Bedford inquirer. [volume] (Bedford, Pa.) 1857-1884, 1867-10-11
MISS WINNIE REAM.

I
A correspondent Of the Ante Starey
! Standard writes from Washington: In one
of the chambers of the Capitol appropria-
ted to her by Congress since her commission
to execute the statute of the late President
Lincoln, the almost child sculptor has her
studio. Light aud airy, tastefully decora-
ted with flowers and evidences of her crea-
tive skill, it is the fitting abode Of art. We
found Miss Ream busily employed upon a
group in clay, to be entitled {" America,
which will ftly symbol our country when a
true reconstruction is perfected. Under
her skillful manipulations clayey outline
daily more nearly approaches the form Of
the martyr President; and she hopes to
have the complete moded wrought in time
to enable her to sail for Italy, at the latest,
within three months. Orders flow in upon
her, aud busts and statuetes, crowding the
inches Of her studio, speak eloquntly Of her
employment Familiar faces look upon you
from plaster; names well known spring to
your lips as you gaze alternately upon SEN
ators, Generals and dignitaries, evoked from
the past or reproduced with marvellous f,
deity from the present. The Great Com
mouer, Stevens; the sad eyed Lincoln; the
astute Regerdy johnson, are among those
the eye recognizes as most happily depicted,
but in many others are rovo-l~i correct de-
ineatious
He who, from faRcies connecting mascu-
Unity wich art, has formed impressions of
size or coarseness of mould, would be as
tonished to see, in the gifted artist, so detjte
a creature, apparently more fitted for the
drawing room than such a walk of life
Born in the free West; surrounded the
greater part of her life by adverse circum-
stances Miss Ream was early taught habits
of selfreliance and in taking up her beau
tiful art, to which she was irresistibly at
tracted, she did it without any of the tor
tuitous aids that rarely accompany strug-
Cling genius. Yet in the continuous effort,
resulting in the removal of those obstacles
one by one from her path, all that is sweet
and womanly..has been preserved. There is
an atmosphere of purity about her Her
nature Is artistic. Never was woman more
truly womanly, yet she is as welded to her
art as though all of sweetness, refinement,
and tenderness of nature were not hers, and
looking from her to the busts and figures
on which she has breathed her artist inspi-
ration, one has a broader scope, grander
vision of women, when girl, almost wholly
selt-instructed, could have thus conceived
and wrought Easy in manners, possessing
fund of intelligence scarcely to be expected,
joined to rare conversational abilities, Miss
Ream causes the visitor at once to feel at
home in her studio and take an interest in
her studies even though not a commissioner
in art
Unless her visitor be some one with whom
ceremony is expected, she does not cease
from work, but, industrious as the bee gath
ering sweets, converses as she labors. Her
dress, as worn daily, is plainness itself
| That of no cottage maiden could be simpler.
Yet, as she fitted from one case or model to
another, touching the cold clay with her
delicate fingers gently as though it were
something animate, | thought of Hilda,
/ that glorious creation of Hawthorne and
queried whether fairer picture than she
made with her dark brown curls floating
over her shoulders, closely fitting calico
dress aud long check apron, was ever pre-
sented to vision. Her only ornament was a
Maltese chain, suspended from her neck,
with a cross, the latter of which may typify
the trials she must expect to encounter from
calumuy and prejudice as she treads with
free step the futures glorious aisles of art.
EFFICACY OF ONIoNs.-A writer says:
We are often troubled with severe coughs,
the results of colds of long standing, which
may turn to consumption or premature
death. Hard coughs cause sleepless nights
by constant irritation 10 the throat and a
strong. effort to throw off offensive matter
from the lungs The remedy propose has
been tried By inc and often recommended to
others with good results, which is simply to
take into the stomach before retiring for the