Page:The museum, (Jackson, Marget Talbot, 1917).djvu/220

190 a very convenient day to choose because after the Sunday crowds there is much to be done. It is a great convenience for the staff to have a half-day free from visitors, as in changing exhibitions or rearranging cases the short time before the opening of the museum is often not enough to permit of completing any large task. It is to be expected that there will always be people who will be "unable to come at any other time" and that very often, possibly every Monday, a small group of visitors will have to be conducted through the building by a member of the staff.

The question of an evening opening is a mooted one. In every city there will be one or more zealots who will write letters to the newspapers and to the trustees stating that a museum should not be an institution for the idle rich only, but there should be a chance as well for the working man with his family to visit and enjoy the collections. To your answer of Sunday afternoon he will reply: "The working man should have his Sunday out of doors. He does not want to be hived up in a building in the daytime." If you yield to his entreaty and take pity on the working man, you will probably find that your expensive evening opening, when you pay your men double for overtime and have your lighting to arrange