Red Lodge daily news combined with Carbon County news., 1934-05-09

@ Portrait Of His Mother" or, more
simply still, 1.-THE Mother"
- Although Anna Matilda McNeill
Whistler needs nothing more than
this painting to guarantee her Immortality, yet
the choice of her portrait for reproduction on a
special stamp issue this year
(the first time, incidentally, that such notice has
been taken of Mothers day. is an additional
honor conferred upon her. In all of our history,
only three other women have had that distinc-
tion. They were Pocahontas, the Indian prin-
cess; Isabella, the Spanish queen; and Martha
washington, wife of our first President. But
Anna Matilda McNeill Whistler is not the only
one who is honored In this years Mothers day
stamp. 1t was Issued also to N the
one hundredth anniversary of the event which
took place In Lowell. Mass, on July 10. 1881
the birth OF the son who was to achieve such
worldwide fame himself and to bring a similar
worldwide fame to her by his portrait Of her.
1t Is doubtful If any other painting ever put
on canvas Is so well known to so many people.
Reproductions Of 1t, running up into the millions
In numbers, have been printed and these prints
have gone to every corner of the earth. During
the last year and a half, while 1t was In this
country under a loan agreement from the French
government, 1t was exhibited In IL leading cities
throughout the United States and 1t Is estimated
khdt uulluk Us lIluL1pUal LOuT more imam &,UDV-
900 persons viewed II. Several hundred thou
sands more win have been added to that number
before 1t is sent back to Paris late this month
(for the agreement with the French government
calls for its return by June u to resume Its
honored place In the Louvre.
For five months of the time that the painting
was on a tour Of the country it was exhibited
at the Chicago Art institute In connection with
A Century of Progress. But among the thou
sands who saw 1t there and who also saw the
replica Of Fort Dearborn on the exposition
grounds 1t Is doubtful IL one In a thousand
realized that there was q historical If not a
cultural, link between the world-famous paint
ing, the highest exemplihcation of a mans skill
In the line of fine arts, and the crude architec-
ture of a building which had only the very utili-
tartan purpose of preserving the lives OF Its In
habitants from savage hatred. That link Is the
theme of this story.
The story has Its beginning In Ireland more
than IT'S years ago. In the year 1758 there was
born to an English family named Whistler, liv-
ing there, a son to whom was given the name
of John. Long before he had reached his majori-
ty young John Whistler ran away from home
and joined the British army. In 1777 he came to
America as a soldier In the expedition with
which Gentleman Johnny" Burgoyne intended
to deal a crushing blow to the American colo
MES. But the rapier thrusts of Daniel Morgan
and Benedict Arnold warded off that blow at
Saratoga, and the end Of the year saw John
Whistler a prisoner of war along with the rest
Of Gentleman Johnny's" army. Mark that fact
well, for IL has a curious aftermath
Before the end Of the Revolution, Whistler, as
a paroled or exchanged prisoner, was back In
England where he soon afterwards was dis
charged from the army. Then he fell In love
eloped with her, came to America a second time
and settled at Hagerstown. Md. In 1871 this sol
der who had worn the scarlet uniform Of Old
England put on the nondescript uniform of a
lieutenant adjutant In the levies which made up
a part of the army of the new republic. From
that time on he served continuously on the
Northwestern frontier under ST. Clair, Wayne
and others who were trying to break the power
of the savage tribes THAI were resisting the west
ward push of the American frontiersmen.
In 1907 1t was Captain John Whistler and
In 1903 he vas stationed at Detroit. The Louisi-
ana Purchase had flung our frontier from the
Mississippi back to the Rocky mountains, but II
we hoped to make good our possession of this
vast empire there must be g~arrisons In the heart
of the Indian country. One of the strategic
places for such a garrison was at the foot OF
Lake Michigan at a place variously called CHI
cagou, Chikago. Chekakou and a half-dozen SINH
lar spelltngs- SO, early In 1908, the inspector
general Of the army stationed at Cumberland,
Md, gave orders for the building of a post there