Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1872-07-17
Letter From Boston.
Summer-Wilting- Il Hand Organs Pic
tures-The First Liberal Church in
Americn-New Books,
TFRoM OUR REGULAR CORRESPONDENT
Boston, July 10, 1877.

TFRoM OUR REGULAR CORRESPONDENT
BOSTON, July 10, 1879.
Thecity is comparatively quiet; the rollickng
irresistible, popular Vokes family have finished
their six weeks engagement at the Boston thea
tire, and have departed. Humpty Dumpty
drags its poor fun along at the Globe. The
Boston Museum is being repaired and reGtted;
so is fremont Temple, which is torn to pieces in
side; perhaps the new arrangement will allow
some ventilation; hitherto it has been dis
tressing to pass an hour there, when the hall
was even half full, on account of the mpurity
of the air. The common itself seems partly de-
serted in the day time, although evening fills it
with men, women and children, sleeping, walk
ing, or flirting. Punch and Judy have gone;
gone too are all the machines to weigh, to
measure, to test the strength or the lu ngs or to
give electrical shocks to those who care to
patronize them. Only the permanent amuse-
ments are leit-the telescope, the Stereoscope, the
yender of cheap pictures; and the small army
ofwOmen who sell pop corn, pink lemonade and
green apples. To-day fine new, closed tent
has appeared there with a striking sign IRA
phaelS Camera OScura. Don't fail to see the
wonder" but no crowd gathers round it, not
one boy tries to steal a look under the canvas;
the deer-park has lost its charm, and deers and
fawns rest undisturbed, except by the crowd of
pigeons that coo round them. The heat has
wilted everybody; the men with red balloons do
very small business and even the peddlers at
the street corners offer their brass chains and
other offensive ornaments, with a pathetically
languid and monotonous "yOur choice for ten
cents" y and without looking up from their mis-
cradle wares. Only hand-organs have any
vigor, and they are exasperating; hour after
hour they grind and grind in the same spot
under your window; if you pay them to play,
they play; if you pay them to go away, they
play still; perhaps your neighbor likes the wall
and rattle and despair; and he has some right to
his pleasure; but there ought TO be a statute of
limitation in regard to hand-organs; one should
not be permitted to grind more than a half hour
in one spot in the course of one day; there are
enough unavoidable inducements to insanity.
in weather like this without the addition of per-
petual hand-organs.
In the way of art, we are given over to huge
pictures. Selous' two great paintings of Jeru-
salem in her glory, and her fall, have been on
exhibition for long while; they have some in.
terest as accurate representations of the CITY.
but are not pleasing as pictures At Elliot,
BlakeSlec and NOyes' there is another large
painting by Thomas Moran; the Canyon Of the
Yellowstone" 1t has been greatly praised, but
it does not interest me much, although it shows
the wild scenery, wonderful colorS, and marvel.
lous architectural effects of the rocks, which are
peculiar to that canyon. The canvas is a blaze
of light and color but is said to be strictly true
to nature in this respect, and to have rendered
accurately the rock forms Too much seems to
be attempted in these large pictures; they may
give all the details faithfully, but they fail TO
give the spectator sense of distance, height
and grandeur. In this painting of the Yellow
stone, for instance, the river is not much more
than narrow line of blue, with one misty break
in it, at the great Wyoming fall The
printed description says that from lis
great depth the river appears mere
island" but the effect of great depth
is not given; and we need our previous
knowledge of the fact, to help us see the
grandeur. Good pictures of moderate size are
much more pleasing There is nothing new in
the galleries, but some good, cool things are
left from the spring exhibitions There is
breezy, open sea view by Koekkoek and one of
Mrs. Darrah's gray, gusty beaches; rocky
bluff and blue sea by W. A. Gay, and a singu-
lar, quiet landscape with old willows, by Lam
binet. Bricker has low beach and quiet sea
view at Williams and Everett's, and Gilbert
MuOgpr'c aftro b,,t
of the Pacific" is still there
The church vacations have begun, and many
Of the churches are closed, as usual, for two or
three months. Among those kept open is
Kings chapel, which is well known as one of
the chief objects Of historical interest in Boston.
This church has had for some time the
reputation of being exceedingly con-
servative, not to say bigoted, and both liberal
and orthodox laugh at its strict Unitariansm
united to an Episcopal service" do not know
whether the church now deserves its reputation,
but think that it does not; at any rate the
liberality Of its foundation is unquestonable
The revolution destroyed il as an Episcopal
church, its members went to England, and ser.
vice was discontinued for some time. Then
the Old South society borrowed it, while their
church was being repaired after the British
troops had used it for stable. At last society
gathered there once more, a remnant of the old
members, with large addition of new ones,
and DR.. James Freeman was their minister.
They no longer desired to use the ritual of the
Church of England; they were free, and they
used that freedom TO make such alterations in
the liturgy as their conscienees and liberalitv
demanded In the first edition of the Chanel
Liturgy, published in 1885, DR.. Freeman saws;
"The liturgy is such as no Christian, it is sun.
posed, can take offence at or find his conscience
wounded in repeating. The Irinitarian, the
Unitarian, the Cavnist the Arminian, will
read nothing in it which can give him any rea.
sonable umbrage. God is the sole object Of wor.
ship in their prayers. 4 = \ 1t is not our wish
to make proselytes to any particular sys-
TEN or opinions Of any particular sect of Chris
tians. Our earnest desire is to live in brotherly
love and peace with all men, and especially with
those who call themselves the disciples of Jesus
Christ"
What could be broader than this foundation
To be sure the prayers are all Offered in the
name of Jesus Christ, in obedience to his posi-.
tive command" but no one, even amongst the
liberals Of those days, had dreamed that the
time would come when any religious men would
denounce Christianity, aud when prayers offered
in the name Of a great mediator would be an
offence to the conscences Of any. So that is
no argument against the breadth Of this state.