NA 6681 R46 1910 Cornell University Library The original of tiiis book is in tine Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924015058807 PRICE, 25 CENTS BRARY OF NGRESS Practical Guide I MURAL PAINTINGS AND SCULPTURES QUOTATIONS 100 ILLUSTRATIONS t^^ DECLARATION AND CONSTITUTION. In the West Corridor of the second floor of the Entrance Pavilion may be seen- the two most precious documents in the possessioh of the American ijiople. The Declaration of Independence is enshrined in a niche in the wall, and below it in a marble desk is the Constitution of THE United States. CONTENTS. THE FIRST FLOOR BrotiEC Doors 56 Fountain 56 Exterior Decorations 56 Entrance Pavilion 58 " Vestibule 58 Grand Stair Hall 58 Commemorative Arch 60 Alartiny Staircases 60 South Hall 61 South Corridor 63 Representatives' Reading Room 6s Senate Reading Room 66 Reading Room Lobby 67 East Hall 68 Librarian's Room 69 (not open to the public) North Hall 69 North Corridor 73 THE SECOND FLOOR North Corridor 74 East Corridor 76 Stairway to Reading Room ^^ South Corridor 77 West Corridor 78 Southwest Gallery 79 Southwest Pavilion 80 Southeast Pavilion 80 Northwest Gallery 81 Northwest Pavilion 81 Northeast Pavilion 83 Reading Room 82 Book Stacks 84 tHE PAINTINGS AND OTHER DECORATIONS Adventure 80 Architecture 79 Art (Dodge) 8l Art (Pratt) 56 Arts (Cox) 79 Audubon 76 Book Series 68 Pronze Doors 56 Civilization 83 Civilization 80 Clock 84 Conquest 80 Discovery 80 Elements 80 family 69 Fates Tp Fountain 56 Government 67 Graces 78 Greek Heroes 63 Human Understand'g 84 Joy and Memory 63 Literature (Barse) 76 Literature (Dodge) 81 Literature (Holsag) 69 Literature (Pratt) 56 Martiny Sculptures 60 Minerva (Adams) 58 Minerva (Vedder) TJ Mosaic Mantels 65 Muses 73 Music (Dodge) 81 Painting 79 Peace 81 Quotations 8.=; Race Heads 56 Poetry (W^alker) 61 Prescott 76 Poets' Boys 61 Printers' Marks ^T, 83 Science (Dodge) 81 Science (Pratt) 56 Sciences (Cox) 79 Sciences (Shirlaw) 78 Sculpture 79 Sculptures 56 Seals 82 Seasons (Benson) 78 Seasons (Pratt) 80 Senses 74 Sibyls 75, 78 Spectrum 66 Statues 82 Virtues 74, 77 War 81 .Windows (States) 84 Wisdom 74 This "Practical Guide'' is a reprint of the chapter on "The Library of Congress" in the Washington Standard Guide. The other chapters of the Standard Guide, devoted to the Capitol, White House, Treasury, Monument, Arlington and Mount Vernon, will be found just as complete and satisfactory. THE LIBRARY ANNEX The Library of Congress Annex is East of the Library occupying two full squares except for the site of the Folger Shakespeare Library. A tunnel connects Annex and Library, and a bookcarrier system conveys the books from one to the other. The Annex, faced with white marble, is a rectangle 406 x 228 feet, covering two acres. There are five stories above ground. The fifth story is set back 35 feet, and below this level the whole central core of the building is composed of bookstacks. The stacks thus extending from the cellar to the fourth floor inclosure provide about thir- teen acres of floor space, with shelving capacity for 10,000,000 volumes. (The capacity of the older building is 5,000,000.) The stacks are surrounded with work spaces. The first story contains the Copyright Office, to which have been transferred also the copyright designs from the Patent Office. The second floor is occupied by the Divisions of the Library performing the processes to which the books re- ceived are subject before they are ready for actual use — the Classification and Shelf-Listing Division, the Catalog Division, and the Cooperative Cataloging and Classification Service. The third floor is used by the Card Division and also provides storage room for a card stock of 350,000,000. The fifth floor is devoted to the reading public. A card catalogue divides it into two reading rooms each with capacity for several hundred readers. Alcoves contain reference books, and there are rooms for special collec- tions. On the same floor are 172 study rooms, in which the occupant has independent control over heating and ventilation. When the Library was opened in November, 1881, the Librarian A. R. Spofford, predicted that the building would be ample to meet the needs of the Library for a century and a half to come. But by 1910 the collec- tions had outgrown the capacity. Commenting on this, Martin A. Roberts, Chief Assistant Librarian, wrote: "It would be hazardous to predict the future either of an institution whose resources, a bare hundred years ago, were contained in 'six hair trunks and a map case' or of the building which is intended to house in part the collections that have since been accu- mulated and the activities which they involve. After the experience of the past two-score years, no one would, venture the prediction that the Annex will be ample for the needs of the Library 'for a cen'.ury and a half to come.' It can, however, be safely asserted that the new Annex, with its 249 additional miles of shelving and 20 more acres of floor space, has been so painstakingly designed that the added accommodations and the flexibility and increased celerity of operation will meet the demands for many years to come and make it possible to render to scholarship and to the library world a service more effective than ever before." ENTRANCE PAVILION. L- BRONZE DOOR TRADITION. MAETINY STAIRCASE. ENTRANCE PAVILION. H w o o a XSl C3 <; 5 IH o h-t M H U3 3 Q <: Q O O o pil i > Melpomene, Muse of Tragedy. THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS And its Mural Decorations For hours to visit, see Time Table. THE Library grounds adjoin those of the Capitol. The building faces west upon First street, and the outer walls have a frontage upon four streets (First, East Capitol, Second and B streets). The grounds and residences upon them cost $385,000. The building was completed in 1897. The net cost, exclusive of site, was $6,032,124.54. The original architectural plans were prepared by the firm of Smithmeyer & Pelz. These were modified by those of Edward Pearce Casey. The building is of the Italian Renaissance order of architecture; it has three stories, with a dome; and is in area 470X340- ft-, covering nearly 3l4 acres of ground, with four large inner courts, 150 by 75 to loo-ft., and nearly 2,000 windows render it the best lighted library in the world. The plan and arrangement are shown in our diagram. The building con- sists of a great central rotunda, which is the reading-room; from which radiate book stacks, and which is inclosed in a parallelogram of galleries and pavilions. The building material employed for the exterior walls is white granite from New Hampshire, and for the inner courts Maryland granite and white enameled bricks. There are three stories. On the ground floor are the copyright office, reading room for the blind, and superintendent's office. The first floor contains the reading room (where the books are consulted), the librarian's room, periodical reading room, Senate and Representatives' reading room and map room. The pavilions and galleries of the second floor are devoted to exhibits of engravings and other collections, including rare books, first editions and portraits of the Presidents and other personages, 55 56 The Library of Congress. Exterior Decorations. — The Dome is finished in black copper, with panels gilded with a thick coating of gold leaf. The cresting of the Dome above the lantern, 195-ft. from the ground, terminates in a gilded finial, represent- ing the torch of Science, ever burning. , The thirty-three windows of the corner pavilion and of the west f agade have carved heads representing the several races of men. The types are: Russian Slav, Blond European, Brunet European, Modern Greek, Persian Circassian, Hindoo, Hungarian, Jew, Arab, Turk, Modern Egyptian, Abys- sinian, Malay, Polynesian, Australian, Negrito, Zulu, Papuan, Soudan Negro, Akka, Fuegian, Botocudo, Pueblo Indian, Esquimau, Plains Indian, Samo- yede, Corean, Japanese, Aino, Burmese, Thibetan, Chinese- The Bronze Fountain, by Hinton Perry, represents the Court of Neptune, with tritons, sea nymphs, sea horses, serpents, frogs and turtles. The Entrance Pavilion has sixteen rounded pillars with Corinthian capitals. Four colossal Atlantes support the pediment, on which are sculptured Amer- ican eagles, with supporting figures of children. In the windows are nine colossal portrait-busts in granite : Emerson and Irving, by Hartley ; Goethe, Franklin and Macaulay by Ruckstuhl; Hawthorne, by Hartley; Scott, by Adams; Demosthenes and Dante, by Adams. The sculptures over the entrances by Bela L. Pratt typify Literature, Science and Art. The Bronze Doors. Bronze Door — Printing. — By Frederick Macmonnies. — Minerva presiding over the "Diffusion of the Products of the Typographical Art." Two winged figures of youthful genii are, as her envoys, conveying to mankind the bless- ings of learning and literature. By Minerva's side is her owl; other sug- gestions are the hour-glass, the old-fashioned printing press, the stork (as the bird of home), and a Pegasus. The legend: "Homage to Guttenberg." (Guttenberg was the inventor of printing, Germany,. 