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

CHAPTER 11

THE CRUCIBLE OF NEW YORK
THE first thing to look for in New York was a place
to board-not too expensive a place, for the
income of a young artist could not easily be made
to support one in luxurious surroundings. Howard knew
very little of the city; he hadn't the remotest idea where
the so-called art centers were. Had he known where other
people who were following his profession lived, he would
undoubtedly have sought a harbor somewhere in that
vicinity. But it was all new and strange; he thought merely
of finding a comfortable boarding-hou~se, not too far from
the offices of Scribner's and the other magazines, where he
could work without interruption. But such a place was
not easy to find. The nearer the prospective dwelling was
to the offices, the higher price one had to pay for the privi*lege of living there. After considerable searching he finally
found on Forty-eighth Street a vacant room in a boardinghouse which was managed by two middle-aged ladies, the
Misses Marshall. The odd thing about it was that these
two women were former neighbors of his mother's. They
immediately took a fancy to the young man and saw to it
that he was well supplied with the usual appurtenances of
boarding-houses. Even under such pleasant conditions,
however, Forty-eighth Street was not exactly an ideal place
for an artist to live in those days-too many hours had to
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