The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1905-09-17

i ism, often that NEEDLE with other

II isn't often that ! meddle WITH otner
( ro1ks,s business or seek to stick my nose
into things about which It Is OBVIOUS
that they desire to keep quiet, but there
Is one lady concerning whom nave the
deepest of curiosity.
she Is the Venus Of Milo and | Wish
" to, know what she has done with her
+ arms, TO say. nothing OF her left foot.
NV interest, mind you, is purely CIR
cumsnect and entirely within the bounds
of propriety, for the Venus OF Milo Is
y Int n creation III marble, though she has
a numerous offspring in plaster OF Paris,
bisaue china and terra Gotta indeed
one sees her descendants in almost every
conceivable material.
For the benefit OF those who don I.
pretend to be artistic, 1t might be well
10 explain that my friend Venus, the
great and only original Venus. lemean,
Is a statue exhumed on the Island of
Milo in Tie year 1890. She is supposed
to be a copy of the Venus of Cos, by
+ loraxitcles, though one who goes into
the supposlng business has got right
to allow his imagination to range about
as it peases.
Be this as it may, the ancient We
nus brought to light on the lovely Hell
lenic isle is the fairest bit of inanimate
femninity the world has ever gaZcd
such a poem.
Verify, l was about to quote Homer and
say: "Shc moves a goddess and she looks
a queen" but that will not do, for how
ever divine and queenly the Venus may
be- she does not move.
In 1892 saw her at the Louvre, in.
Paris, where she has been a regning
belle since 1884, and though she stood
upon her pedestal rs motionlcss as the
lay e.,,1,fl ei lnl ha
place. Her weird stilness-stillness on
the part of woman Is always weird
tlsriled me with inGcscribabe aensn-
lions, and felt that ] would give worlds
to hear heI: speak. She didn't look like
a 'womap With e" past" although CEN
turtles have numbered down the. corri-
doris Of time since the master "Eand
that guided the chiscl. wrought her In
imitable form, but the thing wished
TO ask her was ths--what have you
done with your missing arms and foot?
Ordinarily one meeting q lady minus
both arms ana deficient in the usual
quantum of pedal lcxtremties, would
maintain a discreet silence and pretend
not to notice anything wrong, but the
Venus OF Milo is no common parsonage,
What there is OF her Is the very quint-
essence of grace--an epic in feminine pull
eye to-day Is so fautlcss In It's purity,
not to- say anatomical grandeur that
ones Very soul cries out for the per-
feet whole.
The little that is lacking, upon rctlcc-
ton, becomes painful in It's absence
Looking to the right Of the statue one
sees the arm snapped off Just above
the elbow, as though 1t had been de-
1iberately severed, The sight Is not ir-
or bu NO Ci,
the hcholder long for the unattalnnbc
on the left side, however things are
Tar worse Here the shoulder Is slightly
elevated. as though the Venus were lean
Ing on some person or thing for sup
PORT but this arm, alasl Is entirely gone,
ms though II were torn from the socket
Even The marble where the missing limb
should join the superb shoulder, Is rough
" corrugated hs though the arm had
been pulled off rather than clcany snap-
ped or cut asunder
The Wound-for surely tn. do6c,c,,rv
deserves such a namc--is a distinct bIcr,
ish on Inc statue, II gives the bcholdel
not me slightest inkljng as to the position
OF the missing arm, 1t is indeed, huge
interrogation point in sculptures mas
1efF mat becomes tortuous the more one
thinks of H.
AS for the missing foot. that is n COM
paratYely small matter-ths IL meant as
no compliment 10 the smLllness of
Venps's feet-for its absence does not
materially mar the statue
Blu that left arm Heavens, tho agoniz.
ms mysteriousness OF little mental dis
1omforture II gives the arr enthusiastic
In the case Of the Apollo Bely!dcre an
other art treasure which came 10 light
IN n mutilated condition. the task of SIN,
2lying few extra hands and feet WAS a
comprehensive easy job, hut not SO WIN
Hhs soul-lhrIlling, mmutahle woman IN
marble, whose divine Greek iaco smiles
on the world even now as though a
thousand years In It's sight arc but as
q day The best that modern art could
80 for her was to add piece 10 her
broken nose.
One word moro concerning The marble
goddess at whose Partisan shrine tie
world Of art has devoutly woIshipped for
seven decades, The marble IN the original
statue shows many signs of disntegra-