Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1893-09-20

rounded by multitude of people, IL not
the same capitol which our forefathcrs
built Aud yet it il the same capitol III
itea, in lines, iii style, in character Their
Successors have simply enlarged and to
some extent improved the original design.
The central building itself, which was for
so long IA time the capitol. is today praC-
tically what it was at the beginning of this
century. The evolution of the capitol as a
building has been like that of the nation
behind it, IL started with "a central idea,
which has existed through all the changes
and decades The additions and improve
meits have all been in consonance with the
original idea. As luck--nr perhaps genius
would have it, the constitution and the
capitol were alike in their elasticity, 1t
was possible TO adapt them, to build upon
them without destroying harmony or sym
metry.
When the constitution was adopted prob
ably no living man foresaw a nation of %,
10000, with A separate states, within n
little more than hundred years Nor
could any one look into the future and see
that the little capitol building was TO grow
to its present mammoth proportions. First
they constructed the two wings Of the CEN
trail building, leaving to the future the
Task Of filling in between. One Of these
wings was for the senate, the other for the
honse of representatives. 1t is curiously
illustrative Of the growth Of the country
that the chamber then devoted to the sen
ate was 80 small that if tho present senate
and its clerks and employees were to he
crowded into it there would he room neither
for spectators nor desks. But in proportions
and lines there are today no more beauti
full no more perfect halls in the world. Ger
tainly none in legislative homes, than these
old halls of the senate and house, now used
for the supreme court and as a hall OF stat
uary respectively. To this day visitors
from all over the world are charmed with
these two apartments.
The great dome which now surInounts
the central building was not thought of by
the builders Of the capitol Its possibility
never entered their minds. They planned
4 dome indeed, but IL was a small, almost a
trifiing affair. About 1870 they connected
the two wings together by means of the
structure which still exists. this taking the
place OF a low, cheap corridor which former
ly ran from one building to the other. Aft
erward they put on their little dome. which
very we'll fitted In size and proportion the
building as it then was. All this time the
country was growing and growing The
ambitious young nation that had started the
construction of its lawmaking palace lit
orally in the woods found the forest and
Che savage shifting their habitat far toward
the setting sun. More room was needed
for the legislative genius. swollen more hy
numbers than by ability, which the tx-
panling land sent hither.
Out of this necessity grew the prtst"
wings. They were finished just at the cl' .
of the war between the states, and whels ie
country became reunited the two new wing
we're joined together in fitting celebration
Of the peace Now the old dome was too
small. The plant had spread out over three
times the amount OF ground originally in
use aud the central break in thesky line was
either too small or too large. II had TO be
removed altogether or be lifted up 70
worthiness of its expanded surroundings.
Happily congressional economy did no,
prompt adoption Of the former alternative,
and a new and far grander dome soon rose
toward the sky. 1t WAS 4 dome which WED
in grandeur and magnificence with the
,lomes Of st. Peters and st. Paul's, and
Win ttitpsAFEA-+il StiisFIANstb fhri ~ efht
Ingenuity it was erected in a few years.
And there stood Che capitol as we see it
today, saving only@ the western terrace.
The expansion horizontally and vertically
had improved aud not harmed its symme-
try Though the original idea was now
nothing but nucleus, a being dropped,
godlike, ont If the clouds and with q god 9
appreciation. of the fine and beautiful
would say the man who built this great
pile aud built it all and PLANNED it all RS a
complete entity. Viewed from without,
there is nothing that one would add or
take away. II is perfection In magniii-
cence-
There was another distinct stage Of this
process of evolution. and it, like its pre,le-
et.ssors, harmouized admirably with that
of which it became the complement. The
builders Of the capitol and the builders Of
the capital city made one mistake. They
faced their palace in the wrong direction
With its front to the east they thought
they were facing it toward the seat of
wealth and population Of the future city.
But as it turned out they piaced the back
door Of the capitol where the front should
have been, and the new national statehouse
soon found the capital city growing up a.
its back yard.
For this result the ubiquitous Yankee
real estate specuiator was 70 blame He
gobbIed up most Of the desirable building
lots on the hill to the east OF the capitol
and held them at such high prices that the
settlers Of the city were compeiied in self
defense to buy ground in the other part Of
town. Consequently there was for long
time agitation in favor Of doing something
20 turn the capitol about, as il were, to
improve its western facade. At length a
start was made on this work, and now,
after the lapse Of some six years, we have
reached the centennial anniversary OF our
great building with a beautiful terrace
a.1orning the western front and serving TO
make tl... 5 T. If the structure look m0es
kks ansse tAsa haek dsss