fine how the statue spreads before you this great vision, eludes the
acutest analysis; but there it is, told just as plainly as the Falls of
Niagara or the eternal stars tell the omnipotence of God.

The longer one studies this marvellous work, the more he sees to admire,
to reflect upon. There is something in the general effect that makes the
beholder forget the perfect nudity of the figure, which necessarily
grows out of the circumstances of the case, and which is entirely unfelt
by the captive in her terrible realization of the peril which surrounds
her. Thus two great difficulties that embarrass the execution of
undraped statuary are entirely overcome:

1. The nudity is only incidental to the general effect, and the subject
seems entirely unconscious of the fact.

2. The nudity is accounted for by the situation--the captive is tied
unclad to a tree, to be burned alive, according to Indian custom.

Thus a criticism that has been frequently made (and not unjustly) on the
_morale_ of certain works of art, has no application to this.

Of the details of this ideal creation--its matchless finish, the
graceful undulations of the perfect form, the firmness expressed in the
clenched fingers, the instinctive shudder gathered on the fair brow, the
lofty defiance of the eyes and half-parted lips, the radiant beauty of
the face--we can only say they live in our memory, but too deep for
words. We believe the truth of the artist's conception, that the
revengeful savages acknowledged the divinity of her beauty and Christian
reliance, and the 'White Captive' went free--the spirit of civilization
triumphed!

As a man's character is always more or less associated with his
achievements, the reader may wish to learn something of Mr. Palmer as a
man. In all kinds of soul-work, there is ever perceptible a certain
flavor of the mind which produces it, and the things thus created
usually suggest the qualities of the creator. So the works of the
sculptor are to some degree the exponents of his character, the
expressions of his inner life.

Therefore in Mr. Palmer we should expect moral and intellectual worth of
a high order, added to the purest and most exalted motives. He is in
spirit a reformer, taking an interest in every measure for the
improvement of our race, and sympathizing with every struggle of our
aspiring manhood.

The eccentricities, excuses, and conventional affectations of many real
and pretended geniuses he entirely