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автор Harriet Earhart Monroe

Transcriber's Note:

The cover image was created by the transcriber and is placed in the public domain.

Photo by Pach Bros., New York

PRESIDENT TAFT

Washington
ITS SIGHTS AND INSIGHTS

BY

Mrs. Harriet Earhart Monroe

Author of "The Art of Conversation," "The Heroine of the Mining

Camp," "Historical Lutheranism," etc.

NEW AND REVISED EDITION

FUNK & WAGNALLS COMPANY

NEW YORK AND LONDON

1909

Copyright, 1903 and 1909, by

HARRIET EARHART MONROE

[Printed in the United States of America]

Revised Edition Published September, 1909

CONTENTS

 

PAGE

 

I.

The City of Washington

1  

II.

A Genius from France

4  

III.

The Capitol Building

12  

IV.

Interior of the Capitol

17  

V.

The Rotunda

21  

VI.

Concerning Some of the Art at the Capitol

26  

VII.

The Senate Chamber

33  

VIII.

The House of Representatives

40  

IX.

Concerning Representatives

46  

X.

The Supreme Court Room

53  

XI.

Incidents Concerning Members of the Supreme Court of the United States

58  

XII.

Teaching Patriotism in the Capitol

67  

XIII.

People in the Departments

73  

XIV.

Incidents In and Out of the Departments

80  

XV.

Treasury Department

84  

XVI.

Secret Service Department of the Treasury of the United States

92  

XVII.

Post-Office Department

100  

XVIII.

Department of Agriculture

105  

XIX.

Department of Chemistry on Pure Foods

109  

XX.

Department of the Interior

114  

XXI.

Branches of the Department of the Interior

121  

XXII.

Bureau of Indian Affairs

126  

XXIII.

The Library of Congress

131  

XXIV.

The Pension Office

138  

XXV.

State, War, and Navy Departments

146  

XXVI.

State, War, and Navy Departments (

Cont'd

)

155  

XXVII.

Department of Commerce

161  

XXVIII.

The Executive Mansion

166  

XXIX.

Interests in Washington Which Can Not Here be Fully Described

179

ILLUSTRATIONS

 

PAGE

 

President Taft

Frontispiece  

Bird's-eye View of Washington, Looking East from the Monument

Between 4 and 5  

Bird's-eye View of Washington, Looking Down the Potomac from the Monument

Between 8 and 9  

The Capitol

Between 12 and 13  

Plan of the Principal Floor of the Capitol

15  

Brumidi Frieze in Rotunda

22  

Brumidi Frieze in Rotunda

23  

The First Reading of the Emancipation Proclamation

27  

The Mace

41  

The Speaker's Room

42   Group I Between 48 and 49    

Statuary Hall

     

"Westward Ho!"

     

Washington Declining Overtures from Cornwallis

     

The Senate Chamber

     

Some Prominent Senators

     

The House of Representatives in Session

     

Some Prominent Representatives

     

New House Office Building

   

Seating Plan of the Supreme Court Chamber

54   Group II Between 80 and 81    

Justices of the Supreme Court

     

The Supreme Court Room

     

The Treasury Building

     

New Municipal Building

     

Government Printing Office

     

New Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, Union Station

     

The Smithsonian Institution

     

The New National Museum

   

Macerating $10,000,000 of Money

88  

The Patent Office

114   Group III Between 128 and 129    

The Bureau of Indian Affairs

     

The Congressional Library

     

Grand Stairway of the Congressional Library

     

The Rotunda (Reading-room) of the Congressional Library

     

The Pension Office

     

The State, War, and Navy Departments

     

The German Embassy

     

The British Embassy

     

The New French Embassy

     

The Russian Embassy

   

One of the Bronze Doors of the Congressional Library

133  

The Declaration of Independence

148  

Fish Commission Building

163  

Mrs William H. Taft

166   Group IV Between 176 and 177    

The President and Cabinet

     

Entrance to the White House

     

New Wing of the White House

     

South Front of the White House

     

North Front of the White House

     

Grand Corridor—White House

     

State Dining-room—White House

     

Mount Vernon—From South Lawn

     

Tomb of Washington—Mount Vernon

     

Home of General Lee

     

Monument to the Unknown Dead, Arlington National Cemetery

     

The Washington Monument

   

Charlotte Corday

181

WASHINGTON

ITS SIGHTS AND INSIGHTS

I
THE CITY OF WASHINGTON

The City of Washington is the central point of interest of that stage on which is being performed the second century act in the great drama of self-government.

The actors here are the representatives of 85,000,000 of people. The spectators are all the peoples of the world, to be succeeded by those of all future ages.

If this experiment in self-government should fail, all other republics will surely perish; but we believe that the Republic of the United States of America has taken its place as a fixed star in the galaxy of great nations, and that the stars on its flag will not be dimmed till dimmed in the blaze of humanity's millennium. Therefore, the actors and the buildings of this great city, which are parts of the dramatis personæ and the furniture of the stage, can not fail to be interesting to any child of the republic.

