Thomas Mulready

“ When Signor Tomato reached Mulberry the day was spent, and the market minstrels [Pg 227] had begun their songs. It was no easy work for him to find a place at the curbstone wherein he could squeeze and join the long line of Saturday-night venders who filled the air with their ditties. In the weary solitude of his journey from Jamaica he had had ample time to plagiarize an ancient market couplet, so that when he began to offer his wares he was able to do so in the manner of a veteran:
“Dandelion, tra-la-la, dandelion, tra-la-lee ”

“ The bluebird came again to perch on Garibaldi’s cap, the baby maples put forth their leaves, and Signor Di Bello told Bertino it was time to give the Wooden Bunch a new coat of yellow. Once more the fire-escapes on either side of Corso di Mulberry bloomed with potted geraniums; glistening radishes lent their vernal blush to the vegetable stalls, and the thoughts of Sara the Frier of Pepper Pods turned to summer profits. The building trades had set the winter idlers to work, and the Alley of the Moon resounded no longer with the wild shouts of mora players. ”

“ Bridget treated herself to a flood of tears, and the children kept her company. All at once Signor Tomato stopped wailing, [Pg 207] and startled her by saying resolutely that they must all leave Mulberry—right away, that very night. His dear wife need give herself no care as to their destination. Enough that her loving husband, with an eye on the trickster Fate, had always kept a refuge in the country—a place of shelter for his family whereof he had never spoken. It was not far. They could load their household stuff on the push-cart still at the door, and be off under cover of the night. ”

“ A flock of fellow-pilgrims clattered by at high speed in care of a guide, who charged five cents a head for piloting them safely to the Italian colony. The hatless women, burdened with babies and heavy sacks, struggled bravely to keep up with the men, who carried the umbrellas. Bertino fell in behind, and soon they turned the corner of Franklin Street. Here they got their first glimpse of Mulberry, which lay clearly visible in the distance at the foot of a hill whose summit is Broadway. ”

“ The skill of Mulready as a painter was never more fully displayed than in the imitation of the silks and brocades, the woodwork of the counter, and the coat of the little spaniel lying upon a pile of rich stuffs. It is by some considered his finest work, but Mulready himself preferred 'Train up a Child in the way he should go,' a boy giving money to some poor Lascars. This, as well as 'Crossing the Ford,' another of Mulready's most popular compositions, was exhibited before the Vicar of Wakefield series, and afterwards Mulready did no better work. ”

“ Come on; we 'll get Harris first. He ought to be gettin' close to town if he got th' word I sent over to Tuxedo. He won't let us call him. He's a man of his word."
"He 'll be here, all right. Fred an' Tom is watchin' his shack, an' we better take th' other end of town—there 's no tellin' how he 'll come in now," suggested Art Thomas. "But I wish I knowed where that cussed gun-man is."
As they went out Bill, his chaps on and his boots in his hand, crept down the stairs, and stopped as he neared the hall door. The proprietor was coming back. ”

“ He was a teacher all his life, and this accounts, perhaps, for the careful completeness of his pictures. Mulready married when very young, and did not secure happiness. He began by painting landscapes, but in 1807 produced Old Kasper, from Southey's poem of "The Battle of Blenheim," his first subject picture. The Rattle appeared a year later, and marked advance. Both pictures bear evidence that their author had studied the Dutch masters. In 1815 Mulready was chosen A.R.A., but before his name could appear in the catalogue he had attained to the rank of a full member. ”

“ It happens that Mulready has painted the same subject twice—first in 1836, when he was 50 years of age and his lens was in a normal state, and again in 1857, when he was 71, and the yellow discoloration had considerably advanced. The first picture was called "Brother and Sister; or Pinching the Ear;" the second was called "The Young Brother." In both pictures a girl, whose back only is visible, is carrying a little child. A young peasant, in a blue smock-frock, stands to the right and seizes the ear of the child. ”

