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Rh of Spain,' in four volumes, the 'Desiderio and Electo,' and other abominable books which I never turned to again, but which left in my mind confused ideas of history, allegories, fables, countries, and proper names. I owe thus to my father that love of reading which has been the constant occupation of my life, and although he could not give me an education because of his poverty, he gave me by his paternal solicitude the powerful instrument by which I have supplied the want through my own efforts, thus fulfilling the most constant and earnest of his wishes.

"I never knew how to spin a top, to bat a ball, to fly a kite, or had any inclination for such boyish sports. At school I learned how to copy the knaves from cards, and afterwards made a copy of San Martin on horseback, from the paper lantern of a grocer, and from acquisition to acquisition, I succeeded, after ten years of perseverance, in divining all the secrets of making caricatures. In a family visit on one occasion, at the house of Doña Barbara Icaste, I occupied the day in copying the face of a San Jeronimo, and that type once acquired, I reproduced it distinctly in the faces of all ages and sexes. My teacher, weary of correcting me in this pastime, concluded by resigning himself to it, and respecting the instinctive mania. When I had an opportunity to be instructed in drawing, the will to perfect myself in it was unfortunately wanting. But later in life I spread through my province a taste for that graphic art, and under my direction or inspiration were formed half a dozen artists, which San Juan now possesses. But that taste was converted in my youth into one for sculpture, which took two different forms, and I made saints and soldiers, the two great objects of my childish fancy.

"My mother raised me with the persuasion that I should be a clergyman, and the curate of San Juan, in imitation of my uncle; and my father had visions for me of military