Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1919-12-02

WASHINGTON D. c., Nov 2S.-Soon the
Washington tourist will have another place
to tour. The rubber-neck wagon will put a
new stop on it's itinerary, and the encyclo-
pedic gentleman with the megaphone will
have to add piece to his spiel. For the
famous Lincoln memorial is nearing compile
ton, and it will open to the public ere
another crop of June brides has perspired in
the shadow of the capital.
The memorial itself is all done except for
the placing of Abe's statue upon it's pedestal,
and that enterprise may be under way before
this is in print. 1t is a gigantic task, for
Abe comes in twenty-eight pieces, by freight,
and he weighs about forty-two tons. To put
him together correctly without breaking any
of his component parts is the last and the
most delicate task connected with the cree
ton of the memorial.
There is about this latest of Washington
buildings a bigness and a grandeur which is
supremely satisfying. 1t is great stuff, alike
for the tourist and for the megaphOne orator
aforementioned Beginning at the begin
ming, he will explain that the great building
stands upon made" land, which was once
a part of the Potomac river, and that the
piles which support it had to be sunk 100
feet before they struck bed rock. He will
go on to explain that in order to make it
show up as it should, the building had to
be placed upon a stone foundation thirty
feet above the ground level, and that the
beautiful sloping hill was afterwards built
around the foundation, while the lagoon was
placed before the building in order to reflect
it's image and so make it look taller. In a
word he will explain that the fine arts COM
mission, having selected the worst possible
site for such building, proceeded to &C
complish wonders in making it serve it's pur-
pose, and that what was really built is a
tower about $50 feet high, two-thirds of
which is buried.
He will then go on to explain that the
paintings on the walls of the buildings are
among the largest pictures that were ever
painted anywhere by anybody Mr.. Jules
Guerin, who painted them, had to build a
special studio in New York for the job be-
cause the pictures are each sixty feet long
and twelve feet wide. The canvas upon
which they painted weighed 300 pounds
before the pictures were made, and about
half that weight of paint was put onto them,
Mr.. Guerin herOically doing every lick OF
the work himself even to the painting OF
fiat surfaces, which might have been done
by an apprentice.
Then he will go ON to the matter of the sit
ting statue of Abe himself, which sits
twenty-eight feet high, and as we have al
ready said, weighs forty-two tons, unless our
figures are wrong. And having explained in
these words the greatness and majesty OF the
Lincoln memorial, the gentleman with the
megaphone will lead his guileless charges
into the building and let them feel
it's bigness and majesty for themselves.
And they will feel it, too. The
most bumptious of them, one ventures to
say, will be temporarily impressed into
silence. For there is no denying that the
Lincoln memorial produces striking and
almost overwhelming effect of size and dig
nifty. Even without the statue of Lincoln
it's enormously high ceiling, it's great gleam-
ing white columns, its GOODNESS and echolng
emptiness make mortal man seem small
and unworthy. When the gigantic Lincoln is
added, bending his benevolent, but solemn
and awe-inspiring look upon the beholder,
the general effect will truly be calculated to
make the small boy regret the last time he
played hockey, and the bride forget to worry
whether or not her hat is on straight.
Returning once more to the store Of facts
upon which the megaphone en1ightener will
be able to draw, it may be added that the ap-
preparation for the building was made in
1911, and that work upon it was actually be-
gun in 1914, while it's total cost was 1884,
600 and some odd cents.
It didn't really take SO long to build it, but
various Interruptions occurred. Some OF
these were occasioned by the engineering diff
fculties incident to placing the building in a
swamp. When these were overcome, the