Adams, Adeline: The spirit of American sculpture (New York: Nat. Sculpture Soc., 1923)

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THE SPIRIT OF
the best resources of other days, and
the genius of modern sculptors.
Among the oldest inhabitants of gar-
dens are the Hermae, or boundary
gods, once used, it is said, to define
limits of land, but now freed from that
dull task, to be set up (singly, or in
pairs, or in rows) wherever found de-
sirable, as to accent a terrace, or to
flank a flight of steps. The variety of
type is infinite; male and female, these
terminal deities are the chorus in the
grand opera of garden sculpture, the
only rule laid upon them being that
they must play the foursquare post be-
low the waist, and look pleasant above.
Marble is their best dress, but they
may with good effect wear terra-cotta
in the paler tones; a material well
adapted also for the legion of great
decorative pots, round or square, that
“help so” in gardens either intimate or
imposing. Many garden owners col-
lect “antiques,” delightful enough even
VIII
OF GARDEN SCULPTURE