The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, February 21, 1897, Page 18

18 THE SAN FRANCISCO CALL, SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 1897. HOW LORD LEIGHTON OF STREJJON FOUND ROSY THE ONDON, ExG., Feb. 7.—The malevo- lent old tairy who, forgotten at the important ceremony of christening, Tevenges bersell upon her innocent vic- fims by disastrously complicating their lives, must bave been placated by the most obsequious attentions when Frede- rick Leighton was in the cradle, for it would be difficult to imagine a life more serene, more successful,- richer in umphs, more smiled upon by all the fussy, fairy godmothers of fate, chance and fortune. Hewas born in Scarborough in 1830. His father and grandiatber were physicians, men of means, and for that day of rather wide and unusual cultiva- | tion. Before he was half as tall as a mahl- stick bis infant scratchings were taken as | en grand serieux; the family went abroad, and Frederick, aged 10, began to study drawing in Romeo. Here there is no question of early strugeles with pov- | obdurate relatives biind to youthful genius; the road to fame was made smooth 1o the feet of this gifted aspirant. It was | a royal road in this instance. He was crowned, so to speak, without lifting a band; everything was prepared for him; LORD LEIGHTON - | he placed himeelf in positions, and the laurels fell upon his handsome brow and adjusted themselves in the most emi- nently becoming manner. From Rome—and who could overesti- | mate the influence of this early training— he was taken to Berlin and Dresden. In every city he attended the classes at the academy. In those days he was an infant phenomenon in his facility with his pen- cil and unusually deficient in_every other | study. At 13 be was at school in Frank- | fort, but at 14 we find a serious discussion | taking place 1n Florence, and his artistic | career fully decided upou; accordingly he was enrolled among the students at the Accademia delie Belle Arti in that city. That the vain, precocious and ignorant 1ad was himself responsible for the resolu- tion to attend a little to his general edu- OF STRETTON. cation is more than likely; his studies in the direction of art could not but bring to his attention the unknown fields in which he had been set to labor. His interest in history and mytnoloey, his practical and metbodical mind, saved him from the fate of the Sirasburg goose. His studies at the Academy wers abandoned and he re- turned to sciool in Frankfort for three years, never losing for an instant the aim he had In view. In 1848 he resumed his study of drawing and painting in Brussels, finally drifting | to Paris, and working there, very serenely, | very gayly, and without a master. The habits of his earlier youth were too strong to break, and he was never satisfied to re- mein more than a year in one place. During this time he painted hiy first picture, “Cimabue Finding Giotto in the Fields of Fiorence.”” At this period the Florentine masters hela bim in thrail. All the charm,all the delicacy of these early painters, the dark and suave richness of color in the old city | itself had temporarily banished from his | memory the rods and coddesses who had | overawed him in Rome; and yet it was in Rome itself that ne painted that most | Florentine © of Florentine pictures, Cimabue’s Madonna Carried in Pro- cession Through the Streets.” He was not yet 25 when it was exhibited in the Royal Academy, and purchased imme- diately by ber Majesty the Queen. In this day of republican ideas that would not be a matterof entire felicita- tion to a young psinter; the prestige of such patronage is no longer as puissant, but at that time it placed Fred-rick Leigh- ton in the first rank, and as we glance at the immense canvas we must come to the conclusion that the distinction was de- served. The complete development that com- monly crowns uninterrupted labor bg- tween the years of 40 and 50 he bad at- tained at the age of the average student. To be sure be had worked, after a fashion, for fifteen years, and bad seen the best the world could offer. His judgment was formed. Like most preccoious develop- ments, his talent bloomed too soon, and he rarely reached a higher note than that be struck immediately in his earliest | works. I: was a note at oncs resonant and clear, even if 1t lacked any qualities of depth or vibration. There is neither weakness nor hesita- tion to be detected in this fine canvas, in | which Master Cimabue, glitt ring in silver | s-vere grace of | Roman matron! brocade, with the youth Giotto behind him, struts proudly at the head of a con- course of peaple, in_the quaint, rich cos- tumes of a medieval pageant. The work is dignified and complete; if it has a cer- tain youthtu! exuberance, a spark of vain- glory in the exhibition of a technique