Etc. [pp. 445-446]

446
Etc.
Don't let anybody in Los Angeles deter you from
saying I may go, anid be as quick as possible, for I
don't want to lose the chance of going in this coinpany. If I am killed remember it was in a good
cause.
Pray for me and my country.
Your affectionate Son,
This brave lad died in the hospital at Harrison's
Lan lina, Virginia, in January, I853. His Captain
wrote to his mother, "He was a good man and a good
soldier. He had been in seven battles. He died
peacefully."
I have thought that the boys of this generation
ought to see this letter of a boy of I86i.
E. S. An.
MOUNT HAMILTON, CAL., September, I890.
California's Historical Monument.
rO THE EDIrOR OF THE OVERLAND:
The award made on the 17th September last of
the contract for California's Historical Monument to
be erected in front of the San Francisco City Hall,
in accordance with the bequest of the late Mr. James
Lick, deserves some further mention than it has yet
received from the public press. The comprehensive
conception of the monument in the philanthropist's
deed of trust, and the large sum ($Ioo, ooo) set apart
for it, give us a right to expect a work of high art
and at the same time imposes on the trustees a serious responsibility in selecting the design and the
artist for the occasion. It is a well known fact that
similar responsibilities have been met in a very unsatisfactory manner, by the trustees selected to obtain public monuments in some English and in
many American cities, perhaps nowhere with more
general and notorious discredit than in our national
Capital.
It was clearly indicated in Mr. Lick's deed of
trust, that his Historical Monument was to be a
work of statuary; and yet when the drawings under
the first competition were submitted, it was found
that a number of them were from persons who had
not only never studied statuary, or modeled a human figure, but had not even made a profession of
fine art in any of its branches; and who intended,
in case of receiving the final award, to treat it as a
trade contract, perhaps employing some artist to do
part of the work, but without giving him any of the
credit. Their purpose was to make the work mainly one of architecture, using the sculpture as a subordinate decoration.
Twenty-four drawings were submitted. Some, as
stated, were from tradesmen; some were by Eastern
sculptors whoseworks adorn American cities; and one
was by a native Californian, Mr. Frank Happersberger, who, after studying sculpture in Munich, opened
a studio in San Francisco and devoted himself here to
his art. His residence here gave him facilities for
studying the history and local customs to be illustra
. [October,
ted by the monument; and when four drawings
were selected as the most meritorious, and as the
bases of models, it was found that Mr. Happersber ger was the author of one. And among the four he
was the only sculptor. HIe was the only designer
of a model to whom a final award could be given,
without disgrace to the city and State An award
to an architect or a decorator would have been as
grossly inappropriate, as would have been the em ployment of an illiterate bootblack to read, as his
own production, the poem or oration at some great
national festivity, with the knowledge that the clown
would hire some starveling writer to do the literary
work for a pittance and without public announce ment of the true authorship.
The Lick trustees were charged with the erection
of two works of statuary. One, the Key Monument,
in the Park, by W. W. Story, completed several
years ago, is above the average of such works in
merit; the other, the Historical Monument, will, we
have reason to hope, be at least equally good. In
neither case did the trustees award the contract to
a mid(dle:nan or to a person not a successful pro fessional sculptor. They have well discharged the
artistic duties imposed on them by Mr. Lick.
M. Happersberger is already well and favorably
known by his Garfield Monument in the Park. Its
main figure, that of the orator President, is simple,
easy, and dignified in its attitude, excellent in the
expression and features of the face, and graceful
in its drapery. In countenance, dress, and attitude,
the subordinate figure of America is one of the best
representatives of mourning to be found in sculpture.
It was while he was still a stuient in Munich,
where he had spent eight years, that he obtained
that contract, his design being preferred out of a list
of twenty-one without any knowledge on the part
of those who decided in his favor that he was a Californian. It is Mr. Hlppe-rsberger's intention to do
the greater part, and if possible the whole, of the
work on the Historical Monument in this city and
he hopes to complete it in three or four years.
John S. Hiltell.
J.. C.F.
FRfMONT!-A name to thrill through coming time
Brave, noble hearts of every race and clime!
Dauntless explorer! Who through perils dire,
With brow unfaltering, and a heart of fire,
Won for his land an empire, and a sea, And led the pioneers of States to be!
A knightly leader, and beloved of all, An office-holder but at Freedom's call, A statesman-soldier,- quick to strike the blow
Surest to save by crippling sore the foe, A lover-husband to his latest day,
And worthy her who was his manhood's stay,
Thus shall his country yet, with one acclaim,
'Mong her "Immortals" write his stainless
name!
Caroline' M. Sevesrance.