Baron Humboldt, in 1804, when standing on the west balcony of the Capitol building, said: "This point gives the most beautiful view of its type in the world."

Senator Sumner said: "The City of Washington is more beautiful than ancient Rome."

Besides what one can behold of the great city from that point, across the Potomac can be seen the heights of Arlington, where sleep so many of the sacred dead of the nation.

The place is also famed as having been the home of Robert E. Lee, noted in early days for a generous Southern hospitality. If walls could speak, what thrilling stories of chivalrous men and fair women could be there heard!

On the south of Washington, in plain view, lies the quaint old town of Alexandria, where Ellsworth was killed, while far to the north is Howard University, used chiefly for the education of colored people—the one the type of the departing past, the other the emblem of the possibilities of a coming hopeful future.

Washington is the only city in the world built exclusively to serve as a capital. Just after the Revolution, Congress, sitting in Philadelphia, was grossly insulted by the unpaid returning troops, against whom the city offered no adequate protection. Congress then adjourned to the collegiate halls of Princeton, where resolutions were offered to erect buildings for the exclusive use of Congress, either on the Delaware River or on the Potomac River.

Several States were applicants for the permanent seat of government, but diplomacy and a good dinner settled the question in favor of its present site.

We are apt to think everything was done in that day on the high plane of patriotism, but prejudice, provincialism, and avarice each played its part.

Hamilton was desirous of having his treasury policy adopted. The North favored this policy, but the representatives from that section, accustomed to the comforts of New York and Philadelphia, had no inclination to establish the Capitol on a swampy Southern plantation, away from the usual lines of travel.

Washington was with the South. Jefferson gave a great dinner, where, under the influence of rare old wine and the witching words of Hamilton, Northern ease, in exchange for Southern consent to the treasury policy, gave way to the Southern desire that the nation's Capitol should be located in its present position.

The land was purchased from four planters—Young, Carroll, Davidson, and David Burns. Mr. Burns was not willing to part with his land at the rates offered. When Washington remonstrated, the old Scotchman said: "I suppose, Mr. Washington, you think that people are going to take every grist that comes from you as pure grain; but who would you have been if you had not married the widow Custis?"

Posterity is apt to inquire, Who would ever have heard of the widow Custis if she had not married George Washington?

But government had ways, then as now, of bringing about conclusions when property was wanted for public purposes.

II
A GENIUS FROM FRANCE

Among the pathetic figures of the early days of the Capitol City is that of Major Pierre Charles L'Enfant, who was selected by Washington to draft plans for the new city.

L'Enfant was a skilful engineer who had come to America with Lafayette in 1777. He did not go back to France with his countrymen in 1783, but remained in this country, and was employed by Washington as an engineer in several places.

He devoted the summer of 1791 to planning, not the capital of a small nation, but a city which could be sufficiently enlarged should this continent be densely populated from the Atlantic to the Pacific.

There was no other man in this country at that time who had such knowledge of art and engineering as Major L'Enfant. Plans of Frankfort-on-the-Main, Carlsruhe, Amsterdam, Paris, Orleans, Turin, Milan, and other European cities were sent to him from Philadelphia by Washington, who had obtained the plan of each of these cities by his own personal effort.

Photo by Clinedinst

BIRD'S-EYE VIEW OF WASHINGTON, LOOKING EAST FROM THE MONUMENT

Washington himself desired the new city planned somewhat like Philadelphia, a plain checkerboard, but L'Enfant, while making the checkerboard style the basis, diversified, beautified, and complicated the whole by a system of avenues radiating from the Capitol as the centre and starting-point of the whole system. The streets running east and west are designated by letters. They are divided into two classes or sets—those north of the Capitol and those south of it. Thus, the first street north of the Capitol is A Street North, and the first street south of it is A Street South, the next is B Street, North or South, as the case may be, and so on. These distinctions of North, South, East, and West are most important, as forgetfulness of them is apt to lead to very great inconvenience.

The streets are laid off at regular distances from each other, but for convenience other thoroughfares not laid down in the original plan have been cut through some of the blocks. These are called "half streets," as they occur between, and are parallel with, the numbered streets. Thus, Four-and-a-half Street is between Fourth and Fifth streets, and runs parallel with them.