already accomplished and fluent, they ure not unattractive qualities; it is certainly not for the sin of exuberance that the soberer conceptions of later years could be criticized. He isa frank observer of surface beauty ; emotion never distorts the features of his heroic men and women; tragedy throws them into magnificently statuesque poses; athletes of the amphitheater, women from the Greek races, in spirit, at least, ideal- ized from impecunious and very human models picked up at random in London or Parisor Rome. The beauty of visible form was his standard of accomplishment; it was form he studied in his draperies, the peculiarly characteristic fold« of satin or silk or velvet. His skeiches are often Iaborious ana fine; who better than he could grasp and represent the noble fali and flow of the robes of a Senator, or the the heavily swathed In 1860 be settled permanently in Lon- don and xoon after began to superintend the erection of the magnificent house in Holland Park Road, which he inhabited till his death and which has been recently bought by the Government for a perma- nent exbibition. The house became a museum for the collections of strange and interesting curiosities he gathered on every journey. Spain, India, Persia and Asia Minor, Algiers and Egypt, Turkey and Greece he explored between 1866 and 1876, during which period he was also elected to the full academic honors. He lived in a house, a little pompous, a little overloaded perbaps with rich and rare objects of artisticand antiquarian in terest; his social talents were remarkable; he was a fluent speaker, with a handsome presence and 8 manner not too suave to be courtly; he arranged his surroundings in the most picturesque fashion, he him- self was always the most conspicuous and picturesque figure. He was knighted on his election as vresident of the Royal Academy in 1878; eight years later he was created a baronet, and just before his death, but a few days, infact, the rather empty honors of a peer- age were conferred upon him. The acad- emies of Vienna, Brussels, Florence, Peru- [ gia, Berlin and Antwerp elected him to | bonorary membership; he was a com- mander of the Legion of Honor, a knight of the Prussian order “Pour le Merite,” an associate of the Institute of France. He was courted, flattered and cordially liked by all classes, pre-eminently, how- ever, by the aristocracy, who bought his pictures and considered him the most brilliant feature of any social function. When presiding at academy meetings or at the annual dinners, his red robes of of- fice, worn with so much pleasurs and krace, seemed the most appropriate cos- tume for this latter-day epicurean. His work occupies five enormous rooms at Burlington House. The weather since the opening has been vindictively cold; snow, sleet, cutting winds and the semi- darkness cannot lessen the enthusiasm of his admirers. The great court at Burling- ton House, through which the wind sweeps with a rush, is always crowded with carriages. A row of footmen, shiv- ering under their sables, wait under the villars for their irrepressibly art-loving raasters and mistresses. The rooms are crowded almost too much for comfort. Such an exhibition is a mistake in win- ter. That yellow southern glow in which Lord Leighton loved to place his ligutly clad fizuresisan inapprovriate backeround for the men and women who, buried in furs and cloaks and muffled to their ears, come to see and criticize. Tuere are more than 300 numbers. It is remarkable to see how rarely the artist rises above or falis below the standard of bis first labors. Tne earlier studies are of richer tone, deeper in color; he has been | nearer to the Italian masters he loved. | Gradually the general atmosphere hight- ens, until it is almost like a water-color in superficial delicacy. At times the surtace is as smooth as wax and the execution a | little cloving in its sweetness. Generally tise picture is saved by the noble—if some- what conventional—composition and the unfailing elegance of line. “The Summer Moon one instance in which the painter rose above his own level. Every one bas seen a reproduction of those two magnificent figures leaning against one another, with clasped hands, | asleep. Behind them 1s a circular open- ing through which the moonlit sky is seen. | It is only necessary to read the titles of | the pictures to see that the nineteenth century was a mere anachronism to Lord Leichton. His imaginaiion was peopled \Growned With Hardly an Effort-—The Laurels Fell Upon His Handsome Brow and Adjusted Themselves in the Most Eminently Becoming Manner--Yan Dyck Brown's Story of His Life One of the best known of the large decorative compositions is “Hercules Wresiling With Death for the Body of Alcestis.” It is singularly powerful and the figure of death might almost have been incladed among