The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1915-04-11

/ " ing studio.
Possibly you wouldn't look
upon the great sturdy tug as a studio.
or her engine room as the place where
an artist might be expected to thrive.
But there Is where Engineer Brown
holds forth at lever and throttle six
days a week. Just the same. nature
intended him TO be an artist, and
brush and pencil share his attention
we'll nigh equally with crank and
journal and the wavering index OF the
steam gauge. To tell the truth, he is
an engineer by calling and very much
Of an artist by avocation.
It's hard to believe his sketch book
was filled right here at New York's
waterside. so cosmopolitan are the
human characters which he has
cleverly recorded. II you are lucky
you will see still more fascinating
things IL he let's you look through his
portfolio.
McAlpin Browns tug mothers part
Of a fleet Of oil tankers. All day
long. and that day sometimes means
the better part Of twenty-four hours.
his boat goes nosing through every
tideswept highway about this city OF
ours In the noisy hustle OF broad
daylight his 1000 horsepower studio
threads her way amid crowded ship
ping, pulling along her oil laden con-
voys. and, when the night is black. he
stands at the throttle while his craft
slips by the sleeping piers.
"Yes, more than once we have come
upon a pending tragedy, and it has
been our luck to halt a down and
outer bent upon a fatal plunge" he
said. "And too we've happened along
when murder would have been the
next stage but for our interruption.
Don't tell me that there Is no local
color in New York. II you want
material for artistic thrills in all its
phases Of human nature just come
with me for an ordinary days trip,
and IL you have any eye at all you
will see things pretty much as do.
mo should never be content with
a stationary studio in some favorite
rabbit warren of painters. i want a
changing outlook with all of the grip
Of unstudied setting, and, above ALI
with the marching tideway in the
foreground. New York harbor is In
deed wonderful when you see 1t as
do. and the same scenery Is never
twice alike because of the changeful
lights and the mood of the passing
hour.
Most men chuck tugboating be-
cause of its monotony, as they express
it, but the life has lure for me that
is we'll night irresistible. Once broke
away from 1t and went to southern
California, that land Of flowers, gor-
geous colors and matchless sky ana
glorious sunshine. and yet the wealth.
Of Natures palette palled upon me,
and ] just couldn't be deaf to the call
Of New York's harbor, Back again
! came and glad / was when ! had
once more my berth as an engineer,
for knew my wandering studio would
give me at all hours the pictures for
which really hungered.
And yet this work Of mine may
seem to violate the accepted ethics OF
the art craft. The chuggng OF this
old river dray horses screw Is music
to me, and the rumble Of her pounding
engine is the rhythmic bass that turns
this atmosphere Of machinery into one
Of harmony that suits exactly the
scenes that move ceaselessly past In
the Kaleidoscope life Of our rivers and
our waterfronts here.
Certainly should be happier II /
could throw away the waste and oil
can and be rid of ministering to this
engine of mine, for then l could give
all OF my time to my pencils and paint.
Perhaps some day that will be pos
sible, but I needn't complain, for ! am
seeing things / shall never forget-the
lines and color Of them linger persis-
tently-and that Is why ! am so often
able to work them out at leisure after
have put this great baby OF brass
and iron and steel to rest at the end
OF n hard days pull.
mo, tugboating didn't give rise tc
this love Of mine; it only offered a
chance for what was already in mt
to express itself. Scientists may differ
upon the subject OF heredity, but
am pretty good example of thai
maxim that like produces like and
in my case, in the face of discourage
ment and even deliberate opposition
Il was born in Brkenhead, England
My mother died when ! was mer,
lad, and my father, a typical dou
Scotchman, insisted that | should he
come a mathematician. He was him
self a sculptor OF considerable merit
but his art had made for Inn hai
row to hoe. AM he didn't intend that
should follow in the same path.
"Instinctively began to draw whe