The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1903-11-29
OUR SOLDIERS MONUMENT.
A Resident of Another State Considers
1t from a New Point of View.

1t from a New Point of View.
Mr.. Charles G.. Stewart of Chicago,
gentleman well known in printing and pub
fishing circles, sends to the Journal
poem with accompanying note to the editor,
each containing so novel view of the In
diana soldiers and sailors monument that
IL seems worth while to give space to both
the letter and the verses. Mr.. Stewart
writes:
.I read the article on Governors Circle
in last Sundays issue-which / read on ac-
count of the literary pages. After visiting
the city, reading the souvenir sold at the
Capitol and what have seen in the papers,
IT strikes me that there is a significance
about that monument which the people
there at home do not seem to realize.
refer to its national location and larger
surroundings being in such happy-maybe
accidental-harmony, with the spirit of the
monument itself as a thing of national
meaning.
Let me try and express ii. If one were
to figure out in the abstract an ideal place
for a monument of national significance-a
tribute TO all the heroes of all the wars
where would he put it? Naturally at the
center of population-and not on any battle
field. Then TO convey this idea to centrality,
artlstlcally, one would naturally put it-in
a circle Then to keep it from being cir
cumscribed and localized avenues would
radiate from 1t in all directions, and in order
wildly to enforce this arrangement it
should be on fiat plain over which the
streets running wheel-like in all directions
and disappearing at the horizon would lead
the mind out distantly to all points of the
country of which it is the center-enforcing
by the great view that one is in the very
heart of that country.
81 would lay this down as an ideal plan.
both with regard TO art and sentiment. That
is what you have. In fact so strongly that
sight cannot help thinking the city below,
laid out as II is, is part OF the scheme of
the monument-which Immediately enlarges
and aggrandizes it. In fact it seemed to me
that the people down below had simply
camped there TO watch and guard it. Not
enough of your many visitors go to the top
of that monument-in which way only can
its grandeur be realized and appreciated.
wonder that the souvenirs, etc. do not Sug-
gest this insight-especially as Indiana in
tends Ii as national tribute. In speaking
to many citizens this seemed to be a novel
view-as il they had never thought of it.
With which l was surprised-to find that
prophets do not appreciate themselves in
their own country. When / came down
from the top of it / tried to express that
impression and naturally in such connection
aside, l believe / have expressed il more
fully than prose allows. Anyhow l think
indianapolis, being the center of so much
travel, should take advantage of those
things in connection with it's great tribute,
which the average sightseer, unless it is ex-
planned to him. does not realize"
Here follows the poem, which is entitled
1.-THE Paths Of Peace"
Wars everlasting memories arise in sculptured
stone:
There's one who falls amid the charge and one
who dies alone;
And rooted in the craven scene the proud shaft
And beareth liberty aloft-the fruitage OF 1t all
A shaft that marks no battlefield. honored
heros fall
Here at the Nations very heart tits sacred to
them all:
The engines throbbing in its crypt beat like a
Nations heart
AS If her soul. in gratitude. dwelt in memorial
art.
And look from that summit, with the
steeple far below
Down where the busy multitude moves ever to
In soundless space above the plain. in patriot
pride content
Stand there with liberty alone-upon the monu-
ment.
Adown the streets all meeting there. look now
with wondering eye
Till each is lost 'moEg distant trees or fadeth
in the sky
And farther st:n in a dream-o can you not
The peopled paths of pilgrimage unto her holy
shrine.
One leads from old Atlantic. where battling bill
And one from where Pacific sands lie like a
golden goal,
One from the sweet magnolia CLINE and one
where Boreas blows
From lands all white with cotton bloom and
lands all white with SHOWS.
o liberty-o wondrous land-what worshipers
are thine.
May peace dwell on the straight white paths that
lead unso thy shrine