1400-1468.) In the paiiels idealizations are of Intellect and Humanities. Bronze Fountain — Court of Neptune. 58 The Library of Congress. Bronze Door. — Tradition. Bronze Door— Writing.— by Olin L. Warner.— A mother is instructing her children from the written record of the scroll. On one side is an Egyptian scribe with his stylus, and a Jewish patriarch; on the other, a Greek with a lyre and a Christian with the Cross. In the panels are Truth with mirror and serpent and Research with torch. Bronze Door — Tradition. — By Olin L. Warner. — Tradition is typified as a woman reciting her story to a boy. Listening to the tale are four represent- tative types of mankind — a Norse warrior, with winged cap and battle-axe, a shepherd with his crook; a primitive man with his stone axe, and an American Indian with his arrows. The Indian figure is a portrait of Chief Joseph of the Nez Perces. In the left panel is Imagination with the lyre, emblematic of recitation and song; in the right stands widowed Memory clasping the sword and helmet of her dead. The genii below support the wings of Imagination and the memorial urn. Entrance Pavilion — Vestibule — Grand Stair Hall. The Minerva of Defensive War and the Minerva of Wisdom and the Liberal Arts, sculptured figures, by Herbert Adams, are represented in eight pairs. The white marble of the vestibule is from Italy. The gold of the ceiling is like that of the Dome, 22-carats fine. The Central Stair Hall is a magnificent apartment, unsurpassed by any other entrance hall in the world. It is lined throughout with fine Italian marble, highly polished. On the sides rise lofty rounded columns, with elaborate carved capitals of Corinthian design; while the arches are adorned with marble rosettes, palm leaves and foliated designs of exquisite finish and delicacy. The great height of this entrance hall, rising 72-ft. to the sky- PLAN OF THE FIRST FLOOR AND DECORATIONS. THE ROTUNPA RIPPING ItOOM, 60 The Library of Congress. light, with its vaulted ceiling and the grand double staircase, with its white marble balustrades leading up on either side, exhibit an architectural effect which may fitly be termed imposing. The newel posts of the sairway are enriched by beautiful festoons of leaves and flowers, and are surmounted by two bronze lamp-bearers for electric lights. The staircases are ornamented with twenty-six miniature marble figures by Martiny, carved in relief, rep- resenting in emblematic sculpture the various arts and sciences. This beau- tiful and spacious entrance hall has been described as "'a vision in polished stone," and, taken in connection with the grand corridors and the richly decorated Reading Room, the Library may be pronounced the finest marble interior in America. Commemorative Arch. — The spandrel figures by Warner are of Students, one a boy, the other an old man, for books are alike for the instruction of youth and solace of age. The panel, with fasces and eagle, records : Erected under the acts of Congress of April 15, 1886 ; October S, 1888, and March 3, 1889, by Brig.-Gen. Thos. Lincoln Casey, Chief of Engineers, U. S. A. Bernard R. Green, Supt, and Eingineer. John L. Smithmeyer, Architect. Paul J. Pelz, Architect. Edward Pearce Casey, Architect. Martiny Staircases. — In the south stairway railing the sculptures are: Mechanic with cog-wheel. Hunter with rabbit. Vintager with grapes and wine glass. Farmer with sickle and sheaf of wheat, Fisherman with rod and fish. Soldier with helmet, Chemist with blowpipe, and Cook with steaming pot. The buttress figures are of America and Africa, supporting a globe showing these continents. On the balustrade above are Comedy, Tragedy and Poetry. The figures of the north stairway are: Gardener with rake and spade. Entomologist with net and specimen case. Student with mortar-board cap and book. Printer in paper cap with press and type. Musician with lyre and music book, Physician with mortar, retort and serpent, Electrician with tele- phone and electric light. Astronomer with telescope, globe and compasses. On the buttress are Europe (with lyre, book and column) and Asia (with dragon vase). The balustrade figures are Painting, Architecture and Sculpture. In the cove of the ceiling are Martiny's flying half-figures supporting the device of lamp and book. Tablets bear the names of Moses, Herodotus, Dante, Homer, Milton, Bacon, Aristotle, Goethe, Shakespeare, Moliere; Cervantes, Hugo, Scott, Cooper, Longfellow, Tennyson, Gibbon, Bancroft. The Points of the Compass radiate from a conventional sun inlaid in brass in the floor, surrounded by the Signs, of the Zodiac. The Building faces west. Europe and Asia. America and Africa. Hall of the Poets. 61 ffi.? ' -"■) '^^ ^£. /. The Muse of Lyric Poetry. Entrance Pavilion — South Hall. Poetry. — By H. C. Walker. In Lyric Poetry, the central figure is an ideal- ization of the Muse, laurel-crowned and striking the lyre. She is attended by Passion with arm upraised responding to the strains, Beauty, and Mirth, Pathos with eyes raised to heaven. Truth, and Devotion with bowed head. Poets' Boys.-^Six paintings present ideals of youthful subjects of the poets: Uriel. This was the lapse of Uriel, Which in Paradise befell Once among the Pleiads walking. Said overheard the young gods talking- One, with low tones that decide. And doubt and reverend use defied. With a look that solved the sphere, Wordsworth — The There was a Boy; ye knew him well, ye cliffs And islands of Winander! — ^many a time. At evening, when the earliest stars began To move along the edges of the hills. Rising or setting, would he stand alone. Beneath the trees, or by the glimmering lake; And there, with fingers interwoven, both hands Pressed closely, palm to palm and to his mouth Uplifted, he as through an instrument, Blew mimic hootings to the silent owls, That they might answer him. — And they would shout Across the watery vale, and shout again. Boy of Winander. 