Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1874-10-24
The Miracle ofsa MART


Over the dining. room msntel hung Tintoret-
to's "MiTacle of st. Mark, }" or the Miracle of
the Slave" as il is more usually called, painted
somewhere about the middle of the sixteenth
century 1t was bought in Paris, by Mr.. Sumner
of W. III. Kellogg, the artist. and Is said, by ex-
perts, to be the study from which Tintoretto
painted his great picture, still at Venice. This
was given, In the Senator'S will. made in the
summer of 1872, TO Mr.. Joshua B. Smith, the
coored member OF the Massachusetts Legisis-
ture, who was so active in procuring the re-
scinding of the resolution of censure passed by
the Legislature against Mr.. Summer, and who
was the messenger from Massachusetts, to the
Senate 10 inform them that this stain had been
removed from the escutcheon of the old Bav
State. The friendship between Mr.. Sumner
ard Mr.. Smith had been long and warm, and
had been founded on h appreciation of the one
for the work of the other And this work Is so
Illustrated by the great master, that it Is well
this picture, which depicts the removal of the
fetters from the limbs of q slave, should 90 from
one of the chief liberators to one of the chief
liberated. The picture is described oy~Taiue,
In m "italy-FIorepce and Venice" pp. 3li-Sl6.
Mark" "
Standing before this picture, the wife of one
OF the leading members of the Massachusetts,
delegation said 10 me: That painting made
Charles Sumner Senator! The statement-I
tell the story as IL was told TO me-shows the
manner OF Mr., Summers entrance into the
He had returned from Earope in 1870, and re-
sumed the practice OF law. he had made his
great Fourth of July Grafton on "The True
Grandeur OF Nations, in 1915. He had taken
his place as juridicsi writer, and Judge Story
had said: 81 shall die content, so far as my pro-
tessofship Is concerned, If Charles Sumner is TO
succeed me-" He had achieved social distinction
abroad, as well rs at home. He had made hi N
self felt in politics; he had protested against the
Mexican war, and he bad asssiled with power
tul strokes the Fugitive Slave Law. Still he was
not an 8bOlittonlst, for at that time-ani here [
quote from SChurZ orati0n-f' abOltioniSm was
by no means fashionable thing. An antislave-
~ msn was then, even in Boston, positively the
horror of large portion of polite society. To
make anTfsl&yery speeches was locked upon, not
only as an lncendiary, but vulgar occupation;
and that the higbiy-refned Sumner, who was
so learned and able, who had seen the world, and
mixed with the highest social circles in Europe,
who knew the classics by heart, and could de-
liver Judgment on picture or statue like
veteran connoisseur, who was a fav0rite with
the wealthy and powerful, and could, In his as
pirations for an easy and fitting position in life,
count upon their whole influence II he only
would not do anything toolish-that such a man
should go among the aboltionIsts, and not only
sympathize with them, but work with them,
and expose himself to the chance of being
dragged through the streets with rope round
his neck, like William Lloyd Garrisou,-that
was thing at which the polite society of that
Gay would revolt, and which no man could I'M
dertake without danger of being severely drop
ped. But that was the thing which the refined
Sumner actually did" and he was forced
TO it by the feelings which swelled his heart
street, in full dress, from some festive occasion,
he saw the mob dragging Garrison through the
etIettS WIN a rope fOund ms neck. HlllaFd, TO
whom he spoke, can tell what he said at the mo-
ment. History has told us what he did. From
the pinnacle OF social fame he plunged into the
sea OF the ostracized below, and became to the
blue bloOds OF Beacon street, as no better tn an
one ef the wicked; and 1t was that speech, de-
livered in Faneuil Hall, entitled, "Our Imme-
date Antislavery Duties" on November 6, $780,
in which he threw himself into the antislavery
cause with his whole heart and soul, which CEN
tered on him the eyes OF the State, and in which
he made himself the coming man. 1t was in
this speech, which Judge Jay pronounced "the
greatest effort of the kind in the English lam
guage," that he struck the keynote to the ire
pressible conflict about to follow, in these
words:
"There is legend of the Church, still living
on the admired canvas of Venetian artist that
ST. Mark, descending from the skies with head
long fury into the public square, broke the man
acles of slave in the presence of the very
Judge who had decreed his fate. This is known
as The Miracle OF the Slave and grandIv has
art ilumiDed the scene! Should Massachusetts
hereafter, in an evil hour, be decorated by any
such decree, may the good Evangelist once
more descend with valiant arm to break the
manacle Of the slave"
The point in the speech was the description of
the picture and the lesson he drew from it. Next
day some one sent him an engraving of the
scene he had depicted. When in Europe in 1851, ,
he purchased the study from which the great
picture was made. Both are now in Boston, and
photographs of them are being largely distribu-
ted through the land; and this seems to be the
origin of the statement that TintorettO made
Ctaries Sumner SENATOR. b. Johnson, in
ScritHeT''f for Norember.
u ON 10 Stock Ponds With RIaok RaSs