The Alaska citizen., 1912-11-04
HALT! HOW SHOCKING! NATURE ON THE HOOP
 CAUSES NEAR RIOT

NEW YORK. Sept. 2S. One of those shocking" but interesting and popular discoveries that tend to in crease gate receipts rather than turn way even the extremely modest. Nas made at the Mineola fair. in Mineola. l.. |. recently. As a draw ing card. it caught 6.999 of the 7.- 100 persons on the grounds. The only one who did not view the find" vas the gate keeper He tried. but place. everybody was so busy. How ever. he expects to get there early hereafter to avoid the rush.
 The feminine Columbus was Mrs. John Dayton. of Bayside. president Of the Nassau county branch of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union She is a great lover of the human figure in art. if the figure is clothed. but she is quick to express her opinion of nature unadorned. She proved that when she and Mrs. Ashury Johnston went to the fair. It was raining and they went almost immediately to the art exhib- it. Seemingly few of the visitors had artistic tastes. for the room was almost deserted The two women had an unobstructed view of the pictures. They had not been in the room minute before they were gasping. Oh how shocking!" Thirty seconds more and the two had fled.
 The paintings are described by the managers as studies from the orig inal" by Miss Ethel Whitmore liar, way. of Bayside. and Miss Anne Lee. of Corona. The first is a full length painting of a woman leaning against rail. She has modestly turned her back. It must have been very warm day when the subject posed. or she started out in such hurry that she forgot her clothes, or else she was in the bath when the house caught fire.
 Anyway. there she is.
 i The other picture is side view of a woman, sitting on stone bench, her head turned far enough not to see what impression she was making. 1 Her hair is hanging down her back. i Nothing else. There is nothing else that could hang.
 | The undraped woman seemed as i calm and unembarrassed as a Fate, but not so Mrs Dayton and her i friend. In intense indignation they l sought Thomas H. Bacon. the fair manager and Lott Van De Water it's secretary. and made an emphatic pro 1 test against the "brazen pictures not fit for children to see"
 The officials greatly upset. hasten. ed to the gallery. They gazed long and critically at the offending paint in2s Then they looked at each other and thereupon decided that the pictures were not at all improper or of character to offend any one "Honi soft qu nal y pense" was their final verdict As they are 1 known as modest men. their judg- ment was accepted by their brother officers It was confirmed by C. A 1 Miller. president of the Allied Arts and Crafts.
 News of the complaint soon spread to the grounds. Farmers left off judging cattle and tumbled over themselves as they plowed through the mud to judge nature on the | hoof." as one of them expressed it. Soon the jam in the gallery was so great that the doors had to be shut. The crowd outside clamored to get l in. And all were not men.
 The criticisms were naive in some cases. but all were enthusiastic.
 All seemed to know it was Art with a capital A." and let it go at that
 For the rest of the afternoon the rest of the exhibits were deserted Viewing the women in oil became the great indoor sport of the day. It was case of line forms on this side" Nobody paid attention to the other pictures. Some persons were study ing the pictures at nightfall and had to be turned out in the rain when the fair was closed for the day
 The managers prepared for the next days rush by building a barri cade in front of the paintings and let in only a few at time.
 PHONE COSTS OVER BILLION