1— Uriel. And stirred the devils everywhere, Gave his sentiment divine Against the being of a line: '*Line in nature is not found. Unit and Universe are round; In vain produced, all rays return. Evil will bless and ice will burn." Boy of Winander. Responsive to his call, with quivering peals, And loud haloos, and screams, and echoes loud Redoubled and redoubled; concourse wild Of jocund din! And when thtere came a pause Of silence such as baffled his best skill; Then, sometimes, in that silence, while he hung Listening, a gentle shock of mild surprise Has carried far into his heart the voice Of mountain torrents; or the visible scene Would enter unawares into his mind With all its solemn imagery, its rocks. Its woods, and that uncertain heaven re- ceived Into the bosom of the steady lake. 64 The Library of Congress. This boy was taken from his mates, and died In childhood, ere he was full twelve years old. Pre-eminent in beauty is the vale Where he was born and bred: the church- yard hangs Upon a slope above the village school; And, through that churchyard when my way has led On summer evenings, I believe, that there A long half-hour together I have stood Mute — looking at the grave in which be lies! Comus. Adonis. Milton — Comus. Comus, the enchanter, in the wood at night, listens to the song of the Lady, and at its conclusion exclaims: Can any mortal mixture of earth's mould Breathe such divine, enchanting ravishment? Shakespeare — Adonis. Adonis, the young hunter loved by Venus, unmindful of the entreaties of the goddess, left her side to hunt the wild boar, by which he was slain. Venus discovers him. She looks upon his lips, and they are pale; She takes him by the hand, and that is cold; She whispers in his ears a heavy tale. As if they heard the woeful words she told; She lifts the coffer-lids that close his eyes. Where, lo, two lamps, burnt out, in darkness lies. Endymion. Ganymede, Keats — Endymion. The story runs from her silver chariot of the moon, Diana beheld the shepherd boy Endymion asleep upon Mount Latmos; and enamored of his beauty, descended to press a kiss upon his lips. Night after night in her course across the heavens, the god- dess paused to caress the youth ; and Endymion, each time but partially awakened, was conscious of her presence only as the sweet vision of a dream. Tennyson — Gandymede. When Jupiter came down to earth, to seek a successor to Hebe as Cupbearer to the Uods, he took the form of an eagle, and flying , over Mount Ida, saw the Trojan Prince Uanymede, whom he carried off to Olympus. Tennyson in his "Palace of Art'-' describei as among the pictures decorating its walls, one of Ganymede borne aloft by the eagle— Or else flushed Ganymede, his rosy thigh Half-buried in the Eagle's down, Sole as a flying star shot thro' the sky Above the pillar'd town. The Greek Heroes. 65 Joy and Memory. Joy and Memory are idealized in the painting above the arch in the west wall. Joy is attended by a boy with a lamb; Memory sits by a sculptured marble. The composition symbolizes the dual office of poetry as giving expression to the joyous- ness of life and as commemorating the men and the deeds of the past. The inscription is from Wordsworth: The Poets, who on earth have made us heirs Of truth and pure delight by heavenly lays. In the mosaic ceiling are names of poets : Theocritus, Pindar, Anacreon, Sappho, Catullus, Horace, Petrarch, Ronsard, Longfellow, Lowell, Whittier, Bryant, Whitman, Poe, Browning, Shelley, Byron, Musset, Hugo, Heine. South Curtain Corridor. Greek Heroes. — By Walter McEwen. The paintings have for their themes incidents in the Greek myths. Pciris. — When Juno, Minerva and Venus contended as to which was the fairest, they left the decision to Paris, a shepherd boy on Mount Ida. To influence him, Juno promised him power, Minerva martial glory, and Venus the most beautiful woman in the world. He decided in favor of Venus, and she gave him Helen, wife of Menelaus, King of Sparta. Paris accord- ingly repaired to the court of Menelaus, and Helen eloped with him to Troy. The Greeks besieged Troy to recover Helen. Theseus sailed with a company of Athenian youths and maidens who were sent as a tribute to King Minos of Crete to be given over to the Minotaur, a monster half-bull and half-human, which fed on human flesh. Ariadne, the daughter of Minos, fell in love with Theseus, and gave him the clue of Paris at the Court of Menelaus and Helen. 66 The Library of Congress. Perseus. Bellerophon. the labyrinth, by which he was enabled to reach and slay the Minotaur. Ariadne set sail with the hero for Athens; but on the way, at the isle of Naxos, Minerva, in a dream, directed Theseus to desert her, and in obedi- ence to the command he sailed away and left Ariadne sleeping. Prometheus having stolen fire from heaven, Jupiter created the first woman, Pandora, for the punishment of mankind, and sent her to Prometheus. He refused her, and vainly cautioned his brother Epimetheus not to accept her. Prometheus. Theseus. Pandora holds the fateful box, from which were to be let fly into the world all human ills, only Hope remaining to bless mankind. Hercules having killed a man was condemned to serve Omphale, the Queen of Lydia, as a slave. Appareled in feminine dress, the hero was put to spinning and other woman's tasks. Achilles was disguised by his mother as a school girl and sent to a distant court in order that he might not be enlisted in the Trojan War. The wily Ulysses set out to find him, and assuming the character of a peddler dis- played his wares. The girls chose feminine trinkets, but Achilles was at- tracted to a man's shield and casque, and thus revealed himself. Achilles. Hercules. Representatives' Reading Room. 67 Jason. Orpheus. Bellerophon, commissioned to slay the Chimaera, a monster with lion's head, goat's body and dragon's tail, receives from Minerva the golden bridle of the wringed horse Pegasus, by whose aid he is to accomplish the task. Perseus was sent by King Polydectes to slay the Gorgon, Medusa, a crea- ture of aspect so terrible that whoever looked upon her face was turned to stone. By the aid of Minerva, Perseus beheaded the Gorgon, and returned to the court of Polydectes, as that monarch was celebrating with a banquet a forced marriage with Danae, the mother of Perseus. ' The hero came just in time to rescue his mother by confronting the King and his company with the Gorgon's head, and so turning them into stone. Jason was the leader of the expedition of the Argonauts, who went in quest of the Golden Fleece. This was the fleece of a ram, which was preserved by the King of Colchis, and guarded by a dragon. By the aid of the sorceress Medea, Jason was successful and brought the Pleece back to Athens. Orpheus, having failed to bring back his wife Eurydice from the realms of Pluto, retired to Mount Athos. Here his solitude was invaded by the Thracian women celebrating their Bacchic rites ; and when he repelled their advances, in their fury they stoned him to death. Representatives* Reading Room. Mosaic Mantels. — By Frederick Dielman. The mantels of Italian marble are the richest and most beautiful adornments of the building. Law, a woman of radiant countenance and wearing the segis, is enthroned upon a dais. At her feet are doves of peace, the bound volume of the statutes, and the scales of justice. She holds a palm branch toward Truth with her lilies, Peace with twig of olive, and Inlustry with artisan's cap and hammer; and interposes a sword against skulking Fraud, Discord with malign serpents, and Violence with sword and torch. History. — In the center stands the Muse of History with recording pen and gold-clasped volume. In the panels are names of great historians : Herodotus, Thucydides, Polyhius, Livy, Tacitus, Basda, Comines, Hume, Gibbon, Niebuhr, Guizot, Ranke, Bancroft, Motley. On the left side sits Mythology with recording stylus anl globe, symbolic of the myths of th^ worlds. Beside here are a winged Sphinx and Pandora's box. On the right is the venerable figure of Tradition, and by her with a lyre sits a youthful poet, who will sing the story that she tells. In the distance back of Myth- 68 The Library of Congress. I =^?1 i. -^^- Mosaic Mantel — Law. ology, rise the Pyramids of Egypt, back of History the Parthenon of Greece, and beyond Tadition the Colosseum of Rome. The oak tympanums over the doors are by C. H. Niehaus with motives of Minerva's owl and the American eagle. Pictorial Spectrum of Light. — Carl Gutherz has painted in ceiling panels idealization of the seven primary colors. Indigo, the Light of Science. Blue, the Light of Truth. Green, the Light of Research. Yellow, the Light of Creation. Orange, the Light of Progress. Red, the Light of Poetry. Violet, the Light of State. Senate Reading Room. — The Senate Reading Room ceiling is decorated with a gold ground, on which are floating female figures. Above the mantel is carved the shield of the Union surmounted by the American Eagle. (By Adams.) mM ^ ' ■ 111! iiiiiMtiBiawiliMiHiMiiina—nn 1 1 , ■^. -> .. .