The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1886-10-29

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 probably run some
day. These shaded balconies are delightful
retreat after the long. hot climb, and from them,
spread out on every side. is that ever-charrning
picture of the busting harbor, the far of hills,
tipped with blue and green and the dense black
patches of the bouse-tops. towers and spires.
Where the walls join again there is jutting
freze OF plain granite, crowned with a 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 bal
cony rail breaks the sharpness of the effect from
below. It is but few tiers now to the top of
the pedestal. hid from view by the rich drapery
of the 1oddess's tunic. The topmost platform
is thirty-nine feet and four and three. eiehths
inches square and one hundred and lfty-four
feet above low-water mark
The pedestal is in its way most graceful and
modest structure, It is neither monotonous nor
heavy, and has been made To look smaller than
1t really is. The Goddess, in fact. gains a point
of elevation from this suppression, and towers
easily over everything else but the effect is in
way forced or stilt-lke. The soft gray shade
of the pedestal blends well with the reddish
brown of the copper, and the whiteness of the
rough quoins shows far across the water in the
slanting rays of the early morning or late after
noon sun. The granite used is from a quarry
on Leetes island in Connecticut, and the size OF
she blocks made the building of the pedestal one
of the heaviest pieces of masonry ever under
taken about New York Gen. Charles P. Stone
was the chief engineer of the work, Richard Nj
Hunt the architect and David III. King. lr., the
builder. The pedestal cost in all about $500. 600
The statue is wonderfully strong. Bartholdi
has given some account Of the work on the
statue in his sketch for the French-American
Union. After settling down on a particular
image Of Liberty he made tiny model, less
than four feet high. This first study was fol-
1~~~ L. - e. - - -l.s Il
was then enlarged four times by the ordinary
processes The resulting model measured about
thirty four feet in height This made ac-
curate possible and then divided into sections,
each one Of which was to be enlarged once more
four times. No further changes could now be
made; the sculptor could only aim at great pre-
cision and subsection everywhere of minor de-
tails.
The sections were reproduced, ouadrupled, in
plaster on frame of lath. Each pail-head and
point had to be measured six times and verified
as often; and with 1900 points. some $4,000
measurements were necessary Wooden molds
were then fitted to the plaster cast, and the cop
per sheetings hammered out roughly. The pro-
file of the forms was then taken in detail with
sheets Of lead, and the copper sheets worked
over more accurately.
Once in shape they were knit together from
point to point by iron braces, which were forged
into the form Of the copper when its outline was
completely modelled The copper pieces were
erful trusswork of iron beams, which now serves
as support for the whole envelope of the stat
ue. The core of this trusswork is sort of pylon
with four points Of attachment, each point held
in place by three bolted braces six inches in
diameter and running twenty-five feet into the
masonry Of the foundation to frame of iron
beams
These details are given because they serve to
settle conclusively the question of the statues
power Of resistance to high winds Taken as a
basis the fercest hurricanes recorded in either
Europe or America, calculations have shown
that the Goddess could Withstand any known
gale
The colossal in art, it is generally under
stood, can be used to express only limited
number of ideas. It must represent, if pos
sble, some vast abstraction, and carry with it
always the suggestion of power, majesty, or in
fnity Its peculiar effect is that of the physical
ly sublime, touched and heightened by the idea
of moral sublmity. And SO it is not the mere
legendary goddess, with moro than manly
strength and more than womanly stateliness,
clear-eyed, and wise and patient, like Minerva
that the sculptor means really to represent
The figure of graceful, deep-browed woman
is there whose richly plated robes hang in soft
rounded folds about her shapely breast aud limbs
the pure, clear face, and the luXuriant hair
crowned with sparkling diadem of light. But
through it all shines, it ought to shine, the
suggestion of that eager, proselyting passion for
liberty for which the men of the Revolution
spilled their blood in France and in America, and
which, if in modern days only one of sheaf of
memories, Is for both countries the most priced
Of them ALL
This at least is the inspiration Bartholdi has
strven to put into the great statue. 1t is this
that he and NJ. Laboulaye have counted for the
figures "far-reaching moral effect"