In continuing to look at Mary Logan’s book on Washington and what she had to say about Capitol Hill, I next came to her description of the Library of Congress. However, when it came time to find a sentence or two to share, I was struck by her introductory passage of the chapters on this subject and the way that she compares the library building with that of the Capitol. She even manages to insert a quote from the 1866 poem “Giotto’s Tower” by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (pictured). Instead of writing a whole lot of my own, I will let Mrs. Logan’s words speak for themselves.
At the threshold of one century rose the Capitol, slowly unfolding in its majesty and grandeur, growing as the nation grew, out of weakness, often painfully, into strength, till at last its mighty dome was lifted against the sky, the symbol of a great and a united people. At the threshold of another century rose another building, unfolding quickly, easily, and in beauty, like a lily —
“ — blossoming in stone —
A vision, a delight, and a desire —
The builder’s perfect and centennial flower.”
The new Library of Congress is a monument of a nation which has emerged from the darkness of doubts and dangers into the full glory of conscious power. Every stone in the Capitol was the promise of a nation yet to be; every stone in the Library of Congress is the symbol of fulfillment. It is peculiarly fitting that the two great structures should stand near each other; that in the sunlight, from the time it breaks over the eastern hills till it lingers faintly in the west, the gleam of the great white dome and the glistening of the gilded one should mingle in a single setting of foliage. Together they are emblematic of the people. They belong to the people. It is the people’s Capitol, and it is the people’s Library, though originally designed simply as a Library of Congress. It is more freely open to the people of the whole country than are any of the great libraries of the world. They may not take away its books and its treasures of art, but they may come from any town or hamlet in the Union, simply ask for them, and they will be placed before them. They could have no better place in which to read or to study these treasures of art and literature than this, the largest and costliest library building in the world.
I thank Archive.org for having this book. More importantly, thank you for having a text version available online, so I did not have to type this all in myself.