. A history of the rise and progress of the arts of design in the United States. and forwardness of petty mischief; in reading,between mouthing, mumbling, and skipping hard words, I goton indifferently well. In penmanship, judging from a few earlyspecimens which occasionally meet my eye, I evinced morethan ordinary taste, and generally managed to destroy thecold and monotonous appearance of the white paper, by pass-ing my little finger, or perhaps the cuff of my coat, over theundried ink, or by an accidental blot licked up with the tongue,thereby producing a pleasing effect, chiaroscuro, which
. A history of the rise and progress of the arts of design in the United States. and forwardness of petty mischief; in reading,between mouthing, mumbling, and skipping hard words, I goton indifferently well. In penmanship, judging from a few earlyspecimens which occasionally meet my eye, I evinced morethan ordinary taste, and generally managed to destroy thecold and monotonous appearance of the white paper, by pass-ing my little finger, or perhaps the cuff of my coat, over theundried ink, or by an accidental blot licked up with the tongue,thereby producing a pleasing effect, chiaroscuro, which thetasteless Domine was unable to appreciate; insensible to theharmony of light and shade, he universally denounced my besteffects as vile, every page of my copybook he no doubt con-ceived to be a rivulet of pot hooks and hangers, meanderingthrough a meadow of smut; and as many pages as my bookcontained, so many thwacks did I receive on my palm, by wayof improving my hand. In figures (that is, caricature figures),I was more successful; these I usually exchanged with some of. PORTRAIT OF DAVID C. JOHNSTONFrom an etching by the artist in Phrenology Exemplified and Illustrated, 1837. CARICATURING DISASTROUS 113 my fellow scholars, for a slate full of such figures as suitedthe preceptor, who not unfrequently approved of my calcula-tions, without calculating himself, that they were received as aquid pro quo, for a wretched attempt at a likeness of himself orhis assistant. Having completed my schooling (with the excep-tion of the last eighteen months, or two years), after theabove fashion, a choice of profession became the next subject ofconsideration with my parents. My graphic efforts, thoughwretched in the extreme, had acquired for me a certain degreeof reputation among my friends and relatives; and as I un-questionably was fond of picture making, it was decreed that Ishould become an artist. Painting at this time would have beenmy choice, but this branch not being so lucrative a
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