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THE NEW MUSIC REVIEW. 



1143 



not desire to cover it with delicate embroidery. 
Circumstances however were too much for 
him, but — and here comes in the note of his 
weakness — he made the embroidery far more 
valuable than the actual work upon which he 
was engaged. There again is a little sign of 
occasional failure in the works of this French 
musician. Acknowledging thoroughly that he 
is an exquisite master of the orchestra, know- 
ing clearly that his devious little ways, despite 
their unoriginality, belong entirely to himself. 
I must, still say that Saint-Saens is a splendid 
musician, simply because he lives upon the 
reputation of all the first-class musicians in 
the world. 

Probably the most popular work, from a 
broad point of view, that Saint-Saens has ever 
written is his “Samson and Dalilah.” There 
is a great deal of beauty in the score, but it 
is the sort of beauty that does not seem to 
live in the mind after one has heard it, even 
(let us say) a score of times. If Saint-Saens 
had intended this work to be staged it would 
have been a complete failure ; he, however, at 
first purposed that it should be produced as 
an Oratorio; and it was accordingly a popu- 
lar success; it then occurred to a rather too 
clever stage-manager that the work would 



do well if it were produced upon the stage 
instead of upon the oratorio platform. The 
results were dismal. And hereby hangs a 
tale. Saint-Saens was then definitely proved 
to be a man who always fell a little short of 
his singular and extraordinary promise. What- 
ever he did, he did well, what he does, he 
does well; but some evil fairy at his birth 
must have (in the old idyllic way of speak- 
ing) touched him with a wand by which she 
meant to convey that though he could do 
everything well, he could do nothing ex- 
tremely well. He plays the piano beautifully, 
and yet there are expert pianoforte piayers 
who play better than he does; he composes 
charmingly, yet there are many composers 
who cannot even play the pianoforte, and who 
are greater composers than he ; he has written 
operas— notably that entitled “Henry VIII.”— 
which contain wonderful reminiscences of the 
past, yet they are not really original; the score 
lies before me at the present moment, and I 
find that his sentiment of mediaeval music, 
that his idea of seventeenth century dances, 
that his feeling for Gluck, for Mozart, for 



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everybody except himself is most remarkable. 
It is not as though Saint-Saens went out of 
his way to understand and to assimilate into 
his own personality the work of qjther men ; 
but he reminds one of some great space into 
which all the influences of the musical world 
might be poured, and out of which a quick and 
vital brain can produce work which is not 
only interesting and pretty, but also which is 
. admired of the world of men. He carries this 
point of view, as it seems to me, even into his 
song-writing, and into his symphonic compo- 
sitions. It would be idle to mention more 
cases in this conjunction of thought, because 
I trust that I have explained with sufficient 
explicitness my conception of 'Saint-Saens as 
a musician who is rightly admired in Europe 
for many qualities. I say “rightly admired” 
because, when all is said and done, his achieve- 
ment has been a great one, although it has 
been so contemporary that it would be diffi- 
cult to prophesy for his work any sort of im- 
mortality. If there is one point which may 
save him for generations to come not only as 
a name but as a musical influence, it would 
be his exquisite control of an orchestra, which 
might not have satisfied the great masters, 
but which is finely adapted to his own pur- 
poses. You feel that once Saint-Saens is en- 
closed within his own domain, however small 
it may be, he can labor in the gardens and 
in the fields of that domain at his heart’s 
pleasure, and that he will give delight to such 
musicians as do not care to build up great en- 
trenchments and therefore obscure from their 
sight the lesser masters of the world. 

In truth, the influence of the lesser masters 
of music has a certain pathos, when one comes 
to elucidate and to describe its real value. 
When one looks upon the generations of musi- 
cians who have done so much good work 
for the world, and yet whose legacy has prac- 
tically disappeared, save for historical inves- 
tigation, one need have no particular remorse 
or regret for the career of so excellent a mu- 
sician as Saint-Saens. WFo, at the present 
moment, knows much of the career of Abate 
Martini? Nevertheless, it is on easy record 
that his work, as a power in the world of 
music, was enormously useful and greatly 
advantageous to the art. Very few people 
again know much of the work of Dr. Charles 
Burney, whose daughter wrote those famous 



1144 




THE NEW MUSIC REVIEW. 



novels “Eve/ina,” “Cecilia,” and “Camilla.” 
Nevertheless while possibly not one in a hun- 
dred thousand people read “Evelina,” all the 
music of the present period owes a tremendous 
debt to the work of Dr. Burney. It will be 
in this direction that the influence of Saint- 
Saens will be known in the future. His work 
may disappear — will probably disappear — but 
he has distinctly gone ahead in the van of 
music, and has improved for all of us a cer- 
tain refinement of taste towards which he has 
contributed not inconsiderably, even from his 
own creative point of view. It is possibly a 
tragedy that many men who have so far ex- 
erted their influence upon the modern world 
that we are guided by their tenets and are en- 
couraged by their personal example, are now 
scarcely known by name to the world. I have 
always thought that one of the most pathetic 
and tragic circumstances of human life lies 
in the fact that it is the second man, that it 
is the disciple, in a word, who makes the 
reputation and not the master. I recognize 
for example to its fulness that Socrates was 
the greatest of Greek teachers of morality. 
Yet it was left to Plato, the disciple of Socra- 
tes, to make his master’s greatness obvious to 
the world ; without the “Apologia” of Socra- 
tes, as written by Plato, we should have known 
nothing of one of the greatest men who have 
stood on trial before unjust judges. (It is 
true that Socrates did not quite live in har- 
mony with Xanthippe, but that is neither here 
nor there !) Saint-Saens, then, in my estima- 
tion of him, will scarcely leave a name to be 
regarded by all generations as one to rever- 
ence, or one to hold in the highest repute. 

I speak, of course, from the artistic standpoint. 
But I am utterly convinced that though the 
name of Saint-Saens will not go down to pos- 
terity as the name of one who has been a 
great musical creator, it will be recognized 
that his influence in gathering up the threads 
of the musical world from the artists of many 
periods will form itself into a certain coherent 
history of music, for the task of which he 
really was most eminently fitted, and which, 
without any question, he has worked hard to 
fulfil. For the moment, then, let us forget 
the composer; let us forget the small tri- 
umphs in little matters which will scarcely 
ring through the vistas of the ages. Let us 
forget that Saint-Saens has absorbed into his 



creative faculty many composers whose wot., 
without him could easily stand by itself. Let 
it be forgotten that all his labor in the produc- 
tion of original work will be scarcely valuable 
to our great-grandsons; but let it also be in- 
sisted upon that Saint-Saens has done a great 
work, inasmuch as he has devoted a long life 
to the presentation before the world of mighty 
masters who (by a sad fate for himself) have 
over-crowded his ambition. I close this ap- 
preciation of the French Master feeling some 
regret that it has been impossible, from a can- 
did and straightforward point of view, to ap- 
portion to him the place which was forecast, 
according to an elder generation of artists, for 
his career. Nevertheless, he has loomed largely 
in the e_\e of the world, and his fame has gone 
out to many lands. . He has worked very hard ; 
lie has never written a dull note, even though 
certain passages of his work are somewhat 
cheap , he is a musician who never bores you, 
though his music is not destined to live; he 
is a master of many arts, though he will not 
hand down to posterity many traditions of 
his mastery ; he has a fine character ; but there 
are also many other men of fine character 
who are not destined to fame. In fact, he is 
an exquisite; possibly, just as we remember 
in these days Beau Brummel or George IV., 
as exquisites of their time, so Saint-Saens may 
hand down a reputation of the same kind. 
Beau Brummel designed the fashions of his 
time, and George IV. countersigned them. 
The fashions are gone ; everything which is 

not modern — and only eternal art is modern 

comes and goes with the springtime, with the 
summer, with the autumn, with the winter; 
we can never renew our fashions; that is the 
pathos of living just for one’s own generation. 
Tt is a pathos that sometimes goes beyond the 
sense of tragedy, and seems to belong to the 
eternal darkness of which Belial spoke in Mil- 
ton’s immortal phrase: 

Sad cure ! For who would lose, though full of pain 
.ns intellectual being: those thoughts that wander 
1 hrough Eternity or to perish rather, 

Swallowed up and lost in the dark womb 
Of Lncreated Night. 