^-■.. Mosaic Mantel — History. Reading Room Lobby. W Entrance Pavilion — Reading Room Lobby. Government of the Republic is symbolized by Elihu Vedder : Government, majestic of mien and laurel-crowned, holds the scepter, and a tablet, on which is Lincoln's characterization : "A government of the people, by the people, for the people." Genii bear the sword of authority and the bridle of restraint. The oak typifies strength. Good Administration, the genius of America, is seated beneath an arch, of which each stone fills its office of support for all the others, as every State Government. Good Administration. must contribute to the upholding of the Union. She holds, evenly balanced, the scales of Justice, and supports a shield whose divisions represent the idea of political parties. In her lap is the open book of the laws. To one ballot urn comes a youth to cast his vote; his books indicate that intelligence must qualify for the franchise. Into the other urn. Public Opinion win- nows the wheat from the chaff. The fig tree and the wheat fields indicate domestic tranquility. Good adminis- tration insures peace and prosperity. Peace and Prosperity are symbolized by a goddess, who extends laurel wreaths in token of encouragement and reward to Agriculture and Art. In the background is the olive tree. Corrupt Legislation has gathered to herself cornucopias of gold, the sources of which are shown by the Corruptionist placing his bribe in her sliding scale. That the Briber has purchased legislation is indicated by the book of the law which he holds on his own lap, and by the overthrown ballot urn at his feet. Peace and Prosperity. Corrupt Legislation. Anarchy. 70 The Library of Congress. The Cairn. oral Tradition. The Strong box, the coin and the busy factories tell of his prosperity. Honest Industry, with empty distaff, sues for recognition in vain. The factory chim- neys in the distance are smokeless. The flying leaves of the vine presage decay. Anarchy, holding aloft as a brand the flaming scroll of the Constitu- tion and clutching the cup of madness, is here the presiding genius amid uni- versal wreck and ruin. Serpents are twisted in her hair. One foot rests Hieroglyphics. The Pictograph. upon the downfallen arch of the State; with the other she is spurning Re- ligion, Learning, Art and Law. Ignorance and Violence are assisting in the overthrow. The broken mill and cog wheels typify the ruin of industries. The tree is withered and dead. The bomb with fuse alight foretells the end. Entrance Pavilion — East Hall. The Evolution of the Book.— By John W. Alexander. A series of six panels : I. The Cairn erected by prehistoric man on the seashore, a mere heap of boulders to commemorate some notable event. 2. Oral Traditions —The Ori- ental story-teller, relating his tale to a group of absorbed listeners. 3. Hiero- glyphics chiseled upon the face of a monumental tomb by the Egyptian stone- cutters. 4. The Pictograph, or picture writing, by which the primitive Amer- ican Indian records on the painted buffalo robe his rude story of the war trail The Manuscript, The Printing Press. The Book Series. 71 North Hall of Entrance Pavilion. and the chase. S- The Manuscript engrossed and illuminated by the monastic scribes of the Middle Ages. 6. The Printing Press. — Guttenberg, the inventor of printing, is reading a proof which has just come from the press. The Ceiling Decorations are em- blems of arts and sciences, with names of Americans who have achieved distinction in them : Architecture — | Latrobe, Walter, architects of the Capitol. Music — Mason Gottschalk, ^ Painting — Stuart, Allston. Sculpture — Powers, Crawford. Poetry — Emer- son, Holmes. Natural Science — Say, Dana. Mathematics — Pierce, Bowditch. Astronomy — Bond, Rittenhouse. Engineering — Francis, Stevens. Natural Philosophy — Silliman, Cook. Medicine— Cross, Wood, McDowell, Rush, Warren. Law — Hamilton, Kent, Pinckney, Shaw, Taney, Marshall, Story, Gibson, Webster, Curtis. Theology— Mather, Edwards, Channing, Beecher, Brooks. Librarian's Room.— In the ceiling of the Librarian's room is F. J. Holslag's idealization of Literature, as a woman of benign aspect; she holds a scroll, and is attended by a youthful genius bearing a lamp. The theme is repeated in other fe- male figures in the corners below, with the symbols of book, torch and lute. The ceiling decoration. Floating Scroll Bearers. shows the Greek lamp. Entrance Pavilion — North Hall. The Family. — Charles Sprague Pearce's paintings have for their theme The Family, and Religion, Labor, Study, Recreation and Rest, as elements of civil- ization. In The Family the central figure is the child in arms, which the The Family. < a bb 2 S ^ B a "-C , _Q rt • I- « o, « ■" u o » +-» __ I" S J3 rt ■I-' ■ E is « '-S 3 « J3 O , bo is c 3 C O •a ;? >" ^ « c w flj si bo o c -a *i2 rt rt ° •^ B O JJ "- B cu S -a "•a •O B u m .s 2 m •3 (A O "U p. B i^ .a o a ^1 •a 2p en C " rt in ■*-• C ■" 3 S O 1-! 3 •" B S O oJ E 5= ■3 S J! B m V N 3 O a (11 M S3 , B c O - bo B ^ <: MH « " u§ > B bO >. B ■•-• Gd J B (U ^ •a l> B . s •d B cS B bo t3 B "5 oj J3 .tl "O B ••s ^ 2^ h ii - O ■4-1 s >> E "a ■£ 5? S" n 111 J3 H u a « a o w en .2 = * a ^ B N 4) f S "o tl O T" (U v. S; P..Q » 72 The Library of Congress. Labor, Study. mother holds out to crow a welcome to the father, just returned from the hunt There are two older sisters in the group, while the grandfather and the grandmother look on with fond affection. In Religion, two worshippers kneel before a stone altar, from which ascends the smoke of their sacrifice. Labor is represented by two young farmers clearing the land. In the other panels are girlish figures ; in Study, with books and compasses ; in Recreation, Recreation. Rest. delighting in the music of pipe and tambourine; in Rest, reclining by an inviting pool. Above the window two floating figures support a scroll with the wise saying of Confucius: "Give instruction unto those who cannot pro- cure it for themselves." In the ceiling are names of educators : Frnebel, Pes- talozzi, Rousseau, Comenius, Ascham, Howe, Gallaudet, Mann, Arnold, Spencer. Religion, The Muses. 73 North Curtain Corridor. The Muses-Edward Simmons. Melpomene, Muse of Tragedy, has the tragic mask. The genii hold laurel crown and brazier of fire, suggestion! wh.ch are repeated m the other paintings. Clio, Muse of History whose records are of heroic deeds, has for symbols a wreathed helmet and torch. Thaha. Muse of Ga.ety, Pastoral Life and Comedy; faun with Pan's pipes Clio — History. Thalia — Gaiety, Pastoral Life and Comedy. Erato — Love Poetry. Polyhymnia — Inspired Song, Sacred Music. Enterpe, Lyric Poetry, has a flute. Terpsichore, the Choral Dance, the cym- bals. Erato, Love Poetry, a garland of white roses; a crouching lioness typifies her universal sway. Polyhymnia, Sacred Music — an open book. Urania, Astronomy — mathematical instruments. Caliope, Epic Poetry and Eloquence — scroll and peacock feather. 74 The Library of Congress. Prudence, Courage. Patriotism. THE VIRTUES. Fortitude. THE SECOND FLOOR. Entrance Pavilion — North Coriidor. The Virtues. — Geo. W. Maynard's paintings of floating female figures, in the Pompeiian style, on a vermilion ground, symbolize the Virtues. Fortitude is armor clad, with casque, cuirass and greaves, buckler and mace. Justice sup- ports a globe, and holds a drawn sword. Industry's emblems are the spindle, distaff and flax. Concordia, with olive branch, pours from a cornucopia grains of wheat, symbolic of the prosperity of peace. (See South Corridor.) Wisdom, Understanding, Knowledge, Philosophy. — By Robert Reid. Wisdom holds a tablet. Understanding has a scroll. Knowledge holds a Wisdom. Understanding. Knowledge. Philosophy. book. Philosophy's attitude is of reflection and meditation ; in the background is a Greek temple, the ancient home of philosophy. The Senses. — By Robert Reid. In the ceiling the Senses are idealized as beautiful young women. Taste is sipping from a shell ; the accessories are bunches of grapes. Sight contemplates herself in a hand glass ; she is at- tended by a peacock, pleasing to look upon. Smell inhales the fragrance of a full-blown rose, plucked from a bank of flowers by her side. Hearing North Corridor. 