Urbana union. [volume] (Urbana, Ohio) 1862-1872, 1871-07-26

nOmical of scraps, in few months b,
found himself in possession of enough
material for his figure. But he had NJ
model. To steal that by piecemeal wa!
impossible; so he had to content him
self with reference to engravings ant
occasional consultation of his own pro
portions, which we may well presume
were delicate enough at fifteen to sug
gest, in some degree, the fairer ones o
the Venus uncomfortable.
This work, as you may presume, had
to be done in secret; hence was it the
labor of many months. \ shady spot
in distant field was the artists work,
shop, where, day after day, he labored
to give form to his ideal of female beau
ty, hiding his statuette in the grass,
when toe late to work longer at it, to
return to it again upon the morrow. II
disappeared one day. The artist was in
despair, and it is presumed gave some
hint of the nature Of his loss at home;
for although he found the figure some
days afterward in the long grass. where
he himself had placed it, doubtless 1T
soon after disappeared, this time to re-
turn no more. This was his last great
effort at Urbana.
Quincy was sixteen years old when
/ he was taken from school that he might
( help upon the farm He tried hard, he
says, to content himself with the dull
routine of farm-life; but as farmer,
gave promise only of ignominOus fail
IRE. His heart was not in the work, and
the struggle of duty with inclination
was most painful. He did his best,
however, for three years, but grew more
and more discontented daily. His un-
spoken wish was still to be sculptor,
but there seemed no outlet now from
his farmers life. 4 change came at
last. Seeing how unhappy he was in
his effort to reconcile himself to his
work at home, it was proposed by the
family that lie should study medicine;
and for brief time he gave himself to
this, thereby educating himself uncon-
sciously for his future work, by becom-
ing familiar with the anatomy of the
human form. Whilst thus engaged his
health gave way, and during his illness
his sister, who lived in Brooklyn, visit
ed her fathers home. She expressed
her anxiety about Quincy's future, and
asked him to tell her his troubles. He
was tOU timid and too hopeless then to
suggest his wishes, but the kind woman
got to the bottom of his heart before she
left, and promised him her help. She
would call on H. K. Brown, whose stu
diO was in Brooklyn, and whom she
knew well.
Faithful to her promise, and accom-
panied by her husband, Mrs. Thomas
waited upon the sculptor Brown, then
rising into fame. He gave her but cold
encouragement for Quincy; told her
that the artist had hard road to travel,
and that success was not always at the
end of it. So she wrote to her brother:
IF you think you have genius Of the
highest order, then you may come on
and study He didn't think he had,
poor Fellow, so buried his hopes once
more, and tried to work OH manfulIy in
the rough harness of his country life.
But the effort cost him dearly. He fell
i'll again; and at the fall of the year
most gladly accepted his sisters invita-
tion to visit her home in Brooklyn.
This was i'll 1919. Soon after his arriv-
al his sister asked him to call at Browns
studio with her; but at first he refused
to go,--his ambition had all but left
him. Ultimately, however, he was
prevailed upon to pay the visit, and was
duly introduced to Mr. Brown, by
whom he was received in the kindliest
way.
Here for the first time he saw proper
! ties of a sculptor's studio-the blocks of
marble and heaps of clay, the modelling
tools and other necessities of the art.
One young man was cutting at a block
of stone; another was fashiOning clay
into some desired shape. Ward thought
he could do this or that, even as he saw
it done, and his courage grew. 1t was
revelation of the processes of artistic
labor, which inspired confidence and
awOke ambition once again!
Before leaving, Brown told him to get
something and copy it. He might tell
him then whether or not he had suffi-
cient talent for a sculptor in him. With
this advice, and with kind, encourag-
ing words from the sculptor, all of
which Quincy has tenderIy stored away,
our young aspirant left the studio of the
master.
1t was not long, you may be assured,
until something was found to cOpy-a
cast of the Venus de Medici, such as was
readily obtainable, then as now, for a
few shillings of the italian figure-ven-
ders. With his old love for the nude,
and his intuitive perception of the beau
tiful, Quincy thought little of the diff
Guilty in the task thus self-impOsed. He
only knew that this Venus was pretty
thing to copy, and he carried the stucco
beauty to his sisters home in triumph.
Another journey and he returned with
cay from the pOtter's-then set to
work.
His model finished, he carried it to
the sculptOr's. Brown was out; but he
found no lack of approval of his effort
from the men and boys who were at
work. He left his Venus for the master
to see when he returned. In few days
he called again with beating heart. The
sculptor expressed his qualification, said
some flattering things, and ended by
/