The weekly clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1863-1882, 1874-01-01
The Ways Of Genius.

w hen man begins life ms a back
woodsman Injured TO the toughest kind q
labor and privation, and ends it as ce
ebrated painter whose works are cherishe,
! in hundreds Of homes in America an,
Great Britain, his career cannot he devoit
OF interest or undeserving of record
Such a man was Chester Harding, on,
OF the most eminent portrait painter
whom America has produced, and con
meeting link between her earlier and latel
artists. During the last years of his liz
Mr.. Harding drew up an account of hi.
life, which after death was printed tol
his family and friends but has never
been published. 1t is an interesting piece
autobiography, containing full but I'M
pretentioGs narrative Of incidents which
| have often heard him relate; and il
graphically depicts that indomitable force
of character through which he won com
petence and honor in the face Of adverse
circumstances From this little work,
supplemented by my own recollec,ions of
the following sketch has been prep ired:
Chester Harding. the son of very poor
parents, was born in Conway, Massachu-
sets, on September l, 1892 His isther
wasted his energies and impoverished his
| family by abortive schemes for the dis
coverv Of perpetual motion. His mother
WAS noble woman, and he inherited her
| striking common sense. He was reared
as other poor boys were at that period,
with very little education, and at the age
Of fourteen the family removed TO Madi-
son county in Western New York, then an
unbroken wilderness. They had a hard
STIR ggle for existence, and Chester, be>id 5
helping To clear the farm, which was COW
cred with heavy timber, worked with an
elder brother in making flag bottomed
chairs. During the war with Great Brit
ain he enlisted for a tune, and served as
a drummer at Oswego and Sacketts' Har-
Dor After his discharge he started as a
peddler of a patent spinning-head, the
right Of which he sold in Connecticut, and
toward the close of the war embarked with
a younger brother in the manufacture Of
chairs and furniture at Caledonia, Il
small town in Livingston county, New
York
At this period he fell desperately in
love, at first sight. with Miss Caroline
Woodruff. n beautiful girl of twenty.
she soon removed with her family to
distance of fifty miles, but drawn by her
magnetic power, he twice walked the
whole distance 10 urge his suit. He was
at length accepted, and the wedding day
was fixed for February 10, 1915. On
the preceding day the bride was making
her last preparation; the guests had been
invited, the wedding-cake was in the ov-
en-, and her brother had been dispatched
to a neighborng town for the white kid
gloves and sash. Presently the bride
groom ele drove up to the door in a
sleigh, and after the first saIutations had
passed, announced that he had come to
be married on that day, for the snow WIS
melting so fast that it they waited twenty
four hours they would not be able to get
back to Caledonia So they were mat
RED the day beforehand. and" Mrs.
Harding was accustomed to say, in aliu-
sion to her husbands habit Of quick
and impul-ive decision, it has been the
dav beforehand ever since.
Hardly had he married when business
troubles beset him Proving unfortunate
in his trade, he tried tavern-keeping, and
fell into debt His creditors become
pressing, and fearing TO he thrown into
Jail, he hastily and secretly bade adieu
to his wife and infant daughter, and made
his way to the head-waters Of the Ale
ghany, whence. when the river opened,
he took passage on Il raft and worked his
way down to Pittsburg. The incident to
which he owed his first conception Of what
was henceforth to occupy his life will be
best related in his own words: 'About
this time | fell in with portrait-panter
by the name of Nelson-one of the prim.
tive sort. He had for his sign a copy Of
the "Infant Artists Of Sir Joshua hey
nods, with this inscription Sign, Or
namental and Portrait Painting executed
on the shortes notice, with neatness anu
dispatch. Isaw his portraits and was enam-
orcd at once | got him to paint me and
my wife, and thought the pictures perfec-
ton. He would not let me see him paint
nor would he give me the least idea how
the thing WAS done. ! took the pictures
home and pondered on them, and wonder
ed how it was possible for man to pro-
duce such wonders Of art. At length my
admiration began to yield TO I'm ambition
to do the same thing. l thought Of il by
day and dreamed Of it by night, until /
was stimulated to make an attempt at
painting myself | gotta board, and with (
such colors as | had for use in my trade
| began portrait Of my wife. | made
thing that looked like her. The mo-
ment | saw the likeness / became frantic
with delight; it WAS like the discovery of
new sense: / could think Of nothing else
From that time sign-painting became obi
us"-From CHESTER HARDING THE
SELF-MADE ARTIST" IN LlppincoH's Mag
azine for January, 1874.