Alas . it is the tragedy of the artist whose 
creative power can never be equal to his am- 
bitions. The thought of Saint-Saens will 
never wander through eternity ; but one may 
in respect of his honorable and fine career 
remember that his influence may continue 
where his actual thought must perish. Im- 
mortality is destined only for the great few. 




) 



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Musical Motes. 



“DON GIOVANNI” AND RENAUD 



O SCAR HAMMERSTEIN deserves a 
crown of laurel (with profound apol- 
ogies to his hat) for presenting the mas- 
terpiece of Mozart’s masterpieces as he 
did at the Manhattan Opera House Sat- 
urday afternoon. Maurice Renaud, that 
operatic Coquelin, deserves as much for 
giving the performance its supreme dis- 
tinction by revealing such a Don Giovanni 
as New York had not seen since the days 
of Victor Maurel. The entire production, 
too, surpassed at every point that of 
Wednesday night. Often it attained the 
almost inaccessible ideal of what a Mozart 
opera ought to be. 

It is no discredit to the excellent Don 
of Mr. Ancona to say that Mr. Renaud 
materially strengthened the cast, for on 
the operatic stage to-day Mr. Renaud as 
an actor is almost unique. The presence 
of Mme Glllbert in the r61e of Donna El- 
vira was another distinct gain- Mme 
Gilibert’s voice does not fit the music 
perfectly, but her conception of the part 
both musically and dramatically was in- 
telligent, and she is always an artist. 
Mme Russ as Donna Anna made a far 
better impression than at her debut. 
Some of the music — notably "Or sai clil 
l’onore”— she conceived in the spirit of 
Mascagni rather than of Mozart; but she 
is a dramatic singer of ability and experi- 
ence, and at times was altogether ad- 
mirable. Mr. Gilibert as Masetto was 
again perfection itself, and as Zerlina 
Mme Donalda almost matched him. 
Edouard de Reszke in his prime could 
sing Leporello with better voice and vocal 
art than Mr. Brag did Saturday, but for 
slyness, subtlety, and truth of character- 
ization the tricky servant of the latter is 
far nearer Mozart and Da Ponte than the 
somewhat burlesque buffoon of the great 
Polish basso. 

Mr. Bond acted Don Ottavio with dis- 
cretion and good taste, and his delivery of 
his two aii*s was Mozart singing in ex- 
celsls. Best of all, the entire cast appre- 
ciated the touch-and-go character of most 
of the work and played into one another’s 
hands with lightness, vivacity, and speed. 
They were capitally supported by a chorus 
that really acted, too. and Cleofonte Cam- 
panitil kept the orchestra pulsating like a 
living organism. But the central figure 
of this wonderful picture — not pushed Into 
undue prominence, merely foremost among 
his equals — was the Don Giovanni of 
Maurice Renaud. 

Imagine Victor Maurel plus a voice and 
you have Maurice Renaud. Both men pos- 
sess imagination, intelligence, finesse, 
and high personal distinction, and they 
control alike every resource of histrionic 
art. Technically both remind one of the 
elder Coquelin in the swiftness as well as 
the certainty with which they produce 
their effects. Added to this great techni- 
cal equipment Mr’. Renaud has for Don 
Giovanni the handsome presence and the 
easy grace of bearing. He looks a Span- 
ish Hidalgo straight from the “Siglo de 
Oro.” His acting Saturday was abso- 
lutely natural, spontaneous, illusive, as 
free from hint of artifice as the Carmen 
of Mme Bressler-Gianoli the previous 
evening. 

Nor did his acting stop with this per- 
suasive brilliancy of surface. Present also 
was the epic quality, the suggestion of 
the “Superman.” He was not only Don 
Juan Tenorlo, the individual, a Spanish 
cavalier, with a taste and aptitude for 
amorous adventure, he tvas also the Uni- 
versal Pursuer (apologies to Mr. Bernard 
Shaw for not saying Pursued), the lasting 
type as well as the temporary instance. 
Compared with him the average Don 
Giovanni of the operatic stage is either 
a mannerist or a cheap rake. He sounded, 
too, the tragic notes of! the character— the 
dramatic irony in his vain pursuit of 
Donna Anna, and the divination and 
defiance of his final doom. 

One could dwell on many details of this 
astonishing impersonation. To specify 
a few will suffice. There was a bit of 
traditional “business” infused with fresh 
significance when he lifted his hat and 
swept his stately bow to the corpse of 
the Commandant— a tribute to a van- 
quished foeman who had proved worthy 
of his steel. There was startling rapidity 
and sureness in the transitions when con- 




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sang around hks hoarseness was itself a 
triumph of art. Old opera-goers speak of 
a Maurel In the seventies who had for a 
baritone the voice Mr. Plancon has for a 
basso cantante. For thone whose memory 
of Maurel is limited to the nineties Mau- 
rice Renaud may best be described as 
Maurel glorified. 

NOTES. 



A NOVELTY by C6sar Franck— an in- 
terlude from his “Redemption”— 
gave special interest to the fourth pair of 
subscription concerts of the New York 
Symphony Orchestra Saturday evening and 
yesterday afternoon at Carnegie Hall. 
Though interesting and well worth giving, 
it proved by no means up to its author’s 
best work. The rich scoring and the har- 
monic ingenuity did not disguise the fact 
that some of the music falls Into the vein 
of religious sentimentality that was 
worked so industriously by the school of 
French composers that C6sar Franck and 
his disciples opposed. 

Before the “Redemption" fragment 
came a delightful performance of Bee- 
thoven’s “Pastoral” symphony, fresh and 
melodious after its long absence from our 
concert halls. After the Franck piece 
Mr. Rosenthal played Scharwenka’s B flat 
minor concerto, a work which gave full 
scope for the pianist’s power, energy, and 
brilliance. Smetana’s still charming sym- 
phonic poem “Ultava” closed an interest- 
ing programme. 

For the next pair of concerts, Dec. 29 
and 30, Mr. Damrosch announces a 
Tschaikowsky programme, with Josef 
Lhdvinne as soloist. 

