Howard Pyle, a chronicle by Charles D. Abbott, with an introduction by N. C. Wyeth and many illustrations from Howard Pyle's works.

HOWARD PYLE: A CHRONICLE
be able to know whether my 'instruction is producing the
required results. *.-".
In 1 898, with the co-operation of the authorities of the
Drexel Institute, Howard Pyle established a summer class
at Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania. He felt that to a limited
number of pupils he could give during the summer months
so intensive and so practical a training that it would repay
any sacrifice which he might have to make. The Drexel
Institute agreed to give scholarships to a certain number of
talented pupils; he on his side was to. give instruction without receiving any salary. An old mill on the banks of the
B3randywine, just across the road from the historic Washington and Lafayette headquarters, was turned into a studio,
and the meadows around were used for all sorts of out-door
sketching. Here on the site of the battle of the Brandywine, he taught his young proteges, among other things, to
draw the Revolutionary soldier, taught them so well that
when Collier's was about to publish Paul Leicester Ford's
Janice Meredith he was able to secure for his pupils the
illustrating of it. The keynote of the Summer School was
work. All day long he kept the young- men and women
at their easels, inspiring them with the enthusiasm which he
had always at his command. Then, oftentimes in the evening, he and Mrs. Pyle would entertain them at the big
country house in which they lived during the summers.
Every now and then he would give them a day off, and
they would all go on a picnic to Valley Forge or some other
interesting place in the surrounding country. There was
thus a considerable social life, which provided for the young
people relaxation from the intense training to which they
were subjected. The Summer School was so successful that
[210]