The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1892-12-25

whose creation has entered into Bratte-
ooFo history, copy made ny order of Mil
ton Longstreet, of Cincinnati. who thus
sign'hed his appreciation of the young
artist
Nct long after this the people of ali the
Green Mountain. villages bordering the
vermont Central road tiocked 10 the rail-
way station to catch a glimpse of the COL
ossai emblem of their state, then on its
way TO Montpelier. whose legislative dome
II was TO crown. This nobiy typica! figure
oil Vermont was also the conception of the
artist OF the Snow Angel.
AT the beginning of the civil war the call
!or volunteers, echo;ng among the green
mus, stirred the soul of the Young scul ptor
10 hasten 10 his country's service. The
skili and facility and strong character of
his drawings were we'll known: there were
tens of thousands of brave men 10 carry
and Weld arms. but the men of the pencil
ana the pen. whose power was so great in
those times, were comparatively few, so,
our Vermont lad. abandoning marble and
cnlsei for card and crayon. was soon in the
advance guards of Mcclellan and Han
cock. and Badly Smith and Stewart, AMI
his vivid sketches brought the perils and
the needs of war home to the hearts of
Harper readers.
once, while on accommodating tour for
the Gear survey of the land whose plan he
had been ordered to bring to headq uarters
he climbed to n towering tree far out on
the line. A gray-uniormed sharpshooter
spied him and sent his bullets whistling
through the air all about him. till 1t
seemed he must bear charmed lite. The
young artist who had an important duty
to perform, sat there cool and intrepid as
one of his own statues until his work was
fully accomplished.
At the close of the war Mr.. Mead came
to Italy. where he was warmly received by
Hiram Powers and other artists-partly
for the sake of his own genial self, and
partly by reason of the promise of his
works, whose fame had preceded him.
After remaining a short time in Flor
ence he went to Venice for three years and
then returned to Florence which is still
his home
While he was in Venice, the novelist
Howeiis. then United States consul gen.
eral at Venice, returned to America for
his marriage, and as the bride was the
sculptor's sister, it was On event in which
he naturally felt the greatest interest.
During Mr.. Howeli's absence Mr.. Mead
admirably fulfilled the duties of substitute:
and 1t was while performing this service
as consul til 1t he saw. during the hour OF
fashionable promenade in the square of
San Marco and the Royal gardens the
beautiful and patrican Venetian girl who
has now for many years been the light of
his Florentine home.
Not a word OF Italian did he then know,
aud. try hard as he would. not person
could he find to perform the necessary ser
vice of presentation to the young signo-
rina. Indeed, were to tell of all the ex
pedients to which he resorted for the full
filiment of the wish that had grown dear
to him; of the fruitless efforts and weary
waitlngs, his return to Florence and then
to Venice again before he met Marietta di
Benvennto. they would form volume of
romance. Suffice it now, that at last the
meeting did take place 10 the mutual sat
lsfaction of the young couple.
OF Mr.. Mead's earlier works perhaps few
have been more popular than his carefully
studied Columbus Appealing to Isabella
OF Spain" and that touching souvenir of
his battlefield experience. The Returned
Soldier" that everybody knows SO well.
The Listening Echo" that he chiselled
very soon after opening his Florentine
studio. and that somehow strangely sug-
gestS his boyhood's dreams and hopes, was
sold for a large sum before it was COM
pteted. The noble national Lincoln mon
ument-recently inauguraied with impos
ing ceremonies III SprfngfIe. d. Ill.,, will be
for ali times inseparabiy identified with
the great emancipation. His has reiefs for
the Washington monument are art and
impressive series. it was through his ad-
mlration of the forming and grouping of
these figures. that the famous DuDreZ, win
ner of the Golden Prix-d' Honneur Of
Paris, and a very prominent member of
the Florentine Life School director, pro-
posed MIR. Mead for professorship in this
great school, because" he said, they
could not afford to lose the oppor-
tunlty of securing SO valuable an
acquisition to its ranks as Mr.. Mead,
through the grace of grouping and pose
of figures III the Washington relieves, had
proved himself" And this was how there
came TO the young moulder of snow an
honor accorded to no other American, and
how he is now professor IN the most
noted institution of its kind in the whole
world.
The first of the Washington relieves
shows the patriot seated on his spirited
horse 1T the moment OF taking command
of the curiouslv mixed ranks of the
colonial army: towards the horizon line
there are the green heights of Lexington;
Just behind the general there are the
grand old elms OF Cambridge. slIe.tering
the lowered church and q quaint Old house
or two; at Washington's side. and as
near as may be, the country women and
children press forward 10 see and salute
the guardian of their homes and liberties.
The second relief IS a fine delineation OF
the surrender of Cornwailis. In the third,
at the end of the war Washington resign
his commission in the midst of illustrious
patriots, who are grouped about the chair
from which he has risen.
The last of the series shows the inau-
guration of Washington a: the moment
when the oath of office is being admins