S ATURDAY brought at the Manhattan 
Opera House, besides "Don Giovan- 
ni” in the afternoon, “Carmen” in the 
evening, and at the Metropolitan Opera 
House "Ffidora” in the afternoon and 
"Tannhauser” in the evening. In "Car- 
men” there were again the admirable en- 
semble and the notable individual per- 
formances of Mme Bressler-Gianoli and 
Mr. DalmorSs, which had won praise the 
previous night. New members of the cast 
were Mme Gilibert as Micaela and Mr. 
Seveilhac as the Toreador. In “Fedora” 
Mme Cavalieri and Mr. Caruso had the 
chief parts. In "Tannhauser” Mr. Goritz 
as Wolfram reappeared in a rdle in which 
he is favorably known here, and Miss 
Weed took Mme Fremstad’s place as 
Venus. 

A SMALL but appreciative audience 
greeted the Royal Welsh Male 
Choir at Carnegie Hall last night. Four- 
teen numbers, with as many encores, were 
rendered, including selections from Han- 
del De Rille, Gounod. Costa, and Sullivan. 
David Davies's solo, “The Lord Worketh 
Wonders,” seemed to please the audience 
most. His wide-range bass was also heard 
to advantage in “Rocked in the Cradle of 
the Deep.” The other soloists were Miss 
Alicia M. Cove, Miss Eva Hall, and 
Messrs. Jones, Evans, and Edwards. 



fronted with Donna Anna, Donna Elvira, 
and Don Ottavio simultaneously, he now 
wheedled, now threatened Elvira, apolo- 
gizing for her the while softly and plau- 
sibly to the other two, and when left for 
a moment alone with Donna Anna, in a 
flash of sinister insolence, first ceremoni- 
ously kissed her hand and then disclosed 
himself as the man who had slain her 
father. Again he touched the summit of 
insolence when he lolled easily against the 
statue of the dead Commandant, smiling 
■winnlngly up at his marble face, while the 
quaking Leporello solemnly invited the 
statue to his master’s banquet. Finally 
there was the superb bravado of con- 
tempt when the stone guest stood before 
him in the banquet hall. He first filled a 
goblet and drained a health to the man 
he had slain, and then defiantly clasped 
his avenging hand. There were no red 
devils or flaming jaws of hell to mar the 
scene. Don Giovanni died unrepentant, 
but he died like a man. 

As a singer Mr. Renaud is an artist of 
exceptional ability. Saturday he had not 
wholly recovered from his recent indis- 
position. His voice, which was full and 
mellow in the first part of the opera, later 
became somewhat hoarse, but the way he 



T HE music for to-night is “Don Gio- 
vanni” at the Manhattan Opera 
House. “La Boh6me” at the Metropolitan 
Opera House, and-.“Madam Butterfly” at 
the Garden Theatre. 

To-morrow afternoon Miss Germaine 
Schnitzer will give her first piano recital 
in New York, playing Schumann’s “Car- 
neval” and pieces by Bach, Liszt, Chopin, 
Schubert, and Saint-Saens. To-morrow 
evening “Madam Butterfly” will be sung 
at the Garden Theatre. 



ATTRACTIVE EVENING CONCERT 



Among the attractive musical events of this 
evening will be a concert In the Park Avenue 
Methodist Episcopal Church, at Park avenue 
and Eighty-sixth street, by Charles H. De 
Marls, Jr., organist, and E. Theodore Martin, 
tenor. Mr. De Maris will open the programme 
with a selection from Bach, followed by 
“Elsa’s Dream” from “Lohengrin” and the 
“prize song” from Die Meistersinger, Selec- 
tions from the compositions of Liszt, Guil- 
mant, Schubert, and Leschetizsky will follow. 
The contributions to the programme by Mr. 
Martin will be from Handel. Weber, and 
Strelezki. 



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z / /fc 1 & 

jCOINCERT FOYER 

Rosenthal, Now in Height of 
His Power, Will Visit 
Boston Next Season. 



GLANCE AT HIS MANY 

ACCOMPLISHMENTS 

Even now, when the season of 1905-6 
is just over, the managers of pianists 
are making announcements for next 
fall, winter and spring. The formidable 
virtuoso, Mr. Leonidas Swett, will play 
a superb instrument manufactured by 
Graves & Sudlum. Mr. Honeythunder, 
the poet of passion, will use gently one 
of Jorldns’ best, one with a bazoo at- 
tachment. But Mr. Kofoffski, whose 
grandfather remembered distinctly 
Thaddeus Kosciusko, will be faithful to 
the long established firm of Borem & 
'-<>• A«jd why mention other and lesser 
Ights? The musical woods will be full 
ot pianists. 

Each one will play his preferred and 
favorite piano and will be delighted at 
the end of the season to write a glowing- 
eulogy of it for publication and circula- 
tion. It Is the only piano that appeals 
I to him. He can sing on no other. The 
anufacturers are artists, and the 
■.nought of pecuniary compensation Is 
on.y incidental in their aesthetic rou- 
tine. All this is as it should be. Mr. 
Lesruetitzki believes that a good pianist 
should be able to play agreeably and 
effectively on any piano, as long as it 
not crumble to pieces beneath his 
red touch, as long as the glue 
s and the pedals work without 
■■ aking. There are many excellent 
. ists; there are many strongly made 
-nd much enduring pianos. Nothing 
onld be fairer than this in the divine 
( heme. 

Fiddlers and the old Addle makers are 
lot so fortunate. Whether Mr. Ysaye 
play a Stradivarius, an Amati or a 
jcuarnenus, he does not receive even 
conventional thanks from the maker, 
nor is he guaranteed by any one of 
them a certain sum of money for a cer- 
tain number of concerts to ‘display the 
surpassing merits of a certain Addle. 



Hire. He reads Spanish, Italian Portu- 
guese as a man runs, and Russian when 
It Is not in fine print. He has socked 
with Socrates and ripped witli Euripi- 
des. A profound metaphysician, lie 
could pass a rigid examination on tile 
niceties of Berlin slang. His wit is 
scimitar-like; his humor is oily. He 
tears no critic, for he is an "expert 
athlete and boxer whose strength makes 
him the peer physically of all his asso- 
ciates.” and as a logician his “argu- 
mentative ability once caused the critic 
Ehrlich to spend the remainder of Ids 
llte in oblivion as the result of ids igno- 
minious defeat In a newspaper contro- 
versy." Mr. Rosenthal will certainly 
bo treated In Boston with the most dis- 
tinguished ’consideration. 

Alas poor Ehrlich! We remember him 
well as the music critic of the National 
Zcltung in Berlin. He was then bald- 
headed and he had a pleasant smile, 
though ills enemies whispered that lie 
was paid by the Austrian government 
for secret information. Little did he 
then think— it was about 25 years ago— 
that Mr. Rosenthal would snuff out by 
an article Ills soul, that fierv particle, 
send him into utter darkness and for- 
getfulness, and drive him from accus- 
tomed haunts where Weiss beer was 
drunk in fellowship from a huge glass 
bowl or rather tub. 



