Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1871-01-26
ADDRESS or SENATOR CARPENTER.

| pefpetuate our remembrance OF them, and TO
| secure some representation that shall recall to
o ssa; sens.s tner exact appearance long after
| thef forms are hidden IN the grave. Ia this
htld, striving 20 satisfy tins longing of human
! nature, the sculptor aud the paint n have ever
peer ilsAI lsoorers, and the museums OF the
| world contain their famous efforts 70 represent
| Important events In human history. aud 10 pre-
| serve the exact forms and features OF the great
| est and best OF the race; ana n would have been
| strange, indeed, 81 when Abraham Lincoln was
| stricken down by the hand of assassin, at the
| close OF the war through which he had conduct
Gu Gu, 'De goFstnn'eht 10 VICTORY, our PEOPLE had
| not desired 20 preserve the likeness Of ll- per
soral presence; and, a l. inspired bv the riess
| OF thirgs, the representatives OF the people
| resolved To place "A statue OF AIR. Lincoln IN the
| National CspiiOl, and Winnie kesm Wa em.
| plONed Tor that purpose.
Surprise has been expressed that Congress
| should have IaSSed by many American artists
| o. worldwide TenOwn, and have employed
YoUNe GIRL UKKNoNN ~ FAMg,
WHO lad never been abroad. nor studied the
master pieces OF ancient art, 20 execute q great
work witch national affection demanded. Bat
mere, whether from design, frou what =
called accident, which not unfrequeutly guides
human affairs mere wisely than could wisdom
liseif, The selection was most fortunate A Young
artlst Is content 70 initiate nature His highest
smbitlon Il 10 make a .IAeHsss. But, succeeding
IN thi-, and gaining name, he sspires 90 be more
than q mere iniiiaior, aud almost invariably re-
solves 10 become a creator He tails in with the
master pieces Of Grecisn art, IN which mythol-
ogy ~ fesriully predominstes over nature and
plished, becomes at last a mere imitator not of
nature Tor that he scorns, but INIT atOr OF the
ancient schools Of art and the result j. mongrel
production, neither r. sembling a god nor looking
ike man. 10 illustrate what mean, let lie
refer 10 Greenough's statue or Washington, in
'front.' OF the capitol, which Il said 20 have been
the subject OF the fo!lOsing dialogue: An old
farmer, staring stit one day. asked a bystander
wboee statue, or as he pronounced II, whose
statgte Is that? THAT" said the person in
CURED OF, who, il he lacked romsnce for art So
q In fha y..f
sir, is
is ONE OF TIER STATUTES AT LARGE"
BY which L suppose he meant that IL looked
ss much like one man a. another; more proper
ly that IL looked like no man whatever. IL IL
resembles anything, Il is q fat Englisbman lust
out Of his bath. with a sheet stretched over his
shoulders. IL looks no more like Washington
than IL does like any English prize fighter. Yet,
am told, it's capital work Of art, by which
understand that art, in this instance, has COM
pletely triumphed over nature.
An imitatOr Of other mems works a mere
copyist, is necessarily ahambug: and that there
Is 20 great American work Of art is because our
CONTENT To INITIATE.
snd lack the courage TO strike out for them
selves. The art Of a nation should be q part Of
the nation, inspired and de yelOped by the ma
uonsl surroundings The war Of 80 established
our political separation from but not oar indie
pendence OF Great Britain. For full half a cen
tury no man thought OF any other standard OF
| judgment than the public sentiment of England
| The literature of the Eastern States is not vet
altogether enfranchised. Even the abolition of
slavery by the thirteenth amendment has not
| abolished the slavery of custom in those States
which possess most OF the fruits of what is called
| education. The lash or an English Premier will
| still make New England author cringe and
| tremble. IL Is only in the West, where we are
very " uncultivated," very . coarse" very like
| nature herself, that men speak and act as they
| feel, never fearing the cepsures of a foreign
| school. because they never hear OF IT, ON The
| broad savannss OF the West, by its bOundless
| lakes, its endless rivers, man feels 50 humbled
| IN the presence OF nature, where God has poured
out his richness aud greatness, that lie regards
| nature As everything; and from nature, not
! f. ON man. from The will OF God revealed in his
| works, not from the dOsmgs OF tie schcolmeu
| lie draws his inspiration.
