294

is supposed that he missed his footing, and no
hand was near to help.

He died in the prime of life, at fifty-five; but
his work lives on after him and is to live.
Whether he painted Niagara or Gloucester Har-
bor, the Street Musician or the Drummer Boy, the
Bugle Call or the Bathers, each of the paintings
was like himself, strong, refined, instinct with life
and feeling. Over four hundred of his pictures,
those owned by friends and therefore not burned,
were exhibited after his death, yet these probably
did not constitute one third of his work. Among
his best known portraits are those of Chief Justice
Shaw, Governor Andrew, Charles Sumner and
James Freeman Clarke.

It is to be noted that Mr. Hunt always honored,
never debased, his art. Being shown a picture,
very fine in technique, by a Munich artist, of a
drunken man holding a half-filled glass of wine, he
said, “It’s skilfully done, dut what zs the use of do-
ing it? The subject isn’t worthy of the painter.”

It is to be remembered, too, that he never
wearied in his unselfish efforts to encourage and

LITTLE BIOGRAPHIES —

HOW SUCCESS IS WON.

develop art. “An ixchination to draw evinces tal
ent,” he often declared. “I saw a beautiful sun-
set last night, and I would have given worlds for
the power to put it upon canvas, even in the mod-
est manner. That desire indicates talent. Will
you use your talent or smother it? . . . Chil-
dren should be encouraged; not flattered. With
no help and encouragement, the child gradually
loses its desire to draw.” He persistently taught
artists to be individual in their thought, not copy-
ists, not followers after the manner of any school.

More than other American teachers, more than
any other American artist, he has left his impress
upon the working art talent of the time. His name
is'spoken reverently by earnest young artists.
His paintings are sought and studied by art stu-
dents who never saw him. Pictures often are
characterized as belonging “to the Hunt school
of art,” and his influence is most surely to survive
in art.

Surely, his successful life emphasizes what Sid-
ney Smith said of greatness: “ There is but one
method, and that is hard labor.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

LITTLE BIOGRAPHIES.—HOW SUCCESS

 

IS WON.

By Saran K. Botton.

 

VII.
ELIAS HOWE, JR.

HE inventors of the world have been, with

rare exceptions, very poor men. The
stories of Palissy, the Potter, of Stephenson, the
Father of Railways, of Goodyear, and of Elias
Howe, are as pitiful as they are inspiring. History

scarcely furnishes a more pathetic picture than
that of Bernard Palissy of France, working six-
teen years to discover how to enamel pottery; his
furnaces for burning his earthen ware were built
with brick carried upon his back, because he was
too poor to hire a horse to draw them; the floors
of his house were torn up for fuel; the doors even
taken off their hinges, and used to shut out the
driving storm from his workshop; his six children