Show r p TAUGHT BY A STATUE The Lesson Learned From the Bronze Figure ot ftathaii Hale t L All day long a crowd is gathered in p2 Broadway at that corner of City Hall k park where the bronze statue of Nathan i Nath-an Hale standsa crowd shifting and i changing oftener than the second hand vf a watch marks time Rich and poor stand there old and young hey read the inscription on the base ind study the expression on the face of the bronze figure associating patriotic patri-otic memories The lesson taught Is plain enough for the newsboys and the t bootblacks there is kindred humanity in it for the laborer and the clerk and the business man there is sublimity in it for the idealist That man died bravely resetting that he could give but one life to his country The sentiment sen-timent appeti to every class and condition con-dition of human kind Whose statue is that a newsboy in the crowd was asked yesterday Nathan Hales A Who was Nathan Hale W cre dJcl xou come from was the surprised and a bit contemptuous rep i He died for his country Two feet away one Russian Hebrew < was telling the story to another of his t race j translating the inscription The talkers face was a picture of earnest entSiusiasm the listeners one of r deep Interests Two shop girls one carrying a big bundle were exchanging > exchang-ing information and opinions Nearly on quite as often rin once a minute of the day the last words of the patriot c are repeated Parents tell it to children c Ie chil-dren children repeat it to one another anoth-er Tho comment is all of a serious nature the extent and the accuracy i of popular information are surprising Men in stained overalls kiiow how I Hale died People who hardly know xrhBit Latin is Know that the patriot spys notes were written in Latin Pedestrians destrian in shabby clothes as well 1 as those In broadcloth recall details of the capture and execution the provost pro-vost marshals cruelty and the prisoners pris-oners defiance The little folks know I that Hale was a school teacher and that he volunteferfc < i for the mission of peril in which he lost his life nera1 familiarity with THIS genera Watery i shows among other thngs the educating educa-ting power of the press and it shows how New Yorks laboring classes far more than in any other city In America Amer-ica read newspapers and read < them intelligently The statue Itself IS l a patriotic influence influ-ence Averaging it up people are better bet-ter AmerlciUiK when they pass on than they ore when they stop there New York Commercial Advertiser |