The Coconino weekly sun., 1894-03-08


 ing me that the picture repre- sented boy who modelled lion and was made king of the sculptors. Every body, of. course, knows all about Canova and his wondrous works. If you look into encyclopedias and books on art you will find quite catalogue of his groups in marble, and you will learn that to him belongs the honor of having restored to sculpture the posi- tion which before his day it had lost among the fine arts in Italy. should not wonder that we have modern Canova in England at the present time, | in neighbor of mine who is making as powerful a mark on English art as Canova made on Italian in his day. But what set out to do was to amuse myself and my readers with a bit of biography which is just as fine as any thing in fiction. I propose to make the briefest kind of story out of two true in- cidents in the life of one of the worlds greatest artists.
 He was only three years old when his father died. His mother married again and he was left to tie care of his grand mother. He was delicate boy with dreamy eyes and a natural love of the beautiful This is common gift 'u Italy. Thoughtful, loving and wise guardians of children are uncommon. This boy was blessed with both; other wis. he must have died in infancy. The world knows nothing of its losses of children who might have lived to be great The hero of this romance of youth was born in little village under the government of the an- cient Republic of Venice. His grand mother delighted in everything that pleased him. She told him stories of Venice and sang to him the romantic songs of their native hills and valleys. The adventurous history of the adjacent seas were full of romance, the fairy tales, the religious fables, the romantic ballads of the country sunk deep into the little heart of the lad as he grew up and began to appreciate the beauties of the world into which he had been born. His grandfather was the stonemason of the village, whose work had won for him local fame. He resolved that the boy should be his successor and to this end he had him caught drawing The boy indeed had pencil put into his hands while he was still an infant. The grandmother had stored the little mind with bright and poetic fancies, while she strengthened the body with the watchful care of loving nurse. Tho errapdfo thar xyhap tba t;r,a ,yoo opportune turned the lads fancy into practical directions. In an Italian vil- lage there would be the right kind of sympathy for boy who showed q natural artistic temperament, though some of the lads playmates complained of his "sullenness," youthful mistake for thought" Soon after ho had be- gun to make figures of men and things on paper the shrewd stonemason put Q lump of clay before him and showed him how sculptors modelled. the in- strustion being crude, of course, but useful. The grandfather, watching the apt pupil, pictured him at some future day in his place adding ornaments to the village tombstones, displaying his cleverness upon new buildings, and otherwise maintaining the reputation of Passagro, which was the name of this Italian village.
 At the early age of nine the boy was able to. help his grandfather in the shop. Hitherto he had only amused himself, though always in a way that could not fail to be of service when the time should come for him to take his grandfather's place But grandfather and grandmother to their sorrow had to confess that the boy continued to be far front strong. The affectionate old dame nurtured him with the greatest care, and the village mason softened the lads labors Observing that the modelling of flowers and animals gave him more delight than any other occupation, he encouraged him in this enjoyment of his natural bent; and the boy became quite little expert, especially in the modelling of animals. He was only fourteen when an incident occurred to bring him to the notice of a noble pa- tron of the arts. In those days both art and literature owed almost every ShAuR to hhC opcSiut TSCOS llLiOn anu dS- sistance of the aristocracy.
 The nobleman in this case had pal ace near the cottage home of the young modeler. He had chef who not only prided himself on his cooking, but upon the artistic arrangement of his table By some accident or strange oversight at almost the last moment of the serving of one of the nobleman's great banquets it was found that the principal ornament of the table was still wanting. Wonderful constructions in sugar, cleverly cut flowers from vegetable growths, artistic designs in paste and other perishable foods bore witness to the cleverness of the chef and his assistants, but the central design was wanting. The stonemason was known to be skillful designer. He was sent for, but found himself un- equal to the emergency. The genius of the grandson prompted the lad to take at the flood the tide that so early and in so prosaic fashion had come to