Manchester Democrat. [volume] (Manchester, Iowa) 1875-1930, 1909-02-17
a BOY in NEW YORK.
The School Life ans Street Lie Of i
New York Boy Before the War.

n
There have begun in the Century
rThe "reminiscences OF Augustus
Saint Gaudensr written by the sculp-
lstor in the days OF his last illness
and edited -sympathetically by his
son, Homer. Saint Gaudens. OF his
early apprenticeship in the days
Just before the war, Saint Gandens
writes:
1s.As was just thirteen, my father.
said to me one day: Ny boy, you
must go to work. What would you
like to do?'
;.I don't care, replied but I
should like 1t II / could do some.
thing which would help me to be an
artist
Il was consequently apprenticed
to man named Ayet, and here comes
the fork of the road In my life
which led to the one am still travel.
ing. Avet was Sayoyard, dark, with
a mustache which extended down
along the side of his cheek and jaw.
When he was not scolding me. he
sang continuously. I believe that I
am not wrong in stating that he was
the first stone comeo-cutter In Ameri-
ca, though stone steel-engravers
there were already in New York, as
well as she cameo-engravers OF which
Palmer and Launt Thompson were
adopts in the early periods of their
careers. For 1t was the fashion at
that time for men to wear stone
scarfpins-heads OF dogs. horses and
lions, in amethyst, malachite and
other stones. was Avet's first APP
prentice, and these stones which I
prepared for him he would finish, oc.
casionally allowing me to complete
one myself. He was employed prin-
cipally by Messrs. Ball. Black & Co.,
on the corner of Spring street and
Broadway, and occasionally by Tif-
fanny, to both Of which places brought
the canoes when completed. always
with profound impression Of the
extraordinary splendor Of those
palaces
Immediately on being apprenticed
to Avet, / applied for admission to
the drawing school of the Cooper In
stitute, and every evening, after my
return from work at 6 o'clock and
a hasty tea, went down there, where
my artistic education began"
There, by the way, he sat opposite
Alexander w. Drake, his lifelong
friend.
II can recall there the kindly i'm.
preston produced on me by Abram
s. Hewitt as he glanced at me during
some function. Father at that time
was making shoes for the Cooper
family, and suppose that that is
why he looked at me. The feeling
of profound gratitude for the help
which have had from that institu.
ton abides with me to this day.
! 1T was during the next two or
three years that my first aspirations
and ambitions made themselves felt.
| i became terrific worker toiling ev-
cry night until II o'clock after tho
Cooper Institute was over, In the COLI
viction that in me another heaven.
born genius had been given to tho
1
world. l can recall thinking in pub
lie conveyances, that If the men
standing on the platform around me
could realize how great a genius was
rubbing elbows with them in tho
quiet-looking boy by their side, they
would be profoundly impressed. AS
a result, was SO exhausted by the
combining work of cameo-cutting by
day and by drawing at night that In
the morning was literally dragged out
OF bed by mother, pushed over to
the washstand, where gave myself
a cats lick somehow or other, driven
| to the seat at the table. administered
my breakfast, which consisted of tea
and large quantities Of the long
French loaves Of bread and butter.
and tumbled downstairs ous into thu
street. where ! awoke.