The Boston Library, it may be stated, offered opportunity for decorative work of an unusual nature, which was taken advantage of by several of the better known men. Elmer E. Garnsey made remarkable designs for the Pompeian lobby, and John Elliott a ceiling in the children’s reference room. The Congressional Library at Washington offered still greater opportunities, engaging the attention of a long list of painters. Here again is seen the hand of Mr. Garnsey, who planned the color scheme; while prominent among the decorations are the works of Elihu Vedder,--six large panels representing Government in its various phases, good and corrupt, of much invention in their allegorical way; for the artist is a highly imaginative man. Mr. Brownell places Vedder in the front rank of the imaginative painters of the day, adding, “Their name is not legion.” Other men who contributed to the Library of Congress include John W. Alexander, who is further represented at Pittsburgh, in the Carnegie Institute, with most important wall decorations; Gari Melchers; Robert Reid, whose list of other work is extensive, including decorations for the capitol at Boston; Henry O. Walker, also represented in the Appellate Court in New York. [Illustration: PENNSYLVANIA EXCAVATIONS, by Fred Dana Marsh] EDWARD SIMMONS, ROBERT BLUM, AND OTHERS In addition to these was a painter who has also been one of the most prominent of the decorative men, Edward Simmons. Years ago he won the competition for a decoration for the Criminal Court room in New York, a prize awarded by the Municipal Art Society. A pupil of the Paris schools, a master draftsman, a singularly capable man, his three panels of the Fates won him instant place, and when he further made two decorations for the Massachusetts state capitol there was opened to him a field which he has since followed with distinction. Decorations for the ballroom of the Waldorf-Astoria, panels for the Appellate Court, for various state capitols and public buildings, and finally enormous embellishments for the Panama fair in San Francisco, place the man in the front rank. For pure beauty of invention, for charm of drawing and delicacy of vision, no American decoration has surpassed the two lovely panels executed by the late Robert Blum for the frieze of the assembly room of the Mendelssohn Glee Club in New York. They attracted enormous attention when they were first completed, and have been reproduced in many forms. Blum was a highly original painter, and these many figures representing “Music” and “The Dance” have a grace quite their own. [Illustration: Reproductions of these paintings made by The Detroit Publishing Co. Copyright, 1912, by The Curtis Publishing Co. Copyright, 1914, by The Detroit Publishing Co. THREE PANELS, by Maxfield Parrish These three panels are part of a series called “A Florentine Fête,” which decorates the entire front of the dining room of the Curtis Publishing Company’s building in Philadelphia]