7 U-t.^2- 7 



f O L> 



Among the pianists who will visit Bos- 
tm next season Is Mr. Moritz Rosenthal, 
who Is now '14 years old and Is said to 
be at the height of his power. He has 
been known as a performer in public 
since 1876, and it should be remembered 
that he began his career as an lnfantphe- 
nomenon. When he was last In this 
country lie displayed a mechanical pro- 
ficiency that was well nigh incredible 
played with prodigious speed and, 
H’u e same time, clearness, 
in o <r e are s . ome who are not interested 
!P fl nr?T; re S lan i st -” They prefer to hear 
a creator. To them Mr. Rosenthal 
was only a pianist. The trouble with 
fr-/? r ,- ea « creator, who takes his seat in 
trom of the keyboard, is that he often 
s a Pianist and he creates 
with the composer’s material that is 
i -adly mutilated by him and is almost 
; unrecognizable. But let us accept the 
j 'lew of these yearners for “creation." 

I SY en then Mr. Rosenthal was some- 
thing more than an uncommonly pro- 
ficient pianist. 

„ W !v ! JH! lm , Hazlitt remarked in his essay 
on Milton s sonnets: "Our first of poet's 
was one of our first of men. He was; 
an eminent instance to prove that a 
poet is not another name for the slave 
of power and fashion, as is the case 
with painters and musicians— things 
without an opinion— and who merely 
aspire to make up the pageant and 
show of the day.” 

Nor was Hazlitt’s sour view peculiar 
to him at the time the essay was 
written. "Things without an^opinion !” 
The musicians of today, the virtuosos, 
are chock-ful of opinions, sometimes of 
opinions rather than music. Hazlitt 
himself would have found pleasure in 
talking with Messrs. Paderewski, Ysaye, 
..osenthal, de Pachmann. Bauer, Gabri- 
■i ’vitsch— we name at random, but from 
personal knowledge of their conversa- 
tional abilities— for they can talk on 
1 her subjects than their art and their 
nature and accomplishments, and 
would have set Hazlitt a-talking. 
if there Is mention of composers, 

' e can a more entertaining, many- 
4, shrewd, witty, original man be 
A mil for an hour’s gossip about life 
and mortals than Mr. Charles Martin 
Loeffler. Who expresses himself with 
a finer elegance? And It should be 
remembered that English is not his 
native tongue. 

To go back to Mr. Rosenthal. The press 
agent has recently catalogued his rare 
characteristics in a manner to excite 
the envy of Mr. Tody Hamilton. Mr. 
Rosenthal is not only a pianist, an in- 
terpreter, a creator. He is a chess 
player who could have conquered the 
Kalandap^in the form of an enchanted 
ape in the wild eastern tale. He car. 
ask for coffee in Greek and complain of 
the quality of his breakfast egg In 
Latin. In a railway car he meditates in 
Sanscrit, nor Is the colloquial speech of 
the Ileligolanders a speech without 
Printed alphabet or literature unknown 
to him. 

"He is a litterateur whose mind stores 
th e best in German poetry and prose.” 

1 Ills is faint praise. He has French lit- 
erature at ills command for purposes of 
quotation from the “Bon Berger" of 
de Brie to the last number of Le 



| Mr. Lhevinne will also play in Boston 
and there are also agreeable stories 
about him which will be repeated later, 
but at present we are in the dark as 
to his logical strength in debate or 
whether he prefers Turgenieff to Tol- 
stoi, or Pushkin to Dostoievsky. It Is 
said that Mr. Rosenthal will give a re- 
cital in Boston on Nov. 17, and that on 
the 30th he will play here with the Sym- 
phony orchestra. We have as yet no in- 
formation about Mr. Lhevinne’s dates in 
Boston. 

Miss Marie Hall, the young English 
violinist, will revisit us. It is to he 
hoped that she gains in physical 
strength. When she was here', she 
looked as though a rest of two years 
would be none too long. 

The statement is made, apropos of the 
production of Leoncavallo's new opera 
"The Youth of Figaro," in this country; 
"This will be the first time that a grand 
opera by a European composer will have 
its first production in the United 
States.” The statement is incorrect 
Arditi’s "Spia,” with a libretto based 
on Cooper’s novel, “The Spy," was pro- 
duced for the first time in New York 
and we believe that an opera by Garcia! 
the father of Malibran, was first pro- 
duced at New York, but we are writing 
where there are no hooks of reference. 

Don Lorenzo Perosi has finished a 
symphony in the classic form, which ' 
will be performed for the first time at 
Milan. It is said that he worked on it 
for a year. Perosi has not been in the ! 
habit of spending so much time on any I 
serious work. He will write you an 
oratorio while you wait. 

Adelina Patti has been talking in 
Rome. She thinks that the Italian sing- 
ers of today use too much voice and too 
much breath; therefore their tones wab- 
ble, and the text loses in poetic expres- 
sion. 

Minnie Tracey has been singing with 
great success in concert in Paris. The 
critics were warm in praise, and, unlike 

their colleagues at Rouen and some 
other towns, did not refer rudely to her 
size. 



MIRRORED LIFE. 

Both Mr. William Archer and Mr. 
Marc Klaw, friends of the drama, 
deny that there is any prejudice in 
London against American plays. Mr. 
Klaw, who is of an analytical habit 
and a student of the psychology of 
audiences, says the English cannot 
be expected to sympathize with a 
play if they cannot understand it. 
The London audiences took no Inter- 
est in the money problem in “The 
Lion and the Mouse," a problem 
which is of absorbing interest in this 
country, nor could they understand 
the bribing of judges and senators. 
"These incidents are so foreign to 
England! The Americans have been 
characterized var'ously, according to 
the period. They have been called 
the most generous people on earth, 
the most sentimental, the most sen- 
sitive, the best natured, and, lately, 
the most commercially corrupt. With- 
out doubt they are foolishly good- 
natured; easy-going, is the better 
term. In their sublime, or pathetic, 
confidence that everything will turn 
out all right, they laugh at imposi- 
tions of every kind or submit to them. 
Hence their enjoyment at seeing 
characters in a play the sport of 
some monopoly; at seeing bribery in 
action, “How realistic! It’s just like 
life!" They are entertained by what 
would shock an audience in London, 
Paris or Berlin. Yet there are signs 
of a great awakening. 



A correspondent of Musical America 
talked recently with Mr. Giuseppe Cam- 
panari. He is much pleased at the pros- 
pect of two opera houses in New York, 
and he sees in them an important aid to 
the education of “society people,” for 
"the average man and woman" cannot 
afford to go regularly. (By regularly, 
Mr. Campanari, of course, means during 
the season. This reminds us that 
there may be a grand opera sea- 
son in London next January or Feb- 
ruary, “a thing hitherto unknown.” It 
is strange that in London there is no 
established opera house, as there is in 
small German cities.) “If," says Mr. 
Campanari, “they have an opportunity 
of hearing the different works performed 
by only one opera company, and accord- 
ing to the ideas of one impresario, they 
naturally cannot be expected to have 
bread conceptions of what they hear.” 
.There are beautiful voices in America, 
just as fine singers as can be brought 
over from Europe, but if Mr. Conrled 
or Mr . Hammerstein were to engage 
them the people would turn up their 
noses and say: ’Oh. I have often heard 
them, I am sick of them,’ and they 
would not go to see how they appeared 
amid the environment of the operatic 
stage." The women’s voices in tills 
country are as good as in Europe, "but 
there are few male voices, especially 
tenors.” Here are Mr. Campanari’s rea- 
sons for this; “I attribute it partly to 
the abuse of the boys’ voices in the pub- 
hc schools. School teachers who know 
n ,° 1 , at a11 about music make the 
children sing notes away beyond their 
reach, and with all their might, and the 
result is, the boy’s voice, which is much 
more sensitive than the girl’s, is strained 
and, ten to one, never rises above the 
mediocre. Another drawback, common 
to both sexes, is the language. The 
pronunciation of English is so throaty 
that it requires a long time for the stu- 
dent to overcome this hindrance to free 
tone production. For that reason I shall 
always speak English with an accent. I 
could pronounce it as well as anvbodv if 
I wished to tighten my throat, but I will 
not do that.” 

