The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1869-06-03
Art in Washington.

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| IF thore is ono thing more than another
about this city to cause sensitive man to
howl with anguish it is the display of what
some benightea minds are pleased to call art,
| While at intervals we encounter some spccl-
| mems that will pass, the great majority Isl of
the sort to make one shudder, and appreciate
the dread command once promulgated against
craven images OF these, the worst, if there
can be worse, are the production of that
fend in human shape, Mark Mills. He has
assaulted the sacred memory of the Father of
| his Country in brazen efhgy set up between
Washington and Georgetown. Had this thing
been dug out in some Of the mines of South
America, we might accept it as curious relic
| of a harbarous people. As it is, it stands a
fearful nightmare of stallion bestrode by a
sylnbolical creature, whose face and figure are
as devoid of character and expression as a
town pump. There it stands, in its little cir
Gle of stuntcd trees and faded grass, like the
God Of uglincss rcigAing over desolation's
nakcdncss. si2t. ~sat s44 ~
But if the assault on the Father ofahis
Country is terrible, it softens wonderfully be-
fore that made on Old Hickory, in Layfayette
Square In everlasting brass he is held mp
to the laughter and ridicule of humanity. He
who took the responsibility, and swore by tho
Eternal, as he put his military heel on the
necks of his enemies, and strobe on, in hard
ened Indifference over broken banks and a
violated constitution, in just retribution is
held up in irony Ono punl before tho house
he once was master or " i2st2 eEo
can understand the deyilish malignity
that enacted the brass jackson, but ! cannot
understand the motives for the terrible as
sault made on that useful animal, the horse.
Conceive if you can, oh curious reader, in
nocent of Washington, the clumsiest dray
horse that ever eccentric nature put together,
suffering an acute attack of bots, and you
have faint approach to Clark Mills assault
on the animal. zs
On this insane monstrocity sits the SO called
jackson, in pointed swallow-tai, wildly wa
wing his hat, and defying the laws Of CRAWL
tation. I once, many years since, called
lady's attention to Jackson's impossible seat
in the saddle and she responded wildly.
I - All the filter representative of Old Hick-
DRY. Did he not defy all laws2 Why not
the laws of gravitatiou Had this, wonder.
full artist put him on mule and had the mule
kicking up, it would have been all the more
happy" ~ '''.''.''.'.'
And now we are threatened with a national
calamity in the shape of q monument to the
memory of Lincoln. My venerable friend
General Spinner, has furnished me with pho.
tographic views of the proposed monument.
| look at them and shudder. A three corn
cred pyramidal structure towers up, made of
solid granite, and fairly plastercd over with
figures. At the base impossible horses are
plunging, evidently scared at the monstros-
ty of their rear. The impossible horses have
on them impossible riders They are suppcs
ed to be military people, such as Capt, Jinks
of the Horse Marines. ls5.a
On the monument sits, in calm Indifference
to the row below, theslate lamented At the
three corners, sits Liberty, Justice and Time.
On the next ledge appear some twenty-five
people, carrying on violent alteration. AT
least this is the condition Of two sides, On
the third, the group seem to have recovered
from their little unpleasantness and are sitting
down to game of old sledge or drawpokcr.
On the step or ledge below, we have the
American citizen of African descent, in the
various attitudes so common to that class on
monuments, and seen nowhere else.
I learn chat the whole affair is a job, a sort
of Gift enterprise That is, while the granite
and bronze figure of Mr.. Lincoln, and those
of Liberty, Justice and Time, with the stat
ues Of the reconstructed, are to be paid for
by general subscription, any one contributing
the necessary funds can have himself pinned
to the monument / understand that Bishop
Simpson, General Howard, and other distin-
guished gentlemen have been designated
But I believe that when these sensible men
come to see the way in which they are to be
pilloricd, they will incontinently retreat, more
or less disordered ~ ashington Corrcspon-
dent of Ciancinuati Commercial. sas