And so the principle underlying the plan of The Mentor Association is one approved and exercised by a nation of intelligent people. How many other people follow this direct and simple path to knowledge we cannot say, but that it is not only the direct and simple way, but the one satisfying and effective way of acquiring knowledge, is plain. On that principle The Mentor Association is founded, and by following that principle, the members of the Association can add day by day to their store of knowledge, and can fully and intelligently enjoy the beautiful things in art. [Illustration: COPYRIGHT 1903 THE MACMILLAN CO HENRY WARD BEECHER--JOHN QUINCY ADAMS WARD REPRODUCED FROM “AMERICAN SCULPTURE” BY LORADO TAFT] Famous American Sculptors JOHN QUINCY ADAMS WARD Monograph Number One in The Mentor Reading Course The life of John Quincy Adams Ward was a long record of dignified success. Born in the beginning of the last century, at the time when American sculpture was in a very elementary stage, he lived to see this art mature into something of which our country may well be proud. Quiet simplicity and impressiveness of mass characterize Ward’s work. Everything he did was big and effective. John Quincy Adams Ward was born on June 29, 1830, near Urbana, Ohio. He was a boy that enjoyed play; but he did not neglect his work. He loved the open air. Riding, hunting or fishing--he liked them all. He received his education in the village schools. One day the young boy found some clay on his father’s farm. He took a handful of it and modeled the face of an old negro who lived nearby. Everyone who saw this early attempt said that it was “wonderful.” It may have been. At any rate, Ward did not immediately begin to dream of becoming a great sculptor. In this he differed from most beginners whose first work is called great by their friends. Not until he was nineteen years old did he really find out his destiny. In 1849 he paid a visit to a sister in Brooklyn. One day he happened to pass the studio of the sculptor H. K. Browne. The door of the studio was open, and Ward glanced inside. The scene fascinated him. He returned to the place again and again. Finally he found his way into this world of mystery, and at length by some miracle became one of the sculptor’s pupils. It would have been hard for Ward to have found a better master in all America. He studied under Browne from 1850 to 1857. He learned everything, from kneading clay to marble carving. By 1861, when he opened a studio of his own in New York City, he had executed busts of Joshua R. Giddings, Alexander H. Stephens, and Hannibal Hamlin, prepared the first sketch for “The Indian Hunter,” his great work now in Central Park, New York City, and made studies among the Indians themselves for this work.