Thrilling Story of the WONDERFUL 
 
 CAPITOL BUILDING 
 
 AND ITS 
 
 MARVELOUS DECORATIONS 
 
 BY 
 
 SMITH D. FRY 
 
 COPYRIGHT, 1911 
 By SMITH D. FRY 
 
 SECOND EDITION 
 PRICE 25 CTS. 
 
 ^ 
 
(gCl.A32768? 
 
 
DEDICATION 
 
 ^O JAMES SCHOOLCRAFT SHERMAN, 
 Vice-President of the United States; to 
 Champ Clark, Speaker of the House 
 of Representatives ; to Elhott Woods, 
 Superintendent of the Capitol; to Henry 
 Casson, Sergeant-at-arms of the House of Represen- 
 tatives; and to Daniel Moore Ransdell, Sergeant-at- 
 arms of the United States Senate, this work is heartily 
 dedicated, because their practical friendship made 
 possible the preparation and dissemination of this Story 
 of the Capitol. 
 
 The Author. 
 
GODDESS OF FREEDOM. 
 
INTRODUCTORY 
 
 ^HIS little book is not a guide book. 
 Xo matter wliere 3-011 travel, you will 
 always need a livuig guide. So-called 
 guide books are misleading misno- 
 mers. 
 
 After you have seen the Capitol, with a guide, you 
 will want to carry home with you a brief but com- 
 prehensive s'ory of the beauties and the wonders 
 which you have seen. You will want this story to show 
 to your friends, and also to refresh your memory con- 
 cerning the most wonderful public building in the whole 
 big world. 
 
 All of the experience of a lifetime of journalism; 
 all of the experience acquired in "boiling down" long 
 stories ; all of the experience accjuired in ruthlessly 
 cutting down "stuff" to be wired ; all of these have 
 been used in telling the complete story of the Capitol 
 in as brief a space as possible. 
 It is all here, in these - few pages. 
 
ON THE EAST FRONT 
 
 ■^TAXDIXG on the portico of the East Front 
 
 Sof the Capitol, we have before us the 
 Capitol Plaza, on the other side of which 
 stands the Library of Congress with its 
 -Ji gold-covered dome. Previous to the 
 erection of that Library, the little Hindu 
 Temple of Taj-]\Lahal was admitted to be the most 
 beautiful building in the world; but the Library across 
 the Plaza now takes the palm, for it is unquestionably 
 the most beautiful building in the world. 
 
 This Capitol building, the beauties and magnificence 
 of which we are about to see, stands upon the brow 
 qf a hill, has a parkage of sixty acres, and is the most 
 imposing public building on earth. 
 
 You have read in some newspapers that the Presi- 
 dent-elect is inaugurated on the East Front of the 
 Capitol ; but that is not true. The news writers who 
 are exact will tell 3'ou that there is a platform built, 
 beginning on the East Front top step, extending out 
 two hundred feet into the Plaza, sloping down to 
 within ten feet of the ground; and away out there, 
 three hundred feet east of this East Front, the Presi- 
 dent-elect goes and meets the Chief Justice of the 
 Supreme Court of the United States, from him re- 
 ceives the oath of office, and then he delivers his 
 inaugural address. 
 
 On the Fourth of March there are no leaves on the 
 trees, and upward of fifty thousand people, thronging 
 
ROGERS BRONZE DOORS. 
 
9 
 
 the Plaza, although they cannot hear the inaugural 
 address, can see their President inaugurated and can 
 tell it when they return home. If he were inaugurated 
 here on the East Front, comparatively few" people could 
 see him, and almost none could hear his address. 
 
 THE MARBLE ANNEXES 
 
 Over the north side of the Plaza you see a large 
 marble building, and there is another one on the south 
 side. Each one of these buildings covers an entire 
 block of ground, and each building cost $3,500,000, 
 a total of $7,000,000. 
 
 Once there was a man in high position who talked 
 about "race suicide" in our country. He might have 
 said less if he had known that the growth in popu- 
 lation of our Republic made those immense marble 
 buildings necessary, because the increased volume of 
 business from our constantly increasing population 
 made the immense Capitol too small for the national 
 workshop. There was not. room enough in the great 
 Capitol for the Senators and Representatives to handle 
 the tons of mail wdiich came to them. 
 
 These marble buildings are the Senate Annex on the 
 north and the House Annex on the south side of the 
 Plaza. Visually they are separate from the Capitol, 
 but actually they are parts of the original building, with 
 which they are connected by tunnels, or subways, as 
 wide as the East Front Portico. These tunnels are used 
 as the corridors are used. In the Senate tunnel there 
 are little automobiles for the statesmen of the Senate. 
 This is because there are more elderly statesmen in the 
 Senate than in the House of Representatives. 
 
II 
 THE ROGERS BRONZE DOORS 
 
 Standing on the Portico of the East Front, turning 
 to the Capitol entrance, we come to the Rogers Bronze 
 Doors, the best and largest bronze doors on any public 
 building in the world. Of course, we all know that 
 the Baptistry Doors at Florence, Italy, are larger than 
 the Rogers Doors; but they are not on a public build- 
 ing. That is a sacred edifice. 
 
 On the left of the great door case you see the 
 inscription: "Designed and modeled by Randolph 
 Rogers, 1858." 
 