The avenues run diagonally across the city. New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Delaware avenues intersect at the Capitol, and Pennsylvania, New York, Vermont, and Connecticut avenues intersect at the President's house. Pennsylvania Avenue is the main thoroughfare. It is one hundred and sixty feet wide, and extends the entire length of the city, from the Eastern Branch to Rock Creek, which latter stream separates Washington from Georgetown. It was originally a swampy thicket. The bushes were cut away to the desired width soon after the city was laid off, but few persons cared to settle in the swamp. Through the exertions of President Jefferson, it was planted with four rows of fine Lombardy poplars—one on each side and two in the middle—with the hope of making it equal to the famous Unter den Linden, in Berlin. The poplars did not grow as well as was hoped, however, and when the avenue was graded and paved by order of Congress in 1832 and 1833 these trees were removed. Pennsylvania Avenue is handsomely built up, and contains some buildings that would do credit to any city. The distance from the Capitol to the President's house is one mile, and the view from either point along the avenue is very fine.

Every circle, triangle, and square dedicated to monuments bears testimony to the taste of the original design. So little respect, however, was held for Major L'Enfant's plans that Daniel Carroll, one of the original owners of the land, was in the act of building a handsome house right across New Jersey Avenue. L'Enfant ordered it torn down. This was done, much to the disgust of Carroll and to the indignation of the commissioners. The government rebuilt the house for Carroll, but was careful to place it in a more suitable location. The old Duddington House, on Capitol Hill, was long a landmark of the early Washington architecture.

There were some other acts of irritability on the part of L'Enfant, acts which now show his just appreciation of his own great work. He was paid $2,500 for his services and dismissed. He believed he should have been pensioned, as would have been done in Europe.

Afterward he saw the city expand as the nation grew strong, while he, a disappointed, poverty-stricken man, wandered, a pathetic figure, about the Capitol until 1825, when he died. He had lived for years on the Diggs farm, about eight miles from Washington, and was buried in the family cemetery in the Diggs garden, and when the dead of that family were removed his dust was left in an unmarked grave.

Mr. Corcoran, the great banker of Washington, who died in 1888, said he remembered L'Enfant as "a rather seedy, stylish old man, with a long green coat buttoned up to his throat, a bell-crowned hat, a little moody and lonely, like one wronged." The heart of a stranger in a strange, ungrateful land.

The City of Washington is his monument. No one can now rob him of that honor. Let us hope that he has awakened in His likeness and is satisfied.

Could the Colonial Dames or the Daughters of the Revolution do a more beneficent and popular act than to mark the resting-place of Peter Charles L'Enfant, who drew the original plans of that city which is to become the most beautiful city in the world?[1]

1.  On April 28, 1909, the body of Major L'Enfant was moved to the National Cemetery, at Arlington, where a suitable memorial will soon be erected.

The letters of General Washington abound in references to the difficulty of obtaining money to fit the new city for capital purposes. Virginia made a donation of $120,000 and the State of Maryland gave $72,000. Afterward the latter State was induced to loan $100,000 toward fitting the city for a capital.

The City of Washington was officially occupied in June, 1800. Since then it has been the ward of Congress. Strangers, even at this late day, often comment on the long distance between the Capitol building and the Executive Mansion; but Washington strongly impressed upon the mind of Major L'Enfant that the latter must be at a considerable distance, so that members of Congress should not fall into the habit of coming too frequently to call upon the President, and thus waste the time of the executive head of the nation.

It is not the purpose in these sketches to dwell too much on the history of Washington, but rather to make a picture of the city as it is in the first decade of the twentieth century. A glimpse of it, however, in the summer of 1814 is really necessary to complete our references to the early days of the nation's capital.

In 1814 the city was captured by a small British force under General Ross, and both wings of the Capitol building, with its library and almost all the records of the government up to that date, were destroyed by fire, also the White House, as the Executive Mansion was even then called, and most of the departments, including the Navy-yard.

Mrs. Madison, in a letter to her sister, gives a graphic picture of the time:

"Dear Sister,—My husband left me yesterday morning to join General Winder. He inquired anxiously whether I had courage or firmness to remain in the President's house until his return on the morrow or succeeding day, and on my assurance that I had no fear but for him and the success of our army, he left me, beseeching me to take care of myself and of the Cabinet papers, public and private. I have since received two despatches from him, written with a pencil; the last is alarming, because he desires that I should be ready at a moment's warning to enter my carriage and leave the city; that the enemy seemed stronger than had been reported, and that it might happen that they would reach the city with intention to destroy it.

Photo by Clinedinst

BIRD'S-EYE VIEW OF WASHINGTON LOOKING DOWN THE POTOMAC FROM THE MONUMENT

"... I am accordingly ready; I have pressed as many Cabinet papers into trunks as to fill one carriage; our private property must be sacrificed, as it is impossible to procure wagons for its transportation. I am determined not to go myself until I see Mr. Madison safe and he can accompany me, as I hear of much hostility toward him.... Disaffection stalks around us.... My friends and acquaintances are all gone, even Colonel C., with his hundred men, who were stationed as a guard in this enclosure.... French John (a faithful domestic), with his usual activity and resolution, offers to spike the cannon at the gate and lay a train of powder which would blow up the British should they enter the house. To the last proposition I positively object, without being able, however, to make him understand why all advantages in war may not be taken.

