So the works of the
sculptor are to some degree the exponents of his character, the
expressions of his inner life.
Therefore in Mr. Palmer we should expect moral and intellectual worth of
a high order, added to the purest and most exalted motives. He is in
spirit a reformer, taking an interest in every measure for the
improvement of our race, and sympathizing with every struggle of our
aspiring manhood.
The eccentricities, excuses, and conventional affectations of many real
and pretended geniuses he entirely eschews, feeling himself one of the
people, and laboring for their elevation.
Neither does he deem it any part of genius to neglect his family, forget
to pay his butcher's bill, and ignore the claim of his tailor. His ample
house and neat atelier, at the north end of Eagle street, in the city of
Albany, are the fruit of his patient and inspiring toil--his chisel has
won him moderate fortune as well as world-wide fame.
Photographs of the 'Palmer Marbles' are seen in the show windows of
Paris, London, and Berlin, while in this country they help to fill the
portfolios of the _virtuoso_, adorning the walls of the parlor and the
private gallery.
Though in youth Palmer did not receive an average common-school
education, he converses like a man of liberal culture, showing that he
belongs to the class of self-made men.
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