75 Temperance. Justice. Concordia. THE VIRTUES. Industry. presses to her ear a shell which murmurs of the sea. Touch looks with de- light upon a butterfly which has alighted on her arm; by her lies a dog. Ancient Games are shown in small ceiling panels, suggestive of the relaxa- tion and recreation which must lighten labor and study — Throwing the Dis- cus, Wrestling, Running, the Finish, the Wreath of Victory, the Triumph. Printers' Marks, the distinctive emblematic devices, answering to trade- marks, used by printers and publishers on the title-pages of their books, are employed as motives in all the entrance pavilion corridors of this floor. There are fifty-six in all, the earliest being that of Fust and Schoffer, 1457. The marks in this corridor are of American and British publishers ; the sup- porting figures are griiBns and swans. The trophy medallions are filled with ■&^^m/ Taste. Hearing. Smell. Touch. THE SENSES. Sight symbols of sciences and industries— Geometry, Meteorology, Forestry, Navi- gation, Mechanics, Transportation. Sibyls.— The sculptures in the vault, above the west window, by R. H. Perry, represent the Sibyls, or ancient prophetesses, who interpreted omens, de- livered oracles, and foretold the future. The Sibyls here portrayed are the Greek and the Eastern or Persian. In 2 corresponding position in the south corridor are the Roman and Scandinavian. In the border of the arch above this window is in obverse and reverse the Great Seal of the United States. Over the east window is the Western Hemisphere. 76 The Library of Congress. Entrance Pavilion — East Corridor. Literature.— In the ceiling George R. Barse, Jr., has painted a series of female figures personifying the departments of Literature. Lyrica (Lyric Poetry with lyre, Tragedy with tragic mask. Comedy with laughing mask and tambourine, History with palm branch, scroll and scroll-box, Romance with pen, scroll and wreath. Fancy musing as in a day dream, Tradition with a Nike or Winged Victory, Erotica (Love Poetry) with tablet and pen. The Fates.— In ceiling panels W. A. Mackay has taken for his theme the Thread of Life as spun by the Three Fates fabled by the ancients to preside over the life of man and control his destiny — Qotho, who spins the thread ; Lachesis, who twists it, and Atropos, who cuts it. Clot ho is here with her distaff. The child is just ushered into life. There is a twig of a tree. The legend runs : "For a web begun, God sends thread." In the second panel is Lachesis, with her loom. The child has become a mature man, the tree is in full bearing, and from its boughs the man has plucked a measure of fruit. The legend reads: "The web of life is of a mingled yarn, good and ill to- gether." Lastly, is seen Atropos with her shears; and before her the decrepit old man on crutches is sinking to the ground, his face turned to the setting sun. The tree is withered and bare. The inscription is from Milton's "Lycidas." And slits the thin-spun life, Comes the blind Fury with th' abhorred shears. The inscriptions below the three panels give this adaptation of Cardinal Wolsey's similitude of the life of man to that of the tree : This is the state of man. To-day he puts forth The tender leaves of hopes; to-morrow blossoms. And bears his blushing honors thick upon him. The third day comes a frost and nips his root, and then he falls. The Printers' Marks are Italian and Spanish. The Commemorative Tablets at the end of the corridor bear the names of American printers, type found- ers and press builders : Green, Daye, Franklin, Thomas, Bradford, Clymer, Adams, Gordon, Hoe, Bruce. Prescott, Audubon. — On the wall are portraits of W. H. Prescott, the his- torian, and J. J. Audubon, the naturalist, by W. B. Van Ingen. There are also here Milton's invocation to L' Allegro or Mirth : Come thou goddess fair and free, Quips, and cranks, and wanton wiles In 'Heaven ycleped Euphrosyne, Nods and becks, and wreathed smiles, And by men, heart-easing Mirth. Such as hang on Hebe's cheek, Haste thee, nymph, and bring with thee And love to live in dimple sleek. Jest and youthful jollity. And the invocation to // Penseroso, or Melancholy: Hail, thou goddess, sage and holy And looks commercing with the skies Hail, divinest Melancholy, Thy rapt soul sitting in thine eyes; Come, but keep thy wonted state, There, held in holy passion still. With even step and musing gait. Forget thyself to marble. The marble arches and domes are elaborately carved, and have a wealth of Stairway to Reading Room. 77 W. H. Prescott. J. J. Audubon. symbolic decorations. Trophy medallions in the six domes represent: The Drama (masks), Music (lyre), Sculpture (carved figure). Literature (lamp and book). Architecture (a column capital), Painting (palette and brush). Architecture is represented by the names in gold. Roman and the Colosseum, Agra (India) and the Taj Mahal, Athens and the Parthenon, Gizeh and the Pyramids. For Sculpture are named the Farnese Bull, Laocoon, Niobe, Parthenon, Pediment; Venus, Apollo, Zeus, Hercules. Minerva. — By Elihu Vedder. From the east corridor a stairway ascends to the balcony of the reading room; on the wall of the landing is Elihu Vedder's mosaic of Minerva, the Goddess of Wisdom. She displays a scroll upon which is inscribed a list of the Sciences, Arts and Letters. She car- ries her spear; upon her breast is the aegis, with its Gorgon's head, plates of steel, and border of twisted serpents; and at her feet lie helmet and shield. On her right is the owl; on her left a statuette of Nike, the Winged Victory of the Greeks, standing upon a globe, and ex- tending the wreath of victory and the palm branch of peace. The background shows a fair stretching landscape, and the sun of pros- perity sheds its effulgence over all. The en- rollment on the scroll reads: Agricultural, Edu- cation, Mechanics, Commerce, Government, His- tory, Astronomy, Geography, Statistics, Economics, Sculpture, Architecture, Music, Poetry, Biography, Geology, Botany, Medicine, Philosophy, Law, Politics, Arbitration, Treaties, Army, Navy, Finance, Art of War. ?mmmmm^ The Mosaic Minerva. Entrance Pavilion — South Corridor. The Virtues.— By Geo. W. Maynard. Patriotism supports on her arm the American eagle, which she is feeding from a golden bowl. Courage, wear- ing a casque, is equipped with sword and buckler. Temperance pours water from a pitcher. Prudence has for symbols the mirror and the serpent. 78 The Library of Congress. The Seasons. By F. W. Benson. The Seasons.,— By F, W. Benson. The Seasons are personified by female figures, with varying landscape and development of vegetation. Spring with a bud, Summer with a lapful of full blow blossoms, Autumn with flying draperies, and the falling leaf; Winter in a landscape, cold and bleak. The Gracesj — F. W. Benson in ceiling panels celebrates The Graces, the ancient goddesses of whatever is lovely in nature, human life and art. Algaia, patroness of pastoral life and husbandry, with shepherdess crook, sits on a bank of flowers, and blossoms are in her hair. Thalia, patroness of the arts, is seated upon a marble bench, by her side is a lyre for Music, in the back- ground a Greek temple for Architecture. Euphrosyne, patroness of human loveliness of person and mind, contemplates in a mirror her own fair face. The Printers' Marks are French. The Trophy Medallions of the ceiling contain symbols of trades and industries : Printer, Potter, Glass Maker, Carpenter, Blacksmith, Mason. Two panels illustrate the modern Base- ball and Football. Sibyls. — Above the west window are sculptures by Perry, of the Roman Sibyl, pictured as an aged crone, who from beneath her veil delivers the oracle to a warrior clad in mail ; and the Northern Sibyl clad in fur robes, a Norse warrior attends her utterance. Above the windows are the Caduceus and the Mace, ensigns of authority, and a medallion map of the Eastern Hemisphere. Entrance Pavilion — West Corridor. The Sciences. — Walter Shirlaw's ceiling paintings comprise a series of female figures ideal of the Sciences. Zoology clad in skins of wild beasts caresses a lion. Physics holds the torch of investigation. Mathematics has a scroll Aglaia, Euphrosyne. THE GRACES. Thalia. Southwest Gallery. 