Evening Star Newspaper, August 8, 1896, Page 15

THE EVENING STAR, SATURDAY, AUGUST 8, 1896—TWENTY-FOUR PAGES, AMERICA’S PANTHEON ——— The Congressional Library Building Without a Modern Parallel. —— A WEALTH OF ARTISTIC DECORATIONS Finest Talent of the Nation Sum- moned to the Work. ee SCORES OF PAINTINGS Se es ane Written for The Evening Star. T HE GREAT PAN- theon of American art, as the new Na- tional Library in Washington deserves to be called, is now rapidly nearing com- pletion, after seven years of uninterrupt- ed construction and decoration. The keys will be handed over to the librarian of Congress in February Goa. next, and the won- erful structure will then become the enduring repository of the 700,000 books forming the public collection of the Amerl- can people. But today, for all practical purposes, perfect character already stands revealed in all {ts bea lacking only the last touches and ultimate finish. If it be true that the chief glory of a na- tion is its literature, and that one of the nus heritages of a people is a brary wherein its literature vast can find an adequate and permanent home, then, Indeed, are the American people for- tunate, for in this building they will have not only a palace whose rooms and spaces are devoted to the preservation of the na- tion's literary treasures, but a temple whose very walls are dedicated to the three allied fine arts of architecture, sculpture and painting—an art gallery that amply stpplies, for the time, the absence of such an institution as a separate conventional establishment. It Has No Parallel. There is nothing comparable to it as an artistic edifice in all this country, and as a public library building there is nothing in Europe that approaches it. It outranks in splendor and magnificence, as well as in size, all other structures of its kind on the glebe, although its final cost will fall with- in the aggregate appropriation, $6,350,000. And this pre-eminent distinction ts due not so much to Its extraordinary beauty of ar- chitecture as to its wealth of interior dec- oration Inside It is a veritable fairy land of high- est a its halls and chambers literally filled, but not crowded, with masterpieces of painting, sculpture, architectural orna- ment and mosaic and stucco enrichment. In the Rotunda. Of set paintings there are at least 300 throughout the fifty rooms, and of formal pieces of sculpture and statuary an equal number, while the stucco works and other architectural ornaments are seemingly in- numerable. And a remarkable thing about it all, considering {t is a government build- ing, is that every one of these 300 sculp- tures, every one of these 300 pictures, and every one of these countless bits of archi- tectural elaboration are consistent parts of ingle plan, all harmonizing with their surroundings and each other, and together forming a homogeneous whole, admirably adapted In every particular to the distinc- = jt ET anna tive architecture of the building and to {ts pecullar uses. To accomplish this end the wide world has been searched over and ransacked for sug- gestions and suitable subjects, susceptible of original treatment and interpretation for American eyes, and no less than forty-seven of the most celebrated American artists— exclusively American—sculptors, painters, designers and decorators, have been now for two years concentrating their powers upon this work. They have here achieved to a degree that the country as yet little appre- ciates, in new and modern forms and under fresh inspiration, an astonishing triumph of strictly American art, expending upon its realization their very best efforts, with a zeal end enthusiasm worthy alike of their profession and their patriotism. Of the re- sult not only they, but all their fellow citi- zens, have reason to be immeasurably proud. A Pantheon of Culture. As a rational palace for books it‘is a credit to the whole country, and especially to its promoters, its designers, its builders, its decorators and to Congress, which au- thorized it and supplied the funds for it. As @ pantheon of culture it is calculated to serve as a lasting object lesson in art, and will undoubtedly exert a strong educational influence in that direction by elevating the standard of popular taste. It is built to Victory, by Martin. withstand the wear and tear of a thousand years, and it combines in its entire make-up the best results of scientific engineering, the latest mechanical apparatus, time-sav- ing conveniences, special devices, ingenious inventions and superb appointments. A marble inscription above the principal arch in the entrance hall tells the struc- tural history of the building in this sen- tence: Erected under the acts of Congress Cf April 15, 1896; ee 2, 1888, and March 2 By Brigadier Gen. Thomas Lincoln Casey, Chief of Engineers, U. 8. A.; Bernard KR. Green, Superintendent and En- gineer; John L. Smithmeyer, Architect; Paul