"Wednesday morning (twelve o'clock).—Since sunrise I have been turning my spyglass in every direction and watching with unwearied anxiety, hoping to discover the approach of my dear husband and his friends; but, alas! I can descry only groups of military wandering in all directions, as if there was a lack of arms, or of spirit, to fight for their own firesides.

"Three o'clock.—Will you believe it, my sister? We have had a battle, or skirmish, near Bladensburg, and I am still here within sound of the cannon. Mr. Madison comes not—may God protect him! Two messengers, covered with dust, come to bid me fly; but I wait for him.... At this late hour a wagon has been procured; I have had it filled with the plate and most valuable portable articles belonging to the house; whether it will reach its destination, the Bank of Maryland, or fall into the hands of British soldiery, events must determine. Our kind friend, Mr. Carroll, has come to hasten my departure, and is in a very bad humor with me because I insist on waiting until the large picture of General Washington is secured, and it requires to be unscrewed from the wall. This process was found too tedious for these perilous moments. I have ordered the frame to be broken and the canvas taken out; it is done, and the precious portrait placed in the hands of two gentlemen of New York for safe-keeping. And now, my dear sister, I must leave this house, or the retreating army will make me a prisoner in it by filling up the road I am directed to take. When I shall again write to you, or where I shall be to-morrow, I can not tell."

We all know the story of Mrs. Madison's flight, of her return in disguise to a desolated, burned, ruined home. She would have been without shelter except for the open door of Mrs. Cutts, her sister, who lived in the city. From that point she visited the ruins of all the public buildings while she awaited her husband's return.

We are apt to think of the White House as a place of teas, receptions, gayly dressed people, light, music, flowers, and laughter; but it, too, has seen its tragedies.

Fifty years after the burning of the city the famous Stuart picture of Washington, referred to in Mrs. Madison's letter, was retouched and hung in the East Room, and still constitutes one of the few ornaments of the Executive Mansion.

During Mr. Roosevelt's administration (1902-1903) extensive alterations and additions were made to the Executive building.

The conservatory, so long an object of enjoyment to the public, was removed to give place for a long white esplanade on the west, forming the approach to the Executive offices, while on the east side a white colonnade now provides a most desirable entrance for large crowds on public occasions.

It has been a matter of regret to D. A. R. women, and to all the patriotic women of the nation, that the portraits of the ladies of the White House have been remanded to the basement corridors. Here are now the portraits of Mrs. Van Buren, Mrs. Tyler, Mrs. Polk (presented by ladies of Tennessee during Mr. Arthur's administration), Mrs. Hayes (presented by the National Woman's Christian Temperance Union during Mr. Hayes's term), and Mrs. Benjamin Harrison (presented by the D. A. R.), and the portrait of Mrs. Roosevelt, by Chartran.

III
THE CAPITOL BUILDING

The corner-stone of the old Capitol, which constitutes the central portion of the new edifice, was laid the 18th of September, 1793, by General Washington, in the presence of a great concourse of people and with imposing ceremonies.

The corner-stones of the wings were laid by President Fillmore, July 4, 1851. Webster delivered the oration of the occasion.

The old building is of yellow sandstone, kept painted white to beautify and preserve it; the wings are of white marble. On its central portico all our Presidents, from Andrew Jackson to President McKinley, have taken the oath of office. President Roosevelt took the oath of office at Buffalo. This building, which fronts the east, was set in accordance with the astronomical observations of Andrew Ellicott, an engineer from Bucks County, Pennsylvania, who succeeded Major L'Enfant as general surveyor and engineer in the new city.

Ellicott is described as bearing a marked resemblance to Benjamin Franklin, except that he was more of a Quaker in appearance, wearing a long, fine gray broadcloth coat and a Quaker hat. He awaits the resurrection in an unmarked grave at Ellicott City, Maryland.

Photo by Clinedinst

THE CAPITOL

The original building was constructed from plans submitted by Stephen Hallet, the work undergoing some modifications from the plans of Dr. William Thornton.

The great wings were added during Fillmore's administration from designs submitted by Thomas N. Walter, architect, who not only superintended the building of the additions, but also managed to harmonize them with the original design.

Years ago it was quite the fashion for Americans returning from Europe to make disparaging remarks concerning the Capitol building, but that spirit seems to have passed away, and the dignity, grace, and beauty of its architecture now receive universal commendation.

Prince Henry of Germany remarked of this noble structure: "For Capitol purposes it surpasses every other building in the world. Its architectural beauty is most impressive."

It is not our purpose to give a minute description of the building. We have said that it faces east, for the founders of the Capitol believed the city would grow in that direction, but the landholders of early days asked such high prices that the city began to stretch toward the northwest, which is to this day the fashionable part for residences, although Capitol Hill is much more beautiful as to situation.