79 The Sciences. on which geometrical ".ines are drawn, and her foot rests upon a block of geometrical solids. Geology, with a globe, mineral, fossil shell; the earth and the moon are shown. Archceology, with Minerva's helmet, a marble scroll, and Zuiii vase, is seeking to decipher the record contained in an ancient book. Botamy, standing upon the pad of a water lily, analyzes its blossom. Astronomy, with feet planted upon the earth, holds a telescopic lens and the sphere of Saturn with its rings. The moon is shown in its cres- cent phase. Chemistry's symbols are glass retort, hour-glass and serpent. The ceiling medallions by W. B. Van Ingen are female figures typifying Painting (at work at the easel). Architecture (drawing a plan of a build- ing), and Sculpture (chiseling a bust of Washington). The Printers' Marks are of German craftsmen. Tablets record names distinguished in the sciences: Cuvier of Zoology, Rumford for Physics, La Grange for Math- ematics, Lyell for Geology, Schliemann for Archaeology, Linnseus for Botany, Copernicus for Astronomy, Lavoisier for Chemistry, Southwest Gallery. The Sciences — The Arts. — By Kenyon Cox. In the Sciences Astronomy in the center measures a celestial sphere; the other figures are Botany, in dress of green and gold; Zoology, toying with a peacock; Mathematics, with a numeral frame on which the beads count the year 1896. In the Arts Poetry, laurel-crowned, sings to the lyre; the other figures are Sculpture and Paint- ing, Architecture and Music. Above the doors and windows are inscribed names eminent in science and Art: Homer, Michael Angelo, Raphael, Rubens, Milton, Leibnitz, Dalton, Kepler, Herschel, Galileo, Aristotle, Ptolemy, Hipparchus, Lamarck, Helm- holtz, Phidias, Vitruvius, Bramantle, Mozart. Wagner. The Arts. The "Declaration of Independence" and the "Constitution" are in the West Corridor. 80 The Library of Congress. Southwest Pavilion. The Discovery and Settlement of America are the themes of Geo. W. Maynard's decorations. The four wall paintings are allegories of Adventure, Discovery, Conquest and Civilization. Adventure, clad in armor of gold and purple robes, holds a drawn sword and the Caduceus, or Mercury's magic wand. On her right is the genius of the England of Drake's time; on her left that of the Spain of the sixteenth century. Discovery wears the sailor's buff jerkin of the sixteenth century. She supports with one hand a rudder, and with the other, upon her lap, a globe charted with the map ascribed to Leonardo da Vinci (about 1500), the first one known to show America. The genius on her right has a chart and a paddle; the one on her left a sword and a back-staff, which, like the astro- labe shown in the supporting shields, was a primitive quadrant. Conquest firmly grasps her sword, while her genii display emblems of victory; one has the palm, typical of Spanish achievement in the South; the other the oak, suggesting England's acquisitions in the North. Civilization's emblems are the torch and the open book; those of one genius, a scythe and a sheaf of wheat; of the other, a distaff and spindle. In the ceiling Mr. Maynard has pictured Courage, Valor, Fortitude and Achievement, idealized in woman's form. Courage, clad in scale-armor and a lion's pelt, is equipped with shield and studded war club. Valor, wearing mail, holds a drawn sword. Fortitude, with flowing robes, carries the ornamental column which is the emblem of sustaining strength. Achievement, in Roman armor, points to the eagle of ancient Rome as the symbol of victory. The Seasons. — In sculpture reliefs, by Bela L. Pratt, the Seasons are sym- bolized as female figures : Spring, as a young woman sowing grain ; Sum- The Seasons. Sculptures by Bela L. Pratt. mer, seated amid flowers; Autumn, a mother nursing her babe, while a boy stands near her with bunches of grapes; Winter, an aged woman gathering fagots; an old owl is perched on the withered tree. Southeast Pavilion — Second Floor. The Four Elements are symbolized in the wall and ceiling paintings by R. L. Dodge and E. E. Garnsey. In each panel a central figure as the personi- fication of the Element supports emblematic garlands, the other ends of which are held by genii in the corners. Reclining figures are accompanied with symbols; and other symbols are seen on the standards and in the Northwest Gallery and Northwest Pavilion. 81 borders. The Sun, as the chariot of Phcebus-ApoUo, is the central decora- tion of the ceiling; and surrounding it are symbolizations of the Elements. Northwest Gallery. War and Peace. — By Gari Melchers. War represents the return from battle. The dogs of war strain at the leash; then, foot soldiers with spear and buckler; the King on his white horse, riding over the prostrate bodies of the slain; the color-bearer and herald proclaiming victory, and the wounded carried on litters or attended by nurses in the rear. In Peace, the scene is a procession of worshippers who have come to make War. their votive offering at the shrine of their diety. The eflfigy of the goddess is borne in state; an ox is led as the chief offering. In the company come a mother to pray in behalf of her child, the sick to ask health, a poet to offer his laurel wreath, and a sailor lad with a ship's model in token of gratitude for succor at sea. The names on the walls are: Wellington, Washington, Charles Martel, Cyrus, Alex- Peacei ander, Hannibal, Cssar, Charlemagne, Napoleon, Jackson, Sheridan, Grant, Sherman, William the Conqueror, Frederick the Great, Eugene, Marlborough, Nelson, Scott, Farragut. Northwest Pavilion. Art, Literature, Mnsle and Science.— By W. L. Dodge. In Art a student is drawing from a model, while a sculptor is seen chiseling a sphinx, and a woman decorating a vase. Literature has for its leading personage the Genius of Wisdom holding an open book, with Tragedy and Comedy, a poet about to be crowned by Fame, and a mother instructing her children. In Music, Apollo is accompanied bv other musicians. In Science Klectricity, with phonograph and telephone, kneels to receive from winged Fame the laurel wreath of renown; Franklin's kite is seen on the ground. Steam Navigation is represented by an inventor holding a model of a propeller; Agriculture by a farmer binding gram; Medical Science by anatomists examining a skull; Chemistry by a retort, and the application of Steam Power by a tea-kettle with the steam escaping from the spout. In the ceiling is an allegory of AmbiUon by the same artist. Various aspirants having attained the utmost verge of human endeavor. with eager gaze and arms outstretched, reach toward Glory, floating far above them, bearing a wreath, and attended by her winged horse Pegasus and trumpeting Fame. 82 The Library of Congress. Northeast Pavilion. The Seals of the United States and the Executive Departments are the motives ol the decorations by W. B. Van Ingen and E. E. Garnsey. Wreathed panels contain patriotic sentiments; female iigures idealize the Departments whose seals they tupport emblazoned on shields. Treasury and State. — For one is shown the familiar Treasury building; for the other are the Capitol Dome and the Washington Monument. *Tis our true policy to steer clear of permanent alliance with any portion of the foreign world. — ^Washington. Let our object be our country, our whole country, and nothing but our country.