The details of the design may be gathered from a description of the vases themselves. One is intended to represent the year in which the United States won independence; the other the hundredth anniversary of that event. Between them is a whole century of history. The vase “1776” rises from a base consisting of greenish, foamy waves, lashing angrily against rocks surmounted by a circlet of cannon modelled after the ordnance of Revolutionary times. In this we have the whole story of the struggle for independence, and of the turmoil and confusion of the strife. It is worth noting that this symbolical use of the wave ornamentation is strictly classical. When the potters of Greece sought a symbol of caprice and mutation, they could find none more expressive than the foam-crested waves of the sea. From the cannon the body of the vase swells gracefully outward, and attains its widest girth near the top, where it curves rapidly inward to the upper rim. The orifice is closed by a star-covered dome of blue, from either side of which spring statuettes of Fame and Victory. On a pedestal on the rim in front stands a bust of Washington, modelled by Houdon, after one formerly owned by Lafayette, and now in the Louvre. The ornamentation on the body is simple and expressive. Green fronds cross each other above the cannon, and smaller branches and stars are sprinkled over the whole surface. On the front is the American eagle with outstretched wings, with the national colors on either side. Above it, and immediately under the bust of Washington, in small gilt letters, are the names of the signers of the Declaration of Independence. The base of the Centennial vase, “1876,” symbolizes peace and prosperity by means of fruit, cereals, and the implements of husbandry. Above the eagle, in place of the names of the signers of the Declaration, are those of the Presidents, from Washington to Grant, and the surmounting bust represents Columbia. In other respects the two vases are alike. The story they tell is plain, and for every observer to read. Out of the struggle of a hundred years ago have come liberty, peace, and prosperity. The designer was exposed to dangers which he has coped with successfully. He has achieved something grateful to American patriotism without throwing originality aside. The American flag, the eagle, Washington, and the Goddess of Liberty, compose a group which, but for their artistic combination, might have been viewed with the indifference begotten of familiarity. As they stand, it becomes hard to conceive how otherwise, in equally intelligible language, a great historical event could have been commemorated in the everlasting record supplied by clay. They are records, and not mere ornaments. They mirror the first century of America’s life as a nation. They tell all or nearly all that history can tell of the passage from the struggle of 1776 to the prosperity of 1876.