Henry Honeychruch Gorringe

Graywacke Knoll, dismounted, and took positions reserved for them on the platform. The men stationed at the fall of the down-haul tackle from the base, and those stationed at the fall of the lowering tackle from the top of the obelisk, had been previously instructed to haul down and slack away, respectively, when I held my hand up, and as long as it was held up, and to stop as soon as I lowered my hand. After a moment's conversation with Mr. Evarts the signal was given and the obelisk slowly turned, the spectators preserving a silence that was almost unnatural. When the obelisk had changed from the horizontal to an angle of about forty-five degrees, I gave the signal to hold it in that position while Mr. Edward Bierstadt made a photograph for which he had made preparations. This seemed to break the spell that bound the spectators in silence, and when the signal was given to continue the turning there arose a loud cheer which was prolonged until the shaft stood erect. It is something to have witnessed the manipulation of a mass weighing nearly two hundred and twenty tons changing its position majestically, yet as easily and steadily as if it were without weight. It was to me an inexpressible relief to feel that my work was complete, and that no accident or incident had happened that would make my countrymen regret that I had been intrusted with the work of removing and re-erecting in their metropolis one of the most famous monuments of the Old World and the most ancient and interesting relic of the past on the American Continent. Only five minutes elapsed from the first signal to the time the obelisk was vertical. As it reached this position the Marine Band played the national airs while the battalion presented arms. Congratulations followed, and the spectators very soon dispersed.

After the grounds had been cleared the hydraulic pumps (A, Plate xxviii) were placed in position under the clamps (B) on each corner of the pedestal. The obelisk was once more suspended on them, the bolts of the trunnions were slackened, the turn-buckles of the tie-rods revolved, and the obelisk lowered by the pumps and turn-buckles until it rested on the pedestal. Adjusting it so as to have the axis correspond with that of the shaft, heating the surfaces that were to come in contact so as to fit them for a thin layer of cement, and spreading this cement uniformly in the severe cold that prevailed during that afternoon, delayed the work until eight o'clock in the evening, at which hour the obelisk was finally landed on the pedestal and released from the turning structure. Fifteen months had elapsed from the day the work of removal began in Alexandria. In this time it had travelled 5,380 miles by water, and 11,520 feet by land; had been lowered 39 feet, and lifted 230 feet.

Removing the machinery, demolishing the foundation walls and workshops, and clearing away the debris from Graywacke Knoll, were all accomplished within ten days after the obelisk was re-erected. Placing and securing the crabs in position was a tedious process, owing to continued freezing weather, and occupied us ten days longer. To give the upper part of the metal a uniform bearing, molten lead was poured into the vacant spaces and caulked in around the edges. To render their removal impossible without destroying the pedestal, molten lead was poured into the mortices around the dowels projecting downward from the lower side of the flanges, through holes bored in them for the purpose. The crabs are not ornaments only; they serve to give the bottom of the obelisk a bearing surface on the pedestal nearly equal to the area of its base if the corners had not been broken off. To pull the obelisk over without first raising it clear of the pedestal would require a force applied to its centre of gravity equivalent to that required for lifting seventy-eight tons. The maximum pressure that could be exerted by wind blowing with the force of a hurricane on the obelisk would be equivalent to that required to lift fifteen tons. This pressure would be exerted uniformly over the whole of one face or its equivalent. The factor of stability is therefore very great. It would require an exceptionally severe earthquake, one that would leave very few buildings in New York standing, to render the obelisk unstable.

THE PRESENTATION CEREMONIES

The ceremony of formally presenting the obelisk to New York City was fixed for February 22d, and the use of the grand hall of the Metropolitan Museum near by was tendered by the trustees for the purpose. A committee, of which the Honorable Henry G. Stebbins was Chairman, Messrs. Algernon S. Sullivan, John Taylor Johnston, Robert Hewitt, Jr., and Stephen A. Walker were members, had perfected all the arrangements and issued tickets of admission to the museum.

The following detailed account of the ceremony and incidents connected therewith is reproduced from the New York World of February 23d. It would be impossible for me to make a better record of the facts. It would be embarrassing for me to relate such as have a personal bearing, and it seems as if the record would be incomplete without them.

