The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1901-11-29
Written for the Register by Mrs II. n. Miller

at her feet. Her shield with It's legend,
u, >. 4, rests upon dnaitar Inscribed
with the significant date, July 4, l716.
she is listening To au inspiration OF
Hope, and indicating her reliance up
on justice, whose scroll of the Consti-
tuition bears the date of the adoption
of that instrument, september II, 1881.
or the two colossal groups in marble
on the portico one is PerSlcO's Dis
covery of America. 1t represents
Columbus and an Indian girl. The
armOr was copied from SUIT worn by
Columbus and preserved in Genoa.
The other group is Greenough's settle
ment of Amerlca-a pioneer IN desper-
ate conflict with a savage. On either
side of the doorway are marble figures
{ b. Persico) of War-Mars In Roman
mail, with shield and spear; and
Peace-Ceres with olive branch aud
fruits. over the door is composition
of Peace aud Fame placing II wreath
of laurel upon the brow of Washing
ton. At the rotunda entrance is the
Rogers Bronze Door. The fortunes
OF the American Indians furnish a
theme which we shall find constantly
recurring throughout the declarations
OF the capitol. The marble and bronze
of the rOtunda are suggestive of the
| first contact of the white race and the
red; the marble group in the tympan-
um of the Senate portico is significant
of what the comingof the new race was
to mean for the old. The rotunda in
the center of the main building is the
room to which one usual comes first.
this is the room where our martyred
! president lay and it is a convenient
| point from which to visit the various
points of the capitol. The north door
leads To the Supreme Court room, the
Senate and the stairway to the dome;
the south door to the Statuary hall
and the House; the east door Rogers
Bronze opens on the grand central
portico and the west door leads to the
stairway to the west entrance.
A convenient program for seeing
the capitol is to study first the rotunda
from the foor), then TO visit in SUE
cessloh the Hall of Statuary, the House
and its committee rooms, the Senate
and its rooms, the Supreme Court, the
west portico for the views: then to
ascend TO the upper part of the rotun
da and beyond to the dome and its
view. Note the magnificent marble
corridors and stairways of the ex.
tensions: the pilaster, columns and
capitals, sculpture and frescoing tes-
sellated floors, and the vistas through
the windows, giving glimpses of the
city and the Washington monument,
the new library and the capitol itself
The rotunda is an immense circular
hall. 1928 feet in diameter, and rising
clear from the floor to the inner shell
of the dome andcanopy $50 feet above.
Light is admitted through the thirty
six windows of the peristyle. The
walls are adorned with paintings,
sculptures and frescoes, and the
vaulted canopy top above the eye oI
the dome glows with color. The eight
oil paintings in the panels of the hal
have for their subjects memorable
scenes in the history OF the continent
and of the United States. The key &c
each picture hangs beneath il. They
are: The Landing of Columbus on Sar
Salvador, October -, 1892 by Johr
Vanderlyn: The Discovery of the Mis-
sissippi by DeSoto, 1j4l, by w. II.
Powell; The Baptism of Pochahontas
jamestown, vs., 1913, by John G.
Chapman; the Embarkation of the
Pilgrims from Delft-Haven, July II
1920, by Il. w. Weir; the Declaration
of Independence, July 4, 1776, by
Trumbull of Connecticut. The scene
is the hall of the Continental Congress
John Hancock, president of the Con.
gress, is seated at the table and in
front of him stands the committee OF
iive-Thomas Jefferson, John Adams,
Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman
and Robert L Livingston.