The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1894-09-29
CONGRESSIONAL LIBRARY BUILDING
From the washington Post.l

Here begin the vistas of polished
marble, white Italian, nearly as pure
as the famous blocks of Carara. The
passages high above the visitors head
are walled with great mirror-like slabs
of polished stone, in which even the
piles of bricks, dirt and mortar about
the floor are glorified in their reflection
Above this wainscoting come the pol
ished holdings, and higher still rise
pillars and pilasters, crowned with
symbolic capitals apportioned to the
arts and sciences, music. painting,
sculpture, poetry, and the drama
Above the doors are rich spandrelS
carved in palms and wreaths. and the
main hall into which these passages
lead is surrounded forty feet above the
floor with a circle of Corinthian pillars
of white marble. each capital of which
cost a single workman three months
labor in carving the rich maze Of acan-
thus leaves that spring from the top OF
the shaft. High above this supporting
circle of pillars rises the glass-covered
roof. Is feet from the floor. and all
above the marble work of the hall will
be filled in with rich white paneling of
stucco work.
But the chief beauty of the hall is the
grand staircase winding up on the
south. a marble stairway with a solid
balustrade containing 26 infant figures
OF the arts and sciences, monuments
to the infant industries of the country,
1t is to be supposed, and Familiarity al
luded to by the workmen who are
carving them as ''the babies"
They are carved in about half relief.
and are works of art in themselves,
each Of them surrounded with the tools
of the trade to which he is the appren-
tice, and each separate panel enriched
with carvings of fruits. flowers and FAM
ciful arabesque.
THE MAIN ROTUNDA.
From the west main, the marble
lined passages and alcoves branching
off on each side, runs to the main ro-
tunda, which is to form the reading
room Of the library. If the west main
hall, with its white marble lining and
lofty ceiling. is grand, the main hall
is magnificent. 1t is an octagon. nearly
hundred feet in diameter and rising
1S5 feet to the interior of the great
golden dome. The room is now filed
with scaffolding, the caging OF the ele-
Vator, and indescribable dirt and re-
fuse of building, but through it all one
can see the beauty of the coming work.
The walls of the rotunda for 40 feet
from the ground are Of the rich. AMBER
Veined Sienna marble of Italy, scarcely
10 be told at glance from Mexican
onyx. The wall is not solid, but is
broken into succession Of galleries
and crossed at the top with a balus-
trade on which, when completed there
viii be mounted Is bronze figures. by
the famous artists Of the country The
contracts for these have been already
let in some cases. Quincy Ward. st.
Gaudens. and others being engaged In
the work. On the west side of the
hall there is to be a great ornamental
clock. also of the Sienna marble. with
a dial six feet across. In each of the
eight corners of the hall there rises a
gigantic column of African marble.
veined not unlike the Sienna, but Of
deeper richer color. and backed by
pilasters deeper still in color. The
whole work Of the room is poJisbed
and the great pillars are three feet or
more in diameter at the base.
The naturalization of human bodies
was practiced by the Egyptians from
prehistoric times until after the sixth
century of our era.
In both Greece and Rome certain
atrocious crimes were punished not
only with death. but also with the de-
privation of funeral rites.
The Egyptian embalmers preserved
not only the human body. but also the
bodies of cats, monkeys, sacred bulls
and some other animals.
When the body of a Mohammedan is
prepared for burial, a scalplock is left
on the top of his Uranium, whereby
the angel of the resurrection can lift
him out of the grave.
The Christians of Rome. from the
first persecution under Nero to the
tenth and last. under Diocles an, found
the catacombs a comparatively safe
refuge.