 | Eli Perkins (at large) |  |
PREFACE.
The literary part of this book may not be very nice,
but the cover is pretty and the pictures are life-like.
The picture of my Uncle Consider on the first page is
considered a good likeness. I presume the reader recognizes
the broad, massive, thick Perkins skull. To get
that soft, sweet expression of the countenance in my
uncle's picture, I—I, sat for it myself. I often sit for
the artists when they want to produce their masterpieces.
I sit for all kinds of pictures—landscapes,
animals, marine views, and —
The last picture I sat for was a farm-yard scene. It
represented a “pious farmer feeding his geese.” Henry
Ward Beecher he sat for the farmer, while I sat for the
rest of the picture.
I am a great artist in my way. I drew all the pictures
in this book—drew 'em in a lottery.
Besides drawing nice pictures, I 'm studying now so
as to draw hundred dollar checks and drafts such as
Jay Cooke drew and Daniel Drew.
The first picture I ever drew represented “Sir Walter
Scott leading his victorious forces into the city of
said it had one fault—they could n't tell which was Sir
Walter Scott and which was the city of Mexico. So I
gave it to my family clergyman as his annual donation—
and he was so delighted with this picture, and so grateful
to me, that he hung this picture in his study—and he
said he wanted to hang me in his back yard.
that the pictures in this book are all real pictures, and not mere
painted imitations like Michael Angelo's “Last Judgment” by
Bierstadt, and Church's “Heart of the Andes,” by another fellow.
You will never know how much I admire and appreciate these
beautiful pictures—how I love them; and the fact that you love and
appreciate them too—the fact that you admire the author and his
pictures,—why it shows you have a massive intellect.
| Eli Perkins (at large) | |