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NEW BBBBK-WMg'ia'''' i- 1 -. j ..m -v lf,w v .ny.sivw .J'M'...i;''-p"M'" C&rrere & HsstlnfS, Arcbttrcts. The Now York Public Library has gradually grown up before the -eyes of the Now Yorkers who are soon to bo ad mitted to its privileges and it is already one of tho best known buildings in this city. Its slto makes it visible to the thou sands who daily pas's' up and down Fifth avenue. Its architectural beauty makes It so different from the surrounding structures that it "never fails to attract I th notice of pedestrians. Evidence of the widespread interest felt in the building has been afforded to the architects by tho comments and correspondence that havo followed every visible " change in tho structure. The case of tho lions is in point. Once they had been put in place, there was an outbreak of criticism in which opinions of the most varied character were uttered. Tho name thing occurred when' the sculptures of Paul W. Rartlett were placed in the uttic. When the two vases in front of the fountain niches appeared there was tho same exhibition of popular interest in tho appearance of the library. But E. C. Potter's sculp tured lions probably came in for morn Getting Out the Best Musician?, Athlttes, Architects, Actors, Prizefighters, Students. Some of the Products of the Columbia Park Boys' Club of San Francisco In San Francisco before tho fire dear is the phrase to tho Western coast Aleck (ireggain ran it boxing club above n saloon at Sixth and Folsom streets. It was in that roaring 7.0110 south of Market street which is to the Golden Gate city as the East Sido is to New York. Boys flocked to Greggain and ho taught them how to slug each other llko loltermakers, Some were graduated as prizefighters. Some may now be seen of an evening supporting those lamp posts, ono of which tho gifted Jimmy Britt said he'd rather be than the whole blamed city of New Yurk. Exactly a block away from Oreggain's club is and was tho Columbia Park Boys Club, Thore boys from tho stock that Oreggain moulded so adroitly wero learning tho music of Schubert nnd Wagner, grappling with architecture nnd mechanics, mastering tho druma by giv ing two impromptu plays a day in their own small theatre and doing things in nthlrtics far better than their pals over nt Greggain's. Somn of them havo even become prizefighters. There's Ono Round Hogan, for inxtniice, who, encountering his old Columbia Park mentor on tho street a while ago, wild: "Yep, I'm lighting for n living, Mr. l'elxotto, but don't tako it too hard, I'm cutting tho booze and tho girls and saving money. You'll bo proud of me yet mnybo." Tim Columbia Park Boys Club has rnme to Im nn institution ns peculiar 10 California ns the seals beyond tho 'lift House, the raves of I41 Jolla, tho Lick Observntory or the redwoods of the Big Basin. Now tliiity-nine of the mem bers nnd Sidney Peixotto, founder nnd head of the Hub, lire in New York nfter working their way llast by singing nnd uliiying mid vaudeville sinee November They hud planned to go to Mexico, where a guarantee of Jtu.oiio had been piomifcd but the insurrection quashed that and they In-adi-d inMe.ul lor tho Atl.iutn -inboard lb" H'.il M iry or the Columbia Park Foys ( lub ftcii-K back tu jvuo. v,wn Ur Philip Kun; llinwii, n llni-vurd graduate and a lloMon rttlciui-iit worker, ml- grilled 1.. ,mii I ranciM o and ut ti,..tt I away benttiM. so man turge then a 1.. ,.,i f drawing in tlm 10 make en-en in whir' I nive,M,y "I hi 1 ,nu , ,. ,, lart j, u , , the Sim I tain 1- o llov ( tub HI wiiMil YORK'S $8,000,000 PUBLIC LIBRARY decided expreions of like or dislike than any other, part of the ornamen tation, all of which was done in planter and was "put up merely to try its effect before the marble replicas wero put into place. The legends of the new institution aro already comprehensive. Some of them aro naturally comic. "You see that old man with tho gray beard?" asks the conductor of his gaping charges on the rubberneck wagon. "Well, that old man used to be an office boy when the building of the library was begun. And look at him now," Of courso tho inspiration of this humor was the watchman. Jibes as to the length of time it had token to erect the structure used to be common. It was difficult to make tho public accept the explanation that it was practically impossible to spend mbro than a million dollars a year in put ting up the building When Samuel J. Tilden diod in lssf, the project to unite the .Astor and Lenox libraries onpno foundation 'seemed likely to bo fulfilled through the fortune left to the city for educational purposes by Mr. Tilden. It took nine years to settle the legal complications arising over the will. There Is in Boys a project or settlement upllfters, Asso ciated with tho founders were Ernest Peixotto, artist; Frank Norris, novelist; Porter Garnett of the Argonaut; Loriug Itiilord, architect; Newton J. Tharp, now city architect of San Francisco, and Er nest Peixotto's brother Sidney, Pres ently Burgess mado such a hit with his fantastic magazine the Lark that he came East to realize on it. The club wasn't all that Sidney Peixotto thought it might be. He says now that it was too socialistic, that leadership was divided on the theory that each man was equally capable and it was enough if each gavo his services one night a week. Ono day they told Sidney Peixotto that ho was working too hard, whereupon he quit the club and founded anothor, the Columbia Park Boys Club, to which he has given his whole time since 1893. His aim was to work out a system of his own that was now to California. Ho would dig deeper into boy nature than others had done and bring up nuggets of good' thitt ho believed lay in ovory street urchin of tho Mission district. He would highly organize athletics and teach tint boys' trade in 1111 ideal workshop where each could have individual atten t ion .He would have them under his super vision in the summer also. He would per suade working boys to become school boys by taking the club on long summer trips which only Hchoolhoys had time for. Before tho days of tho club, Mr. Peix- otto says, not a boy had htudlrd beyond tho grammar school in all that district ot 100,000 population In 1890 he got William tiieuson to go to high school. Willie prinked for tho occusion and the neighbors' wives told Mrs, Olenson that she wan making a "white collar bum" out of him. Mrs, Olenson. affrluhted. tried tu take him out of school, Mr. Peixotto worked to keep him in nnd succeeded. Now (ileaoou is head bookkeeper in a hlg packing house mid bent 011 going higher. Others, knowing that a South o' Market noy was liarnxi fiotn oftlco work, had labored for S.la week either ut the "dinky," which is it glass fnctory.. or In the hoi factories, which never turn nn applicant away beeaue so many follti aro needed h 1 alil'ornia'H fruit ' 117 inn rn-e of gillie (ilenbon, joined the night THE Several of the Carnegie circulating libra ries were associated with tho Lenox and A st or in the new foundation, which wo incorporated as the New York Public Library. The city agreed to provide a site for the institution and put up a build ing on condition that a circulating library should be part of the foundation and that the library should Imj open evenings Sunday afternoons and holidays. With these conditions accepted the torms of the open competition among architects were announced and from tho designs offered the best six were to be accepted. This competition was won by Carrere Hast ings on November II. 1897 In the meantime the site of the old reser voir had been seemed for the library and in June, 1.S89, the work of removing this Egyptian memorial of old New York was begun. The foundations on which the present library stands were btarted in tho spring of that year Mayor Seth Low laid the cornerstone on November 10, 190?. .Now, nine years later, tho building is ready, with the exception of a few de tails, to be dedicated to t be "public. Some statistics of the New York Public Library are necessary to a conception of tho great scale on which tho building has classes of the Columbia Park Boys' Club and some even ventured into high school too. Since then twelve graduates of the club have got degrees from the University of California, and according to Mr. Peixotto all that district of 100,000 persons has beon stirred by the notion of education. The other day Gelett Burgess was doubled up in a chair at the Players Club of New York reading. Along carno n young man who said, "Why, hello, Mr. Burgess, do you remember me?" The father of the "Goops" and limner of the purple cow confessed that he didn't seem to. Said the young man: "I'm Ed Morrissey and was in tho Columbia Park Boys Club when you wero In San Francisco." Then Mr, Burgoss remembered. Mor- rissoy was the club's prize actor. Ho was also the first boy the club sent to thn university. At 24 he was stage, manager of a No. 1 Clyde Fitch company. Another club prodigy was Not Schmulo