The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1870-01-10

we have force and taste enough to make the
neTC J3dHto to hold the wonderful picture of
the past; whether we love anything but the
gross accumulations of trade, and the os-
Righteousness of luxury, tnchastened by
reverence for the past, and humility for
ourselves.
The instruction given to us by museum
of art is an instruction in the monuments of
the human race, in the poems in stone and
bronze and ivory and color-in a word, in
structlon in the forms of that dazzling and
wonderful temple, the human body. Lacking
such instruction. we are, for the most part,
Ignorant of what constitutes the first part of
the ancient civilizations, and we remain un-
chastened in our vulgarest ambitions. Our
want of instruction in art leaves a whole
order of sensations and faculties un-
trained or meanly employed. What is it but
our want of the free and constant means Of
art-educatlon, which museum like the
Louvre affords to the Parisian, that makes us
SO helpless when we wish to produce an aesthetic
work, and makes the aspect of our richest
cities vulgar and ostentatious, in proportion
to the money expended, much of our itera-
ture common or tawdry, and keeps conversa-
tion always down to the level of the business
mind Our want of instruction in art-that
is to say, our want of great museum of art
likewise affects our journalists and pub
hcists, and keeps them below the level of the
foreign journalist in all social questions; this
want of museum affects even the American
artisan, and keeps him below the French arti-
san in his relation to the fine and beautiful.
Our want of n museum Of art leaves clear
and vast mental field for statements and con-
clusions, fatal to everything like service to
the beautiful, and keeps most of us ignorant
of the examples of noble and stimulating
means of public instruction
In this country the poor man has fewer
obstacles in getting his daily bread than in
the old country, and this fact would seem to
point out that our rich men are not the most
intelligent, nor the most benefcent when
they provide food and raiment and shelter
for the people, but when they combine to
afford us means of enjoyment which increase
our sense of the value and pleasure of life
when they unite to collect and house the
most exquisite and precious memorials of the
life and genius, the nature and aptitudes of
| the human race, at different epochs and in
different climates. The poor man in this
country can provide for his body; in some
sort, he can make literature his pos
session-Shakespear and the Bible, and
! the modern press feed his life
but for art, for all the historic glories Of
art for the magic and wonder of the ancient
ideals-ideals now lost-only vast wealth, and
the coordination of intelligent minds, are
| adequate to meet such q want. Therefore,
| the largess of our rich men should be given
freely for great museum of art, accessible to
all, and hospitable to every form of historic
significance and real artistic value Most of
our social defects spring from the very want
of such an instrumentality of social pleasure
and general and special instruction; and,
until we have such means of instruction,
we shall suffer from the absence of the chief
means of culture, and one whole side of our
| nature must remain poorly nourished in our
civilization. .-AppletOn'S Journal.