Evening star., 1933-03-12

and determination. judging by his accomplish
ments, is self-evident In order to model the
horse from life. he actually trained q horse to
stand on its hind legs that he might set the
correct pose. .
The difncult task of casting the statue in
bronze was performed entirely by him-his
own invention and construction. when he
was building on the ground south Of the
Treasury Department the furnace to cast the
Jackson statue" we are told "its construction
was sharply criticized by scientific visitors,
who said he would never be able to melt bronze
In it, because it was built partly underground,
and they could not see where 1t was to get the
necessary supply of oxygen to support com
busion. The artist answered that facts were
better than theory, and that IN furnaces as
ordinarily constructed most Of the heat was
carried of through the chimney, and he pro-
posed to lose but little Of it in that way He
added that he got his idea Of what . furnace
should be from an incident which came under
his observation on q South Carolina farm
He said a heavy iron trace chain was wanted
and could not be found. Some time after it
was missing a charcoal pit was opened and
when the charcoal had been removed the fused
remains Of the chain were found on the bot
tom of the pit. proving conclusively that
enough heat had been confined in the closed
pit to melt the metal
the plucky artist had his furnace built in ac-
cordance with his own ideas, and different
from any ever before constructed. The
suit proved that he was right and his critics
wrong. He melted several tons of bronze
cannon in his furnace, but unfortunately, the
brickwork was not strong enough to resist the
heavy pressure. The melted bronze forced its
way through the joints of the brickwork, and
was chilled. Nothing daunted, Mr.. Mills dug
out Of the ground the great c0nglomerated
mass of bricks and bronze, and sent for an
other firm of bricklayers, who built him a
stronger furnace. in which the metal was
melted and the Jackson statue was success
fully cast" fs'- 4
Jackson at Pensacola, and the cannon at
the base were captured at the Battle of New
Orleans. The late S. H. Kauffmann in writing
Of this statue in 1901, exploded the myth that
the bronze horse and rider are not securely
fastened to the base and said:
The further observation may be allowed in
this connection that Mr. Mills claimed as one
Of the merits of this statue that its natural
equipoise was absolute-that Is, that the center
Of gravity had been so attained in the position
Of the horse and his rider that the group
would rest securely on the hind feet of the
rearing charger without any support or
~ u,
however, fact, also that when the group was
placed in position in Lafayette Square the hind
feet Of the horse were bolted or otherwise
fastened to the base or pedestal. in order to
secure it against the possible effects of high
winds or other disturbing or mischievous
causes. But that the group was actually self
poised Mr. Mills used to demonstrate very
conclusively by the exhibition of an exact
miniature reproduction, which was 50 evenly
balanced that it would stand firmly on a
marble slab or other smooth surface, and
equally SO with or without the rider in his
place.
'Mr. Mills claim as to the self f-sustaining
equilibrium of the group must therefore be
regarded as well founded. Not so, however,
his other claim, that this was the first eques-
txian statue ever erected possessing that Pc
culiar property. A mounted efhgy of Philip
Nv of Spain, marked by the same character