Original Letters and Biographic Epitomes | Page 3

social point of view, is justified in its mission, having a yet higher motive, the kindling of rapture in the heart of the creative artist.
Pictures since earlier times have been vehicles as well as ventilators of popular belief. It is for this cause, and in instances where it is proven, painful to touch or shake the constitutive elements of other people's faith; an acute sense of this compunction on the whole restraining the weight of my recent remarks. But, conjecturally speaking, in a world wherein all things are so public, it must be conceded that strong light should at stated times fuse the impinging points of understanding, that truth and common sense may scrutinise their sound bearings; moreover, also, that academic science may arraign itself with dignity.
Your correspondent's remarks with reference to the colour of the robe are, upon the whole, useful, purple and scarlet being synonymous terms; preponderance of mention, rests though with the former.
Pictures cannot be considered too much as books; such truth, Art, by the concurrence of testimony, has manifested in its destiny from time immemorial, confirming afresh benefits on man. Open discussion will not only add to, magnify, or deduct from their lustre, but cause their aims, in short, to redound to the public weal. Such being so, it is rational to expect an expression of opinion thereupon. They are not, universally, to be regarded as graven tablets, to be gazed at, nor to be received as infallible oracles of law. They are--at the same time, barometers, charts, and weather-glasses--chronicles towards the fine ends of justice, peace and mercy.
Your correspondent has stated that my remarks are ambiguous. They may have been technical and recondite, but, as such, are excusable, and, in their sphere, just.
J. ATWOOD.SLATER.
4, Hill Side, Cotham Hill, Bristol.

_SOCIAL SCIENCE._
From the WESTERN DAILY PRESS, _Aug. 1st_, 1901.
LOCOMOTIVE STEAM WHISTLES.
To the Editor of the Western Daily Press.
Sir,--It is essential, and, according to my instincts of decorum, necessary, to call the attention of those charged with authority in such matters, and the public generally, to the growing misuse, in the hands of engineers, of the locomotive steam whistle, the employment thereof having especially in town districts, grown to be out of all dimensions of private service, injurious to those whether officially called, or who, pending the pleasure of mercantile circumstance, are publicly obliged to pursue abstruse mental occupation, necessitating labour and much concentration of though[t]. A reasonable use of this means, or instrument, of signal and alarm, must be conceded to those in whose hands resides its use, but at the same time a firm directorship or jurisdiction ought to repress its extravagant or wanton employment.
To warn passengers of the starting and of the approach of trains only a moderate application of the whistle is needed, whilst for the diplomatic the discreet purpose of practical manoeuvre, namely, to draw the attention of signalmen to the passing of points by trains, extra power is requisite; but the gruesome display, I maintain, of vocative sounds tuned to an intellectual point of mood is needless.
Those daily engaged upon manual work only are not in a like manner affected, though for all reasons of civil and common honour the supercilious cry referred to should be deprecated. Rather tune and sound the whistle to two simultaneous notes in sharp, brief accent than that the chambers of the minds of the hearers of those sounds should be so continuously, remorselessly entered. Anything lengthy aggravates the auditory crisis. The stream of daily occupation with the set purpose of sedentary exploit is competent to regulate itself without an articulate "voice" from the railway companies.
I am, Sir, faithfully yours,
J. ATWOOD.SLATER
4, Hill Side, Cotham Hill, Bristol,
_July 29th_, 1901.

SCULPTURE.
From the WESTERN DAILY PRESS, _Nov. 16th_, 1901.
ALFRED STEVENS, SCULPTOR.
ADDRESS BY MR. J. ATWOOD.SLATER.
Sir,--I send you with the thought that you may wish to publish them the precise substance of my remarks verbally delivered at the meeting of the Bristol Society of Architects, November 11th, on which occasion a refreshing paper upon the works of Alfred Stevens was delivered, a man of high artistic repute, whose fame in this district is but dimly recognised, being of another parent soil.
Yours faithfully,
J. ATWOOD.SLATER.
4, Hill Side, Cotham Hill, Bristol,
_Nov. 12th_, 1901.
Mr. Slater spoke as follows:--The importance of the moment bids me hasten with all seriousness to support the special retribution of plausible justice, amounting to adulation, which has been lavished on the labours of the distinguished English sculptor. Had it been necessary I should have travelled a greater distance to have paid with my testimony homage to the words of this evening's lecturer. It is not saying more than the truth will allow me, or admitting more than my own poignant feelings may to such expression give justification, when I confirm with my lips the belief that I have for much time dispassionately