The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1886-11-06
rHEl sIrE. ANn rHE FouNpAr1oN.


Bartholdi himself chose Bedlow's Island
fifteen years ago for the site of his great
monument. No spot, in fact, could have
been happier one for the purpose. From
the shores of the Bay the level islet looks
like the mere natural base of the vast statue
and its-solid-faced pedestal.
Cut away from any rival objects large or
small, dwarfed or dwarfng, the colossal fig
ure stands clearly against the free back
ground of water, land and sky. blending
with them easily and simply, like an image
drawn, as the goddess is, on their own
scale. And if the great bronze figure fits,
like one of its own rivets in the copper
sheath, into the surroundings of sea and
sky, the granite pedestal finds ready-made
support to the double star-shaped inner
walls of old Fort Wood.
The base of the pedestal is almost hidden
from the outside behind them, and when
the old parade ground is filled in, and the
sodded terrace slopes gently downward
from the crown of the foundation over them
to the sea-wall below, their tops will make
an easy break halfway where the stair
cases will broaden out into spacious plat
forms, and benches will be ranged for
biterers in the pleasant weather. The out
.kSozks of the fort have disappeared; SO have
the powder-houses and the sally-ports. The
bastions themselves will soon be buried in
the dirt. Only the small sea battery with
its guns freshly polished for display, not
use, will be left to remind one in year OF
two that Bedlow's Island was once Gov
ernment post.
The bulk of the pedestals foundation
will. of course, be out of sight when the
landscape gardener has finished his work
lonlthe approaches 70 the statue. Itstarts,
in fact, beneath the old parade ground
at thirteen feet above the mean low water
mark. In shape it is something like q
a truncated pyramid, with a gentle slope.
1t does not rise, however, with a contin
uous wall, but with series of great layers
of concrete, each one a trife smaller than
the one it rests upon. The top reaches up
above the fort walls fifty-two feet ten inches
from the base There is no break to the
very top. The whole thing is vast mass
of concrete and rock, which measures on
its upper face about sixty-fve feet square.
A wELL-BUILT PEDESTAL.
The pedestal proper at its base Is sixty
two feet square, and begins at an elevation
above tide-water of sixty-fve feet. In the
middle of each face, just on level with
the proposed terrace, is doorway, five feet
wide and thirteen feet high. On each side
of every door is projecting disk of stone
on which the arms of the United States and
of France will be cut in relief. Above the
doors is a broad band of stone running
around the pedestal and broken into forty
smooth-faced medallions, ten on each side,
on which the coats-of-arms Of the various
states will probably be placed. Still higher
than the medallions are four large panels
twenty-three feet and six inches long and
five feet and three inches from top to bot
tom. These will also be covered with ap
propriate inscriptions and designs.
With the panels decided break in thu
pedestal proper occurs. The sides shrink
in foot or two, and the smooth stone-worE
of the first section is succeeded by fret
rough-edged arrangement, which relieve!
the eye and gives a chance for furthe
smooth work higher up. From the base
of the pedestal to the top of the big panels
is seventy-two feet and eight inches, Here
the four walls recede, except for hal
dozen feet at each corner, and leave fou
balconies, each five feet and eight inches il
width, set off with low stone rail and fou
tall granite pillars. Doors open from thu
balconies on the shaft inside, around which
the spiral stair winds dizzily, and up which
an elevator will probably run some day
These shaded balconies are delightful re
treat after the long, hot climb, and from
them spread out on every side is that ever
changing picture of the bustling harbor
the far-off hills tipped with blue and green
and the dense black patches of housetops
towers and spires.
Where the walls join again there is a jut
ting frieze of plain granite, crowned witt
low open balcony on which four door
open again from the shaft within. Her
the third section begins. The walls con
tract several feet, though the balcony raj
breaks the sharpness of the effect from
below. 1t is but few tiers now to tn
top of the pedestal, hid from view by tn
rich drapery of the goddess tunic. Th
topmost platform is thirty-nine feet an
four and three-eighth inches square, an
! l54 feet above low water mark.
The pedestal is in its way most grace
full and modest structure. 1t is neithe
monotonous or heavy, and has been mad
to look smaller than it really is. The god
dess, in fact, gains in point of elevation b
this suppression, and towers easily owe
everything else, but the effect is in no wa.
forced or stilt-like. The soft gray shad
of the pedestal blends well with the reddis
brown of the copper, and the whiteness Q
the rough quoins shows far across the waite
in the slanting rays of the ear ly mornin
or late afternoon sun. The granite used
from quarry on Leete's Island, in Coz
necticut, and the size of the blocks mad
the building of the pedestal one of th
heaviest pieces of masonry ever undertake
about New York. Gen. Charles 2. StoR
was the chief engineer of the work, Rid j
NJ. Hunt the architect, and David u abe
Jr., the builder. The pedestal thick
about S250,000. ~ of tn,
COLOSSAL SIZE OF TR< hard main
The Goddess of Lib<W WKino ,onol