DOI Artikel:
J. B. [John Barrett] Kerfoot, The Game at the "Little Galleries"
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.31226#0063
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THE GAME AT THE “LITTLE GALLERIES”
THERE is a fine old game that has been playing in the world (in one
shape or another) for a million years.
It is called “Simon says, ‘Thumbs Up!’
You’ve played it, have you not?
“You believe you do remember playing it as a kid,” did you say?
Now my dear fellow, just stop and think.
Have you never played it in recent years ?
At the theatre, say, when you glanced slyly round before you quite knew
whether to applaud ?
Or you, madam, when you purchased that hat that I see you wearing ?
Or you, Reverend Brother in Christ, when you selected the text for last
Sunday’s sermon ?
Or you, sir A.R.A., when, the Fall Exhibition coming on apace, you set
your palette and stretched a virgin canvas ?
But let me reverse the question.
Have you ever tried to pull out of the game ?
If so, perhaps you have discovered that among all the eleemosynary
foundations of altruistic modernity there seems to have been provided no
single refuge (without grilled windows and a warden) for the entertainment
of those who, if they had a playhouse, would like to play that other game that
is so unpopular as to be nameless, but that we may call “J say, ‘Thumbs
Wiggle-waggle! ’”.
And when you have discovered this omission you will partly understand
the “Little Galleries” of the Photo-Secession.
For here, beneath the mysterious symbol of the pale golden disk, come
freaks-in-fustian and angels-unawares to twiddle thumbs in the face of Great
Simon—the Jester.
“ O Ho then!” I hear you say. “ So the ‘ Little Galleries’ are a charitable
institution ?”
Friend, you forget.
I said that you would partly understand.
In order to understand fully, you must understand the symbol of the
Golden Disk.
Somewhere in his gospel of repudiation and of hope one of the mad wise
men has said:
“ In our sun-whirl there is one planet which has a moon which is turning
the other way. And if it be strong enough, and last long enough, sooner or
later the whole mighty Wheel of Light will return and follow that one little
moon.”
The Golden Disk of the Secession is the symbol of that satellite.
J. B. Kerfoot.
45
THERE is a fine old game that has been playing in the world (in one
shape or another) for a million years.
It is called “Simon says, ‘Thumbs Up!’
You’ve played it, have you not?
“You believe you do remember playing it as a kid,” did you say?
Now my dear fellow, just stop and think.
Have you never played it in recent years ?
At the theatre, say, when you glanced slyly round before you quite knew
whether to applaud ?
Or you, madam, when you purchased that hat that I see you wearing ?
Or you, Reverend Brother in Christ, when you selected the text for last
Sunday’s sermon ?
Or you, sir A.R.A., when, the Fall Exhibition coming on apace, you set
your palette and stretched a virgin canvas ?
But let me reverse the question.
Have you ever tried to pull out of the game ?
If so, perhaps you have discovered that among all the eleemosynary
foundations of altruistic modernity there seems to have been provided no
single refuge (without grilled windows and a warden) for the entertainment
of those who, if they had a playhouse, would like to play that other game that
is so unpopular as to be nameless, but that we may call “J say, ‘Thumbs
Wiggle-waggle! ’”.
And when you have discovered this omission you will partly understand
the “Little Galleries” of the Photo-Secession.
For here, beneath the mysterious symbol of the pale golden disk, come
freaks-in-fustian and angels-unawares to twiddle thumbs in the face of Great
Simon—the Jester.
“ O Ho then!” I hear you say. “ So the ‘ Little Galleries’ are a charitable
institution ?”
Friend, you forget.
I said that you would partly understand.
In order to understand fully, you must understand the symbol of the
Golden Disk.
Somewhere in his gospel of repudiation and of hope one of the mad wise
men has said:
“ In our sun-whirl there is one planet which has a moon which is turning
the other way. And if it be strong enough, and last long enough, sooner or
later the whole mighty Wheel of Light will return and follow that one little
moon.”
The Golden Disk of the Secession is the symbol of that satellite.
J. B. Kerfoot.
45
