Evening capital journal. (Salem, Or.) 1888-1893, 1893-03-25
4 hhl.lMtn Mah holll B tntM.



thsase ~ kfctitett
ruiidine committees ore too often
AZ the mercy N tricky schemers aud
"fakits 'fhete are 80 called atchi
tetfs whe Inv Themselves out 10 dc
iufe this cirss N clients The writer
weii remembers m instance Of this
kind In the course of a visit to 4
friend Iiviny n, \ city that may be
cailpd f,tmfdviile, his host happened
H., mention that he was q member cf
church building committee, and
ono evening he begged TO he excused
IN order 10 attend n committee meet
ing A great New York architect was
coming to submit plans for the new
church NV host returned home de
lighted with the New Yorker.
Hes a fine fellow, said my host.
'eYou should hear him talk. He has
the building at his finger ends and
speaks Of the smallest detail as
though he loved II. Such undoubted
ability Such mastery He has
planned a church that viii be the
gem of the city and after looking at
his drawings one can understand one
very striking remark be made"
What was THAR
"Oh, he said II had been the dream
Of his life to build church like that
the dream of his life. like to see
a man 30 earnest and enthusiastic.
am going to vote for him, and 30 are
more than half Of the rest Of the
committee"
So the enthusiastic architect was
chosen. II was only when 1t was
found that the lowest builders esti.
mate that could be obtained for the
building OF the church was 30 per
cent more than the architects esti-
mate, and also that after the work
had been begun very important
changes in construction had to be re-
sorted to in order to make the build.
ing safe that this genius begun to be
worshiped with a less adoring hom.
age Moreover, the church was
found to look very much less impos-
ing in reality than it had in the
drawings, in which advantage had
been taken of every trick of drafts
manship and shading to produce eff.
fective tout ensemble.
Two years later the writer was in
vited to pay visit to a relative at,
we will say, Grandejou. Strangely
enough. his host upon this occasion
was also member of church build.
ing committee. He, too, was absent
one evening at a committee meeting,
and on his return the writer was sur.
prised to find that the identical New
York architect before mentioned had
been interviewing the committee.
We'll. does the architect meet
your views9" said the visitor
Exactly. He is a very fine fellow.
Really remarkable man." said the
host impressively.
.'Indeedg"
Yes. Such mastery Of his sub
ject. You should hear himl He is q
thorough genius He says it has been
the dream of his life to build church
like the one he proposes, but he has
never had the opportunity until
now"
He had quite taken the committee
captive by his pretty drawings and
his eloquent talk. He was, in fact, a
clever drummer who could draw.
He understood next to nothing of
scientific construction, rarely made o
calculation as to strains and stresses
put in deep shadows in his drawings
where there was no varied outline in
the profile of the building itself tc
justify it. and drew attractive figures
in the foreground which, by theiI
ridiculously small comparative size
elevated the fictitious edifice on pa.
per into grand proportions. When
he got hold of a building committee,
he conquered them by his clever
readiness and fattered them in way
that his exquisite perception of char,
acter rendered possible. Engineer
| ing Magazine.