The tide in the direction of Central Park and the obelisk set in at noon, and at 2 o'clock had flooded the flat ground between the Metropolitan Museum of Art and Greywacke Knoll, upon which the obelisk stands, and all the walks and drives adjacent thereto, with people. Not a train on either of the elevated roads, not a car on the several street railways, but had gone up town after noon loaded down with passengers. At a rough estimate there were in the Central Park at 2 P. M. 20,000 people. It had been announced that the interesting ceremonies connected with the formal presentation to the city, through the United States government, of the Khedive's splendid gift would take place within the shelter of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and that admittance to the museum could only be obtained by tickets. Nevertheless an unlimited number of people, a throng beyond the capacity of any ten halls in New York combined, went to the park, bent upon hearing the address of the Secretary of State, and on being close eye-witnesses of all the interesting details of the presentation. This fact is pleasant, inasmuch as it shows beyond peradventure that the people of New York are not insensible of the value and magnitude of Egypt's gift to America; but the immediate results were inevitable. To have opened the doors of the Metropolitan Museum, spacious as is that structure, to the throng which surged about it, would have been to produce a crush in which nobody could have lived. Early comers had, however, taken possession of the top steps leading to the two doors of the museum, and behind them, stretching away to the north and south, were solid lines of impatient citizens who blocked the broad stairways and the asphalt walks, and rendered it a matter of extreme difficulty for invited guests to extricate themselves from their carriages and gain a foothold anywhere in front of the museum building.

At 2.10 o'clock, a platoon of park policemen having meantime been pressed into service, the doors leading to the museum were opened and the holders of tickets were admitted. It was the crush of a favorite opera night ten times intensified. Presently, however, as the hopelessness of obtaining an entrance began to dawn upon the unticketed, the ways broadened and the invited company was ushered into the hall. At the east end of the main floor a platform capable of seating sixty or seventy persons had been erected. Facing this platform were a number of chairs reserved for the holders of special tickets. The intervening space between the reserved rows and the four walls of the building was quickly filled. It was a thoroughly amiable throng, however, which had taken possession of the building, and understanding that accommodations were of necessity limited, contented itself in good-humor. The scene through any one of the great windows in the front of the building would at this moment have done good to the gracious heart of his generous Highness the ex-Khedive Ismail. Clear cut against a cloudless sky rose the graceful lines of the monolith. Thousands of people, made very small by contrast with the towering shaft, crowded around its base and pressed one another on the sloping hill. Closer at hand, between the throng of devotees at the base of the monument and the Museum of Fine Arts, was a mass of carriages. Inside of the museum the only unoccupied space at 2.30 o'clock was the platform. The north gallery had been taken possession of by Theodore Thomas' New York chorus, and the south gallery, divided by a partition, gave seats to the one hundred common-school boys who were to receive copies of the medal struck in honor of the occasion by the Numismatic Society, and to a number of ladies whose avowed interest in the obelisk, as well as in the Museum of Art, entitled them to special privileges.

At a little after half past 2 P. M. Mr. Evarts, leaning upon the arm of Mr. John Taylor Johnston, ascended the platform. His appearance was the signal for an outburst of applause, which had not ceased when all the gentlemen who followed him had found seats. Immediately behind Secretary Evarts and Mr. Johnston were Chancellor Howard Crosby and Chief-Justice Daly, the former wearing the black silk faced with violet velvet robe of his office. The platform soon became fully occupied. His Honor, W. R. Grace, the Mayor, who was to receive the gift, was seated next to Secretary Evarts, who was to present it.

Mr. John Taylor Johnston, the President of the museum, presided. Mr. Evarts was given a seat at his right. President Barnard, with Lieutenant-Commander Gorringe at his side, sat on Mr. Johnston's left. Dr. Crosby, at the request of Mr. Johnston, began the ceremonies with prayer, as follows:

"Almighty God, our Heavenly Father, Who hast given to us a goodly heritage in this land of liberty and peace, and hast afforded us opportunity and means for growth in wisdom and knowledge, we desire to lift up our hearts to Thee with humble and grateful acknowledgment of Thy mercies and to ask for Thy continued favor. We thank Thee for the prosperity of our beloved city, for its health and thrift, for its wealth and enterprise, and for its institutions of charity and education. We thank Thee for the centres of refined culture Thou hast enabled our citizens to establish by which to elevate and enlighten the public mind, and now this day we do give Thee our hearty thanks that Thou hast permitted the enterprise which connects us with an extreme antiquity to be brought to a successful termination; and we pray Thee, most gracious Lord, that those who have been especially instrumental in forwarding this work may be rewarded by seeing its utility, both as an ornament and a teacher among us, adorning the city, while it contrasts our light and privileges with the darkness and tyranny of the older time. We beseech Thee, Almighty God, to accept our petition for Jesus' sake. Amen."

