William Hamilton Gibson: artist—naturalist—author

Chapter I: Front Matter

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W. Hamilton Gibson]

(_The autograph was always written without lifting the pen, beginning
with the last half of the “H” and ending with the first half_)]

William Hamilton Gibson
Artist--Naturalist--Author

By
John Coleman Adams
Author of “Nature Studies in Berkshire,” etc.

Illustrated

G. P. Putnam’s Sons
New York and London
The Knickerbocker Press
1901

The Knickerbocker Press, New York

Dedicated
to
Emma L. B. Gibson
and
Her Sons

THE MOTIVE

Three men have done more than any others to inspire our generation with the love of nature. They are Henry D. Thoreau, John Burroughs, and William Hamilton Gibson. Thoreau, when the generation was young, challenged it to come out of doors, live in a shanty, and see as much of the world as he saw. John Burroughs, in later years, has acted as guide to a multitude of minds, eager to be “personally conducted” to field and forest. William Hamilton Gibson, besides winning many feet into those “highways and byways” whose charms he taught us to feel, was fortunate in his exceptional power to bring nature to the very eyes of men in the works of his pencil, with which he made luminous--literally “illustrated”--his pages. This alone would be a justification of some account of his life and work.

But in addition to this claim on the interest of the public, those who knew him are aware of others;--a personality of singular charm and forcefulness; a career quite marvelous in its swift and sure achievements; a genius as rare as it was versatile; a devotion to art and to study which fairly wore him out in its exactions on his energy; an ideal which instructs while it shames our sordidness and materialism. His personality will surely grow upon the American people as time gives a true perspective to his life and work. Already we can see something of his conspicuousness and his right to a place in the foremost group of our nature-prophets. In that great trio, Thoreau is the philosopher, Burroughs the poet and man of letters, Gibson the artist-naturalist. In these days when so many are entering into the inheritance which Gibson helped to secure, it is fitting that nature-lovers should hear the story of his fruitful life.

CONTENTS

CHAPTER PAGE

I. A FORTUNATE BOYHOOD 1

II. CALLING AND ELECTION 24

III. A QUICK SUCCESS 49

IV. WITH PENCIL AND BRUSH 81

V. THE OPEN EYE 108

VI. THE ACCIDENT OF AUTHORSHIP 139

VII. THE WORKMAN AND HIS WORK 166

VIII. THE PERSONAL SIDE 200

IX. AFTERGLOW 237

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

WILLIAM HAMILTON GIBSON _Frontispiece_
Age, 41

TO FACE PAGE

THE GUNNERY 6
Washington, Connecticut

WILLIAM HAMILTON GIBSON 18
Age, 13

WILLIAM HAMILTON GIBSON 28
Age, 17

[A]THE ROAD TO HIDE-AND-SEEK TOWN 36
First Composition, 1873

WILLIAM HAMILTON GIBSON 42
Age, 23

[A]“THE PEACOCK’S FEATHER” (“THE PEERLESS
PLUME”) 48
(“Highways and Byways”)
Copyright, 1882, by Harper Brothers

[A]GOD’S MIRACLE 58
By permission of The Curtis Publishing Company

THE SUMACS 80

[A]PEN-AND-INK SKETCH 82
From a Letter

AT THE EASEL 90
Brooklyn Studio

[A]THE STRUGGLE FOR LIFE 98
First Watercolor

[A]“CYPRIPEDIUM ACAULE” 108
(“My Studio Neighbors”)
Copyright, 1897, by Harper Brothers

[A]UPLAND MEADOWS 120
From a Painting

[A]“THE BOBOLINK AT HOME” 130
(“Strolls by Starlight”)
Copyright, 1890, by Harper Brothers

THE WRITING DESK 138
Brooklyn Studio

[A]A WINTER HUNT 144

[A]SPRINGTIME 154
From a Painting

[A]LAKE WARAMAUG 162
From a Painting

[A]“WIDE-AWAKE DAY-DOZERS” 178
(“Strolls by Starlight and Sunshine”)
Copyright, 1890, by Harper Brothers

[A]THE ROXBURY ROAD 188

[A]LATE OCTOBER 222
From a Painting

[A]THE EDGE OF THE WOODS 234
From a Painting

THE VILLAGE GREEN 240
Washington, Connecticut

GIBSON’S GRAVE 248
Washington Cemetery

THE BRONZE MEMORIAL 266

[A] From a drawing by William Hamilton Gibson

WILLIAM HAMILTON GIBBON

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