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the Alderman chamber, have been heard to declare that Mr. Jeroloman would have made a fortune as an auctioneer had his lines been cast in different places.

But his ability to criticise and pass upon works of art had lain dormant and unrecognized all through the years of his public life, until it was fittingly recognized by the Municipal  Art Commission, among whose members are Bruce Price and J.Q.A. Ward, Presidents of two of the greatest art societies in New York. Mr. Jeroloman feels the honor keenly. He appreciates it thoroughly, but he disclaims more than a moderate fitness for the task imposed upon him. He has even gone so far as to doubt his ability to give an opinion off-hand on the artistic merit of Mr. Bernard's statue, although the National Sculpture Society has already reported favourably upon it. Mr. Jeroloman said he wanted time to study and think before he went at the job. So he bought a book on mythology and read all it contained about the god Pan. The result of his reading was not at all satisfactory to Mr. Jeroloman. He said he was not sure that Pan was a fit subject for a statue on the Boulevard.

"Why," said he, "I understand that this creature, Pan, was a voluptuous and sensual being with horns, a snub nose, and goat's feet. Moreover, he was always dancing or playing on the syrinx or some other barbarous instrument. Now, true art is largely made up of realism. Therefore this statue, having, as it probably does, hoofs and horns, is not a fit monument for the Boulevard. It might frighten the street car horses.

"However," continued Mr. Jeroloman. "I won't let my prejudices against the personality of Pan interfere with my duty to the art world at large, and the Municipal Art Commission in particular. As a member of the latter body it is my mission to deal fairly with all questions that come before it. I don't believe in doing things hastily or without proper consideration. That was why I objected to accepting this statue off-hand for the Boulevard. I was not satisfied to pass upon it from a mere photograph, so I counselled dealay, and the other members of the commission appointed me a committee to examine the cast. I have arranged with Mr. Barnard to visit his studio and inspect the plaster cast personally. I shall try to be fair in my judgment, and I hope to be able to make an intelligent report on the statue to my colleagues or the commission."

the acquaintance of Sam Lee. He was one of the most reliable of the ancient Greek gods and taught his followers the value of the cattle raising industry. By reason of this, certain hypercritical persons claim that he is indirectly responsible for the Beef Trust of to-day. But it is hardly fair to go behind the returns and rake up old animosities. Pan stands on his merits. Poets have sung of him and his whiskers have been a standard with the agrarians all over the world and particularly in Kansas ever since agriculture was first introduced and Peffer went to the Senate.

Shelley, in his "Hymn of Pan," says:

The winds in the reeds and rushes,
The bees on the bells of thyme,
The birds on the myrtle bushes,
The cicale above in the lime,
And the lizards below in the grass
Were as silent as ever old Tmolus was
Listening to my sweet pipings.

In fact, Pan is all right. In his day and generation he was a good fellow and a running mate of Orpheus, a regular pied piper after his form had been "pied" by the advent of the Christian era.

Yet he was turned down in New York because Central Park, the largest in the city, is not wild and picturesque enough to comport with the rugged and monumental outlines.

The statue of Pan is a noble work of art, chaste and inspiring, a fit ornament for any city, and New York loses it with regret.

Before his death the late Alfred Corning Clark gave an order for it to George Gray Barnard, a young American sculptor whose work attracted much attention at the Paris salon in 1894. The statue was cast in the plaster of Paris and exhibited in this city last November. It was the talk of the town. The National Sculpture Society approved it and everybody looked forward to the time when the likeness of the great god in bronze should ornament Central Park.

But the idea had been executed upon too lofty a scale. Pan was too big for New York; consequently he was turned adrift. Mrs. Clark and her son, Edward S. Clark, were mortified and chagrined.

"We do not propose," they say, "to beg any other city or park to accept it and perhaps be again refused."

Yet Pan may be had for the asking, under certain conditions. He will go to one of the principal cities of the United States, and several applications for the statue are already on file. Two or three are from leading cities, others from smaller ones. The latter will not be considered.

