One of Miss Stebbins’s early works was a volume to which she gave the title, “A Book of Prayer.” It contains some beautiful specimens of her poetry, but is chiefly remarkable for its exquisite illuminations. It was one of the first among the efforts to revive that style of illustration; and the originality, grace, and beauty of the designs, with the delicate and elaborate finish of the execution, made it quite a curiosity of art. Some other books were illuminated by Miss Stebbins in the same manner. The love of art in the child of genius “grows by what it feeds on,” and claims an undivided devotion to its pursuits. Perhaps no kind of knowledge is so fascinating when its fruits are tasted. Miss Stebbins found no charm in the social pleasures at her command which could draw her attention from painting. She finally resolved on an exclusive consecration of her talents to art, making it the sole business of her life. She determined to go to Rome. Several of her crayon portraits, executed in Rome, received the highest encomiums from acknowledged judges in that city. A copy she made of the “St. John” of Du Bœuf, and one from a painting in the gallery of the Louvre, representing a “Girl Dictating a Love-letter,” were noted among her oil-paintings. Her “Boy and Bird’s Nest” was done in the style of Murillo. Her pastel-painting of “Two Dogs” has been highly praised. Almost every branch of the imitative art has been at different periods cultivated by Miss Stebbins, and her success proves the scope and versatility of her talent. Besides painting in oil and water colors, she has practiced drawing on wood and carving wood, modeling in clay, and working in marble. It is probably in the difficult art of sculpture that she will leave to America the works by which she will be most widely known. She profited, like Miss Hosmer, by the counsels and supervision of Gibson, and the careful instruction of Akers. A work from her chisel, in the spring of 1859, commanded the highest suffrages. Mr. Heckscher, a large proprietor of coal-mines in the United States, had requested Miss Stebbins to execute for him two typical statues--one of Industry, the other of Commerce. The figure of Industry is completed, and has been represented by the artist, with graceful taste, as a miner. A critic says: