sobbed for a time, and then he sobbed too?" and swore also. pouted. Being refused permission, she As they came from the shelter of the There was a dance at the Imperial Inn. great hotel, the wind was blowing swiftly During the evening some irresponsible from the sea, and at intervals a breaker young men came from the beach, bringing shone livid. The women shuddered, and the statement that several boatloads of their bending companions seized opportupeople had been perceived off shore. It nity to draw the cloaks closer. The was a charming dance, and none cared to sand of the beach was wet, and dainty take time to believe this tale. The foun- slippers made imprints in it clear and tain in the courtyard plashed softly, and deep. couple after couple paraded through the aisles of palms where lamps with red shades threw a rose light upon the gleaming leaves. High on some balcony a mocking-bird called into the evening. The band played its waltzes slumberously, and its music to the people among the palms came faintly and like the melodies in dreams. Sometimes a woman said: "Oh, it is not really true, is it, that there was a wreck out at sea?" A man usually said: "No, of course not." At last, however, a youth came violently from the beach. He was triumphant in manner. "They're out there," he cried. "A whole boatload!" He received eager attention, and he told all that he supposed. His news destroyed the dance. After a time the band was playing delightfully to space. The guests had donned wraps and hurried to the beach. One little girl cried: "Oh, mamma, may I go "Oh, dear," said a girl, supposin' they were out there drowning while we were dancing! "Oh, nonsense!" said her younger brother; "that don't happen.” "Well, it might, you know, Roger. How can you tell?" A man who was not her brother gazed at her then with profound admiration. Later she complained of the damp sand, and drawing back her skirts, looked ruefully at her little feet. A mother's son was venturing too near to the water in his interest and excitement. Occasionally she cautioned and reproached him from the background. Save for the white glare of the breakers, the sea was a great wind-crossed void. From the throng of charming women floated the perfume of many flowers. Later there floated to them a body with a calm face of an Irish type. The expedition of the "Foundling" will never be historic. WHEN I HEARD THE LEARN'D ASTRONOMER. WHEN I heard the learn'd astronomer, When the proofs, the figures, were ranged in columns before me, When I was shown the charts and diagrams, to add, divide, and measure them, When I sitting heard the astronomer where he lectured with much applause in the lecture room, How soon unaccountable I became tired and sick, Till rising and gliding out I wander'd off by myself, In the mystical moist night-air, and from time to time, Look'd up in perfect silence at the stars. From "Leaves of Grass," by Walt Whitman; David McKay, Publisher, Philadelphia. By special permission. UNKNOWN LIFE MASKS OF GREAT AMERICANS. BY CHARLES HENRY HART. THE LONG HIDDEN CASTS OF THE LIVING FEATURES OF ADAMS, JEFFERSON, MADISON, AND OTHERS, MADE BY A SECRET PROCESS BY J. H. I. BROWERE, ABOUT 1825, AND THE STORY OF THEIR PRODUCTION, CONCEALMENT FROM THE PUBLIC, AND RECENT RECOVERY. WHA WHAT one generation fails to appreciate, and therefore decries and sneers at, a subsequent one comprehends and applauds. It is conspicuously so in discovery, in science, in poetry, and in art; so much depends upon the point of view and the environment of the observed and the observer. Were this not so, the very remarkable collection of busts from life masks taken at the beginning of the second quarter of this century by John Henri Isaac Browere, almost an unknown name today, would not have been hidden away until now, while the circumstances that led to their discovery are as curious as that the busts should have been neglected and forgotten for so long. I was familiar with the tragic story told by Henry S. Randall, in his ponderous life of President Jefferson, of how the venerated sage of Monticello, within a year of his decease, was nearly suffocated by "an artist from New York," Browere, who attempted to take a mask of his living features, and how, in fear of bodily harm from the ex-President's irate black body-servant, "the artist shattered his cast in an instant," and was glad to depart hence quickly with the fragments which he was permitted to pick up. JOHN HENRI ISAAC BROWERE. From the original water-color, of the same size as the reproduction, painted by his son, Albertus D. O. Browere, and now owned by Mrs. Frank Van Benschoten, Hudson, N. Y. With this statement fixed in my mind, I came across a letter from James Malison to Henry D. Gilpin, written October 25, 1827, in which Madison writes, respecting Jefferson's appearance," Browere's bust in plaster, from his mode of taking it, will probably show a perfect like ness. EDITOR'S NOTE.