the piciures by Frederick Watts, . Alcestis, robed in white, lies under large trees in the center of the picture; the mourners, in attitudes of grief and horror watch the contest spellbound, and behind these motionless figures is the sea, the by nymphs and satyrs of Homeric days. PATH TO FAME dark, bright southern ses. In *‘Belaus’ tion’s Aaventure” Browning speaks of N in this wise: I know, too, a great Kaunian pa nter, strong As Herakles, thou :h rosy with a robs Of grace that s ftans down the sla-wy strength; And he has made & picture of it all. There lies Alkes:is dead, beneath t. Sbe longed 10 100k her la: upn. 1 prononnce that piece Worthy to set up in our Purklle As a whole, in walking through these great rooms it is not of the Greeks one think-—but of two modern men of whom one is constgatly reminde ! and of whom Lord Lei:hton seems tue English transla- tion: Ingres the Great and Buguerean! Vax Dyke Brows. / About 1000 fishing-boats engaged around the British coast are named Mary. FRAGMENT SKETCH OF GROUP OF GREEK SLAVES. [From Leighton’s ““Andromashe at the Well.” ] HAS THE EARTH MORE THAN ONE MOON ?, | bis indiviauality | that he has found the cause of these myste- | ricus perturbations of the eartb in an invis- Wonderful Field of Speculation Opened Up! by the Latest Discovery. | HE latest alleged startling discovery | in the realm of astronomical sci- 1Y} ence gives peculiar emphasis tothe timeworn proverb that “‘people are blind to what is going on under their noses.” | Ever since astronomy bas enchained the attention of men they heve been assidu- ously seeking to learn more about the far- distant orbs of the celestial universe than war known to tieir predecessors. From the time when tie first rude spyglass was constructed down to the present day of highly developed telescopes astronomers have swapt the midnight skies in eager search after some fragment of knowledze to add to the meager store possessed by the scholar. Almost invariabiy the ob- | ject of research was a far-distant star The confines of the stellar galaxy at- tracted greater than did its nearer center. | The great Herschell devoted his ene: gies to “sounding the depths of space, and without success. In the abandon- ment to the peculiar fascination of at- tempting to solve the infinite the finilei seems to have been forgotten. We know | less about bur nearest neighbor, the moon, | than we do about Mars; less about Mars | than we doof the sun. We have placed | in the balance and actually weighed every | one of the members of the solar system, | The accompanying little diagram willi show to the readers of Tae CArL the path | marked out by the north pole among the stars—a wavy circle. This condition is| brought about by what is known as the | ‘‘precession of the equinoxes.” The sun is | swiftly traveling through space, and car- | rying with bim all the members of his | system, of which ourearth 1e one; so that, as the earth sweeps over the mighty orbit of the solar system, her pole describes a circle. But itis not a perfect circle. She is constantly nodding, and this move- | ment, which is a real wabble, is termed | the earth’s nutation. Our scientific men have sought to account for this wabble by seeking its cause in the attractive forces of the sunand moon—that is, when the sun and moon zre on the same side of the earth their “pull” upon the earth | would be greater than when the sun was on one side and the mcon on the opposite; thus the earth would be swayed a little out of her true orbit as the reiative positions of the sun and moon changed. Granted that this is the true solution, then the *‘wabble” ought to ex- hibit some degree of uniformity. It does not. Next, it is attempred to further ex- plain the “‘wabble” by applying the law of perturbation—the effect of attraction | POSITION OF even to the giant plenets Uranus and Neptune, which are so far away as to be invisible to thie naked eve; and yet we do not know the shape of our own moon, and the best scientists are divided in opinion as.to whether it possesses an atmosphere or not. We have consiructed a perfect map ot Mars and determined his conti- nents and seas, but we are unsble to say what causes the radiant streaks which emanate from the huge Tycho Brahe mountain upon our moon, uot 300,000 miles away, The discussion of the physical charac- terisucs of the earth cannot be properly called astronomical, and yet it cannot be excudel from that branch of science. The movements of the earth, while purely within the domain of mathematical physics, can only offer & means of solu- tion by a careful study of astronomy. Ever since mathematical astronomy has been practiced it has been known that the earth had several very peculiar move- ments which were apparently unaccount- able. We are aptto speak of the “‘stable earth.”” As a matter of fact