Los Angeles herald., 1910-01-15
The Statue of Lee
Bv Frederic J. Haskin

/ Washington was represented by the
smallest and most insignificant look
ing statue there. Secondly, without
malice aforethought he was placed i'm
a position which gave the effect of his
peeping out from behind the skirts of
Miss Willard like a bashful boy hid
ing behind his mother.
This little statue of Washington is
nothing but a plaster of paris replica
of the Houdon statue in the Virginia
capitol. That it is a magnificent like
ness is shown by the fact that Jefferson
observed that beholding it suddenly
gave the effect of Washington himself
standing there. The new statue of
Washington is also a replica of the
Houdon masterpiece, but it is in
bronze, on a BETTING pedestal, and
makes a splendid appearance.
1t is said to have been the ambition
of Valentine, the sculptor, to make as
excellent a portrayal of Lee as Hou-
don's statue is of Washington. That
he has failed to do so is asserted by
many who were acquainted with the
dead commander In speaking of the
/ matter recently a member of the Vir-
ginia delegation in congress stated that
the statue could hardly have looked
less heroic and less like the gallant
commander than it does. To him the
pose seems totally unlike that of Lee,
and one arm appears shorter than the
other. Another adverse criticism came
from a camp of confederate veterans
whose members made a pilgrimage to
Statuary hall to see the new likeness
of their leader. Not one of them
thought the statue did Lee full justice.
In behalf of the sculptor it is urged
that no one could expect fully to catch
all the subtle shades of bearing that
made Lee one of the most gallant and
commanding figures ever seen on d
field of battle. 1t Is also said in de-
Tense of the sculptor that his work in
designing the celebrated recumbent
statue of Lee at Lexington, in which
the great soldier has gathered the drap
cries of his couch about him, is suffi-
cient assurance that he has come as
near to catching the noble vein of Gen.
Lee as it can be done in impressive
bronze Valentine was follower of
Lee, and no man in all the southland
was more anxious to have the work a
fitting memorial.
The commission created by the state
of Virginia to look after the casting
of the statues was composed mainly
of young men, but one or two of whom
had ever seen Gen. Lee. The author
of the bill providing for the work was
Don p. Halsey, nephew of Senator
John w. Daniel He and Senator Dan
iel supervised the placing of the
bronzes, which were given conspicuous
places in the hall.
With each state the sole judge of the
statues is presents, including subjects,
size and material, there can be little
continuity of purpose in the filling of
the hall The result is that some are
life-size, and some heroic in proportion,
some are on low pedestals and some on
high ones, some are made of weathered
bronze and others of bright new bronze,
some of polished marble and some of
unpublished, some extensively inscribed
and some without more than the name
of the state upon them. In short, it
represents a patriotic tumble Of char
acters, materials and designs. Withal,
understanding the lack of conformity
in the system by which the statues
are assembled, the effect is not so in
congrous as it might be.
While Robert e. Lee lives in every
southern heart as the very personifica-
ton of everything good that was, is
and will be sacred to the south, hold
ing foremost place among the defeat
ed commanders of all history, there are
comparatively few monuments to his
IleHlOTV III the 5Oulll. NEW OIISdHS,
Charleston, Richmond and lexington
are the places where the principal
monuments of Lee may be found, and
of these the recumbent statue over his
resting place at Lexington is the most
famous.
If the presentation of the statues of
Washington and Lee takes place on
the 22nd of February, another coinci-
dence of history will relate them. Born
in the adjacent counties of Westmore-
land and Stafford, related through the
ties of marriage so direct that Lee in
herited the home where Washington
wooed and won his wife, each led
cause which was sacred to his people.
Later Lee became the president of the
college founded through the patronage
of washington, and his name was add
ed to the title of the institution. Then
Virginia selected them as her most dis
tinguished sons, not more for their
splendid military records than for the
great examples of pure, honorable and
self-sacrificing manhood which they be-
queathed to poSterity.