It scarcely needed this, however; for
Elkanah took such delight in his new proficiency, and got from Graves's
stories of artist life such exalted ideas of the unalloyed felicity of
the gentleman of the brush, that, even had the painter said no word, he
would have worked out that way himself.
"Only wait till next year, when I'm out of my time," said he to Graves;
and to himself,--"This is the opening for which I have been waiting."
That winter--"my last at shoemaking"--he worked more diligently than
ever before, and more good-naturedly. Uncle Abijah was delighted at the
change in his boy, and promised him great things in the way of a lift
next year, to help him to a speedy wedding. Elkanah kept his own
counsel, read much in certain books--which Graves had left him, and
looked impatiently ahead to the day when, twenty-one years of age, he
should be a free man,--able to go whither he listed and do what he
would, with no man authoritatively to say him nay.
And now the day had come; and with I don't know how few dollars in his
pocket, his scant earnings, he had declared to his astounded parents
his determination to fish and shoemake no longer, but to learn to be a
painter.
Pages:
188
189
190
191
192
193
194
195
196
197
198
199
200
201
202
203
204
205
206
207
208
209
210
211
212