J. Pelz, Architect; Edward Pearce Casey, Architect. In the mind of the public at large this roll of honor should be supplemented by an- ether, bearing the names of the American artists who have enriched the interior, thus: |* Painters—Edwin H. Bleshfield, New York; George W. Maynard, New York; Charles Sprague Pearce, Auvers-sur-Oise, France; Elihu Vedder, Rome; Kenyon Cox, New York; William L. Dodge, Paris; Robert L. Dodge, New York; Frederick Dielman, New Yerk; Walter McEwen, Paris; Carl Guth- erz, Paris; Gari Melchers, Paris; Walter Shirlaw, New York; F. C. Benson, Boston; W. B. Van Ingen, New York; John W: Alexander, Paris; Edward Simmons, New York; H. O. Walker, New York; J. W. Barse, New York; Robert Re!d, New York; F. Martin, New York; Willlam A. Mack- G - ew York, and Elmer E. Garnsey, New ork. Sculptors—Frederick MacMonnies, Paris; Augustus St. Gaudens, New York; Louis St. Gaudens, New York; Daniel C. French, New York; Bela L. Pratt, Boston; Philip Mar- tiny, New York; Panl W. Bartlett, Pari c. Dallin, Boston; John J. Boyle, Phila- } delphia; F. W. Ruckstuhl, New York; Theo- dore Baur, New York; George Bissel, Poughkeepsie, N. Y.; Olin L, Warner, New York; Charles H. Niehaus, New York: John Donoghue, Paris; John Flanagan, Paris: Herbert Adams, Brooklyn; George Barnard, New York; J. Scott Hartley, New Yor R. Hinton Perry, New York; J. Q. A. Ward, New York; Henry J. Ellicott, Washington: William R. Boyd, Washington; Edward C. Potter, Enfield, Mass., and Albert Weinert, New York. Origt Difficulties Surmounted. Originally it did not seem possible to car- ry out any elaborate scheme of decoration, the questions of expense and of time being the principal difficulttes—both very impor- tant, as the date for final completion ani the total cost were approximately fixed be- forehand. But through the wisdom of the late General Casey and of Bernard R. Green, the officer in charge, a coherent and harmonious color scheme was adopted at j ily. wai ( i grand granite staircase to the main en- trence, are three pairs of spandrels carved in granite, modeled by Pratt. High above these, jutting out from the circular win- dows of the*second story; are nine colossal granite busts of Demosthenes, Dante and Scott, by Adams; Irving, Hawthorne and One of the Stucco Panels. Emerson, by Hartley; and Franklin, Macauley and Goethe, by Ruckstuhi. The three pairs of mammoth bronze doors— the central portal by MacMonnies and the lateral ones by Warner—are highly wrcught in allegorical figures representing the methods of transmission of knowledge in past ages—by tradition, by writing, and by printirg. In the Rotunda, In the rotunda are eight gigantic female | figures in stucco. One, typifying Art, is by Augustus St. Gaudens; another, History, is by French; still another, Philosophy, is by Pratt; Poetry, by Adams; Science, by Don- oghue; Law, by Bartlett; Commerce, by Flanagan, and Religion, by Baur. Sixteen bronze portrait-statues of, herolc size, rang- ed around the gallery balustrade, deline- ate two recognized masters or expounders of each of the subjects represented by the corresponding ideal figures. Thus a statue of Michael Angelo, by Bartlett, and a statue of Beethoven, by Baur, represent Art, embracing painting, sculpture and music. Herodotus, by French, and Gib- bon, by Nieha represent History; similarly, Piato and Bacon, by Boyle, stand for Philosophy; Homer, by Louis St. Gau- dens, and Shakespeare, by MacMonnies, for Poetry; Solon, by Ruckstuhl, and Kent, by Bissell, for Law; Columbus, by Bart- lett, and Fulton, by Potter, for Commerce; and Moses, by Niehaus, and St. Paul, by Donoghue, for Religion. The chief plastic figures in the entabla- ture of the rotunda were modeled by Mar~ tiny. The stucco sculptures of the whole interior of the dome and elsewhere were modeled by Weinert, as chief modeler. In the rotunda also Flanagan is working upon a large clock-piece eight feet square, in dark marvle and bronze; a composition comprising a clock-dial, a figure of “Father Time” and other winged images, with oak foliage behind and the signs of the zodiac on a mosaic background. The crown of the dome and the crown of the lantern overhead have been illuminated with large the beginning, and the matter of extra dec- oration later on was left for execution as circumstances and funds permitted. The leading sculptors and painters of this coun- try were called in for aid and consultation and were found to be not only willing, but eager and delighted to co-operate. It was proposed that here was a chance for them to show what they could do; and although the funds available for the purpose were limited, they entered into the project with spirit and alacrity. Accordingly commis- sions for the more impcrtant spaces were distributed among the American artists named above, at much lower rates (by rea- son of its being a public building) than they | would have accepted from individuals or | private