The base of the building is ninety-seven feet above the river. The central structure is of Virginia yellow sandstone, which is kept painted white. The wings are of Massachusetts marble, and the one hundred columns of the extension porticoes are of Maryland marble.

The building covers three and one-half acres. It is seven hundred and fifty-one feet long and three hundred and fifty feet wide.

The height of the dome above the rest of the building is two hundred and fifty-seven feet, and its weight is eight million pounds. This dome is surmounted by Crawford's statue of Freedom, nineteen and one-half feet high, and weighing fifteen thousand pounds. The entire edifice constitutes the highest public building in America not located on a mountain, being sixty-eight feet higher than Bunker Hill monument, and twenty-three feet higher than the steeple of Trinity Church, in New York City.

Thomas G. Walker resigned his place as architect in 1865, and was succeeded by the late architect of the Capitol, Mr. Edward Clark, who died early in 1902. His great work had been to finish the west front facing the city, and to harmonize the conflicting and foreign tastes of the many decorators of the building.

Mr. Elliott Wood, the successor of Mr. Clark, had been the latter's chief assistant. Mr. Wood had long been virtually in charge of the Capitol.

The architects had a candidate ready because Mr. Wood was practically an engineer; to meet this and yet give a faithful man his due, the name of the position was changed to that of Superintendent of the Capitol. He, like his predecessor, has much to do in getting rid of the foreign artists' effects and in Americanizing the whole.

PLAN OF THE PRINCIPAL FLOOR OF THE CAPITOL
(Rooms numbered are for committees, etc.)

Mrs. Mary Clemmer Ames says of the Capitol: "It not only borrowed its face from the buildings of antiquity, but it was built by men strangers in thought and spirit to the genius of the new republic, and to the unwrought and unembodied poetry of its virgin soil. Its earlier decorators, all Italians, overlaid its walls with their florid colors and foreign symbols; within the American Capitol they have set the Loggia of Raphael, the voluptuous anterooms of Pompeii, and the baths of Titus. The American plants, birds, and animals, representing prodigal nature at home, are buried in twilight passages, while mythological barmaids, misnamed goddesses, dance in the most conspicuous and preposterous places."

An office building for the use of members of the House has been constructed (1909) on the block on B Street, between New Jersey Avenue and First Street, southeast of the Capitol. A similar building has been erected northeast of the Capitol, for the use of Senators. The two buildings are connected by an underground road, on which swift automobile-like cars run for the convenience of legislators. The House offices contain 410 rooms, the Senate offices 99 rooms. The appropriation for each building was $2,500,000. There is a general feeling in Washington that too much luxury pervades these buildings.

IV
INTERIOR OF THE CAPITOL

In 1808 Jefferson made Benjamin Henry Latrobe supervising architect of what we now call the old Capitol, being the central portion of the present building.

He constructed the original Senate Chamber, now the Supreme Court Room, on the plan of the old Greek theater, the general outline of which it yet retains. The House (now Statuary Hall) also had a decidedly Grecian aspect. It was finished in 1811. Statuary Hall is semicircular in shape, and has a vaulted roof. Its ornamentation is not yet completed. This is right. It would not be well to occupy all the space in one generation. We need the perspective of time to know that which will be of permanent interest to the world.

Here Clay presided, here Webster spoke, and here Adams stood for the right of petition and for the abolition of human slavery. What pictures these scenes would make! A plate in the floor southwest of the center marks the spot in the House where John Quincy Adams fell stricken with paralysis. In a room opening from the Hall is a memorial bust, whose inscription reads: "John Quincy Adams, who, after fifty years of public service, the last sixteen in yonder Hall, was summoned to die in this room February 23 1848."

The room has special acoustic qualities which in early days occasioned much trouble. A whisper scarcely audible to the ear into which it is breathed is distinctly heard in another part of the hall. It is one of the most remarkable whispering galleries in the world, and its peculiar properties, accidentally discovered, produced no end of disturbances before they were fully understood. Their effect has been much modified by a recent change in the ceiling.

Each State is now permitted to place in Statuary Hall two statues of its most renowned sons.

Virginia has Washington and Jefferson. Think of that! New Hampshire has Daniel Webster, who made these walls echo with his thrilling, patriotic sentences, and John Stark, of Bunker Hill fame, who cried: "See those men? They are the redcoats! Before night they are ours, or Molly Stark will be a widow!"

Pennsylvania has Robert Fulton, the inventor, and John Peter Gabriel Muhlenberg, the preacher, Major-General in the Revolution. He was also Senator and Member of Congress. New York has Robert R. Livingston, of the Continental Congress, and Alexander Hamilton. The latter was Washington's Secretary of the Treasury during both of his Presidential terms. He had much to do with securing a good financial system for the new government. His pathetic death enhanced his fame and ruined Burr; but under the search-light of history one can not help wondering had Burr been killed and Hamilton survived that duel, would the halo of the latter have faded? The statue of Hamilton is one of the best in the Hall. It was made in Rome by Horatio Stone.

