Page:The museum, (Jackson, Marget Talbot, 1917).djvu/23

Rh expensive locality the Trustees were able to control a much larger area. Thus there were many extenuating circumstances which excused the move to the Fenway, but in spite of the new building, the increased facilities, and the interest already aroused among the people, the attendance fell off to such an extent that it was deemed necessary to offer, for a time, inducements to visitors. On certain days special through cars were run from different parts of the city to bring to the new site people who had formerly been able easily to reach the Museum.

In New York the situation chosen for the Metropolitan Museum was at a great distance from the centre, but such are the peculiar conditions in that city that growth must be in the direction of the Museum and not from it. The question of communication is here even more complicated than in Boston, and yet the very fact that there will undoubtedly never be a street-car line going directly past the Museum is in itself an advantage, because the dangers from vibration are thus removed. With the millions of inhabitants and visitors in New York the Metropolitan can register a large attendance though it is not accessible, but this is not true in smaller cities, and the question of how far it is right to sacrifice safety in order to put the building where it can most easily be reached by