Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-03-01

more than human, for il is the restrained
might of nation speaking through its
son and champion. To see 1t is 10 kho"
that the people-whose servant and whose
leader he was could endure and dare and
do all things.
His Statue of Sherman.
Saint Gaudens in his Sherman has sung
the last canto of his epic of the civil war
The Sherman has been criticised for being
over-refned. over-spiritualiZed. But is II:
1t is true that it is a monument TO the
bluff cd soldier we knew: but 1t is some
thing more, far more than that Ii Is
monument to the greater glory of a great
people 1t is the spirit. the soul of ma
ton. etherealized and idealizeo. marcmng
might be saved, and that then. forever.
there might be peace.
Long after the deeds of Farragut, OF
Shaw. of Lincoln and of Sherman have be-
come a part of the misty history OF tne
past the great cycle of Saint Gaudens Will
live in proof of the mighty struggle tha'
was waged and won by the soul or a
mighty people.
At the close of the civil war our country
entered into a period of enormous pros
perty which resulted. as the unexpected
possession of wealth usually does, in. a
mad and indiscriminate expenditure Inc
sane spending of money is an art winch
requires cultivation. and culture requires
national and Northumberland. 1t was al
the moment when the mad craze Ior the
acquisition of wealth had somewhat spent
itself, when our people had at last begun
to realize that there is something more 1T
life than the acquisition of money; at
moment when we had reached the naolr
of vulgar inartiStic horror-the era OF the
soldiers and sailors monuments. of the
jerry built Queen Anne cottage and of the
government post office-that the voice OF
Saint Gaudens was heard crying IN the
wilderness. and that his influence brought
to us realization of our shortcomings.
1t may be literally true that he founded
no school, yet he blazed the trail and
lighted the way for those who have
brought to us the spirit of the Renals-
sance. for those who by their genius are
making the United States one of the world
powers in art. He taught us the POSSIBLE
ity of expressing the ideal in the con-
crete. and of idealizing the material. He
is the first whose genius has expressed
the true spirit of our people in the living
bronze.
Lasting History of a Nation.
The lasting history of a nation is re-
corded in it's monuments. Long after the
printed story of a people lies unread upon
the shelf, long after their very tradi-
tons have ceased to interest. their monu-
and the lives of men who have long
passed away. The written annals of the
past which we possess are mere tran
scripts of earlier documents. The only
contemporaneous records of antiquity
which have come down to us intact are
those which art has made immortal. En-
during progress in art cannot be won by
the upheaval of moment, nut on.
by the conservative growth of time 1t
was Saint Gaudens self-suppression. his
ABSORPTION in his subject, the spirit OF
reverence with which he treated the pas
that make him not only our greatest
sculptor, but one of our great historians.
His style is so pure, so free from heaVl-
ness or coarseness. SO calm in its power,
his art is so perfect. his spirit so refined
and his soul so lofty that his personality
will live as that of a great American:
Saint Gaudens taught us that beauty IN
art as in nature, is not a luxury. but
necessity for happiness, and as he wrought
beauteously he gave us a new JOY In Nv
ing He had a standard of measure, a
faculty of distinguishing values, an in
stinct of omission, which made him re)ect
the unessential and hold to the 1unda-
mental He grasped the ideals which his
countrymen have set themselves to follow.
and by expressing those ideals SO that all
men might see and understand he helped
man forward in his struggle to draw
nearer to his God. The mission of art Is
not to minister to the selfish enjoyment OF
the few 1t is broader and higher and
nobler It's function is to express the
inner consciousness of the community, and
is limited by. neither time nor. age nor
place. Ignoring that which Is ephemeral
and local. Saint Gaudens seized that which
is enduring and universal for the uplifting
of humanity. Greater fame can no man
have than this that of him it may truth
fully be said he left the world little bet
ter than he found it.