The third and highest group represents The Spirit of the Present Age
enthroned. At one side a child holds the book of learning, while at the
other a child holds the wheel of industry. The group also carries
inevitably a suggestion of motherhood.
Flanking the middle group are two figures, in which the whole idea of
human evolution is suggested by a modern man and woman outgrowing their
old selves. On the east and west faces of the tower are figures
representing "Thought."
All the sculpture on the tower is by Chester Beach.
Figures Surmounting Colonnade. Two figures of "The Primitive Man" and
one of "The Primitive Woman" are repeated above the cloister all around
the court. The woman carries a child on her back, one man is feeding a
pelican, and the other is a hunter returning with a club in one hand and
his quarry in the other. These figures are remarkably well suited to
their purpose, balancing one another exactly; they are so much a part of
the decorative scheme, indeed, that the average person is likely to
overlook their merits as individual statues. Albert Weinert was the
sculptor.
The Water Sprites. At the tower side of the court, flanking the stairway
that leads to the archway under the tower, are two free-standing
monuments that were designed as fountains. The original plan called for
cascades from below the Stone Age group on the tower to these monuments.
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