Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1919-12-04
Putting Abe on His Pedestal
by Frederic J. HAskin

VII put new stop on iu5 Itinerary, hnu
the encyclopedia gentleman with the
megaphone will have to add piece to
his spiel For the famous Lincoln me
mortal ls nearing completion, and 1t VIII
| be open To the public ere another crop oi
| June brides has perspircd in the shadow
of the capital
The memorial itself is all done except
for the placing of Abes statue upon its
| 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 hum to-
gether correctly without breaking any OF
| his component parts is the last and the
I most delicate task connected with the
erection of the memorial.
GRANDEUR OF BUILDING.
There is about this latest OF Washington
! buildings bigness and n grandeur which
is suprcmcly satisfying II is great stuff,
| alike for the tourist and for the megaphone
| orator aforementioned Beginning Mt the
! beginning he Will explain that the great
/ building stands upon made land, whlch
| was once part of the Potomac River.
! and that the piles which support 1T had
! TO be sunk a hundred feet before they
/ struck bed rock. He will go on 10 explain
/ should, the building had to be placed upon
! o stone foundation thirty feet above the
I ground level and that the beautifully
/ soping hill was afterwards built around
/ the foundation while the lagoon was
| placed h,for, the building in order TO
| reflect its image and so make IT look
! taller. In word. he will explain that
| the Fine Arts Commission having select
/ cd the worst possible site for such 4 hulid-
/ ing, proceeded to accomplish wonders IN
| making 1t Rcrve its purpoco. and TINT
! what was really built Is a tower about one
! hundred and fifty feet high, two-thlrd.
! Of which is buried
/ He will then 20 on To rxplain that the
! paintings on the walls of the buildings
! arc among tho largest pictures TINT were
| ever painted anywhere by ANYBODY. Juies
/ Gucrin. who painted them had to build
a special studio in New York for the Job,
| because the pictures are each sixty feet
| long and twelve feet wide. The canvas
/ upon which thcv are painted weighed
| three hundred pounds before the pictures
we're made. and about half that weight
| Of paint was put onto them, MIR. GueFin
/ hcroically doing every lick OF the work
| himself, even to the painting OF fiat
! surfaces which might have been done hy
| an apprentice.
| Then he will 90 on 10 the matter ri the
sitting statue of Abe himself, which sits
| twenty eight feet high. and as we have
| already said weighs fort y-two tons, unless
/ our figures arc wrong. And having ey
| planned in these words the greatness and
| majesty OF the Lincoln memorial, The
| gentleman with the megaphono VIII lead
| his guilclcss charges into the building and
| let them feel its hIgness and majesty Tor
/ themselves And they Will feel 1t, too.
1 The most bumptious OF them, ono ven
turps 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 dignity Even without the statue ot
| Lincoln, its enormously high ceiling It's
| great cleaning white columns, It's cold
ness and echolng emptiness make mortal
man seem small and unworthy. When
| the gigantic Lincoln is added, bending
| his benevolent but solemn and awean-
| spring 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 10 worry
! whether or not her hat ls on straight
| Returning once more to the store OF
| facts upon which the megaphone en-
| hghtener will be able 10 draw IT may be-
added that the appropriation for, the
building was made in 1911. and that work
upon it was actually begun IN 1911 while
its total cost was s., ,594, 600 and some odd
cents.
MANY INTERRUPTIONS.
II didn't really take 50 long to build
IT, but various interruptions occurred.
Some Of these were occasIoncd By the
| engineering difficulties incident 70 placing
the building IN swamp When these
| were 0Yerdune, tho worthless III charge 81
the Job found that they were running out
of money, and they refused to proceed
until Congress gave them some more.
Then, when thot got mole money. they
decided 10 add few frisls ot which the
enclosing wall around the terrace vas the
most important For all oi these reasons
it will be Just about SIX years after the
ground was broken before the building
IS formally dedicated
The dedlcati0n IS expected 70 TAKE place
next April. The statue viii he IN place.
and the memorial practically completed
before Christmas; but after that the Fine
Arts Commission must hold a solemn meet
ing, march down TO the place IN body
and formally pronounce It d. h Then
this same body must agree upon plans foI
the dedication. Nothing has been done
along tins line SO far except to ASK Con-
gress for FIVE thousand dollar Wherewlth
To deiray the expenses. Bun II Is 4 lore
gone conclusion that the occasion wili be
an ausplcious one for orators an expensive
one for visitors. a protitahle one for " ash
ington Inn-keepeTe. and IN inspiring aad
impressive ole for every yhodv.
Returning once more 10 the man witt
the megaphone he, L conscientious
though hoafse viii go on to say that the
heroic statue Of Abe is the work Of Danie
Chester French the famoas sculptor. whe
made the original of II only about iivt
feet high From ghls model The hug,
marble statue was made by the Pieciril
Brothers of New York This is the mosi
famous firm of marble workers IN Amencf
and it consists of SIX brothers who an
all themselves sculptors rs we'll rs stone
cutters This is one Of the largest job.
thew ever tackled. and lilc everybody else
who had chance at the Lincoln me,
mortal they did themselves proud
lie will also mention, Of course, tina
rrT nlnT3p r0n