The scout's Prize.
--This is the title of a painting, just completed by Mr. Elder, now on public exhibition at Davies's music store.
It is truly a noble work, and stamps the artist as a man of rare genius.
The whole story is told by a glance at the picture: a lonely bit of forest road, a furious snow storm, and a scout spurring on through it with a fury that shows he is pursued, but who seems cool and self-poised, holding a carbine in the firm clutch of his right hand, and leading the captured horse by the rein with his left.
That horse, a noble animal, bears the trappings of a Federal soldier; he has tried to outrun the slower horse of the scout, but a jerk of the rein has set him fretting and leaping, and a toss of his head has broken the martingale.
This is historical painting in its truest sense, and half a century hence will tell a story of the great war more truly than history ever will.
This is a thing that living men have seen, and not mere imaginary scenes f
