the Philadelphia Cathedral. His death, in 1890, followed an injury received upon the scaffold while painting the frieze of the rotunda. His work is strong in drawing, excellent in idea, and brilliant in color, and is in the style of the best Italian methods. Whenever he represented a stated event or included a portrait he took great pains that it should be truthful.

ington." Glasses will help one to study it from the floor, but it should be examined from the gallery to be appreciated. The artist worked upon it several years, and the

cost was nearly $50,000, of which Brumidi received $39,500, and an exceedingly skillful and beautifying result was obtained.

The central figure is Washington, with Freedom and Victory at his right and left, and around them are female figures to represent the original States of the Union. The

Brumidi's
Canopy.

border of the canopy contains six groups of emblematic figures, representing the Fall of Tyranny, Agriculture, Mechanics, Commerce, the Marine, and the Arts and Sciences. The painting is glowing with color, and every portion of it is finished in a very careful manner.

The ascent of the dome may be made by a stairway (376 steps) opening from the passage to the Senate wing, and it is possible to climb even to the foot of the statue. Visitors are ordinarily contented, however, to stop at the great galleries, exterior and interior, which encircle the base of the dome. The view thence is an exceedingly wide and interesting one, but differs little from that obtained from the summit of the Washington Monument, which

few persons, therefore, climb

"The huge dome," says

beauty far above the

crown

The Dome. is of

nearly

sheets of iron, securely
on iron ribs, and by
struction the changes
contraction and expan-
folding and unfolding of
from designs of Thomas
and cost $1,250,000. Eight
struction, so carefully was the
ly protected from the
of white paint, renewed

last for centuries. Its

can be reached by an elevator;

these tedious stairways.

Evans, "rising in its classic main building, is a fitting to the noble edifice. It cast iron and weighs 4,000 tons. Large bolted together, rest the plan used in its conof temperature make its sion merely 'like the the lily.' It was built U. Walter of Philadelphia, years were required in its conwork done, and as it is thorough

weather by thick coats yearly, it is likely to base consists of a peri

style of thirty-six fluted columns surmounted by an entablature and a balustrade. Then comes an attic story, and above this the dome proper. At the top is a gallery, surrounded by a balustrade, from which may be obtained a magnificent view of the city and its environs. Rising from the gallery is the lantern,' fifteen feet in diameter and fifty feet high, surrounded by a peristyle. Over the lantern is a globe, and standing on the globe is the bronze statue of Liberty, designed by Thomas Crawford, and cast at Bladensburg, Md. It is nineteen feet six inches high, weighs seven and one-half tons, and cost more than $24,000. It was placed in position December 2, 1863, amid the salutes from guns in Washington and the surrounding forts, and the cheers of the thousands of soldiers."

This statue was lifted to its position in sections, afterward bolted together. The original plaster model is in the National Museum.

Rotunda
Statues.

Statues now adorn the rotunda, as follows: Vinnie Ream Hoxie's muchdiscussed statue of Lincoln, for which Congress paid $15,000 in 1870, after a long debate, in which Senator Sumner made an illuminating speech on the application of art to the Capitol. The statue of Alexander Hamilton (1756-1804) is by Stone, is dated 1868, and cost $10,000. Another statue by Stone is that of the Oregon Senator and Union soldier, Col. Edward D. Baker, who was

A TOUR OF THE CAPITOL.

25

killed at Ball's Bluff in 1861. The statue of Jefferson here has the following history, according to Ben: Perley Poore: "A spirited bronze statue of Jefferson by his admirer, the French sculptor, David d'Angers, was presented to Congress by Lieut. Uriah P. Levy, but Congress declined to accept it, and denied it a position in the Capitol. It was then reverentially taken in charge by two naturalized citizens, stanch Democrats, and placed on a small pedestal in front of the White House. One of these worshipers of Jefferson was the public gardener, Jimmy Maher; the other was John Foy, keeper of the restaurant in the basement of the Capitol, and famous for his witty sayings." The fifth is a statue of Gen. U. S. Grant by Franklin Simmons, the gift of the Grand Army to the United States.

The eastern door of the rotunda opens upon the grand portico of the eastern front. The carvings above it have been described.

