Evening star., 1923-02-11
LUCRETIA z. REMINGTON.
when the high heart we magnify,
And the sure vision celebrate.
And worship greatness passing by.
Ourselves are great"
John DRINKwATEE

A Y the end of the scheme that
~ includes the Capitol and the
~ Washington Monument. on the
shore of the Potomac and in
view Of the Virginia hills stands the
Lincoln Memorial. Provision was
made for this by act Of Congress. ap-
proved February 3, 1911, and carried
into execution by the fine arts COM
mission. John Hay, one Of Lincoln's
secretaries and bioEraphers. 4 states
man and an art lover. said in speak
ing of the proposed site for. the
memorial:
Lincoln deserves this place of
honor. He was Of the immortals. One
should not approach too near the
immortals. His monument should
habitation of man: apart from the
turmoil and business Of the city
isolated, distinguished and serene. OF
all the sites. this one, near the
Potomac. is most suited to the pur-
pose"
No one now disputes the ap-
propriateness Of it's setting. so ir-
refutable is its fitness to enshrine the
temple of memory.
Isolated, with free distances in
every direction, the memorial stands
in radiant white marble. rising to q
height of ninety-nine feet above the
concrete foundation that runs down
fn ~
white steps leads down from the
memorials uninclosed entrance to the
long rejecting pool that stretches out
toward the Warrington Monument,
holding in its shallow depths the
beauty Of white marble. snowy clouds
and bordering trees.
By means OF terraces, the original
fifty feet. A rectangular wall OF
white marble fourteen feet high.
25S feet long and 1856 feet wide in
closes the terrace upon which the
memorial stands. Three white marble
steps, each eight feet high, form a
platform under the columns which
at it's base measures 204 feet long
and 1874 feet wide. The coIonnade,
made with thirty-six columns, one
for each state in the Union that
Lincoln saved, is 1856 feet long and
11S feet wide, the columns being
forty.four feet high and seven feet
f1ve inches in diameter at the base.
memorial is eighty-four feet wide
and 156 feet long, the central
chamber of which ia sixty feet
wide, seventy long and sixty high.
On the walls above the colonnade are
forty-eisht memorial festoons. one
for each OF the states in the Union
at the present time.
y !; 4 x
ITO the statistician and the archi-
! tect fgures are animate with
meaning, while to the average mind
they are je3une and lifeless The tech
nical description, therefore, shall be-
dismissed with the paragraph above,
while we turn our attention to the
artistic features OF the temple.
II one has eyes for seeing, a hs
reaches the colonnade- he will OBJ
serve that its floor washes up to
meet the base OF the Doric columns
that in a procession Of huted grace
and strength move like waves around
tho memorial chamber. The blue sky
shows sapphire by contrast with the
white columns when viewed from be-
tween them, while the Washington
Monument and the glorious dome of
framed pictures when seen At the
ends Of the colonnaded vistas on the
north and south sides Of the struc.
ture. One 10 convinced that tho arch
| itect, Henry Bacon, left nothing to
anything save purpossful design, "a
harmonious are all the regulations Of
the temple. whether to surroundinR
scenes or Of part to whole.
A. one passes into the chambss
containing tho statue Of Lincoln, hs
10 impressed with its simplicity, 70.
no decoration, but one inscription
nothing save the gentle, lonely
potent figure OF . gentle lonely
| potent man, and silence, and thu
white wonder Of surrounding marble
that gorifies the space cathedral wise
| greet the eye and soul. The huge
statue on its flushed pedestal is placed
directly in the center of the wall
opposite the entrance. and no lins
| save the straight line like bsvelins
! on a plsin frame marks or sets of
| the background. In this wall has
bssn carved simply ana grandlys
Is this tsmrls. as IN the hearts Of u
people for whom he saved hte Union. the mem
ory Of Lincoln j. epShriled forever.