 They are the product of an American brain. Rogers 
 was a young American art student in Rome when he 
 designed and modeled the doors. The work of the 
 artist is perfect. Fortunately, the casting also is perfect, 
 and was done in the best bronze foundry in the world, 
 in i860, that of Fritz Von Miller, in Munich, Bavaria. 
 They were placed in their present position in 1865, at 
 a cost of $28,500, and they weigh approximately ten 
 tons. Being the largest and the most perfect and the 
 best, the Rogers Doors comport well with the magnifi- 
 cent Capitol building. 
 
 On the four corners of the door casings are depicted 
 the four continents. The crowned head, of course, 
 represents Europe. Above it is a good type of Asia. 
 On the opposite side is a type of Africa, and beneath 
 it is a strong t3'pe of America. Above the transom is 
 a bust of Columbus. 
 
 On the sides of the doors are sixteen statuettes of 
 participants in the development of the New World. In 
 the centers of the doors are the heads of six of the 
 celebrated historians of that period. 
 
13 
 
 On the panels are scenes from the Hfe of Columbus. 
 The lower panel on the left or south door represents 
 Columbus before the council of Salamanca soliciting 
 aid, which was denied him. The panel above shows 
 Cohmibus before the convent La Ribida, where he 
 received a letter of commendation from Father Perez, 
 to Queen Isabella, whose father confessor he had been. 
 The panel above shows Columbus before the Queen and 
 King consort, from whom he received the appropria- 
 tion with which he is seen, on the top panel, departing 
 on his first vo.vage. 
 
 On the entablature is a splendid art work of the 
 Landing of Columbus. The top panel of the right side 
 or north door is a picture of Columbus departing 
 from America bearing with him natives to prove his 
 discovery. The panel below represents his royal re- 
 ception at Barcelona. The next panel depicts his re- 
 call and arrest on false charges. The lower panel 
 depicts the death of Columbus in prison at Valladolid, 
 receiving the last rites of his church. 
 
 The marvelous attention to detail on every inch 
 and pin point of these doors, and their perfect cast- 
 ing, gives them the front rank among all bronze art- 
 work doors on public buildings. 
 
 THE ROTUNDA 
 
 Passing through the Rogers Doors, we enter the 
 Capitol Rotunda, and stand beneath the grandest dome 
 in the world. It is one hundred feet in diameter and 
 one hundred and eighty feet from floor to canopy. 
 The Rotunda is aptly termed "Uncle Sam's big recep- 
 tion room," for here all of the guests of the Republic 
 ■come. 
 
15 
 
 Let us turn to the left and approach the large paint- 
 ing of "The Baptism of Pocahontas." After admiring 
 this excellent work of modern art, let us turn about 
 and look at the other large paintings. Opposite to us, 
 on the right, is "The Embarkation of the Pilgrims ;" 
 next is "The Landing of Columbus," and next "The 
 Discovery of the ]\Iississippi River." These four paint- 
 ings cost $12,000 each. They are worth the money 
 which they cost, and are also worthy of the niches 
 they till in the great Rotunda.* 
 
 But these four paintings are out of the imaginations 
 of the artists, and they are secondary to the paintings 
 on the west side of the Rotunda, the Trumbull paint- 
 ings, which cost only $8,000 each. The Trumbull 
 paintings represent actual events, just as they did 
 occur, and they are not out of the imagination of the 
 artists. 
 
 Colonel John Trumbull was present and sketched 
 "The Declaration of Independence," right on the spot 
 in Independence Hall, on July 4, 1776. This painting 
 had the approval of Thomas Jefiferson and all of the 
 surviving members of the Continental Congress. These 
 are good likenesses of them, and this great painting is 
 beyond price. 
 
 Trumbull's painting of "The Surrender of General 
 Burgoyne, at Saratoga," is from a sketch made on the 
 battlefield, and it also is historically correct and had 
 the approval of many surviving officers of the Ameri- 
 can Army. 
 
 "The Surrender of Lord Cornwallis, at Yorktown," 
 is also one of Trumbull's works historically exact. It 
 represents General Lincoln, in the center, conducting^ 
 the defeated British troops between the lines of their 
 
17 
 conquerors, the Americans on the right, and the French 
 on the left. Washington sits on his horse beneath the 
 American flag, and the Count de Rochambeau on the 
 left beneath the French flag. When that picture was 
 shown to the ]\Iarquis de Lafayette, without comment, 
 in 1824, he exclaimed : "That is what occurred at York- 
 town." 
 
 The fourth of the Trumbull paintings represents 
 ''General Washington Resigning His Commission as 
 Commander-in-Chief of the Continental Armies." The 
 resignation was made to the Continental Congress, 
 sitting in the State House at Annapolis, Maryland, 
 December 2^,, 1783. This painting had the approval 
 of Charles Carroll, of Carrollton, and of many other 
 participants in or witnesses of the event. If you 
 should visit Annapolis to-day you will find that it ap- 
 pears precisly as it does in that painting. The little 
 old gallery is still there in which Martha Washington 
 stood, with her three daughters by a former marriage. 
 
 These Trumbull paintings, representing as they do 
 actual events and preserving for all time the beginning 
 of the War of the Revolution in the Declaration of 
 Independence, the next great event, the capture of the 
 British army of the Xorth at Saratoga, then the cap- 
 ture of the British army of the South at Yorktown, 
 and the close of the war, when Washington finally with- 
 drew from military service as commander of the Revo- 
 lutionary armies, are the most valuable paintings in 
 the possession of the Government, and are beyond com- 
 putation as to value. Xo amount of money or treasure 
 could purchase them. 
 
