THE FAMILY MAGAZINE. 1837-8. CAPITOL OF INDIANA. THIS edifice is situated in an open square in the city of Indianapolis, the capital of Indiana. It is of the robust, or ancient Dorick order, octastyle, of the amphi-prostyle, pseudo-peripteral species, and admitting, from its insulated position, of a peribolus, or platform around it, may be considered the nearest approach to the classical spirit of the antique yet instanced in the Western hemisphere, while the novel introduction of antae upon its flank, boldly projecting from the wall, serve to conceal, in a foreshortened view, the many windows, which would, without such projections, give the building the character of a factory, as also an appearance, and the reality of instability, in the highest degree inharmonious with the surrounding parts, when introduced in a wall crowned by so ponderous an entablature. As a matter of taste, the propriety of adding a dome or cupola to an edifice of so simple a character as the Grecian temple, is with some reason doubted. This addition might be allowed to interfere with the 'sober dignity which should reign in a sacred edifice, yet, in the church of the French Protestants, N. Y., no one can wish the dome omitted; and, in the capitol of Indiana, this appendage gives the impress of a character suiting its destination, and receding from the front, the pediment retains its full value, while to the distant observer, the dome and lanthorn, rising proudly above surrounding objects enhances the richness of the scene, while the more simple form is perhaps shrouded by intervening objects. The building is eighty feet wide, and one hundred and eighty feet long, and contains rooms on three floors a basement below the level of the portico and peribolus, and two stories above. The great halls of legislation, chambers of the Senate and Representatives, are on the upper floor, which renders them lofty in the ceilings, and the committee rooms, which are on the first floor, more accessible by the free passage from end to end of the building, which passage could not be admitted were the great rooms below. The Senate chamber is thirty-six feet by seventy feet, and the hall of Representatives, forty-eight by seventy, or near these dimensions, and the Rotunda, thirty-six feet, with dome and skylight. The halls are rectangular oblongs on the plan, but have a semi-hemispherical concavity, or half dome in the ceiling, resting on a semicircular colonnade, which forms the "bar of the house," (so termed,) within which the members' seats are placed, all facing inward, fronting the focal point, and speak er's chair. This general arrangement, (according to the laws of Phonics,) is favourable to the extension and inflection of sound, which, here made sonorous, is yet found free from reverberation, distinct and clear. It also affords variety, with an architectural character to the apartment, while the columns contribute an additional support to the roof. As an exhibition of classical architecture, we have in the capitol of Indiana, each of the three orders appropriated by Greece: the Dorick, Ionick, and Corinthian:-the robust, chaste, and magnificent. In the body of the edifice, we have a resemblance to the Parthenon of Athens; in the interiour, the rich Ionick of the Erectheion; in the dome, the circular temple of Vesta, at Tivoli; and the lanthorn is a model of the Corinthian monument of Lysicrates. Nothing tends more to refine the taste, and to divest it of all taint of vulgarity than early familiarizing both the eye and the mind with those exquisite forms of beauty transmitted to us in the remains of ancient art; and nothing is better calculated to elevate our ideas, than frequent contemplation of structures, distinguished either by the sublimity of their dimensions, or the harmony of their proportions. : The buildings of the ancients are in architecture, what the works of nature are with respect to the other arts; they serve as models which we should imitate, and as standards by which we ought to judge and sufficient field is open to the man of genius for original design, and the display of science and taste in the judicious arrangement and application of ancient members, and in the composition of interiours; and, according to Reynolds, "true genius is seen as much in singling out and adapting approved examples in the practice of the arts, as in the display of original thoughts, or unprecedented invention:" and we may safely say more so, unless such new associations of ideas should prove upon mature investigation, to be equal or superiour to what has been accomplished, as it is much better to be an imitator of good things, than an inventor of bad. The capitol of Indiana was commenced in 1832, and finished in 1835, from the designs of Ithiel Town, and Alexander J. Davis, Architects. It cost seventy thousand dollars. 3 HOMER VILLAGE. THIS place derives its name from the town in which it is situated. The towns, generally, on what was called "the military tract" in this part of our state, when originally surveyed, received the names of distinguished ancients; the subdivisions have mostly been named in honour of Americans. also flagged. The houses generally exhibit in structure and finish, architectural neatness and taste; some of them are quite elegant. In the centre of the village is the green, containing six acres of land, and enclosed with a neat and durable fence. Here the publick buildings are situated, standing in a direct line, and make a very attractive and commanding appearance. First in order on the north, is the Episcopal church; (see cut) second, Cortland academy; third, the Congregational church; fourth, the old academy, now the Methodist church. A view of this, in the cut, is obstructed by Mechanicks' Hall, its steeple appearand fifth, the Baptist church. From the high ground in the vicinity, the village exhibits to its beholder an air of neatness and unostentatious elegance, not surpassed by any village in western New York. 