Now, when I look
back on my past ideas, I clearly see that a great deal of this
disgust was due to my ignorance and self-conceit.
"In 1874, I commenced painting in tempora, and then in oil,
copying the pictures lent to the school from the South Kensington
Art Library. I worked also from still life, and began sketching
from nature in oil and water-colours, sometimes selling my work
to help me to buy materials for art-work and scientific
experiments. I was, however, able to do very little in the
following year, as I was at home suffering from sciatica. For
nine months I could not stand erect, but had to hobble about with
a stick. This illness caused me to give up my teachership.
"Early in 1876 I returned to Darlington. I went on with my art
studies and the science of chemistry; though I went no further in
heliochromy. I pushed forward with anatomy. I sent about
fifteen works to South Kensington, and gained as my third-grade
prize in list A the 'Dictionary of Terms used in Art' by Thomas
Fairholt, which I found a very useful work. Towards the end of
the year, my father, whose health was declining, sent for me home
to assist him in the school. I now commenced the study of
Algebra and Euclid in good earnest, but found it tough work. My
father, though a fair mathematician, was unable to give me any
instruction; for he had been seized with paralysis, from which he
never recovered.
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