Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-04-27
Ne7v Dlnuvv Monument in RiChn1Ond Is Masterpiece

1856, when, after many diSappOintmentS and
failures, the Atlantic cable was successfully
stretched across the ocean, Cyrus Field, at
the celebration of its completion, said: "Maury
furnished the brains, England gave the money.
I did the work."
After the Maury. restless and an exile.
was attracted by what he considered the
constructive plans of Macmillan, so-calied
Emperor of Mexico, and he accepted the
position in Mexico of director of the Imperial
Observatory and commissioner of immigra-
ton. When he realized that his Kingdom
was tottering, Macmillan sent Maury to Eng.
land a mission in order that he might
escape the impending disaster He was there
fore, in England again when the Emperor
was tried and executed.
Compelled, of course, to earn his living and
with the South unable to help him, Com
modore Maury as he was now, and is today.
called, opened a school in London where he
taught the application of electricity to SUBJ
marine torpedoes" to a group of Danish, Nor
wegian and French officers.
In 1868 he returned to the United States
to accept the chair of meteorology at the
Virginia Military Institute, at Lexington For
the New York publisher Richardson, who was
bringing out series of school books for the
South, Maury contributed the splendid geog-
raphies. Cambridge University had conferred
on him, at the same time she was likewise
honoring TennySon, the degree of LII. d. the
Latin grafton for him reading, in part: mo
one can withhold admiration from the man
held his faith pure and unblemShed even at
the price of poverty and exile"
In 1873, severely ILL., he asked his son. do
drag my anchor?" And to his reply of EYES,
father" he said, "Als we'll" These, his last
words, the sailors token of faithfulness on
lonely sea watches, had been his watchwordS
through his life His request to have his
coffin carried through the beautiful Goshen
Pass, that the laurel and the rhododendron
might be heaped on it, could not be granted,
as he died on the LIST of February He is
buried in Hollywood Cemetery in Richmond,
but In the heart of Goshen Pass, 10 miles
from Lexington, q great anchor lies among
the mountain ivy by the turbulent little river
that cut out this little land of Goshen A
tablet explains it Is q memorial to Commodore
Maury Some admirer has written of his last
5eSire:
do homage, sky, and air, and grass
All things he cherished sweet and tender,
AS through the gorgeous mountain pass
We bear him, In his sunset splendor"
HAVING written of what he did, it seems
fitting to add, In the words of NJ p,
Willis, suggestion Of what he was in char
acter: Under his exceeding modesty and
'eserve there seemed to run a vein of the
heroic and romantic so hidden that he was
seemingly unconscious of it " willing TO
pass only as the industrious man of science +"
Sievers. the famous Richmond sculptor,
whose equestrian statue of Gen. Lee and it's
accompanying figures constitute one of the
great monuments at Gettysburg, has made a
magnificent Interpretation of his subject in
his Maury Monument. Placed in a wonderful
setting, in a wide-open space with the sweep
of the sky behind and around it, the figures
of bronze, the pedestal of granite, it COM
mands attention from all who pass by. Maury.
the scientist and the dreamer as well, whose
dreams came true, sits thoughtfully at ease.
book IN one hand, the Bible by his chair.
Above him In outline the birds of the air fly
free, beneath his feet the fish of the waters
disport themselves. And above all else, the
world, whose winds and paths he charted. The
figures are splendidly portrayed Wonderful
faces this group who cling to the lifeboaU.
fearless the men and boys, who, with dog and
oxen are fighting their way across the
prairies Mr. Watson was not exaggerating
when he called it q marvellous example of
modern sculpture.