corporations, and the remaining rooms and the general plan of color treat- ment were delegated to Elmer E. Garnsey, who was engaged at a stipulated salary to organize the corps, assisted by Charies Caffin and E. J. Holslag of New York and the important function of passing upon pre- liminary studies and final designs, of mak- | ing timely suggestions and keeping track of the general system of decoration, in con- nection with the officer in charge, was in- trusted to Edward P. Casey, son of the late general, as architect. The actual decoration of the walls was begun April 1, 1895, and the fruits, exceeding all expectation, are now apparent. The Figure Composition. Their richness impresses the visitor at the very entrance. Within a distance of twenty steps from the threshold of the main vestibule are fully a hundred colored figure compositions, by Vedder, Shirlaw, Benson, Barse, Pearce, Alexander, Reid, Maynard, Martin and Walker. In the immediate vicinity are twenty more, by Simmons and McEwen, and in the same Pall are to be seen the works of half a dozen sculptors, including Warner, Mac- Mennies and Martiny. A passing glance at these works is cuf- nt to indicate thelr nature and scope. Vedder's pictures, for example, consist of five semi-circular panels or lunettes, in the wide passageway between the stair | hall and the rotunda, executed in oil upon canvas, framed in marble and mounted on white lead, typifying Good Government and Bad Governmeni. Pearce‘s pictures are also Iunettes, tIlustrative of The Fam- McEwen adorns a number of panels with representations of the Greek heroes of mythclogy and history, and Walker's werk is a series of pictures commemora- tive of Lyric Poetry. Simmons has nine panels illustrative of the Nine Muses. Cox has done two panel pictures, Art and Science. Melchers has executed two anal- ogous companion pictures, Peace and War. Maynard has made four pictures represent- ing Adventure, Discovery, Conquest and Civilization, with a group in the center of the ceiling suggesting Valor, Fortitude, Courage and Achievement. Dodge has painted a similar series representing Music, Art, Literature, Sclence and Ambition: Gutkerz has covered another series of pan- els with beautiful representations of Light in various conceptions. Garnsey and Dodge hive executed four panels typical of Earth, Air, Fire and Water, the celling in the same room displaying Apollo driving his chariot, surrounded by ornamental em- blems illustrative of the elements. A Noble Architecture. Even the outer shell of this display is a vehicle of high art. The building itself, architecturally, is a noble fabric of uni- form, gleaming white granite, a pure ex- ample of the Italian renaissance, rectan- gular in form, three stories high, 470 feet long by 340 feet wide, occupying two city blocks and covering nearly four acres, with stately pavilions projectirg at the corners, and the east and west fronts en- riched with majestic monolithic columns Corner in the Pompelian Room. of the Corinthian order, the massiveness of the walls relieved by 1,800 windows, with casings treated in high relief by fo- lated carvings beneath the pediments and cornices, and by an ornate balustrade of carved granite above, the whole crowned by a burnished golden dome, glistening 195 feet in air. The keystones of the outer window arch- es of the second story are carved heads ecrrectly depicting-the types and races of mankind, executed by Ellicott and Boyd. Four colossal figures of Atlas support the roof of the central pavilion at the west front, surmounted by a pediment with two sculptured American eagles as the center of an emblemat‘c group in granite. Over the central doors, at the top of the W. Mills Thompson of Waskington, while, allegorical paintings by Blashfield, symbol- izing The Human Understanding und Con- tributions to Knowledge by Nations and Ages. Elsewhere in the building, besides all the foregoing, an enormous amount of general decoration in color as welt as in conven- tional and other designs, has been done by Garnsey, as chief decorator. Bas-reliefs and large medallions in stucco, represent- ing The Seasons, haye been executed by Pratt. Many other important decorative features in stucco, arabesque and mosaics on ficors and vaulting have been done from designs by Edward P. Casey, different in each chamber or hall. And even the wide corridors on the basement floor are highly finished, being enriched with finely-colored marbles. Thus the, ground entrance is of tunda. Upon them the artists have ex- pended their greatest labors, and in them gained their greatest triumphs. The origi- nal notion of the stair hall is derived from the type of grand staircases in the old Genoese palaces, embodying the best thought and study of Genoese architects during the most opulent period of their city’s civilization. It is a three-story hall, with arch piled upon arch, and white Ital- fan marble