Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1910-03-04


Vile, then an engineer officer Of much
the three whale.boats when the ex-
pedition retreated. 1t was due to his
care, foresight and self-sacriflce that |
the boat was saved and his crew came
out alive, while the crews of the 9TH
er boats all went down to their
death.
Melville found himself finally with
his boats crew on the storm-swept
barrens In the northern part Of ST.
IBERIA. There 1t was that the crew
rested and recuperated as we'll as 1t
could in the midst of great privations,
for some time, and then led by Mel
Vile the men found their way back
over hundreds of miles and succeed
ed in recovering the records of the
Jeannette's journey
Congress promoted Melville for his
great work, and the fact that he was
an engineer officer, holding commits
sion In the staff, did not prevent his
receiving signal honor. The engi-
neer to-day has the rank of rear ad
miral
1t was in the Fifty-nrst congress
that the senate naval committee, in
reporting the bill for Melville's pro-
motion, said:
'Tn view of such a record the COM
mittee feels that the proposed promo
tion so long after the deeds which 1t
Is intended to recompense Is an act Of
tardy justice and hardly adequate"
The promotion was given in "recogni-
tion of his meritorious services in sue
cessfully directing the party under his
command after the wreck of the Arc
tic exploring steamer Jeanette, and
of his persistent effort, through dan
ger and through hardships, to find and
assist his commanding officer, and
other members of the expedition, be-
fore he himself was out of peril"
1t has been proposed to give Peary
a gold medal and the thanks of con-
gress 1t should be said that Mel
Vile was given a gold medal in addi-
ton to his promotion.
National ValhaIla Wanted.
A movement is gathering force in
Washington to establish a real ma
tional Valhalla. There have been so
many adverse criticisms of the stat
ues of the great ones which are now
in the keeping of Memorial hall, the
old room of the house of representa-
tives In the capitol, that 1t may be
in the future a separate building
will be provided or a great room set
| aside in one of the existing buildings,
in which the statues sent by the
states as memorials to their famous
, dead may be placed in a proper set
, ting.
Representative Mann of Illinois has
!, called the present statuary hall in the
, capitol "a hall of horrors" Another
: member of congress says that he al
t ways shuts his eyes when he walks
2 through the hall where the statues OF
the great are placed. Men who make
no pretense to possessing artistic In
stinct say that they are affected pain
fully Wien they look on the marble
and bronze memorials in this hall OF
. fame. Artists, also, many of them
= without any prejudice in favor of this
= sculptor or that sculptor, say that the
. collection OF statues is little more than
grotesque.
2 Some of the figures In Memorial hal
= = are of heroic size, while others appear
: to be cwarfed by their proximity tc
: the others and to give the impression
= that the men whom they represent
- were absolute physical pigmies. Some
= OF the statues are of men who dice
j." comparatively recently and of neces
sity they are represented in the mod
90 ern garb, and there Is nothing In ;
y frock coat and pair of trousers to Civ
- enthusiasm or an imaginative chanc
to the artist It is an invidious task t.
~ point out the differences. artistic an,
ii otherwise, between some of these me
MORALS in this hall OF the capitol.
20 can be said. however, that only fe,
~ of the states are in any way worthil
'e represented in an artistic sense and
10 is not going too far to say that som
" of the states have picked out men 70
10 honor who certainly were not thei
~ greatest citizens.
u One ventures to be bold, and to pic
a, a. out Illinois. The great prairie stat
III claims both Lincoln and Grant. an
yet neither one of these men are rel
TGStultu Ill mculOlldl uuit ho u bull =
n the state. There is bronze figure {
a. Gen. Shields, fine soldier and goo
IN deal of statesman, but sadly enoug
e. nine people out of ten who look {
'e- the figure of the soldier have to /
is told who he was. and the guides al
ey in large measure the sole authoritit
to on the subject in the capitol. The OF
m er memorial which Illinois has put
Sc the hall is statue of Francis E. w
of lard, the great apostle of temperanc
,g- Miss Willard's memory is worthy
honor anywhere. but even her frien'
up in life and those who remember h
he lovingly and tenderly, do not go
We far as to claim that she should ha'
er. pre-empted the place which might ha'
ad been given to Abraham Lincoln
~ ITIvaaaa g Grant