Next the hymn, written expressly for the occasion by Mr. Richard Watson Gilder, was finely sung by Mr. Thomas' trained choir in the north gallery, which was conducted by Mr. George F. Bristow and Mr. William G. Dietrich. The hymn, which had been adapted by Mr. Thomas to the music of Luther's hymn, "Ein' Feste Burg," is as follows:

Great God, to Whom since time began

The world has prayed and striven;

Maker of stars, and earth, and man—
To Thee our praise is given!
Here, by this ancient Sign
Of Thine own Light Divine,
We lift to Thee our eyes,
Thou Dweller of the skies—
Hear us, O God in heaven!

In myriad forms, by myriad names,

Men seek to bind and mould Thee;
But Thou dost melt, like wax in flames,
The cords that would enfold Thee.
Who madest life and light,
Bring'st morning after night,
Who all things did'st create—
No majesty, nor state,
Nor word, nor world can hold Thee.

Older than Nilus' mighty flood

Into the mid-sea pouring,
Or than the sea, Thou God hast stood—
Thou God Whom we 're adoring.
Waters and stormy blasts
Haste when Thou bid'st them haste;
Silent, and hid, and still,
Thou sendest good and ill:
Thy ways are past exploring.

Great God, to Whom since time began

The world has prayed and striven;
Maker of stars, and earth, and man—
To Thee our praise is given!
Of suns Thou art the Sun,
Eternal, Holy One:
Who can us help save Thou?
To Thee alone, alone we bow—
O hear us, God in heaven!

An introductory address by Mr. Henry G. Stebbins, the Chairman of the Committee of Arrangements, was to have followed the singing of the hymn, but Mr. Stebbins was not able, as will be seen by the following letter, to be present:

"2 West Sixteenth Street, February 21st.

"A. S. SULLIVAN, Esq.

"Dear Sir: I had hoped and expected until to-day to perform the duties assigned to me by the committee in charge of the arrangements in the formal presentation of the obelisk in Central Park to-morrow. I find myself, however, prevented by a sudden and severe cold, which forbids the carrying out of my purposes. I regret this the more because I have taken a special interest in the bringing here and in the location of an artistic memorial of an ancient civilization, which now fitly looks on the beginning of what I trust will become a great museum of art. This museum is destined to supply a permanent home for the trophies from all countries and of all periods in which art has flourished and left its memorials. I hope I may be allowed to express my conviction that the selection of the site for the obelisk will be more approved as its harmony with the surroundings and the security of its setting become more and more generally recognized. Liberality, enterprise, official aid, and private assistance have added a graceful and suggestive monument to our great out-door gallery. I hope that the successful placing of this interesting monument in such a relation to the future national gallery of America will encourage our wealthy citizens to enlarge the Art Museum and to fill it with all those treasures which so greatly increase the attractions of the metropolis.

"Yours, very sincerely,

"H. G. STEBBiNS."

Mr. John Taylor Johnston then introduced Mr. Evarts, who was received with hearty applause, and who in the following address formally presented the obelisk to the city:

