Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1893-09-12
:. TUESDAY MORNING. SEPTEMBER II. 1893.

bcy and finally he went abroad. and NOV
We have here NO less than seven piece.
credited 10 Frederick T. Triebel, Of Flor
ence- They are Savonarola tNo. Isl) and
Doaatello No les9 in plaster bas-relief
Mysterious 1usie {No. l2aJ in bronze
raaTble hIis.s Of General Logan and Rev
Z B. Russell and two marble groups en-
titled Love Knows no Caste and The
First Fish" All are beautiful. but Illinois
is uot honored as she shonld be.
-.
/ made another discoyery-that gallery
No. is historic In il are the paintings
produced in this country before and dur
ing the Revolution. Indeed. till Ions
after that great event. And painting bc-
gan early in America, for in l129 John
sniybevt painted a picture Of the noted
Bishop Berkeiy and his family. and the
Catalogue SAYS this was the first painting
containing more than one figure done in
America. What it may have been l know
not, but it isn't pretty now. 1t is, how
ever. of the greatest interest, for this is
that Bishop Beskeiy who wrote the oft
quoted lines about
Westward the course of empire takes its
way"
And about whom Byron wrote,
when Bishop Berksly said there was no
matter,
And proved it, twas no matter what he
said.
So it is really quite appropriate, as like
wise quite a striking coincidence. that the
painting of him and his family should
have been the first and should be shown in
this place where his prophecy is SO glor-
iously fulfilled. Benjamin West comes
next in the list, and he was born nine
years after Smybert painted the Berkelys.
so there must have been q generation
without a great artist Smybert was an
Englishman, but West was born in Penn
sylvania and used TO tell many interesting
stories about his early experience, some
what as the enthusiastic Mrs. Brooks
does, as per interview above. Eighteen
years after West, to-wit in 1856, Stuart
and Trumbull were born: they follow
West in room No. 4, and to them we owe
our beautifully idealized portraits Of
George Washington. almost forgot John
Singleton Copley who was contemporary
with West After Stuart and Trumbull
came Peale and Allston and then Amer
i
is u very interesting room, indeed.
-.
Our outside fun has been sadly marred
by what some people call the too early ar.
rival of the equinoctial storm. Itknocked
things around iu the water quite lively
and the last visitors to cross the lake
swore by all the dry land deities that they
would stick to the railroad hereafter and
give old Neptune the go-by. When
reached the Court OF Honor where the
great afternoon show was TO have been,
and where 10000 or more people were to
have viewed it, all could see were few
ladies running before the wind and one
gentleman frantically chasing fugitive
hat. But the display that night was bet
ter than circus, for when anything
meant to be very dignified is made ridicu-
lous it is ridiculous indeed.
1t was to have been a show of history In
floats on the lagoons; but Columbus had
to wear a heavy overcoat, and George
Washington sneezed like a hay fever pa
tient and Ferdinand and Isabella looked as
If. were the thing to do over again, they
would let this country stay undiscovered.
But the hardest looking man on the job"
was the Aztec king whose long hair was
blown all about his face, while even from
the shore one could see that his red-legged
courtiers were shivering like the proverb-
ial shorn lamb when the wind is not tenn
pered. The whole thing did not lack
much of burlesque, but many thousand
spectators looked on and cheered Justify,
either determined TO be pleased or willing
to show their appreciation Of the spirit of
the performers. The attendance is still in
creas;ng. All the landlords report every
room engaged from the 18th on and more
wan,ed, and SO it is pretty clear that the
attendance for September will average
10000 day. Sundays omitted The
Sunday opening is best illustrated by an
old story, thus: Boy, boy" said the dea-
con, you do very wrong to fish on Sun
day" at CANT be no arm, sir; for I amt
cotched nothin'." The religious public
must forgive the managers for Sunday
opening, for they have "cotched nothin'."
ulrl YAnlE HNiEe