4 NORTH SHORE BREEZE 
FUROPE’S great war and the love of Mr. and Mrs. 
Frederick H. Prince of Boston and East Wenham for 
their daring son, Norman, whose feats as a member of 
the French aviation corps are winning him world-wide 
fame, recently gave to Frank W. Benson, the noted Salem 
portrait painter, one of the strangest commissions in the 
history of American art. Although it all happened more 
than a month ago, it was not until recently that the facts 
became known. It is a tale of the struggle against time 
of a master artist—of a portrait painted in a day, with 
mother love the motif. 
The story began just two days before Norman Prince, 
home on a furlough from the battlefields of France, had 
to sail on the Rochambeau from New York to rejoin his 
corps at the front, taking his brother Frederick along. 
Then it was that Mrs. Prince realized her son might never 
return and determined she would have a portrait of him. 
At 7 o’clock that night—it was Sunday, Jan. 2— Art- 
ist Benson was reached by telephone at his home in Salem. 
‘he story was quickly told him. Norman was to sail early 
in the afternoon of the following Tuesday; Norman was 
in New York, too, at the Hotel Vanderbilt, but his por- 
trait must be painted before he boarded the boat. Mr. 
Isenson accepted the commission. ‘The price, it is stated, 
was $10,000. 
Midnight, Sunday, found Mr. Benson on the New 
York train out of Boston. The five hours before the 
train left had given him opportunity to call at his studio 
in the Riverway and hastily pack his paints and brushes 
and palettes. Mr. Prince had volunteered to have the 
canvas in readiness; also an improvised studio in one of 
the best rooms in the Vanderbilt, and a room with a 
north light. 
Mr. Benson reached the Vanderbilt at 7 o’clock Mon- 
day morning. Mr. and Mrs. Prince were waiting and the 
artist, without even stopping to eat, stepped into the ele- 
vator and went with them to the studio they had chosen. 
Then, in the room, between gulps of coffee and hastily 
snatched morsels of toast, Mr. Benson directed the stretch- 
ing of his canvas and the posing of his model, young 
Prince. Ten minutes later Mr. Benson was at work. 
The morning passed; the afternoon slipped by. Mr. 
Benson never ceased. Not until dusk, until the canvas 
became a blur before his eyes, did he stop. The lights in 
the room were switched on and Mr. and Mrs. Prince and 
a gathering of artists who had sat silently through the 
hours watching Mr. Benson, looked upon the canvas. 
Standing out clear upon it, a masterful painting, they saw 
young Norman Prince as if in a mirror—young Prince 
in his uniform of a sergeant of the French aviation corps. 
True, some of the details of the uniform were mis- 
sing. But the silent watchers of the master artist looked 
upon an accomplishment that marks an era in American 
art—Boston Post. 
Were it not for the tendency to decadence, we should 
expect that the nations of the earth would ultimately be 
divided into two great nations and that these would con- 
tend for the mastery in a world-wide struggle—Admiral 
Fiske sess 
NDIANAPOLIS had a Revue des Modes given by the 
Humane Society last week at the Hotel Severin. Miss 
Natalie L. Brush was among the girls who acted as man- 
nequins for the display of new gowns. Patronesses in- 
cluded Mrs. Hugh J. McGowan, Mrs. John T. Brush, 
Mrs. George G. Snowdon and Mrs. Booth Tarkington, 
who summers on the Maine coast. 
Yearly subscription to North Shore Breeze, $2.00, 
March 3, 1916, 
EW YORK’S nearly half-a-million dollars worth of 
dogs which barked a welcome at the fortieth annual 
dog show of the Westminster Kennel club last week was © 
a tremendous success considered merely as a dogs’ recep-_ 
tion. It was estimated that nowhere else in the world, 
with the possible exception of London, could so fine and 
varied a collection of dogs be brought together. Seven- — 
teen hundred dogs—big dogs, little dogs, toy dogs and — 
huge, heavy-framed fellows as large as ponies, but all of | 
them good dogs, had their part in the affair. Champions | 
of nearly every known breed from the tiny Pomeranian — 
and Pekingese to the huge St. Bernards and the Great . 
Danes—seventy different breeds in all—held forth in the © 
Madison Square Garden. The only breed distinctly — 
American in its origin was the Boston terrier. It is in=y} 
teresting to note the passing changes in fashions in dog- 
dom. ‘There was a time when the big Newfoundland was — 
popular. There was not a Newfoundland in the show. — 
It is not so many years ago that every woman who af- 
fected small dogs at all had to have her pug, and its tail 
had to curl just so or it was not “good form.” There | 
were only three very lonesome looking pugs in this year’s _ 
show. They have simply gone out of fashion. The 
Pekingese, the Chow Chows, the Japanese spaniels and 
the poodles have supplanted them. Of the larger animals, 
w rhich at the present moment are among the socially 
‘elect,’ the old English sheepdogs and the German sheep- 
dogs are conspicuous favorites. Then there are the wire 
haired fox terriers and the Airedale terriers which are ~ 
taking the place of some of the former popular breeds. 
But one who believes in the old time dogs says that it 
makes him squirm when he hears of all the money and 
all the adulation lavished on such parvenu breeds as West 
Highland terriers, Sealyham terriers, Pekingese and other 
breeds whose misshaped bodies and rickety joints pass 
muster for “smart,” “varminty,” grotesque, quaint and 
even grandeur. 
Among the exhibitors were Quincy A. Shaw Mc- 
Kean, who showed Prides Hill Folly; Mrs. Payne Whit- 
ney, who had Sealyham and West Highland white ter- 
riers; Mrs. Barclay H. Warburton and Mrs. William 
Sheppard of Philadelphia, who showed Poms, and Mrs. 
J. B. Moulton of Hamilton, who showed West Highland - 
white terriers. An interesting recent innovation in dog 
circles is the small show or “set together” meeting where — 
ideas in regard to the pets are exchange“ over a con- 
genial cup of tea. ? 
Many persons who would not have a chance to get a _ 
prize at one of the big fixtures have been given the op-— 
portunity through these mediums to win a trophy that is — 
prized almost as much as if it were won at one of the © 
feature events of the year. Furthermore, many nice dogs — ; 
have been discovered at these afternoon affairs which’ : 
would still be hiding their lights under a bushel because z 
the owners would not have dared to exhibit their pets 
at the big events. 
For instance, Mrs. F. R. Spalding, of Boston and 
West Manchester, brought out a Pekingese at a “dog 
party” held last summer at Mrs. Thomas Hastings’ place, 
Bagatelle, and it went right up to the top over a lot of 
dogs of big repute, and later on was a winner at some of 
the big shows. } 
One of these afternoon dog shows was hele last: 
September at Round Plain Farm, the Beverly Farms home 
of Mrs. John Caswell. 3 
In a summary of the past six months showing hoy 
terriers predominate among “best dog” winners is note 
the name of Willow Brook Real, the English terrier be- 
longing to Charles H. Tyler of Beverly Cove. 