Mr. President, Ladies And Gentlemen: I responded with pleasure to the call of the committee to take such part in the installation of the obelisk as they in their judgment thought suitable. My relation to the occasion and my service before you are naturally and necessarily mainly official and ceremonial, for I have had no personal share in the first construction of this obelisk, nor in any of its movements since; and in the great transaction so creditable to ourselves and our age by which it has been acquired, by which it has been transported, and by which it has been placed on this site, I have had only an official and ceremonial share. I think it is something like twelve years ago that one of our distinguished fellow-citizens, the head of one of the principal journals of the country, being in the Mediterranean on the occasion of the opening of the Suez Canal, and being in the company of the Khedive of Egypt, learned from him that there was no insurmountable obstacle in Egyptian mystery or Egyptian pride against the obelisk's being sent across the ocean, if only an obelisk could be supposed capable of making the voyage. This idea, cherished for some years, at last began to put itself in the course of execution. In the first year, I think, of my administration of the Department of State some preliminary considerations on the subject were taken between that gentleman and myself; but it was not until the visit of our excellent and faithful Consul-General in Egypt, Mr. Farman, to this country in the summer of 1878, that full information was gained here of the conditions necessary and the prospect of success, and that full instructions were given to him on the part of the government as to his action in reaching the desired end. From that step the stages were easy and rapid, and in May, 1879, Mr. Farman informed the State Department that the consent of the then Khedive had been given to the transaction, and your distinguished fellow-citizen, Mr. Stebbins, was acquainted with the success of the measure to which from the beginning he had lent his name and influence. Thus it seemed as if every difficulty was overcome so far as the good-will of the Khedive was concerned, and the first step of our government for the transfer of the prize; but by one of the vicissitudes of government which abound in that land the Khedive suddenly abdicated, leaving his gift incomplete and leaving the country and the obelisk behind him, and there was somewhat of solicitude whether the incomplete gift would be assured to us by the approval and ratification of his successor. But the delicate and careful and faithful efforts of Mr. Farman were at last crowned with success, notwithstanding some obstacles on the part of jealous governments which thought it a shame that their capital should not hold all the obelisks, even if Egypt should be despoiled of them. When we arrived at that conclusion we went in search of a man of courage, skill, and knowledge of the sea, competent in the judgment of others and confident in his own ability, and we were fortunate in finding such an one in an accomplished officer of our navy, Lieutenant Commander Gorringe, a man wholly fitted for the achievement of bringing the obelisk hither. And when I asked the Secretary of the Navy to grant him leave of absence, and desired to know whether his previous record had been such that this grand work, with all its risks and peril, could be entrusted to him, I got but one answer, and that was that whatever Gorringe undertook to do he would accomplish. Whether that was as well-deserved a reputation then as I supposed it to have been I know not, but I think that the wider circle of observers and the generous testimony of his fellow-citizens will now give warrant, that whatever Lieutenant Commander Gorringe undertakes to do he will accomplish. Lieutenant Commander Gorringe reached Alexandria on the 21st of October 1879. He procured a vessel and began the opening of her sides, or her bow or her stern or whatever was most useful, in order that the obelisk might be trundled into it on cannon balls. He left with it about June, 1880, and met with a disaster at sea that was enough to wreck the vessel had he not been provided with a shaft to replace the broken one. He reached here some time about the 25th of July, and then the labor of the land passage began, which was incomparably greater than that of the transport across the Atlantic. By slow stages the obelisk transverse its way along our crowded thoroughfares, and finally reached a position to be elevated on its present pedestal on the 22d of January last. The foundation had been prepared previously, and the laying of its corner-stone had been accompanied by imposing ceremonies under the charge of the Masonic institutions of this country, that institution finding most interesting records to show that the Free and Accepted Order of Masons existed in Egypt at least 1,800 years ago. Now the communication of these facts leaves only one thing to be added, and that is that an obelisk cannot work its own passage across the Atlantic. Somebody must pay for it, and such an one had been found in your very public-spirited fellow-citizen, a man furnished with abundant means to carry out whatever he should undertake in a financial direction. When he was first approached on the subject, Mr. Wm. H. Vanderbilt made the immediate and generous response, that he would bear the expense of the undertaking, desiring his name not to be mentioned until a time should come when it could properly announced. His presence was expected here to-day, but we are deprived of its by some causal infirmity which detains him from us. These facts, the voyage of this obelisk and the provision fro the expense thereof, show, I think, a munificence unexampled, great advance in opportunities and means of such transportation, and great skill, energy, and economy. The expense of the transfer has been a little over $100,000, and Lieutenant-Commander Gorringe has contributed his services as his part of the great work.

