How The Great Statue Was Made

Charles Baruard has contributed to the July St. Xicholas a very graphieand popular iccount of Bartholdi's {(rent Statuc of Liberty, trom which we niake tlie íollowing extract : "In the lïrst place, Hiere had to be a sketch or model. This was a figure of the statue in clay, to give an idea of now it would look. Tlie public approved of th9 model, and tlien the llist real study of the woik wis made, -a piaster statue, just one sixteenth the size of the in tended statue. "The next step was to make another model just four times as large, or onefourth the size of the real statue. This quarter-size model being finislied, then carne the task of making the full-size model In piaster. But this had to be m ide in sections. For instance, the rirst section would iuclude the base on which the figure stood, the feet, and the hem of the garment. The next section vvould iuclude a circle quite round the long flowing dress just above the hem. The third secüoti would stand above this and show more of the falda of the dress, and reacli part way up to the kuee. In like marnier the wliole figure would bc dividcd into sectious. The quarter-size model wasfiíst divided in this way, and then to lay out the fïillsize plan it was neoessary to niake a plan of each section four times as large as the sectiou actually was in the model. Every pan of the model was eovered with maiks or dots for guldes, and by measuring from dot to dot, inercasing the measurement four times, and tlien translerring it to the larger model, an exact copy just four times as large was mule. For cach of tliese large section?, however, there had to be a support of some kind, before the piaster could be laid on. Having marked on the floor an outllne plan of theenlarged section, a wooden framework was built up inside the plan. Tlien upon this wórk piaster was roughly spreaJ. It soon resem bied, 1 a rude way, the correspoiiding aectlon of the quarter-size model, but was four times as large. Theu the workmen copied in this pile of piaster every feature of the model section, lueasuring and nieisuring, agairj and again, frotn dot to dot, correctlng by means of plmnb-lmes, and patiently tryÍ112 and retrying til! an exact copy- only in proportions four times as nui - ..ai attaincd. The great irregulaiity of the diapery made it necessary to put three hundred marks on each section, besides twelve hundred smaller guide-marks, in order to insure an exact correspondence in proportion between tke enlarged sections of the full-size model and the sections of the quarter-size. Eich of these marks, moreover, had tobe measured three times on both models, and after that carne all the remeasurements, to prove th-.it not a single mistake had been made. When these sectionsin piaster had been completed, then carne tlie work of making wooden molds that should be exact copies both in size and modeling of the piaster. These were all carefully made by hand. It was long, tedious, and difficult. Each piece was a mold of a part of the statue, exactly fitting every projection, depression, and curve of that portion oí the figure or drapery. Into these wooden molds sheets of metal were luid, and pressed or beaten down till they iitted the irregular surfaces of the molds. All the repousfe', or liamnierod work, was done from the back, or inside of the sheet. If the mold is 11 exact copy of a part of the statue, it is easy to sec that the sheet of metal, wheu made to lit it wIH, when takeu out and turncd over, be a copy of that part of the stati.c. These sheets were of copper, and each was from 011e to three yards square. Each forrned a part of tho bronze statue, and of course 110 two were alike. In this coniplicaled manner, by maklng first a sketch, then a quarter-size model, theu a full-size model in sections, then hundreds of wooden copie?, and lastly by beating into shape three hundred sheets of copper, tlie enormous statue was finished. These three hundred bent and hamuiered plates, weighing in all eightyeight tons, form the outside of tlie statue. They are very tliin, and while thcy fit each other perfectly, it is quite plain that if they were put together In their proper order they would never stand alone. These hammered sheet make tlie outside of the statue; but there most be also a skeleton, a bony structure inside, to hold it togetlier. This is of iron beani., ürnily riveted together, and making a su po.t to wlilch the copper can be fastened."