“ Oh, the money it had cost him! One hundred and forty dollars for duty. Ah! yes; it was the cause of his ruin. But for that cursed marble he would be still a signore and one of the influential bankers of Mulberry. He had demanded his property, but the foreman would not surrender it until he had proved his ownership. What an outrage! But it mattered not now, for they, Armando and Signorina [Pg 299] Di Bello, would be his witnesses. “Who well does climb is helped in time.”
“Excuse me, signore,” remarked Armando; “this bust does not belong to you.”
“What!” shrieked the banker. ”

“ Elizabeth.” The one represents the abnegation of self in woman’s way—she gives service. The other represents man’s way—he gives money. At the portal of the church stands the pale-faced, spiritual St. Thomas, dispensing his alms to beggars and cripples. In composition and drawing this is one of Murillo’s greatest works. We are interested to know that it was his own favorite among his pictures.
“The Madonna of the Napkin ” is both beautiful and curious. While Murillo was painting a series of pictures for a Capuchin convent of Seville, the cook became very much attached to him. ”

“ In the inexplicable and half-superstitious uneasiness that this coincidence awakened in Mulrady's unimaginative mind, he was almost on the point of disclosing his good fortune to the driver, in order to prove how preposterous was the parallel, but checked himself in time. ”

“ At the end of the same year Morley was in Lisbon. On 21 Jan. 1574–5, while at Paris, he asserted in a note to Burghley that his only fault was his leaving England without permission. In 1575 he was again in Spain, and early in 1576 was with his wife at Maestricht. He died on 22 Oct. 1577. By his wife Elizabeth, daughter of Edward Stanley, earl of Derby, he had a son Edward, who succeeded him in the barony of Morley [see under Parker, William, Lord Monteagle and Morley] , and two daughters—Alice, wife of Sir Thomas Barrington ”

“ Fellow-undergraduates were not to be frightened into conversion by the kind of revivalist rant he had treated us to. He began to feel woefully out of place in our company. Mulroyd, good fellow though he was, could not bring himself to make any warm overtures to one whom he now regarded as a religious maniac; on the surface he was breezy and friendly enough, but in his heart he knew that Bellingham must be reckoned among his failures, one who had failed to justify his ardent faith in the latent social value of every man. ”

“ I always thought Thomas was some steadier than Austin, but Burlington's a gay place, an' he's probably got in with wild companions up there. Do you suppose it's some cheap little show girl, or gettin' in liquor by express from over in New York State, or forgin' a check on account of gamblin' debts? I know how boys spend their time while they're gettin' educated, you can't tell me. Or maybe he hasn't passed some examination. He never was extra bright. Failed everything, probably.—Good-evenin', Thomas, it's nice to see you back, but quite a surprise, it not bein' vacation time or nothin'. ”

“ Stryker resumed, apparently concurring in Calendar's attitude, "w'y don't one of you tyke the stuff, go off quiet and dispose of it to a proper fence, and come back to divide. I don't see w'y that—"
"Naturally you wouldn't," chuckled Calendar. "Few people besides the two of us understand the depth of affection existing between Dick, here, and me. We just can't bear to get out of sight of each other. We're sure inseparable—since night before last. Odd, isn't it?"
"You drop it!" snarled Mulready, in accents so ugly that the listener was startled. ”

“ While we live they will be our support and our pleasure here, and when we die they will transmit our honour untainted to posterity. Come, my son, we wait for a song: let us have a chorus. But where is my darling Olivia? That little cherub's voice is always sweetest in the concert." O Dick, Dick! at such a moment as this to run in and tell him to be miserable for ever; for that his cherub, his Olivia is gone, and gone, as it appears, to infamy, a thousand times more grievous than death. Was there ever so touching a scene?—Mr Mulready feared it. ”

“ Then he added, after an apparent mental struggle with the stubborn truth: “Yes; she has made grand trouble for you, but you shall not suffer. I will buy your Juno and the Peacock and—the other Juno, if only to smash it in a thousand pieces!”
“Will you pay me back the Dogana, signore?” put in the banker, striking the hot iron. “I too have been ruined by the Last Lady.”
“Excuse me, signore; you are old enough to know better.”
“And so are you,” chirped Tomato, whereat Signor Di Bello held his tongue. ”

