THE WASHINGTON MONUMENT.

THE Monument is situated in Washington Park, a part of the Mall, near 14th street. 1% miles from the Capitol. A stairway of 900 steps leads to the top. An elevator carrying visitors without charge ascends half-hourly. For hours see Time-Table.

T

HE WASHINGTON NATIONAL MONUMENT is an imposing shaft of white marble rising from an elevation on the Mall near the Potomac. It is seen towering against the sky long before one reaches Washington; and in the city its tremendous height confronts one at every turn and has place in a thousand vistas. From the avenues and parks, from the Capitol, the White House, the hills of the Soldiers' Home, the heights of Arlington, and from far down the Potomac on the way to Mt. Vernon, go where you will, an ever prominent feature of the landscape is the Monument. Seen at different times of the day it has a new character for each new hour; its appearance changes with the varying lights, and with alterations of clear sky and cloud. In stormy weather it suggests a mountain peak standing immovable with the mists driving by.

Dimensions.-The Monument is an obelisk. Its height from the floor of entrance to tip is 555-ft. 5%-in. The Monument is the highest work of masonry in the world. The shaft is 500-ft. 5% in. in height, 55-ft. square at the base, 34-ft. at the top. The pyramidon (or pyramidshaped section above) is 55-ft. in height, and terminates in a pyramid of pure aluminum. The walls are 15-ft. in thickness at the entrance, and taper to 18-in. at the top of the shaft. The facing is of pure white marble from Maryland, the interior backing is of gneiss and New England granite. The foundation, of rock and cement, is 36-ft. deep, 126-ft. square Memorial Stones.-The interior is lighted by electricity, which affords opportunity of seeing the memorial stones which are set in the inner face of the Monument. Glimpses of some of these may be had from the elevator, but the inscriptions may be read only from the platforms. The series begins at the 30-ft. landing and extends to a height of 280-ft. The 179 stones were contributed from various sources as tributes to Washington, and many of them are notable for beauty, carving or origin.

Forty States are represented, and sixteen cities; fifteen lodges of Free Masons, thirteen of Odd Fellows, seven of Sons of Temperance, and numerous political organizations, debating societies and others long since forgotten. Fire departments with the antiquated machines of sixty years ago, public schools, the "Oldest Inhabitants' Association of Washington," "Sons of New England in Canada,” “Americans residing in Foo-Chow, China, 1857," and a long list of others have left the records of their patriotism. There are stones from Braddock's Field, the Battlefield of

Long Island, Otter's Summit (Virginia's loftiest peak), the ruins of ancient Carthage, the Temple of Esculapius-Isle of Paros, Vesuvius, the Alexandrian Library in Egypt, the Tomb of Napoleon at St. Helena. Greece sends a block of marble from the Parthenon, Turkey a beautifully carved marble, Switzerland a stone from the Chapel of William Tell, "built at the spot where he escaped from Gessler." Other foreign countries represented are Japan, China, Siam, Brazil, and curiously enough to be classed here, the Cherokee Nation. On the aluminum tip at the summit is inscribed Laus Deo.

View. At the height of 504-ft. the walls are pierced with eight portopenings or windows, two in each face, which afford extensive views on every side. Immediately below, and stretching away to the White House on the north and the Capitol on the east, is the beautiful landscape gardening of the Mall and the parks, the city beyond, and then the hills rolling away to the horizon. On an eminence in the northeast is the Soldiers' Home; and on the Virginia hills to the west is Arlington; on the northwest the Naval Observatory. The Potomac's winding course may be followed for miles, and on a clear day one may discern in the western distance the mountains of the Blue Ridge in Virginia.

History. The plan of providing a fitting memorial of Washington's military and political services had its inception during his lifetime. As early as 1783 Congress resolved to erect a marble monument, and Washington is said himself to have selected the site afterward adopted. The project was revived upon Washington's death, but no practical steps were taken toward accomplishing the purpose until the formation of the Washington National Monument Society, in 1833. Funds were raised by popular subscription and the Society adopted the plans of Robert Mills, which provided for a Pantheon 100-ft. high with a colonnade, a colossal statue over the portico of Washington in a chariot with six horses driven by Victory, and a central obelisk 600-ft. high. All of this but the obelisk was subsequently abandoned. The cornerstone was laid in 1848. By 1855 the shaft had attained a height of 152-ft.; then the funds having been exhausted the construction was suspended, not to be resumed until 1878, when Congress having appropriated money for its completion, the work was put under the direction of Col. Thomas L. Casey, of the Corps of Engineers; and the finished monument was dedicated on Feb. 21, 1885. The orator on that occasion was the venerable Robert C. Winthrop, who thirty-seven years before had delivered the oration at the laying of the cornerstone. The total cost of the Monument has been $1,300,000.