The Illinois memorial is the famous Vinnie Ream statue of Lincoln. I wish, because it was done by a woman, that I could like it, but it is weak and unworthy. In every line of his strong, patriotic face lived the gospel of everlasting hope. This figure might well stand for one vanquished in the race. (Was Jesus vanquished? Was Paul? Was Luther? Was Lincoln?)

There is a small bust of Lincoln, by Mrs. Ames, which approaches nearer the true ideal of the great apostle of Liberty.

Illinois is further represented by James Shields, Senator. It would seem that men like Washington and Lincoln, who were the product of national influences, should be venerated as representatives of the nation rather than of individual States.

Missouri is represented by Frank Blair and Thomas H. Benton; Vermont, by Jacob Collamer and Ethan Allen, the hero of Ticonderoga; Oregon, by Edward Dickinson Baker, whose fine statue is by Horatio Stone.

Jacques Marquette (by G. Trentanore), in the garb of a Catholic priest, represents Wisconsin. Ohio has President Garfield and William Allen.

Roger Sherman and John Trumbull represent Connecticut, and Rhode Island memorializes Roger Williams and General Nathanael Greene, of Revolutionary fame—the former, in his quaint sixteenth century garb, standing as well for religious freedom as for the State which he founded.

Massachusetts presents Samuel Adams's statue, by Annie Whitney, and John Winthrop's, by R. S. Greenough. What a goodly company they are, those New England heroes![2]

2.  Since the above was written a statue of John James Ingalls, of Kansas, has been placed in Statuary Hall; as well as a statue of Frances Willard, of Illinois, who is the first woman in the United States to be so honored.

Will Kansas have the courage to place there the statue of John Brown, of Osawatomie? He yet is a type of that unconventional State, which regards no precedent, follows no pattern; that State which, in a blind way, is striving to put the Ten Commandments on top and to uphold the principles of the Sermon on the Mount, no difference what man or what party goes down in the strife; that State of which Whittier truthfully said:

We cross the prairie as of old

The pilgrims crossed the sea,

To make the West, as they the East,

The homestead of the free.

Upbearing, like the ark of old,

The Bible in our van,

We go to test the truth of God

Against the fraud of man.

A brave fight the State has made against fraud. The fight is yet on; but who doubts that the truth of God "shall yet prevail," and who would better stand for such a people than one who went down in that fight with the "martyr's aureole" around his grizzled head?

Much, of course, must be left untold here; but it is hoped that what has been said will create a desire to see and learn more of those whom the State and the nation has here honored.

V
THE ROTUNDA

It is not the purpose in these sketches to go into any minute descriptions of places or things in Washington. To do that volumes would be needed, and then much left untold.

The Rotunda is the central part of the old building of the Capitol, and lies beneath the dome. It is circular in form, with a diameter of ninety-five feet, and with a height to the canopy above of a little over one hundred and eighty feet.

The panels of the Rotunda are set with life-size pictures, illustrating important scenes in American history. There are "The Surrender of Burgoyne, October 17, 1777"; "The Surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown, Virginia, October 19, 1781" and "The Resignation of Washington, December 23, 1783." These are by Trumbull. They may not be perfect, considered as works of art, but they commemorate events whose memory should never die.

The surrender of Burgoyne was the greatest triumph of American over British arms up to that date (October 17, 1777). Had his twelve hundred Hessians been English patriots the result might have been different. When the British officer was sent to inquire their condition for a fight, the answer of the British was, "We will fight to a man." But the Hessians replied, "Nix the money, nix the rum, nix fighten."

BRUMIDI FRIEZE IN ROTUNDA

It was in a cold, drizzling rain that Lord Cornwallis made his surrender. He sat on his horse with his head uncovered. General Washington said, "Put on your hat, my lord; you will take cold." He replied, "It matters not what happens to this head now." In our exultation we are apt to forget his side.

No writer that I know of praises the scene of Washington's resignation, yet the faces are so clear-cut that you recognize every face which other pictures have made familiar. The costumes are correct historical studies, and I would not wish a line of them changed.

Another picture of the Rotunda is "The Declaration of Independence." How familiar, how dear each face has become, from Lee, Jefferson, Franklin, John Adams, Roger Sherman, and Livingston, to the plain Quaker who stands by the door! Adams afterward wrote: "Several signed with regret, and several others with many doubts and much lukewarmness." That shows in the picture, and contrasts with the enthusiasm of the few, who with clear vision felt the dawn of a larger liberty for the race.

