classical antiquity. King, a merchant and editor of the Ne-d; York American,^" also used weighty rhetoric to stress American superiority in achieving such a great public work by the vote and fiscal commitment of civic- minded citizens, rather than by imperial decree. Making more than one reference to its construction by freemen, King argued American democracy, surpassing corrupt civilizations of the past, would avoid their fall into desolation. Such pointed commentary can hardly fail to be inspired by the growing problems of the slavery issue in the United States: "The whole work was executed by contractors, employing free labor, was paid for by a single city, where slavery is unknown ...."^^ In reporting the celebration parade, the Morning Post also revealed a tendency to romanticize the workers: "The workmen on the Aqueduct too, with all their appliances, were in the procession; those noble fellows went through their operation of honest pipe-laying with an adroitness truly admirable. "^^ As made clear by Tema Harnik, this romantic description contrasts sharply with the realities of the workers' actual experience. No analogous visual images of workers date from this time period. In referring to the Croton Lake created by the Dam as the "Fountain Reservoir," Fayette Tower probably used the phrase as a double connotation of the organic water source and the man-made. Natural fountains were an ancient symbol of life and salvation, and this imagery opened "The Croton Ode." Public ornamental foun- tains were a luxury made possible by the Aqueduct in addition to the essential services it provided. A source of civic pride, they sym- bolized both the sure power and plenitude of the water supply. Tower and King both made note of the historical associations of fountains, as both functional and artistic termini of famous aque- ducts. King was enthusiastic about the image of conspicuous con- sumption inherent in the Croton fountains: "Its [the water system's] copiousness of waters is so great, that two of its foun- tains daily throw away more water, than suffices for the supply of other larger cities .... there is scarcely any feature of the work more imposing and magnificent than the volume of water which its foun- tains pour out in perennial flow, and the height to which they are projected."^" The impact of the Croton water on the public mind is suggested by its commercial use. Through not only visual symbolism, but also merely the suggestive words "Croton Water," advertisers could attract attention to their products and services. Fountain imagery as a symbol of the Aqueduct was prolific in popular art and adver- tising. A notice in The Evening Post, October 15, 1842, for Atwill figure 47: F. Jones, Thomas Dusenbury, Plumber ... Croton Water, color lithograph advertisement Courtesy The J. Clarence Davies Collection, Museum of the City of New York. 29.100.2484a Hardin Company's sheet music of the "Ode" advertised the fact that its title page featured the City Hall Fountain (figure 46). The image of the fountain was also employed in advertisements for indoor plumbing and soda water (figure 47). Promotions of these products and services illustrate the possibilities for improved living condi- tions in New York City and reveal the response of private enterprise to Croton water. Tower's engraved Viezc of the Jet at Harlem River documents the "Maid of the Mist," a fountain spray the engineers created by releasing some of the pressurized water from the inverted siphon that supplied the City until High Bridge could be completed. Tower's description of the seemingly "natural" geyser contrasts it with urban fountains: The scenery around this fountain added much to its beauty, there it stood — a whitened column rising from the river . . . waving like a forest tree as the winds swayed it, with the rainbow tints resting upon its spray, while on either side the wooded hills arose to rival its height: 52 all around us was of nature; no marble basin — no allegorical figures, wrought with exquisite touches of art to lure the eye, but a fountain where nature had adorned the place with the grandeur and beauty of her rude hills and mountain scenery. '^^ The cult of nature appreciation had also infiltrated non-art cir- cles in the mid-19th century — revealing the still close connection between the ideals of art and science during this period.^'' In pro- moting a meeting of art and engineering, Tower's text integrates a history of ancient and modern aqueducts and descriptions not only of the building of the Croton Aqueduct but also the beauty of its surroundings and how it complemented them. For example, he not- ed that the clearing of the area around the Dam and the juxtaposi- tion with man-made art had mitigated the wilderness and added to the area's inherent beauty. While some of Tower's illustrations of