iar with catalogs,
criticized without stint, knew all about current prices, and were able
to point out the great artists of Paris when they passed proudly up the
street.

They sketched eternally, formed small wax models, and made great
preparations for masterpieces.

The reason they did not produce the masterpieces was because they did not
have money to buy brushes, paints and canvas. Neither did they have funds
to purchase food to last until the thing was done; and it is difficult to
produce great art on half-rations. So they formed the brotherhood, and
one midnight swore eternal fealty. They were to draw lots: the lucky
member was to paint and the other five were to support him for a month.
He was to be supplied his painting outfit and to be absolutely free from
all responsibility as to the bread-and-butter question for a whole month.

Trimolet was the first lucky man.

He set diligently to work, and dined each evening on a smoking
mutton-chop with a bottle of wine, at a respectable restaurant. The five
stood outside and watched him through the window--they dined when and
where they could.

His picture grew apace, and in three weeks was completed. It was
entitled, "Sisters of Charity Giving Out Soup to the Poor." The work was
of a good machine-made quality, not good enough to praise nor bad enough
to condemn: it was like Tomlinson of Berkeley Square.

On account of the peculiar subject with which it dealt, it found favor
with a worthy priest, who bought it and presented it to a convent.

This so inflated Trimolet that he suggested it would be a good plan to
keep right on with the arrangement, but the five objected.

Steinheil was next appointed to feed the vestal fire. His picture was
so-so, but would not sell.

Daubigny came next, and lived so high that inspiration got clogged, fatty
degeneration of the cerebrum set in, and after a week he ceased to
paint--doing nothing but dream.

When the turn of the fourth man came, Meissonier had concluded that the
race must be won by one and one, and his belief in individualism was
further strengthened by an order for a group of family portraits, with a
goodly retainer in advance.

Straightway he married Steinheil's sister, with whom he had been some
weeks in love, and the others feeling aggrieved that an extra mouth to
feed, with danger of more, had been added to the "Commune," declared the
compact void.

Trimolet still thought well of the arrangement, though, an