The Life, Studies, and Works of Benjamin West, Esq. | Page 9

plantations. At the time appointed the
boy came, with the horse saddled. West enquired how he was to ride;
"Behind me," said the boy; but Benjamin, full of the dignity of the
profession to which he felt himself destined, answered, that he never
would ride behind any body. "O! very well then," said the good-natured
boy, "you may take the saddle, and I will get up behind you." Thus
mounted, they proceeded on their excursion; and the boy began to
inform his companion that his father intended to send him to be an
apprentice. "In what business?" enquired West; "A taylor," answered

the boy. "Surely," said West, "you will never follow that trade;"
animadverting upon its feminine character. The other, however, was a
shrewd, sound-headed lad, and defended the election very stoutly,
saying that his father had made choice of it for him, and that the person
with whom he was to learn the business was much respected by all his
neighbours. "But what do you intend to be, Benjamin?" West answered,
that he had not thought at all on the subject, but he should like to be a
painter. "A painter!" exclaimed the boy, "what sort of a trade is a
painter? I never heard of such a thing." "A painter," said West, "is a
companion for Kings and Emperors." "Surely you are mad," replied the
boy, "for there are no such people in America." "Very true," answered
Benjamin, "but there are plenty in other parts of the world." The other,
still more amazed at the apparent absurdity of this speech, reiterated in
a tone of greater surprise, "You are surely quite mad." To this the
enthusiast replied by asking him if he really intended to be a taylor.
"Most certainly," answered the other. "Then you may ride by yourself,
for I will no longer keep your company," said West, and, alighting,
immediately returned home.
The report of this incident, with the affair of the picture, which had
occasioned his absence from school, and visit to Philadelphia, made a
great impression on the boys in the neighbourhood of Springfield. All
their accustomed sports were neglected, and their play-hours devoted to
drawing with chalk and oker. The little president was confessedly the
most expert among them, but he has often since declared, that,
according to his recollection, many of his juvenile companions evinced
a degree of taste and skill in this exercise, that would not have
discredited the students of any regular academy.
Not far from the residence of Mr. West a cabinet-maker had a shop, in
which Benjamin sometimes amused himself with the tools of the
workmen. One day several large and beautiful boards of poplar tree
were brought to it; and he happening to observe that they would answer
very well for drawing on, the owner gave him two or three of them for
that purpose, and he drew figures and compositions on them with ink,
chalk, and charcoal. Mr. Wayne, a gentleman of the neighbourhood,
having soon after occasion to call at his father's, noticed the boards in

the room, and was so much pleased with the drawings, that he begged
the young Artist to allow him to take two or three of them home, which,
as but little value was set on them, was thought no great favour, either
by the painter or his father. Next day Mr. Wayne called again, and after
complimenting Benjamin on his taste and proficiency, gave him a
dollar for each of the boards which he had taken away, and was
resolved to preserve. Doctor Jonathan Moris, another neighbour, soon
after, also made him a present of a few dollars to buy materials to paint
with. These were the first public patrons of the Artist; and it is at his
own request that their names are thus particularly inserted.
About twelve months after the visit to Philadelphia, Mr. Flower, one of
the Justices of the county of Chester, who possessed some taste in
painting, requested Mr, West to allow Benjamin to spend a few weeks
at his house. A short time before, this gentleman had met with a severe
domestic misfortune in the loss of a wife, to whom he was much
attached; and he resolved to shew his respect to her memory by
devoting his attention exclusively to the improvement of his children:
for this purpose he had sent to England for a governess qualified to
undertake the education of his daughters, and he had the good fortune
to obtain a lady eminently fitted for the trust. She arrived a few days
only before the young Artist, and her natural discernment enabled her
to appreciate that original bias of mind which she had heard ascribed to
him, and of which she soon perceived the determination and the
strength. Finding him unacquainted with