Omaha daily bee., 1909-07-18

\" but now of New York, one
G Of the best known. II not the
|EEfEglI best known, ~sculptors Of North
N America, was in Washington
Zee, -...,. day enroute to Colorado and the
Y Yellowstone park for rest.
Mr.. Borglum had just returned from
Princeton, where he was honored with the
degree Of master OF arts.
1T seems, and l suppose It was, a big
thing" said MIR. Borglum, FOR a Ne
braska boy with a common school educa-
ton, and a pretty poor one at that, to be
standing with LEVEL Of Harvard, Charles
Francis Adams and a number Of others
who have achieved greatness in their spe-
cisl lines receiving the masters degree
from a great university"
Mr.. Borglum came to Washington to
keep an appointment with the president
and to make arrangements for the date
Of sittings in order that he may make a
marble bust Of Mr.. Taft. After he is
through with the presidents bust he will
model the busts of two United States SEN
stors, one being Stephen b. Elkins OF
West Virginia Mr.. Borglum will begin
the presidents bust next month at Bev-
erly, where the sittings will take place.
Mr.. Borglum has a commission from
Senator Root for q group Of North
America, intended for tho magnificent
building which the Bureau Of American
Republics IL erecting in this city. The
group has been cast in plaster and gives
every promise OF being a grand artistic
monument according to art critics of New
York. The figure of the youth represent
ing Progress is particularly strong, and
to those who have seen the plaster model
there is a certain hidden meaning in the
expression of the nervous figure which
cannot help but give rise to some discus
sion when the group is placed. Mr.. Borglum
says the marble group win be cut in the
rough in Washington. 1t will then be
placed in position at the building Of the
Bureau of American Republics and the
sculptor will finish it in stu.
His Lincoln Work.
Miss Ida Tarbell has related how Abra-
ham Lincoln ana his lifelong friend. Judge
Gillespie, were, one evening in January,
1861, seated over a fire in Springfield dis
GUESSING the possibility Of avoiding civil
war. Mr.. Lincoln was almost distracted.
1t is only possible he said, upon the
consent of this government to the erec-
ton of a foreign slave government out of
the present slave states. 1 see the duty
Q6NOlNlnB upon me. 4 nave TedO Upon my
knees the story of G-ethsemane, where
the Son of God prayed in vain that the
cup of bitterness might pass from him"
Mr.. Lincoln continued: Il am in the
garden Of Gethsemane now and my cup
Of bitterness is full and overflowing."
Gutzon Borglum is now engaged upon
two Lincoln monuments which from a
dramatic point of view interests the
-I-s1 800 AL.- -.2t- -. 49,. ..
dertaken. One of these monuments, to cost
SIS, 600, will be located in New York. The
other will be very much larger and will
cost $50, 900, to be located in the east. This
latter is little more than designed, but the
sculptor is enthusiastic over its possibili-
ties and believes it will be the best work
he has ever done.
Mr.. Borglum has taken the phrase of
Lincoln's as to the Garden of Gethsemane
as his theme for the Lincoln monument.
While he has only sketched his idea roughly
in wax there is sufficient TO show how
strong and original the idea is. Lincoln
is seated at the end of a long plain bench,
his head bowed and he is wrapt in thought.
A silk hat lies by his side. There is a
feeling of intense and tragic loneliness
even in the rough sketch. The artist will
copy to some extent the colossal head of
his hero, now in the national capitol, for
Mr.. Borglum has spent years in serious
study Of the Great Emancipator, and he
approaches his subject con amore. Like
the statue of Lincoln which stands In the
high school grounds at Omaha, the chin
will be bearded. Mr.. Borglum has also
finished a marble statue of a female Atlas,
the sentiment of which is that the home is
the foundation of the world and that as
the home depends upon woman she bears
the weight of the world upon her shoulders.
Anecdotes of Frank Cushman.
Representative Francis W.. Cushman OF
Washington state, whose death In New
York this week came suddenly as the
result Of an operation on the neck from
which pneumonia resulted. was more than
a mere humorist. He was in many respects
one Of the solid men of congress, and while
he had a fund of humor that was most
delicious, his extremely funny stories served
but to illustrate and clinch the particular
point he desired to make. Tall. gaunt and
angular, he resembled Abraham Lincoln
most strikingly. and like Senator NJ. Cul-
lom of Illinois, his resemblance to Lincoln
was a part Of his political stock in trade
Long before he achived reputation the
people of Bassett. Neb., a little town in
Congressman Kinkaid's district saw the
resemblance to the martyred president and
were free to predict a career for the un-
calmly but magnetic Cushman.
Cushman's place in the house was as
sured from the time he made his frs
speech in December 1899. 1t was in supper
Of sound money. Cushman was recognize5
for twenty minutes and when he began Il
unwind his long frame and opening him
self like a jack knife, the house began &c
laugh. 1t kept on laughing and applaudinI
until he got through. And when he saI
down ana closed himself up again his
reputation as a brilliant and humorous
speaker was made.
Frank Cushman was essentially a story
teller and he hae a repertory of jokes tina
put Joe" Miller and his joke book into
retirement. He and j. Adam Bebe used t.
hold forth on the floor 20 the keen en-
joyment of the members and of the gal
leries.
1t was Bebe who got a great Joke OF
Cushman by stating I'm a speech on water
ways that evidently he and Cushman har
been going to the same fount for thei
stories and jokes-the old "HagerstowI
Almanack.'"
u Cushman's biggest hit was his story
about the Washington man learned in the