THE COURT OF THE UNIVERSE
DEAR COUSINS:
W HILE we were in the Court of the Universe, father thought we had better have another lesson on sculpture.
He considers that the fountains of The Rising Sun and Descending Night are the very finest things at the Fair, and he has traveled abroad and is a good judge. They are the work of Adolph A. Weinman. Father wants us to put in the names of sculptors and artists not because he expects us to remember them just now, but because big brother will want to know.
The very big groups on the triumphal arches attracted our attention, and we asked about them and what they were supposed to mean. Everything about the Fair has some meaning, but we do not expect to get it all. The group with the elephant and the Oriental gentlemen represents Eastern civilization on the way to meet Western civilization, which is represented by the group on the other arch – that with the prairie schooner drawn by oxen, and the figure of the Alaskan woman.
The Spirit of the East marching to meet The Spirit of the West is meant to typify the meeting of the world’s families now that the Canal has been completed.
The groups are the work of A. Stirling Calder, Leo Lentelli, and Frederick G. R. Roth.
Father liked very much the “Hopes of the Future” and “The Mother of Tomorrow,” two of Mr. Calder’s best things, in the group.
We liked, especially after the lights were on, the figures representing stars, of which so many are used in the avenue leading north.
Mr. Robert I. Aitken has four good figures in this court, and in the evening when the lights were on and the vapor was rising from the urns it looked like a story out of the Arabian Nights.
The flowers are lovely, and you never for a moment feel away from home, because all the courts are so homey-feeling, just like one’s own garden.
Father said after awhile that he thought it would be well for us to see something that we could really understand, and so he took us over to see Edith Woodman Burroughs’ dear little figure of “Youth” which she has made for a fountain. We just loved it, it looks so girly, and we were also much interested in the Fountain of Eldorado by Mrs. Whitney, because we have read the story about Ponce de Leon.
It would be nice to be a sculptor if one were a boy, unless one could be an aviator.
Your loving cousins,JANE AND ELLEN.
DEAR COUSINS:
THE COURT OF ABUNDANCE
W E ARE very happy and cheerful children – we have often heard people say so – but behind our smiling faces lies the deep and consuming sorrow that we have not a brother of our own age.
We can never understand why kind Providence did not create us triplets instead of twins and make one-third of us boy! It would have made no difference to kind Providence, and would have been much better for us.
We have never needed a brother as much as we do in seeing this Fair, though of course we say nothing to father about it as we realize that he is doing his best for us, but he so often has to leave us while he attends to some business or other, and then it is we feel the need of a brother of our own age. An older one would be of no use, as our fifteen-year-old one is not any good to us. He says he has interests of his own.
We were waiting in the Court of Abundance today for father, and were having a lovely time pretending that the lanterns between the arches were the homes of the light fairies, which would come out after the sun went away, and waving their golden wands would say, “Let there be light,” and there would be light, and that the color fairies would come down from the pictures and dance with the light fairies, and goodness only knows what we might not have accomplished in the way of a six best seller when a young sparrow fell out of his nest. He was disturbed about it, very naturally, but we were so sorry for him that we could not go on with our pretend. If we had had a brother of course he could have climbed up and put the poor little thing back, but a guard came and got him, and while of course we shall never know what happened, we have our fears.
Father came just then and we asked him if he wanted to give us a lesson, and he remarked that he feared the Court of Abundance was almost too big for a couple of ten-year-old tots to get much out of except perhaps fresh air and incipient inspiration. That cannot be as serious as it sounds, because we are sure father would not expose us to anything, but we shall look up “incipient” as soon as we get home.
We stayed down and saw the lights this evening and when the vapor is rising from the urns and the serpents are writhing, or at least seeming to, and all the lanterns are lighted, it looks like something out of our Arabian Nights’ book.
We shall try to finish our little play sometime, when the sparrows have taught their young ones to fly properly.
Your loving cousins,JANE AND ELLEN.
