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Cogswell’s Fountain: A Graphic Description of his Magnificent Gift to the City

Cogswell’s Fountain: A Graphic Description of his Magnificent Gift to the City
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Cogswell’s Fountain: A Graphic Description of his Magnificent Gift to the City

“There are many things in Portsmouth to please the eye and satisfy the natural longing in the human breast for the artistic; but nothing fills this long felt want quite so completely, in our humble estimation, as the ‘Cogswell Fountain,’ which pours forth its sparking stores of the beverage which refreshes but does not inebriate, (this is poetic license) at the square on Chillicothe street at the foot of Gallia.”

“We fear the good people of Portsmouth are not alive to the full extent of the benefaction which Mr. Cogswell, with unstinted and persistent generosity, has forced upon them, and we take it upon ourselves to, in a measure, atone for this seeming neglect, by a brief description of the fountain itself- so statuesque in its beauty, and beautiful in its statesqueness- and at the same time give the author of its being, or its been, as is almost the case now, a little touching up in water colors, as it were.”

“We take this opportune occasion to speak of the matter, also, because the eyes of Chillicothe street, and a good part of the world outside of that busy thoroughfare, are just at present riveted on a spot of earth near there as the site for the Government Building; and of remarking upon the wisdom of the Government that places the building in so convenient a spot; where a palpating public can get its mail, take a turn around the fountain, feast its eyes on the benevolent features of Mr. Cogswell, of California, and go over to Alex Jones‘, opposite, and get a drink of river water all in the same breath and without any extra cost. Of course, we don’t arrogate any credit to ourself for discovering this concatenation of advantages, because Mr. Linton knows, as well as we do, the convenience of having a watering place next to a public building.”

“The Cogswell fountain was brought here in the year 1883, as the letters and figures on the shaft, or that portion which, in an ordinary soda fountain, would be nominated the cooler, bear testimony.”

“It was brought here mainly through the efforts of a young man by the name of Henry Lorberg, who has since moved away, probably to escape the consequences of his rash act. Henry corresponded with Mr. Cogswell, and labored with his neighbors until he convinced them of the advantage of having in the vicinity a well-ordered and respectable fountain that would flow pure river water, and could not be winked into a brandied soda at any price. A subscription of $25 or $30 was raised and the masterpiece of aquarian art was sent on.”

“Shortly after it arrived and before it had been unboxed, the great flood of 1884 came upon the city, and the Cogswell monument, together with other public institutions, suffered somewhat from the unusual dampness.’

“Mr. Cogswell himself, who was enjoying the seclusion of a private box, as if to show his great love for water, gaily mounted the turbid wave and sailed off like a thing of life, to a remote section of Fifth street, where he was picked up after the water subsided, slightly damaged but still in a fair state of pickle. His tongue was thickly wainscoted with river mud and his countenance bore a careworn, bilious tinge. In his metallic stomach, also, was found two or three bushels of sand and an occasional hoop-skirt and barrel stave, which he had picked up on his voyage. He was dusted off, however, and put in place, and for some time his staunch admirer and friend, Lorberg, used to get up early in the morning and wipe the perspiration from his bronzed forehead and dust his pedestal with a stable broom”

“When the fountain was first set up Mr. Cogswell held a glass in his hand and ever seemed inviting a thirsty public to ‘have something’ on him, but the small boy has knocked the glass to smithereens, and now the giddy old piece of statuary looks as if he was just getting home at about 3 o’clock AM., and was trying to find a hole in the door in which to insert a contrary and entirely superfluous night key.”

“On the front side of the ice chest are the letters ‘Henry D. Cogswell, San Francisco,” and a Latin remark to this effect: ‘Esto Perpetua’ also, ‘Welcome.'”

“On the opposite side is an invitation, in English, to the dogs to come up and refresh themselves, and another ‘Welcome’ in the same general tone. The fact that this is not printed in German, has lost the fountain the patronage of most the Teutonic dogs in the neighborhood. The other two sides are adorned with dolphins, with brass spigots driven down their throats.”

“In the foreground, an Abyssinian lion, with his tongue hanging out like a bell rope, which probably turned into stone waiting for a drink, is seen. Strangers sometimes faint when coming on it suddenly, and if you did not know it was stone, you might take it for almost anything else, it is so lifelike. Its body is about the size of the little lamb that Mary had, and its head wouldn’t go into a sugar hogshead.”

“From our own observation, we should say that at the time he sat for his statue he must have been on the umbrageous side of fifty, although we think it is safe to assume that he was considerably younger when he was born.”

“Tradition says that he early developed an abnormal appetite for water, and even ten or twelve months before he was a year old he would take it with a strong dilution of milk. As he grew older he would eagerly drain whole tumblerful of the pure stuff without anything to wash it down, and without any of those exclamations of disgust, with which such a nauseous concoction is ordinarily taken.”

“It was now he conceived the idea of perpetuating his memory in monumental brass at a time when most men feel the need of all the monumental brass at their command in their business.”

“Mr. Cogswell is living and doing well, but if he should ever suffer teverses in fortune and die poor, there are a good many cities that would willingly give him a monument which by a few slight changes would answer all the purposes of a tombstone.”1

  1. Henry D. Cogswell: a graphic description of his magnificent gift to the city. (1889, March 2). Portsmouth Times, p. 1.
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