7 
and picture galleries on Sundays, and it is hard to see what institutions, pub- 
lie or private, we could insist on closing.” 
It is urged that workingmen have no time but Sunday in which 
to visit the Museums, But is this true? Beside the six or eight 
holidays of the year, occasional off-days occur in every trade. 
There is, moreover, the Saturday half-holiday, with the move- 
ment to secure which I am in the fullest sympathy. I believe 
that what our workingmen want is, more time for rest and in- 
telligent recreation during the week. If merchants and man- 
ufacturers and business men of this city could be induced to give 
their employes a Saturday half-holiday, this would give time for 
laboring men to visit the Museums without opening on Sunday. I 
wish that this experiment might be given a fair trial. Open the 
Museums on Sunday, and you will weaken the motive for extending the 
Saturday half-holiday, and otherwise shortening the hours of labor. 
Further, the Trustees of the Museum, in hearty sympathy with 
you in the desire to make the Museum as useful as possible to all 
classes, have for some time past had under consideration the light- 
ing the Museum by electricity, so that it may be opened for certain 
evenings in the week. And with this in view, we have also been in 
consultation with the Elevated Railroad, to see if reduced fares may 
not be secured for visitors to the Museum. Our desire is to make 
the valuable collections under our care as useful as possible to the 
largest number. 
Personally, I am in favor of opening the Museum on, say, two 
evenings a week, and should be glad, were the means put at our 
disposal, to provide competent lecturers to explain its treasures to 
workingmen and others who might be interested in studying them. 
The practicability of opening museums for working people on 
week evenings has been shown in England. 
The South Kensington Museum, from 1857, has been opened 
six days in the week, in the day time, and three evenings a week, 
with an attendance for the six days of 15,300,000, and for the three 
evenings 6,500,00U. The Bethnal Green Museum, in a working- 
men’s neighborhood, has been open since 1872, in the day-time, for 
six days in a week, and in the evening, three days in the week, 
with an attendance of 3,019,000 for the evening, and 3,176,000 
for the day-time. The evidence shows that a considerable propor 
tion of the visitors were working people. 
4. In the discussion of this question in the papers, reference- 
