Herald and Review from Decatur, Illinois • Page 13

FEATURES OF THE NEWS THE HERALD FARM PAGE Herald. THE WEEK'S SOCIETY HOUSEHOLD EXCHANGE VOTTTMF 34 MO DECATUR, ILLINOIS, SUNDAY MORNING, AUGUST 29, 1915. SOME RECENT PHOTOGRAPHS OF THE MILUNHOMSTEAD, WHICH MRS. MILLIKIN WISm0ULD BE VSED As AN ART GALLERY Mmm Mp mmuTE THE SOUTHEAST ROOM, CONTAINING THE PIANO AND SOME PICTURES. OF MRS.

MILLIKIN'S CHERISHED LOOKING THROUGH THE SPACIOUS ROOM. Herald Staff Learns How Decatur Goal is Mined MILLIKIN HOMESTEAD AS AN ASSET TO DECATUR President Taylor, with Mrs. Millikin's Will in Mind, Advises Trustees to Make It a Center of Art Interests of Decatur, and Suggests That Organizations Contribute. Some Experiences and Sensations on a Trip 600 Feet Underground Described. HALL TO THE DINING through the gallery, evidence that somewhere a fan was working, and the atmosphere was anything but clammy and damp.

Suddenly there were more lights and the figures of grimy faced men. The Herald special took a turn-out and drew up beside a long string of laden cars at a Junction point. The lights bobbed for a minute or two. The string of mules was unhitched, and attached to the coal drag and it moved off Into the darkness, while the passenger coaches continued their journey, one patient mule doing the pulling. A nalt Before the Curtain.

On and on went the tiny train. It turned off the main track and the ceiling of the gallery became lower. Everybody wondered where they were. Some guessed that they were about under College street Others insisted that they had already passed Harristown. suddenly the lights shone upon a curtain right across the gallery and the train stopped.

"All out." said Mr. White. It was deliciously ghostly. One wondered what mystery lay behind that drawn curtain. Mr.

White held it up with the warning to stoop low, and led the way, the party following him, crouching like a band of assassins. An Obliging Miner Demonstrates. Pretty soon there were more lights ahead, and one's ears detected the click of steel. A moment later the party was squatting in a curious circle about a real live miner, hidden away in this dark recess, digging coal. The black vein glistened in the light on his cap, the biggest lump of coal that the visitors had even seen.

At the hase of the vein a change in color Indicated the clay. The miner explained his job and then gave a demonstration, hacking away at a line between the clay and the coal. Eventually, he said, the coal would give way and topple over but it looked as formidable and unmovable as a German line of secondary defense, and the visitors decided not to wait. The miner's "buddy" was working a few feet away. Folks laughed when those copper miners up in Michigan went on strike two years ago because the company insisted that they should work singly in isolated chambers.

But folks who laughed ought to try putting in an hour or two alone in a black hole 600 feet underground. Some Remarkable Load Trimming. The cars were waiting when the party again passed through the curtain, only this time there was a car of coal- on ahead. The reporter in the car right in the rear of the coal glanced at those 25 pound chunks hanging almost over his head, thought of the bumps and expressed willingness to surrender his seat to anybody. But though the cars swayed around curves, bounced recklessly over switches, and was battered and jerked, not so much as an ounce of coal fell off.

Special Instructions. Down slipped the elevator. Of course everybody expected that special instructions would be telephoned to the man in the hoisting house, about "distinguished guests." "precious lives." and "extraordinary care." but a miner nonchalantly yanked a lever, a noiseless lyddite bomb exploded somewhere underneath and the elevator was thrown two or three hundred feet into the air. Mr. White's light flashed out, whereupon the elevator stopped ascending and began to fall through the darkness, obeying to a letter the velocity law about 16 feet the first second, 32 the next and so on.

Well, one thought, it had been an enjoyable and instructive trip anyway, and friends would whisper that, rash as were these young people, they ha shown to the end a commendable interest in their city's industries and then It grew light, and the car came to a gentle stop at the mouth of the shaft. FROM THE FRONT ENTRANCE DECATUR AND STILL IN EXCELLENT removing Kb own pictures from an entire floor for two montns for the accommodation of the first mentioned. Many of the museums conduct classes of their own or under the direction of affiliated instructors. Teachers from the public and private schools and specialists from higher institutions of learning bring their classes to visit them for regular art work or for lectures of a semi-popular character or of a strictiv technical nature. We frequently met them in the Boston and the Metropolitan, New York museums, Columbia University and institutions of similiar grade being represented.

