Evening Star Newspaper, October 9, 1937, Page 17

FEATURES Foening Sfar WITH SUNDAY MORNING EDITION Books—Art—Music News of Churches @he | WASHINGTON, . (., SATURDAY, OCTOBER 9, 1937. K 'WASHINGTON’S NEW PATRIOTIC SHRINE DRAWS T Magnificent Exhibit Hall of | New Archives Building Will | Preserve and Display Con- stitution and Other Impor- | tant Historical Papers for | PAGE B—1 L3 | Contains Murals by Barry Faulkner and a Window- less Rotunda Nine Stories High, in Which Choice Col- ored Marbles From Six Benefit of Public. By Agnes Brown Trimble. HRONGS of Washingtonians and tourists from all over the world have visited the Nation's new shrine, the Ex- hibition Hall in the National Archives Building. Like a magnet this altar of Ameri- €an patriotism draws the Constitu- tion-minded to its classic sanctuary, designed especially for the Declara- tion of Independence, the Constitu- tion of the United States and other documents sacred to the Republic. This magnificent exhibit hall is both serenely beautiful and inspiring. It is chastely simple—almost austere—but for the soft tones of the gracefully patterned marble floor and the vivid colors of the two great murals on the wall. Murals tell more graphically than words the story of the presenta- tion to Congress of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, the two momentous documents that became the foundation of a new form of government in a New World. Outside the Archives Building the traffic on Pennsylvania avenue roars like a mighty ocean, but inside the Exhibition Hall there is not the faint- est echo of the city's noise and tumult. Nor are there windows to admit the natural light and air—yet the hall is light as day and the air pure as & morning in June. Neither do dust and dirt accumulate here—not even the dust of the ages—for it is thought that the archive documents, once cleaned and chemically treated, will be preserved indefinitely. Although built on monumental pro- portions, this semi-circular window- less rotunda is in keeping with the purpose for which it was planned. In its construction are used choice mar- bles from six States. The soft tones of Indiana limestone walls serve as a background for the exquisitely de- tigned marble floor, accented by brown Tennessee marble circles set in squares of gray marble from the same State, while the entire floor is bordered with a strip of green Mary- land marble. Imagine this immense rotunda, 75 4‘ Mural in the National Archives Building depicting James Madison submitting the Constitution to George Washington. | feet high, equivalent to nine stories, | and lighted only by the electra |lights in the dome. In this semi- circular electric eye of the dome are | 70 300-watt bulbs, 21,000 watts, which constitute the most perfect lighting | system in the world, so arranged that no shadows are cast anywhere in the | | room. So perfectly do these electric bulbs | create an jllusion of natural light that often visitors gazing upward think there is a hole in the dome and that it is the daylight they see. The eye of the dome also serves another pur- pose, for through one small vent in its flat side the entire ventilation of the hall enters from the air-condi- tioning system. But, interesting as these things are, the irresistible attraction is the shrine for the Declaration of Independence and the Oonstitution of the United States. Serene in its chaste simplicity it three gray marble steps. . | two stately Corinthian columns, one ’| jen either side. The elegant display case, 4 feet wide | and 12 feet long, is ornamented by | a rich bronze border and supported | by a slab of St. Genevieve Missouri golden-vein marble. Back of the case, | and framed on each side by a column | of verde antique Vermont marble, | HE grave countenances of these patriots show their anxiety and deep concern. Symbolical of those turbulent days, the artist has depicted in the background a storm brewing and black clouds gathering, while in the dim distance is a fleet of battle- ships, all of which indicate impending war for independence. The flags | is interesting to know that no pre-| by the Commission of Fine Arts and | too, are some old mileage receipts of | servative treatment was given the wall | formally accepted on December 8,| early Senators, who were paid $6 a | before the pictures were placed, due | to the special air-conditioning of lhe‘ building. Each mural, 13 feet 10 | inches high and 34 feet 10 inches long, | is 5 feet higher and three times as| | long as an average room. | | The distinguished American artist, | is & tall green plaque, upon which | grouped in one end of the picture | Barry Faulkner, spent 15 months in | will Le inscribed in raised bronze let- ters the names of America's two | most precious documents. At proum‘ the first ten amendments, known | as the original Bill of Rights, together with various documents relating them, are displayed here. Encircling the wall on each side | of the shrine are the two great murals. The one on the left wall shows the tol D rests on a