Mr. Campanari thinks that the Ameri- 
cans are better critics of Instrumental 
than of vocal music. “I do not advise 
students to go to Europe to study except 
for the languages; but I tell them to use 
common sense in choosing a teacher." 
xes, but how should this common sense 
be exerted 9 Would Mr, Campanari have 
the anxious pupil choose a teacher by / 
weight or by chest measure ? 



A LUXURY. 

Mr. Johnson writes to us that vice 
Clamport is now eighty cents a hundred- 
weight. No ice was cut near Cla mpor 
and the local company was obliged to 
import from New Hampshire. Sine 1 ice is 
dear, the price of fish peddled in carts 
after it has travelled from Boston .will 
necessarily go up. (Inasmuch as Clam- 
port is a seashore village, of course fish 
and lobsters come from the city.) The 
cottagers, Mr. Johnson writes, are much 
distressed. Why? Do they not know 
that only the rich can live a simple 
country life? 

Not many years ago, in New England 
villages, ice was a luxury, not a neces- 
sity ; nor was there any craving for the 
luxury. Our grandfathers got along 
comfortably— at least, they thought they 
did without ice and without tooth 
brushes. Their teeth were often firm, 
white and in plenty even iu old age. 

Butter for daily use was often lowered 
in the well. There was no "ice water” 
to check digestion — but the water was 
cool enough. Unfortunately, in Clam- 
port and in other villagers along the 
toast the windmill has taken the place 
of the well, and the mill is not con- 
structed for refrigerative purposes. Nor 
do many of the cottages have a cellar, 
for they stand on cedar piles, and there 
is room beneath the house only for wind, 
boxes, firewood and shelter in winter for 
a skunk or two. 

There is no consolation in the asser- 
tion that the ancients did not know the 
value of ice, for the Romans cooled cer- 
tain wines with ice or snow, and the 
Persians ( omforted themselves with iced 
drinks. But iu lands where there is no 
ice the natives have ingenious devices 
for keeping water and eatables at a 
comparatively low temperature. There 
is such a tiling as intemperance in ice, 
and the high price asked for what was 
last year cheap and common may be 
salutary to hitherto reckless users. We 
remember seeing in 1878 a large cake 
of ice exhibited on the bar of the St. 
James restaurant in London as a curi- 
osity, or possibly as an ornament. No 
one then dreamed in London of putting 
ice in a glass of Scotch whiskey or of 
any other strong and rebellious liquor, 
and iced water was rightly regarded as 
an abomination. 

f fvvVJZ" 1, 3 i p (? 

HAIRDRESSERS’ ENGLISH. 

The fashionable English woman now 
wears at the “dressiest functions” a 
/cachepeigne which must be of cinnamon 
I color to harmonize with the coiffure. A 
! London journal, noting the important 
fact, as disclosed at the Ascot races, 
gives further information about the 
"cashpain” in a .sentence that Mrs. 
Gore, whose heroines always used a 



fourchette” instead of a fork woul ■ 
have envied; “It mingles well with 
I little chi chi curls, which posticheurs 
Kell to fill the hiatus back of the hat be- 
neath the cachepeigne.” “Chi chi curls” 
~ Posticheurs”— "hiatus hack of the 
hat . Why is there no reference to 
tou-tou ? And could all this be put 
into Esperanto? 

/ SELF-BORED. 

The story is now told of a Maine 
man who, tried for rfiurder forty 
years ago and acquitted, went to fal- 
ifornia and lived under another 
name, happy as the keeper of a toll 
bridge and, therefore, as a student of 
human nature. A man may have led I 
a blameless life from his youth up; ' 
he may have land and beeves, and 
yet have at times an almost irresisti- 
ble longing to go to some town or vil- 
lage where he is wholly unknown, 
to be called by a name that is not his, 
to have fresh thoughts and to see 
new faces. Ttyere is much human 
nature in Prank Stockton’s story of 
Mr. Tolman. The butler who gave 
warning after a service of twenty-five 
years because he was tired of the 
faces of the family would have been 
understood by Henri Beyle, who said 
that if he would not be seasick he 
should go to America: "I should wear 
a mask; I should change my name 
with the utmost delight. My great- 
est pleasure would be to transform 
myself into a tall blond German and 
then walk in the streets of Paris.” 

^ IN A WALL. 

A shoemaker who murdered thirty 
women in an Algerian town was placed 
in a hole in a wall and the hole was 
then filled. The crowd was invited to 
see the show. The shoemaker was at 
first condemned to crucifixion, but there 
were protests against that method of 
execution. It is a wonder that there was 
no suggestion of impalement, which was 
for years a favorite oriental punish- 
ment. From crucifixion to burial alive 
may perhaps be reckoned a step in civil- 
ization, and from this burial the Alger- 
ians may in process of time adopt elec- 
trocution, a more merciful method of 
execution, it is said in Christian lands. 
Burying a live man in a wall has served 
two masters of the short story. It is not 
easy to say which is the more grimly 
tragic tale, Balzac’s "Grande Breteche” 
or Poe’s “Cask of Amontillado.” Both 
are distinguished by terrible irony. Poe’s 
use of it in Montressor's account of his 
vengeance is continual. Balzac reserves 
it for the end, when the husband re- 
minds his wife that she had sworn on 
the crucifix there was no one in hiding, i 

X AUTHORS AT WORK. 

Again we are informed as to the man- 
ner in which authors write immortal 
works — that is, quick sellers. Mr. Rex 
Beach, for example, is never so happy 
as when dashing off his strong books for 
strong men in a railway car. It makes 
no difference to him whether it he a 
drawing room, smoking, sleeping or just 
plain ordinary — as long as he has pad 
and pencil. We see him now sketching 
a thrilling scene on the back of a bill ; 
of fare with one hand while the other 
| conveys canned beans to his mouth. 

Thus are outgo and income adroitly bal- j 
aneed. Mr. Beach "likes composing on \ 
the train, as the noise and hurry of car ; 
j wheels tend to promote mental aetiv- | 
ity.” He works and the wheels go round, j 
On the other hand, the illustrious ( 
Lombroso follows the sun as he works, I 
and moves with his books, pamphlets, 
(charts, newspapers, ink and pen from j 
one room to another, from his library to ] 
the dining room to the nursery, to his 
I wife’s sewing table, and so on, with the 
sun. He has made so many studies in 
I prison that he craves light. Of the two 
Mr. Beach seems to be the more restful 
person. 

J Rw. Ly L 

Edvard Grieg went again to London , 
last month and lie playe : the piano and! 
he conducted and he listened to his 
own compositions, a pH isure that was 1 
seldom Schubert’s or Cesar Franck's. I 
The London critics spoke of him and ! 
his deeds with respect, for did not ( 
Cambridge University give, him in ’94 ! 
the degree of “doctor of music”? He. : 
therefore, must be worthy of the ut- I 
most consideration. 