— Thank God! I also am an American. — Webster. War and Navy, — ^The genii supporting the seals are equipped with Army and Navy swords; for the Army are the Roman standard (modified to show the initials U. S.'A.) and the Bunker Hill Monument; for the Navy the masts of the battleship Indiana and Decatur's rostral column at Annapolis. The aggregate happiness of society is, or ought to be, the end of all government. — ^To be prepared for war is one of the most effectual means of preserving peace. — Washington. Agriculture and Interior. — For Agriculture the background is of a farming country, in that of the Interior is represented the Indian's tree sepulture. The agricultural interest of the country is connected with every other, and superior in importance to them all. — ^Jackson. Let us have peace. — Grant Justice and the Post Office. — The symbols are the Scales of Justice, and a bronze statue of Mercury, the messenger of the gods. Equal and exact justice to all men, of whatever state or persuasion, religious or polit- ical; peace, commerce, and honest friendship with all nations — entangling alliances with none. — ^Jefferson, The Great Seal of the United States in the ceiling is surrounded by a decoration com- prising the forty-eight stars of the flag; the cardinal winds. North, East, South and West, represented by blowing faces, and symbolical of the geographical divisions of the Union; fruits and grains as typical products of each section of the country; and the cornucopia of Agriculture, dolphin of Commerce, lyre of Art, and torch of Education. Encircling the whole is the conclusion of Lincoln's Gettysburg Address (see the Arlington chapter) : That this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom; and that government of the people, by the people, for the people shall not perish from tlie earth. The Reading Room. The Reading Room. — Ascending the stairway from the East Corridor we enter the Visitors' Gallery, where an excellent view is afforded of the Rotunda or central Reading Room. The vast apartment is imposing in size and effective in architectural design and color scheme of marble walls and pillars and tiers of arches and balustrades, and the uplifted dome with its elaborate stucco ornamentation. The room is loo-ft. in diameter and i2S-ft. in height ; the pillars are 40- ft. high, the windows 32-f t. wide. The richness of the color effect lies in the marbles, of which the dark are from Ten- nessee, the red from Numidia, and the shades of yellow from Siena. The stucco ornaments of the dome are in old ivory — Martiny's female figures sup- porting cartouches ; Weinert's winged half-figures ; winged boys with wreaths and garlands, torches, lamps, swans, eagles, dolphins and arabesques. The Symbolical Statnea. — Upon the eight piers are female figures of colossal stature, above each is a quotation chosen by President Eliot, of Harvard: Religion, by Baur, holding a flower. What doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, to love mercy and to walk humbly with thy God? — Uicah vj:8. The Reading Room. 83 Commerce, by Flanagan, holding miniature locomotive and ship; We taste the spice of Arabia, yet never feel the scorching sun which brings them forth — Considerations on Bast India Trade. History, by French, with book and reflecting mirror. One God, one law, one element. And one far-off divine event, To which the whole creation moves.— Tennyson. Art, by St. Gaudens and Dozzi, laurel-crowned, with a model of the Parthenon for architecture, a brush and palette for painting, and a mallet for sculpture: As one lamp lights another, nor grows less. So nobleness enkindleth nobleness. — Lowell. Philosophy, by Pratt, with book: The inquiry, knowledge, and belief of truth is the sovereign good of human nature. — Bacon Poetry, by Ward, with scroll: Hither as to their fountain, other stars Repairing, in their golden urns draw light. — Milton. Law, by Bartlett, with the stone table of the laws and a scroll: Of law there can be no less acknowledged than that her voice is the harmony of the world. — Hooker. Science, by Donoghue, with a globe and triangle and mirror: The heavens declare the glory of God; and the iirmament showeth his handiwork. — Psalms xix:l. Bronze Statues. — Looking down from the railing of the gallery under the dome, stand sixteen bronze statues of characters distinguished in the several fields of learning and achievement represented by the symbolical statues: . Religion — Moses (by Niehaus) and St, Paul (by Donoghue). Moses is represented as the great law-giver, with the Tables of the Law delivered on Sinai. St. Paul has sword and scroll. CoHUEKCE — Columbus (by Bartlett) and Fulton (by Potter). Fulton holds a model of his first steamboat, the "Clermont." History — Herodotus, the "Father of History" (by French), and Gibbon, historian of the "Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire" (by Niehaus). Art— Michael Angela (by Bartlett) and Beethoven (by Baur). Philosophy — Plato and Bacon (both by Boyle). Poetry — Homer (by Gaudens) and Shakespeare (by Macmonnies). Law — Solon (by Ruckstuhl) and Kent (by Bissell). Solon, the Athenian law-giver, holds out the scroll of "The Laws" (Oi Nomoi), and supports a reversed sword twined with olive. James Kent is represented as holding the manuscript of his celebrated "Com- mentaries on American Law." , Science — Newton (by Dallin) and Henry fby Adams). Prof. Joseph Henry holds an electro-magnet, suggesting his work in electro-magnetism. The Progreiss of Civilization, by E. H. Blashfield, in the Collar of the Dome, which is 150 feet in circumference, is a symbolism of the twelve nations and epochs which have contributed to the world's advance. Egypt (Written Records) holds a tablet of hieroglyphics, and the Egyptian taucross emblem of immortality. On the throne is the cartouche of Mena, the first king of Egypt. At the feet of the figure is a case of papyrus scrolls. JUDEA {Religion) wears the vestments of the Jewish High Priest. The emblems are scroll and censer. The stone tablet bears the Hebrew text, Leviticus xix:18: "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself." Gkeece (Philosophy) is a classic figure wearing a diadem; the symbols are scroll and bronze lamp. Rome (Administration) is pictured as a Roman centurion in armor; the emblems are the sword, the fasces and baton of authority, and the marble column. Islam (Physics) costumed as an Arabian, has glass retort and book of MathcmaUc*. Middle Ages (Modern Languages) is accompanied by the emblematic acceuoriu •» 84 The Library of Congress. casque and sword typifying the Age of Chivalry, Gothic cathedral for architecture de- velopment, and papal tiara and keys of St. Peter for the part of the Church. The face is a characterization from Mary Anderson's. Italy {Fine Arts) has brush and palette for painting, statuette of Michael Angelo's David for sculpture, violin for music, capital for architecture. Germany {Art of Printing) is represented as an early printer, in fifteenth century garb, reading a proofsheet from the primitive hand press. The face is a characterization from that of Gen. Thomas Lincoln Casey. Spain {Discovery) appears as a navigator, in sailor's leather jerkin, hand on tiller, and sword in lap; by his side a globe, at his feet model of a caravel. England {Literature), laurel-crowned and in Elizabethan costume, holds Shakespeare's plays, showing facsimile of the title page of "A Midsummer Night's Dream," 1600. The face is the characterization of Ellen Terry's. France {Emancipation) is the animated figure of a woman wearing liberty cap and tri- color jacket, and equipped with sword, drum and trumpet. She is seated upon a cannon, and holds out the "Declaration des Droits de I'Homme" of 1798. The features are of the artist's wife. America {Science). —The scientific genius of our own country is typified by an elec- trical engineer, with book and dynamo. The face is a characterization from that of Abraham Lincoln. The Human Understanding.