19 
 THE WEST FRONT 
 
 Standing on the portico of the West Front of the 
 Capitol, you see the best embowered city in the world. 
 To the right is the glass-roofed Pension Office. That 
 is a large rectangle, enclosing the largest hall in north- 
 west Washington. Every four years all of the desks 
 and papers in that immense hall are taken out and 
 stored away, so that on the night of March Fourth, 
 on Inauguration Day, that Pension Office Hall may be 
 used for the Inaugural Ball. 
 
 The churchy with two minarets for steeples, is the 
 First Presbyterian Church, the pastor of which. Rev. 
 Dr. Sunderland, went to the White House one even- 
 ing and married Grover Cleveland, aged 51, to Miss 
 Frances Folsom, aged 2^ ; and it is said that they lived 
 happily ever afterwards. 
 
 The tall steeple is over the Metropolitan Methodist 
 Episcopal Church, where President Grant worshiped 
 eight years and President McKinley worshiped for more 
 than four years. 
 
 Before us is Pennsylvania Avenue, the main thorough- 
 fare of the National Capitol City. That granite build- 
 ing with tower and clock is the Postoffice Department.; 
 The marble building, with the dome, is the New Art 
 Museum. That tall shaft, 555 feet high, is the Wash- 
 ington Monument. The brown standstone building with 
 tower and flag is over the celebrated Smithsonian Insti- 
 tution. That tall chimney to the left is over the Bureau 
 of Engraving and Printing, where all of pur paper 
 money is made. To the left of that tall chimney^ far 
 over on the Virginia hillside, is a colonial mansion, 
 with a flag waving over it. That mansion was former- 
 ly the home of Colonel Robert E. Lee, of the United 
 
21 
 
 States Army. He gave up his rank, and his splendid 
 home overlooking this city, to go into the Confederacy, 
 and become the military chieftain of that cause. 
 
 About one mile to the left of Arlington you see three 
 tall skeleton towers. Those towers constitute the key 
 of the wireless telegraph system of the Xavy Depart- 
 ment. Similar towers have been erected all along the 
 Atlantic coast, from Panama to Labrador. Great 
 Britain has erected similar towers on the west coast of 
 Ireland and at Gibraltar. Portugal and France have 
 cooperated. That wireless system covers the Atlantic 
 ocean. There can be no ocean disaster without every 
 one afloat and ashore knowing of the fact. 
 
 Moreover, that system extends west to San Fran- 
 cisco; to the Hawaiian Islands, the Island of Guam, 
 and the Philippines, thus going all around the world. 
 With a key and operator in the White House, the 
 President is in instant communication with Panama 
 and the Philippines, through the air. And yet there 
 are some good folks wdio say that they cannot believe 
 in miracles. 
 
 There is Pennsylvania Avenue, the finest parade 
 ground to be found in any capital city on earth, a mile 
 and a quarter in length, and one hundred and six feet 
 wide from curb to curb. There all of the inaugural 
 parades are displayed before the eyes of the civilized 
 world, through the eyes of the ambassadors and min- 
 isters of the nations of the world. 
 
 The inaugural parades are expensive, and should 
 be more expensive and elaborate every four years. 
 They make for the peace of the world. There the 
 ambassadors and ministers see our Army and Navy. 
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23 
 
 Army disciplined, drilled, and equipped for war. 
 They see our cadets from West Point and Annapolis, 
 marching with clock-like precision, the finest bodies 
 of drilled, trained, and educated young soldiers and 
 sailors on earth. Their alignment and manoeuvers 
 are perfect. The diplomats know that these young men 
 are to be the commanders of our Armies and Navies 
 of the future. They see one State out of forty-eight, 
 Pennsylvania, sending a complete army corps equipped 
 and ready for the field. They know that all of the 
 wealth and population of this Republic are back of our 
 military and naval equipment. These ambassadors and 
 ministers send word to their home governments that 
 they not only saw this demonstration of strength and 
 preparedness, but that they heard Uncle Sam quietly 
 whispering in their ears, indirectly but firmly : "Keep 
 your hands off the Ark of American Libert}', lest ye 
 die." 
 
 STATUARY HALL 
 
 Leaving the West Front of the Capitol, we walk 
 through the narrow corridor back to and through the 
 Rotunda, passing out the south door and into Statuary 
 Hall, commonly but erroneously called the Hall of 
 Fame. 
 
 This Hall was originally the Hall of the House of 
 Representatives, and that body held its sessions here 
 between 1807 and 1857, a period of fifty years. The 
 growth of the country in population caused increases 
 in the number of Representatives every ten years, until 
 at last this Hall became too small. The larger Hall 
 of the House of Representatives was built, and then 
 this was made Statuary Hall, each State having the 
 right to send here two statues of its most distinguished 
 citizens. 
 
25 
 
 There are several remarkable echoes in this Hall, 
 which the Capitol guides demonstrate to their guests. 
 Probabh^ the most remarkable one of them all is the 
 one over the marble block on which you see the bronze 
 tablet marking the place where former President John 
 Quincy Adams sat as a member of the House, and 
 where he fell on his desk and died, after answering a 
 roll call, February 21, 1848. 
 
 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
 
 On the way from Statuary Hall to the House of 
 Representatives we come to a great mural painting on 
 the west wall above the grand marble staircase. It is 
 called "Westward Ho." The painting depicts the strug- 
 gles and privations of the pioneers who worked their 
 way across the Continent, all the way to the Pacific 
 Ocean. On a panel beneath the great picture is a 
 glimpse of the ocean, the Golden Gate, the Bay of 
 San Francisco. 
 
