Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1883-09-07
Bartholdi,s Great statue.

The immense scaffolding that can be
seen in the direction of the Rue de
Chaselles, reaching over the highest
houses in the neighborhood, on close
examination displays the Zines of hui
man form, and the gigantic folds of the
robe that Grapes il. Ii is in truth statue,
the greatest that was ever constructed
up 10 the present time-the statue of
Liberty which the sculptor Bartholdi
conceived. and which is destined TO
serve as a beacon ut the entrance to the
port of New York. From eighty to
ninety artisans are kept constantly en-
ployed upon the work. The statue is
already completed up TO the chest.
Perhaps in its present condition it can
be seen 20 thc-bcst advantage Its ex-
traordinary proportions can be viewed,
and, as it is not completed, it is posi-
BILE to take in all the details of the con-
struction of this gigantic work, which
will probably remain unequaled among
the works of bronze. The plaster molds
of the enormous limbs thrown across
the yard, and the busy workmen COW
ering them with innumerable pieces OF
wood that reproduce all the contour.
and lines remind one of the well-known
scene of CULVER at Liliput. The men
look like tiny dwarfs endeavoring tG
bind n giant. And if by a miracle that
great hand could become alive and
simply open its closed fingers, all that
solid woodwork would fly in splinters,
and the immense scafolding itself would
come down like a castle of cards.
The first model was enlarged four
times. Then it was cut into slices, and
these slices are taken one after the 9TH
er and again enlarged to four times
their original size, and thus the dimen-
siOns of the colossal statue are obtained.
At present the workmen are engaged
upon the portion that forms the chest
The model of it can be seen in the shed.
1t looks like a little hill, over which the
men are constantly crossing. When
the draught or model OF n portion is
made, impressions are taken of it. In
order to do this it is necessary to gather
together hundreds of little planKs, cut
precisely upon the outlines of the model.
and in this way a woman mold is OBJ
tanned, and is divided into as MANY
fragments rs are necessary. Upon
these fragments the copper is cut and
hdlhHICACu uhlll IL COplcS lHe pTtClSt
tforms. Then Chinese gongs would not
make greater noise than is made al
day long in the corner of the shed
where the copper is hammered, and this
continuous and deafening noise contrib.
utes not little to the strange impress
sion that one gets from the visit.
| When the shaping of piece of the
copper is completed it becomes part
of the statue, and there is nothing fur.
Their to do with it except to put it in It's
place. Just now they are engaged in
the work of finishing the left hand
| The nail on the first finger would make
good-sized shield. The top of the
finger would make a helmet for the
/ largest head, and, in default of better
cuirass, William the Conquerer, who
passed for the biggest man of his time,
might easily get into one of the
phalanges.
In six months the whole work will
be finished. There remain only the
chest and left arm to complete. The
head, which is large enough to contain
forty people, has already been exhibit
ed. in 1876, and the right hand ha:
| Just come back from America, where il
was sent to give some little idea of the
/ great size of the statue. After the
Parisians have had ample time to adj
mire the work it will be taken dowI
and sent to New YORK in more thar
three hundred pieces--Pdris Temps.