— In the Crown of the Lantern, Mr. Blashfield has painted The Human Understanding, in the allegorical figure of a woman floating among clouds, and attended by two children genii. With uplifted gaze she is looking from finite human achievement, as indicated in the fresco of Civilization below, to the infinite, which is beyond. One of the genii holds a closed book, the other beckons those below. The WindOTVS. — ^The stained-glass decoration of the great arched windows by H. T. Schladermundt, is a composition of the arms of the Union and of the States, alternating with torches and wreathed faces. With each State is given the date of its ratification of the Constitution, admission into the Union, or Territorial organization. The Clock over the entrance, by John Flanagan, is of marble and bronze; the details are Signs of the Zodiac, Flight of Time, Seasons, Day and Night. Manuscripts, Books and Elngravings are displayed in the several halls of the second floor. The exhibits comprise very rare arid valuable examples. The Book Stacks devised by Mr. Bernard R. Green consist of a series of cast-iron frameworks supporting tiers of shelves, and rising in nine stories to the roof. The book shelving now in the building amounts to 831,680 running feet, or about forty-four miles, which will accommodate 2,085,120 volumes of books, reckoning nine to the foot. The capacity of the additional shelving, which may be placed, is about 2,500,000 volumes, and the ultimate capacity of the building for books is therefore upward of 4,500,000 volumes, or somewhat less than one hundred miles of shelving. An ingenious mechanism delivers books from the stacks to the Reading Room. From the Reading Room an endless cable runs down to the basement and up through the stack to the top, and back again. To it are attached book carriers. When a book is called for at the desk, the slip is sent by pneumatic tube to the clerk in the book stack; he puts the book into a receptacle, from which it is taken automatically by the book carrier and carried to the Reading Room, the whole process consuming but a few minutes. For the convenience of Congress, books are sent directly from the Reading Room to the Capitol through a tunnel. The liibrary was founded in 1800, Congress appropriating for it $5,000. It has twice suffered by fire — in 1814, when the Capitol was buurned. and in 1851. Special collections acquired have been Thomas Jefferson's Library, the Force Historical Collection in 1865, Smithsonian Library in 1807, Toner Collection of Washingtoniana in 1882. A prolific source of accessions has been the copyright system, which requires the deposit here of two copies of every copyrighted work. Any one may use the Library, but books may be drawn out only by members of Con- gress, the President, Supreme Court, and Government officials. The Library of Congress. 85 C{)e Hilirar^ aucitattons The Poets, who on earth have made us heirs Of truth and pure delight by heavenly lays.— Wokdswokth. Art is long and Time is fleeting. — Longfellow. The history of the world is the biography of great men.— Cakiyli. Order is Heaven's first law. — Pope. Memory is the treasurer and guardian of all things. — Ciceeo. Beauty is the creator of the universe. — Emerson. This is the state of man: To-day he puts forth The tender leaves of hopes; to-morrow blossoms. And bears his blushing honors thick upon him, The third day comes a frost and nips his root, and then he falls. — King Henry VIII. (Adapted'). Beholding the bright countenance of Truth in the quiet and still air of delightful studies. — Milton. The true University of these days is a Collection of Books. — Carlyle. Nature is the art of God. — Sir Thomas Browne. There is no work of genius which has not been the delight of mankind. — Lowell. It is the mind that makes the man, and our vigor is in our immortal soul. — Ovid. They are never alone that are accompanied with noble thoughts. — Sir Philip Sidney. Man is one world, and hath another to attend him. — Herbert. Tongues in trees, books in the running brooks. Sermons in stones, and good in everything. — As You Like It, Books will speak plain when counselors blanch. — Bacon. Glory is acquired by virtue, but preserved by letters. — Petrarch. The foundation of every state is the education of its youth. — Dionysids. The light shineth in darkness, and the darkness comprehendetb it not — St. John i: s. In the Librarian's Room. Litera scripta monet — ^The written letter remains (Literature endures). In tenebris lux — Light in darkness. Liber delectatio anima — A book is the delight of the mind. Efficiunt clarum studio — They make clear by study. Dulce ante omnia Musa — ^The sweetness of the Muse before all else. The Greek Heroes, One equal temper of heroic hearts, Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield. — Tennyson, Ulysses, A glorious company, the flower of men To serve as model for the mighty world. And be the fair beginning of a time.— Tennyson, Guinevere. To the souls of fire, I, Pallas Athena, give more fire; and those who are manful, a might more than man's. — Kingsley. Ancient of days' August Athena I Where are thy men of might? thy grand in soul? Gone— glimmering through the dream of things that were. — Bykoh, Childi Hareli. 86 The Library of Congress. Wi)C %ihtatv ©uotations The chief glory of every people arises from its authors. — Dr. Johnson. Knowledge comes but wisdom lingers. — Tennyson. Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore, get wisdom; and with all thy getting get understanding. — Proverbs iv:7. Ignorance is the curse of God, Knowledge the wing wherewith we fly to Heaven. — 2 Henry VI. How charming is divine Philosophy. — Milton. Books must follow sciences and not sciences books. — Bacon. In books lies the soul of the whole past time. — Carlyle. Words are also actions and actions are a kind of words. — Emerson. Dwells within the soul of every Artist iNo real Poet ever wove in numbers More than all his efforts can express. All his dream. No great Thinker ever lived and taught you , . . . • ^?J^ ^^^ ^^} ^J"^^^^ All the wonder that his soul received. ^^-e twin mysteries, different, yet the same. No true Painter ever set on canvas V?7^ ™t^ ^^^^7^' but vain is the endeavor All the glorious vision he conceived. -^^^ its boundless riches to unfold. No Musician ^^^ ^"*^ Love speak; but their words must be But be sure he heard, and strove to render, Like sighings of illimitable forests. Feeble echoes of celestial strains. — Adelaide Proctor, Unexpressed. There is but one temple in the universe, and that is the body of noan. — Novalis. The first creature of God was the light of sense; the last was the light of reason. - — Bacon. The true Shekinah is man. — Chrysostom. Only the actions of the just Smell sweet and blossom in the dust. — ^James Shirley. Science is organized knowledge. — Herbert Spencer. Beauty is truth, truth beauty. — Keats. Too low they build who iuild beneath the stars. — Young. Man raises, but time weighs. — Greek Proverb. Beneath the rule of men entirely great The pen is mightier than the sword. — Bulwer Lytton. The noblest motive is the public good. — Virgil. A little learning is a dangerous thing; Drink deep, or taste not the Pierian spring. — Pope. Learning is but an adjunct to ourself. — Love's Labour's Lost. Studies perfect nature, and are perfected by experience. — Bacon. Dreams, books, are each a wOrld; and books, we know. Are a substantial world, both pure and good. — Wordsworth. With the Muses. Descend, ye Nine, descend and sing; Wake into voice each silent string. Oh, Heaven-born sisters, source of art. Who charm the sense or mend the heart. Say, will you bless the bleak Atlantic shore, And in the west bid Athens rise once more! —Pope (Adapted). o u m H i-l U H M 15 U w 15 W o Ah ►J W in O o o, u L^ /fr o Q iz; PRUDENCE. Cornell University Library NA6681.R461910 Library of Congress :a practical guide : 3 1924 015 058 807 I r If ii