THE COURT OF THE FOUR SEASONS – THE COURT OF FLOWERS
DEAR COUSINS:
W E LOVE the Court of the Four Seasons, by Mr. Henry Bacon. It is so homey and lovely in there that we feel that we could be perfectly happy all day and every day in there. We like to hear the birds talking about their nests, and how many eggs there are now, and when the young ones are going to have their first flying lesson. We love also Ceres, the Goddess of Agriculture, who is standing on a pedestal on top of the lovely fountain. Mrs. Evelyn Longman is the lady who made it. The young ladies who dance around the base of the pedestal are so happy that you almost expect them to join hands and jump down and dance on the grass. Mr. Albert Jaegers’ Feast of the Sacrifice is in this court also, but we did not care so much about the symbolism of that. The artist has made it seem so real that we are sorry for the poor animal, which we are sure does not wish to be sacrificed.
But when we are in this lovely court it is impossible not to be happy, so we enjoy the flowers, and the statuary without thinking too much of what the symbolism is. Father says that we can think of that later, when we are older.
The Fountain of the Earth is in this court, and we like to watch the play of the water over the dome of the fountain.
In front of the Court of Flowers stands “The American Pioneer,” by Mr. Solon Borglum, which we like very much, because it looks like something out of our story books, which is not a very good reason, father says, because it is meant to show that these fine old men and women came first and made a way for us, and if they had not, we should have no beautiful Fair today.
This court is supposed to be the Court of Oriental Fairy Tales, but so far we have not met any one whom we know especially, except “Beauty and the Beast,” by Edgar Walters, and they do not seem quite in the right place.
Mr. Calder’s Flower Girls, with their garlands, make the place seem very gay and happy, but the real flowers were what we liked best, and we could sit for hours and hours in this beautiful spot, watching the big butterflies flitting over the pansy beds, and the bronze, ruby-throated humming-birds flashing like jewels escaped from the Tower.
This Fair makes us wonder why people do not make gardens prettier, and not live in houses as much as they now do.
We suppose it is because they cannot all live in California, where out-of-doors is nearly always nice.
Your loving cousins,JANE AND ELLEN.
MURAL PAINTINGS
DEAR COUSINS:
F ATHER said today that he was afraid we had not learned much about the murals, and we said that we would like to study them more, but they were so high up that we got a dreadfully achy neck every time we tried to do much with them.
He laughed a little at that, but said that it was an affliction which had to be borne, as he was anxious that we should study them. He wishes us to be able to read pictures as well as we do print, or music, because they always have some story to tell which helps in life.
We are glad now that he insisted, because otherwise we should have missed seeing Mr. Robert Reid’s pictures in the dome of the Palace of Fine Arts.
We liked very much the panels which symbolize the four golds of California, the poppies, the oranges, the gold, and the wheat. We have secured some photographs of all the murals in the Exposition, and shall study them when we are at home, and we shall send you some pictures with these letters.
We are of course not quite sure why we like some things better than others, but we do like very much the picture entitled “Victorious Spirit” in the Court of the Palms.
It has the most beautiful blue in it, and we love blue, though of course we know that that is not an adequate reason for liking a picture. There is something fine about being a Victorious Spirit, which we admire, especially if it is a good spirit, and this one seems to be.
In the Court of Abundance we saw Mr. Frank Brangwyn’s “Earth,” “Air,” “Water,” and “Fire.” The “Earth” picture shows in a harvesting scene all the things which the earth has given to us. In “Fire” we are shown how fire was first found, and how much more comfortable people were after that.
Next, men were learning how to use the fire, and when they had discovered that cooked food was better than the old way, they needed pots to cook their food in, and so had to make the pots.
In the “Water” picture, you will notice that the people are using the pots now for carrying the water to their homes, and the clouds show you by their heavy grayness that it will soon rain.
The “Air” picture shows that the storm has come, and the children are hurrying home to shelter. We did enjoy these pictures so much, and we wish that all pictures were as easy to read and as interesting as these. It is a bit hard to understand that there has ever been a time when people did not have fire and such things, but father says we should not say such things when we are in the Fifth Grade.
Your loving cousins,JANE AND ELLEN.