“How is it you can conceive so many ridiculous ideas and predicaments?”
“It is a matter of study,” he replied. “I work methodically certain
hours of the day, but very seldom at night. We will say it is a
political cartoon on a certain occurrence that I am to draw. I
deliberately sit down and study out my idea. When it is formed, I begin
to draw. I never commence to draw without a conception of what I am
going to do.”
“And when did you first put pencil to paper?” I asked.
“Almost as soon as I could creep. I was born in Madison, Ohio, in
1857, and as far back as I can remember, I had a determination to
become an artist. My path often swerved from my ambition, on account
of necessity, but my determination was back of me, and whenever an
obstacle was removed I advanced thus much farther toward my goal.
“I went to the village school till I was fourteen years of age, and
then I went to work in the village store. Both at school and in the
store, every spare moment found me with pencil and paper, sketching
something comical; so much so, indeed, that I became known for it.”