222 TEE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



Charles was now put to school; but, after he had learned writing 

 and arithmetic, etc., he was apprenticed, at the age of thirteen, to a 

 saddler. Working out his apprenticeship, when he was twenty-one 

 he married into an influential family ; and, with the assistance of a life- 

 long friend of his father, James Tilghman, set up in business for 

 himself. 



The saddlery business did not prove a success; and it was about 

 this time that he, on seeing a poorly executed painting and having had 

 from childhood a taste for drawing, thought that he could paint as 

 well. With some borrowed colors and by the aid of a looking glass, 

 he painted a portrait of himself with such good results that some of 

 his friends advised him to study painting seriously. Thus, at the age 

 of twenty-four, he began the second period of his life — that of a painter. 



Peale, the Portrait Painter 



After studying under the best available talent in Maryland and in 

 Virginia, he went to Boston and took a few lessons under Copley and 

 shortly afterward was engaged to paint several portraits. Eeturning 

 to Annapolis, his work soon became noticed. John Beale Bordley and 

 several of his fellow members of the Governor's Council of Maryland 

 made up a purse and sent Peale to London to study under Benjamin 

 West. Eeturning to Maryland two years later, his ability was soon 

 recognized and for the next twenty years he was the leading portrait 

 painter of Pennsylvania and the south. 



His many engagements in Philadelphia caused him to move to that 

 city in 1774 and to make it his permanent home. Being an ardent 

 patriot, he offered his services to the American cause at the beginning 

 of the Eevolution, being made lieutenant and later captain in a com- 

 pany of Philadelphia militia. He was in action in the battles of 

 Germantown, Trenton and Princeton. At Valley Forge in the winter 

 of 1777 he found occupation in painting portraits of his fellow officers. 

 Many of his portraits painted during the war were subsequently placed 

 in his "painting room" to form a nucleus of what he hoped would 

 become a national portrait gallery. During this period, his interest in 

 public affairs led him into various activities and public positions in 

 connection with the British evacuation of Philadelphia. 



As soon as opportunity offered, he established himself in a house at 

 Third and Lombard streets and resumed with his former energy the 

 practise of his portrait painting. In connection with this house he 

 built a long room to hold his pictures and to use as a studio. As 

 curiosities Dr. Morgan gave him some bones of a mammoth from 

 Ohio; Professor Eobt. Patterson, of the College of Philadelphia, pre- 

 sented him with a paddle fish from the Allegheny Eiver; Dr. Franklin 

 gave him an Angora cat from France, which was soon lost for want 



