Grant Statue Rejected

Eleven thousand aollars were expended by the Grand Army of the Republic for a statue of General Grant, which it was intended to place in Statuary Hall at the Capitol. After the statue had been made it was brought to the rotunda of the Capitol and here partially unboxed. Soldier after soldier who had served with Grant during the war looked at it in amazement and said that it bore no resemblance whatsoever to the hero of Appomattox. The joint llbrary committee of the House and Senate, whose approval of all statues proposed to be placed in Statuary Hall is necessary, viewed the tatue which was intended to represent General Grant, and then unanimously rejected it. They held that it did not in any way look as he had. This statue itself is a magnifleent piece of work and beautifully done, the only trouble with it belng that the sculptor, J. Franklin Simmons, was unable to catch the likeness of the great general. The statue conld be used to represent a general of tho United States army, and might be vseful as a monument in some nationa.' cemetery, but to pass it off for General Grant would not do. The Grand Army of the Republic has a marble on its hand, and has had it packed up again, but it still remains in the rotunda of the Capitol, where visitors to town look at it and ask the guides what the two immense boxes are. What the Grand Army of the Republic men will do with it is not known, but at present they have a great big white elephant on thcir hands, for which they have no use. By the mistake of the sculptor Statuary Hall loses what would have been an attractive addition to the crowd of telebrities.- Ex.