Advertisement

No Headline

Friday's Transcript contains a highly appreciative criticism a column long on the window of the class of 1860, recently placed in Memorial Hall. The writer says: "Much has been done during the last few years to embellish Harvard University, both by private endowment and by co-operation among the classes which have graduated from the college. The Sanders Theatre, the Hemenway Gymnasium and the Memorial Hall, are all objects of interest to the visitor who is "doing" Cambridge. During the past summer an interesting feature has been added to Memorial Hall. The lack of interest in this shown by the public makes it evident that few are aware of the presence in this place of a very valuable and beautiful work of art. We speak of the memorial window erected by members of the class of 1860, to the memory of their classmates who fell during the Rebellion, and executed by Mr. John Lafarge. The work must be considered one of the masterpieces of this artist, who has been foremost in the effort to restore the art of glass staining to the high position which it held during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries." The writer rapturously concludes: "This beautiful work of art was mounted during the past summer, at a time of year when Boston and its suburbs enjoys, or suffers, a general vacation. Few, therefore, of the lovers and pilgrims of art are aware even of its existence. A trip, made even in a Cambridge horse-car, will be well rewarded by a view of the window through whose mellow tints the sunlight filters into the great dining hall of the university. Here assemble, three times a day, hundreds of young men to be fed with bread and meat, and nowhere could this noble conception have a deeper, a better influence than in this place, where it glows a perfect feast of colors and harmony. Beneath the window hangs a portrait of Captain Robert Shaw, and all about the hall stand busts, many of which represent men whose names are connected with that crimson page of our history of which John Lafarge's window is a passionate reflection. A large band of negro servitors keep the building in order, and wait upon the tables at meal-time. They go cheerfully about their work, whistling and humming their own soft melodies. One wonders if they are conscious of the significance of the scarlet stain which at noontide the sunlight casts across the floor at their feet from the memorial window."

Advertisement

Recommended Articles

Advertisement