The Red Cloud chief., 1884-10-31
Monument BuilIers.

All nations, we believe. savage and
civilized. in all ages. have been monu-
ment builders, that is. they have all
practiced the custom OF erecting struc-
lures. whether mounds. or cairns, or
tombs. or tunnels, or pillars. or col
umnS, or pyramids, Or ObeliSks, or
guacas. as in Peru, in cOmmemoration
OF important events, or Tor the purpose
OF cO~nsecrating and perpetuating the
fame OF great men. or of those who had
exercised. for the veal or zoe of their
country. great authority. At first these
structures must have been rude. insig-
nificant and ~perishabie. Even the
memorial erected to SO great a hero as
Hector was but a very modest one. a
mere heap of stones, loosely thrown to-
gether, according to Homer's descrip-
ton of it.
Among the ancients. the Greeks and
Romans were in architecture. sculpture
and painting. far ahead of all other
natiOns-not in antiquity. but in merit.
Leaving out of view the Chinese and
other ASia,ics, of whose marvellous ar
chitectual creations some rather indi-
gestible stories have been told. and
coming west to the countries bordering
on the Mediterranean, the Egyptians
are first in order in The constructive
arts. They were the masters of the
Greeks in art, and in civil .ation itself;
and yet, not many ages had elapsed be-
fore the Greeks were greatly in advance
OF their teachers in the very arts. the
rudiments OF which they had borrowed
from the country Of the Pharoahs. Be-
fore architecture or sculpture had been
attempted by the Greeks, the pyramids
and the Obelisks had been standing.
per APPS. in their solitary and useless
magnificence. some thousands of years.
But soon after their erection, Egyptian
art seems to have exhausted itself, and
then to have stopped. or rather. retro
graded. To the Egyptian mind. in the
constructive arts excellence consisted
in magnitude and height, aud those be-
ing attained, they ha1 reached, they
supposed. the ne plus ultra. But. al
though the pyramids are ~stupendous
and sublime, they have nothing of the
era ,eful and the beautiful. in which the
surviving specimens of GrecIan art SC
abound. and there is more elegance and
good iaste. more of the quintessence of
art in 3 single Grecian temple OIL statue.
than in all the pyramids togethe.
France has excelled all the modern
nations of Europe in the magniit ence
of her monuments. among which the
Arch of Triumph" and the Column
in the Place Vendome'' are %con>p;cu-
ous. The only trouble with the French
monuments l. that they have 10 be re-
dedicated rs the Bourbons, the Repub-
lie or the Bonapartes come successfully
into power. England is now studded
with monuments to Wellington. Nelson
and Prince Albert, but none of them
are remarkable.
The monument on Bunker Hill was
the first memorial pile OF any size in the
United States. and its fair proportions
have alwavs been admired by peopl OF
taste. Now the to the
memory % Wash ngton is beng finished
in the city which bears his name, and.
like him. It is distinguished for gran
deur and simplicity. Eve hundred feet
in heiSht-more than double the height
OF any other monuinent-it IS chaste,
imposing and ma este in appearance.
We are glad to learn t n the Ancient
and Honorable Artillery Company. the
oldest military organization in the
United States, contemplate taking part
in the dedication of the " ashineton
monument. IRE Hon. Robert &. Win
throp. who spoke e~lOluently when the
corner ston, was laid. is TO be { e ora
tor when the monument is dedicated.
and it will be hitting to have the
AncieutS head the column which will
escort the procession from the monu-
ment to the Capitol. where the exer-
cises will take place-boS;ea Budget