CHAPTER XXVIII.

HENRY DEXTER.

THE difficulty may easily be appreciated of writing sketches of living artists, and we gladly use any information that has the sanction of public prints; but where we derive that information immediately from the artist himself, the task becomes easy and pleasant. Such is now our office. Mr. Dexter, with generous confidence, has supplied a short autobiography of his early life, in a letter, which we gladly

insert.

He was born on the 11th of October, 1806, in the town of Nelson, Madison County, N. Y. His parents had previously resided in Cumberland, R. I. They went to their new home, in the wilderness, in 1809.

"My earliest recollections," he writes, "are associated with an immense forest, through which I used to accompany my mother to our nearest neighbor. After a while a village grew up, and a merchant from Utica, with his

family, took up his residence among the new settlers. I can never forget them, for it was in seeing portraits of the family, and looking at the pictures in their great family Bible, that I first began to think I too might be a painter! Accompanied by my eldest sister to the fields, I at once commenced the occupation of an artist. From pigeon-berries I expressed the juice for coloring, and as paper was beyond my means, and quite out of the question, I used pieces of cloth to paint upon. These were the days of childhood; I was then eleven years old, and dearly does my memory love to dwell on that period.

"At this time, in consequence of losing my father, and of his leaving an unsuccessful business, I, in one year more, at the age of twelve, removed with my mother and sisters to the State of Connecticut. From this time I was separated from them, never living at home. It was my earnest desire to be able to help my mother, in case her own energy should fail.

"This period of my life is the most unpleasant to narrate; and though there were bright spots, it would be sad to me to live those years over again. It was necessary that a place of employment should be procured, to enable me to earn a living by my labor.

"Application was made to a family who wanted a boy. They told me their Frank could teach me to take likenesses. Most earnestly I desired to go to this place for that purpose, but it was not for me, and I went to live with a farmer in a neighboring town, an old bachelor, whose aged step-mother kept his house. The old lady was a pious, good woman, and initiated me in Scripture quotations, excellent maxims, and stories of the Revolution. It was a fortunate place for me. worked on the farm in summer with Uncle Stephen (as he was called), and in the winter was sent to school. This life, continuing for three years, brought me to an age to learn a trade.

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"Many reflections rise to my mind, and I feel almost tempted to philosophize upon the future destiny which awaited me, so little foreseen at that time, but I let it pass. It was decided by my mother's advisers, that I should be bound to a blacksmith, to learn his trade, or art, as it was called in the indentures.

"This did not exactly meet my mother's views; she had a secret wish to make a minister of me, and probably thought that my school-learning, and the religious instruction I had received at Uncle Stephen's, fully qualified me for this vocation.

"Her friends, however, assured her that a

good trade would be better for the boy than his learning, and so I went to the house of my new master. When I entered, what should I see hanging against the wall, without a frame, but the portrait of my master! I learned that it was painted by the young man, Frank, by whom I had a hope, three years before, of being taught to paint.

"All my inclination for the art revived, and I felt the utmost reluctance to bind myself to the blacksmith's trade. As I was to serve a probation of three weeks, I hoped my master might think I had not sufficient mechanical ingenuity for the business; but at the end of the three weeks my surprise was great, when he told me he was satisfied, and would not have any delay about the indentures being signed by the parties.

"Thus was my freedom over, and five years were passed amid the sinewy labors of the forge, when Francis Alexander, the same young painter who had been the dream of my boyhood, made his appearance at the village. I was permitted to make his acquaintance. It was the most exciting day of my life. I now saw the man who could make me a painter!

"I had no courage, however, to mention to

him what I had so much at heart, and he did not suspect it. He was willing to take por traits while he remained on a visit to his sister and his nieces, while the heat of the summer lasted. He had six sitters, and I was one of the number. I was to see how the thing was accomplished, and I felt that now I could learn to be a painter. I well recollect the enthusiasm of that moment; it seemed to me all the kingdoms of the earth were insignificant compared with the possession of this

one art.

"The time arrived for my first sitting; with a sort of exultation, I laid my hammer upon the anvil, and went to my chamber, and dressed in my best. My cravat, my vest, my coat, were all important, for they were to go down with my lineaments to future genera

tions.

"A few moments more, and I was in the presence of the painter. The room was quite dark. I was requested to take a chair opposite to him, near the window. Operations began. The hour seemed but a minute; but my disappointment was extreme, for I was so placed that I could not see him paint. Thus ended my first visit to the studio of an artist. The remaining sittings soon followed, with the like result, and thus was accomplished the