"LAY the corner-stone of a monument which shall adequately bespeak the gratitude of the whole American people to the illustrious Father of his Country. Build it to the skies; you cannot outreach the loftiness of his principles! Found it upon the massive and eternal rock; you cannot make it more enduring than his fame! Construct it of the peerless Parian marble; you cannot make it purer than his life! Exhaust upon it the rules and principles of ancient and modern art; you cannot make it more proportionate than his character!"-Winthrop's Oration at the laying of the Corner-stone.

T

For hours to visit, see Time Table.

HE Corcoran Gallery of Art is on Seventeenth street, extending from New York avenue to E street, just southwest of the White House and State Department. On Tuesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays, Sundays and Holidays admission is free. On other days a fee of 25 cents is charged. For hours see time table.

The Gallery was founded and endowed by the late William W. Corcoran in 1869, as a gift to the public, “for the perpetual establishment and encouragement of the Fine Arts"; and its collections have grown in extent and value until now the Corcoran is one of the chief places of interest in Washington. It occupies a noble building, of Georgia white marble, above whose entrance is the inscription, chosen by Mr. Corcoran: "Dedicated to Art." Below the elaborately carved cornice runs a frieze bearing the names of painters and sculptors-Phidias, Giotto, Dürer, Michelangelo, Raphael, Velasquez, Rembrandt, Rubens, Reynolds, Allston, Ingres. The lions on either side of the doorway are copies of the famous lions by Canova, which guard the Tomb of Clement XIII., in St. Peter's, at Rome.

From the vestibule one obtains an imposing vista of the central Sculpture Hall and the grand staircase beyond.

Atrium. The central hall, or atrium, is 170x50-ft., with forty fluted columns supporting the ceiling, through which two wells admit the light from the roof skylight high above. The hall is devoted to casts from antique and Renaissance sculpture. Other rooms on this floor contain original marbles, casts, bronzes, and other collections. The grand staircase leads to the second-story atrium, an apartment of magnificent proportions. Thirty fluted columns of white marble support the immense skylight of the roof; the walls are hung with paintings; and the lightwells give an overlook of the Hall of Sculpture below. On the first floor is a semi-circular room for lectures; and the Corcoran School of Art is generously provided with studios and class rooms on the two floors. Information concerning the School may be obtained from the Curator.

Ancient Sculpture. It would manifestly be impossible to note here even briefly the objects which claim attention. Visitors should provide themselves with the Catalogue (to be had at the door, price 25 cents), in which will be found most valuable and helpful notes. Chief among the casts from ancient sculpture is a series of the marbles of the Frieze and Pediments of the Parthenon; and first among the single statues is the Venus of Melos. The original was discovered in 1820 by a peasant of the island of Milo (the ancient Melos) while digging near some sepul

chral grottoes. It now stands in the Louvre, the pride of Paris, and the admiration of the world. Its sculptor is unknown, but by the grandeur of its style, it is justly assigned to the era between Phidias and Praxiteles [432-392 B. C.], and is considered the greatest statue of woman's form the world now holds. Among other subjects are the Discobolos or Quoitthrower, Venus de Medici, Minerva, Laocoön, Dying Galatian (commonly called the Dying Gladiator), Appollo Belvidere, Torso of Hercules, Boy Extracting a Thorn from His Foot, Hermes with Infant Dionysos, Galatian and his Wife, Nike from Samothrake, Boxer Resting, Thalassa and Gaia, Ariadne Deserted, Jason. On the walls of the Corridors is a fine collection of portrait busts.

Renaissance Sculpture.-Among the Renaissance subjects is a cast from the west bronze door of the Baptistry at Florence by Ghiberti, the ten panels containing them are from the Old Testament. Michelangelo said of the Ghiberti Doors that they were worthy of standing as the gates to Paradise. Donatello is represented by his David with the Head of Goliath, Michelangelo by the bust of the colossal statue of David, the mask of the Moses, reduced copies of Day, Night, Dawn and Twilight from the Tomb of the Medici family, the Slaves for the Julius monument, and other examples; Luca della Robbia by the Singing Boys.