Great Stone Face

“ True it is, that if the spectator approached too near, he lost the outline of the gigantic visage, and could discern only a heap of ponderous and gigantic rocks, piled in chaotic ruin one upon another. Retracing his steps, however, the wondrous features would again be seen; and the farther he withdrew from them, the more like a human face, with all its original divinity intact, did they appear; until, as it grew dim in the distance, with the clouds and glorified vapor of the mountains clustering about it, the Great Stone Face seemed positively to be alive. ”

“ And now that star was throwing its intensest lustre on their hearts. They seemed changed to one another’s eyes, in the red brilliancy that flamed upon their cheeks, while it lent the same fire to the lake, the rocks, and sky, and to the mists which had rolled back before its power. But, with their next glance, they beheld an object that drew their attention even from the mighty stone. At the base of the cliff, directly beneath the Great Carbuncle, appeared the figure of a man, with his arms extended in the act of climbing, and his face turned upward, as if to drink the full gush of splendor. ”

“ I keep up the search for this accursed stone because the vain ambition of my youth has become a fate upon me in old age. The pursuit alone is my strength—the energy of my soul—the warmth of my blood—and the pith and marrow of my bones! Were I to turn my back upon it I should fall down dead on the hither side of the Notch, which is the gateway of this mountain region. Yet not to have my wasted lifetime back again would I give up my hopes of the Great Carbuncle! ”

“ The passages from Sketches from Memory show that Hawthorne had visited the mountains in one of his occasional rambles from home, but there are no entries in his Note Books which give accounts of such a visit. There is however among these notes the following interesting paragraph, written in 1840 and clearly foreshadowing The Great Stone Face:
“The semblance of a human face to be formed on the side of a mountain, or in the fracture of a small stone, by a lusus naturæ [freak of nature] . ”

“ After years of waiting, it was before me at last. The great face was so sad, so earnest, so longing, so patient. There was a dignity not of earth in its mien, and in its countenance a benignity such as never any thing human wore. It was stone, but it seemed sentient. If ever image of stone thought, it was thinking. It was looking toward the verge of the landscape, yet looking at nothing—nothing but distance and vacancy. It was looking over and beyond every thing of the present, and far into the past. ”

“ What had happened to The Man when he lived in the village became almost as great a legend as the Indian fable concerning The Stone. In the minds of the people one seemed as old as the other. Women who knew the awful disasters which had befallen The Man brooded at times most timidly, regarding him as they did at first—and even still—The Stone. Women who carried life unborn about with them had a strange dread of both The Stone and The Man. ”

“ Eyes behind almost opaque lead-glass goggles, head and body encased in a multi-layered suit each ply of which was copiously smeared with thick lead paint, Stone studied the raging monster of the heavens from the closest viewpoint any human being had ever attained – and lived. ”

“ Other stones, such as ‘fired’ zircon, white sapphire, white topaz, and rock-crystal, may dazzle with brilliancy of light reflected from the surface or emitted from the interior, but none of them, like diamond, glow with mysterious gleams. No hint of colour, save perhaps a trace of the blue of steel, can be tolerated in stones of this category; above all is a touch of the jaundice hue of yellow abhorred. It taxes all the skill of the lapidary to assure that the disposition of the facets be such as to reveal the full splendour of the stone. ”

“ For if the Stone does not presently come forth, and make them masters of what they desire, away they throw their Books and tread upon them, and load the Authours with curses and imprecations, accusing them of wicked deceit, in that they have not written clear enough for every one to understand so great an Art at the very first dash, and to become a master of such a notable treasure without any labour at all. ”

“ As an appeal to the sense of beauty stones have had a great effect throughout history and even to-day man's most precious ornament is a stone. Since stones have played such an important part in man's evolution it is not strange that they should make a strong appeal to children and enter so prominently into their play. It is another illustration of the psychic adaptation of the race to its environment in - its evolutional struggle. ”

“ And through them, faint, thread-like as a far-off echo, she heard another voice—whether of child or angel she knew not: “You’ll find it up by the Stones, where the giant hare-bells grow. It’s the most precious thing in the world, and when you find it, keep it—always—always—always!”
The giant hare-bells! There they grew at the foot of that grim Stone where the child had lain all night, unafraid because God was there. She saw them, pale in the moonlight, and in memory of little Ruth she stooped to gather one. ”

“ Yet, as later pages will show, there are many others worthy of consideration; two among them—peridot and tourmaline—are, indeed, slowly becoming known. For the first five of the stones mentioned above, the demand is relatively steady, and varies absolutely only with the purchasing power of the world; but a lesser known stone may suddenly spring into prominence owing to the caprice of fashion or the preference of some great lady or leader of fashion. ”

“ But it gave no hint as to where the hiding-place might be.
Stone pondered long and deeply over the statement that the gems were in some crypt, and, as he thought, a great inspiration came to him.
"Of course!" he said to himself, "it is that! It can be nothing else!"
But he confided his new theory to nobody; he only began to ask more questions.
He quizzed Iris as to her Chicago visit, and [Pg 236] wanted a detailed account of every minute she had spent there. Then he asked her more particularly about the house where she was taken in the little motor car. ”

“ Stone, whose work is associated with Inigo Jones's introduction of Renaissance architecture into England, ranks as the great sculptor of his time and the rejuvenator of the art in England. He is best known by his monuments, notably those to Sir Francis Vere, the earl of Middlesex, and Francis Holies in West- minster Abbey ”

