n going
to bed he placed the box so near his couch, that he could hug and
caress it every time he wakened. Next morning he rose early, and
taking his paints and canvas to the garret, began to work. He went to
breakfast, and then stole back to his post under the roof, forgetting
all about school. When dinnertime came he presented himself at table,
as usual, but said nothing of his occupation. He had been absent from
school some days before the master called on his parents to inquire
what had become of him. This led to the discovery of his secret
painting, for his mother proceeded to the garret and found the truant.
She was, however, so astonished with the creation upon his canvas,
that she took him in her arms and kissed him with transports of
affection. He had made a composition of his own out of two of the
engravings--which he had colored from his ideas of the proper tints to
be used--and so perfect did the picture appear to Mrs. West that,
although half the canvas remained to be covered, she would not suffer
the child to add another touch with his brush. Sixty-seven years
afterward, Mr. Gait saw this production in the exact state in which it
was left, and Mr. West himself acknowledged that in subsequent efforts
he had never been able to excel some of the touches of invention in
this first picture.

The first instruction in art which the artist received was from Mr.
William Williams, a painter in Philadelphia. Young West's first
attempt at portraiture was at Lancaster, where he painted "The Death
of Socrates" for William Henry, a gunsmith. He was not yet sixteen,
but other paintings followed which possessed so much genuine merit,
that they have been preserved as treasures. One of these is in
possession of General Meredith Reed, of Paris, France, a descendant of
the signer. West returned to his home in Springfield, in 1754, to
discuss the question of his future vocation. He had an inclination for
military life, and volunteered as a recruit in the old French war;
but military attractions vanished among the hardships involved, and in
1756, when eighteen years old, he established himself in Philadelphia
as a portrait-painter, his price being "five guineas a head." Two
years later he went to New York, where he passed eleven months, and
was liberally employed by the merchants and others. He painted the
portrait of Bishop Provoost, those of Gerardus Duyekinck and his
wife--full length--one of Mrs. Samuel Breese, and many oth