Many Exhibits Loaned. This formal educational feature Is reinforced by well organized extension courses which in some cases serve territory far beyond the immediate vicinity. Perhaps the most of them loan or sell elides or photographs 01 such parts of their collections as may be of special educational value and act as agents for exchange or sale 01 meritorious art products. In fact, the find pleasure in serving every phase of community life to which art in any of its forms may contribute. As is well known, a large proportion of the exhibits In these museums is made up of loans from collections of private individuals, "who have accumulated them In various ways and wno from philanthrope motives, for convenience or ror other reasons.

Pla" them temporarily or for an Indefinite length of time at the service of tne management. Small Museums Favored. They vary from a single price to many thousands and range in value from a few hundred to many millions of dollars, the Pierpont Morgan collection in the Metropolitan Museum (Continued! on Fourteentn Page.) A VIEW operation, moral and financial, which I am confident the good people of the city and community will generously accord, will leave little doubt of its ultimate success. Enterprises Comprehensive. Its growth and usefulness will depend much upon the scope of its aims and the varietv of legitimate interests it can serve with profit.

A study ot the organization of such enterprises in this country shows that in many cases they are quite comprehensive, including the practical and industrial arts of almost unlimited range and extending the historical exhibits to represent almost every phase of human ski" and human progress. The Memorial Museum in Fairmount Park, Philadelphia, gives generous space to Ue extensive exhibits ot the Philadelphia Industrial and Textile institutes and to special exhibits by private organizations and by individuals. All of them encourage art students by affording opportunities for study and for exhibiting the products their genius and skilL In the Philadelphia Art Academy, perhaps hall us space was devoted to such exhibits, there as elsewhere, a large proportion being on sale, usually through tne management. In practically all of. tnem Pictures or statuary of well known artists are displayed as for sale.

Exhibits a Boom To Teachers. At certain seasons extensive ana meritorious exhibits are made in tne museum galleries, by auxiliary local or foreign organizations that remain for weeks or months attracting an classes of people, educating and stimulating the art sense and art appreciation of the entire community vniie we were in Washington the different exhibits included oil paintings, water colors, etchings portraiture and an interesting display in metals, clay, wood and textiles, the Corcoran Art Museum a sible method of carrying out the provisions of the will, and the only reason that the house has been unopened is that no feasible plan has suggested Itself. In the first place the trustees have been inclined to doubt as to whether Decatur was large enough or had sufficient art interest to support an art gallery. They could not turn the house over to an uncertainty. Unsulted for Art Instruction.

They are empowered, under the will, if they so desired, to give the house for educational or charitable purposes, which meant that it might be used by the art department of the university. But W. M. Hekklng. then head of the department, after a study of the house, pronounced it wholly unsulted for the purpose of art instruction.

Had the university taken over the house, the trustees would have been obliged to turn over to the Anna B. Millikin home, all of Mrs. Millikin's personal estate, amounting to about $20,000, the income from which keeps the taxes paid and provides for the care of the house and grounds. The university then would have received great house and six acres of ground with nothing to provide for their maintenance. Board Awaits Feasible Plan.

Mrs. Millikin objected to having the house or any part of it torn down, though she was willing that additions be constructed. Her gieat wirh, as revealed in the will, and as she expressed it to friends during her life, was that the house itself should be preserved as a.musum, a typical 19th century home from- which future generations could learn much of value and Interest. Members of the board of trustees have studied the problem. They have visited other places and consulted with those who were acquainted with similar projects elsewhere, and they could come to no definite conclusions.

Finally, it was suggested that President A. R. Taylor, who had traveled widely and whose Interest In art was extensive, should draw up some suggestions and submit them In the form of a report, as to what use could be made of the homestead. President Taylor's Advice. Dr.