 This mural painting demonstrates for all time that 
 the conquest of this Continent was not a holiday picnic, 
 but a tierce battle with hostile Indians and rugged 
 resisting nature. 
 
 When the House is not in session, we can go to tlie 
 south side of the Hall and enter the Speaker's Lobby. 
 In that long corridor we may see the pictures of all the 
 Speakers who have presided over the House of Repre- 
 sentatives from the beginning of our Government, when 
 Frederick Muhlenberg, of Pennsylvania, was elected 
 Speaker of the House in the tirst Congress. 
 
 To the south of the Speaker's Lobby is a long cor- 
 ridor named the Gold Room, because of its decorations, 
 but it is better known in modern times as the Smoking 
 
27 
 
 Room, because for that purpose it is used almost 
 exclusively. 
 
 At either end of this room there is a Bierstadt paint- 
 ing. On the east wall is a picture entitled "Dis- 
 covery of the Hudson River," and on the west wall 
 another large painting called "Landing of the Spaniards 
 at AFonterey, California, in 1601." These two paintings 
 are in the best style of Bierstadt, elaborate, but careful 
 in all matters of detail, and they are marvels of 
 history art. 
 
 Near the "Discovery of the Hudson," on the north 
 w'all of the Smoking Room, there is a weather map, and 
 it is made over every morning by an expert from the 
 Weather Bureau, so that Representatives may see at a 
 glance what is the condition of the weather at their 
 homes. 
 
 Now let us go on the floor of the Hall of the House 
 of Representatives. Here is the largest legislative hall 
 in the world, the French Chamber of Deputies being 
 next to it. On the platform on the south side is the 
 Chair of the Speaker, the presiding officer, who is 
 elected by the majority party every two years, when 
 the new Congresses begin their terms of active service. 
 
 The marble desk before that of the Speaker is the 
 Clerk's Desk, and is used by the Clerk of the House, 
 his assistants, and the reading clerks. In the center of 
 the Clerk's Desk the Chaplain stands while delivering 
 his daily invocation. 
 
 The marble desk on the floor is the desk used by 
 the stenographers. The mahogany desks at either end 
 are used by the press associations. 
 
 The main aisle in the center of the Hall divides the 
 two leading parties, the Republicans being on the west 
 and the Democrats on the east side of the Hall. 
 
CANOPY OF DOME. (bRUMIDI.) 
 
29 
 
 Above the desk of the Speaker is the Press Gallery, 
 and it is set apart for the use of special correspond- 
 ents of daily newspapers. They give accurate and re- 
 liable accounts of what things are done by the Repre- 
 sentatives from the States in which their papers cir- 
 culate. Their reports are always reliable, although 
 public opinion to the contrary has been in vogue. The 
 newspaper correspondent who sends to his managing 
 editor any statement of alleged fact which is not true 
 will promptly be discharged. This statement cannot 
 be made too emphatically and earnestly. 
 
 The members of the House of Representatives are 
 men known at their homes to be honorable men. Xo 
 man can get a nomination in your home district unless 
 he is square and upright. Xo man can go to a State 
 Legislature and ask to be elected to the United States 
 Senate if there is any stain upon his record. The 
 writer hereof has known and dealt with statesmen for 
 upward of thirty years, and he states most emphatically 
 that Senators and Representatives in the American 
 Congress are honorable men of whom our people have 
 ample reason to be proud. 
 
 X^ow, before leaving the Hall of the House, please 
 note the companion portraits on either side of the 
 Speakers Chair. They are pictures of George Wash- 
 ington, by John Vanderlyn, an American artist, and 
 Lafayette, by Ary Scheffer, a French artist. X^ote that 
 they are posed alike. They are good likenesses. 
 Lafayette personally stated that his portrait was a good 
 likeness of himself. 
 
 \\'e will go now to the elevator and view the Hall 
 of the House from the gallery. Passing around the 
 gallery corridor we come to a large painting of Abra- 
 ham Lincoln and the War Cabinet. 
 
CONSTANTINO BRUMIDI. 
 
31 
 
 The painting was made in the White House im- 
 mediately after the promulgation of the Proclamation 
 of Emancipation, and when it was completed it had 
 the approval of President Lincoln, and it is the only 
 picture of Abraham Lincoln which has the approval of 
 Lincoln himself; therefore it is of inestimable value. 
 
 After Frank Carpenter had completed the picture, 
 he tried in vain to sell it to Congress ; but he could 
 scarcely get even a fair hearing before any committee. 
 So he took his canvas back to the home of his father, 
 in Xew York, and laid it away. He was almost broken- 
 hearted, because he knew that he had a rare and valu- 
 able work of art, but nobody seemed to appreciate it. 
 
 Fifteen years elapsed when Mrs. Elizabeth Thomp- 
 son, of Hartford, Connecticut, read a fugitive news- 
 paper paragraph about the lost Lincoln picture. She 
 became interested. She sought and found Frank 
 Carpenter. She bought the painting for $25,000. 
 Then she brought it to Washington and put it in 
 the everlasting black walnut frame where it is now. 
 Then she had the frame gilded. Finally, at an ex- 
 pense of almost $30,000, Mrs. Elizabeth Thompson pre- 
 sented the picture to the Congress, and received the 
 official thanks of the legislative body. 
 