wltz. He also went to the University of California, There he wrote and played in the junior farce, and did tho same for the senior farce that was put on last year in tho university s Greek theatre. Incidentally Mr. Peixotto says that In tho eight years of tho San Frnncisoo Juvenile Court only two of tho Columbia Park boys, from San Jrancisco's East Side, mind you, have been arraigned thore. And there have been 4,000 boys in the club altoguthor. "How do we do it?" says Mr. Peixotto, "Well, we nim nt perfect boy happiness, nnd we do not find it hard to draw out tho Ilnost there is in his nature, which is pretty fine, Tako mimic, for instance. Tho aver age boy worships a musician, yet you ask him if ho can sing and ho answers Naw,' We show him that he can. We tench him'to use his beautiful treble, "He is delighted nnd astonished. He may hnvo never heard of' tho 'unattain able ideal,' but ho' knows that somn in credible change lias been wrought in him, nnd wo'vo got lfim, body nnd soul, always nfter that, "Then we. show him that play does not mean just baseball. Each of our 220 boys must play an instrument. He finds that he can do that too. One hundred and ten of tho members now rnnk as musicians, Most of tho others would be if we rould nfford to buy moro instru- wonts, Such is our Imnd. "Then wo have a chorus of forty boys who sing best and many soloists. They sing tho best music that's written nnd are delighted to do it. Wo put that music Into the boys so deep that they never can forget it, and tnusio has its own way of making a better rit ben of its possessor. "In some ways our theatre is the most interesting thing about the club. Every day a teacher goes through the workshop and picks out six or seven boys, to whom SUN. SUNDAY. APRIL 9. THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY. been erected. It is 390 feet long on Fifth avenue, from Fortieth to Forty-second street, and 270 feet deep from Fifth avo nuej leaving out tho courtyard on the Fortieth street side of the building, it extends over an area of 113,0(10 feet. The reading room, on the Bryant Park side of the building, is the largest npnrt 1 ment of the kind in tho world. It is 195 1 feet long, "7 feet wide and 50 feet high. Beneath this reading room is the main stack room, divided into seven stories. The stack room is fitted with sixty-three milesof shelves, capable of holding 2,700, ooo volumes. As other rooms for iSooks are capable nf holding about 800,000 volumes the library may house as many i as three anil n half million books. In addition to the main reading room there nre 200 smaller rooms meant for various purposes. As a home for the valuable books it contains the new building is naturally flreprooT. The book shelves are of bronze and this material with marble practically makes up the whole building. There is 375,000 cubic feet pf marble in the library and wood is used only in tho wainscoting of certain rooms. The history of the New York Public he says: 'We waut you for the bIiow to day ' When the group Is assombled'iu a little room off the stage the teacher says -( it's all impromptu, so nobody has to put in extra time studying: I tell you what we II have to-day, n scene in a churchyard. Two of you shall bo tramps, so and so will lie a ghost and tho rest will take such and such parts. You, Jimmy Flynn, will say fco and bo, and you, Sol Levy, will say so and so, and wo'll havo the play end this way. Re member?' "Tho boys answer yes, and the play begins with an audionre of sixty members of the club. Every afternoon wo havo a new play and every evening it is repeated with a different cast, and a remurkablo set of boy actors has beon produced. , "Outsiders who come in can't believe that there has been no rehearsal, so quaint and spirited is tho performance. It's one of our proudest traditions that the plays must be done just right. A visitor to tho manual training depart ment, says Mr. Peixotto, finds it unlike such nppendaccs of other boys' clubs. The art classes are particularly successful because of the emphasis placed on a boy copying a thing just as ha sees it. Among other things they teach poster making, illuminating manuscripts and archltec turo. The club also has a gymnasium and compulsory military drill, Everv boy Is taucht parliamentary' procedure, but "Mr. Peixotto maintains that debating among Hoys is 11 tuuuro ny reason of tnelr im maturity. Tho long trips for which the club is celebrated on the I'aclllo coast grew out of the fact that Mr, Peixotto loves to walk, In his llrst year at Columbia Park ho and threo boys walked from Stockton to tho Yosemite. Tho next year live did tho same thing and the next year twelvo. 