Show ORNAMENTS USED BY architects lion sieade predominate over those 0 all other animal it was the city salesman who said it anybody with a few hours to throw away will devote his time to the study of our big office buildings he will find that much of the ornamental carving on pillars and cornices consists of heads I 1 een spending some of my time in tu s interesting examina alon and I 1 have found that out of every hundred heads that decorate the fronts of our great buildings at least ninety five are lions heads I 1 have looked patiently in our zoos and men but as a rule the search has been in vain the face of the tiger ought to make an artistic trimming and I 1 m sure nothing could be more striking than an elephants head and tusks but strange to say these mighty beasts have been slight ed by the architects a have most of the other denizens of the jungle now and then to be sure a dragon Is seen perched up on fie ledge of a tenth story window and occasionally a horse or long eared hound Is pressed into service but in the great majority of cases the animal chosen for a model Is the lion whether the prevalence of countenance Is a tribute to the na alve majesty ot the beast or Is merely an accident I 1 am not prepared to say but certain it Is that lions rampant and couchant flourish as abundantly on the walls of new york s down town buildings as in their tropical jungles new aik oik times |