Evening star., 1937-11-25
MURAL ABSOLVED
BY CHILD JURORS
Allen, Noting Comment of
Pupils on Glenn Dale Art,
Calls Case Closed.

The case of the Mother Goose
murals at Glenn Dale tuberculosis
Sanitorium is closed and the "grotes-
que" portrayal of the famous fairy
tale characters stands approved as
painted.
A Jury" of six public school pupils
of the ages of 10 and IL, without being
Informed officially they were passing
judgment on the embattled painting,
ended the week-old controversy by
their spontaneous comments on the
mural as they were taken one by one
to inspect it yesterday.
A stenographic transcript of their
comments, filed with Commissioner
George E. Allen, showed they were
virtually unanimous in finding the
mural pleasing work. Mr.. Allen
accepted the verdict" as final. He
said:
The report of the statements Of
the children speaks for itself. So far
as am concerned, the case now is
closed"
Rutland Decreed Death.
Debate over the threatened destruc-
tion of the mural has ragged since
Wednesday Of last week when it was
discovered Health Officer George c.
Rutland had ordered it painted out.
DR.. Rutland called the work gro
tesque' and "unSuited" to the insti-
tuition and said it followed the "un-
fortunate modern trend
The work was done by Miss Bernice
Cross as Federal art project of the
w. P. A., who stoutly defended her
work, declaring that its characters
were fantastic" in keeping with the
fantastic nature of the Mother Goose
tales.
DR.. Robert L. Haycock, assistant
superintendent Of schools, who ar
ranged the test at the request of Com
missioner Allen, was highly pleased
with the manner in which the Jury"
performed, though he was not Off
cially concerned with what would be
their verdict. He said:
The children gave answers very
spontaneously. Their answers seem
to show that the mural speaks the
language of children. They were able
to interpret it so easily. No one of
the children showed dislike for the
work. OF course, they we're giving
their reactions as interpretations of
literature they knew, and were not
Judging the mural as piece of art"
Crytic Remarks Solved.
DR.. Haycock found cryptic answer
given by Juror No. 2" when he
first saw the mural Miss 1. M.
Lind, director of elementary instruc-
ton, who conducted the pupils on the
inspection tour, had said to the child:
This is what the children see when
they first come in" And the Juror"
replied: I've seen all I want to-"
That answer was a puzzler until DR..
Haycock learned that this Juror" hap
pened to see group of reporters
"peeplng' at him from an ante-room
As he was led before the painting bv
Miss Lind. The reporters had been
barred out of actual contact with the
Jurors but were permitted to watch
them to see their reactions.
DR.. Haycock said he believed the
seeing half-dozen men staring at
him and that for a moment his spoken
reactions were not Influenced only by
the picture. Later however, the report
showed. this juror gave an extended
description of the characters contained
in the mural.
Later Reactions Recorded.
ho
Glenn Dale, the teachers who ac-
companied the pupils were instructed
to note carefully al spontaneous COM
ment from the children pertaining to
the mural. The following comment
was recorded by the stenographer:
Child four: I didn't really like it,
because it was crowded. l don't think
they ought to have tried to put so
many stories in such a small space"
To this Child Five replied "If they
were to tell about one story there could
have been fewer things, but telling
about all, they would have to have
more characters"
The names of the children were not
announced before the inspection. in
Keeping with determination bv Off
cials to get their own personal reac-
tlons without any outside influence.
Also the names were withheld after
ward, in a determination by officials
to save them from interviews" The
theory was that later comments by
the Jurors" might conflict with their
judgments of yesterday morning, if
they meanwhile had been influenced
by conversations with adults about
their trip.
Allen Gets Report. /
In his report to Commissioner Al |
len. in which he incorporated the |
verbal tim sta tements of thu noili.a,, |