Morning journal and courier., 1883-06-25

competent authorities; and, awhile ago. somt
 builder, remember, estimated that it would cost $60, 900 to put it in good condition. NJ rhetoric can hide this Here is it's radics defect and 1t is vital The building has decided settle on the west side as any one I may see owing to insecure foundations; and 1 in every instance where fairs and large gath. erings have been held in it, it has been found necessary to stanchion the walls and floors ol interior apartments In fact it has consump- tive symptoms as practical builders have d. ready testified. I am not myself competent to judge of this, but to an ordinary ob- server it's grevious cracks and s'scattered and peeled" condition generally. do not look at all promising The necessary expenditure to be laid out upon it is an indefinite quantity. It certainly is no measure of public economy. as is urged, but tempt the restoration of'so large struc- lure in so desperate 8 condition and so poor ly adapted for any other practical purpose than it's original one.
 It seems to me unfortunate that the public library question and that of the Soldiers State House question. They are three dis tinet matters Money, it is said, is waiting to be given to the public library as soon as a feasible plan is determined upon but sure- ly city like New Haven, with it's wealth and intelligence, cannot long hold the question of a public library pending upon the exist ence or non existence of an old building on the Green which, by its plan and situation, is not ct all fitted for 8 town library. pub lie library should be in place easy to be come at by editors. lawyers, ministers, artisans, business men, clerks and youths in the public schools, for whom such library is mainly intended, for their every day rapid use and cons ulta- tlon, and not for those who have Ebrarie at home for the purposes of quiet reading and meditation.
 should be extremely sorry for the dis turbing of the august repose of the Histori- cal society, of which am 8 loyal member in case the old State House should be pulled down, for no one appreciates more highly than myself the generous and energetic la bors of the president and secretary of that society to provide for it fit accommodation but Tn building expressly erected foE pub- lie library the Historical society could have roomsfar more convenient and comfortable than their present somber and sepulchral apartments.
 I confess to an oldfashioned preference for "brenze or marble" as applied to sol diers. monument over 8 memorial building, with even library or restaurant attached. This seems ts me case for pure art in its best application, and for which nothing else can exactly take the place. Here simple beauty is the loftiest utility. Here is afforded an opportunity for the man. Hesitation of the highest artistic skill. Then the result will be precious and immortal. The monument need not be large one. The largest things are not always the noblest. There is unfortunately a growing taste for grandiose and colossal rather than truly beautiful monuments, which taste was once thought to be sign of the decline of art in Greece. The Beautiful Fountain" (Schoe- ner Brunnen) of Nuremberg, of finest Gothic Hu0rk hn o1o1 of the old German land, small in size as it is, is yet large enough as it stood there in the common mart, to delight, educate and elevate the minds of men for centuries The grand est heroic monuments of the ancient and modern world st Athens Cherones, Venice, Lausanne, Berlin, are not large structures, ,and have been preserved and have preserved the memory of heroic deeds purely by their beauty and fitness. All men, I care not who, are raised in their moral tone by the sight of a true work of art, especially if it commemorates great deeds of patriotism and self sacrifice. Such soldiers monuments I grant are rare. They have not been alto gether successful. But if New Haven, the seat of great university, the home of the arts and the muses, cannot have such " ork of genuine beauty, what city can ha ve? It IS time to begin. Such 8 monument should, therefore, we think, be designed by the best genius for sculpture in the land (and Ameri- can art promises to excel in sculpture) and it should be placed upon the public Green where it can be daily seen, admired. studied, and protected from injury and neg lect. It may be made the pride and ornament of this beautiful city. It should not only commemorate the achievements of our brave soldiers in the last war, but be significan and comprehensive memorial of the W hole historic and heroic past, of former glorious wars, of the sacrifices and courageous acts of the men of the State of Connecticut who have poured out their blood to plant and maintain tn 3. Union, and to hand down to heir children government 'iof tho people, oy the people and for the people,
 J. NJ HoPPIN