The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1869-10-01
THE PHILADELPHIA LIBRARY.

To the Editor of the EUening Telegraph.
On Tuesday, the 5th of October, the share
holders of this important institution are to
assemble to decide whether they will accept or
reject the legacy bequeathed to them by the late
DR.. James Rush. clogged with the condition
that the library shall be removed to the corner
of Broad and Christian streets-a situation more
than mile, in a straight line, southwest of its
present position, and about Il mile and a half by
the shortest route through the streets. | desire
to present some reasons why the legacy should
be rejected.
1t my judgment it should be rejected, first, on
account of the great imbecility of mind dis
played in the will by the testator and, secondlH
because the proposed new location would be in
convenient now to nineteen-twentieths of the
shareholders, and would become inconvenient
every year to a still larger proportion of them
The imbecility of mind displayed in the will is
so great that it would be disreputable to the
Library Company 30 accept anything under it.
and this lmbeclllty displayed in several points.
DR.. James Rush considered it inconsistent for
a library to contain pictures and statues, and
yet he directs that the proposed new building
shall be the depository of his corpse, of that of
his wife, and, if possible, of that of his father
in-law Pictures and statues, according to him.
should be excluded, and dead bodies brought in
He thought the mingling of books with paint
ings and statues improper, but not the combna-
accepted and the Legislature is appealed to for
some new provisions one of them should be that
the title hereafter shall be 'The Philadelphia
Library and Cemetery Company"
Besides being bOnc-hOuse, the library build
ing is to be publication Office, where are TO
issue, from time to time, at the expense of the
corporation editions of the Doctors works in
prose and verse. have never read any of them,
and can, therefore, express no opinion of their
merits but if they are of value think the book
sellers would discover it, and would save the
| library company the expense of getting out
these new editions. According to the Doctor il
| is inconsistent for a library company to own
pictures and statues, but not inconsistent for it
to turn book publisher. The name will have to be
still further enlarged, so as to read THE Phila
| delphia Library, Cemetery, and Publication
| Office"
Dr. James Rush goes out of his way to heap
| abuse upon newspapers and reviews. The news
| papers can take care of themselves; us for the
reviews, it will be sufficient to say that the best
scholars of Europe and America write for them,
| and that the writings of Sydney Smith, Macau-
| lay, and Carlyle will be read with pleasure long
after the productions of DR.. James Rush have
sunk into neglect, even if aided by hot-bed edi-
| tiOns from the corner of Broad and Christian
| streets.
In his will, Dr. Rush leaves some petty annui-
ties TO females, to be forfeited if they marry or
| 90 to Europe. How childish this appears
What objections DR.. James Rush had to ''the
| holy estate of matrimony" / cannot divine, but
it is very certain that the law of England, and
| our own, as derived from it, consider restraint
upon marriage to be highly demoralizing. As
TO visiting Europe, l never knew any one in
jured by it. All travelling enlarges the mind,
and have known instances as suppose that
others have done, of Americans who have re-
turned from abroad with an increased affection
for the institutions and manners of our own
| country. If DR.. James Rush had spent the
last years of his life in foreign travel, his mind
would have enjoyed healthier tone, and some
of the imbecilities which disfigure his will would
not have appeared in it.
Having exceeded the bounds which proposed
to myself in discussing the first reason for re-
ecting the legacy, l must postpone the con
sderation Of the Inconvenience of the intended
site until tomorrow. W. ID.
| 6l9 Walnut street.