'The inhabitants are generally New Englanders and their immediate descendants, and evince some of the peculiar characteristicks of the people in their "father land." The population of the village is eleven hundred, and has increased during the last ten years at a ratio that will double every ten years. The village was incorported in 1835, and includes the whole of lot No. 45, in the old township of Homer. This village began to be settled in 1796 by people from New England. There were a few families who had previously settled in other parts of the town. The first house (a log-house,) was built in that year by James Moore; others were shortly after erected. The first frame house was put up in 1799 by Major E. Stimson on the ground now occu-ing to stand on the ridge at the east end of the hall; pied by the third house (two stories high, four chimneys,) from the left one, see cut. The inhabitants had then to go thirty or forty miles to get their milling done. A grist-mill was ere long built, and was considered a very important acquisition to the settlement. It served the people for a mill and also for a place to hold religious meetings, until they could erect a house large enough for that purpose. The first sermon preached in this town was delivered by the Rev. Dr. Hillyer of New Jersey, about the year 1794, at the raising of a log barn on the hill east of the village. The reverend gentleman was on an exploring tour for the purpose of viewing a lot of land of which he was the owner, and which is still called by his name; falling in company with the men who were erecting the barn, while there he preached to them, standing by the side of a tree, his auditors being seated about him in the form of a kind of semicircle. The tree was marked for the purpose of perpetuating a knowledge of the location of the event. Subsequently the tree was cut down by an owner who considered it of more value to him, to use it for timber or fuel, than to let it stand as a memento of past events. The Homer cotton factory does an extensive business, and manufactures large quantities of cloth for calico-printers. The capital invested is $40,000 and is owned almost exclusively by persons residing in the village and vicinity. Other manufactures are prosecuted to considerable extent. Flour, linseed oil, leather, shoes, woollen cloth, axes, scythes, edge tools, stone-ware, ploughs, castings of various kinds, tin-ware, carriages, furniture, combs, bread, crackers, &c. &c. There is no distillery in the town; previous to the commence. From the first settlement of this place, it has con-ment of the temperance reform there were five or tinued to increase gradually in population and busi-six. There is one brewery. A great amount of ness. New accessions have been made yearly by business is done by the merchants. There are now emigrants from Massachusets and Connecticut, and in the village three clergymen, five lawyers, and some from the eastern part of this state. It was with four physicians. There are three public and two much difficulty that they made their way through private schools, where the common branches of edthe wilderness to this then new settlement. The ucation are taught. early settlers were industrious, frugal, and moral; and a large proportion of them, religious people, who were proverbial for their friendly intercourse, and acts of kindness and hospitality to each other and to "new comers." Several of the first inhabitants have remarked to me, that, notwithstanding the deprivations they had to endure, those were happy days. Under God, we are indebted in no small degree to those Pilgrims for the distinguished, religious, moral, and intellectual privileges, which, as a people, we now enjoy, and for the good order that prevails throughout our community. Homer village is pleasantly situated in the very rich and fertile valley of the Tioughnioya. The west branch of this stream passes through the village, and adds much to its beauty and business. The village extends from north to south about a mile; its principal (Main) street passes through the length of it, running a south-westerly direction, and is to a considerable extent lined on either side with shade-trees, and through the whole distance with lagged side-walks. This street is intersected by thers at right angles, the side-walks of which are Cortland academy has been for some time one of the most flourishing institutions of the kind in the state. It has six teachers, (four gentlemen and two ladies) and as many departments. The course of study pursued in this institution is designed to present a thorough preparation for admission to college, and for active business in the various spheres in which the youth of our country are called to act. It is furnished with a valuable philosophical and chymical apparatus, an extensive and valuable cabinet of minerals and geological specimens, and a library. Lectures are delivered on chymistry, natural philosophy, and geology. The healthful situation of the institution, the very few inducements to vice, the moral character of the community, and the assiduous attention of the teachers to the duties devolving on them, exert a very favourable and manifest influence over the habits of the students. This institution was founded February 2, 1819. The whole number of students who attended during the year ending December 1836, was 366-males 211, females 155. S. B. Woolworth A. M. principal. S. S. B.. |