the earth reels like a drunken man. At no time does she pursue an undeviating, steady course, nor ars her movements regular. Her erratic wanderings, if duplicated at all, can occur only at such long intervals of time as to appall the buman concep- tion in the attempt to comprehend the immense line of figures that are neces- sary to express the possible recurrence of a single movement. The mnorth star is popularly supposed to be a fixed point. It isnot. What is known as Polaris is the present north star, but 13,000 vears ago the north pole of the earth pointed to the brilliant Vega, and will again in course of time. INVISIBLE MOON. exercised by other stellar bodies. Every particle of matter in the universe attracts every other particle of matter. But after all the known causes have been diligently exploited and applied, the fact remains thst there are ‘‘wabbles’”” which are un- accounted for. At one position of her orbit the earth is a great deal farther away from the sun than at another. Does the sun’s attraction vary? If at all times there were the same number and masses of stars at one particular postion of the earth’s orbit, it might be easy to account for this deviation from a true circle. But there is not. And no one has yet been able to explain eatisfactorily why the ball we live on exhibits at one time a coyness to her ardent wooer, and at another time a rapturous desire for his warm presence. Recently a gentleman of esteblished reputation ss a mathematician, and an astronomer of no mean accomplishments, residing on the California coast, has an- nounced to a few of his intimate friends e +THE WABBLE OF THE NORTA POLE. ible satellite. Many of our most brilliant minds shrink from adverse criticism with a repugnance that in other natures wounla be cousidered morbid. Itisdue tothisthat the gentleman withholds for the present but bas nevertheless communicated to those of his friends | whose educational attainments fit them | to pass intelligent judgment the facts of | his startiing discovery. There is really | satellite of Neptune has its orbit tipped over 150 degrees, and is, in fact, upside down. Of the two moons of Murs, one rises in the east and sets in the west, and the other rises in the west and sets in the east. The credulous man who would cry “‘impossible’’ upon reading thisannounce- | ment of the discovery of the earth’s in- | visible moon has therefore the satisfaction of voicing his ignorance and self-conceit in sodoing; for the testimony of the stars proclaims the absardity of all human con- nothing strange in this. The world is al- ways ready to pass judgment upon mat- | ters it does not understand. The question of intra-Mercurial planets has long been a | fiercely debated one, and has engendered | embitterments between schoiars and | scientists which have estranged minas | that otherwise would have worked in per- | fect harmony. During the total eclipse of | July 29, 1878, James C. Watson, vrof-ssor of astronomy at the universities of Michi- y gan and Wisconsin, discovered two plan- ets situated within the orbit of Mercury and close tothe sun. At the same Professor Lewis Bwift of Rochester, N. Y., independently of Professor Watson, also saw and claimed tbe discovery of these two new planets. But because other as- tronomers were not favored with sight of t e bodies the discoveries of Watson and Swift were pooh-poohed into contumely. The records of astronomy show that well-sustained claims have been made on nineteen occasions since 1761 that intra- Mercurial planets were observed. 8o it is not to be wondered at that a sensitive mind should shrink from a possibility ol ridicule. Human nature invades nature. Thue discovery of the invisible satellite of the earth is the result of a purely mathe- matical investigation, and it is as capuble of demonstraiion as is she presence of any one of the known heavenly bodies. Tue planet Neotune is invisible to the naked eye. Yet its presence was detected by pre- cisely similar means as were employed by the Caiifornia mathematician in his dis- covery of the earth’s second moon. As- tronomers had noticed that the giant vlanet Uranus, then the outermost known member of the solar system, exhibited per- turbations which could not be accounted for by the presence of any known body. A young mathematician, afterward destined to be famons, reasoned that there must be another planet 1o account for the vagaries in Uranus’ movements. He figured, and on September 10, 1846, he sent word to Dr, Galle of Berlin, who possessed a fine tele- scope, to look at a certsin spot in the heavens. Dr. Galle did s0o on the 13th ang there saw the new planet, now called Neptune. The circumstance is always re- marked as the greatest triumph of mathe- matical astronomy. The lately discovered second moon of the earth has an orbit which is extraneous