NOVEMBER 145 



pressions of the spirit of the composition as a 

 whole. It has been criticized by the public, 1)Qy- 

 haps unfairly, and defended by the artist, in re- 

 spect to the manner of driving the ox team. One 

 who has rambled over the prairie country may 

 compare the prairie schooner with those still fre- 

 quently seen, especially west of the Missouri; and 

 attempt to relate the birds and flowers to those of 

 reality. At first glance, the birds seem to be a 

 kind of compromise between wild ducks and terns ; 

 and the brick-red flowers, with inflorescence like 

 that of the pink family — what name shall we give 

 them? The buffalo skull is bluish gray, with the 

 horns darker, and the cornfields show stalks ap- 

 parently too low for their texture, and in darker 

 shades than seem natural. But the composition 

 must be taken as an allegorical rather than a real- 

 istic picture, and it gives one a sense of the joy of 

 pioneer adventure, a realization of our past his- 

 tory; recalls those moments of personal experi- 

 ence when the fertility and infinitude of the prai- 

 ries haunted us like a spiritual presence. 



A few bright dandelion blossoms greet one from 

 the lawn of the noble Historical Building, though 

 most of the heads are in gray-white plumage. 

 Within the building are treasures of so wide a 

 range, of such complex details, that a lifetime 

 would scarcely permit of intimate acquaintance 

 with all. The writer has been among the books 



