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Show r', WTy vty'';,wwyri sfpmm, mw'Arwqffi w-''yAuv-. my''-m yyy. varssyy, jfl1"3.?, . HJJ fa M U Ua U l i e 4 u I W H "Wf "'""" mmw mi mm J)Pm4 ? ' ' " T" I i I A 4 Pi W4 H IV'. i I 1 ' ' f i I I m m n i - i - i i y f JL a M. i mXm II jf I II ' 3Th:;V,.v. - ' "MA i j&t , rt I i , SL w y vl Washington Statue ( J rir ' WlTl4i:Wd- in Wall Street, New York City H - MuX4Wfm By ELMO SCOTT WATSON ' Vv-J J&fj? VoNSIDEiaXG his importauce In our 5 jV iJf if history, it is not remartable that V Ji " JOW t Americans sliould lionor the name V-U. A ' m j of George Washington, but it is' ' VTItunrr ( 5) remarkable the number of ways lu w pwf xP' SS Wffffify which his memory is preserved. For ,.w- J if u 18 (l0UbtfuI if tlie n;,me,,T-like" r" 1mmia4v&wm ness of any other man in all history 7 .,v f Ww The portraits of Washington are so numerous U t3l has been kept before the attention W&-,i i H" il that a description of them all and the story of - of a people in their everyday life f,?w"? w f how they were painted would fill a volume. Out as much as is the case with this first President U & v ! u, L of all the painters who made portraits of Wash- of the United States. BiBSlL 2 li -tL , feL ington, there is none to whom more interest at- Ilis portrait appears upon the postage stamp , , A , , t ff tryrr taches than the famous Rhode Islander, Gilbert ImelarsHandthuoonk several dlnominntions of ' 'tttli Strt- renown is so close'y wi'h Americans and upon seeral denominations or k'!m!SmmiSVmmsmsjmM the name of Washington. It was Stuart who our currency. It will be even more familiar on the miiSiiiass.St nainted the Washington nortrait (shown above) By ELMO SCOTT WATSON ""ONSIDEIilNG his importance in oar if history, it is not remarkable that t Americans should honor the name & of George Washington, but It Is ' fVv remarkable the number of ways in llflTT7)lT w''icl1 ''Is memory is preserved. For U If it Is doubtful if the name or like-ju like-ju ness of any other man In all history j I has been kept before the attention ' - of a people in their everyday life as much as is the case with this first President of the United States. His portrait appears upon the postage stamp which carries the bulk of the letters written by Americans and upon several denominations of our currency. It will be even more familiar on the latter after July 1 of this year when the new smaller-sized currency goes into circulation and the Washington portrait appears upon the one-dollar one-dollar bills. Not a day passes that his name does not appear in our newspapers many times, for the capital of the nation, from which so much important news comes, bears his name. And there is not a state in the Union which does- not 'have either a county, township, city, town or village, or a street or avenue hi one of the latter three, bearing the name of Washington. One of the forty-eight states bears his name, and he Is the only President who has that distinction. The annual celebration of his birthday is one of the holidays in the American calendar which are legal holidays throughout the nation, and only one other President shares that distinction with him. Thousands of Americans bear his name as their two given names. In fact, so common was this practice in the early days of the Republic that it called forth a quaint and vigorous protest from the editor of one of the first newspapers published west of the Mississippi. Writing in the Missouri Intelligencer at Franklin, Mo., in the issue of April 20. 1S23, the editor said: This Is the Christian name of one-eigrhth of the masoiiline inhabitants of tha United States. This name was dear to every American when it conveyed con-veyed the Idea of the father of freemen, but now it serves no other purpose than that of distinguishing dis-tinguishing one part of mankind from the other. It Is universally made a very packhorse. Every stupid blockhead thinks it the greatest tribute of respect he can possibly pay to the memory of the hero to call a son. a negro or a grog-shop by the same name. It is a practice scandalously common com-mon for publicans to paint the likeness of the hero on a board, hang it up to the vulgar to gaze at as at a monkey, and to beguile silly travelers to become their gvvests, who Judge of what Is In the hov.se by the sign. What has the father of liberty done that his name should thus be consigned con-signed to infamy and his likeness to contempt? Aside from the everyday . reminders of the name and fame of George Washington, there are many other ways in which his memory is preserved. pre-served. While there may be more statues of Lincoln erected in various places throughout the United States, Washington has been honored thus more in foreign countries. The Latin American republics have not only memorialized him in bronze and stone, but Simon