platform reached by | Guarding | the shrine with classical dignity are | various committees of the Assembly. author of the Declaration of Inde- perdence, Thomas Jefferson, and four members of his committee presenting the Declaration of Independence to Joan Hancock, the presiding officer of the Continental Congress, and the | | SCHOOL HOME HELPS CLERKS One Nursery Institution Gives Almost Exclusive Attention to Chil- dren of Government Employes and Rules Them Accord- ing to Government Science. By Mary Fisher. NCLE BAM is extending a helping hand to his “part- time orphans” here, In every Federal Govern- ment department in Washington—the Veterans' Bureau, the Departments of the Interior and of Agriculture, the Bureau of Engraving and £ on and &0 on—many of the women workers | are mothers with some little Johnny | or Jennie dependent on them. Dur- ing the day these youngsters are motherless. A sleepless-night problem for parents who don't want to leave their children at home unattended, or in the impersonal, perhaps inex- pert care of a maid, Dr. Mary Daphne Davis has the enswer. Her office is in the Di- vision of Nursery Schools, Office of Education, Department of the In- terior. When mothers seek her ad- vice she consults a list of Washington nursery schools, inspected and found suitable, then helps the mother in eelecting the establishment best suited to the reeds of her child. Some countries, of course, take on the 100 per cent job of aiding working mothers Russia maintains about 4000 ‘“creches,” or nurseries, with hours corresponding to the mothers’ | working day. Here the parent leaves her children for care. The creches are open all day; or all night, if the mother works | at night; or from 10 to 14 hours in| what is called a “long-day creche;" or for 24 hours if the mothers are on a night shift for a five-day week. There are farm creches and travel- | ing creches, Summer and permanent creches; creches especially for factory workers’ children, and each has its own_ especial council, composed of mothers and teachers. JNDIVIDUALISM rules the set-up in Washington. One nursery school eaters almost 100 per cent to the chil- dren of Federal Government workers —children of the pre-school age, from 3 to 6 years old. It is the Euclid Nursery School, 1428 Euclid avenue, in the charge of Mrs. Lillian Dino- witzer. Mrs. Dinowitzer is deeply sun- tanned; she is girlish and motherly st the same time; she wears sports frocks printed with sailors dancing tha hornpipe; she is as pertly freckled @s a miss of 10 and as efficient as a school board. Out in the school playground Mrs. Dinowitzer maintains & superhuman calm while breasting a knee-deep tide of children. Her smile is serene. “I certainly don't want to sound #entimental about this,” she says, “but & school of this type differs very much from the average nursery es- tablishment. This is a second home, really, and——Jimmy,” she broke off, *it's better to play with that teddy bear than to eat it; Norma, don’t bury yourself in the sand-pile!” She turned egain to the visitor. “A young child's home life is lived chiefly during the daylight hours, of course, and——Helen, it you'd share that shovel with Jack instead of hitting him with it— and during those hours,” Mrs. Dino- witzer struggled on gamely, “he is with us. “His mother sees him mostly when he is asleep. What she is more anx- sous to obtain for him than all the pre-school preparation in the world 48 fust this—a substitute, normal bome.” To achieve this end, she is aided natwe 18 founded on the law, ‘dog by two assistant teachers, the Misses | eat dog.' |Harbin and Sherrod. And by the | calm, gray-haired man who suddenly appeared on the veranda, looking over | the scene. “You can't say we don't supply everything here,” murmured Mrs. | Dinowitzer. “That's my husband— | the children's part-time father. You Authority in the background, and all that.” | know. i I‘N THE average nursery school the children are sent home at 2 or 3 | o'clock. second day at that time. Many of | the children stay until 7. They are | seldom absent—Mrs. Dinowitzer takes {cold or other slight ailment. “A mother,” she says, “can’t stop | taking letters dictated by some Sen- ator, or stdp work on an important report. and rush home just because | little Johnny has the sniffles.” Upon arrival at the zchool—it is in a tree-shaded, green-lawned resi- | | dential section—the visitor hat ! glanced into & dim room filled with about 50 canvas rest cots. It was the school rest period, between 1 and 3 o'clock. As 50 comatose children raised 50 not-so-comatose, inquirisg | heads with the precision of a snap- ping-turtle ballet, Mrs. Dinowitser | slushed down her curiosity and fed the way into the quiet playground. She explained that the first fioor of the large house is entirely giren |over to the children. The building has been remodeled and designed to that end. Everything is in ministure here—a child's world complete. A cloak room where each mfcro- scopic locker is identified by a pho- tograph, so the child can recagnize