The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1896-03-17
sUPPREssED PARK srATUARH.
so-cniied OBJECTS OF That Were Accepted
In Haste and Are Now Hidden Away.

IN Haste and Arc NOW Hidden ANvnT.
Central Park abounds in so-called art oh.
jects acct pied In haste from well meaning do.
nurs. Many Of these stand out in the light Of
day and IRE familiar to thousands. Others
have been hidden away and forgotten. Tie
very worst Of tho lot. n group In clay entitled
"AuE Lnng Synu," was tho gift OF Scotch citi-
gems. This dreadful object is now thrust
nway In the so.culled Swiss cottage. on the
west side OF the Park, near Eighty-third street.
partly occupied 10y Entomologlst Southwick. his
specimens and apparatus. Before Aud Lang
Sync' was thus retired from public gaze, IL
suffered serious mutilation. The two Scotch.
men who are aking the cup Of kindness have
lost their noses. and the foot NJ one has dropped
Off, while the other has lost n hand.
McGowr's Pass Tavern. the house Of enter.
tniniYent in the upper part Of tho Park. has
been for more than twenty-five years the place
Of storage for many pieces OF %stituary that tho
parh. authorities could ind no room for else
where. The present lessee has vninly begged
that the %stntuary be removed There is a libel
Central Park by n woman" and there Is II life.
size OconTc Eve. e nude, presented by Marshall
q. Roberts, and condemned to the semi-pri.
thought an inappropriate object for public ex.
hihitiun. As II work of art IL is vastly more
honor in the Park. A heroic Columbtts in
marble. tho gift Of Mrs. Marshall q. Roberts,
occupies the centre OF the great dining room
at the inn, after having stood for Years Mt the
entrance hall OF the old Arsenal building. There
are worse statues standing under the open sky
IN tentral Park and In other public places.
The widow OF the sculptor Thomas Crnw-
ford, father of f. Marion Crawford. the novel.
list, presented to Central Park, three or four
years after his death, eiRhty-seven Examples
of her husbands work. copies in plaster Of his
most famous statues, has reliefs. and sketches
In clay. Crawford, who died forty years ago,
when still q young man. was u sculptor of
considerable repute In his day, ana his works
in bronze or marble stand Ia the Capitol Mt
Washington and In other important public
ter are for the most part extremely bad. They
were accepted Chcerfullv by the Central Park
authorities In 1850, and The report for 1861
of the Commissioners of Central Park declares
that no merely mercantile estimate can ex.
press their true value. They were exhibited
Tavern, or Mt. st. Vincent. as 1t was then
called. and the first report of the Commission
ers of Public Parks contains II photograph of
the collection as IL was arranged and displayed
in 1870. Many of these casts remain at the
inn. and they make n melancholy show. There
are the babes In the Woods" dancing Jen.
ny" for which the sculptor's daughter posed;
The Boy with the Broken TaInbourine, ~ THE
Hunting Boy" Cupid and half n dozen
Others great and small:
ing the development and identifying Of the
Park in its early days, and public spirited
but not always discriminating citizens were
constantly making gifts in aid Of these oh
ieCts. The early reports of the Central Park
Commissioners contain long lists of gifts.
some of those ackno wledged in the reports
are now nowhere visible. having been too bad
to bp set before even SO long uffcring a public
as that of New York.