“ He loves stones and can no more resist a good stone than I a good book. When going about the country, if he sees comely stones in a wayside pile, or in a fine-featured old fence he will have them, whether or no, and dickers for them with all the eagerness, sly pride, and half-concealed cunning with which a lover of old prints chaffers for a Seymour Haden in a second-hand book shop. ”

“ While not all of us may share the great art critic’s preference for uncut stones, there are few probably who will not join him heartily in his admiration of the brilliant gem from whose depths come welling up tints of so varied hue that we appropriately speak of them as colors at play. ”

“ Perhaps it was too strong for complete happiness--some men are so, and others are too wise. This was the face, not of a very wise or a brilliant man, but of one who was strong and simple--something in the nature of a granite rock. Sandstone is more easily shaped into a thing of beauty, but it is also the sandstone that is worn by weather, while a deep mark cut on granite stays there till the end. ”

“ The crystalline form is a visible sign of the molecular arrangement, and is intimately associated with the directional physical properties, such as the optical characters, cleavage, etc. A study of it is not only of interest in itself, but also of great importance to the lapidary who wishes to cut a stone to the best advantage, and it is, moreover, of service in distinguishing stones when in the rough state. ”

“ Then the light coiled round its base, between it and its pedestal, thus making it appear to hover above the hill-point, or, planet-like, to be just settling on it. At other times, when the light was perfectly clear and not too strong, and the village side of the crag was brighter than the other, more accurate relations of The Stone to its pedestal could be discovered. ”

“ The grey colour of the granite out of which it has been cut suits the severe grandeur of the head, and harmonises with the whole expression. Chiselled out from the block at once, without passing through the intermediate stages of clay and plaster, there is a spontaneity, if we may so term it, about this work which would appear to realise the old legend, that the sculptor did not create his bust or statue out of his materials, but only liberated an already existent figure from its shroud of stone. ”

“ It may seem strange to assert any connexion between so great a conception and these rudely hewn fragments of ruined marble; but all the highest principles of art are as universal as they are majestic, and there is nothing too small to receive their influence. They rule at once the waves of the mountain outline, and the sinuosities of the minutest lichen that stains its shattered stones. ”

“ In this, as in many other things, man’s first and instinctive appreciation was the truest, and it has required centuries of enlightenment to bring us back to this love of precious stones for their esthetic beauty alone. Indeed, even to-day, we can see the power of superstitious belief in the case of the opal, which some timid people still fear to wear, although until three or four centuries ago this stone was thought to combine all the virtues of the various colored gems, the hues of which are united in its sparkling light. ”

“ Shouldst thou find a stone on which is the figure of a man holding in his right hand a palm branch, this stone, with God’s help, renders the wearer victorious in disputes and in battles, and brings him the favor of the great.
Finding the stone called jasper, bearing graven or figured a huntsman, a dog, or a stag, the wearer, with God’s help, will have the power to heal one possessed of a devil, or who is insane.
A good stone is that one on which thou shalt find graven or figured a serpent with a raven on its tail. ”

“ Naturally, many of the ancient gems which had been preserved from Greek and Roman times were recognized as being purely products of art, but in medieval and later times the idea of the magic quality of all engraved gems had become so deeply rooted that in many cases a magical132 character was ascribed to them entirely foreign to the intention of the engraver. Great ingenuity was often displayed in seeking and finding some analogy between the supposed significance of the design and the fancied power of the stone itself. ”

“ Most of the Stones of this Class were found to be of so compact a Texture, as to resist the Force of Fire; at least of common Fires; and even of the strongest known in this Author's Time; the solar indeed, which we are able to throw on Bodies, by reflecting Burning-glasses, no Stone, not even the Diamond, in all Circumstances and Positions, can withstand: But as some Stones, which he had yet to treat of, were subject to great Changes, from the Action of Fire, such as was then commonly used on certain occasions, whether culinary, or for the melting of Metals ”

“ The fact which we have got to deal with seems to be that the megalithic rude stone art of our forefathers is a thing by itself—a peculiar form of art arising either from its being adopted by a peculiar race or peculiar group of races among mankind, or from its having been practised by people at a certain stage of civilization, or under peculiar circumstances, and this it is our business to try to find out and define. ”

“ Hardness is perhaps one of the most important features in a stone, especially those of the "gem" series, for no matter how colour, lustre, general beauty and even rarity may entitle a stone to the designation "precious," unless it possesses great hardness it cannot be used as a gem or jewel.
Consequently, the hardness of jewels is a matter of no small importance, and by dint of indefatigable research, in tests and comparison, all known precious stones have been classified in various scales or degrees of hardness. ”

“ A gift scarcely hidden under the earth, man has seized upon stones with rapture, carefully drawing them from their dark hiding-place, to raise them on high as in church towers, making them tractable, transforming the crude rocks, and appropriating them for masterpieces. Under the protection of man's sacrilegious hand, these stones lend beauty to our cities. They have a tender sympathy with the trees, the roots of which join their own.
Both hard and soft stones have a place in man's esteem. Sculpture has glorified them. ”

“ To understand why certain forms are given to a cut stone, it is essential for us to ascertain what becomes of the light which falls upon the surface of the stone; further, we shall find that the action of a stone upon light is of very great help in distinguishing the different species of gem-stones. ”