The western door leads to a rear stairway descending a narrow hall to the rear entrance of the Capitol and Pennsylvania Avenue; also to a balcony which gives an exceedingly interesting view toward the river, the Treasury, and northwestward.

The northern door leads to the Supreme Court and onward to the Senate Chamber. The southern door admits to Statuary Hall and the House of Representatives, in the southern extension, to which attention may now be directed, as the first step in a general survey of the Capitol.

Original Hall of Representa

tives.

Passing through the southern door and a circular vestibule, we emerge into a semicircular hall ninety-five feet in greatest width, whose ceiling is a half-dome sixty feet high, beneath which is a spacious gallery filled with the Library of the House of Representatives. This was the Hall of Representatives of the original Capitol, and as first built it was an oblong rectangular room. In rebuilding it, after the fire of 1814, Latrobe converted it into a semicircular room, taking as his model, tradition says, an ancient theater in Greece; and doubtless it was an extremely beautiful apartment when fresh in color, lighted at night, and filled with a brilliant assemblage. At the southern end is a grand arch, supported by columns of Potomac variegated marble (breccia), with white Italian capitals copied from relics in the ruins of Athens. Many other similar pillars form a colonnade about the room and sustain the profusely paneled ceiling. The cupola, which admits such poor light as the room now gets, was the work of a young Italian artist named Bonani, who died soon after, and who took his design from the Roman Pantheon. The arch is adorned with an eagle sculptured from life by Valperti, another Italian of high reputation, while a dignified model for a statue of Liberty, wrought in plaster by Causici in 1829, stands beneath the arch over the former position of the Speaker's desk. Opposite it, above the entrance door, remains the famous old marble clock. It is a notable object, and was executed in this city by C. Franzoni, an Italian sculptor, who died May 12, 1819, but the design is said to have been drawn by Latrobe. The theme is the Flight of Time. The Genius of History is represented as standing gracefully upon the winged chariot of Progress, which is rolling over a globe belted with the signs of the Zodiac. History records the incidents of national life as Time overtakes them, and the wheel of her swift chariot forms the dial of the clock, which is marked with gilded figures.

Franzoni's
Clock.

The House of Representatives used this hall from 1808 until 1814, and then from 1817 to the end of 1857. 'Here Clay, Webster, the younger Adams, Calhoun, Randolph, Cass, Burges, Wise, Forsyth, Corwin, Wright, and many others won reputation for statesmanship, and made the walls ring with their fiery eloquence. Here were many fierce and bitter wrangles over vexed questions — turbulent scenes, displays of sectional feeling; and here also was much legislative action which has gone into history as wise and beneficial.

The old hall appeared as follows in the latter years of its use by

26

PICTORIAL GUIDE TO WASHINGTON.

the House: The Speaker's chair and table stood on a rostrum four feet from the and back of the rostrum were crimson curtains, hanging in folds from the capit the ponderous marble columns which supported the great arch of the hall. The c desk stood below the rostrum, and between the columns were sofas and tables fo reporters. The Representatives were provided with mahogany desks and wide chairs, which were arranged in concentric circles. The hall could accommodat members. A bronzed iron railing with curtains enclosed the outer row of desks this constituted the bar of the House. Beyond the railing was the members' lobby above the lobby were galleries seating about 500 persons. One of the galleries reserved for ladies, and in two of its panels were paintings of Washington and Lafa which now hang in the present hall of the House. Under the paintings were copies of the Declaration

in the floor

STATUARY HALL. OLD HALL OF REPRESENTATIVES.

marks the position of his desk. The gallery is now filled with the overflow of the E library from the neighboring upper corridor, and the corners beneath, extending to the rotunda wall, are occupied by the keeper of the House documents, and b Committee on Enrolled Bills and its clerks. An inner office behind the latt that of the clerk of the House, and is the room, then assigned to the Speaker, in w Adams died.

The present use of this room as a hall of memorial statuary is due to a sugge from the late Senator Justin S. Morrill, when he was a Representative from Vern which resulted in an invitation by Congress, in 1864, to each State to send marb bronze statues of two of her most illustrious sons for permanent preservation.