his own place is provided. There is a lavatory with a low wash basin easily reached, and with towels hung en low pegs. A dining room with (ables, chairs and other equipment /child- sized and built to order, and } class room where the rest cots are placed at noon, are included. Frencl doors leading onto the veranda mske the house virtually an outdoor camp, and there is a playground with c®mplete play equipment, a flower garfen and a vegetable garden maintainel by the children. As EARLY as 7 or 8 in the morn- ™ ing Mr. Dinowitzer calk for the pupils in his car, for he deesn't like buses. “The children are go little,” he said. “They'd tumble into the middle aisle like, well, s heap of marbles.” This service rilieves the mothers of all transportdtion diffi- culties, for the children gre dropped by their homes in the efening, like 50 many packages delivefed from a | store. Until about 10:30 each horning the children are allowed to play; and although every toy is hcientifically chosen, though every gime has its physical or educational/purpose, no horrible suspicion of this crosses little Johnny's mind. Also, & psychological program is going on, bat he doesn’t suspect it. “We teach the childten group liv- ing here,” said Mrs. Dhowitzer. She keeps in mind an idepl stressed by their mothers’ employer—"E pluribus unum; one out of msny.” “Instinctively,” abe sald, “buman Here they are beginning A | ;" vomnerature of 102. She was | care of them during the course of a | Don’t you think s0? Well, | 30 we do everything we can to re- place this with the ideal of unselfish shiring. These children play and wok in a child society group and learn group consciousness and asso- cistion. We teach them to share | their toys, to help each other, to be‘ patient with the smaller children in- | stzad of imposing on them.” At this juncture the tide of young- sters flowed out and almost over Mrs. Linowitwer. The rest period was over. But inside the house a rosy and ro- tand blond lay still, with a suddenly | yung Katherine, whose mother, a vidow, works in the Treasury De- | pertment. At the ordinary nursery chool she would have been hurried Aome. But Mrs. Dinowitzer carried Katherine, an apprehensive damsel, | upstairs into a room used as an iso- | lation ward. i It's. only an upset stomach,” she said. She has two children of her | own and acquires no gray hairs in a crisis. Katherine underwent things which convinced her, temporarily, that death was the preferable, sensible way out. As she fell asleep an hoyr later, Mrs. Dinowitzer said: “She'll be re- turned to her mother as good as new tonight. Oh, we do these chores all | the time. Yes, we pay primary at- tention to health. You can't do anything with unhealthy, neurotic child, you know, and these children's mothers haven't the opportunity to see that they get the right exercise and rest and play. Here again the Government helps with advice. For | example, in preparing the daily menu here—there is a large midday meal— we follow the diet of the Bureau of Home Economics.” 'HE school's daily program starts out with morning play, while at 10:30 there is an instruction period, followed by a nap, dinner and a rest period. Then the “second day” be- gins with more play, and there is a third short ‘nap before the children are taken home. As they have already had their dinner, the mother's sole remaining duty is to give them a light supper and put them to bed. During the morning instruction hour, the Euclid children sit on the porch steps and tell stories to each other, establishing conversation hab- its; they sing songs and draw and take their first steps in nature study. Also, during the day's play, instruc- tion is going on, so that amusement and work are interwoven. Garden work teaches skill with tools and knowledge o> nature. Play with dolls and animal toys fosters imagination and teaches dramatic play. Often the child voluntarily asks for work ma- terial under the impression that he is playing. A brown-headed youngster was copying—of all things—an octopus, from a picture book. He demanded of “What's this?” “Why, it's a—" Anxiously: “Say you don't know!" “All right, I don’t know. What is the visitor: it, young fellow?” “Oh, an ol' octopress I'm playin’ with.” he said. Children instinctively know what i -~ \ ) represent the various flags suggested for the Confederation. Representing strength is the brave old oak. On the right wall the mural por- | trays James Madison submitting the | and pictures. Constitution to George Washington. Here the facial expressions have changed from anxiety and concern to faith and hope. The entire scéne is one of calmness, the clouds are break- ing and the sky is clearing. symboliz- ing that a new nation has been formed and its constitution written. The 13 original Colonies are represented by the 13 flags in the background. The murals were first painted canvas and then affixed to the wall. on It Ezxhibition Hall in the National Archives Building, showing the shrine where the Constitution and the Declaration of Inde- pendance may eventually be placed. | research before he painted these mag- | | nificent murals, said to be his best | | work. Each figure is life size and a | | true likeness from authentic busts He worked long and | painstakingly on each character. The bluish-purple robe worn by Oliver ‘ Ellsworth he painted six times be- | fore obtaining the rare tones he de- sired. The artist was given two years to complete the wark and was paid $36.