Evening Star Newspaper, March 16, 1930, Page 115

T rolled every drop of it areund my fongué gav§ me algiostrequal pltasure was t Wa the poot beggars of natives putting Some= thing warm inside them and to note the joyful and thankful expressions on their faces as they did so. »"3‘”9‘“ b Mahomed' had decided to ‘go back to.the cross tracks, where they took the eastern branch. Picking up some fresh camel’ tracks leading off to the north, they had followed them and finally encountered a solitary Asgur Taureg looking after some camels in the vicinity ..of a pool known as Taruadi. After a drink and ...& rest they filled. up: the skins, and .under the . guidance of the nmomad returned to us by :the shortest ‘Toute. e X .. If only we had taken that right-hand turning at the cross tracks! As it was, we must have passed, all unknowingly, within a few miles of that very pool. This shows the absolute neges- " sity of having a good guide thoroughly familiar with the actual location of water. Hidden away among rocks or in depressions in the ground, as the pools and water holes often are, it is possible to pass within a few hundred yards and remain entirely ignorant of their existence. Very often, too, there are alternative pools or holes within a few miles. After a long drought one supply may dry up more quickly than an- other, and therefore a first-hand knowledge of all the available sources is essential. When I reached Djanet I was told that the comman- dant, although he had six years’ experience of the region, never left the post without a guide. Considering what might have happened, we came through the bad time very well. There was one thing we had to be very thankful for, and that was the comparative coldness of the weather. Much as I have abused the wind, I really think it saved our lives during that pe- riod. Had that chilly wind dropped and allowed the sun to do its deadly work, four or perhaps five days would have seen our end, and our bones would have been added to the countless millions already strewing the desert. TB!.' water which had reached us so providen- tially was jpst sufficient for ourselves, and the camels had yet to quench their thirst, so We rested another day; Before leaving camp we built a ring of stones and erected a little cairn on poor Sakari’s grave, eral of the great expositions, which has now found permanent placement in San Francisco. T was Mr. Fraser's wife, Laura Gardin Fraser, who won the competition. by her design for the Congressional Medal for Col. Charles A. Lindbergh, for which Congress made appropria- JRon in May, 1928. The director of the mint “arfanged a program of competition and the Commission of Fine Arts was requested to ad- ‘vise a5 to the design. Mrs. Fraser was de- _clared winner. The obverse of the medal shows ‘the ‘head of Col. Lindbergh in the garb of an ‘aviator; the réverse a flying eagle, typifying an “airplane; and giving the feeling . of, vastness of ‘space through which Col. Lindbergh flew-in “his overséas- flight. . The medal is illustrated and described in the - eleventh report of the National Commission of Finé Arts, which has lately been issued. ; * Prefacing a chapter on “Medals, Coins. and “Insignta,” in this report, the chairman, Charles Moore, has the following to say: . © “At the present time there is a strong .de- ‘mand on ‘both Congress and the departments ‘for commemorative medals. Now, a medal.is something any one feels competent to design, *‘leaving the éexetution to be worked out usually ‘at the mint. The art of the medal is little understood or appreciated in this country, and very few American medals rise into the realm ‘of works 6f art. Usually the design is requived to be pictorial rather than symbolic; then money is lacking adequately to pay for the time an artist must spend _in order to produce ‘good restlts; and ‘in most cases there is haste to produce the medal for a particular occasion. By Executive order all designs for medals must be submitted to this commission for advice; but the final decision is with the. executive officer, who often does not recognize the stand- wrds of the medalist as developed in the Greek ‘coins, the great medals of the fifteenth ecen- tury. and the French masters of the eighteenth century. “The humiliating experiences of Augustus Saint-Gaudens with the World’s Columbian Ex- position, the Roosevelt Inaugural Medal and the 20-dollar gold piece are still typical. Until either popular fancy turns toward forms of ex- pression other than the medal, or until serious consideration is given to the medal as a dis- tinct work of art, this country cannot hope to compare with France in beauty and sig- ‘pificance in the design of the medal.” In this connection it is interesting to note that designs for several medals issued by the United States and others have been approved by the National Commission of Fine Arts in the last two years. Among these is the Presi- at’ after: ledving camp Ktabair: "THE SUNDAY STAR, WASHINGTON, » D. S C., MARCH 16, 1930. o ¥ To figures in flying burnouses, mounted on white horses, ‘beneath ‘the pal ms. appeared at a gallo p from. ey i ranging from 50 to 100 feet in height. our weakened camels up these hillocks was terribly slow and hard work, and I began to feel that the poor bruitef would never live to reach Djanet. Just when I was almost in despair, however, the dunes mercifully ended. Two days later, up a narrow valley, we sighted the thickly clustered date palms Djanet—a sight for which we had longed for many a weary day. “Beggar of Mentone,” an etching by Arthur W. Hall. Included in an exhibition i at the Smithsorsan. dent Coolidge Inaugural Medal, by John R. Sinnock, engraver. and medalist of the mint; the Thomas A. Edison Medal, granted by Con- gress, also designed by Mr. 3 medal of the American Medical Association, de- signed by Carl Mose of this city. ON Wednesday evening, March 19, in the Barker Auditorium of the Young Women's Christian Association, the Washington Soclety of the Fine Arts will hold the last of its meet- ings for this season, at which time Prof. Everett V. Meeks, dean and professor of archi- Taruadi. The surviving camels could hardly have gone another step. As we made our way up the valley, :Eg? s is t:ndency'-ln'me' field of ucmtécmre.‘ ,quxona PAUSTA-VITTORIA MENGARINI, , tlie Corcoran Gellery of Art this week and . mext, is a,.young :Romsn. artist whose name during the past te‘!‘ie&l has becomé increas- ngly Better” Kiowil abirodl as, that of one. of . exceptional ;accorgplishment,. and whose works _are;characterized by 'a perfection of detail: She is the daughté**of ‘Senafor Guglielmo ' Meéngariii, of distinction as a scientist, whose . discoverjes and, ingentdons, in the fields of elec- . ‘tricity, physids and-astronemy are famous. - She -artists, .- When’ only 18,8 student at the Fine