Whistler as I knew him . the fisher-men, and it was interesting to see Whistler copyingthe tactics of the follower, talking of sea and boats,and gracefully playing round the subject of fish; butsomehow or other the St. Ives fisher folk never gavehim fish, and Whistler was far too proud to ask. Itmust be given, he would say, of their own free marvellous finesse, and tact, and cunning, andhumour, I have heard wasted on those coarse fisher-men ! What veiled entreaties and flatteries! Yetnever a mackerel did his fluency bring forth, nevera sprat. Many a time I have felt sorry for the Mas
Whistler as I knew him . the fisher-men, and it was interesting to see Whistler copyingthe tactics of the follower, talking of sea and boats,and gracefully playing round the subject of fish; butsomehow or other the St. Ives fisher folk never gavehim fish, and Whistler was far too proud to ask. Itmust be given, he would say, of their own free marvellous finesse, and tact, and cunning, andhumour, I have heard wasted on those coarse fisher-men ! What veiled entreaties and flatteries! Yetnever a mackerel did his fluency bring forth, nevera sprat. Many a time I have felt sorry for the Masteras he turned away fishless and discontented. One day Whistler was out painting a shop; it wasa fish shop with a blue band, one of the best thingshe ever painted. I remember the shop well, becauseI was bold enough to paint the same one at the sametime, standing about twenty yards away from I heard a puffing and a blowing, and look- THE LITTLE NURSE From an oil-painting in the possession ofJ. J. Cowan, TRAVELS 141 ing up I saw two men coming toward us carrying,suspended from a couple of poles, an enormous fish,a great flat, brown, coarse-looking fish about the sizeof a dining-room table. Whistler saw it, too, and,remembering the actor-painter, was inspired to buythe creature for the landlady. He felt that it wouldoutdo in size, if not in quality, anything that Walterhad yet procured. Hey, men, what have you gotthere? he shouted. How much for the fish? Illgive you half a crown. — Right you are, guvnor,said the men, and they promptly laid the fish downon the ground, pocketed the money, and went offwith the poles and the rope. Whistler was was no time to think, his purchase was so sud-den. As for me, I did not dare leave my seat for fearI should collapse: the situation was too comic for mysense of humour. There was the Master circlinground and round this enormous flat fish, daintilyprobing it with his cane, lifting up portions of theouter edge
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