New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1877-01-21
A stereOpticon show.

A StereOpticOn show.
An individual whom we will call Twiggs
was engaged few nights ago to give
magic lantern exhibition to the children of
one of our Sunday schools The exhibition
did not give much satisfaction to the older
people in the audience, because of the some
what peculiar character of the subjects in
Twiggs' collection. And so, when the show
was over, two or three of the deacOns took
Twiggs into the back room to settle with
him, and Deacon X. said:
"Mr. Twiggs, considered from scientific
point of view, your magic lantern show was,
perhaps, success; but don't it strike you
that the class of pictures exhibited by you
is just q little bit inappropriate for Sunday
~ dunno" said Twiggs. ~ picked 'em
out carefully on purpose to suit the chill
dren."
"Well, now," said the deacon, "there was
that picture of the execution of Dick Tur-
pin; that seemed tn me to be not very
telicitous selection for such an occasion.
Historically accurate, probably, but not
calculated to elevate the minds of the
young. But even that was preferable to
the illustration of the hydrOcephalous baby
preserved in q jar of alcohol, which you
said was picture of one in the museum of
| a German hospital. What on earth made
you think that q swellheaded baby in q
1880
dren :"
"Dunno," said Twiggs. "Maybe it might
make 'em thankful that their heads were
not swelled."
"And then some of the folks took excep-
ton to that View of San Francisco that
you showed. They said that it didn't give
the children any fair idea of the appear
| ance of that city, because there was nothing
in the view, but two rufians in the fore
ground taking drink, while buccaneer
in the rear was blowing the head of q
Chmaman with 3 shotgun. think myself
that this hardly conveyed an accurate mo-
ton of the general aspect of the place, and
anyhow it familiarizes the children with
| vice. And DR.. Blank said that what made
| the matter worse was, that, as the View of
San Francisco faded off, you ran in pic
ture of 'Dr. Malone Before and After Using
His Liver PILLS Our congregation don't
| like this kind of thing. They say that
there is nothing taught in the Sunday
school about San Francisco and liver pills,
| and they don't care to have these subjects
introduced as part of the education Of the
/ children"
"Is that soY" asked Twiggs. ''NOw, do
| you know, thought that pill-picture was
one of the most eloquent and instructive in
the series. It was painted from life. 1t
represented Truth. You want the children
to learn about truth, don't you"
''FOr myself, the most absurd picture in
the collection was the picture of the Great
American Pie Bitter winning a bet by biting
through eighteen pies at one time"
"Why, my goodness l thought that
would interest the little folks" said
/ TWiggs.
'Perhaps it did, but it inspires them with
/ hurtful ambition. We do not desire to de-
velOp the children of our school into pie
eaters; we have better purposes in view for
| them; nor do we care to tamilariZe them
with improper psstimes of any kind; and
it was this that induced DeaoontGrimes to
hiss when you Slid on that Scene in Faro
Bank and to leave the room in indignation
when you followed it with q painting of
'Tony, the Learned Pig, Playing Euchre
with Professional Gambler Now, don't
it really seem to You that these are hardly
the kind of things tor Sunday school ex-
hibitionf"
"Well, !" said Twiggs, "people's tastes diff
fer. Some like 'em and some don't"
"And while we sre upon this matter, Mr..
Twiggs, let me recommend that hereafter
sentation OF the ballet scene from Don
Giovanni with Fanny Ellsler in pink
tights standing on one toe and pointing her
other leg out toward the planetary system.
DR.. Blank said to me that he considered
this scandalons, and know that several
people got up and took their children home
without waiting to see your picture of the
l pEl1o ukub u0eWCon Day nnA AOOh4ht VI
to look at that abominable view of group
of canni pals broiling q missionary over 9
bonfire. tell you such things make people
round here mad. They are not solemn
enough. What we wanted were pictures
that would elevate the mind and purify the
heart. You can see for yourself that these
don't do that-noW, do theyP
II dunno; they might have that effect on
some people"
"The fact of the matter il, Mr. Twiggs,
that the whole collection is wanting IN good
taste; the view Of Lueretia Borgia poison
ing her husband with arsenicated Bologna
sausage; she painting of q grizzly bear
chasing q man into tree; the representa-
ton of Mr.. ToOdls in 3 condition Of intoxi-
cation shaking hands with . pump; the
view of the defendant and plaintiff IN the
johnson divorce case, with Mrs. johnson
| throwiuk- q sadirOn ut Mr.. JOhnsOn-all
these are oSen to criticism. And, while we
pay Won your money according TO contract,
we express the conviction that we shall not
need your services agaiD, and that, IL you
could open mp q new career Of usefulness
for yourself in some other line of business,
you might achieve more for the civilization
Of the race"
Then Twiggs packed up and went home
Philadelphia BsIlIetin.
L