to thav of the eartii’s, and the satellite re- volves around the sun at the same rate of speed as the earth, always keeping on the side of the earth opposite to that of the sun, It is therefore always within the cone of deep shadow formed by the earth, and as it does not receive any portion of the direct light of the sun it is conse- quently invisible to us, just as is the visi- ble moon when it is eclip«ed in the earth’s shadow. The exact size or diameter of the invisible moon cannot now be definitely stated, inasmuch as its peculiar situation ceptions, In one way only can ocular demonstra- tion be had of the existence of our invisi- ble satellite, and that is found in the occultation of stars caused by its passags between them and the earth. Such phe- nomena could only be momentary, and by reason of its extreme brieiness may be well overlooked even by trained observers specially on watch for such occurrences. It is, however, no infrequent thing for such phenomenon to receive notics. Every astronomical observer has had the experi- ence of the momentary occlusion of a star. The matter, however, is generally of so minute a period of time that no considar- ation bas been given to 1t, except perhaps to attribute it to some passing mass of vapor or else a visnal defect of a tempo- rary character in the retina of the ob- server, natural to a prolonged strain of ihe optic nerve. One of the most interesting features of sidereal astroromy is the erratic appear- ances and disuppearances of stars. The books are full of therecords of stars which have suddenly blazed forth with greater or less brilliancy and then faded back into obscurity and of siars that have suddenly and without premonition been blotted out from sight only to reappear after the lapse of a short period. The explanaton of such phenomena is given by astronomy in its statement that there are many invisi- renders it always obscured from optical measurement. Its moss has, however, been caiculated by computing the effect it produces in swaying the earth and the visible moon, and is placed atabout one thousandth that of the earth, or 6,000,000,~ 000,000,000,000 tons. Bupposing its d sity to be equal to that of our visible moon, which is three and a half times that of water, it would be somewhere about fifteen hundred miles in diameter. Iis axial revolution is yet unknown. The remarkable position maintained by the newly discovered satellite is not with- out parallel, nor, in Iact, is such condition strange. In contemplating the phenome- non of the stellar universe we must be content to accept what is presented to our cognizance without criticism. Human ideas of orthodoxy have no weight in the arrangement of the heavenly bodies. The two moons of Uranus revolve around that planet fiom north to south, and the axis of Uranus. iustead of being perpendicular to the ecliptic is parallel with it. The ble stellar bodies cavorting through space and that “these sudden disappearances and reappearances are due to one of these invisible stars passing between the earth and the occluded star.” The presence of count for much of this phenomena. A wonderful field of opened up by this latest discovery. Is the invisible satellite a port:on of the orizinal earth us is the visible moon now supposed | to be? Why does it not revolve around the earth? Perhaps it will be found that when we are able to definitely say what is the exact shape of the visible moon ana why it always presents to us the same face we shall be able to intelligently begin the discussion of this question. Has mag- netism or electricity any part in causing | | it to maintain its position? Is it receding from the earth? [Its-distance is now about 1,600,000 mi'es from the earth] ls earth’s attraction and held captive to ounr | like character naturally presenc them- selves. They will undoubtedly stimulate | research into cosmical phenomena near- er home, ani we hope that the coming century will witness our acquir:ment of | knowledge that shall enlighten us regard- g our immediate surroundings more fully than appears to grace the record of the passing one. It is, of course, ex- tremely nteresting to learn that there are stars so far away thatlight traveling with | the inconceivable velocity ot 200,000 miles a second would require millions of years to reach our eartbly vision coming from these distant globes; but such informa- tion, while wondrous, is not the most in- structive. The majestic plories of the | Himalayas are grand and inspiring; they are to be viewed, studied and appreciated; bu: 1n the meantime do not let us negiect the invisible satellite of the earth will ac- | speculation is | found a new vocation. always ready to fulfill her duties. Miss it some wandering body like a comet | Florence A. Klotz is the young lady who which has failen within the scope of the | D38 