Semi-weekly Louisianian. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1871-1872, 1871-12-14
Unlearned Lessons.
By Mns. JANE GREY swIssHELM.

VI oAA PAOu oAAAOoV AhOO oA AANASSAAA
guishable mass in the cathedral of
Galway, Ireland, before daylight on
Christmas morning, because some
practical joker broke lath in the
packed assemblage, for ''the fun
of frightening the worshipers, it
was thought that architects through
out the civilized world had Learned
a lesson" about providing means of
egress from all buildings designed
for public assemblages of people;
but after that five hundred people
we're roasted alive in the Richmond
theatre, or killed by jumping from
the windows, because those foremost
in the rush from the burning build
ing were jammed against the doors,
which opened inward, and it was
! impossible to get the people to fall
back until they could be opened
So they died en- masse, pressing
against the doors, effectually bar
ring out life, and throwing them
selves into the arms of death.
Those who remember the horror
and newspaper comments following
this frightful catastrophe will recall
the general conviction that no
schoolhouse, or hall, or church, or
theatre ever again should be built
with doors opening inward. But
where is the public building to-day,
except the National Capitol and
Cooper Institute of which the doors
open in any other way.
Even the new Congregational
church of Chicago, erected at 30
much cost on the site of one burned
four years ago, and dedicated with
so much solemnity, is public trap,
of which the springs would be
about as likely to close in any sud-
den panic, and fasten the congrew-
ton ''down ever" as was that of
the old chest which saved "Ginevra
from oil the cares of married life
That crowded assemblies are sub
ject to causeless panics is q fact we
are not permitted to forget. That
all pubic buildings are liable to
take fle, from defective fues and
various other causes, is another fact
of which we are often and painfully
reminded. What condemnation
can be too severe for that reckless
ness of human life which permits
the builders of public edifces thus
to ignore the lessons of history, and
the well-known danger to which
they subject thousands of people
We are or profess to be shocked
at any carelessness on the part oi
the builders or managers of lines oi
public conveyance; but does moi
; the divine law against murder ap-
! ply to any kind of negligence by
,. which life is endangered? Every
year yields its crop of lessons Oh
the criminal neglect of railroad and
steamboat officials; but who learns
them so as to compel others to take
;. heed?
When London was burned, three
, hundred years ago, and the recur
. renee of the catastrophe made for
e ever impossible, by a stringent Law
! substituting stone, brick, tiles, ant
, slate for the wood which up to tina
) time had been freely used as build
D ing material, it might well hav'
beeh thought that the world, as wei
!, as London, would have pro6ted b.
! the expensive lesson. But tn
q American children of the old Mothe
Country stopped their ears and shu
their eyes to the teachings Of ex
perience; and, as q consequence
2 terrible confagrations have bee
: and are one of our most prominen
d American Institutions. In the yea
= 1922 or % there was a whole bloc
! of buildings burned in Pittsbur(
i and some eight or ten lives los
!, Then the city councils passed q La
o forbidding the building Of any MOI
); wooden houses wathin the city lin
= = its, but made no provision for n
y moving those already built. In a
IS twenty years after, these old woode
L buildings furnished the kindlins
. which burned the city. But VIII
:, y city learned wisdom from her teri
IN BILE experience? Not one; and eve
J. she has extended her limits over
o vast area, on which wood is Il
= = principal building material Woo
70 en- San francisco was burned thr