The masterpiece OF Grecian art may un.
| Guestlorably be studied with profit; bat Inlnly
| 10 see Low the Sculptors of that day represented
The ideality OF their race. The Atheuians be-
| leyed tbat human afairs were conducted nv
| innumerable gods-eyery great man 70 be =
| god in dsguise-snd the funeral OF such man
| was his apotheosis. God and Men were cor
| founded, and the statuaTy OF that period NAV
be consulted TO learn how that idea could best
| be represented IN marble. But IT l. little less
| than absurd, in this practical age aud country
! TO clothe the statues of great men with ,lrapery
and surroundings appropriate only TO the gods
| OF Greek mythology. Applause.
| WHAT WINNIE RsAN MIGHT HAVE DONE
| Those who have visited the studio OF our fair
artistic. and studied the little gems of beauty
| and the stately representations OF her cOncep-
| ton OF grace and aiesty, cannot doubt that
| she If capable OF embosying in q statue OF Lin
1 COIL conception OF Jupiter hurting
! his thunderbOlis, or OF Mars, with his red right
/ band barred TO execute vengeance, or OF Cicero
IN the Senate animated by debate, tossing back
| the ample folds of
THE ROMAN ToGA.
| mus she might have produced A fable i'm mar
| bic, beholding which no man could say where
/ Lincoln stopped and Jupiter commenced. nor
| distinguish that which represented the fact from
| that which embodied the fancy of the artist
| Thus she might have cheated her employers
| and have hbeled the great departed, and her
4 statue might have been niacP1 m sat
| amid the hosannas OF the artist, while an IIli-
| nois neighbor could not detect the relnotest re-
| semblance 20 the plain old man with whose in
| comiDgs and outgongs he had been familiar for
| Years. lApplauSe.l
| our artist was aware that no flattery was ex-
! pected at her hands. When the people employed
I her 10 execute this WORK, they were in no mooi
| Tor assembling. War lie a severe teacher Of sin
/ certify and truth. The people did not desire
somebody's conception OF what great leader
| OF mighty people. in the most fearful crisis Of
| their history, ought to look like. But thew did
| wish for an exact likeness OF Abraham Lincoln
| And who was this Abraham Lincoln, the re-
membrane OF whom they desired 10 perpetu-
| ate? Was he like Jupiter or ApOllo-like Cesar
| or ClceTo-like Cromwell or NAPOLEON No. no;
like neither OF these. And the people did not
| employ Winnie Ream to make a statue of either
| OF these, hut OF Abraham Lincoln a. he appeared
| In the White House, and there he appeared Just
as be did on the praifies aud in the court rooms
| OF the West. He was half farmer, half LAWYER
| and altogether child OF nature. He never
| punished his great feet by wearing small boots
| Eor ulsguiscd MS huge hands win kid gloves.
| All the embellishments OF dress and ObserVances
| OF mere fashion he LETT to those who have a mind
| for such things. But he was a very remarkable
| man, and his appearance commanded attention
| and compelled respect. He was tall and gaunt
| OF figure, wholly destitute Of grace, sloyenly in
| dress, with Q face sadder than ever was worn
| by man before; q face which mrrored tie
| melancholy scenes in which he was so promi-
| nent An actor: a face which spoke Of the trials
which made his life almost insupportable Of
nights without sleep and days full of trouble, of
| governmental cares, Of personal griefs OF war
| and the sufierngs which war begets of battle
fields, hospitals and graves, OF widows and or
phans OF Z great heart bleeding, q great soul
| sorrowful.
This was the man, and this the MOOD OF the
man, whose likeness our people desired to pre-
eerve for themselves and for coming genera
| lions. Engaged upon such O work, it would
have been little less than blasphemy 10 repre-
| sent Lincoln in the trappings Of NEUROLOGICAL
heroes, or to take the slightest liberty with his
| appearance in any respect-to tamper with his
| form, gestures, features or expression. Crom-
well commanded his artist 70 paint him lust As he
| was, with every wrinkle Of his brow aud the
| Wart on his cheek. And Winnie keam has eve
cuted her task I'm the same spirit Of fidelity 10
the fact. IL she has failed at all, II is in pre-
| senting statue more attractive than the origi-
II nal. But failing in this ID no impeachmen NJ