Taylor compiled and his report is now In the hands of the trustees for their consideration. No better adviser than Dr. Taylor could have been consulted There, are few art musuems. which are doing a community educational work which he has not visited or with which he Is not familiar. He is convinced that the Millikin homestead can be converted Into a center for the social, intellectual, aesthetic, industrial, professional, domestic and civic Improvement organizations of the city, organizing and unifying, them for the best Interns of Decatur.

Similar projects Dr. Tavlor found In, the Sweat Memorial In Portland, and museum In Brunswick the last named located upon he 'college campus, but maintained mainly through the efforts of public Spirited women of the community. ISO eft" between Chicago anfl St. Louis. Dr." Taylor points out, has such an op Because they had lived in Decatur all their lives, the members of The Herald staff, who were the Invited guests of Manager W.

S. Ridgly of the M. C. company Thursday afternoon, had never before visited a coal mine. They could go any time, of course.

They were received by Yard Superintendent Terry at the shaft. While they were talking with him something whizzed out of the blackness of a bottomless pit and leaped up Into the roof timbers. somebody exclaimed. "That's the elevator, is it? Look at that coal travel." Admire Man In Hoisting Honse. Superintendent Terry took them around to the engine house where a man sat alone on a stool between a couple of engines, working with both hands and feet the great drum on which which yards and yards of steel cable were wound and unwound.

The party Inspected the cable with exceeding care, and conceived a high admiration and respect for the young man at the levers. An Indicator with a dial told him just where the cars were every second. There would be a ring and a whistle and the young man would pull something and kick something else, the big drum would revolve, and out of the shaft 60 yards away out of sight, a car would mount or descend through the blackness and come to a stop at just the right place to the fraction of an There were three taps of the gong, and Supt. Terry announced that a man was coming up, presumably Mine Manager Louis White. A moment later Mr.

White stepped off the elevator, the little acetylene lamp in his cap still flaring bade the party get aboard. Sensation of the Descent. With a wholesome respect for speed of the elevator those that were tall enough to seize the iron work of the frame did so, to prevent if possible, that terrible falling sensation. But it wasn't so bad. So silent was the decent that in the darkness one could hardly tell that he was in motion.

Everybody hoped that the man in the hoisting room wouldn't have an attack of apoplexy, and everybody remarked upon the peculiar sensation In the ear drums. The elevator came to a gentle stop in what looked like a hallway cut out of solid rock, shored up everywhere with great timbers. There was noticeable the reek of burned wood, the remin der of the recent fire in which 13 mules were burned, but the evidence of the flame in the dim light of the electric bulbs was hardly observable. Accommodations for Passengers. They stumbled along a little railroad track, until the shadowy forms of some mules appeared, hitched to a string of tiny coal cars.

On Mr. White's suggestion the obliging driver disappeared in the darkness in the direction of the stable and returned with an armful of with which he covered the bottom of two of the box cars. Td have worn a wide skirt. If Td known about this." said a voice. "Oh, it's dark, so it doesn't make any difference," somebody commented.

"Ged ap. Jerry," shouted the engineer, and the little train drawn by throe mules in tandem, started. They don't have patent couplers on mine cars or any shock absorbers. Now and then Jerry and his mates would slow down, and then there would be a crack of the whip and an encouraging shout, and biff, bang, taught would go the slack in' the shackle chains, and one's shoulders would come bump against the end of the car. On the Main Line.

The little lights in Mr. White's and the driver's caps were the only illumination. They revealed the rocky walls o-erhead and the great timbers stretching away in the distance. If the M. vein ever gives out, it can run along a few years by mining wood.

It must have stripped a Minnesota forest to make its mine safe. There was a pleasant sweep of air Two years have elapsed since the death of Mrs. Anna 'B. Millikin and the beautiful homestead, which she desired should be devoted to art purposes Is deserted and silent. The spacious lawns are well tended; the vines and shrubbery give no evidence of neglect, and flowers continue to bloom, but the great mansion, the soul of the place, stands with its doors locked and with shades and blinds drawn.

As it Was When Owner- Died. Soot had sifted in through the tight closed windows: dust covers, the floors and furniture. But with the exception of these results of unoccupancy the homestead is startlingly as it was when Mrs. Millikin left it. On the couch of the living room lies an unfinished knit stocking, the needles still In the yarn, suggesting that the work might have been laid down by Mrs.

