Wisconsin School for the Deaf - Tattler Yearbook (Delavan, WI)

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EDWARD BOK'S SINGING TOWER Arlene PurueWer Edward Bok. an American Journalist and writer, wa born in Holland. He came to the United Stater with hi- parent when he was nix years old. HI parent were poor and he hud to work hard to make a living. He attended the public school but wan largely self-educated. For thirty year he wa editor of the Ladle ' Home Journal and also wrote a few books. Two of them are: The Americani m of Edward Bok, and A Dutch Boy Fifty Year Later.” Both Mr. and Mr . Bok have done much to promote a love of art among the people. Several year ago Mr. Bok conceived the idea of entab-ll hing a sanctuary with a alnging tower somewhere in America. He finally selected Florida as the place to build it. The Singing Tower and Sonctuary i nt Mountain Lake. Florida. It i two hundred and five feet high and U built of pink Georgia marble and tan-colored coquina stone. It rise upward from a granite base fifty one feet in width. The structure become octagonal toward the top and a little more than thirty feet in width. The story that the Sanctuary and Tower were memorial to hu parent and grandparent t not true. Mr. Bok him»elf ay» he never thought of them when he conceived the idea of creating the tower. The tower ha a carillon of 61 bell . A carillon ha from thirty to seventy bell giving the complete chromatic scale with a comp of from three to five octaves. It is often confused with a chime . A chime ha but u few bell in the diatonic scale with the usual compass of only an octave. A chime can be played by the moat amateur musician; the carillon, rightly played, require a b«U-master of musical education and years of experience with bell . Mr. Anton Brec of Antwerp plays the bell in Mr. Bok' tower. Mr. Bok first wont over the field of heels and found that a carillon of the sixe and weight he wanted could not be made in America, »o he cast hu eye toward England and there he found the firm capable of casting what he desired. It took fifteen month to make them, and when they were finished he asked three musician to go to England to test their tone and quality. They did so with the result that they pronounced them the most perfectly tuned bell they had ever heard. These bell arc the gift of Edward Bok to the American people. The bell weigh from seventoon pound to twelve ton each. The tower iUelf weigh fifty-five hundred ton and so ia capable of maintain- ing no great a weight of bell . Getting the bell from Jacksonville, where they were landed from the ship, was a problem. No trucks could hold such a weight and the wooden bridges along the road from Jnckiionville to Mountain Lake could not bear the burden, o the railroad leading to Mountain laike built new fiat freight car , each with a double flooring, and a special train wa» made up. In this way the enormous and valuable bells arrived safely at Lake Wales, the nearest railroad station. There electric crane hointed them to especially strong trucks. The constructors worked so hard that within four week each bell hung in its permanent place. When the work was finished, each workman struck a bell which produced a nerve-racking sound. The carvings on the marble bond encircling the tower are eagles, herons, flamingoes, and pelicans. They are the work of twenty-aix carvers. The carving was designed by Lee Laurie, a New York sculptor. The entrance to the tower is a masterpiece by Samuel Ycllin, a famous ironworker. There are wto gate and a railing leading across the moat to the tower door and there are stair and railings in the private room. Every bit of the ironwork in them is fully of beauty. When the work of irrigation and planting was begun, the spot was just a bare hill. Frederick Law Olmstead. a New England landscape architect, dug trenches and laid water pipes in every part of the Sanctuary. He transplanted thousands of shrubs and trees to it- The result »o far ha been very uccessful for everything was well taken care of and plenty of water wo given each plant. You can now. after six year , see the Sanctuary in its rich verdure that Northerner have estimated required o growth of fifteen years. It is said to b the most beautiful spot in America. The place contain forty-eight acres. The Sanctuary and the Tower are protected from the noise cau«ed by automobiles and it la Intended that no industrial plants or factories will ever mar its quiet and repose. Milton Medary. a Philadelphia architect, made sketches for ix months, before he wa satisfied, then he built what the visitor see today. The bird have found the Sanctuary a place of safety. They were not long in finding it and they come back each year. There are fifty bird baths in the Sanctuary’ and those are used each morning by the bird . It ho been announced that a beacon will ome day bo placed on the tower to protect flier .

