Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1920-01-21

worked on the mural decorations in the
Library Of Congress, and then got the
place in the capitol which he has now held
for twenty-three ycsB. During that
period he has not only kept al Of the
deoorations in good shape, but he has
himself painted designs ON the walls and
ceilings Of many rooms which were never
before decorated at ell One nf these
il the office Of William Tyler Page, clerk
Of the house, who IL an old school fellow
of Moberly, and who began his service
in the capitol as q page many years ago.
Moberly has msde Pages room one Of
the most attractive and artistic offices IN
the entire building About fifteen years
ago he restored the presidents room
back Of the senate chamber Many of
the other rooms in the capitol have been
0lmost entirely redecoTated by him
Mobcrly con point out tn you many
interesting things about tho great capitol
building which no ono else knows. For
example, opposite the entrance ~ tho
Supreme Court chamber, there are two
pipe holes IN the sandstone uf which the
walls are made Moberly discovered these
when be had the paint scraped Of tho
walls to show the stone few vcars ago
He wondered what the holes had been
made for, and the question WAS st last
answered bY an old colored man, now
dead, who hal been about the capitol
ever since the days Of Clay and Webster
The old darky said that years ago an DID
fashioned big-bcllicd wood stove had
stood AT hat point and that the holes had
been used for its chimney. he 2aid that
Clay and Webster and some Of their
collcgaues used 10 gather about this stove
and tell stories and chew tobacco, and spit
the Juice All over tho stove Ies ike any
body else He also said that directly
under this stove on the floor below there
vas another stove which was used by
tho congressman III senators for culinary
purposes. Lacking adequate restaurant
facilities iu those days, the legislators
used TO buy beef steak and pork chorH
0nd broil them themselves between
debates
HFRD PAINTINGS ~ CAPITOL
The variety 81 the paintings on the
walls Of he old building IS something
that few visitors, N their hasty surveys,
eyer realize Brumdi, of oorrse Is sup
posed To have done he work. blit AS p
matter Of fact, NJ one man IN his Ilfc .trnc
could have done more than 4 fraction ~
il Brlmidi bad 3 nntntcr of assistants,
and they did aboIt 80 they pleased
some ~ them werc vcrv gocd sr' sts and
some wca very bad ones. ach. aprar-
eftly painted whatever bc liked 10 pant
i hus ono If these assistants wac an eu-
thusuiasf about birds He derldcd On hIs
own account that The capitol II be United
States ought IN contain some good r,nr-
traits IL tho native American birds n
ho vent out with 4 shot TIn 8nd made
collection ~ the local avfauna. and p,,t
the Iikencsscs If the birds into his deeignv
And he did ( wonderfully Weli His basic
designs CONSIST ~ thn Usual peculiar curly
cows and things hI' perching FIJI over
these arc I'D sorts of birds, painted p NE
very lffa man Who knows birds ran
identify everyone ~ them And they 10
net look tit old-fashiOned, Ike - much
of thn capitol painting. They are ~ real
that you almost expect Some 9f them fo
open their mouths and sing. They include
NOT only Il great FarIoty cf .ong-ters bu-
4 lot ot game birds such as rails wood
cock and partridges When he needed
touch 0i bright color. his iong-f0rgotten
artist would throw p q parrot nr a cocka-
700 for good measure. His paintings are
among the most interesting ID the build
ing. and yet few visitors ever stop 10 look
at them
Some other chan who shared in the work
mad q penchant for rarnivnrous animals.
and he put ID ! lot IL little pictures ot
coFotes, foxes. wolves. and Wild oats
But his pictures are astonlshngiy bad.
All Of his creatures look ferocious. but
hat Il about ali you can say for them
There vas still another artist whose
talent ran 10 small and dreary landscapes,
80 he thought At any rate he lid 4 lot
IF them, some when he WIS sober and
others apparently when he was drunk.
In one he mas cactus plants and -Druce