The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1905-02-12
RENOVATED SAINTS
IN ENGLISH COURT

| The following is from the London
Mail:
! \ very amusing case has been heard
/ before the Derry Recorder, in which a
Belfast firm of sculptors sued the Ro-
man Catholic Ri hop OF Derry for work
done to statues intended for the Roman
| Catholic Cathedral. The Bishop lodg-
| ed IS in court for the work done.
Mr. Lockenden, a sculptor, who work
ed for the plaintiff firm, told the court
how the figures he was set 10 alter ar
rived from Dublin. They were over six
feet high, he said. as reported in the
Irish independent" and supposed to
represent the four angelists-Saints
Luke. Mark. Mathew, and John-also
st. AIoysius and ST. Columb.
At the Bishops request he altered
them. He had been left plenty of ma
terial to play upon. Uaughter.) The
Bishop said they amazed him every
time he looked at them. Naughter)
They We're handed to him to lick into
shape and make them look like the
characters they were supposed to rep
resent. st. Aloysius might have rep
resented the Duke of Wellington with
a bumped back" He had to be careful
in touching them.
THE WELLINGTON NOSE.
The Recorder: If you had knocked
off st. Aloysfus's Wellington nose you
could not have very easily replaced it.
Mr. Lockenden: No. I had to take
five inches off the shoulders, as in the
original the saints neck was round his
chest, while his shoulders came up be-
hind his ears. (Roars of laughter)
The Bishop impressed on me that
St. Aloysius should look sad and mel
ancholy, but above all youthful, con-
tinued the witness. 1 had to make the
old look young, and I succeeded. and
the Bishop praised the work. The Bisi-
OPP then suggested 7 should tackle one
of the EvdngeliSts. OauShter.j st.
Mark and st. Luke were not at all sat
isfactory. so I took the first and licked
him into decent shape-Qoud laughter)
also to the satisfaction OF the Bishop.
[ went over the remaining Evange-
lists and made them right. Then when
the statues We're being fitted up, owing
to careless handling by the workmen
some of the saints fingers We're knock
ed off, besides a wing of ST Columb's
dove. All of these I had to restore
Examined as to the hours he spent
at the work. he said the cathedral was
a gloomy place. and he might have gone
out for few minutes now and then to
the fresh air to get new inspiration He
was now working at the City Hail. Bel
fast. Tt was only recently he heard
about the "hullabaloo." He had thirty
five years experience. and to begrudge
e13 for work he did was too absurd
AS to the allega ton that he was only
fourteen hours at work. would be proud
to be able to turn the Duke of yelling
ton into st. Aloysius in that time.
Oaughter)
The Recorder: Converting a duke in
to saint in a few hours is stiff work.
NEW HEADS AND FINGERS.
Mr.. Lockenden: You may say that.
Even at night in bed I was at work
with a small board scaling the figures
to try to get the shoulders to come down
below the ears and get in a neck some
where. Roars of laughter.) Three of
the statues I only touched up, but the
three I altered from the head down to
below the bust. with their hunchbacks,
were enough to make me suffer from
nervous excitement when T thought of
tackling them Renewed laughter)
The witness added that of all the
statues st. John escaped. The reason
was that he was hopeless. HE was
as a female, and could not
touch it, because I could not improve
it, Gaughter.) I made a new head |
for st. Columbs dove. and a new bill |
as well. and 7 gave him a new finger"
The Rec"~7-r held the tender of G5 |
So fent. 6 the plaintiffs in one of |
their letters stated: 1--WE are charging |
IN time only" He decided regretfully, |
because he knew of the difficulty of !
artists, in common with nove1ists and |
literary men. who had days on which |
hey could not work to their satisfac- |
ton.