"--three heads, that of the Soul hooded and draped,
looking before her with eyes that seem to discern things not seen by
mortals; the sinister face of Doubt at the left, the serene, inspiring
countenance of Faith at the right. It is a magical picture to have
before one with its profoundly significant message. The works of Mr.
Vedder will grow more priceless as the years pass by. They are pictures
for the ages.

In Mr. Ezekiel, another American artist whose almost lifelong home has
been in Rome, is a sculptor whose touch and technique have won
recognition. In a recumbent figure of Christ is seen one of the best
examples of his art. It is pervaded by the classic influences in which
he has lived. The studios of Mr. Ezekiel, in the ruins of the old Baths
of Caracalla, are very picturesque and his salon, with its music, its
wealth of books including many rare and beautiful copies, and its old
pictures and bric-a-brac, is one of the fascinating interiors of the
Eternal City.

The visitor who is privileged to see the Story studios in the Via San
Martino finds Mr. Waldo Story occupying these spacious rooms where the
flash of a fountain in the court, a view of the garden, green-walled by
vines, with flowers and shrubs and broken statues, make the place
alluring to dreamer and poet. In these rooms may be seen many of the
elder Story's finest statues in cast or marble, the "Libyan Sibyl,"
"Nemesis," "Sappho," the "Christ," "Into the Silent Land," and others,
with many portrait busts, among which are those of Browning, Shelley,
Keats, Theodore Parker, Mrs. Browning, Marchesa Peruzzi de Medici (Edith
Story), John Lothrop Motley, one of Story's nearer friends, and Lord
Houghton.

In the work of Mr. Waldo Story one admirable portrait bust is of Cecil
Rhodes. A decorative work, a fountain for the Rothschild country estate
in England, is charmingly designed as a Galatea (in bronze), standing in
a marble shell that is drawn by Nereids and attended by Cupids. The
happy blending of marble and bronze gives to this work a pleasing
variety of color. Another decorative design is that of "Nymphs Drinking
at the Fountain of Love." These studios are among the most interesting
in Rome.

It was in 1868 that Franklin Simmons, then a young artist from Maine,
turned to Rome as his artistic Mecca. Since then the Eternal City has
always been his home, but his frequent and prolonged sojourns in America
have kept him closely in touch with its nationa