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Show Famous Building Intertwined With Country's History a ssa . ' ' & r- . ent time, but the delightful ancient state house), and the charming State house of Annapolis. All three are lessons In good taste, In positive beauty. And the Philadelphia structure struc-ture is the finest of the three. . . . The State house Is a beautiful building, alike In Its mass effects and In Its smallest details, In the views of It from the exterior or In rooms within. Its facade Is exactly centered, and similarly winged and arcaded at right and left It Is beautiful and it Is balanced. Viewed From the Outside. Seen from Independence square, which Is a large open space, stone paved, with Intervening surfaces of grass and fair-sized trees, it is a towered tow-ered building of time-mellowed brick, with white window stones, with smallish small-ish pillared doorway beneath a tower built outside the lines of the main building, and, over this doorway, a splendid Palladlnn window. Above are cornlclngs, and a fetching, bulging, bulg-ing, bow-fronted window, and above this Is a clock-tower, square at the bottom and rising in eight-sided diminutions dimi-nutions to a six-sided narrow pinnacle which Is topped by a trident-like weathervane of gilt Enter beneath the triple Palladlan window, with Its heavy niuntlns, and passing by the foot of the finest stairs In America, you enter a broad and brick-paved central hall; and there comes the sense of a glory of white, ... I . V. ..V. .. -. M t . .. , Americanism by the worst features of our national life, or by our failures, is much as It would be to Judge Christianity Chris-tianity by the lives of those who, professing pro-fessing a belief In It have been traitors trait-ors to It. There Is much to alarm and dishearten, but there Is also much to cheer and give hope, and abundant reason and ground for faith. ; So we of all people ought to be able to "greet the unseen with a cheer." We are facing not the twilight with Its shadows, but the glories of the dawn. Therefore, the American is, as well he may be, the most hopeful of the sons cf men. Many Lovely Vistas. The stair mounts, ramp by ramp, within the great tower; a broad stair with broad treads and low risers ; and On the second floor, as on the first, there are everywhere long and lovely vistas of distinction. And on the second sec-ond floor Is a great banqueting halt entered through a delicately be1i flowered doorway topped by a beautiful beauti-ful fanlight, occupying the entire length of the building; and at each end of the great room Is a broad fireplace, fire-place, with the Intent that the two shall flicker at each other with Oneness One-ness of effect ... A tang of especial distinction Is given to the admirable Chestnut street face of the State house by the unusually un-usually high keystones, of marble, which center the brick above each of the ample windows and rise Into a Rich in 1 1 Noble H Memories 111 A building of serenity and sym-metry, sym-metry, of fine amplitude, a gracious, alluring building, rich In noble memories, mem-ories, yet touched also with a living sweetness; such is the beautiful old State house In Philadelphia, often referred re-ferred to as Independence hall. And It stood here, and was even then a building of age and dignity, when Sir Walter. Scott said to Washington Irv-Ing, Irv-Ing, with a tolerant condescension I which he meant to be flattering, "The I vast aboriginal trees that have sheltered shel-tered the Indians before the Intrusion of the white man, are the monuments aad antiquities of your country 1" Scott was quite Ignorant of the fact that America had architecture ; to him, our country bad merely trees, although al-though this building, and some other American buildings, were richer In beamy and In noble association than qulW a number of those In his own land of which he wrote with such enthusiasm. en-thusiasm. Scott was deeply Impressed by the band of dark gray marble that extends ex-tends across the entire one hundred and seven feet of the building's front; and by a line, above this band, of nine panels of marble, beneath the windows win-dows of the second floor. The quoins on the comers, and the fine wooden cornice and balustrade, add still further distinction; and In all It Is a noble and distinguished building, rich In noble and distinguished memories. Robert Shackleton In "The Book of Philadelphia." with touches of mahogany and darkish green. The rooms are serenely beautiful; they are dignified, large and light; there are pillars and pilasters, there are charming cornices, there are panels; pan-els; In every direction one sees beautiful beau-tiful corners or vistas or entrance-ways. entrance-ways. The views through the arches of the room of the Supreme court. Into and across the Hall of the Signing, Sign-ing, denned by those three pllastered arches, Is astonishingly effective. At the foot of the wonderful stairs now stands the Liberty bell, upon which may still be rend the Bible verse which long before the Bevolu-tlon Bevolu-tlon was cast upon It by Its mnkers: "Proclaim liberty throughout all the land, upon all the Inhabitants thereof." Problem Before People. There Is abundant room for Improvement,' Im-provement,' but the point Is that Improvement Im-provement consists fur the most part In adherence to the original plan, or at most In slight change: or modifications, modifica-tions, such as have been made from time to time not all of which, by the way, have proved to be wise. The problem Is one of applying sound and well-tried principles to life, removing obstacles to the efficient working of tested machinery, and realizing In thought and act the noblest Ideals. From this point of View, the attitude of Americans should be appreciative and grateful, rather than critical. To turn for Hunt from America to Russia Is very like turning from Christianity to voodoolsm. To Judge America or ' v l"j aii's toocti I thought of our Illimitable forests. He longed to see one, as Dickens longed to see an American prairie. And had Scott come over here, and had he seen not only a forest but this State house, his Imagination would have been fired, and he might have written a great novel about America, rich in details of the Revolutionary leaders, with the picturesque John Hancock, In scarlet coat and cocked hat with black cockade, cock-ade, entering this building to preside at the signing or the Declaration. . . . Beautiful In Many Ways. The State house, "Lehfendence rial!," was planned In 1729 and completed, com-pleted, except as to whig and tower, five years later; quite old enough, one lees, to satisfy even a Walter Scott 1 But It must not be thought that It Is beautiful or Interesting principally on account of age. Age adds to a beautiful beauti-ful building the salt and savor of time, the romantic patina, literal or metaphorical, meta-phorical, Unit comes with the decades. But this State house Is beautiful In Itself; It was beautiful when It was young and new; It will remain beautiful beauti-ful as long as It stands, with Its traditions tradi-tions growing more Interesting with time. After all, Philadelphia was the largest and richest Colonial city of Great Britain, and so It was natural (hat a fine administrative structure ihould be built here. And it was put up In the same period which saw the construction of two other admirable state houses, that of Boston (not the stately pillared building of the pres r-f:kr-; -.jru VAT; Jl.v--' 'rowd LUsning to the Late Senatcr Knox Deliver Independence Dy Adclris, at Independence Had, L ,... V-a j t |