The Washington herald., 1921-10-09
0 SKIllNAY! HERE
Is STORY BOUT
BUGS AND THINGS
Think of a Big Museum
Just for Children
Only.
~ EYE WITNESS,
what IL Ia Like.

NEW YORK. Oct. S.-(spec,slr 4
7Boys and girls: ! want to tell Won
Of somethina that will interest Won
as much as Il did me. Il s, soma
thing which 10 meant especially for
you. but which you have not ,n
Washington.
The point In telling you about Il
In your own way-which is IN. h.,,
way because Il is the simplest ana
realest-instesd Of writing a dlFn,-
hed. tiresome article for our grown
ups. is that you. after you have IN.
facts before you. can interest IN.
grown-ups In this fine thing much
more readily than / can.
You know well enough ths,
though everyone Of you belong. to
grown-up, It Is even truer tnsr
most grown-ups belong to you, and
would do almost anything in the
world for you. That Is part OF the
fun grown-ups get out Of being your
fathers and mothers
what washington Lacks.
This fine thing you ought TO have
in Washington lie something like
this:
In the place where lived a long
time there was a boy that sometimes
would come tearing down Sixteenth
EfTAaf-ha ffNCA 81
hill and nv family at the bottom OF
it-and he would say. Ny uncle haSI
just sent us some more things from
China and my mother says you can
all come up TO our house!"
Then We would go. and more like
ly than not we would stay all the
rest Of the day-it was so interest
ing.
For we saw-and Lewis rotherl
would let us toUch-gowns 50 hesvyl
with silk and gold they would sta nd
alone, and queer little ornaments oil
jade with faces on them that would
make you laugh, and vases and fans,
whereon those Chinese people had
made the sky with one or two lines
and the wide sea with one or tw
more. and images carved out oil
ivory and precious woods-with kind
OF sad. thoughtful. tired faces on|
them. which made you wonderland
maybe the eyes would be inlsys OIL
jewels.
Liberal and Sympathetic.
Toms mother said some people
called those things idols and the
people that made them idolators. butt
she told us she liked TO think oil
them as helps 20 prayer and worship.
and that the people that made them
maybe did IL so those figures would
bring near to them the Unseen Pow
er that puts us in this world and ar
ranged II for us. Mrs. Pitcher was
always pleasant about explaining
things that way. We all loved her.
At the end of the Afternoon she
would give us cake and cambric tea
| Ali this was 20 years ago.
Well. that Is just exactly the wav
l IL is at the Children's Museum ouI
the edge Of Bedford Park. in Brook
/ lyn, y. Y.-even 20 the cske-except'
that the house is ten times bigger
than Lewis was, and that. instead
of seeing wonderful things from
China alone, you have the whole
wonderful world poured into your
lap.
You can touch things and work
with them. and you can mount beau
tiful butterflies and moths and
beetles with your own hands, and
there are young women and older
women to tell you about everything
and show you how TO do everything
with microscopes. and chemicals.
and tools. and everything like that.
No verboten signs Here.
There are no NO Admittanoe" or
Don't Touch" signs anywhere, and
the whole house and everything in
IL are yours for nothing. They give
you treasures and ask in return only
your interest.
You can become a life member -
this childrens museum association
for 10 cents, but you are just as
welcome whether you are a membe'
or not. saw a couple Of fellows
studying the birds. and ] asked then
IL they were members and they said
no.
So 1 fixed that up and pretty soon
they came out OF the secretsry''
room with membership buttons or
their coats. but the only difference
was that now they studied the birds
harder than ever and sort Of smiled
when they looked around because,
think. the docents As the womei
tell you things are cslleo-kep
smiling at them and said, Their
are our newest members
sorter stirs one's Heart.
It was kind Of funny and YER
homelike-sll that part
II fellow wanted 10 know some
thing special about a bird he hs
just noticed on his way throug
Bedford Park. or about a plant h
was pressing, or about a moth h
was mounting. or about the wireles
telegraph mechanism they wer
teaching him to use, all he had
do was TO step into a big room o
the second floor OF the house an
Miss Draper would give him a soO
about IL and help him 60 End th
place he wanted In the book.
Like all the women In the hous
she was awfully pleasant. and sh
laughed a lot. She said a feiIo,
that did not know exactly what h
wanted came in 70 see her the oths
day and said:
Miss Draper, have you rot
book about my sizeg"
She found L. and he was yer
much obliged.
HereS n TheresEh Char.
She told me about a fellow name
Carl Funsro that got 30 Intereste
In beetles that he started copyin