brancned off from the conventional highway of womanhood, and promises to | ball? These and many other questions of | t© become a model for the whole constabu- lary from Maine to California. Miss Klotz does not go around swinging 8 club, because constables are not sup- posed to perform that sort of duty. She was appointed to the position she holds that ste might act as constable for her father, Alderman Edward Klotz of this city. Her principal occupation is the serving of papers and kindred duties that attach to the special officer devoted to the service of an Alderman. Very often it happens that individuals learn that an alderman’s constable is looking for them with a paper and they find it very con- venient to be absent when the constable calls. Itisa peculiar fact that the femi- nine constable of Alleghany meets with no such difficu:ties. Constable Kliotz is a very pretty girl and she 1s only 18 years | our own front yard. F. M. Crosg, D.Sc. old. become a constable. Justas much author- | speak for herself. ity is hers as any man could havein a | to similar position, and, what is more, she is i fora woman is never at a loss for an expe- 'VAIN MAN, LOOK JO YOUR LAURELS e Pretty Girl CGonstable Declares That Women Are Natural Officials 7, LLEGHANY, Pa, Feb 15 —A %yonng woman in this town has [over whic N She has | hood flaunts Constable Klotz is Like all thpse who have joined the ranks the banner of new woman- able to, ‘When itis impossible eak she has no hesitation in writing, dient. Read what she has written: “To the Editor: 1 have never been able to see why a woman should not help her- self. Everybody that studies the Bible knows that it says the Lord helps those who help themselves, and what better authority can anybody ask than that? I am sure there iz nothing said about sex in the Bible, so far as that is concerned. In the first place, I was on the road for my father as a saleslady for his candy busi- ness. I started in in that line when I was 15 years old, and naturally acquired a large quantity of experience in the line of the mystery of human nature. I am nat- uraliy of an enterprising disposition and not very slow to make up my mind, let the circumstances be what they may. “‘One thing I know that would benefit the community at large, and that is that it would be better to bave women as con- stables, who would attend to their duties anda nothing else, than to have a lot ot men whose ambition wou!d be centered on the best whisky. The position of con- stable is generaily voted to some old poli- tician or the friend of such in this State, Hence the result is a pitiable one. It is my impression that there isa field {for women in the constable line as well as for men, judging from my observations in the neighborhood. If the women cannot do as well as the class of men ciosen con- stables here then they had better retire and not try to do anything at all. I do not mean to say that all the men who are made constables are bad, but they are sorely tempted {J tread the path that leads to that condition 1n the course of their duties. “It seems to me that the time is rips in this country of ours for women to enfran- chise themselves. It is time for this to be the case when husbands have to work for $1 a day, and consequently are not able & support & wife—much less a family. It is noconcern of the public whether the con- stable is 8 man or 8 woman, just so long as the work isdone quickly and properly. ‘Women possess the nec Ty brains to be constables just as much as the men do, and what 13 more they use their brains to the advantage of the public as well as themeelves. “Of course they are not Samsons and if actual force is required, which hapvens very seldom,the constable has a legal right to summon any one within bailing dis- tance to give aid. Now, then, don’t you see that a woman can getalong as con- stable, for aren’t the men always ready to fight for the women, and if they battled for a woman and for law and order too, what a splendid cause they would be championing. Still, I must confess that, 88 & general rule, a man 1s more amenable to the influence of a dear creaturc who cannot fight, and, besides, would not, than to a direct application of muscular forca. “As a matter of fact my father would not let me undertake anything in which there was the sli.htest possibility of danger. He would rather, much rather, hunt up s constable somewhere in the town to perform the service. 1 dom't know. about the mew woman part of it, What [ think is just what I said beforef, 1t don’t seem 1o me there is any reason o earth why a woman should nos help her- self, and why sbe isn’t able to fill lots of positions that are oniy given to men, “FLORENCE A, Krorz.” 8o far as is known Miss Kiotz is the only woman in the United States or any other place who has been appointed a con siable. \