in beauty by any lakes in the world. Nestling amid the mountains of Sandwich range, they lie like a chain of jewels upon the breast of Mother Earth, reflecting in their sympathetic depths every mood of the changeful skies that bend above them. Pinecovered lands stretch away from them in a crescendo of elevations till they reach the mountain heights,-dreaming giants, born of Nature's mighty travail, that guard the magic region in silence and eternal calm. From The Weirs the beholder looks upon a ma jestic panorama of opalescent water, indented shores, islands, and a wall of rugged mountains. Moosilauke, Prospect, the Haystacks, Red hill, Washington, Tripyramid, Passaconaway, White face, Paugus, water that ever graced a landscape, endowed with a sensitive and poetic temperament, that could not but be impressed by the surpassing beauties of his environment, J. Warren Thyng was the natural instrument of that power which finds a man for every necessity, and which gave to the Franco-Prussian soldiery, Detaille; to French art, Meissonier; to the J. Warren Thyng. Chocorua, Ossipee, and nameless foothills, detain the vision in this grand prospect. In the perspective of the lake one can note the position of prominent islands-the Stonedam, Mark, Governor's, Long Island, and others. Scotland or Switzerland could hardly possess a region where the loveliness of nature is so exquisitely or so variously exhibited. Born at Lake Village, living during his years of youth on the shores of the most beautiful expanse of French peasant ry, Millet; and to the lake country of New Hampshire, its most notable artist. In the records of the New England Historical and Genealogical society, and in Hon. Charles H. Bell's history of Exeter, the family from which Mr. Thyng is descended is mentioned as among the first to settle in the state. Lake Village contained but four houses when Mr. Thyng's paternal grandfather located in that region and became one of the prominent citizens of that place. Mr. Thyng's childhood passed without event, but early in his boyhood he demonstrated that for him. there was to be a different career from that laid out for most of the young men who were his associates in the little country town of his nativity. Unconscious of the power within him, he nevertheless accomplished enough with pencil and brush to attract the attention of artists whom he chanced to meet, and later, with the resolution to become an artist, no matter what difficulties must be surmounted, he went to Boston, where his resolute spirit, his impassioned sincerity of motive, and his evident talent, won for him the friendship and instruction of the late George L. Brown, one of the first of American landscape painters, and known in Europe as the "American Claude." This excellent tutelage, supplemented by the study of classical art in the National Academy of New York, and later in the Massachusetts State Normal Art school, gave him that technical training and experience without which the highest genius would be crippled. Du Maurier has given in "Trilby" an excellent picture of artstudent life in Paris, but no writer has as yet more than hinted at the less romantic, but not less interesting, life led by the art student in New York or Boston. In these cities Mr. Thyng pursued his studies uninterruptedly for a number of years. In New York he was a welcome frequenter of the studios of such artists as F. E. Church, George Innis, and William Hart, and the lack of all mannerism in his own brush work is no doubt the result of this catholicity of training. The most interesting chapters of Mr. Thyng's life must lie in these days of striving, of high purpose, of conflict, of toil, until success at last seemed in his grasp, and, in 1872, the directorship of the State Art school, at Salem, Mass., was that place, a school which the tireless energy and versatile power of the principal placed foremost among the art institutions of the country by labors. covering a period of eight years. He was also supervisor of drawing in the public schools during six of these years. In the years passed in Salem and Akron, Mr. Thyng spent a number of months each year among the lakes and mountains of his native state, and did what no artist had done before and few have done sincegave to the world, by pen and brush, revelations of the charm and beauty of the lake country of New Hampshire. Every summer found his easel pitched upon the hillsides and shores about the lakes, and the results of his labor brought appreciation of the wonderful value of Lake Winnipesaukee as a scenic attraction to the outside world. The railroad officials, his. This position he held with lasting credit for eleven years, as well as supervising the art work of the public schools of that city, and many artists who have since attained success and fame owe much to the conscientious training given by Mr. Thyng in these capacities. In 1883 he went to Akron, Ohio, where he founded the Akron School of Design, incorporated by a board of diectors composed of the leading citizens of recognizing the splendid opportunity true and unselfish strivings were his before them for making the lake in abundance. country of New Hampshire an important summer resort, rapidly followed up the suggestions of the artist. Meanwhile, Mr. Thyng's love for the beauty of the lakes was finding expression in his works. He wrote a book, which ran through a large edition, upon Lake Winnipesaukee, its history and traditions. By newspaper articles, by lectures, and the more effective and persuasive beauty of his pictures, he gradually drew the attention of people in all parts of the country to the wonderful attractions and picturesque beauty of his beloved state. The Harpers employed him as special artist; his paintings of lake scenery found eager purchasers; his drawings were sought after by publishers for reproduction, and the artist had the satisfaction of knowing that through his instrumentality thousands yearly visited the lakes to find health and pleasure along their pine-bordered shores. Whittier wrote to him of his engraving, "Lake Winnipesaukee from The Weirs," "Thy beautiful picture is the best I have ever seen of our lake"; and for many years the artist enjoyed the friendship of the poet thus happily won. It seemed during these years that he had taken upon himself a Numerous changes were made by thankless task, but, actuated by a Mr. Thyng in the names of certain pure and unselfish love for his chos- lakes and mountains in the vicinity en field of effort, he worked on, and of Winnipesaukee, changes which later the rewards which come to all have since received official recogni tion in the maps and public documents pertaining to the region. Long Bay, lying between Lake Village and The Weirs, was given historical significance by being renamed Lake Paugus, after the Indian chief who once lived in its vicinity; Round Bay, near Laconia, was called Lake Opechee, the Indian name for the robins, which flock to its shores early in the spring. Lake Winona, between Meredith and Ashland, also owes its pretty name to Mr. Thyng. These changes were the result of a most commendable sentiment, and were due to the artist's poetic appreciation of the beauty of the sonorous old Indian names, fast passing from memory in a country too thoughtless of the beauty of ancient Indian traditions and history. Perhaps the leading characteristic of Mr. Thyng's pictorial work is the idyllic, the pastoral. His pictures are full of the impressive beauty of the mountains; they breathe forth the charm of meadow lands and pine woods, when sky and earth and water seem linked in tender and joyful harmony, when "Heaven tries the earth if it be in tune, "Every clod feels a stir of might, An instinct within it that reaches and And, groping blindly above it for light, His paintings and sketches stir in one recollections of long summer days spent near blue waters, of afternoons dreamed away in a boat amid lilies and beneath the over-hanging branches of water oaks and cedars, of moonlit evenings, calm and sweet with suggestions of healthful weariness and the promise of childlike slumber. His illustrations accompanying this article, indicate a wide range of achievement, and that, too, within the limits of Nature's quieter moods. It is a pleasure |