Great Fortunes, and How They Were Made | Page 8

Death of Socrates"--Choosing a profession--Dedicated to his work--A fighting Quaker--Establishes himself in New York--Visits Europe--Arrival at Rome, and reception there--Visit to the Apollo Belvidere--West's criticism--Travels and labors on the continent--Visits England--His reception there--Urged to stay--Decides to make England his home--Sends for his bride--Marriage--"Agrippina Landing with the Ashes of Germanicus"--Success of the picture--The king becomes his friend--The most famous works of Benjamin West--"The Death of Wolfe"--Reception of the picture by the public--West triumphs over the critics, and inaugurates a new era of historical painting--Death of the king--West is elected President of the National Academy--His resignation and re-election--Closing years of a great career--Personal appearance--Leigh Hunt's description of him--Death--Burial in St. Paul's Cathedral.
CHAPTER XXVIII.
JOHN ROGERS.
Birth--Early years--Begins life as a clerk in a dry goods store--Artistic talent--Opposition of his parents--A change in his plans--Becomes an engineer--Failure of his eyes--Voyage to Spain--Return home--Becomes a machinist--Promoted--Learns to model in clay--Commences his studies in art--A hard life, and a noble perseverance--A change for the better--A sudden reverse--Out of work--Visits Europe to study his art--Returns home in despair--Enters the service of the surveyor of the city of Chicago--His first statuettes--Their success--A new field opened to him--Visits New York, and learns the new method of casting figures--Establishes himself in New York--His first studio--Immediate popularity of his works--Description of them--Removes to a new studio--His later works--Process by which they are made-Originality of the artist rewarded by the public--Personal characteristics.
CHAPTER XXIX.
HIRAM POWERS.
Birth--Juvenile mechanical skill--The life of a Vermont boy--Hard times--Removal of the Powers family to the West--The new farm--Misfortunes never come singly--Breaking up of the household--Hiram's first employment--The reading-room scheme--Hiram becomes a collector of bad debts--Reminiscences of the young West--Powers becomes a mechanic--Story of the brass plates--Rapid promotion--The silver watch--How Hiram purchased it--The Cincinnati Museum--The artist's first lessons in modeling--His first sitter--The trial of skill--The king of the Cannibal Islands--The man-eater--Hiram becomes interested in the museum--How he played the devil in Cincinnati--A dishonest employer--Mr. Longworth's offer--Powers goes to Washington--His success there--Visit to "Old Hickory"--The first critic--Kindness of Senator Preston--Powers goes to Italy--Arrival in Florence--His first works in Italy--Visit to Thorwaldsen--Works of Powers--His rapid success--His life in Italy--Views of Mr. Powers respecting an artist life--Personal characteristics--Popularity with artists.
CHAPTER XXX.
EMMANUEL LEUTZE.
An American by adoption--Early life and education--How he learned to draw--Becomes an artist--His first picture--The evils of too much haste--His first professional engagement--Despondency--A ramble through the Virginia woods, and what came of it--A friend in need--Greater success--Friendship of Mr. Carey--Leutze goes to Europe--Studies at Dusseldorf-His reception there--Becomes Lessing's pupil--His first picture finds a purchaser--Travels and studies in Europe--Returns to Dusseldorf, marries, and makes his home in that place--His paintings--Returns to New York--Success in America--The Government commission--Journey to the Rocky Mountains--The great fresco in the Capitol--"Westward the Star of Empire takes it Way"--Revisits Dusseldorf--Reception by the artists--Returns to the United States--Further commissions from the Government--His sudden death--His unfinished works--Mr. Tuckerman's remarks.
VIII. DIVINES.
CHAPTER XXXI.
HENRY WARD BEECHER.
A Connecticut boy--The minister's family--A gloomy childhood--Ma'arm Kilbourn's school--The loss of his curls--The dull boy--A bad voice for an orator--His first religious impressions--Aunt Esther--The Sunday catechism--Sent to boarding school--Love of nature--Enters his sister's school--The hopeless case--An inveterate joker and an indifferent scholar--Removal to Boston--Gets through the Latin school--The sea-going project--Dr. Beecher's ruse--Life at Mount Pleasant--Conquers mathematics--Embraces religion at a revival--Resolves to become a minister--Removal to Cincinnati--Course at the Lane Seminary--How he learned to preach--Marries--His first charge--Life at Lawrenceburg--Removal to Indianapolis--Life in the West--His popularity--His theory of preaching and its success--Conversion of his brother--Mr. Beecher accepts a call to Plymouth Church in Brooklyn--Political record--Literary labors--Pastoral work--A large audience--Government of Plymouth Church--Description of the edifice--The congregation--The services--Mr. Beecher as a preacher--Sympathy between the pastor and his hearers--His ideas of religion--How he prepares his sermons--His prayers unstudied--The social receptions--The Friday evening meeting--A characteristic scene--Labors during the war--Visit to Europe--An unpopular sermon in a good cause--Personal characteristics.
CHAPTER XXXII.
PETER CARTWRIGHT.
Birth--Removal to Kentucky--"Rogue's harbor"--Condition of the country and the people--Frontier life--Early life of a preacher--Becomes a Christian--His account of his conversion--Is made an exhorter in the Methodist Church--Removal to Lewiston County--Begins preaching--Qualifications of a backwoods preacher--His energy--The jerks--How Peter frightened a bully--A brimstone angel--Enters the ministry--Appointed to the Marietta Circuit--A good school--Hard times--Marries--Quiet heroism--How the old-time people married--His devotion to the Methodist Church--Troubles with other denominations--How he argued with a Universalist--How he met a wrathful dame--Encounter with a Baptist preacher--Adventure with Father Teel--Taming a shrew--Removal to Illinois--His reasons for taking that step--Death of his daughter--Arrival at his new home--Life on the frontier--A large district--The Methodist circuit riders of sixty years ago--Perils of frontier traveling--Success of Cartwright's ministry--How he was superannuated--His courage--How he cleared a camp of rowdies--Encounter on a ferry-boat--Frightens a bully--Advocates temperance--A practical joke--Is elected to the Legislature--His opinion of politics--How he raised the devil--"Another sinner down"--Missionaries from the East--Indignation of the backwoods preacher--The proposed mission to New England--Cartwright declines it--He visits Boston--His reception--How he preached for Father Taylor--Summing up--Sixty-seven years of a preacher's life.
IX.