As a beginning certain statues and busts owned by the Federal Government collected here. They include Hubbard's plaster copy of Houdon's statue of Was

Statuary
Hall.

ton, the face of which was modeled from a plaster cast taken by Hou himself at Mount Vernon in 1785, and Mrs. Fisher Ames' bust of Lin upon a pedestal of Aberdeen granite (a gift), for which $2,000 was Here also will be found a marble bust of Senator J. J. Critte of Kentucky, author of the "Crittenden Compromise" measure and Harri

*Jean Antoine Houdon, who was a cultivated French sculptor (1741-1828), educated in Pari Rome, was employed by the State of Virginia to make a statue of Washington. He came and st his subject, resided for several weeks with the family at Mount Vernon, cast Washington's face then made in Italy the original statue, now in the capitol at Richmond. It is the most faithful po in existence of the Father of His Country in his later years. This plaster copy cost $2,000.

Attorney-General, by Joel T. Hart; and a portrait of Joshua R. Giddings, by Miss C. L. Ransom.

A few States have sent the effigies called for, and they stand in the dim light as if petrified with surprise at the miscellaneous company of greatness in which they find themselves, and the tedium of waiting to be let out. Some are of high merit, but many are not, and none can be fairly estimated or enjoyed when set up in this gloomy and echoing hall, like a lot of gravestones exposed for sale in a dealer's warerooms. Following is a catalogue of these State statues :

California: Gen. James Shields, by Leonard W. Volk.

Connecticut: Gov. Jonathan Trumbull (the original "Brother Jonathan,” 1710-1785) and Roger Sherman, one of the Signers of the Declaration of Independence (1721-1793), both the work of C. B. Ives, and placed here in 1872.

Indiana: Oliver P. Morton, Governor of that State during the Civil War. Maine: Gov. William King (1768–1852), by Franklin W. Simmons, 1877. Massachusetts: Gov. John Winthrop (1588-1649) by Richard S. Greenough (a brother of Horatio Grenough), dated 1876; and Samuel Adams (1722–1803), by Anne Whitney, 1876.

Michigan: Lewis Cass (1782-1866), Senator and Secretary of State, by Daniel Chester French, dated 1887.

State

Statues.

Missouri: Sen. Frank P. Blair (1821-1876); and Sen. Thomas H. Benton (1782–1858). New Hampshire: Gen. John Stark (1728–1822); Daniel Webster (1782-1852). Both by Carl Conrad, after the statues in Concord, N. H.

New Jersey: Richard Stockton (1730-1781), one of the Signers, in marble; and Gen. Philip Kearney (1815-1862) in bronze. Both are from models by H. K. Brown.

New York: Vice-President George Clinton (1739-1812), by H. K. Brown, and cast by Wood in Philadelphia in 1873; Chancellor Robert Livingston (1747-1813), by E. D. Palmer, cast in Paris in 1874.

Ohio: President James A. Garfield (1831-1881) and Senator and Governor William Allen. Both are by Charles H. Niehaus.

Pennsylvania: Robert Fulton (1765-1815), who was born in this State, but made his career elsewhere, by Howard Roberts; and Gen John P. G. Muhlenberg (1746-1807), by Helen Blanche Nevin.

Rhode Island: Gen. Nathanael Greene (1742-1786), by H. K. Brown, dated 1869; and Roger Williams (1606–1683), by Franklin Simmons, 1870.

Vermont: Col. Ethan Allen (1737–1789), a colossal marble figure, dated 1875, by Larkin G. Mead of that State; and Senator Jacob Collamer (1791-1865), Taylor's PostmasterGeneral, by Hiram Powers.

West Virginia: Senator John M. Kenna, by Alexander Doyle.

Wisconsin:

Trentanove.

Father James Marquette, missionary-explorer (1637-1675), by

Acoustic Curiosities.

Statuary Hall has surprising acoustic properties, which the Capitol guides have learned, and apply to the amusement of sightseers and their own profit. Curious echoes, whispers distinct at a distance, and ability to hear what is inaudible to a person at your elbow, are among the curiosities of sound observable at certain points. One experiment easily tried is for two persons to place their faces close in the corners of the room beside the pillars of the arch; they may speak in a low tone and be heard distinctly, each by the other. The Capitol guides, it may be remarked, include some very well informed men, who can make themselves of great use to a stranger in this immense and storied building; and it is the only place in the city where a professional guide is of any use whatever. The Capitol guides are permitted to charge 50 cents an hour, but are often cheerfully paid much more.