“ And sure I am that if the whole world had risen up to point the finger of scorn at the one-eyed cripple, George Morley, the well-born gentleman—the refined scholar—the spotless Churchman—would have given him his arm, to lean upon, and walked by his side unashamed. ”

“ Then his Colt leaped out and crashed a fraction of a second before the brothers fired. George Thomas reeled, caught sight of the puncher and fired by instinct. Bill, leaving Harris to watch the other side of the street, was watching the rear corner of the Victoria and was unprepared for the shot. He crumpled and dropped and then the marshal, enraged, ended the rustler's earthly career in a stream of flame and smoke. Tom, turning into the street further down, wheeled and dashed for his horse, and Art, having leaped behind the harness shop, turned and fled for his life. ”

“ And George Morley insisted on the privilege of preparing that house for his old teacher's reception, leaving it simple and rustic to outward appearance, but fitting its pleasant chambers with all that his knowledge of the old man's tastes and habits suggested for comfort or humble luxury; a room for Sophy, hung with the prettiest paper, all butterflies and flowers, commanding a view of the river. Waife, despite his proud scruples, could not refuse such gifts from a man whose fortune and career had been secured by his artful lessons. ”

“ It seems probable that he is also to be identified with a “Thomas Malorie, miles,” who in 1468 was, on account of the part played by him in the Wars of the Roses, excluded with several others from the operation of a pardon issued by Edward IV. As, however, on the death of Sir Thomas on the 14th of March 1470, there was no difficulty as to inheritance, his estates passing to his grandson, he must, if this identification be correct, have come under the general amnesty of 1469. ”

“ If ye find th' little cricks dry, head more westward an' ye'll strike th' Picketwire quicker. It'll take ye nigh inter sight o' Bent's; an' thar ain't no finer men walkin' than William an' Charles Bent. Hate ter lose ye, Boyd; but thar ain't no two ways 'bout it; ye got ter go, or get skinned alive."
"I'm not goin' ter Bent's, captain," said Tom quietly. "I'll be in Santa Fe soon after you git thar. Hank knows them mountains like you know this trail. When I'm missed if ye'll throw 'em off my track I'll not fergit it." ”

“ At hide and seek among rocks the Apache has no equal, but here they did not have a chance with Mr. Purdy calling the moves in a language they did not well understand. A bird's-eye view is a distinct asset and Mr. Purdy was playing his novel game with delighted interest and a plainsman's instinct. Consumed with rage, the remaining Indian whirled around and sent the guide reeling against the wall and then down in a limp heap. But Bill paid the debt and continued to worm among the rocks.
There was a sudden report to the westward and Jimmy staggered and dived behind a bowlder. ”

“ He expressed the ethics of the fighting current at that time in that part of the country. Any kind of fighting, be it with hands, feet, nails, teeth or other weapons was fair as long as no outsider took a hand in it. It had been the rule of the keelboatmen and they had carried it up and down the waterways, from New Orleans to the upper Mississippi and from Pittsburg to the Rockies.
Tom nodded. "All right. You can tell him that he won't get in close, next time," he said, glancing at the stirring loser. "Come on, Uncle Joe; your dinner's plumb cold an' ruined." ”

“ The ex-gambler pushed suddenly back, patted her on the head and walked briskly but nonchalantly toward the curious onlooker.
"You young folks never have any regard for an old man's comfort," he chuckled as he took hold of Tom's arm. "Now, sir, I'll take great pleasure in stretching my legs in any direction you may select, and in stretching the neck of any officious meddler. I am at your service, Tom; and, damn it, I'm not too old to become a principal!"
Tom stared at him for a moment as the words sunk in. "By G-d!" he murmured. "There ain't another like her in th' whole, wide world! ”

“ Where the hills furnish a dark background the old tree stands out, weird and majestic, its limbs white and naked after shedding their cinnamon-like bark. It glistens in the sunlight almost as much as the ice-prisms. The high water is busy undermining the bank of the stream and an occasional cave-in appears, as though some muskrat surprised in his foraging were making a hasty departure for his tunnelled home. ”