I think Karl’s Mercury is a beautiful creature. He is thoroughly easy, unconstrained, and shapely; & all his lines are full of grace. He is a noble addition to our house’s decorations. All that I have said of him is endorsed by Mrs. Clemens & Mr. Charles Warner. I think that the child, too, is perfect. To me it is perfect; but to the mother eye it falls one fraction short of perfection. She thinks the nose is a little bit too small. I fancy this is only fancy; for all the features have doubtless been made by measurement, & must be right.

I take the Mercury to be a copy made from the some ancient statue, for the concours. I do not understand it to be a composition of Karl’s.

If all of a horse’s feet were on the ground & the horse’s body thrown

drawing of four feet of a horse, all on the ground

decidedly rearward—or,

drawing of four feet of a horse, with one forefoot off the ground

the body thrown sharply rearward on 3 of the feet, while one of the fore feet was more or less lifted, I could not mistake that attitude as indicating that the horse might be moving—moving forward; but when you lift one forefoot, & have one hindfootⒶemendation either lifting or from the ground or just settling to the ground, to me that horse is not quiescent, nor impatient, nor pawing, but seems to be moving along.,—& In the photograph with serenity——& this gives serenity to the ( b rear-view of the) rider, also. His eagerness may be in his face, but the photograph does not give us his face.

I perfectly understand that this is the hurried sketch, & that the man is not as he is to be, & that the sketch does not arrive at the intentions of the finished work——but we are only able to express opinions of the thing we see, not the thing which is to come. We can criticise a child, that stands before us, but not the future man in him. So I am criticising the sketch—I attempt nothing further.

Every man to his trade. “Turns, lingers, & gazes” is your text, & seems to you a sufficient one; to me it seems a most difficult one. Build him as you will, he will mean to each spectator a different thing—according to the emotion exhibited in his face:

Paul revereⒶemendation listening;

ʺʺlooking at landscape;

ʺʺʺʺ conflagration;

ʺʺdiscovering pursuers;

&c., &c., &c.

Yes, every man to his trade. I myself should have used a combination-text—

“He has left the village & mounted the steep”

“And so through the night went his cry of alarm”

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Yes, I should have had him mounting flying up the last stride of that steep, his horse’s front well thrown up up in the air (by the rising ground?) & himself straining leaning fawr fo[r]ward toward the horse’s arching neck, his spurred boots thrust far rearward, his head turned to the right, his open right hand shading alongside his mouth, his mouth open, uttering his wild “cry of alarm.”

And the more I think of it the more I think you could succeed better with this energetic text thatn with the difficult one you have chosen. But doubtless this extravagant performance which I have been picturing would defy the be an offense against the laws of statuary art. It is entirely permissible in literature, but may not be permissible in your art. You know, as to that; but I don’t. Art ought to permit it, though; for it presents Revere doing his memorable service, not merely about to do it. Besides, his “cry of alarm” was nine-tenths of his service—without it his service would not have accomplished anything, & there wouldn’t have been any occasion to put up a monument to him.

“ - - - borne on the night-wind of the Past, Through all our history to the last, In the hour of darkness & peril & need, The people will waken & listen to hear The hurrying hoof-beats of that steed, And the midnight message of Paul Revere.”

The message is the main feature.

Mrs. Clemens says the Mercury is a creation of Karl’s, & not a copy of an existing work of art. If that were so, I should say, compete for the Paul Revere; but without better evidence than Mrs. Clemens I am not able to believe that so young a hand could create so fine a thing as the Mercury. Therefore I don’t advise Karl to compete; but at the same time I do not object to it. I leave him perfectly free to compete or not, as he shall prefer.

Mrs. Charles Warner found Karl’s little bas-relief portrait of her husband on our mantel piece & wanted it so badly, & was so pleased with it that I gave it to her. But Mrs. Clemens won’t let her have it, & does not respect my authority in the matter. So Karl must make another—& improve on the first one. Then Mrs. W. will be glad she waited.

I am in a state of mental & bodily stupefaction from my long siege of work; but I have life enough in me to send a vast deal of love to both of you & to the coming small guest. And if I ever prayed, I should pray now for patience, courage, & good fortune for Josephine till the end of her trial come happily. The prayers of them that pray not, avail not; but their good wishes may; & these I offer with all my heart.