Mr. Blackburn has the- fond belief 
. hat t ; ’we is probably no pianq player 



AND WHAT CRITICS SAID OF HIM 




in the suourDS oi nonoon who does not 
delight in the works of Grieg. "Some- 
how or other Grieg has conquered what 
may be called the domestic public.” 

Is Grieg's music distinctively subur- 
ban? Does it delight those whom Syd- 
ney. Smith once described as the "pa- 
tent Christians of Clapham”? Is Grieg 
to them in music as Marie Corelli in 
fiction and Frith in art? "Willy" once 
chare terized Charles Marie Widor, or- 
ganist and composer, as the Gabriel 
Fauro of the poor. Is Grieg the Schu- 
mann of the London suburbs? is his 
music driving out Mendelssohn's “Songs 
Without Words," the celebrated noc- 
turne by Doehler. and the more brill- 
iant pieces of Wollenhaupt? 

It would seem so. Mr. Blackburn ad- 
mits that Grieg does not appeal possi- 
bly to large audiences; "in fact, deli- 
cate and beautiful though his art is, he 
does not appeal to great concert 
rooms.” Why should delicate and beau- 
tiful music appeal to great concert 
rooms? “He has made it his rule (avid 
he has made his art subject to that 
rule) to live among the quieter places 
of life, and yet to do his work excel- 
lently in what may be called the min- 
iature manner.” 

Mr. Ernest Newman argues that long 
sustained flights have been impossible 
for Grieg by reason of his physique. 
"You must have the muscular strength 
and persistent nervous energy of Wag- 
ner to write great symphonies or great 
operas, or. indeed, any work to which 
the epithet ‘great’ can be applied with 
strict accuracy." Again: “Nature ap- 

parently meant him (Grieg) to be a 
Scandinavian giant and hero, and then 
she changed her mind to Grieg's per- 
petual discomfort, physical and estheti- 
oal. Take the face and head alone, and 
there is something leonine in them, 
especially when the man is sitting; but 
when he stands up among other men. 
and you see how small and frail his 
body is. the contradiction gives you the 
key to Grieg and his music." 

Note also the remark of “Lancelot” 
in the Referee; "Dr. Grieg is now 63” 
— he was born June 15, 1S43 — “and, 
never robust, he seems to have lost in 
measurable degree that strength he had 
as a pianist. He sat at the instrument 
with • raised shoulders and stiffened 
arms, and a general lack of freedom of 
movement curiously in contrast with 
modern methods; but although cli- 
maxes were suggested rather than 
achieved, the composer brought out the 
individuality of his music very clear- 
ly.” 

Formidable Works. 



.. It is true that Grieg has been more 
or Jess' of an invalid for many yfears. 
It is said that he has only one lung. 
The old story might be told with him 
as the hero. A man whispers in a 
mouse-still voice; "My left lung is all 
gone,” and before the sympathy- of 
the hearer is fully awakeh ed^Tbif 
pounds his chest on the other sidh JiiJ 
roars out defiantly; “But my rigl-ft!" 

Mr. Newman is one of the ablest 



men who now as writers are interest- 



ed in music, problems of music and 
musical life. We are the more sur- I 



prised at being obliged to suspect him 
of worshipping the spirit of Jumbo- 
Ism. to use a favorite term of Mr. 
Henry T. Finck. A work of art must 
have bulk, it seems, if it is to be reck- 
oned as great. Grieg has not written 
a symphony or an opera. He has only 
"filled some of the shorter musical 
forms with an extremely beautiful 
poetry of his own." 

The symphony must be a greater 
work than a symphonic poem, for it 
Is longer, broader, and, it might also 
be said, often thicker. An opera must 
be greater than a perfect song of 
llatning passion or subtle suggestion. 
A long-winded and orthodox sonata 
must be a greater work of art than a 
prelude, nocturne or scherzo by Cho- 
pin. And in like manner Dr. John 
Armstrong's “Art of Preserving 
Health” should necessarily surpass 
Tennyson's "Ulysses”; Dr. Mark Aken- 
side’s “Pleasures of Imagination” 
should outlive Collins' “Ode to Even- 
ing." and Wilkie's "Epigoniad" will 
be remembered when Poe's “City in 
the Sea" or "Helen” is forgotten. 

Mr. Newman surely has read and di- 
gested. the essay in which Poe re- 
volted against the long accepted the- 
ory that an epic poem is necessarily a 
grent work because it Is long, because 
it is epic. There are pedants today 
who, if a composer's name is men- 
tioned. tap the forehead with a wise 
finger and say: "Rut he has not writ- 

ten a string quartet. He is not fully 
master of the sonata form.” They 
— ive "Verdi credit for the attempt at 
least, and they admit that Debussy 
worked in this field, although they 
are indescribably pained by the man- 
ner in which he worked. Well. Grieg 
has his string quartet, three violin so- 
natas, a ’cello sonata, a piano con- 
certo". a violin concerto. His health 
allowed him to write these works. 
“But he has written no symphony!" 
True. We remember in student days 
ybung Germon composers at Berlin. 
Munich and Stuttgart who had two or 
three symphonies apiece in their port- 
folios. and some of these symphonies 
even had a motto for each movement. 
The first of these works, in chrono- 
logical order, was as a rule becoming- 
ly dedicated “in deepest respect” to the 
teacher of counterpoint and composi- 
tion What itas become of these mas- 
ferbieres? What has become of the 
composers? One is conducting oper- 
ettas.' some are organists in small 
towns; one arranges music for mili- 
tary bands: another teaches the piano 
a! *50 or 76 cents a lesson. But they 
ar> all men of symphonies, and Grieg 
Is not thus known in concert halls. 



Pianist and Conductor. ' 1 

„ , , . . . .... . work most emphasized, but Miss stoett- 

Let.us go back to the consideration of m arr infused an impassioned warmth 
Grieg as pianist and conductor in Lon- into the music more suggestive of the 
don. “Lancelot" has told us how the sunny south than the icy north. The 

. .first movement in particular was given 

Chopin of the north — Chopin was ► with a'dratnatic intensity of expression 

therefore the “Grieg of Poland and which greatly deepened the significance 
Paris"— sat and looked when he played ' the music. So, too, was tiie finale, 
. . , ,, , ...... " . : and, remembering Griegs own render- 

his cello sonata with the dry Prof. | j n g, t j le pj anf , part, I could not help 
Becker and a violin sonata with Mr. wondering at first whether the pianist 
Johannes Wolff. “Lancelot" also wrote i was conducting the conductor or the 
of the pianist: “The rhythm was al- ] conductor conducting the pianist: but, 

ways made prominent, accented notes noting carefully the strong accentuation 
struck with almost spiteful attack, and Dr. Griggs, exacted from the Queen's 
discords were delivered with a vehe- Hall orchestra, I am inclined to think 
jnenee that seemed to challenge contra- : that Miss Stockman 's reading fulfils 
diction. These were the mannerisms of the intention of the .composer." 

