Morning journal and courier., 1883-09-03
2 slEenday, september 3. 1888.
NOT HOPEFUL.
 

Our esteemed contemporary the Register accuses us of hoping to fuxsher compIicate matters by mixing up the Tomlinson bridge question with ths other questions which have been agitating New ayen-naueIy, the State House, PIhlic Idbrary, Memorial Build ing and Soldiers Monument questions. We hasten to assert thattwe do net hope to fur ther eomplioate the matters alluded to. If we were malev0lent sn1mah to wish to do 50, we are well enough acquainted with the pres ent mixture of those matters to know that it would be hopeless task to attempt it, and therefore we are not hopeful in the way the Register says we are. Neither. it may be added, are we hopeful that anything we OF l anybody else may now say would go far towards unmi1ing those very complicated matters.
 All that we were hopeful Of doing by the article which attracted our esteemed conten. porarys attention was to direct public notice to the fact that the same or similar vandaIs to those who would tear down that majes- tic and classic ruin which adorns our spacious Green are attacking another sacred relic without.so much as intimating
 
 suffered to remain We ventured to hint what some of those reasons might be- We spoke of the possibility that Art-High and Greek Art be it understood-might receive blow by it's removal We pointed out that there had been no estimates of what it woUId cost to repair it. or pull it down. and that thus it could not be told which course would pay, or whether or not either would. We also intimated that if the Spirit of the Age demanded it's removal,the Spirit of New Haven might utilize it for public library or an ornament to the grand old Green, already beautifed by Grecian temple and New Ha- ven band stand. =
 But the more we think of the matter which we again remind our esteemed contem- porary we are not hopeful of complica- ting with other ,matters-the more force there appears to us to be in the argument that the bridge should be allowed to stand just as it is, thing of beauty and 8 joy forever, and not be exposed to the ruthless hand of the iconoclasts who would break New Ha- ven's idols. What. we would ask the Regis ter, is more picturesque than Tomlinson bridge in the day time, or more beautifal than the same bridge when bathed in the mellow light of the moon-that moon which shines equally upon the bridge and the Grecian temple on the Green, making of both shrines which invite the worship of the Poet and the Artist. Although we are neith- CT poet nor artist, often have we. when sum- sets rosy glow was warming the western sky, sought etChappy" Whites, embarked in ons of hia gendolas and hosted out upon the still waters of the bay. Az the twilight deepened the old bridge would grow more and more indistinct, all its rugged outlines softened by the coming of night. until all that could be seen was dark and shapeIess but not un- beautiful structure. Then the wonderful round moon would show itself above the her- izon, it's mild rays touch with silver. light the top of the old bridge and shimmer along the placid water. As the moon ascended the heavens higher and higher, more and moro distinct and siivery would grow the classic pile, and it's dark shadows more and more gloomy by contrast, until; the queen of night having fully come into her dominion, 1t would stand forth glorious in flood of soft est light, and as charming to the 'beholder as the moon-tinted ruins of Greece, Egypt or Rome. l
 This will do for this time. Let onr es teened contemporary the Register make haste in this matter slowly. Perhaps further deliberation will produces change in it's mind. If not, still we say, do not hasten. If the bridge must go let it go as the Grecian temple on the Green is going, slowly anda asbeAts classic things which must !