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Show In Locust Time. rtV KMKAIIKTII M. OILMKIU (Copyright. 1K Unlly Blory Tub. Co.) You will starve." aald my nunt, wllh melancholy conviction. "I late him," I replied, Irrelctantly. "Lore," obsencd iny nunt, philosophically, philo-sophically, "Is nu admlrablo sauce, but a poor substltuto for tho main dish of life." "I love him," I repeated, ns If that wero tho only argument that mattered. "Unfortunately," said my aunt, "ono can't llo on love, no matter how Illimitable. It Isn't legal tender with tho butcher and baker and candlestick can-dlestick maker." "Yet It's tho only coin that will buy happiness," I answered, softly. "Ilo'a nothing but a poor nttlst," my aunt added disparagingly. "Ho hod n picture hung on tho line at tho exhibition last spriuc," I put In hopefully. "l wish ho had been hanged htm-' htm-' self," exclaimed my nunt with vicious i energy. It wasn't the first tlmo that wo had ' discussed Arthur I'arnum. Indeed, for tho past three months ever slnco I had elected to "throw m)self awny on n penniless ortlst," as my aunt put It It seemed to me that we had con-' con-' -versed on no other topic. My aunt I wa sixty, nnd I was twenty, nnd In the two score years between us lay all thit llfo had taught her, and that I had still to loam. To me, for Instance, life without lovo was life robbed ot all tho glory that made It worth living, while sho clung tenaciously to tho belief be-lief that one could get un very comfortably com-fortably without love, provided ono'i establishment was beyond criticism, and ono's frocks from Paris, Yet, In splto ot nil her worldllneis, my nunt had been nil that was kind and tender to me. ,Hho had given mo nil the nfTcctlon and tho only homo 1 had ever known, i My parents had tiled when I was a mere baby. My two sisters, much older than myself, wero married tu grasping and selfish men, who. In tbd division of my father's fath-er's small estato, had ruthlessly possessed pos-sessed themselves ot the lion's share, leaving to inn nothing hut tho bid homestead, a tiJable-down old Southern South-ern mansion holise, surrounded by c ' few poor acres. 1 must havo been forlorn, Indeed, Viut lhat my aunt, struck with the ' tnwny gold of my hair and a cettala childish grace, took a fancy to mc, nnd carried me hick to her rich Northern home, where I grew up surrounded by every luxury that wealth and generosity could gltc. If (ha looked for ma to mako a wealthy and brilliant match, and tako my place In that fashlonaUo society so dear to her own ambitious heart. It was nut unnatural, nor rnoro than iho i-Hkr lilir TuJWInt JSlWi&l "I love hlra," I replied Iriclevintly fcnd a rtcht to expert. I was pis-a-'onntcly grateful to her, and grlovcl nt tho thought of disappointing liar, rnd et and yet, what Uto cudld I do? Love had called nir, and wliiro It led I could but lolluw. Ho one day 1 kissed inr nunt a lawful law-ful good-b)e, nnd Arthur and I slipped away to tho little church around the corner, and wero quietly murrlcd. and went to live In tho studio, where we slept In beds that did duiy ag lurk-lih lurk-lih couches by dsy, and ioum-u our morning chop ater a gag lamp thai masqueraded as a Pompalan vase, and we mado acquaintance with queer llobemlan restaurants, and were as In-consequently In-consequently happy us love and junta could mako us. Arthur worked away like road thit winter, and I would brlnj my sewing In, and sit besldo him, whin I Wasn't posing for him. llo used to say thut my hair was a color study, .nnd Lo painted -mo nj ovi'rythlng from u V- f lead, tomo HSMV a 'hoi i w fKff.fflM ' y "P tho Steep MnSjiMK nj y KBBjH pt B fell cheap KK' - '' living been Hr" than wo Pta Ly piece the quaint VicJ the Ir.c-a-brao and tho iksR C hi old stiuloat da)s In 1'artW.fnt to the m. .un room, and 1 cdW..-, I dally that ticttiMmano nt tho pwi.an who tees the man she loes losing hop and courage, and faith In hlmrcif "Poor little slrl lie would say. following fol-lowing me about tho room with his great sombre r)e 'to think 1 havo brought you to this.' nnd when 1 assured as-sured him pnuionutcly that 1 would rather statTe with him than fcaat with another h only answered mo with a win smile, sadder than nny tears Ablast Hie doctor snld that he must have change of air. nnd then It was I Ixthomht mo of my long-forgotten Southern lahrrltince. Poor as It was. It would at least turnlsh us a shelter and the wsrm winds that I prayed mlfiht too Arthur back to health The)urst tender green of tho sprlng- lit rilotod his tnroous picture a "Spring" time was Just beglnlng to carpet the land wheswe went to It. nnd In that miracle nit een the rnmbllng old house. wlU Its falling pillars and weed-choke drives could seem nny-thing nny-thing bat Vautltui. It had lain a stntcly old colonial mansion lnts palmy days, known fat and wldo as "Iho Locusts," from tbi trees that lied Its hrond avenuis and formed a trove nbout tho house. Long negltrd and unpruned youni sappllngs hid spmng up everywhere encroaching) rar by car upon tho un filled acres mill tho houso stood virtually vir-tually In tot midst ot a vast locust thicket Itjwas now In full bloom i nnd from ciery twig depended giVal snowy plums, that waved In tho soft spring breea and mado tho air heavy with their lerfumo. I From the moment of our arrival Arthur btpn (o improve, and It wai while he vis In tho first flush of returning re-turning health and happiness that hi painted hb famous picture, "Spring, anrt.lBlejifoio somehow put somo ol that riotous Joy In mere living wo all fed viDcn wo have been down to tht doors ef death, and aro recovering, and ' etcry breath brings with It tho thrill of returning strength, Tho picture, was ury s.mple. Just the flguro ot aj soman standing amidst tho tender , green of the trees, with upstrotclira ' arms, nnd all abaut her tba white, whlto rain ot locust blooms, and on her face the Ineffable glory of outh and lave that look that never conies but once In a lifetime, when the springtime ot tha heart meets the rprlngtlma of Iho year. When the picture was done Arthur rent It to the exposition, where, as you remember, It was the sensation ot tho year and sold for what seemed to us n llttlo fortune. Ilcttcr still. It attracted at-tracted tht attention ot an old college friend or whom Arthur had lost sight, nnd who, eorulng South on business, dropped off to make us a llttlo tin. lie nns a shrewd man of affairs, and when hn saw our locust thicket, ho fairly gasped wltn surprise. "It is, a llttlo gold mine," he said, "whero did you gel IIT" and I told him of .kw'tho" worthless old acres had Mm allotted me In the division of tin fimlly estate, when I was a biby ind had no ono to look out for my Interests, und bow they had been left tsHftow up as they would, Will," he said, with a grim smile, "the ticked sisters don't ulways succeed suc-ceed In doing Cinderella, jou may remember, re-member, after all, and your barren aires hare grown Into a fortune," nnd ko Indeed they had. Our business friend aj?d our locust forest to a rail. toad company, and wo lave long bcon iiatlt ra iho city, whero wo havo a '"angTC homo, nnd wheto Arthur Is I iJTnnlEli : tlio recognition his talent de-rT. de-rT. 1 i, r Ho Isnorf engaged In palrtlng my aunt's portrait, nnd tbat-from my aunt li equivalent to a imljdumatio blasslng, with tCQIs. |