The native American., 1838-02-03

But those scenes are past, and the country has
had the benefit Of those speeches.; but the memory
of them, and the incidents that attended them, are
forclbly impressed upon my mind
In my first number sketched few members
of the House, and shall not feel myself bound
to linger in either branch for any length of time,
but pass from one to the other, as the fancy may
suit me.
/ will take the reader with me and discourse
as we pass through the Rotunda on our way to
the Senate
We step by soda fountainf in the vestibule
leading from the exterior lobby OF the House,
where the members and strangers can be seen In
groupes, making wry faces, as they gnlph down
the eyervescent water. Passing then through a
tall door, we pause in the Rotunda to look around
us. To an untravelled eye the scene is imposing.
The room is immense, but in perfect proportion.
Its colossal dome to pierce the very clouds,
and the pannelling is beautifully executed. In
the centre of the hall stands Levy's celebrated
statue, i'll bronze, of Thomas Jefferson. Near
the base of the statue is man with long, red
nose and grey eye, and pair of green spectacles,
rocking giant in an easy char. This is pa
tent, and placed there to catch the admiration Of
boys, and take the members and messengers
from their business. The back of the chair has
struck against the base of Jefferson, and the poor
man of the long nose, is shuiing about to see
that all is safe At few steps distance, is tall
wooden machine, with leather coffin strapped
to it, and harness dangling about in all the grace
of tannery and briancy of iron buckles. This
is great invention to bear away from battle the
wounded soldiers. Covered with blue cloth, blue
as the Heavens or the sea- and studded with gold,
effulgent as the gilded draperies Of the couch Of
the sleeping sun, with an eagle proudly lifting
himself on his expanding wings: 10! patent
steam bath! 1t smells wonderfully of birthstone,
and worthy man is showing its advantages. In
another section sits man weaving stockings, and
the eye turns from the homely instrument of COM
fort to Doughty's picture Of the Rhine's Sources,
placed over the stocking manufacturers head. Rail
cars clatter along inclined planes in this hall,
lsteamboats throb and pant, ploughs look sulky,
and reaping hooks and scythes, and spinning
ljennies, and silk aprons, and, to crown all like
the bones of the mammoth straddling over the
lpigmy proportions of the other animals in a stuff
fed museum, behold the giant cart and harrow!
There stands the huge machine bristling with It's
innumerable teeth, nncooth and unmannerly in
such place. The next thing to be brought and
placed in the Ronnda, will be carriage and pa
tented horses, and full rugged ffigate. It is idle
land ridiculous that these odious and hucksterine
tricks should be tolerated by the Speaker of the
!, House. The beautiful floor Of the Rotunda will
lbe broken to pieces with these enormous ma
chimes; carts, harrows, wagons, and feld-pieces
of every description, up to thirty-nine FOUNDER,
will batter to pieces the finest masonry in the
world, and then the taste of the thing; the Ro-
tunda was made for other purposes than toy
shop. Il is not an accredited wing of the Patent
Office, nor is it magnetizing apartment. The
great wonder in my mind is, that it has not been
offered to the great menagerie, where Jack, the
II mi nkau do tho cfa of Iof-
ferson, and the dwarf poney kick up his heels at
the members Of the American Congress. To pre-
serve the building in all its fairness and excellence,
for it is, after all that has been said upon the sub
ject, very well arranged edifce, strict rules and
i exclusive laws should be enforced against these
curiosity venders and s'dealers in the temple.'
cannot pass from the Rotunda without glance
two at the carvings in the pannels Of the walls
lmbued with the spirit of classical discovery,
the author of Smith and Pocahontas, has deli
heated the Indians of America with fine Grecian
features. 1t is not the first dim glimmering of
profound and wonderful era in the history of man
kind. Who knows but that the sagacious carver
in stone had some strong hold upon the ancient
books, by which he traced back the lineage of
Powhatan to Theseus? Certain it is, there is not
a trace of the true Indian in the whole piece,
and hope that the crumblng nature of the free
stone will permit this work of art to go into
decay.
If Greece was thought Of by him, who made
Powhatan's family groupe, the genius who exc
cuted Penn and the Indians, was surely dreaming
Of all the fat majesty Of Holland. Pen is fat; the
Indians are fatter than Penn, and the chickens or
doves perched in the tree are fatter than the In
dians, and the leaves are fatter than the birds,
and as the Printer would say, the whole piece is
fat.
The landing of Plymouth should have been
done by master. The Indian on the rock looks
as if he was giant extending an ear Of corn to
the Pilgrims. | am not sure, but the impression
is on my mind that this is false to history, and to
produce picture on such subject, the sculptor
had no right to fasify that interesting and pro-
found occasion. The Pilgrims landed and found
corn buried in the sand in baskets, the Indians
having fed Pull the whole affair down, and in
It's stead carve some beautiful monument worthy
of that EVENT. and for mercy's sake let directions
be given to the artist not to make the Indian an
idiot, at least in appearance.
Directly over the door through which we passed
into the hall, is the sculptural representation of
the celebrated Boon killing an Indian. One In
dian already lies beneath the feet of the combat
tants, and the grim smile of painful death is well