HIS POSTHUMOUS REPUTATION 251 



perfect he was charmingly complete. His conversation 

 was interesting to the thoughtful in the richness of the 

 lessons he drew from common things. He would couple 

 facts, regarded by others as unconnected, and thereby 

 disclose unsuspected relations. It takes genius to make 

 the rejected refuse of one generation the valuable ore of 

 a succeeding one. This detection of a hidden meaning 

 in the simplest matters shows the inexhaustible nature of 

 truth, and is the mark of a superior mind".^ 



Publisher's Note: Permission has been granted to print the following 

 portion of Miss Virgiaia Lee Cox's description of the Maury Monument soon 

 to be erected in Richmond, Virginia: 



"It is a marvelous conception of the man who was admired as the 'Path- 

 finder of the Seas,' and beloved for his humanity. Just how wonderful it is, 

 is proved in the words of Commodore Maury's own daughter, Mrs. James 

 R. Werth, who, when she saw the finished figure of Mr. Sievers' skill, said: 

 'I feel as if I am sitting in the presence of my father in flesh, blood, and spirit; 

 I feel as if I could put my arms around his neck as I did when I was a little 

 girl.' 



"The sculptor has portrayed Maury in a reminiscent attitude, listening to 

 the voice of the storm. It has been said of him that the voice of the wind 

 and waves was music to his ears and Mr. Sievers, with fine sympathy and 

 originality, built on much study of the man, has succeeded in showing this. 



"Above the figure of Maury, which is seated in a great chair, there is a 

 group of figures which supports the globe. The figures represent a storm on 

 land and sea. At one corner of the monument is an ox around which cluster 

 the windswept figures of the farmer and his household, driven before the fury 

 of the storm. 



"At the other corner is an overturned boat and figures of women and 

 sailors, drenched in the thundering waves of the sea. The group embraces a 

 symbolization of the world and its natural elements. Through the allegoriza- 

 tion three of Maury's outstanding achievements are brought well to the fore- 

 ground — meteorology, hydrography, and geography. 



"The storm is a meteorological disturbance, and the capsized lifeboat 

 with its occupants amid the rolling waves is symbolic of ocean meteorology, 

 a branch of hydrography, symbolized also in the "paths of the sea" on the globe, 

 that naturally represent geography. 



^ From "Library of Southern Literature", VIII, 3440. 



