St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1902-02-22

taught him how to outline the plan
or the great congressional ibrar,
winch now evokes the plaudits of al
who see its glorious projections i,
every nook and Granny, from founda
ton to dome. Back of all plans Their
must be motives. Back of this archi
tectural wonder there were motive.
and motive powers.
victor Hugo gives to Napoleon Meth
er credit for Austerlitz nor censure
for Waterloo. He says that Napoleon
was a mighty medium for the working
out of plans and purposes which were
not revealed even to his marvellous
military brain. Napoleon was used by
the invisible powers to accomplish re-
suits. It remains not for military
men, but philosophers, to discover in
due season why those victories and de-
feats were placed upon the stage of
history. Victor Hugo's idea was voiced
by Shakespeare when he said: Cali
the worlds stage, and all the men
and women merely players"
The real motives of the invisible
powers we may never know, but we
can discern the motives of human be-
ings as they play their parts and pass
away. And now we discover the hu-
man motive powers back of the great
congressional library. See them
grouped together for the first time.
James Voorhees,, son of the great
senator from Indiana, Daniel w. Voor-
hees, says: Fathers great ambition
during the last 20 years of his life was
to leave the congressional library as a
monument to his craftsmanship. He
did not want any of the credit due to
Librarian Spofford nor to Architect
Smithmeyer. He wanted to have en-
during fame by receiving credit for his
years of work in endeavoring to induce
the congress to see the necessity of
national library and a fitting home for
that library. He lived to see the Ii
brary begun, and told me that he feared
that he might not live to see it finished.
But he did live to see it in all of its
loneliness, and expressed to me the
hope that some day due credit would
be given him for his part in that crea-
ton of utility and beauty"
Senator Voorhees, spoke thus not
only to his sons, but to his friends. On
one occasion he said to the writer:
.'While all of his power and glory as
the ruler of England's king have passed
away and been forgotten. Cardinal
Wolsey's monument of Christ COL
lege endures and will endure forever.
What he did for the cause of education
and enlightenment is everlasting.
What he did for the ggrandizement
of Cardinal Wolsey only brought him
bitterness and most poignant grief"
Then the senator said, slowly and de-
"All that have done in
the fields of politics and statecraft will
fade away, but the congressional IL :
brary will endure forever. hope that
nv name will endure with it. for 20
years of my life-well-nigh half OF = Z:
mans active career-I have devoted to
he accomplishment of that great good l
or my country and for the world" T
The visible human motive power
back of the library building was
Senator Voorhees,. That his name
will be linked with the edifice now
seems certain. A local artist has
tainted upon a canvas six by twelve
eet group entitled: The promoters }
# the congressional library build =
n.y." The central figure is that of !.
senator Daniel w. Voorhees,, chair
nan of the special joint committee
n the library, committee which ex- Q
sted for II years. Senator Voorhees,
rev about him, gradually, the S