Life — January 24, 1889 — page 2: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

“White there's Life there's Hope.” VOL, XIII. JANUARY 24, 1889. No. 317. 28 West TWENTY-THIRD STREET, NEW YorK. Published every Thursday, $5.00 2 year in advance, postage free. Single copies, ro cents. Back numbers can be had by i apPrying to is office. Vol 1 botnd, $15.00) Vol: It, bound: $10.00; vi, VII., X11, bound, or in flat numbers, aed alae rates, Rejected contributions will be destroyed unless accompanied by a stamped and directed envelope. Subscribers wishing address changed will greatly facilitate matters by sending old address as well as new. ERE is impudence, impertinence and ingratitude from Albany! It has come to this: that the legislators from this city, aroused by the clamor of an unbridled and unholy press, have had the temerity to introduce measures calling for the opening of the doors of the Metropolitan Museum of Art on Sunday in spite of the determination of the Board of Trustees to protect the public from the con- taminating influence of that institution on a day that should be given to fasting and prayer. This is impudence on the part of the law-makers, because the movement is not insti gated by the Board of Trustees; it is impertinence, because said Board has not asked for any assistance in conducting its affairs; it is ingratitude, because the public only owns the building and not the contents, and the industrial classes ought really to be proud of the opportunity to contribute to the construction of a museum that shall afford amusement and instruction to their superiors who do not labor every day of the week. * * * A™® was there no man in that entire legislative body bold enough to stand up for the Board of Trustees, and righteous enough to desire to save his fellow-men from the destruction that hovers over those who go to museums on Sunday? There was. A statesman rose to the occasion. * * * hails from Potsdam, the proud metropolis of St. Law- rence County, containing several hundred inhabitants, a saw-mill, a church, a horse-clipping machine and a dog pound. His mind has been broadened by several trips to Albany and Lansingburg; and his vast experience of men and the world has been accentuated by a day in this great city and a flying visit to Coney Island. This eminent states- man declared his opposition to the impious measure that contemplated the opening of the doors of the Museum on Sunday, on the ground that such action was in conflict with public sentiment in New York City and the prevalent feeling throughout the State. And this very circumstance ought to prove to the detractors of our present system of government from Albany, what a boon to us rural control of city affairs really is. The statesman from Potsdam, it seems, was the only legislator present who really understood the drift of public sentiment in New York City. * * * UT what will the Board of Trustees do if a law is passed compelling them to violate their consciences by throwing open the doors of the Museum to the public on Sunday instead of merely opening the private entrance to their friends—as the saloon-keeper operates his bar? Will the contributors to the Museum be justified in casting their curios, bric-a-brac, statuary, and other art away? Itisa serious question whether a man who had presented any graven image, or any likeness of anything that is in the heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in waters under the earth, to the Museum of Art, would be morally irresponsible, should the sight thereof, on a Sunday, drive a fellow-being to crime. It would be interesting to know, however, whether the Board of Trustees is quite sure that the persons who are admitted by the side door to the Museum of Art on Sunday are impervious to contamination. * * * F a few “trance-mediums” and “mind-readers” were locked up for swindling, we should soon have a cessa- tion of the traffic that is making fools of weak men and women. How extensive that traffic is, the public outside of spiritualistic circles little imagine. * * * UR esteemed colored contemporary, Puch, alluding to a recent drawing in LIFE, says: “ Scribner's Magazine is represented by a lively caricature of Mr. Robert Louis Stevenson, attired in woman's undergarments (the apt timeliness of this hit can be understood only when we consider that the advent of the bronchial disease against which Mr. Stevenson is struggling affords the first opportunity for an imputation against his manhood), while Puck, by a fine stroke of fantasy, is depicted as a misshapen object, his path adorned with such indications of garbage as the subtle fancy of the artist could suggest.” That our esteemed colored contemporary should accuse us of such a contemptible intent in regard to Mr. Stevenson, inclines us to the belief that we were not so far astray in our delineation of the above-mentioned colored contem- porary. Perhaps we should not expect an excess of refine- ment from this quarter, but as the figure in question was not intended to represent Mr. Stevenson, and bears no re- semblance to him, our contemporary will appear to better advantage in future if he can so manage as to get a sharper edge on his Teutonic perceptions. comicbooks.com