The Forrest City times., 1894-09-07
WASHINGTON MONUMENT.
ft 10 Thought to He One of the Most I'm.
 pressive Objects In the World.

WASTttN6 ON MONOME ts
 ft 10 Thought to He One of the Most I'm.
 pressive Objects In the World.
 famous living sculptor of ours has given us his opinion in condemnation of the Washington monument. It is sometimes called the Obelisk, for the comparatively simple reason that it is one, just as .they called him Peter, people said, because it was his name" With all due respect to the sculptors right of judgment, which is unques- toned, we may differ with him, and yet not brand ourselves barbarians. To the present writer it seems not too much to say that in certain light the Obelisk is the most imposing simple ob- ject of great dimensions in the whole world. Doubtless when seen, as it always can be seen by day, from dis tance of two or three miles and from different parts of the city, cut off by line of modern roofs across a pale sky, there is nothing remarkable or beauti- full about it. It is then but the top of an obelsk, and nothing more; slen- der straight line of stone visible in an uninteresting atmosphere. Even then it can hardly be said to be offensive, for it is too simple to offend.
 Go toit at evening, when the. sunset lights have faded and the full moon is rising. It is impossible not to see its beauty then. For some reason not inn mediately apparent the white light is not reflected from the lower half of it when the moon is not far above the hnriznn Tho 1trAe 1x,,t the shaft is only Il soft shadow below, gradually growing clearer as it rises, and sending in blaze of silver against the dark sky. The enormous propor- tions are touched then with a profound mystery; the solidity of the symbol disappears, the greatness of the thought remains, the amending vast ness of the idea is overwhelming. Block upon block, line by line, it was built up with granite from many into one simple whole, true symbol of what we Americans are trying to make of ourselves, of our country, and of our belieft. There is the solid founda- tion, proved and tried, which we know of and trust in. There is the dark and shadowy present, through which the grand straight lines are felt rather than seen. And there, high in the still air, points the gleaming fu- ture, perfect at all points. bright at all points, lofty as all but Heaven itself. There is the symbol. We may ask of ourselves whether we are to overtake the shadows and reach the light, we or our children. or our children's children; or whether the half-darlSncss will creep up with us always, and with them, for ages to come, and even to the end.
 The Obelisk is beautiful not only bv moonlight, as anyone may see who will take the trouble to look at it with eyes human rather than critical-at evening, for instance, from the terrace of the capitol, when all the world is sinking toward its mighty plunge into dark ness through the foam of the cloud breakers and the purple wash of nights rising tide; or at early morning, when the darkness sinks back, and the first blush of day warns the pinnacle of the lonely shaft--as though it had stabbed night in the sky and drawn the sweet blood of day. light upon its point. Most notably is it beautiful at such times when seen with the whole city from the great military cemetery on the heights of Ar lington, than which few points in the world command more lovely view.
 There in the quiet earth the solemn dead lie side by side, the many who fought for us when we were but their children, and who, for ours, will fight their immortal battles again in the clouds like the warriors of old. Many of us have heroes of our name and race lying there in the broad tree-hemmed meadows, and among the flowers, and in that chosen rank where the great generals lie, as they fought in the fore front of the enemy, facing now not enemies but friends, the deep sweet valley with the quiet river at their feet. And far away, beside the airy dome of the capitol, the single shaft rises sunward,- and tells in shadow time for us, the living, the hours of the dead mems endless day. Marion Craw- ford, in Century.