the rolling prairies of the West, in the sunny South, amid the grand
scenes of the Sierras, or on the Pacific slope.

That Denman Thompson was not a native of New Hampshire was rather the
result of chance. His parents were natives of Swanzey, where they are
still living at a ripe old age, and where they have always lived, save
for a few years preceeding and following the birth of their children. In
1831 the parents moved to Girard, Erie County, Pennsylvania, when,
October 15, 1833, was born their gifted son. The boy was blessed with
one brother and two sisters, and death has yet to strike its first blow
in the family.

At the age of thirteen years Denman accompanied his family to the old
home in Swanzey, where for several years he received the advantages of
the education afforded by the district school. For his higher education
he was indebted to the excellent scholastic opportunities afforded by
the Mount Cæsar Seminary in Swanzey.

At the age of nineteen he entered the employ of his uncle in Lowell,
Massachusetts, serving as book-keeper in a wholesale store, and in that
city he made his _debut_ as Orasman in the military drama of the FRENCH
SPY.

In 1854, at the age of twenty-one years, he was engaged by John
Nickerson, the veteran actor and manager, as a member of the stock
company of the Royal Lyceum, Toronto. From the first his success was
assured, for aside from his natural adaptation to his profession he
possesses indomitable perseverance, a quality as necessary to the rise
of an artist as genius. On the provincial boards of Toronto he studied
and acted for the next few years, perfecting himself in his calling and