Park Commissioner Ridgely of St. Louis has communicated with Mr. Frabk H. Presby, agent of the Clark estate, and it now remains for the proper authorities to make formal application, setting forth their strongest arguments. Surely Pan never found a nobler field in "the glory that was of Greece" than exists to-day within the imposing confines of Forest Park.

Perhaps something more than a formal application is needed to secure this statue for St. Louis. Mr. Ridgely and his associates, including the Mayor, must make such representations as will convince Mrs. Clark and her son that the people of St. Louis really want Pan.

The cast of the statue in plaster of Paris is now in the studio of Mr. Barnard in this city awaiting developments. Pan is recumbent on a large pedestal in the center of an oval basin. This will surmount an oval drinking fountain of bronze, the greatest diameter of which is 24 feet. Water will flow through the mouths of bronze fishes around the sides. The figure of Pan, in his reclining posture, measures 9 feet 9 inches, from elbow to knee, and is god-like in proportions, heroic in mien and altogether striking and impressive.

The cost of casting the figure in bronze will be about $4,000, and Mr. Presby, on behalf of the Clark estate, stands ready to incur this expense just as soon as it shall have been determined where the statue is to go. The cost of the figure, basin and fountain, complete, will be $25,000. Surely this is a prize worth seeking.

"You can say," said Mr. Presby to the Republic correspondent, "that St. Louis stands as good a chance as any other city of obtaining the statue. That is farther away than Mrs. Clark would probably like to have it go but from what I hear Forest Park is certainly an ideal spot for the erection of such an imposing figure. If St. Louis makes the proper request and it is granted, the statue will cost the city nothing. Others have already applied for it, but that will not lessen the chances of St. Louis, for the competition is open to all first-class cities."

He had said that he didn't relish the idea of a goat-hoofed god occupying a prominent position in Central Park but like the wise man he is the Hon. Jeroloman has changed his mind. 

After a short preliminary conversation the real work of the day began. Mr. Jeroloman was led before Pan. He viewed him from afar and he looked at him at short range. He studied the pose of the reclining figure under varying lights, and he noted its proportions with a critical eye. As he gazed his eyes softened, and the look of hard criticism gave place to one of mild admiration. 

"Beautiful, exquisitely beautiful," he murmured at last. Then he turned to Mr. Robinson and Mr. Barnard. "Of course you gentlemen understand that I do not pretend to know anything about Art," he said modestly. "You would do me a great favor if you would explain some of the technical details of this statue."

Mr. Jeroloman reports that his request was instantly and generously complied with. Mr. Barnard went over the ground exhaustively. He gave details of measurement, and told the listener that the base would be twelve feet long. He even drew a small design of the status as it will look when completed, and said that the base would be decorated with miniature images of Pan. When Mr. Jeroloman left the studio he again expressed a mild admiration of the status as a whole, and said that the city ought to have it. When he reached City Hall next day he was enthusiastic about it and talked of little else.

"There can be no doubt about the artistic merits of this statue," he said. "It is the finest thing of its kind I ever saw. The Municipal Art Commission will certainly accept it at its next meeting, and I hope a place for it may yet be found in Central Park. It certainly belongs there, and the city should never allow it to be hidden away in a museum. To look at it is a real treat, of which the people at large should not be deprived. it is true that the Park Board has already refused to erect it in Central Park, on the ground that no suitable spot could be found where the statue would harmonize with the characteristic scenery, but from a talk I had with Mr. McMillan I believe that the action of the Park Board may yet be reconsidered. I have just written a letter to Mr. McMillan urging him to bring the subject before the board again. He has assured me that he was never really opposed to the erection of the status in Central Park, although he voted in favor of accepting the adverse report of Superintendent Parsons. I expect to get a reply from Mr. McMillan on Monday, and I do hope that he will succeed in getting the statue accepted. Really, it's too good to lose."

The Municipal Art Commission will not meet again until next month, when Mayor Strong returns from Richfield Springs. There is no doubt now that the status of Pan will be accepted, and if the Park Board again refuses to place it in Central Park, it will, in all probability, be erected on the Boulevard, near Fifty-ninth street. General Collis, who has jurisdiction over the Boulevard, is in favor of putting it there. The statue was first offered to the Park Board by the estate of Alfred Corning Clark.

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