One of the most remarkable examples is found in the subject of the following sketch. The materials from which it is composed are derived from much correspondence, for which we are under special obligations to Wayman Crow, Esq., of St. Louis, the early friend of the artist, and to Dr. Alfred Hosmer, her kinsman, now of Watertown, Mass. ; from notices and descriptions of her works in various periodicals, and from narratives published several years ago by Mrs. L. Maria Child, in a Western magazine, and Mrs. Ellet, in her volume of the "Artist Women of all Ages and Countries." The latter gives a consistent portraiture of Miss Hosmer, but has been led into inaccuracies in regard to several of the alleged facts. The notice of Tuckerman, in his book' of "American Artist Life," is quite too meagre to be just and valuable. Mrs. Child, who was a family friend, and at one time nearest neighbor of Dr. Hosmer, and who wrote in his house, furnished a very pleasing and reliable sketch. Great care has been taken to preserve in these pages everything which is valuable, and to exclude whatever is not authentic.

Harriet G. Hosmer was born in Watertown, Mass., October 9, 1830. Undoubtedly she was endowed with rare genius by nature; and the incidents of her early life evidently conduced much to its development in her chosen pursuit, and to the bold and unique traits of character for which she is distinguished.

Her father was an eminent physician, whose wife and elder daughter died of consumption while she was yet a child,leaving her the only domestic solace of his afflictions, and hope of his heart. She inherited a delicate constitution, and, as if he saw the same spectral hand which had desolated his home reaching out for her, he made the preservation of her health the first consideration in his system of juvenile training. It was a maxim with him, "There is a whole lifetime for the education of the mind; but the body develops in a few years,

and, during that time, nothing should be allowed to interfere with its free and healthy growth."

In her early childhood Harriet was much abroad, usually accompanied by a little dog, which she tricked out with gay ribbons and small, tinkling bells; while her fearless ways and bright, pleasant features often drew the attention of strangers. Dr. Hosmer's house stood near the bank of the Charles River, and her youth was inured to skating, rowing, and swimming, as well as archery, shooting, and riding. Horse, boat, and weapons were supplied, and diligently she improved them. She became remarkable for dashing boldness, skill, and grace. She could tramp with a hunter, manage her steed like an 'Arabian, rival the most fearless in the chase, and the best marksmen with gun and pistol, and astonish and alarm her friends by her feats upon and in the water, as agile and varied as those of a sea-nymph.

Machinery very early excited her interest. Her questions elicited information, and her ingenuity appeared in little contrivances for her own amusement. A clay-pit near home afforded materials, and there she spent many hours in modelling horses, dogs, and other objects which attracted her attention. The fruits of her tastes and her prowess gradually found their place in the house. Her own room became a cabinet of natural history, and the curious works of her youthful genius. Game, furred and feathered, which her gun had brought down, dissected and stuffed by her own hands, butterflies and beetles in glass cases, and reptiles preserved in spirits covered the walls. An inkstand was made of a seagull's egg and the body of a kingfisher. Among her trophies a crow's nest, which she climbed a lofty tree to obtain during her school-days at Lenox, rested, after she had gained fam in Italy, on the stand which she had made for it.

While she was thus securing physical health and power of endurance, her mind was growing as well; but not without

certain incidental disadvantages from the free, wild, and even rude manner of its development. Books did not suit her active temperament and her taste for concrete things. Of education and culture in the sense of the schools, during the years of childhood, she had little. In this respect she resembles Rosa Bonheur, who found her early education chiefly in the lessons of nature learned out of doors. Her sports and the prophetic labors of the clay-pit beguiled many of the hours of study; and, very naturally, through her unrestrained liberty and occupations usually regarded as suitable only for boys, she acquired much of the character and manners of a brave, roguish boy. She was an intractable pupil, and if the report is correct was "expelled from one school, and given over as incorrigible at another." Nevertheless it is said, "Those who knew her well loved her dearly," and defended her from criticism with the testimony, "There is never any immodesty in her fearlessness, nor any malice in her fun." Yet at this period she was a mystery to her friends. There is good testimony at hand that "her own father confessed again and again his ignorance" of her.

