The Chanute times. [volume] (Chanute, Kan.) 1897-1913, 1909-06-18

various terrible forms, and the artistic
excuse for 1t all is that the myth
represented are holy, This deponenl
Is OF up to 1T that considers a be
heading or a crucitixion or a burning
a worthy subject for pictorial repro
ductioD, merely because a good and
holy man is the subject of the picture
No more Is he up to art which con.
siders the backyard love affairs OF
naked laGies and gentlemen subjects
for sculpture, merely because the
amorous (though prmly Ag-covered,
ladies and gentlemen In question
happen to he tabled gods and god
desses. In this artistic heresy the
writer Is out of line with the Wisdom
of the Ages, and of course, is wrong
Also, the opinion OF long line of
piou5 and virtuous popes is on th 2
other side. But, nevertheless, one
cannot pretend to an opinion that
one does not hold, so the good and the
true and the beautiful in Emporla
who think etbcrwise and have the
aforesaid Wisdom of the Ages with
them, should bring on their racks and
thumb-screws and boiling oil and
gibbets and other fortunes, for the
affiant will not recant. Holy pictures
or revolving subjects are ugly, and
naked statutes of unwholssome
episodes are indecent. There are the
theses nailed to The door.
But the funniest place IN the Vati-
can-and so long as one pays his good
money to get in the Vatican, he is
entitled to free opinion of 1.-THE
funniese place in the Vatican is the
Slstine chapel, 1t Is not funny in
and Of Itself. Vacant, it would be
qulet-and IN dim twilight, holy
or perhaps In dusk peaceful spot.
But by day, when 1t Is open to the
public, it is the funniest place, not
only ia the Vatican, but In all Europe,
No1hing but the New York stock
exchanges or the Oh cago grain pit
could be more weirdly ridiculous
One goes into bhe SIstins chapel down
winding stair-rather dark aud
damp and dull and gray. Suddenly
from the bleak winding stairs, one
comes bursting into room literally
flaring with cglCr and motion AID
life. Above one on the walls and
their ceilings are the gorgeous, wig
Cling, whiting, bare-legRed figures
of the frescoes with waving arms and
wiad tapped draperies-a vision OF
the most violent action imaginable
bat all silent, all stopped short in It's
course, all, as 10 were, petrihe& with
terror as IL gazed IN horror on It's
animated replica on the floor below.
For there The motion is real, not
painted. There are hundreds OF
Enthusiastically millinered, bedlzsued
and bedecked human creAtures-a
whole great writhiBg pitful OF them
jabbering all the tongues Of Babel at
once, gazing up with crooked necks or
peering into great mirrors, moving
necessarily tu and fro like lost spirits,
all pointing all poking their noses
alternately from gulde-books TO the
thiA air above them like chickens
when they drink, all trying to look
wise or beatific, all jostllng into one
another in wrapt absorption-sli, all
these ladies from all the women's
clubs Ia all Christendom-all improY-
ing their minds. 1t 10 q modern
inferno OF women's clubs preparing
papers on Michael Angelo and Rs-
phael. II is as though all the poor
tortured souls Of all the vomen's
clubs Of this sad old earth were sent
here TO do peEsnce for their sibs
Occasionally = meek little man, clear
ly hauled BY a golden chain, biptoed
around the place, prisoner about TO
be sacrificed for his blood; but he
looks frightened and nervous aud 10
clearly afraid TO ask TO 60 home and
afraid to stay amid all the culture, so
he sits shivsring 10 the purgatory aHd
witnesses the sufierinRs Of his woman
kind with pity rather than anger,
bus most Of all with fear, Wher one
thinks of the thousands Of women
from all over the world who throng
the SIstine chapel every day when Is
Is oper, aud considers that each
woman is preparing 10 her minds eye,
at least one snd probably two papers
for her club ON Michael Angelo aud
Raphael, aud when one realizes