Once a year or so the figures on the Assyrian bas-reliefs break adrift
and may be seen, with their scaling ladders and all, cleaning the outside
of the windows in the dome of the reading-room. It is very pretty to
watch them and they would photograph beautifully. If I live to see them
do it again I must certainly snapshot them. You can see them smoking and
sparring, and this year they have left a little hole in the window above
the clock.