Great Fortunes, and How They Were Made | Page 8

bar--His first case--The newsboy case--sudden
rise in popularity--Practices in the Supreme Court--The India-rubber
suit--A compliment from Daniel Webster--Brady's
integrity--Professional success and generosity--His readiness in
managing his cases--Conduct toward witnesses--His fearlessness--A

bold declaration in Tammany Hall--His profound knowledge of his
profession--His industry--His disinterested kindness--His
humor--Meets his match--Political life--Personal appearance--A genial
old bachelor--Literary tastes and labors--His generosity to the
poor--Devotion to his relatives--Last appearance in
public--Forebodings--Death.
VII. ARTISTS.
CHAPTER XXVII.
BENJAMIN WEST.
A native of Pennsylvania--Circumstances attending his birth--The child
of promise--First indications of genius--The baby's portrait--Lessons
from the Indians--The box of colors--The truant pupil--The mother's
discovery---West's opinion of his first picture--The little portrait
painter--The first attempt at historical painting--"The 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