Questions to help the pupil understand the picture. Who were our forefathers in America? Why were they so called? Why did they come to America? What kind of people were they? What did they know of America before they came? Who tried to prevent their coming? Upon what boat did they sail? Tell about the journey. Why was it so dangerous? When did they reach America? Upon what did they land? What has become of this rock? What did the Pilgrims do as soon as they arrived? Tell about the party sent out to find a permanent location. Why could they not build a fire? What time of year is represented in this picture? Where are the people going? How many churches did they have? Why do they carry guns? Who occupied this land before the Pilgrims came? Why did the Indians leave? Why did they dislike the Pilgrims? What effect did this danger have upon the Pilgrims? To which members of the group in the picture is our attention directed? How is this accomplished? What makes you think the sun is shining? What time of day is it? What makes you think there are more people coming? How are these Pilgrims dressed?
To the Teacher: Let the pupils illustrate the various scenes in the story with charcoal on manila paper.
The story of the artist. George Henry Boughton was born in a little village near Norwich, England. His father was a farmer. But the farm he possessed was so small that he found it difficult to provide for his large family. So he decided to sail to America where there were better opportunities for farming. The long voyage was taken the year following George’s birth.
The family settled near Albany, New York, and there George Boughton was raised and educated. It was decided that he should be trained for a business career and so he was sent to a commercial school. But the young artist had other plans in his head. At school he began to show great skill in drawing, gained, as he said afterwards, “by drawing every mortal thing that came under my notice.” While he was still in school, Boughton’s father and mother died and he was left to the care of his older brothers and sisters. They regarded his efforts in art with little favor and offered him no encouragement.
But George Boughton would not be discouraged. Drawing and painting had more attraction for him than even the sports that are dear to every boy’s heart. He has himself told the story of how he once went into a store to buy hooks and a line to use on a fishing trip to a neighboring creek, and how he came out with a set of oil colors and paint brushes instead. The picture he painted at that time was the beginning of his success. When he was nineteen years old he sold enough of his sketches to pay his way to London. He spent a few months in London and then went on a long trip through England, Scotland, and Ireland, making sketches of the scenes that appealed to him.
With these he returned to New York, where they were quickly sold. A few years later, with the help of a millionaire patron who bought the artist’s pictures in advance, Boughton went to Paris. After a year in Paris he went to London again, finally making his home there. Then, of course, his studio in New York City was given up, but, though he lived in England, his art remained distinctly American.
He was especially interested in the history and literature of our country and has been called “the interpreter of New England life in the seventeenth century.”
Besides painting, Mr. Boughton wrote stories for magazines, illustrating his own stories.
In 1879 Mr. Boughton was elected Associate of the Royal Academy in London, and in 1896 he became a member of the Academy with all the honors and privileges of that position.
Among his most noted pictures are the “Return of the Mayflower,” “Pilgrim Exiles,” and “The Scarlet Letter.”