BOONE'S RELIGIOUS VIEWS.
Reduced facsimile from original MS. in possession of Wisconsin State Historical Society.
Many strangers of distinction visited him at Nathan's home near the banks of the Missouri, and the public journals of the day always welcomed an anecdote of the great hunter's prowess—although most of the stories which found their way into print were either deliberate inventions or unconsciously exaggerated traditions. From published descriptions of the man by those who could discriminate, we may gain some idea of his appearance and manner. The great naturalist Audubon once passed a night under a West Virginia roof in the same room with Boone, whose "extraordinary skill in the management of a rifle" is alluded to. He says: "The stature and general appearance of this wanderer of the Western forests approached the gigantic. His chest was broad and prominent; his muscular powers displayed themselves in every limb; his countenance gave indication of his great courage, enterprise, and perseverance; and when he spoke the very motion of his lips brought the impression that whatever he uttered could not be otherwise than strictly true. I undressed, whilst he merely took off his hunting-shirt and arranged a few folds of blankets on the floor, choosing rather to lie there, as he observed, than on the softest bed."
Timothy Flint, one of his early biographers, knew the "grand old man" in Missouri, and thus pictures him: "He was five feet ten inches in height, of a very erect, clean-limbed, and athletic form—admirably fitted in structure, muscle, temperament, and habit for the endurance of the labors, changes, and sufferings he underwent. He had what phrenologists would have considered a model head—with a forehead peculiarly high, noble, and bold—thin and compressed lips—a mild, clear, blue eye—a large and prominent chin, and a general expression of countenance in which fearlessness and courage sat enthroned, and which told the beholder at a glance what he had been and was formed to be." Flint declares that the busts, paintings, and engravings of Boone bear little resemblance to him. "They want the high port and noble daring of his countenance.... Never was old age more green, or gray hairs more graceful. His high, calm, bold forehead seemed converted by years into iron."
Rev. James E. Welch, a revivalist, thus tells of Boone as he saw him at his meetings in 1818: "He was rather low of stature, broad shoulders, high cheek-bones, very mild countenance, fair complexion, soft and quiet in his manner, but little to say unless spoken to, amiable and kind in his feelings, very fond of quiet retirement, of cool self-possession and indomitable perseverance. He never made a profession of religion, but still was what the world calls a very moral man."
In 1819, the year before the death of Boone, Chester Harding, an American portrait-painter of some note, went out from St. Louis to make a life study of the aged Kentuckian. He found him at the time "living alone in a cabin, a part of an old blockhouse," evidently having escaped for a time from the conventionalities of home life, which palled upon him. The great man was roasting a steak of venison on the end of his ramrod. He had a marvelous memory of the incidents of early days, although forgetful of passing events. "I asked him," says Harding, "if he never got lost in his long wanderings after game? He said 'No, I was never lost, but I was bewildered once for three days.'" The portrait is now in the possession of the painter's grandson, Mr. William H. King, of Winnetka, Ill. Harding says that he "never finished the drapery of the original picture, but copied the head, I think, at three different times." It is from this portrait (our frontispiece), made when Boone was an octogenarian, emaciated and feeble—although not appearing older than seventy years—that most others have been taken; thus giving us, as Flint says, but a shadowy notion of how the famous explorer looked in his prime. There is in existence, however, a portrait made by Audubon, from memory—a charming picture, representing Boone in middle life.[18]