The Washington times., 1901-08-11
HALF COMPLETED TASKS.
Some Notable Examples of Human
PrOcrastinatiOn.
The Long Unfinished Washington
MOnumcnt-Trinif Church in New
foris-Ne Abbey, wash
fngtoh's Tomb md Other Instance.

fngtOn's Tomb md Other Instance.
We life in n half-made world. So II
ever has been since the Tower of Babe
was left uncompleted. and so it will be
no doubt. to the end of time. In our
hurry to begin things We forget to finish
them, and all over the world today the
Great Unfinished stares us in the face
some big thing waiting its completion
There Is the Washington Monument
that giant obelisk rising up from the low
flats back of the White House Every
one is familiar with its present appear
ance, but few people remember how it
was originally designed to look This
tribute of a grateful nation to the Father
OF his Country was begun in 1SlS and has
never been completed. according to the
original designs. Probably it never will
ne. 1t was hard work to get 1t as near
completion as 1t is. When the Monument
was started all the rulers of the world
sent blocks of marble to be placed in the
interior of the ornate. columnated struc-
ture which was to surround the lower
part of the great shaft. The work of
building went on briskly at first, then
lansuished. and finally stopped entirely.
/ 1t was not until 1876 that work was re-
sumed upon the Monument, and not until
/ 1884 that the shaft was finished All in
tention of completing the Monument ac-
! cording to the original designs seems to
have been abandoned, and there it stands.
/ towering aioft 555 feet above the unfin-
ished world
/ The Grant Monument. as designed by
Mr.. Duncan, had imposing approaches.
with great flights of stairs leading down
to the river and many other accessories
which 10 harp Ac ie ba
( monument has unfinished look. and n
glance at the original designs will show
how far from completion this memorial
to the great general is. and is probably
destined to remain. Among older struc-
lures in New York there is Trinity
Church, certainly ancient enough and
wealthy enough to be complete
In every detail Yet in many
details it is incomplete. AS you pass
down Broadway, look up at the inches
above the main door. inches designed for
the statues of saints and martyrs, but
empty since the hand of the stone mason
finished them.
out in the bay the statue of Liberty
stands on pedestal, 1t is true, but it is
an unfinished one. Wooden stairs still
lead up to the entrance to the interior,
and the lower part OF the
pedestal is frankly. not to say
obtrusively, incomplete. The pedes-
tai as designed by Richard NJ.
Hunt and the pedestal as it looks today
are two different things. AS the erection
Of the great statue upon its pedestal was
accomplished in 1886, it looks as if Bar
tholdis colossal creation had passed into
the category of the Great Unfinished
Mr.. Hunts plans call for converting the
parthWOrt<S Of Fort Wood int for
races rising one above the other from the
shore at high water mark to the base of |
the pedestal. The island was TO be sur
rounded by a stone bulkhead, from which |
piers should project for the boats. which |
should take visitors to and from the ISL |
and. From the landing-places fights of |
stone steps were to be constructed. lead |
Ing by easy stages to the base of the mon |
ument. The meats and the interior of the |
earthwork were TO be filled and the ter
races to follow somewhat the line of the |
ramparts. But the wooden steps that
were put up at the beginning still affiict
the eye and torture the le~ When money
enough had been subscribed for the ped
estal, there was none left for laying out
the grounds and approaches in a dignified
manner.
Then there is the North River Tunnel.
begun, and when work was commenced
on it there was no one who did not be-
lieve that long before this freight and
passenger trains would be whisking be-
tween the Jersey shore and Manhattan |
under the rivers bed. From both sides
of the river the work was pushed out I'M
der the stream. and night and day men
toiled in the compressed air they dug
their way toward each other from Ho-
boken and from New York The papers
in the late EOS and in 1880 and 1881
were fun of news of the progress of the
tunnel. When the chief promoter of the
enterprise died, work on the tunnel was
stopped, and for eighteen years now lit
lie or nothing has been done on the work
The shafts, which extend for considerable
distances from either shore out under the
rivers bed. have long since been aban-
loned the shore works nearly all remov-
ID. and the enterprise, which seemed so
sure of success. is scarcely remembered. | /
Tor down under the mighty river the va
er has percolated through, filling the {
lark galleries of another item in the in I
'entory of the worlds unfinished things. |
These are only a few of the great in 7
ompleted things-most of them RICH. in ;
ur own city Scattered over the country +
q
nents, and engineering works which have :
ever been completed and never will be.
Everyone knows the story of the appar- Z
ntly endless task of finishing the Capitol Y
t Albany, and the Capitol at Washing 2
on is said to be still incomplete in some 9
f its interior decorations. And so. turn :
rhere we Will, the world lies all un- T
nished. b
Who will take up again the channel tun- a
81 at Dover, which was to connect Eng n
md and France" OF these works the late fl
ir Edward Watkins said that they were II
lessed by princes. peers. and common
rs and were suddenly and peremptorily Il
rought to an end by Joseph Chamberlain d
{ Birmingham. y striking example of / n
nc unfinished is afforded by row of col fl
INNS which rear their head on Carlton II
i'll. Edinburgh. They represent the be- Ii
inning of a model of the Parthenon, and II
icy are talking in Scotland now of ru- ST
or that King Edward Will urge the COM +
elton of the structure. C,
Som eighty years ago. while the mem pl
ry OF the battle of Waterloo was fresh | A
mems minds and Britains gratitude n,
II her deliverance was still bubbling and
,ething, it was proposed by committee pr
Scotchmen to erect on Carlton HILL | Ell
;erlooking Edinburgh. a duplicate of the
arthenon in memory of the British sol tn
ers who fell upon the field which closed de
lie mighty epic of Napoleon. George ".
sited the Scottish capital and the first bl
one was laid with imposing ceremonies. al
thirteen columns were set up at a cost OF
s5,000 apiece, and then-the work stop sli
d. 1t was never begun again. 1t would co