No single work of art at the
Exposition has attracted more popular applause than this. It has a
gripping, manly pathos that makes a direct appeal. The physical vigor of
the rider, over-tried but sound, saves it from mere sentiment. An Indian
brave, utterly exhausted, his strong endurance worn through by the long,
hard ride, storm-spent, bowed in the abandon of helpless exhaustion,
upon a horse as weary as he, has come to the end of the trail, beyond
which there is no clear path. It is easy to apply the message of this
statue to the tragedy of the American Indian's decline upon the
continent he once possessed. The sculptor acknowledges as his text these
words of Marian Manville Pope: The trail is lost, the path is hid and
winds that blow from out the ages sweep me on to that chill borderland
where Time's spent sands engulf lost peoples and lost trails.
Historic Types
Finial Figures, Tower of Jewels
As repeated alternating figures on the top of corner pedestals on the
first stage of the Tower of Jewels, stand The Four Agents of
Civilization, the historic influences that have developed our American
life. These, the Adventurer, the Soldier, the Priest and the
Philosopher, have been presented with vivid simplicity by John Flanagan.
He has given us, first, the Adventurous Explorer, romantic, courageous,
he who crossed the uncharted seas and found new worlds; then the
formidable conquering Soldier, he who founded settlements and held them
with his sword or fought with natives for empire or riches for European
monarchs; then the Missionary Priest, inspired with a holy zeal to
spread the divine message to strange peoples; and, last, the
Philosopher, the Thinker, whose great influence is but now beginning.
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