Grieg's playing, and after a time they One word more about Grieg's conduct- 
became a little monotonous, but in mu- ing, and we quote again from the Daily 
sic of tranquil and poetic character the i News: "Judging by the way Grieg di- 

artist rose above the man, and such I rects his own compositions, he must be 
strains were given with a fascinating I rated a wonderfully gifted conductor, 
dreaminess and a significance that The balance of tone obtained is perfect 
stirred the imagination of the listener." and the fxpression that of a great mu- 
Grieg. in the course of this visit, did sical personality. There was no fuss in 
not play the piano part of his concerto his method, qf conducting, but he made 
in A minor, but he conducted the per- the men play as I. for one, have cer- 
fnrmance of it. and the pianist was Miss tainly never hear/3 them play.’’ 

Composers and Batons. 

Grieg impressed these Londoners by 
lady in whose career our Queen takes a his insistence on rhythm, accentuation 
special interest.” etc. Miss Stockmarr . t>rrlnha „ i _ of r i|t<onrds He also 

is a Dane, and, inasmuch as she en- ar>cl emphasis ot discord., tie at.o, 

trances the Queen, we can hear her strange to say, wished qn emotional 
even at this distance and after the fir- , performance of his music., 
ing and the explosions are all over. I were delivered 

Perhaps our suspicion is unfounded. b Discords were delivered 

"The reading of the work," wrote “J. 

H. G. B." in the London News, “par- 
ticularly of the first movement, was 
greatlv at variance with what one is . 

.used to. but as Grieg himself conduct- ' or hurry over them in an apologetic 
cd. we may take it to be correct. Grieg ; manner? 

' Our friend “Lancelot” remarks that 
the originality” of Grieg's harmonies 
In other words, was “far more startling 30 years ago 



Johanne Stockmarr. Journals alluded 
to her as “the lady in whose playing | 
the' Queen takes great delight,” "the 1 



with a 

vehemence that seemed to challenge 
contradiction.” Would the critics 
have had him smother these discords, 



wants the movement to go, in parts, 
more slowly than we are accustomed to 
here: and there should be infinitely 

more expression.” __ ___ 

pianists before Miss Stockmarr had not ... nnw .. he^indoltres him- 

piayed the work with much expression. than 11 1S now ' <incl ne lnaulges " 



nan xney ail failed to find material for 
expression in the music? “J. H. G. B." 
tis here a little vague, but he has a tine 
ear, for he tells us that the music to 
: “Bergliot.” a poem by Bjornson, which 
was recited by Miss Tita. Brand, the 
daughter of Mme. Marie Broma. “is so 
arranged as not to produce cacophony." 

"Lancelot" also gives an idea of 
Grieg's views concerning the interpreta- 
tion of this eoncerto. “Hitherto we 
have been accustomed to bear the 
lyrical and -.romantic elements in this 



self in reminiscences. "When his 
piano music first became popular in 
England. I remember playing one of 
his pieces to a blind musician, who, 
when I had finished, asked me to play 
it again. After listening attentively 
a second time, he said: 'I thought 

you were playing wrong notes, but as 
you repeated them I suppose they are 
correct.' " Others have defended the 
harmonies by exclaiming, “How na- 
tional!" although they were not ac- 
quainted with Norwegian folk music 



except as it has been employed by’ 
Grieg. They were not even £5 trip- 
pers in the kingdom of music. 

But the very iteration of a discord 
or the force with which it is brought 
out is often absolutely necessary to 
its significance, its existence. Old 
Haupt used to say to his organ pupils 
when they were playing Bach’s dra- 
matic toccata in D minor: "Give those 
those discords more time. The more 
striking they arc harmonically, the 
more clearly they should be presented 
in all their aggressiveness as though 
you were calling the hearer's atten- 
tion and summoning his admiration." 
Guilmant of Paris makes the same 
point in performance and instruction. 
But why dwell on a subject that is 
familiar to all virtuosos, conductors, 
musicians, students, who have con- 
sidered seriously their art. 

Grieg as conductor, according to the 
Londoners, revealed his intentions and 
wishes as a composer. ' If he did all 
this, he was lucky. Too many com- 
posers kill their favorite children with a 
stick. 

How many composers have been great 
conductors even of their own works? 
Beethoven, we are told, was inefficient, i 
and on account of his deafness and con- 
sequent anxiety to make the musicians 
understand what he himself could not 
hear, he was often grotesque. Schubert 
had no opportunity of conducting his 
greatest orchestral works. Schumann 
did not shine with a baton, and Men- 
delssohn, from all we can learn, even If 
we discount Wagner’s well known re- 
marks, took everything at a cheerful 
tempo. let the orchestra go ahead as 
long as the right notes were played, and 
behaved in his .customary superior 
and genteel manner. Modeste Tschai- 
kowsky tells us that his brother Peter, 
timid, easily discouraged, often worked 
serious injury to his compositions by 
conducting them. Brahms was tickled 
to death by the sound of his music; he 
took a cheerful view of it and heat time 
amiably. Was Berlioz distinguished as 
a conductor except of his own works? 
There are contradictory witnesses. Wag- 
ner conducted the tnird act of “Parsi- 
fal" at a performance in 18S2, and we 
remember Levi and members of the or- 
chestra wondering at his tempi, which 
were not at all the tempi recommended 
by him in rehearsal. We saw Gounod j 
conduct a performance of his "Mors et 
Vita" in Paris. He did not pay the 
slightest attention to the published indi- 
cations of time and dynamic gradations. 
He took nearly all the movements much 



faster, and he. was not fussy About a lrll f t poetry defies analysis. You can 
piano ora pianissimo. Verdi, according no more explain t lie subtle charm, the 
to all reports, was a remarkable con- strange fascination, of 'A .Swan" or of 
doctor of ills own operas and the "Re- Jjie y, a J*ce and death music in "Peer 
quiem.” Mr. Gericke heard _the per- byn l tnai 



lan you can inform a class con- 



formances of “Aida” and the "Requiem 1 
led by Verdi in Vienna, and he told us 
that he had not believed any man could 
have such control over an orchestra or 
bring out such wonderful effects. 

When a composer conducts he is in- 
toxicated ■ by the sound of his own mu- 
sic; or ho is too anxious; or he is afraid 
that the audience may not approve— but 
(this is rare. The 1 composer lias seldom 
l had thorough training and much expe- 
rience as a conductor. He is seldom a 
conductor by trade. Richard Strauss it 
should be remembered, had a thorough 
drill under von Buelow. He was a pro- 
fessional conductor before he composed 
his tone poems, and he composed them 
while he was actively engaged as a 
leader. 

Furthermore, it will be easily granted 
that a composer may in good faith con- 
duct his own symphony or concerto in 
one way on Monday and in a different 
on Thursday. He, too, has moods, 
and if he be cool-headed, he may -delib- 
erately wisli to make experiments. 

A. composer is seldom satisfied with a 
performance of his work led by another 
unless the audience gives hearty and 
unmistakable approval. If there is little 
applause, if the work falls flat, the con- 
ductor is, then, an ignoramus. “I made 
a l^ a * mistake n °t conducting it my- 
self. But if he had conducted it, in 
j nine cases out of ten the orchestra 
II would have carried through the work to 
the end without attention to the com- 
poser-conductor's wild gestures or in 
spite of them. 