- 000 for his superb pictures, which un- | | doubtedly will be an inspiration to | generations yet unborn. The paint- | ings, believed to be the best historical ' murals in Washington, were approved | | each side of the wall. 1936. 'HE 13 Colonies are again repre- | sented by the 13 display cases on These cases | are lined with a pinkish-tan basket- weave cloth, and are especially air- conditioned to maintain a definite temperature and humidity. The glass tops of the cases are heat-resistant and by & treatment of lead in the manufacture of the glass it excludes the ultra-violet rays which break up the chemical action of the paper and cause deterioration, Many interestife documents are | now on display. Among them are “Mad” Anthony Wayne's treaty the Indians, signed by the tribal chieftans from 14 different nations of Indians. and by Washington az President of the United States. Also here is the original Boy Scout act, signed by Woodrow Wilson. Here, | day traveling expenses to Congress when 20 miles a day was considered a hard day's work. Another vital paper | is the original resolution to the Presi- dent asking that he proclaim a day of Thanksgiving. The display cases never lose their allure for visitors as the documents are changed from time to time by one of the officials of the Archives Insti- tution. The Arc! Council, however, decides which state papers shall be placed in the building. This council is composed of members of the Presi- dent’s cabinet, chairmen of the Sen- |ate and House Library Committees, the librarian of Congress, the Secre- tary of the Smithsonian Institution and the archivist of the United States In leaving this beautiful sanctuary the visitor pauses to study the impos- ing gates, embellished with a border of bronze medallions, every other one engraved with the head of Medusa en- twined with snakes, representing States Are Used. | watchfulness, and the remainder with & papyrus bloom, representing parche- ment. These gates are wrought of stainless steel, brass and bronze and pre to be fitted with a special alarm system. Each has 13 bronze-trimmed bars representing the 13 colonies. The last bars on the gates are a0 con- structed that they overlap when closeq and seemingly form a single spear. Proudly resting on top of each gate post is the American eagle. N THE fioor of the foyer, a few feet from the exhibition hall gateway, is a large circular bronze inlay in low relief. The design is 50 intriguing that instead of walking across it one finds oneself going around it. In the inlay the three branches of the Government and the Archives Institution are sym= bolized by four bronze discs and & bronze figure—each separated by the horn of plenty, the cornucopia. The first disc, symbolic of defense, repre- sents the executive branch of the Gov- ernment. The third, displaying the 10 Mosaic commandments on which the laws of our Nation are based. repre- sents the legislative branch. The fourth, an open law book, represents the judiciary. The second disc represents the American archives, upon which s en- graved the scroll of history. The figure | is that of a young girl holding in one | hand & closed book, symbolizing the history of the past, while her other | hand rests on the globe and points to | the American colonies, from which the history of our Nation has come. i A few steps from this bronze inlay are the Constitution avenue doors, the | largest bronze doors in the world, | weighing 9 tons each. These great | portals are so immense that they have to be controlled by electric motors. | Each door is 11 inches thick, 8 feet | wide and 38 feet high. Only when these massive doors are | opened does daylight enter the fover and penetrate beyond into the great | exhibition hall, where the Nation's | priceless documents, the Constitution of the United States and the Declara- tion of Independence, will eventually lie in solemn dignity, protected for | centuries to come from the ravages of | time. '}WOMAN COLLECTS ANIMALS | Former War Worker in Washington Becomes an Authority on North American Mammals and Has Largest Collection of Them to Be Found in the World. By Mary Jane Moore. N THE year 1018 there came h! war-rushed Washington, along | I with thousands of others, a young | school teacher to assume a place in Uncle Sam’s suddenly augmented governmental workshop. | She was like the others, in that| she came, but she has proved her- self distinctly unlike them in that | she has staved to occupy a position | such as few women in the world ever l needed for their physical development. | When they seek out ladders in the playground, or other gymnasium ap- paratus, or wagons or sleds or big | balls, they are developing their large fundamental muscles. sand, they soothe their nerves. For one and all, walking is as good an | exercise as it is for adults. Mrs. Dinowitzer often takes the children on sightseeing trips, to the Zoo, to the Monument, the tree-filled parks, the home of George Washing- ton at Mount Vernon. They may see the very buildings in which their mothers are working, although they are too little to know one structure from another. 