New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1856-09-22
at the statue, Of which could only get very dis

tant and imperfect glance the day before.
And / must say that was rather glad. after OK
aiming it, that he had not paid me the nocturnal
visit had half expected last night, for hardly
think he could have come in placid and COED
humored state of mind-or of ghost. I suppose
he was as little subject to the weakness Of personal
vanity as most men, but imagine even he, philOs-
opher as he was, could hardly regard this molten
image Of himself without some human emotions Of
vexation and provocation. have no pretensiOns to
be a Judge of such matters. l am plain,
blunt man, that only say fright on what |
think, but it dOes seem to me that the
merit of the statue is greatly disproportioned t0
the flourish of trumpets that went before it and to
the ceremonous solemnity of its Inauguration.
The holiday and the procession were real tribute
to the memory Of Franklin-but the statue IL is
neither portrait nor poem, Ak it seems to me
neither the man as he lived nor yet elevated and
idealized, as he might have been discerned by the
eve of man of genius. | take back what said
in my last that it was well managed. said that
with only distant glimpse at the front OF it. the
face has the well.knOwn features OF Franklin OUT
they are lighted up neither with the glow
of genius nor Of bengnity. 1t represents
neither the SAGE that snatched the Light
ming from Heaven, nor the sagacious counselor
of young nation, teaching it thrift and industry.
II bodies him forth neither In The higher plane OF
his nature-his heroic aspect-nOr yet in the ia
miliar beneyOence Of his daily wisdom, walking the
streets and entering the shops and dwellings OF
common men, instructing them in common things.
The heaviness of the shoulders, the want Of ex-
preston in the legs and arms, the drOOp of the
head the duness not 10 say the faulty OF the iace
make it an image very different from that Of the
alert cheerful, witty wise old man, the expOunder
of the ghtDipes, the guiding genius of great rev
olution, the benefcent teacher of Il people, which
the name of Franklin brings to all FOUR minds. AT
least this 10 the way it strikes me, and as you ASK
Inc nv opinion of the statue, you must take 1t for
what it is worth. The artist, young gentleman
of much personal excellence and of good deal OF
cleverness in bis ART, was promoted to WORK ne Is
not vet qualified to accomplish. 1t VIII nave 10 De
done over again, either by himself at more ma
ture period of his powers, by some other artist
more equal to the occasion.
The opportunity has unhappily escaped of secur-
ing at 1.-THE of the expense incident tOdhls statue
and its inauguration, monument which would
have been of perpetualy increasing interest
mean the house associated with all his recOllecOns
of his Boston life 1t stands at the corner of Union
and Hanover streets, and still bears the gilt ball
which was the sign Of the good sOap-bOiler his fa
Their Twenty years ago went over it, and twas
then, undoubtedly substantially in the condition in
which it was when Franklin knew it, There were
the stairs up and down which he had scampered.
There were the window seats on which the child
r
his first lessons in passing life. There the room
in which he had sat at meat with thirteen brothers
and sisters, all of whom lived to grow up and be
married. And from some one of those windows Il
wondered which it wasD his lamp, or ra-
ther his saved candles end, might be oft
seen at the midnight hour, as he deyOured
prviy the books obtained by stealth from his friend,
the booksellers apprentice. In that cellar 1t was
he shocked the worthy member of the Old South
Church. his father, by proposing, in his infant econ
Omy of time, to say grace over the whole barrel OF
beef they were putting down in the lump, instead
of over each piece in detail as it to the table.
From that door he issued, on that memorable holt
day, with his pockets full of coppers which he in.
vested in the famous Whistle, which has been heard
all over the world. Thence, too, he stole away to
Philadelphia, and thther he soon returned with
money in his pocket, fine coat upon his back,
letter from Sir William Keith in his hand the adj
mirotion of his mother, and the envy of his breth-
rem.
He was not born in this house, but it was the
birthplace of his mind-as his father removed to it
when he was but six months old. The house in
which he was born stood in Milk street nearly Op-
posite the Old South Church, and was burnt in the
year 1870 The house of which have been speak
ing have no doubt might hive been bought for
$4,000 twenty years ago, and, II made the reposl-
tory of whatever relics connected with Franklin
could be recovered, would have been the most in
teresting place Of pilgrimage III the country. But
it is past praying for now 1t has been long turned
inside out turned out Of the windows and made
into shops. The windows have been cut down and
the Hanover street side newly faced. The bricks
on the Union street side, and the old hall with
'JOsIAs FRANKLIN 1893" upon it, are all that
remain of the house that Franklin would recognize.
1t is thousand pities that it could not have been
saved from the vile hands of Improvement and pre-
served as memorial of the greatest OF Americans.
Ii had been worth wilderness of statues. Within
nv memory the house stood, not very far from
this, in which was the beam against which Franklin
struck his head and whence he took the text of his
discourse on the necessity of stopping sometimes In
ones passage through the world 1t stood in the
North square at the corner of Fleet street, and
was one of the oldest houses in the town. Its sec
ond story-Or the first as the English would call It
protected over the first, and the third projected
over the second. II was occupied, to compare
lively recent period, by venerable lady, the daugh-
ter of the Rev. Samuel Mather, and consequently
the granddaughter of Cotton Mather and the great
granddaughter of Increase Mather, who was the
personal friend of Franklin, and from whom had
the story only al secondhand.
intended telling you something about the Horti-
cultural Show and the Mechanics Fair. But i
think have given you as much as you can bear at
one time, and, as have no. left myself room to do
them justice, i will put them over to my next
letter. bYLES.