Bolivar is known Quite as much as the "Washington of South America" as he is "The Liberator," and Mexico had a Benito Juarez, whom history calls the 'Washington of Mexico." So there is a special element of appropriateness in the fact that in th Colonia Juarez in the capital of Mexico there should stand a statue of George Washington. In this country the outstanding memorial to Washington is the famous obelisk which dominates dom-inates the skyline of our national capitaL The Washington monument originally was Intended as a tomb for the first President. The proposal to erect the monument as a tomb was made by a congressional committee, which launched the project immediately after Washington's death. Permission to remov. the body from its burial place at Mount Vernon was refused by the gen eral's brother. Charles Custis, a leader in the movement, pro posed an earthen pyramid as a memorial. His plan' was to have all soldiers who had served under Washington go to the capital, each depositing deposit-ing a shovelful of earth in a designated spot The appeal proved popular and was seriously considered consid-ered until it was pointed out mathematically that before the memorial could be near completed the Revolutionary veterans would be dead. As late as IS3G, after congress und committees Washington Statue in Mexico City had quibbled and argued for fifty years withoui any action, the plan for a series of pyramided temples was proposed. It was this plan that had been agreed upon when John Marshall, then eighty years old, headed a national society, members contributing con-tributing $1 each toward the monument. But not until July 4, 18-48, was the cornerstone actually laid. By that time the plans had been revised until the present shaft was agreed upon, although a Grecian temple to be erected around the base was still a part of .he builders' conception. concep-tion. After the shaft had been raised to 154 feet, the Civil war came and construction was halted and was not resumed until 1SS0 under the auspices of congress. The capstone, weighing 13,000 pounds and pointed witli aluminum, 555 feet from the ground, finally was set in place in 1S84. Yet, with all its majestic 555 feet of height, the Washington monument is not yet finished. It has a noble head but no proper feet. The fine shaft lacks a base to match. Architects have pointed out that sound proportions propor-tions call for, not a mound of greensward, bul a massive and stately marble terrace. The monument itself cost $1.1S7,710, and a sum at least this large would be required to provide a base such as architects recommend. With the celebration of the two hundredth anniversary of Washington's birth approaching a movement is now under way to have a suitable base con-'structed con-'structed in time to make its completion a part of the celebration. A site was given by congress several years ago to the George Washington Memorial association for the specific purpose of erecting the kind of a memorial it had proposed to build and endow. The cornerstone was laid by President Harding; since then foundations have been completed and paid for through the efforts of the association. The site is at Seventh and B streets, wiiere once stood the old Pennsylvania railroad station. In a public meeting Chief Justice Taft urged that the whole nation should contribute to the project, which he described as one of great national utility The main feature of the building will be a vast auditorium with n seating capacity of from 7,000 to 11,000 people. Besides this, it will have several smaller auditoriums of varying capacity for conferences, lectures and reunions. Each state in the Union and each territory or colony-would colony-would have a room in the building which will belong to it in perpetuity. When completed the memorial will be under the government of the Smithsonian Institution. One of the features of the great auditorium will be the finest organ that can be built ; concerts free to the public will be given on Sunday afternoons and also on other occasions In a word, the memorial will he a people's building. Although there are many statues of Washington Washing-ton in various cities of the United Slates the latest addition to the number being the beautiful equestrian statue which was unveiled in recent months and now stands before Washington's headquarters head-quarters at Morristown, N. J. two are perhaps the best known of them all. One stands on the steps of the subtreasury building in Wall street in New York city and the other stands in the rotund-;i of the state capitol at Richmond, Ya. The latter, the work of the famous French sculptor, Iloudon. is of special interest because it is acknowledged to be the most exact likeness of Wasiiington in existence. Art connoiseurs place its value at a million dollars. The portraits of Washington are so numerous that a description