'HE school has about 30 to 350 pupils, but its enrollment is a constantly fluctuating one. Mothers leave Washington on transfer; new mothers come to the city to work in this department or that. This presents difficulties, especially with problem children. In the midst Viola S. Schantz, one of the very few woman mammalogists in the world, in her laboratory in the National M: A A Playing in the | of solving personality troubles for a | child, Mrs! Dinowitzer will see him | | leave. If a difficult youngster takes his place, she sees that the newcomer is made comfortable, then lets him scream and rebel as much as he pleases. When he realizes that a one- man revolt gets him nowhere, he hauls down the flag. A cranky 4-year-old arrived at the school recently. His mother is sep- arated from her husband. Lonely and emotional, she centered her whole at- tention on her boy, a process which amounted to old-fashioned spoiling. During today’s rest period, he had sauntered out into the hall, a serene look of accomplishment on his face. And under his arm, a cot sheet. “Aren’t you supposed to be asleep?” the visitor questioned, curiously. “I don't sleep. I won't sleep. I make noise and disturb ve uvvers. So now I've gotta go in ve uvver room,” he said, with satisfaction. “Alone.” A new form of hookey. useum., have held. Her name is Miss Viola S. Schantz, | and she is & mammalogist of the | Biological Survey of the Department | of Agriculture, with laboratories in | the National Museum. Specifically, Miss Schantz is as-| sistant in charge of the largest ml-“ lection of specimens of North Amer- | ican mammals to be found anywhere | on the face of the globe. In sections | of the great National Museum which | the countless thousands of visitors never see there is housed a collec- | tion of more than 200,000 specimens of | mammalia to be found on this Con- | tinent. These 200,000 specimens are rep- resentative of about 2,600 known species and subspecies of mammals in North America, and the Govern- ment’s scientists are constantly add- ing to the collection, which is housed in the National Museum, to make it thoroughly representative of the Con- | tinent’s animal life. AS A CUSTDOIAN of this collec- tion and the maker of numerous preliminary mammal identifications, Miss Schantz must know those 200,000 specimens as the housewife must know on which shelf the pink and white tea service is, “Suppose,” she graciously suggest- ed, when I went to interview her, “we look at the collection, or at least part of it, and.I'll show you how it works.” “And, by the way,” she inquired, “you’re not squeamish, are you? You wouldn't mind looking at the ani- mals—such as mice, raccoons and the like?” I gulped hard, clinched my teeth and replied, heroically: “No, indeed; I want to see every- thing.” Thus do we newspaper women carry on for our public! Miss Schantz guided me to an up- per floor of the National Museum and led me into & maze of what looked like packing cases but which turned out to be especially built and pre- pared shelf space into which are placed the thousands of specimens of the mammal life that abounds in North America. “Here, for instance,” she s ing out a drawer, type of fleld mice.” Gazing downward, I beheld a neat row of little mice, stretched prone on their tummies, fore feet straight to the front and hind feet reaching back- ward to compete with s neat little tail. Right next to them were several rows of bottles with gleaming white things in them. Skulls, they turned out to be. "Now you take these field mice,” said Miss Schants, reaching down and picking up one of the gray creatures before which & world of ordinary women leap in terror, “they—." “You may take them,” I ecut in, A “but I don't want to. How can you pick them up so nonchalantly?” “Well, first of all, these specimens are stuffed with cotton. They're spot- lessly clean, and have been scien- tifically prepared,” she explained. “But even so, I know that most wom- en won't be able to understand how I can handle all these specimens without qualms. “When I first got into this work I had some uneasy moments frankly, they didn't last more than a couple of days. I've always been interested in animals and it didn't take me long to shake off the natural inhibitions one has in connection with them. “Up here we have 200,000 individual study specimens. They include the stuffed pelts and bone formations. We investigate both for their especial characteristics and then classify them. “I've been asked from time to time what is