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THE HOLY GRAIL By Dorothy Kay According to legend. the Holy Grail wa the sacred cup from which Christ drunk nt the Ltmt Supper. Several stories have been woven about the Holy Grail by writers of the 12th century. The first important versions of these stories n English literature is thnt of Sir Thomas Malory, who lived In the 15th century. About four hundred year later Alfred Tennyson wrote about the Holy Grail in one of the most t enutiful poems in hla Idylls of the King.’’ The story concerning the Holy Grail « i follows. When Christ hunt Upon the rros , Jo -iph of Armatheu. one of Hi follower , caught within it the blood that dripped from Ills wounded side. Then Joseph tied to Knglnnd o escape persecution and he carried the holy cup with him. There It was said to heal the diseases of those who looked upon or touched It. The cup long remained in the keeping of Joseph and hi descendants, loiter, the one who hod it in his keeping did not live the pure and blameless life that was necessary, so it was taken awny to heaven and for many long Venn was lost to the world. Tennyson relates that in the days of King Arthur, who lived in Cumolot with hi knights of the Round Tahle. the Holy Grail was seen in a vision by a sweet and saintly nun. She told of this vision to her brother. Sir Percivale, and he told it to the knights of the Round Table. They took o vow to look for the Holy Grail. Sir Gala-had. who was the noblest and purest of the knights, set out in quest of it. us did M vrral others. Sir Percivale’ sister cut off her pretty hair and braided a strong sword belt for Sir Galahad and bade him go forth and he would tee what she had seen. Then hr went away on a snow-white steed to look for the Holy Grail. After a long search and munv adventures he met Sir Percivale. The two knights camo to a great marsh which ran out into the sea. Sir Percivale saw hi companion leap upon n great bridge, every span that he crossed sprang into bridge every span that he crossed sprang into fire. Above Sir Galahad’s head, the henvens opened with a sound of thunder, while the sacred cup hung in the sky like a burning jewel. Sir Galahad passed on into the Celestial City beyond the bridge and was seen no more. Ho had found the Holy Grail. The version of Sir Thonm Malory is that the Grail was seen by Galahad. Percivale and Burs who followed it to the far East, Galahad was carried up to heaven by angel . Pcrrivale died in a hermitage and Bora, alone, returned to Britain. The story of the Holy Grail has been por t.—yed tv poet , painters and musician . Wolfram von Kschenbaek. a German poet, wrote Parrivol, one of the finest poems qn the legend. On thin Rirhnrd Wagner based his great music: ! drama of the same name. George F. Watt made o famous puinting of Sir Galnhad and Edwin Amlin Abbey, a magnificient freice, retting forth this story. Jnme Russell Lowell used ihis legend in The Vision of Sir Launfal.” In this poem. Sir Launfal docidrd to set out in quest of the Holy Grail. One day In June he ft 11 asleep and wh'.Ie sleeping, he hud a vision. In the vision he rode out of hi castle and hete met u leperou beggar. Sir (jtunfal was very proud and did not want to associate with the teggar. He llung him some money and rode on, wishing to get nwnv from him. The beggi.r would not touch the money so contemptuously given. Sir Launfal was gone for mnn long, weary years. He spent nearly all his life in an unsuccessful search for the Holy Grail. Finally, he returned home an old bent man. He found that some one else was in possession of his castle and he was not allowed to enter. Just then Sir Launfal saw the leperous beggar again, begging for aid. Ho felt differently towards the beggar this time and shared hi small supply of bread with him and brought him water to drink. The leper took the bread and water. He drank it and was changed Into the Master himself. Then he said: “Lo, it Is I, be not afraid! In many climes, without avnil, Thou hast spent thy life for the Holy Grail; Behold It is here,— this cup which thou Didst fill at the streamlet for Me but now; This crust is my body broken for thee, Thi water His blood that died on the tree; The Holy Supper is kept, indeed. In whalao we share with another’s need; Not whut we give, but what we share,— For the gift without the giver is bare; Who give himself with his alms feeds three,-Himsclf, his hungering neighbor and Me.” Then Sir Launfal woke from his sleep. He de-cided that he need not go far in searrh of the Holy Grail us it was there right in his castle. He knew now that he should not look down upon nor despise the poor people around him, but should do his best to help them. He spent the rest of his life doing givod in thi way. Thus he found the Holy Grail.