It is little matter, so long as there is no moral damage, when outrage is done to mere conventionalities; and great gain to health, enjoyment, enterprise, and genius may well raise inquiry whether a public sentiment in regard to the education of girls has not prevailed quite too much to the effect that they should be

"Ground down enough

To flatten and bake into a wholesome crust
For household uses and proprieties."

Anecdotes abound in illustration of Miss Hosmer's untamed frolicsomeness and disposition to practical jokes. In one of those moods of unlicensed humor she caused to be published in the Boston papers a notice of the death of an

aged and retired physician then residing in her native village. His friends, moved by the intelligence, came from the city to make inquiries concerning the sudden event, and to offer their condolence.

This incident led to the first important transition in her life; for it convinced her father that some new measures were essential in her education; and, after careful inquiry, in her sixteenth year, Miss Hosmer was placed in the celebrated school of Mrs. Sedgwick, in Lenox, Berkshire County, Massachusetts. Dr. Hosmer frankly informed Mrs. Sedgwick of his daughter's history and peculiar traits, and that teachers had found her difficult to manage. The pupil was received with the remark, "I have a reputation for training wild colts, and I will try this one."

With the old anxiety, and in accordance with his fixed principle of securing the physical development first, and the mental afterwards, Dr. Hosmer had stipulated that her athletic exercises should be continued. They were, indeed, included in the training of the school; but in all the feats of strength, courage, and agility, Harriet was the wonder of her companions.

Mrs. Fanny Kemble was accustomed to spend summers at Lenox, and was an intimate friend of the Sedgwicks. Surprising anecdotes are related by eye-witnesses of her strength and her equestrian feats. Miss Hosmer enjoyed opportuni-. ties of hearing her reading and conversation, and received from her friendly encouragement in her art-career, which was afterwards gratefully acknowledged. Her passion for sculpture found exercise in making plaster casts of the hands of her mates. Her room was decorated, as before at home, with the trophies of the hunt and the spoils of the woods.

She remained three years under the judicious care of Mrs. Sedgwick, forming permanent friendships in the school, be coming acquainted with many persons of eminence, moulded

by society of the first order, and inspired by the romantic mountain scenery, a combination of influences of nature and of life, which, in her father's judgment, were highly conducive to the success she so early attained. When in her nineteenth year she returned to Watertown, much improved by the wise direction given to her energies, her early predilections ripened into a purpose to make sculpture her pursuit. She had a thought, she must make it a thing.

Having this end in view, she entered the studio of Mr. Stephenson, in Boston, for lessons in drawing and modelling, frequently walking the distance from home and back of fourteen miles, besides performing her æsthetic tasks. Under his instruction she completed a beautiful portrait-bust of a child, and a spirited head of Byron in wax.

To perfect herself in anatomy, so essential to the sculptor, Miss Hosmer desired, in addition to all she could learn from books and her father, the knowledge which can be obtained only in the dissecting-room. The Boston Medical School had refused a request for the admission of a woman, but the Medical College of St. Louis afforded the required facilities. Prof. McDowell gave her efficient aid, and sometimes private lectures, when she was present while he prepared for his public demonstrations. She acknowledged her obligations to him "with great affection and gratitude, as being a most thorough and patient teacher, as well as at all times a good, kind friend;" and afterwards confirmed her words by presenting to him a medallion likeness, cut in marble from a bust by Clevenger. She received a diploma for her attainments.

Friendship added charms to the pursuit of science in St. Louis. At Lenox she had formed an affectionate intimacy with a school-mate, the daughter of Mr. Wayman Crow, an eminent citizen of that city. An invitation to visit there had incidentally opened way to the scientific privileges she