Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1899-06-24
ACCOMAU c. H. VA. SATURDAY, JUNE a. 1899

I open n door into some larger realm
than that in which our population
daily drudge! Or what good thing
| the half hour of artistic opportunity
on the way home in the evening from
exhaustion that demands recuperatiOn
for mind and soul as well as body!
! Who will do for the city where you
/ live what w. W. Corcorn did for
Washington and what others have
done for Philadelphia and Boston and
New York? Men of wealth, If you are
too modest to build and endow such
place during your lifetime. why not
go to your iron safe and take out your
last will and testament and make
codIcil that shall build for the city Of
your residence throne for American
art? Take some Of that money that
would otherwise spoil your children
and build an art gallery that shall as
sociate your name forever. not only
with the great masters of painting
who are gone, but with the great mas
tiers who are trying to live, and also
win the admiration and love Of tens OF
thousands of people who, unable to
have fine pictures Of their own. would
be advantaged. BY your benefactions
build your own monuments and not
leave it to the whims Of others. Some
of the best people sleeping in Green
wood have no monuments ut all. or
some crumbling stones that in few
years will let the rain wash out name
and epltaph while some men whose
death was the abatement Of nuisance
have Il pile Of Aberdeen granite high
enough for king and eulogium
enough to embarrass seraph.
Oh, man Of large wealth, Instead Of
leaving to the whim Of others your
monumental commemoratiOn and cpl
taphology, to be looked NJ when people
are going to and fro N the burial OF
others. build right down in the heart
of our great city, or the city where you
live. an immense free reading room or
free musical conservatory or free
art gallery, the inches for sculpture
and the walls abloom with the rise and
fall of nations and lessons Of courage
for the disheartened and rest for the
weary and life for the dead, and 100
years from now you will be welding
influences in this world for good. How
much better than white marble. that
chills you if you put your hand on 1t
when you touch Il in the cemetery,
would be monument in colors, In
In Iivn0 n0ccncGinn In
splcndors which under the chandelier
would be glowing and warm and look
ed at by strolling groups with cata-
logue in hand, on the January night
when the metropolis where the body
sleeps is all showed under! The tower
of David was hung with 1000 dented
shields of battle, but you, oh man OF
wealth. may have grander tower
named after you. one that shall be
hung not with the symbols of carnage,
but with the victories Of that art
which was so long ago recognized IN
my text MS pleasant pictures" Oh.
the power of pcturesl | cannot de-
ride. as some have done. Cardinal Ma
zarin, who, when told that he must die,
took his last walk through the art gal
lery of his palace, saying: Must iquit
all this? Look at that Titan! Look
Mt that Correggio! Look at that del
uge of Caracci! Farewell, dear pic
turesr'
A Universal Language.
AS the day Of the Lord Of hosts. ac-
! cordlng to this text. will scrutinize the
pictures, l implore all parents to see
that in their households they have
neither In book nor newspaper nor on
canvas anything that will deprave
Pictures are no longer the exclusive
possession of the afiluent. There Is
not n respectable home in these cities
that has not specimens Of woodcut or
steel engraving, if not of painting
and your whole family will feel the
moral uplifting or depression. Have
nothing on your wall or in books that
will familiarize the young with scenes
of cruelty and wassall. Have only
those sketches made by artists In ele-
waited moods and none Of those scenes
that seem the product Of artistic de-
lirium tremens. Pictures are not only
strong but universal language.
The human race is divided into almost
as many languages rs there are ma
lions, but the pictures may speak to
people of all tongues. Volapuk many
have hoped, with little reason, would
become worldwide language. But
the pictorial is always q worldwide
language and printers types have no
emphasis compared with it. We say
that children are fond Of pictures; but
notice any man when he takes up
book and you will see that the first
thing that he looks at is the pictures.
Have only those in your house that ap-
peal to the better nature One en-
craving has sometimes decided an
eternal destiny. Under the title OF
fine arts there have come here from
France class Of pictures which
! elaborate argument has tried to prove
| ifreproachable. They would disgrace
barroom and they need to be conts-
Gated Your children will carry the
mixtures Of their fathers house with
them clear on to the grave. and. pass
Jug that marble pillar, Will take them
| through eternity.
Furthermore, let all rerOrmers, ano
all Sabbath school teachers and all
Christian workers realize that, if they
would be effective for good. they must
make pictures, if not by chalk on
blackboards, or kindergarten designs,
| or by pencil on canvas, then by words
Arguments are soon forgotten, but pic
lures, whether in language or in colors,
are what produce strongest ei1ects.
Christ was always telling what a thing
was like, and his sermon on the mount
was a great picture gallery, beginning
with a sketch of city on hill that
cannot be hid and ending with
tempest beating against two houses,
one on the rock and the other on the
sand. The parable of the prodigal son.
q picture; parable of the sower VINO
went forth to SOW, picture; parable