-The recovery of these busts has an uncommon human and historical importance, for they give us the first true revelation of these great men's faces. Now, after so many years, when our knowledge of their personal appearance, owing to the varied interpretations of artists, is largely traditional, we have them before us in the flesh, so that at a glance we know them as we know our friends-as living men. THOMAS JEFFERSON. AGE 82. FROM THE ORIGINAL BUST FROM A LIFE MASK TAKEN AT MONTICELLO, OCTOBER 15, 1825, BY J. H. I. BROWERE, FIRST PHOTOGRAPHED AND ENGRAVED FOR MCCLURE'S MAGAZINE. found comparatively easy through the calendars of Jefferson and Madison correspondence in the State Department at Washington, an examination of which, with the newspapers of the day, showing that Mr. Randall's method of writing history was to accept and repeat irresponsible country gossip rather than turn to documents at his hand that would explain and refute the gossip. The one-time existence of the bust of Jefferson by Browere being thus established, the next and more difficult search was to discover its whereabouts, if still extant. But persistent and systematic inquiry discovered it, with a number of other busts by Browere, of persons of greater or less consideration, in the custody of the artist's family, through whose courtesy the works of their ancestor, John Henri Isaac Browere, are now for the first time published. John Henri Isaac Browere was born in New York, November 18, 1792, and died in the city of his birth, September 10, 1834. He was of Dutch descent, and early turned his attention to art, becoming a pupil of Archibald Robertson, at the well known Columbian Academy. Determined to further improve himself, Browere went abroad, and traveled on foot for nearly two years on the continent, studying art and more especially sculpture. He returned to New York in 1820, and began modeling; but being of an inventive turn, he experimented to obtain casts from the living face, in a manner and with a composition different from those usually employed by sculptors. His first satisfactory achievement was a cast of his friend and preceptor, Robertson, and his second that of Judge Pierrepont Edwards, of Connecticut. But it was left for "The Nation's Guest" to lift Browere into prominence in his art. At the request of the Common Council of New York, Lafayette permitted Browere to make a cast of his head, neck, and shoulders on July 11, 1825. But a slight accident happened to the cast, and the operation was repeated a week later at Philadelphia. The result of the second trial was a likeness so admirable and of such remarkable fidelity that De Witt Clinton, S. F. B. Morse, and many others came forward and enthusiastically bore witness to its being "a perfect facsimile" of the distinguished Frenchman. From this on, Browere devoted his time and means to making casts of the most noted men in the country's history who were then living, with the purpose of forming a national gallery of the busts of famous Americans. But after years of labor and the expenditure, as he writes to Madison, of $12,087, the scheme was abandoned, owing to lack of support JAMES MADISON, AGE 74. and direct opposition from his brother artists, who maligned his pretensions because he was honest enough to call his method "a process." Surely, judging from results, it was superior to any other method of obtaining a life mask, and therefore it is most unfortunate that his "process" has to be counted among "the lost arts;" for neither he nor his son, who was acquainted with both the composition and the method of applying it, has left a word of information on the subject. When the public press attacked Browere for his rumored maltreatment of President Jefferson, he replied: "Mr. Browere never has followed and never will follow the usual course, knowing it to be fallacious and absolutely bad. The manner in which he executes portrait busts from life is unknown to all but himself, and the invention is his own, for which he claims exclusive rights, but it is infinitely milder than the usual course." That Browere's method of taking life casts was accomplished without discomfort to the subject is fully attested by the number of persons who submitted to it, as also by the certificates that exist from Jefferson, Adams, Madison, Lafayette, Gilbert Stuart, and others. Notwithstanding this, the report. of the discomfort suffered by the venerable Jefferson was so |