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Ever since the Sanctuary wiu opened there has been an attendance of not Icmi than a thou ■and vial tor a day. On Sunday nnd on holiday there are from ix to ten thousand. The newspaper leave it such publicity that tourists have come from all over the country to see the place. Mr. Bok want the American people to aee what • o o o he has prepared for them. The purpose of the Tower la to create symbol of pure beauty, which we need o much in this country. It la n place in which to rest and ponder upon what we are doing and where we are going. 0 Q 0 • AMERICAN ARTISTS By Leo W. R«iniklt It has been tut id that in various part of the world the word, American ism,M has come to symbolise lust for materialism, nnd all finer emotions ure lacking. It in true that art tins been developed slowly in America, but a Arm foundation for ita development has been established. In the li»t of American Artists, to whom credit is due for thi , are the namoa of George In ness. John l-n Fargo. James Abbott McNeill Whistler, John Singer Sargent, and Gilbert Stuart. Neither time nor space will permit me to tell much about each one. They, with others, have aroused an interest In art which shows that materialism has not crushed out the idealism of America. George Inness it known ax a pathfinder in American art. for by natural impulse he waa led to follow the great artists of other countries. His father, a retired New York grocer, planned that he enter business and even opened a small ■tore for him in Newark. New Jersey; but the ran had made up his mind to study art. For a r;hort time he was apprenticed to an engraver and later studied painting under a pupil of Delnrnchr. Beyond this he was self taught. Through the influence of Thomas Colo, a landscape painter and founder of an art school in the east, Innes began studying special forms of nature. When he returned from his first trip to Europe in the interest of art. he was forty years of age. The Barbixon painters had greatly impressed him. This was the beginning of his career as a landscape painter. Inncsa showed superiority in American art because of hl» close study of nature's forms. In fact he was the father of the naturalistic movement in American landscape. He was religiously inclined, imaginative, questioning nnd rather argumentative. These qualities he applied to his art. While Innes has been culled, an impetuous nnd passionate painter, most of his pictures have nn atmosphere of repose. Corot’s work made a lasting impression on him. Among his most famous paintings are Winter Morning, Montclair, The Wood Gatherers. The Clouded Sun, and “Summer Silence, a large copy of which hangs on the wall in the assembly room of the Delavnn High School. As soon as he wax financially able, he established himself in a country home in New Jersey, where he was xurroundod by inspiring views of nature. Here he rose to great heights as a pioneer American artist. John Iji Fargo, who is noted for his mural decorations, was born in New York in 1835. He was n student of art long before he took it up as a profession. His father’s house in Washington Square was well stocked with books and picture . Many highly cultured people frequented the home. He recoived his training in Paris. After his return to America, hr worked in a lawyer’s office In New York not having yet decided to take up art as a livelihood. His first work was the mural decorations for Trinity Church in Boston. This was such a success that he directed his attention to the art of mural decorations and window designing. In 188? he executed one of his finest things, the large altar piece in the Church of the Ascension, In New York. The kinds of subject which I-a Fargo undertook were numerous and varied including portrait . landscapes and religious subject . Among his best paintings are The Arrival of the Magi.” decorations in the Brick Church in New York nnd those in the Boston Public Library. Almost every school boy nnd girl has learned to love and enjoy the picture, “The Portrait of My Mother, painted by James McNeill Whistler. All dreiwed in black she sit in profile with with her feet upon a foot-stool and her hands laid peacefully on her lap; the delicate lace of her cap silhouetted against the gray wall. The expression on her fact is that of one whose thought are drifting back to the days of long ugo. Only u man of unusual sweetne could have produced such a masterpiece. Lowell. Massachusetts, is the birthplace of this renowned American artist nnd 1834 the year in which he was born. He was educated in West Point, but studied art in France nnd England. His etching have been universally praised. Quoting from an