suggested Ogilvy r I have known more gifted men who never became skillful What hair is that youre you're splitting Sam demanded Burleson pont Dont you like jike Kellys Kelly's work Y Sure I do the matter with it then There was a silence One or two I men at neighboring tables turned partly part part- Il ly lI around to listen There seemed tp i be something in tn the ver very simple and andt J honest question of ot John Burleson that t I arrested the attention of ot every man at the club who had heard it Because Because Because Be Be- cause for tor the f fist time the qu question stion which every man there had silently Involuntarily asked himself had been uttered aloud at last by John Burleson Burle Burle- son voiced son voiced in utter good faith and with all confidence that the answer could be only that there was nothing whatever the matter with Louis Neville's Nevilles Ne Ne- ville's villes work And his answer had peen been beena a universal silence Clive Gall Gail lately admitted to the academy said I have never In my life Ufe seen or believed possible such fa facility facility fa- fa as Is Louis Nevilles I Sure thing grunted B Burleson j f His personal manner mariner of doing his work work which which the critics crItic and public term tek tek nee ee eek laughed Annan Annan An An- nI n- n nan is is simply sl gloriously bewildering I There is a sweeping splendor to it It- It and what color coor There ensUed murmured and emphatic emphatic emphatic em em- I approbation and another si si- si lence 1 J sl-I sl S Ogilvy's dark pleasant face ace wai I I trou troubled led when he broke bloke the quiet and I J everybody turned toward him J. J Then ho he said slowly lowly what Is the matter with matter wIth Neville Somebody said He does convince you It isn't that is hi it A voice replied Does D he convince himself There Thero is there is-there there always has been something lacking II in it all that tha big glorious splendid work It only needs I one thing whatever thing whatever it is said Ogilvy quietly Kelly is too sure sUIe too powerfully powerfully pow pow- omniscient omnIscient or perfect too And we mortals cant can't stand that commented Annan l laughing Raus mit Neville Ho He paints Joy and sorrow sorrow sor sor- row as though h hed he'd d never known either either t And his voice checked itself q gf ts own instinct Int inthe startled sUe silence ce That man m n Neville Ne Neville has never known the p pain ln of wo work k said Gall Gail deliberately When When he lie has has has' passed through it and I it has pas made hl his hand handless handless handless less steady less omnipotent omnipotent- omnipotent or right We Yo ca cant can't t love a a. man inn who has never endured what we have said sald another No genius can hide his hIs' own immunity That man paints with an an unscarred soul A little lit tIe tle hell f for r his his and and no living painter could stand bes beside de him Piffle observed John Burleson Ogilvy said It Itis is true I think that out of human suffering a a. a. a quality Is ls distilled which affects everything on one does Those who have known s sorrow can best depict it not U-not not perhaps perhaps perhaps per per- haps most pla plausibly sIblY but most convincingly con con- and and with fewer accessories m more re reticence and better and better taste Why do you w want nl to paint tragedies tragedies dies demanded Burleson One need not paint them John but butone butone butone one one needs to understand them to paint anything else needs else needs to have lived lived them perhaps to become a master of ot i pictured happiness physical or spirit spirit- I ual piffle too said Burleson in his rumbling bass bass like like that damn hen hert you lugged InA in inA In- In A shout of ot laughter relieved every every- body Do Po yOU you a fellow to go and poke polee his head Into trouble and get himself mixed up in a tragedy so that he can paint better insisted Burleson Burleson Burleson Burle Burle- son son scornfully Theres usually no necessity to hunt trouble said Annan But ut you say that tha Kelly never had any and th that t hed he'd paint better if he had Trouble might be the making of ot Kelly Neville mused Ogilvy and it it might not It depends John not on the amount and quality of ot the hell but buton buton on the man who's frying on the grid grid- iron Annan said Personally I t dont don't see how Kelly could paint happiness or sorrow or wonder or fear into any of ot othis his creations any more convincingly than he lie does And yet and yet and yet yet yet- sometimes we love men for their shortcomings short short- comings for comings for the sincerity of their blunders for blunders for the humanity in them That after atter all is where love starts The rest what rest what Kelly shows IS as evokes wonder delight awe enthusiasm enthusiasm If he could only make male us love lo him himI him him- I love him said Burleson We all are inclined to to to-It If we could get near enough to him said Annan with a faint smile Him Him or or his work work- Both John Ther Theres There's s 's a a avast vast amount of nonsense talked about the necessity