[Ads-l] The things of nature do not really belong to us . . . attributed to Oscar Wilde

[ADSGarson O'Toole]

Back on May 4th I posted to this list about a quotation attributed to
Oscar Wilde. Stephen Goranson responded helpfully. Now the Quote
Investigator article on this topic has been updated. Unfortunately,
the updated version is not visible to all visitors yet. When I visit
with the Chrome or Safari (mobile) browsers the updated article is
displayed, but when I visit with the Microsoft Edge browser the old
version of the article is displayed.

The Things of Nature Do Not Really Belong To Us. We Should Leave Them
To Our Children As We Have Received Them

https://quoteinvestigator.com/2021/05/03/nature/

[Begin excerpt from acknowledgements]
Special thanks to Donna Halper who performed excellent research on
this topic. She contacted the Toronto Public Library, the Ottawa
Public Library, and the Ottawa City Archives as part of her efforts.
She located the important 1882 “Ottawa Citizen” citation, and several
other citations from Wilde’s tour of North America.

Also, many thanks to Stephen Goranson who found pertinent citations
listed in Kevin O’Brien’s 1973 Ph.D. dissertation.

Also, thanks to Randy Boswell of Carleton University who shared with
QI his worthwhile 2016 article “Cholera, the ‘Sawdust Menace,’ and the
River Doctor: How Fear of an Epidemic Triggered Canada’s First
‘Pollution’ Controversy” from the journal “Histoire sociale / Social
History”.

Additional thanks to Brian Whatcott for his efforts to track down citations.
[End excerpt from acknowledgments]

Garson


On Tue, May 4, 2021 at 11:46 AM ADSGarson O'Toole
<adsgarsonotoole at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Great work, Stephen. Thanks for your superb efforts.
>
> Here is some progress. The pertinent issue of "The Daily News" of
> Kingston, Canada is available via the database at
> NewspaperArchive.com. The page scans are somewhat blurry, but it is
> possible to identify some comments Oscar Wilde made about pollution. I
> could not find the comment about children in this article.
>
> Date: May 23, 1882
> Newspaper: The Daily News
> Newspaper Location: Kingston, Ontario, Canada
> Article: Oscar Wilde On Decorative Art: A Thin Audience--Eloquent Discourse
> Quote Page 2, Column 2
> Database: NewspaperArchive.com
>
> [Begin excerpt - double check for typos]
> He had recently been in Ottawa, and had seen a noble river choked with
> sawdust. This he considered an outrage, as no one had a right to
> pollute the air or the water, which are the common inheritance of all.
> [End excerpt]
>
> Garson
>
> On Tue, May 4, 2021 at 7:19 AM Stephen Goranson <goranson at duke.edu> wrote:
> >
> > I didn't find this in the Duke U version of ProQuest.
> > But via Dissertations, Kevin O'Brien, An Edition of Oscar Wilde's American Lectures, PhD Notre Dame 1973 gives
> >
> > "Oscar Wilde on Decorative Art," Daily News (Kingston Ont.) May 23, 1882
> >
> > and
> > "Art Decoration," Toronto Daily Mail, May 26, 1882
> >
> > for this quotation.
> >
> > Stephen G

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