Part 36 (2/2)

From a letter of ANGELO TRIVIGIANO, of Granada, Spain, dated August 1, 1501.

I have seen so much of Columbus that we are now on a footing of great friends.h.i.+p. He is experiencing at present a streak of bad luck, being deprived of the King's favor, and with but little money.

THE VALPARAISO STATUE.

At Valparaiso, Chili, a bronze statue of Columbus has been erected on a marble pedestal. The figure, which is of heroic size, stands in an advancing att.i.tude, holding a cross in the right hand.

COLUMBUS AND THE EGG.

Dr. P. H. VAN DER WEYDE. In an article in the _Scientific American_, June, 1892.

The stupid anecdote of the egg was a mere trifling invention, in fact a trick, and it is surprising that intelligent men have for so many years thoughtlessly been believing and repeating such nonsense. For my part, I can not believe that Columbus did ever lower himself so far as to compare the grand discovery to a trick. Surely it was no trick by which he discovered a new world, but it was the result of his earnest philosophical convictions that our earth is a globe, floating in s.p.a.ce, and it could be circ.u.mnavigated by sailing westward, which most likely would lead to the discovery of new lands in the utterly unknown hemisphere beyond the western expanse of the great and boisterous Atlantic Ocean; while thus far no navigator ever had the courage to sail toward its then utterly unknown, apparently limitless, western expanse.

THE MAN OF THE CHURCH.

Padre GIOCCHINO VENTURA, an eloquent Italian preacher and theologian. Born at Palermo, 1792; died at Versailles, August, 1861.

Columbus is the man of the Church.

ATTENDANT FAME SHALL BLESS.

The Venerable GEORGE WADDINGTON, Dean of Durham, an English divine and writer. Died, July 20, 1869. From a poem read in Cambridge in 1813.

And when in happier days one chain shall bind, One pliant fetter shall unite mankind; When war, when slav'ry's iron days are o'er, When discords cease and av'rice is no more, And with one voice remotest lands conspire, To hail our pure religion's seraph fire; Then fame attendant on the march of time, Fed by the incense of each favored clime, Shall bless the man whose heav'n-directed soul Form'd the vast chain which binds the mighty whole.

Columbus continued till death eager to extend his discoveries, and by so doing to promote the glory of his persecutors.

VANDERLYN'S PICTURE AT WAs.h.i.+NGTON.

The first of the eight pictures in the rotunda of the Capitol at Was.h.i.+ngton, D. C., and the first in point of event, is the ”Landing of Columbus at San Salvador in 1492,” by John Vanderlyn; its cost was $12,000. This picture represents the scene Was.h.i.+ngton Irving so admirably describes in his ”Voyages of Columbus,” occurring the morning the boats brought the little Spanish band from the s.h.i.+ps to the sh.o.r.e of Guanahani. ”Columbus first threw himself upon his knees; then, rising, drew his sword, displayed the royal standard, and, a.s.sembling around him the two captains, with Rodrigo de Escobedo, notary of the armament; Rodrigo Sanchez (the royal inspector), and the rest who had landed, he took solemn possession of the island in the name of the Castilian sovereigns.” The picture contains the picture of Columbus, the two Pinzons, Escobedo, all bearing standards; Sanchez, inspector; Diego de Arana, with an old-fas.h.i.+oned arquebus on his shoulder; a cabin-boy kneeling, a mutineer in a suppliant att.i.tude, a sailor in an att.i.tude of veneration for Columbus, a soldier whose attention is diverted by the appearance of the natives, and a friar bearing a crucifix.

COLUMBUS STATUE AT WAs.h.i.+NGTON, D. C.

The Columbus statue stands at the east-central portico of the Capitol, at Was.h.i.+ngton, D. C., above the south end of the steps, on an elevated block. It consists of a marble group, by Signor Persico, called ”The Discovery,” on which he worked five years, and is composed of two figures: Columbus holding the globe in his hand, triumphant, while beside him, wondering, almost terror-stricken, is a female figure, symbolizing the Indian race. The suit of armor worn by Columbus is said to be a faithful copy of one he actually wore. The group cost $24,000.

THE WATLING'S ISLAND MONUMENT RAISED BY THE CHICAGO ”HERALD.”

With true Chicago enterprise, the wideawake Chicago _Herald_ dispatched an expedition to the West Indies in 1891 to search out the landing place of Columbus. The members of the party, after careful search and inquiry, erected a monument fifteen feet high on Watling's Island bearing the following inscription:

ON THIS SPOT CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS FIRST SET FOOT ON THE SOIL OF THE NEW WORLD.

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