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

CHAPTER XII

ITALY AND THE END
~[LLUSION was made in the preceding chapter to
Zoe the Italian journey and Howard Pyle's purposes
in undertaking it'. After many years, spent almost
entirely in writing and illustrating, opportunities for extensive mural work seemed to be unfolding, and he felt that in
order to prosecute them with greater sureness and more
abundant knowledge the European, particularly the Italian,
background was desirable. Before this time he had refrained
from going to Europe because he was afraid that he might
lose something of the American spirit, which he thought
so necessary an adjunct both to his creative work and to his
teaching. He made arrangements with his publishers that
sufficient material for illustration should be sent to him from
time to time that he might not get out of touch with market
conditions as they existed in America. Then on November
22, 1910, he sailed from New York accompanied by his
family and Miss Gertrude Brinckle, his secretary.
just at this time he began to be afflicted with exceedingly
bad health, which was at least partially due to too sedulous
a preoccupation with his work. When one considers the
vast number of things which he had accomplished between
18 76 and 1910o, one can only wonder how any human frame
could bear up under such uninterrupted exertion. Literally
thousands of illustrations, against almost none of which
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