group of Faith, wherein a patriarch holds forth to the woman the hope of
immortality, with a scarab, ancient symbol of renewed life. Then comes a
man of Sorrow, as the woman with him falls into her last Slumber. These
are about to be drawn into oblivion by the relentless hand of Destiny.
The gap between these groups and the main structure of the fountain
typifies the unknown time between the beginning of things and the dawn
of history.

Each of the four panels in pierced relief surrounding the globe of the
Earth tells a single story, with the exception of the first, which tells
three. Traveling to the left around the globe, we begin with the figure
of Vanity, mirror in hand, in the center of the first panel, as the
symbol of worldly motive. Here, too, are primitive man and woman,
bearing their burdens, symbolized by their progeny, into the unknown
future, ready to meet whatever be the call of earth. The woman suggests
the overwhelming instincts of motherhood.

Passing into the next panel, we see their children, now grown, finding
themselves, with Natural Selection. The man in the center, splendid in
physical and intellectual perfection, attracts the women on either hand,
while two other men, deserted for this finer type, display anger and
despair. One tries to hold the woman by force, the other, unable to
comprehend, turns hopelessly away.

The succeeding panel symbolizes the Survival of the Fittest. Here
physical strength begins to play its part, and the war spirit awakens,
with woman as its cause. The chiefs struggle for supremacy, while their
women try in vain to separate them.

The last panel portrays the Lesson of Life. The elders offer to