“This is not the first obelisk that has left its home in Egypt to seek new scenes; but never before perhaps has the transfer been as voluntary on the part of the Egyptian government as now. These obelisks, great and triumphant structure, having for their inscription nothing by the official pomp of their founders, mark a culmination of the power and glory of Egypt, and every conqueror has seemed to think that the final trophy of Egypt’s subjection and the proud pre-eminence of his own nation could be shown only by taking an obelisk – the chief mark of Egyptian pomp and pride – to grace the capital of the conquering nation. The first was taken by a conquering Assyrian monarch, of great mark in his time and remembered through all the ages since, known better to us and more easily by the Greek name of Sardanapalus. He took an obelisk to Nineveh when that empire was the mistress of the world, and that obelisk made the first great voyage like this which our obelisk has taken. Although there are no records of he precise route which the Assyrian took for his obelisk, yet it is very apparent that it was taken to the Red Sea, and then down the Red Sea in to the Indian Ocean, and then through the Persian Gulf to the mouth of Euphrates, and thence to Nineveh. Beyond the navigation of the river. This route must have included some 1,500 miles. We are somewhat at a loss to understand how the methods and vehicle for such a transportation could have existed at that age. We have but little record of that; but as the obelisk undoubtedly got to Nineveh and could not get across the desert by land, it must have made this circuitous route of 1,500 miles.

The next power which assumed to take obelisks from Egypt was the Roman State in the times of the emperors, and they took as many as fifteen obelisks, one after the other, and twelve of them now remain in Italy. This brings us to the period close upon the Christian era and to the time of the first famous Caesar, Julius, and his successors, when Egypt, subject and abject, yielded up the treasures of its art and of its faith to the conquering spoiler.

Next comes the Eastern Empire, having Byzantium as its capital, and it, too, demanded contribution of the wealth of Egypt, - the contribution of obelisks to mark the domination of the city of Constantine, - and Byzantium, now Constantinople, still contains two obelisks thus taken. This closes the list of transportations in ancient times. All subsequent removals of obelisks have been within this century.

The French and British, as all know, made Egypt a battle field, and the famous naval battles of the Nile and the famous battles in which Napoleon and Abercrombie measured their strength are familiar to us all. Egypt recognized her obligations to England, and offered an obelisk to England – then the great power of the earth, - but its very transportation – the expense thereof – seemed so serious that the gift remained lying on the sand at Alexandria, and no attempt was made for its transfer until 1877. This was completed in 1878. British ingenuity in the architecture of naval vessels and in navigation and in engineering had only taught Britons that the obelisk could not be carried in the hold of ship, and the experiment was made of building a vehicle around the obelisk that could float it and float itself, and could be towed by steamer so arranged as to give the crew an opportunity of saving themselves, so that when it came to a choice between the sinking of the obelisk and the sinking of the crew the steamer could be cut loose from the two. The experiment was not such as to encourage imitation by us even if Commander Gorringe had not had that faith in a ship which had been his cradle from his youth, and had not thought that if a ship could carry all the men and all the armor and all the cargoes that modern civilization burdens it with, it could carry the obelisk. The caisson, or whatever it was called, in which the English obelisk was inclosed was abandoned in mid-ocean, and the experiment delayed for fifty years from the time the gift was made till the courage and skill were found to undertake it, stood disappointed in its accomplishment.



Some half a century has stood in the Place de la Concorde. In this fifty years it has seen the monarchy followed by the empire, and that empire yield to the republic. But observe how little those forms of government—how little those great men of the earth—are in the action of modern civilization. How has France been humbled? The pride of domination and dynasty has fallen, but France—greater, richer, freer, more noble and prosperous than ever—stands the same, and this obelisk in the great place of Paris has seen only those little perturbations upon the surface without one stone falling from another in the great structure of the French nation. The English obelisk has not been there long enough to gather much experience about the prosperity of our great mother country. It has so far witnessed only the agitations of the Irish Land League, though who can tell what those may yet portend? While we all feel solicitude and sympathy for her fate, we feel that as a matter of pride, next to ourselves, the mother country of our republic should bear a high place among the nations of the world. But you will say at once that in England any transposition of force—of stated power—would pass for little. It has been a long time since the institutions of England depended upon its monarchy, and it has been a long time since the monarchy has formed one of the vital institutions of the country. Now, here—what shall we say of the prospects and assurances by which we may hope in our system of society, in our system of religion, in our system of government, to outlast the obelisk, if the obelisk is to wait for our ruin? At the very time that Thothmes was rearing these great monuments of his power, a feeble Hebrew infant, doomed to death from his birth in expectation of the race becoming too formidable and too much oppressed, uttered a feeble cry from the bulrushes when the daughter of Pharaoh disturbed his sleep, and Moses has come here long before this obelisk; Moses, the greatest law-giver that the world ever saw—Moses with his ten commandments—is in possession of the churches, and of the schools, and of the literature, and of the morals of society. Egypt is represented not only here but throughout our system of civilization by the cry of the infant Moses, heard throughout the whole modern world. Twenty-two years after this obelisk was raised at Alexandria by the Romans to mark their perpetual dominion, there was born in the neighboring and subject province of Palestine another infant, destined also to death from His infancy—Christ the Saviour, a name before which all kings and rulers and conquerors, all dynasties, all principalities and powers have fallen in obedience; and before this obelisk from Alexandria had reached our shores we had heard the name of Christ, and the religion of Christ has been made the basis of our civilization, of our national strength, of our national permanence. I do not deny that we may see slow corruption. I do not deny the possibility of popular failure. I do not know but you may become weary of well-doing, and scoff at Moses and the prophets, and fall away from the name of Jesus. Who indeed can tell what our nation will do if any such perversity is possible of realization; and yet this obelisk may ask us, 'Can you expect to flourish forever? Can you expect wealth to accumulate and man not decay? Can you think that the soft folds of luxury are to wrap themselves closer and closer around this nation and the pith and vigor of its manhood know no decay? Can it creep over you and yet the nation know no decrepitude?' These are questions that may be answered in the time of the obelisk, but not in ours."