columns rising above marble Piers. The ceiling is seventy-two feet high, covered with stained glass, and the celling of the entrance hall leading into the grand air hall is pure white, minutely indented ith coffers or panels treated in gold. In the grand stair hall the spandrels are adorned with intricate stucco work treated |in harmony with the marble beneath, and the richly gilded medallions on the brack- ets or consoles. On ihe brackets support- ing the beams occur sculptured figures, and between the figures appear Altars in low re- | Hef, topped with ciusters of electric lamps. The double marble staircases are crna- mented with twenty-six small figures of cupids, by Martiny, carved in relief, sym- bolizing the various arts and sciences. The newel posts are embossed with festoons of leaves and flowers and carry two bronze lamp-bearers, also by Martiny. On either side the entrance is a semf-circular niche surmounied by a shell and by carved infant figures representing “The Races of Men, with a globe interveninr. The vault cov ing the seccnd-story corridor is rivaly dec- orated in arabesque and color,and above the columns of the second-story gallery are marble tablets inscribed in letters of gold | With the names of masters in literature. From the top of the main entablature, elaborately carved, springs a great cove, encircling the whole and reaching from the | marble to the skylight. This cove bears Weinert's Roy Herald. twenty-eight painted figures of young genil, by Martiny, in their form and youth- fulness suggesting the vigor of American ideas and institutions. In the four corners of the cove are winged sculptured figures bearing shields, with a background of blue illuminated with gold stars. In the remote recesses of the cove are inscribed the names of the world’s greatest poets, dram- atists, historians and philosophers. Francis Hopkinson Smith, the art critic, regards the entrance hall leading into the grand stair hall as the finest example of white- and-gold decoration he has ever seen. Both it and the stair hall breathe an ineffaole at- mosphere of purity and refinement. A Marvel in Colors. The rotunda and dome, however, may = WEST FRONT OF THE LIBRARY. white Itallan marble; its communicating corridor is of Vermont marble, a mottled blue. The north corridor is of pink Ten- nessee; the east corridor of Georgia, richly- veined black and white, and the south cor- ridor of red and white Champlain marble. Fifty Decorated Rooms, Each of the fifty separate rooms and chambers, exclusive of the book receptacles, is decorated distinctively, in conformity with the purpose it is intended to subserve. Each one merits a detailed description, but space here permits reference only to the four most striking. One of these, ‘The Pavilion of the Seals,” at the northeast corner, Js a patriotic conception, brillantly presented. Here Garnsey has had a long- desired opportunity to develop and display the artistic possibilities of the American flag, the official seals of the United States and certain other characteristic emblems of the government and country. In four lunettes, painted by Van Ingen, are sug- gested the elght executive departments— State, War, Navy, Treasury, Justice, In- terior, Post Office and Agriculture—by ma- ture female figures clothed in sumptuous robes, attended and supported by youthful figures. Each of the larger figures holds a shield, whereon is inscribed the seal of the department represented and the insignia and allegorical attributes pertaining to that department. The center of each lunette is occupied by a circle bearing appropriate in- scriptions quoted from the utterances of American statesmen and patriots, from Washington to Grant. On the cetling, in a circle 17 feet in diameter, Garnsey has exhibited the great seal of the United States, surrounded by a circle of forty-eight star: emblematical of the states and territories of the Union, together with garlands of fruit, suggesting the different climatic sec- tions of the country; the four winds, typified by masks; dolphins, symbolizing our fish- erles; lyres, the fine arts; torches, typical of knowledge; the whole surrounded by a scroll inscription, containing the last clause of Abraham Lincoln's peroration at Gettys- burg battlefield. The painted figures in the lunettes range in color from the deepest, richest red, Tyrian purple, suffused rose, vivid mossy green and tawny yellow to lustrous white. The prevailing color of the zoom is a deep coppery gold, combined with Ivory. The Pompeiian Room. Another striking creation by Garnsey is “The Pompelian Rooin,” jn the northwest pavilion. Its general scheme closely follows the decorative style affected by the ancient Romans and brought’'to perfection in Pom- peli, until recently burted ‘under ashes from Vesuvius. While there,a few years ago Garnsey made a careful ‘study of the prin- ciples and examples ‘of that pecullar style, taking