the use of having such a collection as this. The mammais in our collection are used chiefly to carry on investigations of geographic dis- tribution and for classification pur- Onthe Old Road Lovely House Built by Young Revolutionary Still Stands. By Beatrice Brown. HERE it stands on Old George- town road in all its ancient glory, its friendly aloofness, covered with the patina of time, & venerable house better known to generations past. Its sim- ple lines and true proportions reflect the best thought in early rural archi- tecture and conform fittingly to the sloping knoll on which it stands. X ‘That it is still functioning as a home is attested by children running in and out its doors and playing under the trees; by a wraith of blue smoke rising from one or more of its quaint chimneys and by the barking of & dog at one’s approach. Records reveal it was built by s young Revolutionary soldier by the name of Mace, immediately following his return from the war. It would seem that honorable mention is due something which has 3o valiantly and patiently withstood the years and is still able to carry on. It was a home for the Mace family for many genera- tions before passing into the hands of strangers. Perhaps the kindly treatment by those who long loved and lived in this faithful dwelling has helped preserve its charm. Certainly the roof, with its patched, weather- beaten and moss-covered shingles, its age old chimneys, provides a colorful mellowness. ‘Time has given to this house what it is supposed to give to mortals— & spirit of tolerance. In fact, it seems now to have settled down to tolerant living, thankful for the privilege of being allowed to stand as a landmark of the past, set aside, as it were, with a halo of antiquity. Where, in bygone days, it was & grand abode, surrounded by hardy forests; cleared and cultivated acres, the only shelter and protection of human life for miles around, there is now growing round about and in close proximity to this venerable home houses of modern construction. A but, | poses. These investigations are | economic as well as scientific im- | portance. We answer hundreds of questions from universities every vear. we know the characteristics of mam- mals and can tell many important things about them. We know that some cause crop damage. We can tell just which ones are the ‘bad actors’ and where they are found. There are lots of reasons why we should have such a graphic record as this of the animal life of the continent on which we live, and the Government is al- ways interested in making it better and more complete.” Miss Schantz is like s librarian. The latter knows her books and where to find them. Miss Schantz knows her mammals and she can put her finger on them—Iliterally and figura- tively—with but little loss of time. And that is no mean feat in a col- lection that numbers 200,000 different items! of IY FEMININE curiosity finally overcame my own inhibitions, and I began asking questions about animals in which I was interested. Miss Schantz kindly responded by taking me all over the collection, open- ing drawers here, there and every- where, explaining deeply scientific matters in clear and simple terms, and in general giving me a liberal view of the subject. “This may sound like a foolish question,” I said, “but I wonder if you could show me the smallest mam- mal in the collection?” In less time than it takes to tell it, Miss Schantz was climbing up a lad- der reachjng to an upper case and handing down to me a little animal that even a baby could hold in its hand easily. “That's the smallest one of the whole lot,” she smiled. “It's what is known as a shrew, and including the tail, it's not over 3 inches long.” “The largest North American mam- mal," said Miss Schantz, anticipating my question, “is the brown bear. He often weights 1,500 pounds and is & most ferocious beast.” My informant told me that the study specimens are sent in from the fleld force of the Biological Survey in semi-cleaned state and that they are finally prepared for the collection in the National Museum Ilaboratories. She herself has worked on and pre- pared specimens, but in the main that is done by a special staff. Miss Schantsz is widely recognized as an authority in her line, and now is holding the post of treasurer and member of the board of directors of the American Society of Mammalo- gists, premier and largest society of its kind in the world. She is the first woman to have an official position in the soclety—a striking testimony to the honored place she holds in the estimation of her fellow scientists. She has won her unique piace solely through her own efforts and simply because of her unusual aptitude and love for the work. She has studied incessantly since her first appoint- ment and has risen successively until attaining the remarkable position she now holds. 1t is & splendid example of & woman occupying A rare place in what here- tofore has been considered a man's profession—and doing it so well that recognition has been forthcoming spontaneously.