JOHN WESLEY POWELL. 73 



whelmed with details and business impeded;" and so on of others. 

 "But as to one," said he, "the best of all, he met all matters 

 brought to him by his bureau chiefs with the same question, viz., 

 "Is that a bureau question or a department question?" If it was 

 a department question, he gave to it his undivided attention and 

 profound study. Then he decided and his decisions were right ; 

 they have withstood the tests of experience and are the rules of the 

 Department to this day." 



More and more, as time passed, his interests and thoughts 

 turned toward philosophical reflection and study, and when his 

 chief burden of administration was laid down in 1894 and the care 

 of the Geological Survey was turned over to another, he entered 

 upon the closing chapter of his varied and busy life. 



It was about this time that some of his intimate friends ar- 

 ranged to have a bust made of him. Mr. U. S. J. Dunbar had at 

 this time a studio in the Corcoran Building, and here Powell gave 

 sittings to this artist who in the course of a few weeks produced a 

 clay bust which was generally approved as a faithful and satisfac- 

 tory portrayal. Later a new bust was cast in bronze and is now 

 in the Library of the United States Geological Survey. 



During the sittings I was always with him and generally read 

 aloud from something he liked. One thing read was Ruskin's Es- 

 says, and as the reading proceeded he would interpret, analyse, and 

 criticise, pointing out the author's strength, weakness, and limita- 

 tions. Poetry also interested him, and we read Tarn O'Shanter, 

 which he knew by heart. 



Such were the traits of this strong and noble character as they 

 appeared to one who for a decade was very near to and in con- 

 fidential relations with him. I count it one of my pieces of special 

 good fortune to have so long enjoyed the intimate friendship of so 

 helpful, so stimulating, so ennobling a companion as Major John 

 Wesley Powell. 