sketches, mpasufements and an- aiyses of the principles that governed those painters of 2,000 years hack, and here he has endeavored to record and register the results of his researches. The Pompeiian red, which has becorfie 4, concrete term, is not essentially one red, siijce many different reds were used in the d¢goration of Pom- pelian palaces. But the red used in this room, a rich magenta, js probably the most characteristic red fognd’in Pompei!. Upon this ground of Pompettai red Garnsey has displayed a brilliant artay of arabesque panels, mythological and grotesque, ohiefly in a “‘warm white” color. The little dancing figures in several instances are copies of figures that may be seen today on the walls of the Royal Museum at Naples, whither they were brought from Pompeii and res- cued from further deterforation by weather and Iconoclasts. The other figures are sim- ilarly designed, and agree with the original Pompelian figures. In the six arched Win- dows that light this room appear the signs of the zodiac, designed by Thompson, in the cenventional manner, while .the many classical ullusions and motives serve still further to enrich its wall color and archi- tectural lines and spaces. The Grand Stair Hall. But the supreme architectural and artis- tie features of the interior in form and color are the grand stair hall and the ro- Froperly be considered the culminating suc- cess of the whole work. As the rotunda is to serve as the public reading room of the brary, the light effect was a prime censideration both in its construction and adornment; and in fully meeting this re- quirement, in a way never before attempt- ed, lies the last surpassing merit of this building of a thousand excellences. The room !s octagon shaped, 100 feet In diame- ter and 125 feet high, lighted by eight semi- circular windows feet wide. The walls are screened in variegated Siena marbles, yellow, maroon, orange and gold, with nu- merous groined arches and _balustrades. Eight enormous piers of two shades of red Numidian marbles, resting upon*bases of chocolate Tennessee marble, stand out bold- ly against the background of mixed yel- low, and rise forty feet to the main en- tablature. This latter is highly ornament- ed with friezes, cornices and sculptured figures, and above it yawns the marvelous concave of the dome, at first colored white. Here the great problem devolving for so- lution upon Garnsey as the decorative Painter was to unite and harmonize these vari-colored marbles, stucco, iron work; figure decoraticn and white dome, into one coherent whole that would simultaneously Frove softly luminous and hence grateful to the eye and remove the idea of a gi- gantic mass bearing down upon the base. ‘The means at hand to compass this were simply the strategy of color and the subtle necromancy of lines; but with these means Garnsey has evolved more than a mere so- lution of the problem; he has won, per- haps, the most decisive triumph visible in the entire edifice—a triumph solely of color in connection with lines and masses. Marble Effects, The deep pomegranate-colored marbles of the bases and columns had to be merged into a lighter scheme to carry up the dome instead of weighting it with heavy color and making it seem to bear down upon its foundations. So, inasmuch as the general tone of the Biena marbles is a rich tawny yellow, Garnsey adopted as the keynote ef his color scale certain of their paler notes, and carried them upward, lighter and more delicate, into ihe white of the dome proper. The richness of the marbles demanded a corresponding richness—obtain- able only with gold—in the decorations above them, and hence enough gold has been used as accent tu support the in- herent richness of the marbles, while not enough to overload ther. The background of the entire wall spaces of the rotunda he carried around in a deep Pompelian red, suggested by the pomegranate tones of the Numidian piers, it being also the tradi- tional color of great wall spaces handed down from Rome, Byzantium and Egypt. Again, inasmuch as the tone of old ivory resembles closest the lighter tones of the Siena marbles, that tone was used, with many variations, in frieze, coffer and cor_ nice; and although a score of different col- ors and tints have been actually employed, yet the general effect is exactly that of an ancient ivory carving. : Above each of the great piers are triangu- lar aces, technically termed “penden- tives,” formed by the lines of the arches. Embraced within them are wreaths, figures and stucco ornaments; and these also have been treated in soft tones of old ivory, against a background of old red, recalling again the color of the Numidian marbles in the piers below and affording an accent of color as valuable as it is unique. Each of the pendentives, by reason of its isolation and peculiar coloring, is made to exercise a positive influence on the eye and brain, and plies