When Benjamin was eight years old, a relative from Philadelphia, named Mr. Pennington, visited the family. He was greatly astonished at the drawings and paintings which his young relative had done without any assistance whatever. When he returned to Philadelphia he sent Benjamin a box of paints, several pieces of canvas, and six engravings by a famous artist of that time. Benjamin went nearly wild with joy. They were the first real drawings he had ever seen and they certainly seemed wonderful. That night, when he went to bed, he laid his presents on a chair, and several times during the night he put out his hand to make sure that they were still there. He almost thought that it must be a dream out of which he would awake. The next day he carried his presents up to a garret in the house and began at once to make copies of the engravings. He became so interested that he forgot all about school and then evidently decided that he must finish his paintings for he did not go near the school for several days. The schoolmaster at last sent to enquire the reason of his absence. Benjamin’s mother did not know how he had been spending his time and, feeling very much annoyed, she went up to the garret to search for him. When she opened the door and saw the pictures which her eight-year-old boy had painted she was amazed and delighted, and interceded with his father so Benjamin was not punished. Some time after this Mr. Pennington took Benjamin for a few days to Philadelphia. It was the boy’s first journey away from home and what he saw made him open his eyes wide with wonder. The houses, the people, and the ships on the river: how different they were to anything he had ever seen before. But that which interested him more than anything else was the pictures. Noticing his interest in these, an artist named Williams loaned him some books on the art of painting. These Benjamin took with him when he returned to his home and carefully studied them. He had now definitely made up his mind to become an artist. He painted a picture of a lady and her children who lived in a nearby town and this aroused such favourable comment that soon he had far more orders for pictures than he could possibly fill. He was overwhelmed with requests from people who, of course, offered to pay him for his work.