of separation between a man In and his work work that that the public has no business I with the creator only with his his' crea crea- It I is partly paz true Still no man did I ever created anything in which he not include a sample ot it himself ot-himself if not what he him himself lr lf is is at least what he would like to be and what he likes and dislikes In others No creator who shows his work can hope to remain entirely anonymous o v And And I Anda J a am am n not yet certain that the public has hs' no o right to m make ke its comments on on th man he-man man who did the work as well welt as as on n the work which it is asked to judge ludge The man is nothing the work everything quoted Burleson heavily So Ive I've heard observed Annan blandly Its It rather lather a precious thought isn't it John Do you consider tobe to tobe tobe be pure piffle Partly dear friend But Im I'm one I of those nobodies who cherish a degenerate degenerate degenerate degen- degen erate belief beliet that man comes first and i ithen I Ithen then h his s works and nd that the main Mea idea I is to get through lire life as happily as as' as possible with the minimum of ot Inconvenience inconvenience incon Incon- to others Human happiness happIness' Is what I venture to consider more important than the racks created rea ed edby by those same humans Man first then mans man's Work or the thet order bf mundane importance to me And j if youve you've got to criticise the work for Gods God's sake alte do it with with your our hand band I on I i ithe the mans man's shoulder er Our little socialist said Ogilvy I patting Annan's blond head He wants to to love everybody and everybody everybody every every- I body to love Jove him when they're ornamental and feminine y Yes Tes s No he asked fondly coddling Annan wh who submitted with a bored air and f tried to 10 kick his shins Later standing in a a. chance group on tie the sidewalk before scattering to their s several veral occupations ns Burleson said a winner of a model that model that Miss West I used her for or orthe the fountain I I Im I'm doing for tor Cardemon's sunken garI garden gar gar- den I never saw a mo model el put together i I I as she js la And that's gOIn going some i She s a a. dream said Ogilvy un Ogilvy un un II i peu sauvage sauvage-no sauvage no inclination to socialism social social- social social-j ism there therO Annan I know knoY because I Iwas 11 I II was considering the advisability of ot beStowing bestowing bestowing be- be beI I I stowing upon her one of ot those Innocent innocent Inno- Inno I cent inadvertent and fascinatingly i chaste salutes salutes just just to break the for- for She lie wouldn't have e It Id I'd j taken her to the theatre too Girls are are- astonishing problems Youre a joyous beast arent aren't you i iSam Sam observed Burleson i iI I r nay may be a trifle joyous I tried to explain that to her but she wouldn't listen Heaven kno kno V my intentions Intentions' are childlike I liked tier her because she's the sort of ot girl you yoi can take tale anywhere and not queer yourself if It you c collide I with your fiancee visiting fiancee visiting relative from Frisco you know She's equipped I Ito Ito to Impersonate anything from the younger set to the prune and pickle j class I j She certainly is a looker nodded Annan I She can can deliver the cultivated goods too and make a perfectly good I play at the unsophisticated intellectual intellectual said Ogilvy with conviction And its it's a rare combination to find a I dream ream that looks as real at the opera as it does in a lobster palace But BLIt she's no socialist Har Harry shell Harry shen shell she'll ride in ina ina a a. a taxi with you and sit it up half the I InIght Inight night with your you ou but Its It's nix for closer and the frozen froien Fownes for the I j chaste embrace embrace that that's all a curious kind of ot girl mused t 1 I Burleson Burleson perfectly will go about with you you you- enjoys it Ilk of ot those bread and butter objects the department shops call a mis mi Annan said The girl Is un umi un every way You dont don't know wh place her She's a girl Sirl without i iI I like Ilke her I made some nome studies studie's her Kelly let me I Does Kelly own her herf asked so son puffing out his chest He discovered her He ha has hascal cal call Allaire who had baa come corns up tip the drift of at the c conversation Oh hell he said In hi his careless voice anybody can tak erie erle West to supper The Theof town of ot her kind kindl I Ha Have ve you taken her an w asked Annan casually Allaire flushed up tip I haven haven time He added something changed the fixed smile on his 1 m metrical highly colored face i ir in expression not entirely agreeably girls girl's all right said saidi I Ison son reddening damn to everybody What are you t t ta about Allaire Kelly will put puta a on you I Allaire careless and ass asse shrugged d away the rebuke wit ei laugh laugh- 1 i Neville Is one of those profess virgins we read about in ourt manicured fiction Hes He's what i as the original mark Jezebel Jezebell I Potiphar's wife in combination |