a rest from previous color impres- sions and a new incentive to further ex- cursions into the closely woven harmony of which it is a part. Carrying the Eye Upward. Then the eye, tracing its way up still higher, ts carried unconsclously to the great entablature whereon the dome rests. A band of eagles besring garlands, appearing against a golden background, first fixes the attention; and from this entablature the great dome springs up into space, divided into eight compartments or sections by huge ribs extending from the entablature to the collar at the zenith. These spaces in turn are each divided into eight rows of five coffers or panels each, making forty panels in each division, or 820 panels in the whole vault, painted in various light tones of ethereal biue and green, gradually dimin- ishing in strength as they approach the zenith. Each panel, moreover, bears a large golden rosette in its center, and each is bounded and accentuated by lines of harmonious and distinctive color. Ry this means the blue sky is recalled In the vault of the dome, and thus the color as well as the lne carries the eye insensibly and ir- resistibly onward and upward to the point where the figure deccration expands in a great band around the opening of the crown. In this collar Blashfield has painted his series of symbolical pictures in firm position in the crown of the lantern, in airy, pellucid tints suggestive of the sky. This iNusion of lightness in the dome and this involuntary conduct of the eye from the base to the zenith are both consumm: ed perfectly, although a like feat was probably never undertaken before. THE SAVING OF MA, C'RADY Written for The Evening Star by W. J. Lam>ton. “You should see Mrs. O'Grady,” said my wife to me shortly after my arrival at the summer hotel where she was spending the season and I was spending every other Sunday and all my spare cash. “Be jabers,” I responded, giving the best imitation I could of the Hibernian accent, “an’ phwat have yez been doing wid Mrs. O'Grady “My dear,” said my wife, reprovingly, “I perceive that your opinion of Mrs. O'Grady 1s as poor as your imitation of the dialect you associate with her name.” “I don’t know her at all,” I replied,’on the defensive. “It was not necessary for you to say so in 80 many words, my dear,” said my wife, in a tone of voice it is not worth while to ex- plain to married men. ‘When you have seen Mrs. O'Grady you may hold to differ- ent views concerning her.” As usual, my wife was right in ner con- clusions, for when I saw the lady I was more than surprised—I was delight=d. She was of that type of Spanish women we see in pictures, and her same bore no relation to her whatever. As ste and my wife were on such excellent terms, my pro- bation as a stranger was short, aud in a few minutes we were chatting away like old friends. “Really,” I said to her, “you must par- don me, but may I ask about your name? As far as I can recall, I do not remember having heard of the O’Gradys uf Cordova or Seville, or even of the Alhambr: “And still I am Dolores O'Grady,” she smiled. “Which being interpreted,” said I, with a dawning consciousness, “mea that you Were once Dolores Somebody-else, and some Irish hidalgo or don came your way and gave his name for yours. “You have guessed it,” she said. Then I recailed an old friend and college mate of mine, Tom O'Grady, a dare-devil- Dick sort of a chap, who had no sooner recelved his diploma than he converted what little property he had into cash and Went off on some adventure to one of the South American republi “I Son’t know, madam,” I said, “which of the O’Gradys has been so fortunate, but there is one I used to know who was worthy of even such gocd fortune as to be your husband. His name was Tom, and we were brothers for five years.” She took a tiny little locket from .some place about her where women usually carry such thirgs end handed it to me. “Look at tha: she sald, and I did. “By Jove—I beg your’ pardor I ex- claimed and apologized in the same breath; “Its Tom.” That evening Tom arrived, and our _re- Spective and respected wives promised to let us have an hour to ourselves if we would give the first two hours after dinner to them. This we readily agreed to, be- cause we knew that no other course was left to us, and we adjourned to the apart- ments of the O'Gradys. Well, well, old Toi,” I sata, when we had disposed ourselves comfortably, “how did it ever happen?” and I smiled over at Mrs. O'Grady. “That's what I wanted to tell you when we have our hour together,” he laughed. “What selfish creatures ‘men are,” si oy wife. ey, not let us know now? have never had the pleasure Mr. O'Grady until ¢ seers evening, but I've — ‘old Tom’ ever since I've been mar- “How long has that been?” inquired Tom of me. “Fifteen years.” “Three to the good of me. Dolores and I have been struggling along with each other for a dozen long and weary years Mrs. O'Grady threw