Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1886-04-11

OLA IL dUEDC.
buildings that remember to have seen
any quarter of the globe, o huge, taWdr
pile, with shutteriess. glazing windows, lib
. hdless eyes, lived other friends, husbsn
and wife. the latter q fine musician an
great social favorite. This poor little WON
an, being nervous and sensitive. was mad
i'll by the anoyances to which she was ex
J.. posed. Her fellow dodgers, above aud b.
low. seemed actually TO be living in he
apartment, and word spoken at the from
door reverbersted all through the house
Il was mere shell and sounding board
Such dwellings, are more than comfortless
they are sordid and actually immoral
Children born and growing up in thea
would never know the meaning of tn,
& word home or what it is to enjoy seclusior
and repose. In the oldest part of the city
the plsinest houses in the least embellishe6
7 streets are at least well built, solid and sub
/ stantial; the more stately squares and
grand monuments are triumphs of genius
and lofty thought; they express the cour,
age, fortitude, endurance and good faith
which was formerly John Bulls scknowl.
edged characteristics, while the mushroom
superbs of the present day typify only too
plainly the folly, frivoity and irresolution
of q declining race. who (ss Carlyle says
of the Parisians before the revolution) are
dancing upon the verge of q preciplce
While England remains the weslthiest ma.
ton in the world, and the centre of artistic
activity, palatial mansions and grand edi.
fees will be reared when occasion calls for
them, by well trained architects, but not.
withstandiug this, tia virus of decay must
be flowing in her veins, or she would be in
capable OF condemning the masses Of her
people to dwell in the soedid. contemplate
tenements that have described.
The exact reverse OF this picture is seen
in our own country. Americans who re
main abroad for a term OF years are amazed,
on their return, to note the improvement
in cur great cities. Daring the last decade
they have gained character, form, individu-
ality, variety, splendor Even the most
unpretentious houses in the small towns
are well and solidly built, and often in sd
dition are tasteful and picturesque, while
in the handsome new streets there is
most gratifying display OF genuiug archi
tectural good taste and magnifcence. And
this is true of all our principal cities-New
York, Washington, Chicago. Cleveland,
Cincinnati Everywhere our architects are
full Of earnestness and enthusiasm; our
rich men, as soon as their fortunes are
made, like 90 many beavers, begin build
ing palatisl residences In short, the build. |
ing spirit is awakened in this people; the
movsme is q natural. spontaneous one
and so stror g and well directed skat We are
justified in predicting that it will lead to
magnificent results in the future.
The radical distinction between srchitec- |
ture of antiquity and that OF modern times
ia too we'll known even to the most super |
fetal readers to require more than o psn' !
sing comment. Architecture Of old was
supreme among tha asss absolute, all en-
brao:ns; sculpture and painting were
merel embellishments Of the temple;
poetry and music composed and chanted
the temple servlce-the hymns Of the gods.
The true poems, the true books of ,as !
Egyptians, Arabians, Indians 10 short, Of
all the early nations, were written In stone;
they were tao Dtuperdous and marvellous
monuments whick have remained, up to
the present day, the wonder of all succeed
ing generations. Even in The trsnscendent
Greek era (slhough poetry, painting and .
sculpture alike received, at that tiuls,
separate and sublilas manifestation
architoeturs still asserted lie supremacy,
while the Gothic 6sthedrals Of The middle
ageu completed the great architectural
orders that we're evolved by the early
nations. This continued apt the Fifteenth
century, when the ;uvsuiion Of printing and
the re iornation completely reversed thepo
sition OF the aria. Literature now assumed
the FIRST position land architecture declined,
or it oeGsed to be creative and become i'm
ita,ive and subordinate. All that the
modern architect aims at is to reproduce
aud recombine styles already iR existence,
and with the tofegone conclusion that his
WORK will be inferior to that Of his pre-
decessors. According to some authorities
this is all that architecture can hope to &C.
conplish henceforwsrd. Their energy,,will
not again flow az of yore they maintain,
in o comparatively exhausted channel
This may be true as far &C Europe is con.
cerped, fog ys aust remember that The
whole continent OF Europe Is richly decorst-
ed with superb monuments, the legacy Of
tho past-oathedrals. castles, palaces,
which possibly may outcast the civiIizn-
tons Of which they are one Of the chief
glories. But how different is the condition
Of things in this country. u some respects
we are as old O. Our predecessors; We have
taken up our line Of march where England
and The continent stand, and yet % dis
tinctive race We are in our earliest youth,
at the very commencement Of our career,
and we possess continent broad and wide,
which, still almost virgin soil, is awaiting |
its BETTING architectural adornments. |
There is not the same need for great srchi- |
lecture in Europe that there is in this
country. Whatever may be the problems
which these architects are called upon 10
solve, ours ct least should be uen Of genius.
bold innovators, daring original, able 10
cres,e q modern style equal TO those OF the
mast, N onun suts which will be to the west
what the pyramids and obalisks. The Gothic
cathedral, and Doric and Ionic temples
have been to the east For my own part !
have no doubt that the movement already
begun will contiuas Until this hsa been &C.
complished; probably here, as elsewhere;
i, will be upon the basis Of splendid
architectural effioresceuce that the other
arts, more subtle and personal, enter into
their great triumphant epocbs.
GEORGE Percy.
LILLIAN RUSSELL IN TEARS,