Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1917-01-15
CARSON COLLEGE TOBE
yERTABLE FATRYLAND
wonder-Walk Will Furnish APP
nronriate Setting for Midsum-
mer Nights Dream
ARTIST EXPLAINS PLANS
g.. Illustration on Pictorial Page.
BY M'LISs

A,r oil those present kindly hold tight
MT chairs and keep their feet fast to
y. ground? In this way, after they nave
t.d yelated to them the plans for the Car
ha hau CoiIeea. at Flourtown. they may be able
..s,ajn the Impression that they are still
,s,s earth; that they have not been in
.s,sing in q Midsummer Nights Dream
"s ,bat | have not been In intimate COM
,,IcatIon with Oberon, king OF the fairies'
~ puck Of Pooks Hill .--.,-, -
instead | have merely Intervene" an
architect /, ,ortunate
,.h 10 weave the airy threads OF
49,, into tho whole cloth of q reahty.
~ Albert Kelsey has done this. he mas
s.,r nermitted to dream out the ideal col
lsre for young girls, and IN year r, o,'r.e
~ yviil see the concrete result OF thht h'e"''''
void tight to your chair
~ ono OF the most picturesque spots
!, the eighty-two acres set aside Tor the
i,,.ss there will be n wonder-waK. a
.,rslous MISUNDERSTANDING wonder
~sit carpeted with pine needles ana
Ssnked on either side by stately nm
u,netrable evergreens wn'ch iorn, ., u'a-
,s.tic aisle that will leave only the moon
"a the stars visible at night. At either
"a ~ tho wonder-walk circular glades
.silsd by the trees will form deep hlack
III. which seemingly lead UP to the very
Mas one is TO be known az the star well
.rd the other Is the moon well.
Here the very music of the spheres
al no audible Not fg. ratively, but
,,sraily or this. however, Mr. Kelsey
.ni saw little. because he likes to see his
s,nces translated into facts before he
,.its about them. and he has not hRd
~. nmoon music" and the star music
made vet. He hints broadly. however, that
sysry little girl who comes to carson =
and who has lain awake at nights wonder
NtNA
,aylng II he only could be heard. and to
nst what tune that tiny star way off in
bs corner twlnltled to. will only have to
,ake a stroll in the wonderwalk to know
these things shouldn't be at all sur
urlsed If Peter Pan and WendS and the
pue Bird children didn't all vacate their
present quarters and come to the wonder
walk to live Certainly no more up-to-date
recommendations for the fairies and the
airy.lovers could he found anywhere.
Mr. Kelsey. like other hig and famous
nen-Barrie Yeats. stephens. CheSterton
believes in fairies. Furthermore he knows
that every little girl. even though she's
an orphan child whose life has been all
drab and gray, believes in them Give her
one night in the wOnder-walk ana She u
KNOW that fairies live.
The children who are lucky enough to
raln admlttance to Carson's will live in
what Mr. Kelsey terms IAN anthology OF
buildings" every one of which is named
after a flower. There's to be an Inspiring
ehurch-like structure of gothic deslgn--the
entire anthology in fact follows the gothic
tendency-called the Violet House Its
beautiful doorway encrusted with iridescent
stones will have lts insignia. violet,
studded in its top. Other equally beautiful
houses in the process OF construction will
be named after the narcissus. the corn
flower. the rose, ct cetera,
~ have called the group of buildings an
anthology" Mr.. Kelsey told me, because
an anthology means a garland Of flowers or
a collection OF poetry II is my aim to
make these buildngI both of these things,
ribbon garden of flowers will string out
In front OF the buildings This garden the
children themselves will have to keep in
order .
1T was Mr.. Carson's idea to make OF this
school a sort of girls Girard College. Feml.
ninity was to he the dominant motif Car
son was very fond of flowers and the flower
theme, architecturally. is essentially femi-
nine.
"The whole village-in no sense is this
place TO be thought of as an instituton-iS
to be dominated by tall tower. the actual
memorial to Carson. II will he the sublima-
tion Of womanhood. a mother holding her
the entire place"
In this wonderful atmosphere orphans
from the ages of six to eighteen years will
live and have their being Mr.. Kelsey and
the trustees and Miss Elsa Ueland, the
young and striking dean, are working hand
In hand to give them the colorful, joyful
lives that the benefactor wished them to
have and for which he supplied the money.
One of Mr.. Kelseys theories is that
imagination is worth more than money,
Money. brains, time and effort are all be-
Ing expended to preserve and stimulate the
Imagination OF the children.
a A twO-story playroom will be the big
gest feature of each of the flower houses.
These playrooms will be lighted from two
or three sides and the central factor in each
will be a huge fireplace with a yawning
mouth Decorative chains which will be-
come useful al Christmas for the hanging Of
Stockings will ornament the hearths.
curved cathedral aisle will lead up
to the college. 1t will be tunnel-like, just
as the wonder-walS is to be, and thou
sands of hemlOcks and pines will be used
10 fashion il. II has been so curved as
TO focus on two church spires, "A Roman
Catholic and Protestant one, that rear
against the Sky away off in Chestnut Hill.
wonder place. indeed The architect
has designed many notable buildings, the
most monumental perhaps being the Pan
american Building at Washington, but it is
plain to see that the Carson College is going
TO be the favorite of his brain-children.
Mr., Kelsey does not, however, take all
the credit for the beauty of the architecture
and the imagination displayed in its de-
sign.
III our art Is bad" he said, 1T is not
% much the fault of the public as OF the
artist He does not present his ideas with
nueney and conviction. He is ashamed Of
MS imagination. He thinks II may be con-
srued as childlike, The most gratifying
.hlns or all about this commission was the
way the board-business men. financiers
men used TO dealing in stocks and mines
Stood in back OF me and entered into the
spirit Of the thing"
Burned When Clothing Catches Fire
:, Ihelma Ryan, eight years old, is in the