Show from the dhuy 0 october 4 THE WORSHIP OF THE PAST A parisian correspondent who is v riling quite exter in the new york pipers has just bent up a moat p leous lament over the disrespect paid to ancient things particularly at paris the wiping out of a dozen or more rusty od churches that by dint of or laziness hare lingered on frona borne all but forgotten period before alie revolution has ghen him deep distress and the and widening out of certain once bimal alleys bat now among the beautiful drives of the city has all but broken liis heart his objection to the changes being wrought are avowedly sentimental he lodging freely that the paris of today to day compared with the paris of louis XIV is infinitely more commodious and more beautiful but in his esteem these things are not ta be compared in point 0 human interest to the slimy pavement that echoed und r the tread of majestic despots and churches whose grating doorways had been brushed by the skirts of francea France 8 most voluptuous prietta and gaudy harlots there is undoubtedly something 0 o ba remembered of antiquated manners and ancient people something human in their tallies something heroic in their despotism something splendid eplen did in their voluptuousness all of which though not imitable is yet interesting A people possessing such antecedents would be bigoted indeed who would wish to wipe from ita records even the darkest pages but it would certainly seem that amidst the progress and enlightenment of the world of civilization as it now is words are enough for the preservation of all good or bad that is worthy of remembrance a merciless inspector of tra in her renovation of customs and institutions whose lifeless components haag with heaviness upon ahe world she is remorseless the child of her struggles and her pains is utility for its education she preserves the records for its refinement and elevation she cherishes cLeris hes the things of beauty but oaly those that encumber not its progress indeed does the beauty or the grandeur of the past abide entirely in its disintegrated ruins aie cur imaginations so feeble and our hearts so stern in their advancing hopes that to be moved by the or splendor ep lendor of days agone we must bae their musty relics before our eesa may we not with the knowledge we possess of the world in its darker boura feel the same sorrow for its pains and joy in its greatness greit ness and its fortitude without its skeleton glaring constantly upon us from every turn of our path 7 to him whose life drags BO heavily upon its wheels ahat he must be continually gazing back at the mystical past for a solace to liis coerced advancement we should think that the removing of its uncanny monuments would ba a boon in event the sky would be clear for him to build the fair ci tea of his igors in what batata he please and endow alie dep commonwealth with jast iliof o gibs and achievements that would give the most recompense to bis morbid soul we do not just understand wherein paris by removing decay and life and vigor is degenerating from ancient greadess gre aness or how by dif with the marred and dilapidated lapi dated relics of bygone art in order to mike room for art that is a and times more refined and magnificent than alie rejected specimen had ever been she is manifesting a spirit of sordid contempt tor beautiful thin gs the superiority of paris today to day in every conception con caption of beauty and utility as well over the paris whose desecrated monuments lie sentimental correspondent laments with such is simply infinite true progression in utility does not nor can it encroach upon the domain of pure art neither may legitimate art hamper the advance of pure nullity |