The Winslow mail., 1900-07-26
ARTIST LIVED ON RYE BREAD.
Himself Interestingly Describes His
Early Discouraging Experi-
ences in New York.

oscar Bradley, the young artist WnC
has recently come into prominence in
New York after a hard struggle, has
consented to tell the story of his fight
with poverty to some friends, says a
Minneapolis correspondent of the ST.
Louis Republic.
He lived in Minneapolis for a num-
ber of years and was employed in an
ornamental-iron factory; but decided
to give up his trade and cultivate his
talent for painting. When he left here
he had only $50 in his pocket, and went
TO New York without knowing a man
woman or child in the big city.
His story is as follows: Il reached
the metropolis in November. The
weather was the worst | ever saw, and
for the first few days hadn't the nerve
to 60 out. But finally l screwed UP
courage enough, and made application
for work at my trade at a number OF
factories. / had no doubt of being able
to secure work enough to keep me go.
ing; but soon found that / had been
too sanguine.
"a number of manufacturers turned
me down because | looked too young
for an expert. Others said they would
put my name on the working list, and
let me know when there was an open
ing. After about a week of this, came
to the conclusion that | had better
take good care of the few dollars l had
left, and not trust to luck.
$50 got room in Fifty-sixth street
which only cost five dollars per month,
and in order to make every cent count,
began to study the question of food.
BY i little experimenting l found rye
bread was the cheapest and most sus-
tanning thing l could get, and stuck to
that for a long time. For IL cents L
could get a loaf as long as my arm, and
by controlling my appetite could make
it last from three to four days. l kept
the loaf suspended from the ceiling
to keep it away from the cOckroaches,
which were plentiful in my landlord's s
house. and apparently as hungry as L.
Having given up hope of securing
work L went to the Chase art school,
stated my case, and was admitted. Of
course | walked to and from the art
school to save car fare; and most of
my laundry work was done at night
in my room by young man about my
size.
Things went on this way until
Christmas, when 1 found myself dead
broke, and unable to pay the landlord.
/ had hoped that some of the iron
manufacturers who had taken my name
would. send for me, but they had not,
and now L was without means to go
to them and apply again.
"But l had made some friends in the
school, among them Mr.. Blaisdell, who
invited me to move into his studio;
and in this way the room question
was settled. Occasionally some mem-
bers of the class who suspected that L
was not overfed would invite me out
to dinner with them, and L am afraid
/ made a pig of myself on each occa-
sion; but they pretended not to no.
tice how hungry 1 was, and did not
stop inviting me.
Il studied as hard as L could all the
time, and had no leisure to worry. 1t
didn't take me long to learn that a busy
man has little time for worry and that
hard mental work makes the stomach
forget its troubles. When | wasn't
drawing or painting, Iplayed solitaire;
and during the course of that first
winter kept strict account between my
left hand and the right. Before spring
right hand was $500 ahead of the game,
but the money has not been forthcom-
ing yet.
Fortunately | never became dis
couraged. and the idea of suicide, which
Plays so important part in the strug-
giles of artists in novels, never entered
my head. l knew L would come out
right in the end, even if / couldn't see
how at the time.
"NOw that is all over, and things
are coming my way, l do not regret my
experience one bit; but L wouldn't go
through it again willingly"