HOMES NEAR TO NATURE 



171 



how the last is first and the first is 

 last? How much like many others in 

 this strange life of ours is Bill to whom 

 the end and aim of life is to do his 

 farm work and to do it well, especi- 

 ally to drive a yoke of oxen. In such 

 an occupation Bill would never be 

 known beyond the farm, and his in- 

 fluence would be limited, but during 

 his hours of rest he is made immortal 

 by the skillful touch of the sculptor's 



lum's method. ile takes the most 

 available material and reveals its 

 beauty. In reference to the architec- 

 ture of his new studio he said hardly 

 a word. I could not get him to speak 

 about his plans for the wonderfully 

 beautiful building", but when we arriv- 

 ed at his cottage — one of the ancient 

 farmhouses and consisting of only 

 three tiny rooms, the whole thing be- 

 ing about as large as a child's play- 



BILL IS THE ORIGINAL OF ORPHEUS. 



hand as it models Bill in the clay. Bill 

 at the best is not prodigal in the matter 

 of clothes. Three pieces are sufficient — 

 a hat, a shirt and trousers. These are 

 quite easily stripped off in about half 

 a minute, and then Bill is the original 

 of the beautiful, graceful Orpheus to 

 be admired by thousands of the highest 

 culture of the land. 



But this is in accord with Mr. Borg- 



house — he went into ecstasies of de- 

 tailed description, and told how, out 

 of a little rustic cottage, he has ob- 

 tained a gem of a building. Every 

 post and beam of the old and decaying 

 interior has been covered with the 

 finest quality of white oak brilliantly 

 polished. Transformation from the 

 crude and imperfect to the beautiful is 

 the keynote of Mr. Borglum's life. 



