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                                   TNT ROD U C TI ON.                   
                 6
  Many are deterred from attempting the art of Drawing, from an idea that
they lack capacity,
or, what the world calls genius.   But have they ever made the attempt? 
    Let them recall to
mind their first steps in knowledge of every kind, and judge not unfairly
of their capacity, until
they have tried this also.  Before they knew their A, B, C, they could tell
a man from a dog, by
the picture.  The impressions of form are the first made on the infant mind;
and were it taught,
betimes, or even encouraged to trace these impressions, there would be fewer
incapable of
expressuig the language of Design.  The untaught savage thus records the
story of his battles;
as the traditions of his fathers have come down to him from generation to
generation.    He
directs the traveller on his way, by marks in the sand; tells him, by his
rude outline, of mount-
ains and rivers to be passed; and no one can mistake his meaning.  Who is
there, in civilized
life, that may have been familiar with works of art from childhood, that
can not do this?
If he can, he can do more.    He possesses the germ within him, and needs
only proper cultiva-
tion, for its successful development.
  As in other arts and studies, all can not expect to be equaliy perfect,
so all can not expect
to rival the master-spirits in the arts of Design.  The work of an artist
is that of a lifetime of
arduous toil and study.    Of the thousands who delight themselves and their
friends in music,
bow few have composed an opera, or even achieved the composition of a single
air?  Yet, what
would the world lose, were none to attempt the cultivation of this refined
and charming accom-
1)lishment, but those who devoted themselves exclusively to its pursuit!
 Were music neglected
as a study by all except those who make it the business of their lives, even
they would find few
to admire and sympathize with them, in their greatest productions, for want
of taste and
understanding.
  In the elementary portions of this work, the smile of the professional
artist may be moved,
when he finds the author dwelling on what some may think trifles, and giving
instruction in the
methods of sharpening a pencil and makiYig a pen.      But let him remember
the day that such
instruction might have helped even him.  When the pupil in Drawing has attained
a proficiency
to place him in the position of an artist, his course of study will require
a direction beyond the
means of these pages to afford him. This he must obtain elsewhere, and pursue,
with that fixed
determination and singleness of purpose, by which excellence is only to be
achieved; and he will
find that, could all that he requires be placed at once within his reach,
it would be, in a meas-
ure, valueless, for want of that strength to appreciate and appropriate such
advantages, which
is best acquired by patient search and progressive attainment.   Short-cuts
and easy roads to