'Even with no carfare to pay tho cost was aroater than tho tourists could afford. Thoreufter they resolved to nay thoir way ny piuyiug ana acuug anu aciouui ics that they had learned at the club, In the summer of 1M2 thirty boys barn stormed from Eureka to Point Arena, 480 miles, tramninir from town to town and giving u show every night, bo their legs over so tired, in whatever town hall or church would receive them, "Tho next summer they walked all the way from San Francisco to Ixis An ge.M, 550 miles. A band of twelve pieces with eight bugles and eight drums to boot scattered Columbia Park music nil ulong the const.. When tho boys took tho train home from Los Angeles they had been nwny seven weeks, hail visited parts or the State hidden to the Pullman sightseer and hud made almost enough money to pay their fares back. In 1910 one party of boys took in tt.soo on another Eureka trip. Another purty went up to Seattle in a private oar and ulmostipald their way, Each had a band and was prepared In put on a vaude ville show of fourteen ants at five min utes notice. Also each hud u iMiseball teMti. Tho team of tho delegation that wrnt to Seattle played fourteen games with bush league grownups whom they challenged uud won tliumali. 1911. THE BUILDING ON FIFTH AVENUE NEARLY READY TO RECEIVE READERS Library is epitomized in the inscriptions that occupy tho three spaces on the attic. On the left in the square space are the words "The Astor Library, founded by John Jacob Astor for. the advancement of useful knowledge, 1848," On the centre space is the inscription "The Lenox Library, founded by James Lenox, dedi cated to history, literature and the flno arts." On the right plaque is the inscrip tion: "The Tilden Trust. Founded by Samuel Jones Tilden to serve the in terests of science and popular- education, 1888." These three inscriptions were com posed by Charles W. Eliot. There are two niches on each side of the entrance intended for fountains. Within them are to stand statues by Frederick Macmonnies. Ono is de scribed as "Beauty Overwhelming Ugli ness" and tho other aa "Truth Overcom ing Falsehood." Corinthian columns decorate the piers of the building which end on the north and south sides in an adaptation of a classic pavilion. George Grey Barnard has done two figures called "Art" and "Science" for these pavilions. Between the Corinthian columns are rounded Mr. Peixotto savs such expeditions supply the best training in self-reliance mat no Knows or. un ino tramps every bit of the camp work oh, yes, they sleep every night beneath a starry California sky tliat knows no summer rain is scien tifically shared, ' "Tuunltlni, tl,A art tf WArbini llirntiah plav," Mr. Peixotto calls it. The great Australian journoy, from which the club's calendar of larks is now dated, begun in May, 1909. The thirty-uinu boys who made it were nt sea two months. They visit d Samoa, Tahiti and New Zealand on the outward trip and Fiji and Hawaii coming home. iney traverseu Australia from tsyuney to Calgoordie in the western gold fields, 3,700 miles, by boat and rail. With vaudeville, baud concerts, gymnastic exhibitions and football games they earned $20,000, which they needed, as the steamship fares alone were 111,000. Tho Young Australian league, which invited them down, saw to it that they were entertained at Australian homes throughout the continent. At Sydney iu July after a football match I,ady Chelms ford descended to the field and presented to them a (lag of New South Wales. Thoy won twenty-seven of thirty-eight football matches and gave thoir show in sixty cities and towns. It was nino months before San Francisco saw them again and bogan learning from them football as tho Australians play it. When in November last the Mexican trip had to bo given up after thirty boys had been studying Spanish for many weeks the Santa Fe Railroad folks offered to take them to Chicago if they'd give concerts in eating houses along the way. So they came East. Thoy wore in Chicago two months demonstrating Mr. Peixotto's idea of what a boys' club ought to be. Among their performances were twelvo at the Held houses of the city playgrounds: Originally they had expected to go home from Chicuco, but the pull of New York was irresistible. Starting eastward again with the hope of making their way ns thev hail done