The power of purpose is emphasized in the career of A. H. Savage
Landor, artist and explorer. Son of Charles Savage Landor, and the
grandson of Walter Savage Landor, author and poet, he was born in
Florence, Italy; was educated in that city, and afterward went to
Paris to study art. There he entered the studio of Julian, one of
whose favorite pupils he soon became. There is every likelihood that
he would have become prominent in art circles had it not been for his
keen desire for travel. So deserting the easel for the knapsack, he
visited Japan, China, Corea, Mongolia, India, Napaul, Thibet, America,
Australia, Africa and other countries. He lived for some time among
a curious race of aborigines known as the Hairy Ainu, in the wilds
of Northern Japan. Mr. Landor is best known to the reading public by
reason of his explorations in Thibet and the remarkable book which
was the fruit thereof. During his sojourn in “The Forbidden Country”
he underwent incredible hardships, and as a result of the tortures
inflicted upon him by the natives who held him prisoner for some time,
he will probably be a sufferer to the end of his days. A man, who when
riding on a saddle studded with sharp spikes, can take note of the
physical features of the surrounding country and can calculate the
height of the plateau over which he is passing in agony must be molded
from that kind of stuff of which hero adventurers are made. Likewise
does he show the power of a purpose over the dangers and difficulties
that threaten to thwart it.