Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1898-09-30

say OF the two suggestive structures of
Washington, inadequate as 1t must seem
even to the casual visitor after once COM
pretending the real significance and beauty
OF these monuments. | want to make it
known that they should be looked at from
every point of view, like all large things
that are worthy OF being looked at at all:
that is, that the man or woman who finds
these things impressive at first glance
should go across the river to many points,
and to the hills on the north and the north
west, and see the Capitol in its full glory
in the remote atmosphere. or catch glimpses
of the dome hanging in midair, through
vistas which friendly and appreCiative
hands have cut through various woods 1t
youth who fired the Ephesian dome entered
into the minds of the architects of the
Congressional Library, inspiring them to
top their structure with = small gilded
dome which. being neighbor to the larger
dome of the Capitol, dwarfs it by inter-
ferinS with it. But although the great
white dome will probably never again hang
all alone at the end of these framing Wis
tas. the sight of it, even with it's impert-
nent small cOmrade. is beautiful enough to
warrant a search for the spots from which
1t may be Seen-a search that will be vastly
facilitated by any intelligent cabman.
The White Lot.
Back of the Washington monument
stretches the White Lot. which. by reason
of growing shrubbery. is changing its char
acter from a common to a park. and the
White Lot runs TO a street that is always
Like roadway within private grounds
from it's apparent immunity from city trav-
81 and from it's real stiffness, and on the
other side of this street are the grounds of
the White House, or the Executive Man
sion, as it is known officially and then we
have the White House itself, which Mr..
example of domestic architecture in the
country. 1t is a noble building, whether
you approach it from the north, or the
main entrance, or from the south, which
leads you to the graceful south porch and
to the domestic side of the building. The
home of the President is rot generous; this
is its fault, and very grave fault it is.
Only a President with a small family
can lodge there comfortably. A whole wing
is given over to sishtseers and TO business.
he house is so small that entertainments
that are a all general in their hospitality,
instead of being evenings afternoons of
pleasure. are physical struggles fraught
with danger quite as imminent as are naval
battles in Spanish wars. The nation owes
1t TO itself, to the architects who conceived
and executed fine q mansion, to make
this home as commodious its artistic
quality demands and to enlarge it that
its charming architecture may cease to be
d fragment, and become a complete and
worthy thing. And in doing so the historic
traditions of the old house will be pre-
served. and future Presidents will continue
to look out upon the Washington monu-
ment and down the great river which wash
the land which stands the home of
the first President, preserved for US and
for future generations by the thoughtful
and reverent patriotism of good women.
Historic Associatfons.
Part and parcel of the capital are the
historic associations of the vicinity-Mount
Vernon lying within such easy distance of
the city that one may ride there in short
time, or sail there and back within the day
on the Potomac; Fort Washington, selected
for defense of the capital by its neighbor
whose name it bears; Alexandria, the mar
ket town of the Washingtons, the Custises
and the Lees, and especially rich in its old
church where Washington worShiped; Ar
lingtOn, once the home of the widow Gus
It's children. whom Washington cared for
when he married their mother, afterward
the home of Gen. Lee. and now the final
abode of thousands of dead soldiers, some
OF them, like Sheridan, among the greatest
and some of them so lowly as to lie in their
graves unnamed. These historic memories
fall naturally into comradeshiD with the
White House and with the memories of the
great men who have occupied 1t. Across
the wide Pennsylvania avenue is a park
one of the lovelieSt of small parks in the
world-laid out by Downing. our first dis
tinguiShed landscape gardener, and filled
with trees of the south and the north, which
meet here on the line between the temporal
varieties
unable to grow further north. The park is
also memeHto of our alliance with France,
and at one of its angles is adorned by
statue of Lafayette-it is named Lafayette
Square or Park-while at its center is a
plunglng bronze horse, the like of which
never drew vehicle or furnished a mount
for man, and on which is cast the bronze
effigy of Gen. Jackson This statue was
once the joy of the mischef-loving Thack-
cray. and the keen sorrow OF Charles Sum-
ner, his aesthetic host.
Thinking of this park, one of the largest
of the reservations" 1t is natural to think
of the beneiicent systems of small shrub
berries and grassy places which l. Enfant'S
and Washington's plan for the city renders
possible. Where the streets and avenues
make their various spOkes, the opportunity
for heritage and trees has been taken adj
vantage of, and for statuary. too, which
celebrates the heroes and Sages of the ma
ton. Naturally, there is much bad statu-
airy at Washington. That public statuary
must often be bad is one of the inevitable
consequences of an expression of official
taste-whether the official taste be mo-
narcnical or democratic-it being admitted,
of course, that democratic taste, being
manyhedded and therefore necessarily an
average taste. is likely to be much more
wretched than .monarchical taste, which
may be sngle-minded and single-purposed,
and may have had some instruction thrust
upon it, There is some good statuary' in
Washington. The Lafayette statue, for eX-
ample, with its somewhat disturbing
groups at the pedestal, is an admirable
specimen of French sculpture. There are
Wards Thomas, Story's Chief Justice Mar
shall, and in the Congressional Library
some beautiful specimens of the work of
st. Gaudens, MacMonnles, French. Bartlett
and other Americans. The statuary of the
out-of-doCrs, however, is of men whose
friends think that they have deserved well
of the republic.
The Congregational Library
Who shall say, after looking a the heroes
of the army and navy, and at some of the
images of the judges and lawmakers in the
squares and in Statuary Hail. that a repub-
lie is necessarily unsrateful? 1t may be
that its taste in art and it's Judgment as
to men often go astray, but what infaIible
monarch has the world ever known? These
statues may some of them COMMENCEMENT
the wrong men, and may be the work of
rude chiselers, but the spirit of gratitude
for deeds done for the nation suggested
the commemoration of the doors in marble
and bronze, and it is in this, as in other
matters, with the motive that we are chief
~ concerned. But as to art If the visitor
10 the capital desires to feel a thrill OF
pride in the finer achievements of the coun-
try. he must go to the new library of Con-
gress, not TO see d vast wealth of books and
prints, although the library is far from
p al l.