 THOMAS JEFFERSON'S STATUE 
 
 Walking down the great marble staircase we come 
 to the floor of the House of Representatives, and in 
 the corridor at the foot of the stairs we see a mag- 
 nificent statue of Thomas Jefferson by Hiram Powers, 
 the sculptor of the Greek Slave. Ladies, look at the 
 "buttonholes, worked in marble. You cannot improve 
 on them in cloth. This is a great work of art. 
 
BRUM IMS WO 
 
9^ """-"'-'-""X-IJ,. \ i 
 
MISS FRANCES E. WILLI ARD. 
 
35 
 LENGTH AND STRENGTH OF THE CAPITOL 
 
 Now we go downstairs to the ground floor and see 
 the length and strength of the building. We come to 
 the House Restaurant, which is a double restaurant. 
 One large room is "For Members Only," as the placard 
 reads. On the other side of it is a room labeled 
 "Public Restaurant." There you can find accommo- 
 dations, at reasonable prices, and many people dine 
 there. 
 
 As we pass along the corridor we notice two com- 
 pletely equipped barber shops. In one of them you 
 can get a Republican and in the other a Democratic 
 shave. 
 
 Here we are in the longest corridor in any public 
 building in the world. From the north door to the 
 south door is a distance of 751 feet. Here we can well 
 afford to wait a few minutes until all of the people 
 pass out of sight, and there you see that wonderful 
 vista, the full length of the Capitol. H you will only 
 wait a few minutes, no matter how crowded it may be, 
 the crowd always disappears, and the vista is revealed. 
 
 Now, let us traverse the corridor of the Crypt. 
 Here in the center of the Capitol, is a marble star, with 
 all of the points of the compass. Beneath this star is 
 the catafalque, where the tomb of Washington should 
 be, and that of Martha, his wife. It was the pui^iose 
 of George Washington and it was the written will of 
 Martha Washington that they should be buried here, 
 so that through openings above the visitors for all times 
 might view their last resting place. 
 
 Now, look at the strength of this building. This 
 house is like unto that of which the Bible speaks, for it 
 "is founded on a rock." So great was the weight that 
 was intended to be built up here that building from the 
 
GENERAI, R. E. LEE. 
 
2,1 
 ground up would have been unwise. These immense pillars 
 around us, and the groined arches and walls, hold up 
 about nine million pounds of structural steel and iron 
 above us in the most wonderful dome on earth. In 
 other words, there are four thousand five hundred tons 
 of dead weight over our heads, but we are perfectly 
 safe because "this house is built upon a rock." Look 
 again at the pillars and realize that no Samson can ever 
 shake the pillars of this temple, our temple of Liberty. 
 
 CORNSTALKS AND CORN 
 
 Turning aside in the little air shaft, we come to the 
 entrance to the Law Library of the Supreme Court. 
 This is a small but beautiful corridor. Here is made 
 visible a thought of Thomas Jefferson. He believed 
 that all of the pillars in our public buildings should be 
 made in imitation of corn stalks and corn. When this 
 part of the original Capitol was built, Jefferson was in- 
 fluential enough to have his idea prevail. This little 
 corridor is beautiful, and it is an emblem of Jefferson's 
 patriotism and love of country. 
 
 From here we go along the north end of the long 
 corridor, and we begin to see the work of Brumidi. 
 
 CONSTANTINO BRUMIDI, PATRIOT 
 PAINTER 
 
 You will be surprised when told that in this new 
 world, where art is but in its infancy, we have the 
 most wonderfully decorated Capitol on earth. But it 
 is true. 
 
 Before showing you his work, please listen to the 
 storv of his life. Constantino Brumidi was born in 
 
39 
 
 Italy, educated in Rome, and when only thirteen years 
 old was recognized in Rome, the world's center of 
 learning, as a budding genius, and at that tender age 
 he was admitted to the Academy of Arts in Rome. 
 When twenty-seven years of age he was selected by an 
 art commission to decorate the Vatican, and worked 
 there for three years. So, you see, the man was recog- 
 nized in the highest cricle of intelligence as being a 
 superior artist. 
 
 When about thirty years of age, Brumidi threw away 
 his brush and his great career, declaring that he would 
 never paint another stroke until he had found liberty. 
 Because of an indignity suffered by a member of his 
 family, he became a revolutionary soldier and fought 
 in vain the greater part of twenty years for liberty. 
 When almost fifty years old he was banished from Italy 
 and came to America. Here he found liberty, and be- 
 came an intensely patriotic citizen. The remaining 
 thirty years of his life he devoted to making beautiful 
 this Capitol. 
 
 When his merit was disclosed fame and fortune 
 sought him. Thousands of dollars were his for the 
 taking. He refused all allurements in these words : 
 "I have no longer any desire for fame or fortune. My 
 one ambition and my daily prayer is that I may live 
 long enough to make beautiful the Capitol of the one 
 country on earth in which there is liberty." 
 
 His prayer was answered, and he did live long enough 
 to make this Capitol the most wonderfully decorated 
 on earth. 
 
 Please note this fact. The fame of Michael Angelo 
 rests upon his work as a fresco artist. Gainsborough 
 stands in the limelight of fame for his portraits. Please 
 note that Brumidi was not greater than others in any 
 
41 
 
 one line ; but he was the most versatile artist in the 
 world, because he was great in all lines. As a designer 
 alone he is entitled to a place in history and fame. 
 But we shall soon see that Brumidi was great in all 
 lines, in that he was a designer, decorator, portrait 
 painter, fresco artist, master of the Romanesque, Ve- 
 netian, Pompeiian, Moorish, and Egyptian styles ; also 
 a painter of animals, birds, flowers, fruits, medallions, 
 and all forms of life, and he did scenic and marine 
 work well. 
 
