Evening star., 1954-10-17
Thoughts Carved in Marble eoccupy Visitors to Public Buildings
BY Mary McGrory

washington eX XpOfGS many
words, many Of them ill-chosen.
But Washington also preserves
some well-chosen words that are
carved in marble and proof
against all weathers. Walk
around the city any day. look up.
and you will read noble thoughts
from the Bible. from Shakespeare
and even-if your Greek is good
from Aristotle.
The practice of writing good
words In stone on public build
ings was borrowed from the
ancient Romans by American
architects using the classical
style in the first half Of this
century. Sometimes, as in the
case Of the Justice Department
buildings. the architect not only
left the space but chose the
words. Some Of the inscriptions
merely describe the function of
the buildings. But the best of
them appeal to the best In the
beholder.
Charles william Eliot. q pres
ident Of Harvard. was an in
scription writer much in demand
at the turn Of the century.
Trained in the hard school of
writing citations for honorary
degrees, he composed lines ac-
claimed for their brevity, cogency
and lyric quality.
Composed on Sailing Trip.
The inscriptions for the main
Post Office Building were COM
posed during the course of an
afternoons sailing in Maine.
Another college president, Wood
row Wilson, who was also Pres
ident of the United States,
tampered a trif1e with the one
that begins "Carrier of neDs and
knowledge" The other one.
however, was consigned un-
changed to the stonecutter. It |
reads:
messenger of sympathy and lope
Servant of parted friends
ConSoler of the lonely .
Bond of the scattered family
Enlarger OF the common life"
DR.. Eliot not only wrote in
scriptions he also nominated |
other peoples writings for i'm
mortality. The psalmist, the
prophet and the evangelist all
were mobilized in the rich selec-
ton of reading matter he chose
for the facade of Union Station,
which was completed in 1907.
From the psalmist comes: "Thou
has put all things under his feet"
From st. John: "The truth shall
make you free"
For the departing traveller
there is a word Of warning from
Samuel Johnson: HE that tUould
bring home the Dedlth of the
Indies must carry the Uealth of
the Indies tDith him. So 1t Is in
travelling. A man must carry
knowledge tDith him If he tDould
bring home knowledge"
Counsel to Congressman.
And for the incoming Congress
man, here is noble counsel from
James Russell Lowell:
BE noble and the z.obleness that
lies in other men
Sleeping but neuer dead
VIII rise in majesty
To meet thine otDf,."
Across the Capitol Plaza, be-
yond the Supreme Courts Equal
Justice Under the Ld,D," are the
archaically spelled Shakespear-
can quotations Of the Folger
Shakespeare Library. Director
Louis B. Wright reports legions
Of school children circle the
building every spring. notebooks
In hand. laboriously copying the
inscriptions. He says they ques-
tion the spelling but not the
Elizabethan principal of each
man spelling his own way.
Shakespeare's "What Is Pdst
Is Prologue" one of the Archives
many craven words, apparently
intrigues people who read while
waiting for streetcars on Penn
sylvania avenue. Many of them
call up to inquire as to the source.
The answer is THE Tempest"
Called Small Loss.
The Commerce Department,
over its Fifteenth street entrance,
has some sky-writing, visible only
to starlings, squirrels or agile
people who climb the highest
branches Of the trees across the
street when the leaves have
fallen. ConnoisSellrs of inscrir