him a kiss from the tips of her pretty fingers in response. “That's our experience, plus three years,” said my wife, and I threw her a handful of kisses, “Let us have the story of your life, old fellow,” I said coaxingiy, which was en- tirely unnecessary, for’ Tom was as anxious to tell it as I was to hear it. “Once upon a time,” he said, bowing to all of us, “there was one Thomas O'Grady, an American citizen of Irish descent, better known as Tom or ‘old Tom,” and he went to South America and mingled in a revolution, one af the things which fs always on tap in a South Ameri- can republic for anynody to mingle in whenever he Is disposed to do so. — This O'Grady—" “Drop the didactic and general,” I inter- rupted, “and get down to the personal and particular.” “As I was saying,” Tom continued, “I went to South america and invested what money I had in mines and a coffee planta- tion, and kept out of politics——” “An Irishman and kept out of politics?” j 1 asked. Tom smiled. “I kept out of politics until I thought I had some show and then I went in like—" “An Irishman,” I suggested. “Just 80, my boy,” he admitted, “and we had It lively. I still retained my American citizenship in case of an emergency, but that did not interfere with my duties as a ‘boss,’ end a ‘boss’ I was, though I could not vote. At the end of five years I had a tremendous influence, a coffee plantation, a paying mine and a good bank account in New York city, where it was safe. I was twenty-seven years old, and a rising young man at that age has a heart, if he is any good at all, and I was some good, if I do say it myself. I was rot much on society, as that term goes, but I knew some of the best families in the place and visited them. Then there were some other families I did not visit, notably that of the man who was my opponent always in the field of politic: He was a ri.h old fellow, with two son: and a daughter—Dolores, there, remembers her quite well"—and Mrs. O'Grady nodded pleasantly, as if she had no fears now of any pretty girl anywhere—“and he was a fighter from Wayback. As I say, I never visited the general's house, but I did meet his daughter at the houses of my friends, and of course she, of all the girls I met. must be the one I should fall in love with. I don’t know why Cupid sends his victims such luck, but I’ve noticed that he often does. I had known the general's daughter about a year when the forty-seventh revo- lution—or was it the hundred and forty- seventh?” he asked of his wife with a smile—“occurred, and I was in it up to my neck. The others I had managed to keep out of, but this one caught me before I knew it, and I found myself the head and front of the party against the government. The only thing I did not like in the affair was that the general was at the head of the government party, and the general's daughter was the sweetest woman in the world, and we were in love, general or no general. Well, the scrap came off in due course, and after shooting the town full of holes for a week or so, and scaring the women and children into fits, my side went to pleces and ten of its leading spirits went to jail. From that point the transition was easy to the sunny side of a wall on the outskirts of town, and early one fine morn- ing we found ourselves grouped there with fifty government soldiers drawn up in line, pointing loaded guns at us. In plain En- glish, it was an execution bee, and we were the guests of honor. I had fixed up my business affairs in the few days allowed me, and as there was no one I thought as much of as I did of the general's daughter, I willed all my property to her, thus pro- posing to heap coals of fire on the old gen- tleman’s head, while he was after mine. You might think I was frightened as I stood there before those guns, but I wasn’t. True, I was a bit nervous, but I wasn’t scared at all, and I insisted on facing the shooting party and giving the command to fire. They wouldn't let me do that, though, and I had te face the wall with my back to the foe. I stood at the head of the line, about three feet from the man next to me, and waited calmly for the end of thingr. At the first command I braced myself, and Jlet him escape when the command ‘Fire’ tame I tried to steady myself, but in sp.te of all I could do when the guns went off I wer the air ce if I bad been spring board and came down in a heap. “You weren't killed, then?” exclaimed my wife, in the pre-eminently rational manner of all women. ."" smiled O'Grady. Mr. O'Grady,” she began, but I laughed, and she realized t possitly Mr. O'Grady was not as dead as his statement might lead one to suppose. “Just the same, Tom,” I said, “I should think the nervous strain and your imagt- Ration combined would have snapped the vital cord when those guns went off. You know there are any number of such in- stances well authenticated. You must have had strong nerves to have withstood | the