150 



THE OOLOOISl 



and six years later removed with his 

 wife to the Iowa homestead. 



To tlie majority of settlers of that 

 early time the prairie lands were most 

 alluring, but true to the instincts of 

 his nature he chose the wooded wilds 

 on the banks of the Big Cedar creek 

 in Van Buren county. Here, far re- 

 moved from the public highway and 

 almost inaccessible, nestling beneath 

 sentinel oak and graceful elm, here, 

 among his friends of the forest, the 

 feathered and furry tribes, he builded 

 his home. 



Fashioned from logs of the "forest 

 primeval," each crevice chinked up 

 with plaster, roofed with clapboards, 

 split out with mallet and frow, the 

 chimney constructed of stones leading 

 out from the old style fireplace. Here 

 he lived, and here his children, three 

 sons and a daughter, were born. 



Within a stone's throw of the 

 house and surrounded by the same 

 dense growth of trees and underbrush 

 the workshop stands. Crude and un- 

 plastered, yet affording for his treas- 

 ures ample protection against the ele- 

 ments. 



It is this workshop that furnishes a 

 direct clue to the personality of the 

 man. 



In the accumulated conglomeration 

 of odds and ends, some useful and 

 others not, we see the economy of the 

 former generation, which picked up 

 every pin, and stored away all rem- 

 nants with an eye to the future pos- 

 sible use. This in direct contrast 

 with the wasteful extravagance of the 

 present age. 



The apparent confusion and disor- 

 der which prevails throughout the 

 room, indicates the careless disregard 

 of the occupant for conventional 

 housekeeping, yet there is an absence 

 of accumulated dirt, and these scat- 

 tered articles were probably consid- 

 ered by Mr. Savage to be just within 

 convenient reach. 



An Odd Shop. 



On one side of the workshop are 

 hanging traps of various sizes and 

 kinds. With these he caught the wild 

 marauders who often visited his place. 



Of guns there are a sufficient num- 

 ber to start a small arsenal, conspic- 

 uous among them is a flintlock pistol 

 of ancient pattern, but which is still 

 in Sihooting order. 



Above the rude home-made table 

 which served as his desk, an old style 

 grain cradle hangs. 



The bench on which he sat was 

 cushioned with a piece of sheepskin, 

 fastened on with an old suspender. 



The desk was littered with pencils, 

 brushes, paints, etc., and while these 

 are of the best and finest materials it 

 is possible to purchase, there was not 

 a palette in evidence. The colors were 

 all mixed on pieces of broken dishes, 

 and one pattern of plate in particu- 

 lar must have been at least fifty years 



old. 



In one corner is a cot where he was 

 wont to rest when fatigued by his 

 various occupations, for this artist, 

 naturalist, and ornithologist, was also 

 trapper, farmer, horticulturist, taxi- 

 dermist and by trade a tailor. 



In this workshop Mr. Savage paint- 

 ed his bird pictures. Over 200 por- 

 traits are preserved in this collection, 

 Wihich consists of a reproduction of 

 almost every bird which has ever vis- 

 ited this section, whether as a resi- 

 dent or migrant. 



The birds were shot or captured by 

 Mr. Savage and his friends and after 

 most careful and minute measure- 

 ments of the subject have been 

 drawn on white paper without any 

 thought of background or perspective. 

 The colors are then applied, great 

 care being taken to mix them in such 

 manner as to make an exact repro- 

 duction of the bird in size, color, form 

 and outline. And more marvelous 

 still the texture of the feathers is 

 wonderfully true to nature. 



