Spirit of Jefferson. [volume] (Charles Town, Va. [W. Va.]) 1844-1948, 1853-02-01

hardly noticed him. They reproached him with
presumption and folly; said he was going to
throw himself away" and " that he could never
do such r work" 1t was in vain to appeal to
them from what he had done-tO point to the
} bust Of Calhoun; they could not possess them
selves of his idea, nor comprehend his capacity.
After eight months he produced his model They
were then satisfied he would succeed, and volun-
tarily offered to become his security. He return
ed to Washington. The committee approved of
; the model, and made contract with him. They
: required security. Ten gentlemen were his
: bondsmen for the due performance of the work.
! We give the names of these gentlemen, as it is
highly honorable to them for this act Of confidence
] and kindness. They are all men of property in
the city of Charleston, and in the State of South
Carolina. Their names are James Rose, James
Gadsden, II. Gourdin, f. H. Elmore, D. B. Nor
throp, Charles u. Carr, Edward Frost, N. NJ.
Porter, J. SChnerle, and George Kinlock. The
contract required the statue to be third larger
than lie. 1t is little emore than that. Govern
nent furnished the metal, which was old cannon,
| and some Ofwhch was captured by Gen. Jackson.
Congress voted five thousand dollars for the pc.
Il deslaI on which the statue stands. All other ex-
u pense have been borne by Dir. Mills.
& What an undertaking fora Charleston plaster.
b err What an instructive comment on the his
81 iory of genius, and on the power Of republican in
stituions in developing the qualities of his mind:
Z AIR. Mills was then thIrtytwo years of age. A
man in whose personal appearance there was
hothing to strike an ordinary observer as remarka-
BILE; plain in his manners and dress, and exceed
ngly modest; never advancing in conversation,
but retiring, except with familiar friends, and on
the subject Of the statue and of arts; then he
would be free, communicative, and instructive
: tor, though he had never seen any works of art,
! he had, in his leisure hours, read muCh and had
studied anatomy. He has an ardent mind and
temperament, controlled by sound judgment,
| and thorough practical knowledge of men and
! a II.bA IAOcp6 SO
uncommon in artists, he has acquired in the school
Of poverty and in the struggle of everyday life.
| His mind is characterised by ready and just per-
cep!ion, especially of forms, and for great firm
! ness Of purpose. He is passionate, but ready to
| Forgive. In personal appearance, he presents the
figure ofa man about five feet ten inches in height,
vel! and strongly made not stout-with quick
and energetic step. He has searching light
grey eye good regular Caucasian features, and
grey hair, turned grey during the period OF his
| labor and anxiety over the great work he has
! complished. This is Mr.. Mills. We have been
| thus crcumstantial, because we believe posterity
| will wish to know something of this remarkable
untaught, or selt:taught artist.
Now he commences his work. On a vacant
| lot Of Government ground, near the Presidents
! House, at the corner of Fifteenth street and
! Pennsylvania avenue, he erected a small frame
building tor a workshop and a residence. He
| bought horse in Virginia, known in the Turf
Register as Olympus. This he trained to present
The attitude he wanted. This horse is we'll
| known in Washington now as the "mOde horse"
lie dssected horses. He studied the breed and
! character Of different kinds Of horses. He
| leced the various points of beauty and strength
! from them all to produce the splendid bronze
| he has made As the various points of female
| beauty, never found in any one female, yet all
| perfectly natural, are found in the Venus dc
! Medics, SO he resolved to make his horse; yet it
| is perfect war-hOrse. He studied the charac-
Ter of Jackson and the best likenesses that could
| be found, SO as to give a faithful representation
! Of him. He took from the military dress Of Gen.
Jackson, deposited in the patent office, the model
| by which he clothed the hero. The very sword
! he wore, and every minutiE Of the saddle hol-
sters bride and even buckles is faithful to histo-
| ry Yet is there nothing stiff or awkward in The
| entire grOup-all is true, natural and easy. lie
modelled his colossal group in plaster. tie was
| not quite two years doing this. The model was
! exhibited to the public all admired its beauty.
| But critis, artists and scientific men declared it
| could never stand The statue stood on its hind
I fee. alone. This had never been done before. All
! the celebrated equestrian statues in the world,
represented as rampant, with the fore feet in the
| air, had been supported by some additional and
| eXtraneOuS means generally by some prop, or
by fastening the tail to the pedestal, giving
an unnatural attitude, and destroying the life
like expression of the animal. People could not
realize the fact that the first equestrian statue IN
| America (eXecuted by an untaught American
.
art of the Old World. Mills, however, following
the dictates OF his own genius and nature, had
discovered that natural horse, to get in such a
postion must throw the center of gravity
through the rider TO his hind feet. He staked
his reputation on that principle, and has, contra
ry TO The predictions OF the learned anu sclehtlhc'
trinmphed.
The model finished, the next thing te be done
was casting the statue. Mills had no fonndery.
He sent to different large tounderes in Pennsy-
vania and other places and was told that such
work could not be cast in their tounderes, but
tba; one could be built for the purpose for TWEEN
tv thousand dollars. This would not do. His
contract for the whole work was only twelve
thousand dollars, and he, consequently, could not
afford such sum for the casting. what was
he to do? Founders and artists had said there
wps no place in America where such colossal
statue could be cast. His means-his contract
would not enable him to go to Europe Full
Of resources-believing, as Mirabeau SAID to MS
secretary, " that nothing was impossible, ano as
the Marsellaise said to Kossuth, ,that nothing was
impossible to he who wills, MIR. Mills built a
fonnderv himself With limited means, and in a
small miserable shanty, he built foundery upon
;rerO principle, without a chimney, smokestack
I or draught OF any kind-an inYentlon OF his own
| and cast his colossal statue. What is not the
human mind equal to, when conscious OF Its pow
er and pressed by difficulties! or this toundery,
as well as of balancing the statue, scientific men
-.
the known rules of science. How could sufi.
cient heat be generated to melt such mass OF
metal without draft? He proved by expert
ment that it could be done. With three.elghths
Of cord of wood he melted sixteen hundred
pounds of metal, and cast four bells. He con-
fined the caloric, and found that, with compare.
tively little fuel, and in a very small space, ne
could generate the most intense heat. He found,
also, that he had increased the hardness, and
therefore improved the quality q the metal BY
h;s discovery. thinking it would be very impor-
tsnt in the manufacture Of cannon. He proposed
to cast a cannon, and have it tested BY board
Of competent officers. The Board Of Ordnance 54.
treated his proposition with neglect and doubt;
They said, {! Mr. Mills was not a founder, and
thew could not entertain such proposition from
him. Such are the difficulties M, Which ao6iS 6isst
poor men of genius and merit NILS nGtm.sh, v,Uds
| his model and his foundeTy.
Mr. Mills was NOT founder; he had proved
himself to be an artist by nature, and man OF
/ kRbn Rti hu9ine88