shock.” colors, and above them his kindred com- ; “Suppose, Dolores,” said Mr. O'Grady to hig wife, “you take up the story and finish “It is very simple,” she said, with an ac- cent so charming that any attempt to put it into written words would be sacrilege. “You know it was the daughter of the gen- eral who saved Mr. O'Grady’s life. OF ccurse, If he had not known, he would have died with the others when the guns were fired at him, but the government party aid not want to shoot Mr. O'Grady, because he was an American citizen, and that might cause the government great difficulties, So they arranged that the shooting party was not to kill him, as it did the others, but to the bullets. It was a great secret, and they thought they would fright- en Mr. O'Grady so much that never any more would he be in trouble of that kind. And no doubt they would have frightened him to death, and he would not have been in any more trouble—" “On earth,” interrupted Mr. O'Grad: “For,” continued his w.fe. smiling, “the shock might have killed him. But {t was not to be that way. The general's daugh- ter learned the secret and sent him word by @ faithful servant, and when the others Were led out to their death, Mr. O'Grady knew that some other fate was reserved for him. Even as it was, the strain wes so much that he fainted a and those who Saw the shooting thought he was dead also—* “So did I," again interrupted Mr. O'Grady. “And they were about to put him in the ditch with the others,” continued his wife, “when one of the officers reques to send the body to Mr. O’Grady’s house. There he was revived, and in a few days he had escaped from the city and was safe out of the country.” “And the general's daughter, what be- came of her?” asked my wife. “She waited until times were the O'Gradys. replied Tom, taking up the story again, nd then he came back un- der an amnesty act. In the meantime the general had died — “Oh, how glad I am,” exclaimed my wife, in quite a rapture of interest Mrs. O'Grady looked at her with great seriousness, “You shouldn't Speak so of the easier for father in the daughter's presence,” she said, and O'Grady actually laughed at my wife's ut- ter discomfiture. —_—-+ PICKINGS FROM LONDON PUNCH. After Henley. Well rowed from start to finish, oh, ye gale lant youths of Yale! With such brave bid for victory ‘tis no dis- grace to fail. There was a time when flopping down to zero. If the winne: veanders,” sure each Britons felt hope Not Quite, but Someth: Like It. Miss Longtooth—“I'm so delighted, a that the American artillerymen have come over to England.” Mrs. Quiverly—“Why, love?” Miss L. (giggling)—“Because every one knows that the Bostonians make the best “hubs” in the world. “Red an a Rose in She. (A fashion paper says that hair now worn ix uch of the auburn, ed from the heads of up- en in Germany.) locks of trae Venetian red, That catch the sunliglit in their carmine skein, Once decked some ugly peasent’s unk npt head, Sweet auburn g South Afri It is reported that Mr. Cecil Rhodes is becoming haggard. Can the ex-premier of the Cape have taken on him the semblance of the author of “She?” - Another Injustice to Er! Should English tourists act up to recent Suggestions and ‘nvade Ireland, the tn- cursion is sure to be regarded by the na- tives as a tour de force. Cock-a-Doodle-Doo! Our irrepressible joker writes (from pris- on) to say that Hen-lay has always been celebrated for its egg-shell boats. tee Propinquity Needed. {After W. 8. Gilbert.) From Puck. stine de Mouton Rosalie, » who lived and danced in naughty, gay Paree, Was every bit as pretty as a French girl e'er cam be. (Which tsn’t saying much.) Maurice Boulanger adorn a kin, But Morris Baker man I sing He lived in New labeled Sprit (there's a name that would was name they called the York city in the street that’s en because it rhymed.) Now Baker was a i be wed, And for a wife all over town be hu And up and down Fifth avenue he dered. (He was a peripatetic Bal me youth and wanted to ted, it is said. ofttimes wan- , be was.) Ad had he met Celestine, not a doubt but Cupid's darts Would in a thrice have wounded both of their fond, loving hearts; But he has never left New York to stray In for- eign part «Because he husn’t the price.) And she has never left Paree, and, so, of course, you see ‘There's not the slightest chance at all, shell marry Morris B. For love, ato get well started, really needs pro- pinguity. (Hence my title.) —CHARLES BATTELL LOOMIS. Looking Forward. From the Indiunapolix Journal. “It 1s odd that Gibber should be so eys- tematically wicked when his wife is so earnestly religious.” “He doern’t want to take any chances of meeting her on the other shore.” ———_-+e-— Same Old Picture. From the Detroit Free Press. “What landscape is there about your ho- tel, landlord?” “The same they have at all resorts. The summer gir] entertaining her beau. ———+e+ A Di rbed Siesta, From the Fiegende Blatter.