Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1889-03-05
Written for TIE EVENING srAn.
THE PEOPLES SCHOOLHOUSE.
A Day Among the Visitors at the Ma
tfonal Museum. =

AHn TEXTILES SCnOOLHOUSE.
A Day Among the Visitors at the Ma
tional Museum.
Al INSTITUTION CONDUCTED FOR THE BENEFIT OF
THE MASY-rTs INTERESTING AND INSTRUCTIVE
coSTESTs-rYPEs OF VISITORS TO THE
nUsEuM-ISTEREsrED KxcURsIoSIsrs.
The United States national museum belongs
70 the people. 1t has been established and ia
maintained for their benefit. broad asser-
ton, and at first glance one is led to say: What
- those scientists, those men of profound
afadition, froEi the secretary down, they at
work for the unlettered many Yes. for the
many, both lettered and unlettered. Recall
the maxim Of the generous founder of the
smithsonian, which has been adopted by the
institution as ts-motto: every man is a valu-
able member Of society who, by his observa-
aons, researches and experiments, procures
knowledge for men," and realize that on lines
parallel with that thought, have the Smith
sonian and Its foster child, the national mu-
scum, been conducted from their foundation
until the present day.
THE VISITORS
One is struck in passing through the museum
with the marked contrasts in the people who
visit it, Sometimes you meet a pleasant-faced
school teacher with a troop of happy children
about her, who have come to study up on some
subject, and where could that be better done
than in the museum? Next, hard working
father, who evidently has day off and is bring
ing his whole family to spend it with
him here. The mother comes in
best shawl and gown, anxious that her
boys and girls, who gaze open-mouthed at the
wonders, shall see all and harm nothing; and
the father himself lounges happily along. carry
ing the baby in his strong arms. little farther
on you come, perhaps, upon young girl seated
OF stuffed animals. In q minute You may be
stopped by a stranger, who says, "Please direct
me TO the mummies, or a lady will ask, where
shall we find the models of the Pueblo villages?''
and two or three bright-eyed girls, strangers
too, must be told where the cases of precious
stones are TO be found, and the number of times
You are asked to direct people to the zoo you do
not even count.
AT WORK.
And in the midst of all the moving crowd
the museum work goes steadily on. You see
men busy among the cases, opening, rearrang-
ing, and perhaps adding to the treasures
within: You stop to look over the shoulder of
one, whose pleasant face does not forbid your
tarrying by his side, and you envy the free
dom with which he handles the priceless treas
ures from other lands. Two young girls and
quick breath, Bella oh! look. that precious
bangle bracelet, made of old coins from the
mountains of Syrial 1 would give all in the
museum for THAR The curator smiles at her
eagerness, from under his little round silk cap,
but the boy says: Il wouldn't then. I'd take
the baby elephant"
The next group that catches your eye is
clergyman with his wife, two girls and two
boys, here from their country home, and he
tells You that although they have but three
days for the whole city, they must spend one
at the museum, so on they hurry to the fish
hall, beginning the grand circuit there.
THE EMBRYO THEArER.
As you pass along you a professor in
round silk cap, always the cap, talk
ing earnestly to striking looking woman
about some groups of queer little naked figures.
carved from ivory and covered by a glass case
You hear him saying: This is the first theater
the rudest style of play. There you see the
lights, the pit the galleries. all in embryo
Now, we show development here by objects in
this way, and people can thus read upon topics,
form earliest times till now. We want to COM
Piete every series as we can. The theater
has been a great teacher, the costumes
there show US much. Perhaps you could help
us by your access to the treasures of the stage
from which most Of the world is shut out
and You hear no more but you see that
the woman with face that has story in it
promises, and, looking again, you recognize her
a. great Tragic actress, whose fame is broader
than our land, and will reach beyond our day.
ExcURs1oSIsrs
Before you have made the tour of all the
halls you see a crowd of strangers surging
along together, and are told that an excursion
from Fredericksburg has Just entered the
building. The excursion, or rather incursion,
soon loses its identity, the eager sightseers at
and courts of the museum, where you forget
their presence. Next you hear that a party of
hundred or two from Philadelphia are COM
ing in, and you watch the man behind the rail-
ing near the door who, with his hand on the
registering machine, takes rapid count of all
who enter.
Shortly you are accosted by little woman
with half foreign air, who asks where she
can get a catalogue of the objects in the mu-
scum, and she tells you in breath that she and
have seen so much; that her home is in far
away Alaska, and that she longs for this cata-
logue SO that when she returns she may better
write about the wonders she has seen, and
thus help the many who cannot hope to come.
CONTRIBUTING VISITORS.
But people visit the museum not only to get
but to give knowledge, not only to see treas
ures, but to leave them. For instance, the
other day cadet midshipman deposited few
inches OF wire, with q memorandum stating
that it was piece Of the first telegraph line,
the line laid between Washington and Balti-
more. As you see it, memory leaps back to
the days OF "A, and you remember the young
WIN HciPc0 TIC Idit6rlnR. almost
failing cause of this little first
telegraph on to success, and who in recogni-
ton of her efforts in its behalf, was asked to
send the first message. You touch the bit of
wire almost with awe, remembering that it was
the pioneer line Of the world, and contrasting
then with now, you say, in the words of that
drst message, "What hath God wroughtr
Then, not long since, the venerable Mrs.
Stone, who has passed all her life in Washing
ton, and who never ceases trying to benefit this
beloved home, gave many relics of by-gone
times to the museum. Among them two old
ace pillows, with the piece of lace on one. Just
q she herself stopped weaving its delicate
meshes more than sixty years ago. She gave
also an old map of Washington. engraved by
herself in 1884, and another by her uncle.
Robert King, surveyor Of the city about the year
lbs. You remember that Robert King Mrs
stones grandfather, a noted surveyor in Eng
land, was also for a time surveyor In
Washington, and that he came here in 1877,
when the city was one only in charts.
and maps, and imaginations You re-
call, too, how you have seen the portrait
OF this same elder Robert King, and all the
story Of its painting; how in his English home
he was a valued friend of the Earl of Mulgrave.
and went often to his lordship's country seat,
where once the earl told him that in going
through the village the day before he had
heard a lad crying and a woman beating and
ecolding him, saying: '.Tll teach ye I'll teach We
better than to be wasting the timep' The
kindly earl stopped to learn what the bows
Wa nd L. l.. 4