The Rock Island Argus and daily union. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1920-1923, 1921-08-02

Washington, D. c., Aug. l.
Joaquin Miller, the picturesque
! poet of the west. is to be immor
, talized in Westinghouse far a!
bronze bust unveiled witt
speeches and songs can immortal
| iZe man.,
A good many people have come
to regard joaquin Miller as one oi
the greatest American poets. The
British acclaimed him as such dur
, ing his lifetime, perhaps because
they read Ills poetry before they
became acquainted with the man
Over here, attention was arrested
by the sensational facts that ne
liked to live alone in a cabin IL
the mountains; that he preferred
to build the cabin himself; that he
wore a long beard like that OF
Moses in the famous Michael An
gelo painting, and that he wore il
because he admired Moses and the
painting; that, he attended a re-
ception in England in overalls.
These and many other bizarre
tales Americans heard about
Joaquin Miller, and his poetry be-
came for most people only another
manifestation of a strange person.
ality such as his addition to top
boots.
Like Walt Whitman and other
strongly indiVidualistic poets. Mill
er will probably always be a sub
ject of controversy. But Cali
fornia. his adopted state. has begun
to realize that Joaquin Miller I'M
deFstood, better perhaps than any
other poet, the beauty, terror and
romance of the pioneer west, and
that the record preserved in mis-
poems is a valuable heritage.
The California society in Wash
ington paid tribute to Joaquin
eight years ago, when the poet was
still alive, when it had one of his
log cabins placed in Rock Creek
park with appropriate ceremony.
This cabin Joaquin had built
when he spent some time in the
capital on mis- return from Europe.
He located 4 spot in a sufficiently
rustic corner OF the city, and made
his cabin of stones left over from
the Washington monument and
timber from Rock Creek park. Ait
er he left this residence for his
California mountain home, the sec
ton around the cabin was built up
into city squares, and as Joaquin
was always associated with nature
unimproved, the California society
to have the cabin placed
in a clearing by Rock creek.
Here the bust of the poet is to
be placed. Gertrude Boyle, the
sculptor, who has modelled the
heads Of John Muir. Luther Bur |
bank and other famous westerners,
S the only person who ever model |
ed Joaquin while he was alive. /
She has three studies of him. one |
IL which she is to have cast in .
bronze for the memorial.
Miss Boyle, who has Just been !
n Washington to see the place
where the memorial is to be locat-
d, told the writer now she went to
Ioaquin's California mountain re-
reat on The flights" overlooking
Oakland. She went to model him,
nut he urged her to make a bust
Il his mother at once. He seemed /.
% impatient to have his mother
modelled that Miss Boyle settled
own in one of the mountain cabins
earby and went to work, and the
'ust was completed just before
irs. Miller died. :
Then, the sculptor stayed on in
he little colony of artists, writers
nd people who, wanting quiet, had |,
objected in the half dozen cabins
ear the poet. For eight years she
tayed, and during that time she ,
ad ample opportunity to study and
lOdel him.
Typical Outdoor Statue. f.
The bust, which is to be placed
l the National capital, shows the
oct in the familiar sombrero hat B.,
18th his flowing beard and keen
res. The lines of a coat over one
lCulder are suggested to repre- s
INT the eIk's hide coat he often r
ore slung over his shoulders. The
zee is a careful likeness. Aside r
ON that the bust gives the i'm I
-ess1on of rough, simply cut lines. {
is typically an outdoor statue. !
7roic in size, and most impressive / |
ON a short distance. Miss BOYLE !
.ys she tried to make her statue
digestive of the elemental out {
)Or type of man that Joaquin was. Y
He never posed for Miss BOYLE ?
'nsciOusly. They talked and read | 4
gether-at one period she read J,
e entire Bible aloud to him. Once | a