90
THE GREEN BAG
the background. He is accompanied by two attendants, and is represented as draw ing inspiration for his reflections from the music of the kin, the instrument he holds on his lap. Lycurgus is pictured in the act of consulting the oracle at Delphi to obtain divine sanction of his laws to the Spartans, before he disappears from the knowledge of men. Numa Pompilius listens to the wis dom which falls from the hps of the nymph, Egeria, and Mahomet, heavily veiled, sits between the two favorite grandsons who, according to tradition, became his play fellows in Paradise. The conventional en closure of a garden and the symbolical
cypress and palm appear in the back ground. These decorations by Turner, by Blashfield, and by La Farge are but the beginning of what the future holds in store, it is hoped, for the Baltimore Court House. If the fulfillment of the future measures up to the promise made by present achievement, and there is every reason to believe that it will, this epic in stone, through the agency of the mural artist, is destined to become not only a profoundly inspiring reminder of the in heritances from the past, but a source of inspiration to ennobled living as well. Baltimore, Md., January, 1907.