Millikin Just before her last illness. Her clothing still hangs In the wardrobes. Her cherished pictures, her bronzes and statuary are untouched In fact practically nothing is unchanged, and nothing has been taken away save those articles whose rare value necessitated their depositing in safety vaults. Physically the old house is in excellent repair, but it is peopled only by the crowding memories of other days. Mrs.

Millikin's will, which as made Public Aug. 1, 1913, was specific. In It she devised the house, the grounds and her entire estate to a board of trustees, consisting of O. B. Gorin, J.

M. Brownback, Smith E. Walker, Dr. S. B.

McClelland and Dr. W. H. Penhallegon and plainly stated what she wished done. "House to Be Used as Art Gnllcry." It was this paragraph, under "Item Second" which had the greatest public interest: The said trustees while in the control of said real estate shall keep the same and the house and other buildings thereon in the most complete and perfect condition: the buildings never to be torn down, but repairs thereof and additions to be made as necessary.

The house to be used as an art gallery, art Institute and museum. The Present library room to be used as a museum, the breakfast room for ceremics. Careful housewife that she' was, Mrs. Millikin gave a little human touch to the legal paper by directing that the floors of the rooms used for art pur-Poses should be covered with cork carpeting or something similar that as noiseless and of good appearance. But the old house never has been Pit to the purposes which the owner It naturally has been used by the art department af the university or by community organizations, and after a long period of waiting Decatur "as almost ceased to be curious as to hy the purposes of the will never lave been carried out.

Not Due to Truster Apathy. But this seeming neglect has not resulted from apathy upon the part 01 be estate trustees, or from any unwillingness to put the house to some Sod use. In fairness to them it should be said that- thv' have earnestly and conscientiously considered every pos oi.cnuousiy raniiuocu tr. Taylor's report herewith prfsent" is made public for the first time. Jo the Trustees of the Anna B.

Miw 'n Estate. Gentlemen: At request I take submitting some suggesting of carrying out the prov on Millikin's will for the estao shment of an art institute or on her estate. As I understana bem, you are given large to Its organization, scope and man a a ailnlnlnnlnBii-n AN EXTERIOR VIEW OF THE HOUSE ONE OF THE BEST BUILT IN REPAIR. tions In different parts of our country. One of them, the Sweat Memorial of Portland, Maine, was founded with surprisingly similar, provisions concerning preservation of house, and furniture and art pieces in loco, and the construction of an appropriate building adjacent for museum purposes.

It has enlisted the co-operation of the art interests of the city, scarcely half larger than Decatur, and has in a very few years become a popular factor in its life. It does not however have the advantage of affiliation with a collegiate Institution which will be an invaluable adjunct here. Such a relation exists at 'Brunswick, Maine, the seat of Bowdoin college. Brunswick- Museum. The Museum, while on the college campus near the center of the city and mominally at least under the care of the Bowdoin authorities, is in reality indebted'for Its founding, maintenance, and management to some philanthropic women as a center for the cultivation and encouragement of the fine and applied arts in the community at large as well as in academic circles.

The general Interest aroused and the progress made in- both cases are indicative of the possibilities at Decatur. Permit me say that the lack of any nf lflfA llartftT lOSlllULC Ul as here proposed, between Chicago and the possibility of the successful estab- nsnmeni 01 a jvswitcu uu.iisi.ai.e art center here, whose influence will not Only wav in stimulating art interests and art" sentiment in the community and in hut throughout this section of Illinois as well. It is true that it must Begin in a moaest way. a 1:1.. that nriii.h way not uumm 1 1 others began, but the impetus you will be able to give it.

seconded by the co portunity as "DP AT a von are very solicltious ffaf ft "should be accomplished in such thatr as to make the benefaction as possible to the community aS1 the various organizations in its ait with or less kindred ob-mldSt! view 1 take the liberty of in-in7 preliminary word before soiDS Portland Memorial Similar. nrv nersonai interest in this enter-y Ph! been greatly enhanced by prise, J'8 "ffies I have recently en-yeSstudying similar institu-.