We are so apt to enjoy the music and forget the singer, to enjoy the painting and forget the artist, that we venture a reminder concerning Colonel John Trumbull, the artist aide-de-camp of General Washington. He studied art in this country and in Europe. In London he painted John Adams, our first Minister to England, and, in Paris, Thomas Jefferson, our Minister to France. General Washington gave him sittings, and he traveled through the entire thirteen colonies securing portraits. It was not until 1816, after thirty years of careful preparation, that Congress gave him the commission to paint the four great historical paintings now in the Rotunda. They are the best authentic likenesses now in existence of the persons represented.

BRUMIDI FRIEZE IN ROTUNDA

"The Embarkation of the Pilgrims," by Wier, is considered the best picture of the Rotunda. All the self-sacrifice of leaving country, home, and friends is in the women's faces, "All for God" is in the men's faces. It is the little leaven of Puritanism which yet keeps this country sweet.

It is amusing to see the bands of Indians who are sent here to meet the "Great Father" stop before "The Baptism of Pocahontas," painted by Chapman. Evidently neither the faces nor the costumes suit them, for they hoot and laugh, while they grunt with evident approval at the picture of Boone's conflict with the savages and that of William Penn's conference with the Indians of Pennsylvania.

At a height of sixty-five feet above the floor, and encircling the wall at that point, about three hundred feet in circumference, runs a fresco, by Brumidi and Castigni, in imitation high relief, which well depicts periods of American history, illustrating from the days of barbarism to civilization. It is incomplete at this time.

Brumidi was, while yet a very young man, banished from Italy for participating in an insurrection. He went to Mexico, and finally was brought to Washington through the instrumentality of General Meigs. His first work is in the room of the Committee of Agriculture of the House, where he represented Cincinnatus leaving the plow to receive the dictatorship of Rome; General Putnam, in a similar situation, receiving the announcement of the outbreak of the Revolution, and other fine works are scarcely appreciated by the clerks who daily work beneath them. For eight dollars a day, the compensation he first received, Brumidi did work which thousands of dollars could not now duplicate. Almost every one knows that Brumidi began the decoration of the frieze around the Rotunda of the Capitol. He had completed in charcoal the cartoons for the remainder of the decoration, and these drawings he left to his son, supposing that the designs would be purchased from him by the successor selected to complete the work. This man, however, obtained in some unknown way an idea of the sketches Brumidi had made, and attempted to carry them out without the aid of the originals.

At the east door of the Rotunda are the famous bronze doors designed by Randolph Rogers at Rome in 1858, and cast at Munich. The high reliefs illustrate leading events in the life of Columbus.

From near the Rotunda one can ascend to the dome and overlook the entire District of Columbia.

VI
CONCERNING SOME OF THE ART AT THE CAPITOL

Among the interesting pictures in the Capitol is Frank B. Carpenter's picture, "The First Reading of the Emancipation Proclamation, September 22, 1862." Mr. Lincoln was accustomed to speak of the act which this picture represents as the central act of his administration. Historians have recorded it the leading event of the nineteenth century.

It changed the policy of the war, and was received by the army and the people as a necessary war measure. According to Mr. Carpenter, he takes the moment when Mr. Lincoln has just said: "Gentlemen, I now propose to issue this Emancipation Proclamation."

Montgomery Blair said: "If you do, Mr. President, we shall lose the fall elections." To this no one offered a reply. Mr. Seward, who sits in front of the table, said: "Mr. President, should we not wait for a more decisive victory, so that the rebels may know we are able to enforce the Proclamation?" Mr. Lincoln leaned forward and said, in a low voice: "I promised my God, if Lee were driven back from Maryland, to issue the Proclamation." Mr. Seward said: "Mr. President, I withdraw every objection." Chase, who stands back of the President in the picture, and who was not always in sympathy with Mr. Lincoln, laid his hand affectionately on Mr. Lincoln's shoulder, to show the President that in this matter they were in perfect accord.

THE FIRST READING OF THE EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATION

The Proclamation came just after the battle of Antietam, which was far from being a decisive victory. The Proclamation set forth that, unless rebellion ceased by January 1, 1863, the slaves at that time would be declared free. It was a case of "man's extremity is God's opportunity."

Another picture which well merits a full description (which we have not space to give) is W. H. Powell's spirited picture, "The Battle of Lake Erie, September 13, 1813." It represents Commodore Perry transferring his colors from the disabled flagship Lawrence to the Niagara in the midst of a fire from the enemy. Perry deserved all the glory he so richly won.