 Now, as we pass the Senate Restaurant, which is also 
 a double restaurant, and one of the finest in the land, 
 we come to a grand corridor designed and decorated 
 by Brumidi, called the ]\Ioorish Corridor. You look 
 above and around you and have a reminder of old 
 Grenada. Look at the little masterpieces, also on the 
 walls with wonderful perspectives. 
 
 Note the fact that modern artists want you to stand 
 away five, ten, or twenty feet to view their work. Here 
 you may look at Brumidi's work on the ceiling, forty 
 feet away, or you may go to those little scenic works 
 and look at them with a microscope, for they are perfect 
 in ever}' matter of detail. 
 
 Now let us pass down this small corridor to the 
 Committee on Appropriations. On the sides of this 
 short corridor are works of art w^orth viewing carefully. 
 They show you Brumidi as a painter of animals. Then 
 in the long corridor by the Committee Room you see 
 that he w^as a painter of birds. Overhead in one panel 
 you see Brumidi as a scenic artist, and in the panel 
 alongside of it proof that he was also a great marine 
 artist. 
 
 Now, look through the screen doors at the ceiling of 
 the Committee Room and observe that the same man 
 
THE GOLD ROOM. 
 
43 
 
 gives us a beautiful exhibition of Egyptian art. All of 
 this is of Brumidi's designing and of his skilled 
 decorating. 
 
 Only a few steps to the north and we come to 
 Brumidi's Pompeiian Corridor, entirely different in 
 style from the ^Moorish and Egyptian art. Look at 
 those cerulean blues in those panels, and realize that 
 they have been there more than fifty years, and they 
 are as fresh as when they were placed there by the 
 hand of the master. 
 
 Look at that long corridor, and as you walk along 
 see that Brumidi painted there garlands of flowers, 
 baskets of fruit, and medallions of the heads of the 
 signers of the Declaration of Independence. Please 
 lightly touch these medallions with \our own hands, 
 and thus realize that they are not raised work ; not 
 relievos. Unless you touch them you cannot believe 
 that they are flat work. 
 
 PATENT CORRIDOR 
 
 At the east end of this corridor, see Brumidi's great 
 picture of the "Palisades of the Hudson.'' There is 
 Robert Fulton, his boat, the Clermont, George De 
 Witt Clinton on an easel, and the Palisades of the 
 Hudson. On one occasion the writer heard Brumidi 
 say, half wearily, "I hope that I may live to finish my 
 Palisades." When asked what remained to be done, 
 Brumidi said : ''The Palisades are not dark enough and 
 the perspective is not strong enough." That is true, 
 but the painting is complete enough to show that he 
 was a great scenic artist. 
 
 The Senate Postoffice is before us. Originally that 
 room was occupied by the Committee on Patents, and 
 
45 
 
 this is Brumidi's Patent Corridor. There you see the 
 inventor of the steamboat. Over the door to your left 
 is a picture of the discoverer of electricity. Opposite 
 to Franklin is Fiitch, who invented a steamboat when 
 Fulton invented his. But when Fulton received all of 
 the credit the mind of Futch became affected, as is dis- 
 closed by the artist on that face. 
 
 Next we take the elevator and go to the Senate 
 floor and visit the Public Reception Room of the 
 Senate. Here is a beautifully decorated room, de- 
 signed and decorated by Brumidi. On the south side 
 of the wall you see Brumidi as a portrait painter. 
 There are Washington and Jefferson sitting down and 
 Alexander Hamilton standing up. On either side of 
 the portraits you see Brumidi as a fresco artist. 
 Travelers point to that little cherub m the left corner 
 as one of the strongest bits of fresco work in the 
 world. It stands out like carved work. 
 
 Directly overhead we see some marvelous decora- 
 tive work, and on the ceiling at the north end of the 
 room you see that Brumidi was great as a Romanesque 
 artist. In this room alone you see Brumidi was a 
 great designer, decorator, portrait painter, and Roman- 
 esque artist. 
 
 You have already seen him as a designer of great 
 corridors, a painter of the Moorish, Egyptian, and 
 Pompeiian styles of art ; a painter of birds, fruits, 
 flowers, medallions, scenic and marine work. But this 
 is not all. 
 
 Brumidi decorated numerous large committee rooms 
 after the Venetian style, as you will see over the tran- 
 som there, on the ceiling of the room of the Committee 
 on the District of Columbia. Look at that ceiling. 
 Look at those shields, and realize that they are not 
 
WASHINGTON. (VANDERLYN.) 
 
47 
 raised work. Look at the scroll work around the 
 chandelier, and realize that it is not raised work. And 
 now you have seen with your own eyes that Brumidi 
 is all that was claimed for him at the outset, and this 
 is not all. His greatest work is yet to be seen. Like 
 the wine furnished at the wedding of Cana of Galilee, 
 the best is reserved for the last. 
 
 We now go to the Senate Lobby, and there we look 
 into the room of the Vice-President of the United 
 States. You ladies will never forget the chandelier; 
 but remember the commandment : "Thou shalt not 
 covet." 
 
 From here we pass into the Marble Room, the pri- 
 vate reception room of Senators, where they receive 
 their guests, and where they cannot be interrupted. 
 This is called the Marble Room because, as you see, 
 it is all marble; walls, columns, ceiling, door cases, 
 window cases, mantlepiece; all marble is the Marble 
 Room. 
 