before, they found Illinois and Indiana not quite as hospitable as California and Australia. At South Bend they liad'to turn back. In Chicago again they played three weeks in vaudeville theatres and came to Now York on the proceeds. They are here. Mr. Peixotto savs. on the to well defined missions which have guided ull their trips; for their own edu cation and to give an object lesson more impressive man any lecture in the proper way to handle boys from the slums. The are slaving nt thn Newsboys Home iu New Chambers street with Mr. Peixotto. Every night they give a concert for the newsboys, which Is invariably followed by eager inquiry as to thn chances of joining the club and being taken back to San Francisco. An uptown father whoso son isn't at ull a newsboy but who saw nnd heard the Columbia Park crew tier form the other night has told Mr. Peixotto that he's going to send the youngstor to California uud let him live at the club for a year. The Columbia Pork boys expect to show off at some of the city boys' clubs and gymnasiums while they're bore. They man next to march on Boston and then Philadelphia. They may sail for England afterward, but so lur that's only n vision which Sidney Peixotto is keeping us the only secret which hn and his comrades do not share, windows with square windows in tho second floor. On the attio the sculptures by Paul W. Bart let t stand for "Drama and Poetry" and "Religion and Romance," while tho single figures at the end represent "Hls- j tory" and "Philosophy. I Tlie main hallway, which all visitors , from Fifth avenue first enter, is entirely of white marble, the coiling being of the i same material. White marble staircases at either end of this entrance hall lead to the upper floors. On the south half of the front of the building and extending around the Fortieth street aide are the administra tion offices of the' library. On tho part of the front of the library running toward the Forty-second street pavilion there are small reading rooms. On Forty-second street there is the entrance for those who uso the circulating library. This library is to bo situated in tho basement on tho north side. At a corresponding point on the Fortieth street side there is tho service entrance. The reading room is 395 feet long, the whole length of tho building at tho rear; it is 50 feet high and over 73 feet wido. It is lighted naturally byfifteon long win THOSE SAD OLD PLAYS niilrh Theatregoers of a Generation Abo Ttiorouchly Knjojtik Macon, Mo April 8. The other day Manager Harry Ioean of the Iogan Thea tre received this note, which was written in a girl's hand: DrAn Mi:. Loots: Why don't you ever have a sod piny any more? I bo to your shows regular, and they always make you laium, which is nil riant, but you don't want to lniiflh all the time. 1 like "East! Lynn" nnd "The Two Orphans," nnd solemn I shows sometimes, berauso people llko to cry us well as latmh, don't you think? "lours, A I.ovrii oi' mi: Hium t. Mr. logon smiled as he showed the note and said; "Sho if it Is a she is voicing tho sonti- ment of many years ago. I judge she is referring to theatrical troupes and not to the moving pictures. Mien I was with the Peyton company tho serious plays were popular. Our repertoire was 'East Lynne,' 'Ten Nights in a Barroom,' 'Joshua Whitoomb,' 'Seth : Swap,' "The Two Orphans,' 'Hazel Kirke, 'Fanchon the Cricket,' nnd several other plays I can't now recall. Wo would lead off with 'Seth Swap, a funny piece, "East Lynne' would be the big event ot tho week and we always presontod it Thursday night. I've seen handker chiefs out all over tho house when that was played. Peoplo would apparently enjoy a good old cry just ns much as a hearty laugh. "One night nt Centreville a woman came near busting up the show by her excessive emotion. Sho. boohooed as though sho had Just recolved a telegram announcing tho sudden death of all her kin. It wus such a display that the actors, who wore trying to do a very affecting scene, got to snickering nnd the audience quit crying nnd begun to giggle. "The manager sent a man out to quiet the griefstricken woman. He approached her softly, touched her on tho shoulder and gently remonstrated, She removed a wutery handkerohief and, turning her tear stained faco toward him said she had paid 30 cents to get into the show nnd that sho had thereby acquired tho right to enjoy it in whatever way pleased hor best and that she intended to cry aa long and ns loud as sho felt like. "The usher had 110 answer