Mary Clemmer Ames thus beautifully describes that great picture, "Westward the Star of the Empire Takes its Way." The picture is in the stairway of the south wing:

"At the first glance it presents a scene of inextricable confusion. It is an emigrant train caught and tangled in one of the highest passes of the Rocky Mountains. Far backward spread the eastern plains, far onward stretches the Beulah of promise, fading at last in the far horizon. The great wagons struggling upward, tumbling downward from mountain precipice into mountain gorge, hold under their shaking covers every type of westward moving human life. Here is the mother sitting in the wagon front, her blue eyes gazing outward, wistfully and far, the baby lying on her lap; one wants to touch the baby's head, it looks so alive and tender and shelterless in all that dust and turmoil of travel. A man on horseback carries his wife, her head upon his shoulder. Who that has ever seen it will forget her sick look and the mute appeal in the suffering eyes? Here is the bold hunter with his raccoon cap, the pioneer boy on horseback, a coffeepot and cup dangling at his saddle, and oxen—such oxen! it seems as if their friendly noses must touch us; they seem to be feeling out for our hand as we pass up the gallery. Here is the young man, the old man, and far aloft stands the advance-guard fastening on the highest and farthest pinnacle the flag of the United States.

"Confusing—disappointing, perhaps—at first glance, this painting asserts itself more and more in the soul the oftener and the longer you gaze. Already the swift, smooth wheels of the railway, the shriek of the whistle, and the rush of the engine have made its story history. But it is the history of our past—the story of the heroic West."

There are pictures and busts, or full-length statues, of almost every great man of our nation. Some of them, within one hundred years, will be turned over to the man's native State or town, with complimentary notes and speeches the inner meaning of which is: "We need the room for bigger men."

Before leaving the Capitol plaza a word must be said of Horatio Greenough's statue of Washington, which sits in lonely grandeur before the Capitol. Greenough was much in Rome, and the antique became his model. The statue represents Washington sitting in a large chair, holding aloft a Roman sword, the upper part of his body naked, the lower part draped as Jupiter Tonans.[3]

3.  On May 27, 1908, Congress appropriated $5,000 to move Greenough's statue of Washington to the Smithsonian Institute. The removal was made November 21, 1908.

This conception brings out the majestic benignity of the face of Washington, and shows to the life every muscle and vein of his magnificent form. Greenough said of his own work: "It is the birth of my thoughts; I have sacrificed to it the flower of my days and the freshness of my strength; its every lineament has been moistened with the sweat of my toil and the tears of my exile. I would not barter its association with my name for the proudest fortune that avarice ever dreamed of."

The work, however, has met with more of criticism than of praise. A statue should represent a man in the costume of his time. Washington should have been shown either in the knee-breeches or in the full military costume of his period. We want no foreign effects in our statues. Washington had no aspiration to be either Jupiter or Mars, but he earnestly desired to be a good and useful man.

In this connection a few words in relation to the character of future paintings that shall be selected for the adornment of the Capitol may not be amiss.

In Paris, at the Exposition in 1900, the writer was greatly impressed by the manner in which France perpetuates historic events. The best picture of the commission which settled the Spanish-American War was painted by a Frenchman, the best picture of the Peace Commission at the Hague was also French. One picture, which will ever be valuable, represented President Carnot and his Cabinet in the Exposition of 1889 receiving the representatives of all the colonies of France.

Our country should have pictures of the inauguration of the President, with his leading men about him; also of the receptions on New-year's day, showing faces of foreign Ministers, the Cabinet, Members of the Supreme Court, and our naval and military commanders.

I remember one brilliant company at Secretary Endicott's, during the first Cleveland administration. The Ministers of various foreign nations, in court costumes and with all their decorations, were present. General Sheridan, full of life and repartee, was there. General Sherman had come over from New York to grace with his presence the reception given by the Secretary of War. General Greely, of Arctic fame, wore for the first time the uniform of a brigadier-general. All the leading army officers, in brilliant uniforms, were present. Senators Edmonds, Sherman, Logan, Evarts, Ingalls, Wade Hampton, Leland Stanford, Vance, Voorhees, Allison, with many others, were part of that memorable company. Mrs. Stanford wore the famous Isabella diamonds. Among the guests were Secretaries Vilas, Whitney, Bayard, and their accomplished wives; Mr. Carlisle, then Speaker of the House, and his stately, genial wife; and President and Miss Cleveland, who made an exception to the Presidential rule of non-attendance at such functions, and by their presence added to the pleasure of the occasion. Chief Justice Waite and Justices Field, Miller, Blatchford, Gray, and Strong were present.

What a picture for history that representative company would now be! We need an art fund—perhaps the Carnegie University beneficence may provide it. Concerning the Capitol building, Charles Sumner said: "Surely this edifice, so beautiful, should not be open to the rude experiment of untried talent."

The Commission of Artists said: "The erection of a great National Capitol occurs but once in the life of a nation. The opportunity such an event affords is an important one for the expression of patriotic elevation, and the perpetuation, through the arts of painting and sculpture, of that which is high and noble and held in reverence by the people; and it becomes them as patriots to see to it that no taint of falsity is suffered to be transmitted to the future upon the escutcheon of our national honor in its artistic record. A theme so noble and worthy should interest the heart of the whole country, and whether patriot, statesman, or artist, one impulse should govern the whole in dedicating these buildings and grounds to the national honor."