 Now, stand on one side of the room, and see the 
 endless corridors of the Marble Room. Two splendid 
 mirrors, perfectly poised, reflect and re-reflect the chan- 
 deliers far beyond the ability of the eye to follow them 
 and count their number. This is something in optics 
 well worth seeing and remembering. 
 
 THE PRESIDENT'S ROOM 
 
 This is the most beautifully decorated office 
 room in the world, without any question. Here you 
 see Brumidi at his best. Here again he is a designer, 
 a decorator, a portrait painter, and a fresco artist. 
 The work in this room was completed just in time for 
 
LAFAYETTE. (SCHEFFER.) 
 
49 
 
 the first inauguration of President Lincoln. He was 
 the first President to use this room, and he was the 
 first President to use that table. That is a relic of the 
 martyr President, the Lincoln Table. 
 
 The home and offices of the President are in the 
 White House, and he seldom comes to the Capitol ; 
 only on official business. But when he does come to 
 the Capitol, he comes to the kind of a room that all 
 of our people want him to have, the best on earth. 
 
 You note how appropriate is the designing of Bru- 
 midi. He gives us a grand painting of the first Presi- 
 dent, and in the panels on the walls he has given us 
 good likenesses of all the members of the Cabinet of 
 the first President. 
 
 On the wonderful ceiling, just above the mirror on 
 the north wall, is the picture of Religion, in which Bru- 
 midi said he intended to demonstrate the basis of all 
 religion, the all-seeing eye of God. And he succeeded. 
 The veiled lady in that picture will follow you all 
 around the room, not only with her eyes, but her 
 cheeks also follow you. Walk slowly about the room, 
 and see with your own eyes that the all-seeing eye of 
 God is there demonstrated allegorically by the marvel- 
 ous Brumidi. 
 
 SUPREME COURT ROOM 
 
 Now we must leave the President's Room, although 
 many visitors have declared that it is too beautiful to 
 leave. We pass in these corridors the marble busts of 
 former Vice-Presidents who have presided over the 
 Senate. Opposite the main entrance to the Senate Cham- 
 ber there stands an old clock with a frame, a clock which 
 
51 
 
 has been keeping time for the Senate for ahiiost a full 
 century, and it is still in good condition and keeping 
 good time. On the shield you observe are carved 
 seventeen stars. They represent the seventeen States 
 of the Union at that time. Now we have almost three 
 times as many States, and our population has increased 
 from five millions to one hundred millions, and the 
 old clock will probably be there marking time when 
 another century shall have rolled away. 
 
 Now, as we walk southward and enter a small corri- 
 dor we step over a corrugated door mat. This is the 
 north front of the original Capitol building. You see 
 the doorway entering the Rotunda, just beyond the 
 circular air shaft. Well, this is the north door and 
 that is the south door of the Capitol, the corner stone 
 of which was laid by George Washington, September 
 i8, 1793. From this beginning, the Capitol has grown 
 with the growth of our constantly growing country. 
 
 This beautiful room on our left is the Supreme 
 Court Chamber. This was originally the Senate Cham- 
 ber, and was occupied by the Senate during a period 
 of sixty years, from 1800 to i860. Then the new 
 Senate Chamber was completed and occupied, and this 
 old Senate Chamber was set apart for the uses of the 
 Supreme Court. 
 
 Right beneath the clock, in the center of the "Su- 
 preme Bench," as it is usually called, the Chief Justice 
 sits. There are eight Associate Justices, and four of 
 them sit on each side of the Chief Justice. Those nine 
 men, learned in the law, constitute the highest court of 
 our Republic, the court of last resort. 
 
 Now as we re-enter the Rotunda, where we began our 
 tour of the Capitol, you will observe that we have re- 
 served "the best wine until the last." Let us stand to the 
 
CORNSTALKS AND CORN. 
 
53 
 
 left of this entrance, with our backs to the wall, be- 
 cause this is a good viewpoint for the great Canopy 
 above us. Away up there i8o feet from the floor, 
 painted on a copper bowl 65 feet in diameter, with a 
 concavity of 21 feet, you see Brumidi's "Spirit of 
 Washington.'' 
 
 There you see almost 5,000 square feet of the best 
 Romanesque art work in the world. Every stroke of 
 the brush on that immense surface was made with scien- 
 tific accuracy, to be seen at a distance of 180 feet. So 
 perfect is the work that it does not seem to be more 
 than 100 feet from us. 
 
 And now please walk across the Rotunda almost to 
 the south side, and look at Brumidi's last work, the 
 fresco frieze work 75 feet from the floor. That is not 
 statuary, nor raised work. It is as flat as the floor on 
 which we stand, and yet a majority of the people be- 
 lieve it to be statuary until told the contrary. 
 
 When Brumidi was approaching the eightieth year of 
 his age the designer sketched frescoes to go all around the 
 Rotunda, wisely leaving two niches vacant for historic 
 events yet to occur. But as the tireless patriotic painter 
 was nearing the close of his life he did not live to 
 finish the work which he had outlined. He produced 
 the "Landing of Columbus," "Cortez entering Mexico.'^ 
 "Pizarro with the Sword Conquering Peru," "The Mid- 
 night Burial of De Soto," ''Pocahontas Saving the Life 
 of Captain John Smith," "The Landing of the Pilgrims," 
 and "Penn's Treaty with the Indians." 
 
 Please note particularly the picture, where you see a 
 man kneeling by a chest. Over the heads of those 
 figures on the left is a dark background. In the left 
 of the picture you can see the faces and even the linea- 
 ments of the faces of the Indians. On the right, you can 
 
55 
 barely make out that they have faces, and the third 
 Indian on the right seems to be without a face at all. 
 