At the conclusion of Mr. Evarts' address, Mayor Grace, who was seated just behind President Barnard, arose to respond on behalf of the city, and, bowing to Mr. Evarts and the ladies upon the platform, said:

"Sir: On behalf of the city of New York it affords me great pleasure to receive from the Khedive of Egypt, through the kindness of very public-spirited gentlemen, the great historical monument which now adorns our Central Park. The generosity of the donor is extreme. He sends us to be placed in our midst a most valued and valuable monument of an older era, as if to remind us of the instability of nations, of our own youth, and of the greatness of the past. The civilization in the midst of which this monument was constructed presents a most perfect contrast to that of our day and country. The social constitution of Egypt, based as it was upon caste, has nothing in common with that newer notion which lies at the bottom of the modern state— absolute equality of opportunity, absolute equality before the law. As time has proved the enemy of the old social form and the friend of the new, it may be hoped that the stability which was wanting to the one may not be so to the other. Strangely enough, that civilization whose bond was community of blood, and of which the city was the parent and the centre,—the pre-Christian civilization,—was that which afforded the least stability to the city, while that which regards universal liberty as the groundwork of society, and holds the city as only a constituent part of a larger political whole, is the most favorable to municipal development. As our city grows in its liberties it continues in the true spirit of conservatism to save all of value in the past, and so a historical monument which will serve to bind us to antiquity as does this great obelisk—which has been safely brought here only by the exercise of the greatest ingenuity and engineering skill—is something of which the city of New York should be, and, I assure you, will be proud."

Mr. A. S. Sullivan then rose to present the medals struck in commemoration of the occasion. "On behalf of the American Numismatic and Archaeological Society of New York," he said, "I have now to fulfill a commission without which our proceedings would almost fail to express in rounded proportions the significance, the utility, and the beauty of these stately ceremonies. Yonder cuts the Western sky a memorial stone which has hitherto been a beacon under an Eastern sky. While, as I speak, its shadow, from the sinking sun, moves toward us, it seems to people this museum, from the dim past of the Orient, with weird myths and mysteries and splendid legends. That monolith was an emblem of Deity. The kings and priests who set it up have been mummies for thirty centuries, and their sun-worship is giving place to the adoration of the 1 Lux Benigna et Divina' of the true revelation. Their monument has been moved to the new continent to be an ever-speaking witness to the continuity and unity of human thought. It is the fittest of all possible sentinels at the portal of our future great archaeological temple. An appreciative token of the liberal financial donor, Mr. William H. Vanderbilt, and of the skilful and indefatigable engineer, Lieutenant-Commander H. H. Gorringe, U. S. N., to whose mediary agency we owe this souvenir of Egyptian methods, has been stamped upon medals to commemorate this occasion medalically, artistically, and historically. The first impressions from the die in silver, in the name of the distinguished society already named, and in view of this assembly, I now deliver to Mr. Vanderbilt and to Lieutenant-Commander Gorringe, whose great services to the cause of art and historic enlightenment are hereby recognized by all the educational circles of New York and America."