of them all and the story of how they were painted would fill a volume. Rut of all the painters who made portraits of Washington, Wash-ington, there is none to whom more interest attaches at-taches than the famous Rhode Islander, Gilbert Stuart, whose renow;n is so closely linked with the name of Washington. It was Stuart who painted the Washington portrait (shown above) which appears on our two-cent stamps and which is so familiar to all Americans. How Stuart became the most famous of all Washington portrait painters was told in an article which appeared in the Kansas City Star during the celebration of the cenetenary of Stuart's death last year as follows: For many years Stuart had had In the back ct his mind plans for painting George Washington. He didn't know precisely how he was going to realize this ambition, but he never let the thought of It die away. So when he landed In New York In 1792 he began to make arrangements to have the famous revolutionary leader sit for him. It was not until two years later, however, that he succeeded in this purpose. While congress was In session In Philadelphia Stuart went there with a letter of Introduction to Washington from John Jay. He met the President at a public reception and was greeted by Washington Washing-ton with "dignified urbanity." Washington had heard of the painter and did not require the letter of introduction. He said he would be pleased to put himself at the disposal of Stuart at such a time as the latter's arrangements and his own public duties would permit. A series of sittings soon was arranged and Washington presented himself him-self with his customary punctuality. The first sitting proved unsatisfactory. It largely was Stuart's fault. For the first time in his career he became nervous. He who had jested jest-ed with kings and played pranks upon his famous teacher, West, wras unnerved in the presence of this great man. It always had been a custom with him to draw out the subject's true personality in the course of conversation while painting. But Washington's manner precluded any possibility of such a method resulting successfully. Although not austere, he was calm and not communicative. The hard lines of his face, produced by those years of strife, had not yet softened into a genial expression expres-sion sufficient for Stuart's alms. However, Stuart went to work with nervous energy and painted a' portrait showing the right side of the face. Afterward he destroyed it, declaring de-claring it unsuccessful. But he made copies of it, the best known of which Is the "Gibbs-Channlng" portrait now in the Metropolitan museum, New York. At the second sitting Stuart executed a full-length full-length portrait showing the left side of the face. This painting is in the Lansdowne collection in London. But the best of all was the result of a third sitting. sit-ting. It is said Washington rebelled against this third portrait, but yielded to his wife's entreaties. Another account is that Stuart was intentionally late on the afternoon of this sitting in the hope of getting a show of displeasure on the countenance coun-tenance of the punctual President. Me wanted some of the rough vigor he always liked in pur-traits pur-traits of strong-willed men he so loved to paint. The resulting portrait, known as the "Athenaeum "Athe-naeum head," showing the left side of the face, is the one now so widely accepted as a faithful likeness of the great man. .Mark Twain once said, in facetious mood: "If George Washington should rise from the dead and should not resemble the Stuart portrait he would be denounced as an impostor!" im-postor!" The original hangs in the Boston Museum Mu-seum of Fine Arts. Eut Stuart, with an eye for business, made fifty copies of it. So today, any art collection worthy of the name can boast its Stuart portrait of Washington. This "Athenaeum" canvas never was finished Stuart, it is sard, had promised to present this portrait to the family when it was completed, tiui he was so pleased with it and found the business of making replicas so profitable that he intentionally intention-ally left the costume unfinished, although the face was perfect. When -Mr. Curtis, father of .Mrs. Washington, made a trip to Boston to remind Stuart of his promise, the artist merely showed him the canvas and said: "Cut you see, my dear sir, that it is not finished." And It never was. Stuart's failure to finish Washington's coat also may be explained by the fact that he never cared to spend much time on backgrounds. His interest always centered on the face. "I copy the works of God." he declared, "and leave clo;hes to tailors and mantua makers." Stuart's last years were embittered by constant fights against those who made copies of his famous portrait of Washington and sold them as genuine Sttiarts. One of these copi6 even got Into the White House for a time. |