of the year waits, still and brooding. But, on the other hand, the sower
is ready to cast the new seeds; the cycle re-commences.



Fountain of Ceres
Forecourt of the Four Seasons



The Forecourt of the Seasons, the continuation of the Court of the Four
Seasons to the Marina, is officially called the Forecourt of Ceres,
because of Evelyn Beatrice Longman's Fountain of Ceres which commands
it. Ceres, or Demeter, the goddess of Agriculture, presided over the
Earth's abundance. By her favor, came the good harvest; she it was who
first instructed man in the use of the plough. In the loveliest of
antique myths she is the mother of Prosperine, the Spring. Miss Longman
has expressed her as exultant, regal, young - far less matronly than as
conventionally pictured - glorying in her power to bless the cooperative
labors of man and nature. She holds as her sceptre the stalk of corn,
and offers the crown of summer to the world. The central figure is not
more lovely than the pedestal base on which she stands. A frieze of
dancing maidens, wrought in cleancut low relief, Greek in manner,
celebrate the Harvest feast. In the accompanying illustration, the
groups on pylons, by Albert Jaegers, already described, may be seen in
the background.



The Genius of Creation