to that and he let her go on nnd enjoy herself without furthor remonstrance But it was tough on the aotors, "In those days, some twenty-five years ago, the week stand shows mudo a pot of money. There were no moving pic tnre shows and the low prices of the rejiertoire shows took with tho people, "I played in the orchestra and had seen tho performance so often that I know nearly all the purls by heart. One night I (old Mr. I'eylou Hint I believed I knuw Sttli Hxtap as well as the mun that dows and at night eighteen RemiHiti" electroliers perform the same funtlion, Books of reference lire to be hid irt this room. A wooden screen olnbor.iirly carved in the Renaissance htylo concwl the desks of tho librarians Mid the lifts that bring the hooks up from th" ct.irV rooms. A gallery running about th roo-n supplies additional spare for booU The vaulted ceiling of this ivo'.u:'in green, blue and red. Behind the blind top story of the Ijbr.irv is a series of art galleries lighted frni tho top. The ceiling over the sfnirr.ii1" has beon decorated with mi rl.abor.iln painting by James Finn. Exclusive of the value of the land th cost of the new library is more than $8,000,000. The style may bo described gen erally as Rena'ssance, although It hus beon' adapted to American uses. The purKH oflCarrere A Hastings in building th library in the stylo they did was to cre.it" something more than merely n building to uo as a library. They planned lo nn edifice which may delight tho eye. The new Public Library is intended ns nn evi dence of the city's respect for archi tecture and beauty ns well'ns a me.in to spread knowledgo nnd learning. played it. Fqyton laughed and bet m a dollar I didn't. I took him up nd li let mo try tho part. After tho sho lie gave mo a dollar. That was at Cla rinda, la. "All repertoire shows can play 'Pncle Tom's Cabin' if they havo to, but don't ofton put It on except In cases of iicihIuii: tho wherewithal pretty bad. One week wo started in on bud luck up iu low.i and when Wednesday came we decided to abandon tho dato:'thero didn't seem to lie any chance of making good there So we hurriedly billed threo other town for tho remaining days in tho week, and although we had 110 dogs or scenery for the play wo gave 'em 'Uncle Tom's Cabin' and' mado a hit at each place. "'Undo Tom' was tho uotors' unfalter ing friend In thoso davs. If a show was hard up and didn't have any angel t" draw on tho munager would get put s railroad map and spot a few good 'Uncle Tonr towns, and ho nearly ulwnys made good. "1 don't believe 'Tom' shows aro doing much good in the West now, although the men running them insist thoy aro. They don't amount to much here. Tho ten dency of tho times seems to be for some thing bright nnd sparkling, with plenty of action. The audience hasn't liny patience with the working out of some complicated problem play. "Tho men who produce plays follow the samo theory that governs thoo who writ" for tho up to date magazines. You can sell u funny story twice aa quick a, you can a sad ono, Why? Because the edi tors havo accurately gauged thn want of tho readers of tho Un'ted States ami aro trying ns best they can to supply thoso wants. And tho peoplo that read magazines uro of tho N'.mo cla tha patronize tho theatre. When there com" a demand for tho weeping play there wil1 be plenty of playwrights to turn on th" stream- nevor fear." "Ono or tho sad old time pluv - 'Mario Antoinette.'" remarked a gentle man who was In tho thentie ofllrn with Mr 1 ..,.,. ,1 -1 ..iiiv It at. (lie lllvnii'l'! Theatre, St. Louis, when I was a small boy, and the pain 1 suffered in seeitig France's beautiful queen led to the iar fold in tho presence of u howling mo" has never left me. "First, tho executioner cut off the poor victim's beautiful hair and foil it n' lessly under his heavy feet, History s sho cut her hair herself; the p:.iv " more dramatic. Tho frowsy women ' there Willi their hideous red cap, ciil.itiu the beautiful woman from Austria ull wv ' of names; tho executioner wa an ev;i looking man, wearing a black eye ni.i-p and tho drummers beat tho Rogue s M i''" as sho ascended the stops to the gtulM itj' "It was a very roahstlo scene and .V" I curtain dropped as the queen s lie.i i 1 1 somXJ mechanical device apparently " " into the Iwsket, I was very mu pressed with the play, but I don ' ''''' ' I'd go to it again There's I"l""v,111 worry over whut haps-iis iu our "" inl'ead of shedding loars for tin '" suffered long before we worn born 1 V '