The age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1897-1902, 1897-10-31
TO BE RESTORED.
Parts of Old independence Hall Are Found 10
Be Yet Intact.


Rare is the man or the body Of men
who can estimate with approximation,
even, the Importance and the place in
history of the present. The folk who
built Independence hail. in Philadelphia,
and the patriots who assembled there
humid ed and twenty years ago had
small sdsa that a century later a ma
tion would hang with breathless interest
on their every deed and every word. They
gave no thought whether millions of
people would care what became of the
historic state house. And when the
building needed repairs, the men of the
next generation or two made the neces-
sary altera tions, apparently, without a
qualm.
And yet, was 1t Fortune or was it
Providence that decreed that In the re-
cent changes in the venerated pile, the
old material, or most of it, was to be
saved and stored? Did these improvers
imagine that the inner trim of the
building, wood and stone. which they so
ruthlessly tore out, would ever be re-
placed, or did they have little pricks
of conscience at the desecra ton?
No one knows now, but the fact re-
mains that the hearts of the Philadel-
phians who are restoring The state house
and congress hall are made exceeding
glad by the discovery that, purposely or
accidentally, the WTecl0ers of the era af-
ter the revolution were not quite uncon-
scionable vandals The structure is to be
restored as near as possible to its orig
inal condition, and the possibility, it
seems, will nearly equal the reality.
At Devon, a little place in Chester
county, Pa, not far west of Ph.ladel-
phia, has been found an old, old man
who worked at some of the most destruc-
tive alterations mn +1oc Of I,
he was hunted out and taken to the
state house, and the sight of the old
building brought back to his memory
the condition of things when he took
hold OF the work of Improvement" He
told how various rooms looked and how
thsy were furnished, he found fireplaces
in seemingly solid walls-freplaces that
had been bricked over, and that in taking
out the gags disclosed the original, fine
ly-carved wood arches and the black
ened backs
The renovators were as surprised as
delighted to find THAI though manteIs
mad been removed, they were still doing
duty as door hntels; that when 1T became
necessary to put in new Window sashes
they were placed inside the old ones and
the small panes preserved; that the orig
inal shingle roof was i;here, even If 1t
had been covered by q modern tin one
that would not leak; that the same care
had been taken OF the floors on which the
pdtfIOlS U.OU, the new 0OOl1ng being
/ laid over the old; that the old clock faces
when they were taken out, were given
to a church to care for.
The old boards of the platform on
which Washington stood when taking the
oath of office as president for the second
time were found but so worn and weak
were they, that, instead of their being
pitt down anew, they will be saved and
their exact reproduction laid.
The picture gallery and the museum
which occupied either side of the first
floor will be removed to post-revolu-
tionary chambers, and the rooms in
which they have been SO long will be
put back to the condition in which the
continental congress beheld them. Doors
which. like fireplaces, had been closed
will be opened, and doors which had
been cut through will be bTicked up.
The fireplaces ON either side of the pres
sdents platform in congress hall. and
which had been filled, will be made t
yawn, just as of yore. The floors will
be taken up and replaced by the broad
boards of colonial times. The colonnade
which separated the supreme court
chamber from the main hall Is to be re-
producsd.T The roofs OF the wir gs on either
side of the main hall will be lowered
to the original height, and the old, mar
row-paned windows put in. The BAN
quet hall. altered into the council cham
beers, will be restored to its original glo-
ricus proportions.
Two of the six lamps which USED 10
hang between the windows on the Chest
nut street side have been found. They
had glass sides and wrought iron tops.
They will be replaced and four others
like them made and set up.
The tower Is ten feet higher than It
WAS in revolutionary days. but 1T is
deemed inadv'i able to lower it. The
bell and the clock and the old dial cases
will be put up just where they used to
be- The doorway to the tower which
is now disfigtsred by row of Cor,nthian
columns and an arch, will be made to
look as it did when the bellringer pealed
out the glad fidings of independence and
when he proclaimed the fall of Corn
wallis. The old oak door has been found
under the tower staircase, and 1t. with
the fanligbt will be replaced.
AS TO the color of the walls, 1t will be
colonial buff, and there Is great sour
rying around to the places where the
rsal old colonial uniforms are to find
just what hue the colonial or continental
buff was. Delegations have gone to
Washington to get the exact x2ha6e Of the
lapsls of continental coats, and It looks
as II buff wsre to be ffle fashionable
MI ~