Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1886-10-27
The Site and Pedestal Of BarthOl-
dis Statue-The Figure.
THE SITE.

Bartholdi himself chose Bedlows lslano
fifteen years ago for the site OF his great
monument. No spot, IN fact, could have
been a 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.
THE PEDESTAL.
In the middle of each face. just on level
with the proposed terrace, is doorway, hve
feet wide and thirteen feet high. On each
side of every door is a projecting disk of
stone on which the arms of the United States
and of France will be cut in relief. Above
the doors is broad band of stone running
around the pedestal and broken into forty
smooth faced medallions, ten on eacn sioe,
on which the costs-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 fve
feet and three inches from top to bottom
These will also be covered with appropii late
inscriptions and designs.
With the panels a decided break in the
pedestal proper occurs. The sides shrink in
foot or two and the smooth stone-work Of
the first section is succeeded by free rough
edged arrangement, which relieves the eye
and gives a chance for further smooth work
higher up From the base Of the pedestal tn
the top of the big panels is sevsnty-two
feet and eight inches. Here the four walls
recede, except for half-dozen feet at each
corner, and leave four balconies, each five
feet and eight inches in width, set of with
low stone rail and four tall granite pillars.
Doors open from the balconies on the shaft
inside, around which the spiral stair winds
dizzily and up which an elevator will proba-
bly, run some day. These shaded balconies
are a delightful retreat after the long and hot
climb, and from them spread out on every
size is that ever changing picture of the
busting harbor, the far-off hills tipped with
blue and green, and the dense black patches
of house-tops, towers and spires.
Where the walls join again there is jut-
ting frieze of plain granite, crowned with
low open balcony on which four doors open
again from the shaft within. Here the third
section begins. The walls contract several
feet, though the balcony rail breaks the
sharpness of the effect from below. 1t is but
few tiers now to the top of the pedestal,
hid from view by the rich drapery of the
goddess tunic. The topmost platform is
thirty-nine feet and four and three-eighths
inches square and 1874 feet above low-water
mark.
The pedestal is in its way most graceful
and modest structure. 1t is neither monoto-
nous nor heavy, and has been made to look
smaller than it really is. The goddess, in
fact, gains in point of elevation by
this suppression, and towers easily
over everything else, but the effect is in no
way forced or stlt-ike. The soft gray shade
OF the pedestal blends well with the reddish
brown of the copper, and the wilderness of
the rough quoins shows far across the water
in the slanting rays of the early morning or
late afternoon sun The granite used is
from quarry on Leete's Island in Connect
cut. and the size of the blocks made the
building of the pedestal one of the heaviest
pieces of masonry ever undertaken about
New York. General Charles P. Stone was
the chief engineer of the work, Richard NJ.
Hunt the architect and David Fl. King, Jr.,
the builder. The pedestal cost in all about
$500
The figure is that of q graceful, deep
browed woman whose richly pleated robes
hang in soft rounded folds about her shspely
breast and limbs, the pure, clear face, and
the luxurlent hair crowned with a sparkling
diadem of light. But through it all shines
the suggestion of that eager, proselyting
passion for liberty for which the men of the
Revolution spilled their blood in France aud
in America. This. at least, is the inspiration
Bartholdi has striven to put into the great
statue. 1t is on this that he and NJ Laboulaye
have counted for the figures "farreaching
and moral effect"