Wichita eagle., 1888-02-15
IN A DINE MUSEUM.
A CHICAGO WRITER INDUCES IN
A FEW QUAINT FANCiES.

What Curiosities We May See In th.
Other World-Relics of Our Foregone
Exi.tence-Memories of Childhood
wondrous Panorama Chambers.
wandered into dime museum the other
day, and enough had OF the place, too, be-
fore an hour even had ended To one who
hates crowd and abhors proIniscuous con-
tiguities, place of this kind, where the grea.
unwashed are prone to co3sregate, is region
Of torment The one thing in all the world
necessary to keep harmony and peace among
men is plenty of room! Shoulder to shoulder.
breath to breath contacts create antago-
nisms II a man and wife can't get along
without constant disagreements, let them try
putting the breadth of the house betwi1t them.
and marital chickering's will die for lack OF
nourishment, es flies loose their power to in
fiict torment when the spaces of the room
wherein they swarm are kept dark and
crumbless. Take these unwashed, onion
breathed, whisky and bad tobacco-soaked
crowds out OF our street cars and Oft OF our
thoroughfares, and scatter them at wide dis
tances over prairie, and the peculiar inf.ic-
ton of their presence will dissipate itself
through space and become comparatively
harmless While l stood face to face with a
woman around at the museum. the other day,
to whom cake of soap or tooth brush
would have been far greater curiosities than
any Aztec children or glass eating men,
wondered if good old Cowper had not been
caught in such place when he dashed OF
those eloquent lines, "Oh, for lodge in
some vast wilderness"
RELICS OF roRNER DAYS.
wonder if, when we get to the other world,
we shall not occasionally stroll into some sort
If a heavenly museum where the relics of our
ioregone existence, its wasted days and
broken years, may stare back at Us from
glass cases where the angels have ticketed
them and put them on exhibition. There viii
be strands of misspent moments, like the
faded jewels dug out from Old Pompeii;
broken hopes and life histories, misshapen as
monstrosities. There will be odd little freaks
like the What is it!' and foolish deeds OF
vain daring. There will be those tendencies
which kept us heavy footed, like the fat wo-
man. and others that made us blind, although
the world was full of light. There will be
the disloyal deeds that made us the wonder
ment of the angels and the cowardice that
bound us like dual body to unworthy prac-
tices. There will be shelves full Of tho fool
ish little white lies" we have told, and frag-
ments of blighted lives ruined with gossip
ing tongues and tea table scandals There
will be fabrics of deceit wherein we mas
queraded, and the Himsy wells of conformity
behiud which we hid our true character.
There will be- now and then, broken heart,
broken unthinkinsly by our stupid bung-
ling, as cattle hoofs break of violet roots.
There Will be the memories of little children
we might have kept had we been wiser, and
snatches Of hushed lullaby songs.
There will be jars full of forgotten kisses,
and vows made of straw. There will be
whole bales of mistakes and stacks of cut and
dried might have beens" There will be
peacock feathers of pride tied together with
faded ribbons of regret, and great cabinets
full of skeletons and horrors. There will be
curtained corners full Of Nightmares and
pedestals whereon stand the fair ''white
days. we never can forget There will be
wondrous panorama chambers wherein are
unrolled the scroll of our journeyings heaven
ward, and in cunningly devised musical boxes
we shall hear again the melodies of youthful
laughter, and the patter OF LIES later Gears.
| think tho shelves OF that heavenly museum
will yield some surprises, too, hko finding q
bauble we counted worthless and threw away,
gl:ttering in the diadem Of crown, or the
prize We bartered honor for, turned to tinsel
glitter and worthless paste.-''Anber" in
Chicago Journal.