. Jan of the windmill. A story of the plains . -of-the-way spot,too, and the police had not yet tried todisperse it. The crowd was gathered round a street-artist who was screeving, or drawingpictures on the pavement in colouredchalks. A good many men have followedthe trade in London with some success,but this artist was a wan, meagre-lookingchild. It was Jan. He drew with extra-ordinary rapidity : not with the rapidity ofslovenliness, but with the rapidity of agenius in the choice of what Ruskin callsfateful lines. At his back stood thehunchback, who pattered in descriptionof the drawings as g
. Jan of the windmill. A story of the plains . -of-the-way spot,too, and the police had not yet tried todisperse it. The crowd was gathered round a street-artist who was screeving, or drawingpictures on the pavement in colouredchalks. A good many men have followedthe trade in London with some success,but this artist was a wan, meagre-lookingchild. It was Jan. He drew with extra-ordinary rapidity : not with the rapidity ofslovenliness, but with the rapidity of agenius in the choice of what Ruskin callsfateful lines. At his back stood thehunchback, who pattered in descriptionof the drawings as glibly as he used topuff his own wares as a Cheap Jack. Cats on the roof of a ouse ! Look atem, ladies and gentlemen ; and from theirharched backs to their tails and whiskers,and the moon a-shining in the sky, youll JAN OF THE WINDMILL. 123 say theyre as natteral as life. Ob-serve better, though I says it thats the lads the fierceness in the eye of that black father. Tom. The one thats a-coming round the The cats were very popular, and so were. The crowd was gathered round a street-artist who was screeving, or drawing pictures on the pavement in coloured chalks. chimney-pot is a Sandy; yellow ochre in the Prize Pig, Playful Porkers, Sow andthe body, and the markings in red. her Little Ones, as exhibited by the CheapThere isnt a hartist living could do em Jack. But the prime favourite was The 124 JAN OF THE WINDMILL. Faithful Friend, consisting of sketches ofRufus in various attitudes, including a lastsleep on the grave of a supposititiousmaster, which Jan drew with a heart thatached as if it must break. It was growing dark, but the exhibitionhad been so successful that day, and thecrowd was still so large, that the hunch-back was loth to desist. At a sign fromhim, Jan put his coloured chalks into alittle pouch in front of him, and drew inpowerful chiaroscuro with soft black chalkand whitening. These sketches werevisible for some time, and the interest ofthe crowd did not abate.
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, booksubjectchildre, bookyear1890
