to develop his native taste for art. All these influences have had their effect on his later life, since they early gave him delight in works of poetry and in books descriptive of sea life. When only seventeen he sent to the "London News" illustrations of naval scenes in the Crimean war; and while a freshman in college he began to contribute poems, descriptive articles, etc., to various periodicals.
His experience has been varied, and his later life one of diversified occupation. After graduation he made the pursuit of literature and art his life interest, publishing a slender volume of poems which was well received by the critics, and continuing to contribute poetry to the New York "Independent" and other periodicals. During three years, 1861-63, he served as assistant librarian in the New York State library. At the same time he read law and did his share for the Union cause in the Civil war by paying the cost of raising two companies of cavalry. Leaving the library in 1863, failing health led to long journeys in Asia Minor and Europe and to an extended yachting voyage, after which he settled down to his first chosen employment, opening a studio in Boston and becoming a painter of marine scenes. In this occupation he continued engaged for years with considerable success, exhibiting at the National Academy of Design at the Centennial in 1876, and elsewhere and at the same time doing much work as a book and magazine illustrator.
The financial panic of 1873 brought about a change in Mr. Benjamin's career, depreciating property, causing a serious depression in the art world, and inducing him for a time to take up literature as his chief occupation. He contributed articles on art, travel and history, and descriptions of notable scenes, to various periodicals; and in the exercise of this vocation he became for many years a wanderer, especially at sea, his early love of ships and life on the water developing into a passion, and leading to various interesting adventures. During this interval he was for a time art-editor of the "Mail and Express," New York, and American editor of the "Magazine of Art." Important illustrated contributions were made by him also to the "Century" magazine and "Harpers," "London Art Journal," etc. Meanwhile Mr. Benjamin had twice married. His first wife, Clara Stowell (married October 20, 1863) died in 1880. On the sixteenth of November, 1882, he married Fanny Nichols Weed, the author of "The Sunny Side of Shadow" and other works.