As he spoke Mr. Sullivan removed from its paper folds a long flat box of handsome workmanship, which he handed unopened to Commander Gorringe amid the applause of the audience. Commander Gorringe, hearing cries of his name from all parts of the hall, signified by a gesture to Mr. Johnston his disinclination to speak. Mr. Sullivan, saying that the absence of Mr. W. H. Vanderbilt was deeply regretted by him and, he had no doubt, by all present, also handed a box, similar to the one presented to Commander Gorringe, to a gentleman who took charge of it for Mr. Vanderbilt. The medals contained in these boxes were similar in character to those which were immediately afterward presented to the boys from the public schools, wrought only in more precious metal. Mr. Sullivan then addressing the hundred boys, who had risen to their feet and whose bright faces were turned attentively toward him, continued:

"But there remains the closing and not the least important feature in the design of this celebration. I turn to the gallery above us and I see one hundred faces of as many bright boys of New York and who represent the one hundred thousand children who crowd her public schools. My lads, you are welcome participants in our ceremonies. It is, perhaps, the first time in the history of New York that the children have been formally given a station in great public movements, but I hope it will not be so hereafter. We wish you to grow up with the feeling that the monuments, the museums, the schools, the libraries, the statues, the public institutions, the churches, the parks, and all the agencies that look to the improvement and the refinement and the health of the people, to the honor and virtue and morals of the city, to its public spirit and its civic pride, to its good repute and its magnificence, are a trust which you are soon to assume. They are now to influence and educate you, and we beg you to cherish them continuously. Let your book-studies be associated with all these sentiments. Meditate upon them with love. Determine to take a part in the community for its good, and that New York shall be better for your having lived in it. Revere such benefactors of mankind as dear old Peter Cooper, and ever remember that 'a good name is better than riches.' In the hope that this day shall be a great teaching day to all the children of New York, and lift them forward on an ascending plane, I address you as the representatives of all of them. I also present to you a medal which, as a talisman, shall ever remind you of the beauty and the duty of good citizenship. The motto upon the medal is taken from a Latin poet, and is 'Discipulus est priori posterior dies,' and may be translated, 'To-day must learn from yesterday.' I entreat you to observe in your lives the lessons, the wisdom, and the examples of experience.

As the crowded condition of the building rendered it impracticable for the boys to come down to the platform to receive their medals Mr. Sullivan handed them over to the care of a teacher appointed by President Walker, of the Board of Education, to receive and distribute them. Each medal was encased in heavy paper made into the shape of a little book, which books contained upon their outside covers a copy of the inscription on the pyramidion of the obelisk and the seal of the American Numismatic and Archaeological Society in the name of which the medals were presented, together with the following inscription: "Presented to ________ on behalf of the American Numismatic and Archaeological Society of the City of New York, by Robert Hewitt, Jr." The inner covers of the books contained the following memoranda:

"The object of this medal is to commemorate the erection of the Egyptian obelisk in the Central Park as having an educational meaning for the people, and to recall to the present and future generations that the history of the ancients may be studied to profitable account.

"An aphorism borrowed from the poet Publius Syrus has been placed upon it as conveying this idea. The legend is, 'Discipulus est priori posterior dies,' which may be freely translated, 'Let the future profit by the lessons of the past.' In the field the obelisk is seen a little toward the right; in the background the sun is represented rising over the sea, being an allegory recalling the ancient association of the obelisk with the worship of the sun, and at the same time also representing a part of the arms of the State of New York. In the lower field of the medal are represented the shields of the United States and New York City, grouped; that of the United States being surmounted by the American eagle, and that of New York resting on the scroll bearing the word 'Excelsior.' These two shields, grouped with laurel, are meant to represent the recipients of the gift from Egypt, forming, in all, a trio emblematic of the East and the West."

The reverse side of the medal bears the following inscription:

PRESENTED TO THE
UNITED STATES
BY

ISMAIL, KHEDIVE OF EGYPT,
1881.

QUARRIED AT SYENE
AND ERECTED A T HELIOPOLIS BY
THOTHMES III.

RE-ERECTED AT ALEXANDRIA

UNDER AUGUSTUS.

REMOVED TO NEW YORK
THROUGH THE LIBERALITY OF

W. H. VANDERBILT,
BY THE SKILL OF
LIEUT.-COM. H. H. GORRINGE, U. S. N.

Bronze Medal struck for the Presentation of the Obelisk, 22 Jan 1881

by the American Numismatic and Archaeological Society of the City of New York