i8iv: 



DLEANINliS IN HEE CULTURE. 



501 



'^[Mr. UiiJilis lias iiicnlioiiod most of tli<> points 

 of merit in the D. S(H'lioii-i-as(>. It was iiot(i<'- 

 sieiu'd for the iaific hec-kt^MJCM', but for tiiosc 

 who lia\ (' only modcratt'-si/cci upiaiirs, such as, 

 for instani't". fanners, 'riicn* arc. i)criiaps, as 

 many iiox iiivcs in use in the conntry a>< tlie 

 movable frame, and our effort was to select 

 somethinji that would suit tliis class of bee- 

 keeptMS. Tliat we were successful is shown by 

 letters of appreciation that are coming in like 

 the above.] 



GLEANINGS' ARTIST. 



A 15KK-KKKrKK. MUMCIAX. AND AHTIST. 



A great many of our readers have admired 

 the humorous style of the Rambler etchings. 

 While the Rambler, or Jolin H. Martin, of Riv- 

 erside. Cal.. suggests, by a rough drawing, the 

 funny incidents of his travel and observation, 

 it is R, V, Murray, of CIev(>]and, O., who re- 

 models the drawings, giving them character 

 and expression. As iMr. Murray is a bee-keep- 

 er and an artist, and is already familiar to the 

 readers of Gleanings, ve thought it might be 

 interesting to give you his picture, and there- 

 fore solicited from him notes from which we 

 might prepare a biographical sketch. These 

 notes contain interesting incidents of prominent 

 persons and things; and they are so modest in 

 their tone that we submit them direct, just as 

 they came from the hand of the writer, R. V. 

 Murray himself. 



From family and other records, and from 

 what I have been told, I am inclined to believe 

 that I first saw the light of this world on Feb. 

 8. 1S44. in a part of that renowned and classic 

 town of Andover called IJaliard Vale, on the 

 banks of the Shawsheen River, and about 20 

 miles northeast of the Hub of the Universe, 

 Boston. My father was a Highlander, a rem- 

 nant of clan Murray, and my mother a Low- 

 lander. They had been married but a month 

 or two. and that a time of preparation for their 

 journey to this great and glorious country, 

 America, to which they came by slow-sailing 

 vessel: and after being driven from their course 

 several times, and undeigoing extreme hard- 

 ships, they finally landed at hoston. Thus all 

 the family were given to them in this country 

 which both of them loved so well. I am one of 

 a family of six. Their life, with but few ex- 

 ceptions and at short iiitervals, has been spent 

 at this same town and in the same house in 

 which we were born, and in which some of the 

 family still live. 



Nothing special need be said of my early life. 

 It had its ups and downs, and, to my eyes at 

 that time, apparently more downs than ups. 

 The first ten years of life were spent in a vague 

 and misty way. and we went through the gen- 

 eral range of boyhood realities and dreams. 

 About this time I was broken to harness, and 

 was given to understand that my contributions. 

 however little, were needed in the family: i^o I 

 commenced work in a woolen-mill, which was 

 one of the principal industries of the town at 

 this time. As years went on. and the pei'ceptive 

 and rational faculties began to evolve and 

 shape themselves, I could not help seeing the 

 slavery of the mass of employes of eastern mills, 

 though those views have been moditir-d some in 

 later years— the seldom varying round of life 

 which they led, the few and spasmodic plea- 



sures that came like gleams of biightiiess now 

 and then, and the depressions which followed — 

 the greed of corporations, the icalization of life 

 and its environments, and the hopes and desii'es 

 to bettei' the tMindit ions. 1. like thousands of 

 (tthi'rs, ha\-e |)asse(l along this road, and on the 

 wav luive ahsorlxnl both good and (wil, true 

 ana false, which have entered into my make-up, 

 and have left theii- impressions. 



Like the rest of our family, especially on the 

 Morrison (or mother) sid(>, I early po.'jsessed an 

 intense lov(> of music, and from my father's 

 direction a natural love and taste for thi^ beau- 

 tiful in nature, from whence I trace, in combi- 

 nation with the music, the early desire and 

 tendenci(>s to ultimate the same by drawing. 

 I was always extremely fond of reading, and I 

 can see that the mental material gatlien'd by 

 that means was by far the best educator I ever 

 had, for my schooldays actually were very 

 meager. l{ooks wen; rare, but good use was 

 made of them. I was early taught a profound 

 and lioly reverence for the Lord and all his 

 woi'ks, and was led to early engage, to the best 

 of what ability I possessed, in his work in 

 whatever station or place I should be in: and I 

 believe that this helped me wonderfully in my 

 early endeavors to draw the reed and rushes 

 along the Shawsheen River — to sketch the 

 noble hills and valleys that lay around m(^ — the 

 endeavor to express ideas by form, the study of 

 the dififerent forms on every hand, from cloud 

 to play of light and shadow on various objects 

 ever before me. and the realizing how bungling 

 my work in comparison. The drawing of the 

 common weeds by the roadside — all these and 

 myriads more have been the means of opening 

 the eye of the blind, and enables one to work 

 from within out. Some great thinker has said, 

 that drawing should go with if not before writ- 

 ing, and I agree heartily with the sentiment; 

 for with nature without one, and the Lord 

 within, the tendency can not but be upward. 



At about the age of 19 I took my first lessons 

 from a teacher in drawing, who located for a 

 while in our village — a Mr. Bryant — a painter 

 and lover of art, and those three terms of eve- 

 ning lessons I to-day look back upon as one of 

 the brightest spots in my life. But the dark 

 cloud of the Rebellion interrupted my studies, 

 and shot the life out of one of the most lovable 

 of teachers; for, true to his moral teachings, 

 he was willing to die for the principles he loved. 

 His teachings were always accompanied with 

 moral lessons. This man, for he was a true 

 man, and one who followed closely after his 

 Maker, and has left an impression upon my life 

 coupled with his noble actions, was always in 

 the endeavor to show the why and wherefore of 

 every thing— the cause and effect, whether ap- 

 plied to drawing or other things. 



During the war I was engaged by the Spencer 

 Rifle Co.. of Boston, and while there made good 

 use of my time evenings, and what spare time 

 I could command, by studying under various 

 teachers and schools. From there I went to 

 Amesbury, Mass., with the intention of learn- 

 ing photography: but my employer. Mr. Clark- 

 son, soon went out of business, and my career 

 in that dii'ection came to a sudden close. In 

 my early days our family lived in this same 

 town of Amesbury. and I felt somewhat at 

 home, so I went into the mills there and stayed 

 a year or so. It was at this time, or just ])efore 

 the photographing business was given up, that 

 I made the acquaintance of that lovable and 

 renowned Quaker iioet. John G. Whittier, and 

 I have had many friendly talks and visits with 

 him: have met him in his rambles along the 

 Powow Riverand the meadowsof the Merrimac. 



During the war, my brother, James R. Mur- 

 ray, whose bent had been in the direction of a 



