The Daily times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1886-1889, 1888-02-15
IN A DIME MUSEUM.
A CHICAGO WRITER INDUCES IN
A FEW QUAINT FAkCleS.

What Curiosities We May See In the
other World--Relics of Our Foregone
Existence-Memories of Childhood.
Won.Irous 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 prornscuous con-
tig1nties. place Of this kind, where the great
unwashed are prone to congregate, is region
OF torment The one thing in all the world
necessary to keep harmony and peace among
men is plenty OF rooml 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 betwixt them,
and marital chickering's will die for lack Of
nourishment as flies loose their power to IN
nict torment when the spaces OF the room
wherein they swarm are kept dark and
crlmbless. Take these unwashed, onion
breathed. whisky and bad tobacco-soaked
crowds out Of our street cars and off OF our
thoroughfares. and scatter them at wide dis
tances over prairie, and the peculiar inilic-
ton Of their presence VIII dlssipate Itself
through space and become comparatively
harmless While stood face to face with
woman around at the museum. the other day,
10 whom a cake of soap or tooth brush
would have been far greater curiosites 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 FORMER DAYS.
wonder if, when we get to the other world,
we shall not occasionally stroll into some sort
of a heavenly museum where the relics Of our
foreQone existence, its wasted days anu
broken years, may stare back at us from
glass cases where the angels have ticketed
hem and put them on exhibition. There viii
bo strands of misspent moments, like the
faded Jewels dug out from old Pompel;
broken hopes and life histories, misshapen as
monstrosties There will be odd little freaks
like the What is itin 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 disoyal deeds that made us the wonder
ment OF the angels and the cowardice that
bound US like a dual body to unworthy prac-
tees There will be shelves full Of the fool
ish little white lies" we have told, and fIag-
ments of blighted lives ruined with gossip
ing tongues and tea table scandals There
will be- fabrics Of deceit wherein we mas
aueraded, and the flimsy wells Of conformity
behiud which we hid our true character
There will be- now and then, broken heart
broken unthinkingly 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 ami
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 wherein stand the fair white
daysn we never can forget. There will be
wondrous panorama chambers wherein are
unroled 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 lifc's later tears.
[ think the shelves OF that heavenly museum
will Weld some surprises, too, like finding "A
bauble we counted worthless and threw away
differing in the diadem of "a crown, or the
prize We bartered honor for, turned 10 tinsel
glitter and worthless paste. Amber in
Chicago Journal.