 Brumidi kept everlastingly at it until within three 
 weeks of his death, and there you see his last work. 
 When he was gone another came to finish his sketches, 
 and the work fades off to the right in an ashen gray 
 condition. This demonstrates more than anything else 
 shown in the Capitol that Brumidi was matchless. 
 
 That the name of Brumidi and the story of his won- 
 derful work have not been known to the American 
 people is not due to lack of appreciation, but to the 
 fact that there has been no one with time and acquaint- 
 ance with his work to tell the people about it. Here- 
 after you and I and our friends will tell the story, 
 and before long all of our school children shall know 
 and take pride in the fact that we have the most 
 wonderfully decorated Capitol in the world, and that 
 we owe it to the patriot painter, Constantino Brumidi. 
 
 THE SENATE CHAMBER 
 
 When the Congress is in session the Senate and the 
 House of Representatives convene at noon, and to the 
 Senate we will now go. Taking the first elevator to 
 the gallery floor, we first go to the north gallery and 
 see the ]\Ioran paintings. Here we have the picturesque 
 in American scenery. There, standing near the window 
 with our backs to the light, we see the "Chasm of the 
 Colorado" and the "Grand Canon of the Yellowstone." 
 These are two of the best paintings of their character 
 in the United States. 
 
 Xext we take a look at the "Electoral Commission." 
 In the winter of 1876-77 the Congress was unable to 
 determine who had been elected President of the 
 
57 
 
 United States, Samuel J. Tilden or Rutherford B. 
 Hayes. The Congress created an Electoral Commis- 
 sion, consisting of five members of the Senate, five 
 members of the House of Representatives, and five 
 Justices of the Supreme Court. That Commission ex- 
 amined the law, facts, and evidence, and concluded that 
 the vote of the State of Florida should be cast for 
 Hayes, and he was declared elected President, and was 
 inaugurated. That trial brought to the Supreme Court 
 room all of the distinguished men of that time. i\Irs. 
 Cornelia Adele Fassett, an artist of superior merit, con- 
 cluded to preserve the scene for all time, and you see 
 what a splendid success she made of it. In this paint- 
 ing we have good likenesses of all the eminent men of 
 that day, and they are thus preserved forever. 
 
 On the way to the Senate Gallery w^e come to Powell's 
 immense canvas, "The Battle of Lake Erie." There 
 is a good likeness of Commodore Perry, a good like- 
 ness of his brother, Alexander Perry, a perfect repro- 
 duction of the Commodore's cutter, in which they were 
 Towed across Put-in-Bay from the sinking flagship on 
 the left, the Lai\.'rcncc, to the Xia-^ara, on the right. 
 They reached the Niagara in safet}-, made that the flag- 
 ship and then won the great victory. This painting" 
 shows exactly what occurred during the battle. 
 
 Xow we enter the Senate Gallery ; the Ladies" Gal- 
 lery. Opposite to us, back of the clock, is the Press 
 Gallery of the Senate. Beneath the clock, in the alcove, 
 is the mahogany chair of the Vice-President of the 
 United States, who presides over the Senate, as the 
 Speaker presides over the House. 
 
 The long desk is for the uses of the Secretary of the 
 Senate, the Chief Clerk, and reading clerks. 
 
59 
 
 The little mahogany tables are for the stenographers, 
 who take down in shorthand every word that is uttered 
 in debate. Within an hour after a Senator makes a 
 speech his utterances are in cold type at the Govern- 
 ment Printing Office, ready for publication on the fol- 
 lowing morning in the Congressional Record. 
 
 Promptly at noon the Vice-President enters the 
 Chamber, accompanied by the Chaplain. They ascend 
 the dais, the Vice-President stopping beside the desk, 
 the Chaplain ascending to the Vice-President's place. 
 The Vice-President with a small ivory gavel, strikes 
 the desk once. All present immediately rise and stand 
 while the Chaplain offers prayer. Upon the conclusion 
 of the invocation, the Chaplain retires, the Vice-Presi- 
 dent assumes his chair, and says : 
 
 "The Senate will be in order. The Secretary wi!l 
 read the journal of the last legislative day's, pro- 
 ceedings." 
 
 And the new legislative day is begun. 
 
 BRUMIDI'S METHODS 
 
 Many people inquire how it was possible for Bru- 
 midi to accomplish such an enormous amount of art 
 work. The great designer and decorator prepared his 
 colors according to methods known only to himself. 
 They were mixed or triturated by employees under 
 Brumidi's direction. Leslie and others covered the 
 walls with backgrounds, under Brumidi's direction. 
 Other near artists made outlines, according to direc- 
 tions of the tireless worker. But all of the artistic 
 work was finished by the hand of the matchless 
 Brumidi himself. 
 
THE MARBLE ROOM. 
 
THE PRESIDENT S ROOM. 
 
For additional copies, enclose 27 cent Money Orders 
 
 to SMITH D. FRY. 16 FOURTH STREET 
 NORTHEAST .. WASHINGTON. D. C. 
 
OCT »? 1912 
 
BRUMIDIS LAST WORK. 
 
SSy '^ CONGRESS 
 
 pnn 
 
 014 369 067 2 L 
 
 FACE OF THE GODDESS. 
 
 Photographed on top of Capitol Dome by Leroy J. McNeely, 
 
 of Dubuque, Iowa. 
 
 1