And In like manner when a virtuoso 
plays a concerto for piano or violin the 
latitude of the audience at the end de- 
termmes too often the composer’s appre- 
ciation of tlje performance. . 

Grieg's Individuality. 

Grieg has his enthusiastic admirers, 
is dispassionate critics, his artistic 
lemies, for after all he, too, is mor- 
d. Some rank him among the great 
tasters on account of his pronounced 
idiyiduality and his “true Norwegian 
Mrit. Some admit cheerfully that he 
as composed pretty things and much 
lat is tiresome. Others heartily abom- 
•ate nearly everything that he has 
ntten. There are not a few who 
ould be satisfied with Lancelot’s sum- 
ung up: "The artistic lesson of Dr 
[rieg’s visit would seem to be that the 
roper reading of his music is a com- 
ination of homely naivete .and gayety 
trong accentuation, and in tranquii 
assages a. suggestion of cold mysticism 
effective of nature’s long sleeps in the 
md of the fiords and pine forests and 
now-capped mountains.” 

In this country Grieg is chieflv known 
iy a few songs, fewer piano pieces, the 
string quartet and violin sonatas and 
he music to “Peer Gynt." It is safe 
to say that to the great mass of con- 
rertgoers he is best known as the com- 
poser of the song "I Love You” and the 
irst "Peer Gynt" suite. The composi- 
lon out of all his works that arouses 
the most hearty and spontaneous ap- 
plause is the finale of the “Peer Gynt” 
suite, which may be effective in its 
proper place when the drama is per- 
formed, but in the concert hall is simply 
rowdy music, and not for one moment 
to be put on the same level with the 
dirge or the dance in the same suite. It 
is interesting to note that the London 
Standard characterizes Grieg’s beauti- 
ful song, "A Swan," as "somewhat im- 
pressionistic,” and. therefore, no doubt, 
a dangerous model for the young. 

If Grieg’s only musical characteristic | 
were a pronounced national spirit, his 
music would have merely local interest, 
except to the student of folk music and 
the lover of only that which is exotic. 

J Trieg is Norwegian, and Norway is 
known as a land of fiords, pines, moun- 
tains, the midnight sun. and also much 
.ish. Grieg’s music, therefore, it is 
irgued by some, must be interesting be- 
cause it was inspired by Norway 
_ scenery and atmosphere and life, and 
because it suggests them to the hearer. 

It may suggest these things to the 
hearer who is informed that it does, to 
the hearer who wishes to believe it and 
has faith. To the Norwegian the dis- 
tinctively national spirit makes, of 
course, a stronger appeal. 

No music that it distinctively, arro- 
gantly and solely national will be uni- 
versally effective for any length of 
time. Its rhythm may be piquant, its 
melody may surprise, its harmonic color 
may fascinate, but it will enjoy only a 
passing favor in foreign lands, it will 
make no deep impression; it will not 
sink into the heart of man and there 
abide. Grieg’s best music, however, 
does not depend on local color or na- 
tional color. The man himself is not a 
chauvinist, and he has composed for 
the world as well as for Norway. Thus 
he has found salvation. 

His glass is a very small one, hut, as 
De Musset said of himself, he drinks out 
of his own glass. To call him "the 
Chopin of the north” is to ignore the 
value of words and to underrate Chopin, 
the composer above all others for the 
piano. It would be folly to rank Grieg 
as a composer of piano pieces with 
Schumann. A composer too much neg- 
lected in these days— we refer to Stephen 
Heller— has written short pieces, as “In 
the Manner of Teniers,” "A Pen 
Sketch" and pages of “Sleepless 
Nights,” that show finer imagination, 
more subtle poetry and surer workman- 
ship than are . revealed in the majority 
of the short piano pieces of Grieg. In- 
deed, in the matter of workmanship, the 
Grieg of the larger works is often sadly 
deficient. 

On the other hand, there are songs by 
Grieg, a few piano pieces, pages of the 
piano concerto and of the "Peer Gynt” 
suite which have a singular beauty; 
.they, haunt tha mind and move , the 

hea.rt. "Discovery” is a strikingly dra- 
matic cantata in short form, and there 
are impressive moments in "Olaf Tryg- 
The piano concerto must be 
ranked among the great works of the 
i,,„ ’* there is much in the string 
quartet that will long preserve the name 
ot the composer. The saving salt in this 
music is the marked individuality of 
trrleg s thought and expression as a 
I poet working with sounds His poetical 
' quality is not easily analyzed, and the 



ce ruing the elements of beauty in Yer- 
laine’s "Clair de lune,” or in the song 
heard by Mariana. 

Tlie best music of Grieg is distin- 
guished by rhythm, melodic originality 
and a peculiarly pure imagination. The 
rhythm is not tortured; the melody is 
spontaneous and flowing, not forced, not 
twisted and distorted in the effort, to 
escape conventionality; the color is not 
alone for a locality or a parish. The 
most violent enemies of the generous- 
minded composer are those who insist 
on putting him on the pedestal of na- 
tionality. 

A Last Word. 

Local color! The discriminative and 
j reasonirtg student of music is often 
tempted to class local color, as Johannes 
Weber insisted, among “musical illu- 
sions.’’ Local color is local color to you 
and to Jones when you and Jones are 
assured that the precise color fits the 
named locality. 

The Herald lias received from “E. G. 
N.” the following verses that may justly 
be said to have local color in Boston. 
We recommend them to our young com- 
posers who believe that "a school of 
American music” must be founded on 
"folk songs” of negroes. North Ameri- 
can Indians, creoles or Mexicans that go 
across the border. The music may have 
a Dvorakian character, or it may re- 
mind one of a southern camp meeting. 

IJL MISS HONEY. 

It pears so pow’ful curious, 

Where-ever I has to go; 

En it makes me so furious. 

The men they rubber so. 

Aint givine to (lances any- more, 

En 1 could dance all-night; 

The moment I gits fru de door, 

The men commence to fight. 

I das’nt even go to church, 

I’se shamed as I kin be; 

Dem ornery deacons in de porch 
They rolls their eyes at me. 

CHORUS: 

. They rubbers me from top to toe, 

Their eyes' bug-out en gleam ; 

I hears dem murmur soft en low, 

"Dat gal must be a dream.” 



PERSONAL. 

The Herald publishes today portraits 
of Miss Harriet M. Belinne, Miss Cecile 
Talma and Miss Adele d’ Albert. Miss 
Behnne was assisted at the beginning 
of her career by the late William Stein- 
way. She made her debut at Breslau 
and was engaged last season as chief 
contralto at the new Opera Comique at I 
Berlin. Miss Talma, the daughter of ' 
Dr. Henry J. Garrigue of New York, [ 
was a leading member of the Carl Rosa 
opera company in 1903-04. She returned 
to New York in the fall of 1904 and was 
one of the flower maidens in Mr. Con- 
ried’s production of "Parsifal.” Miss 
d’ Albert is a young Italian singer. Born 
at Rome, she made her debut about a 
year ago, and after singing at Naples 
and other citites, won praise last season 
at Milan by her impersonation of Anna 
di Rehberg in Catalani’s “Loreley.” 

Mr. Henry Hadley conducted a concert 
of the Kaim orchestra of Munich at 
Mannheim, on June e. The programme 
was made up of pieces by Liszt, Wagner 
and Richard Strauss. Mr. Hadley's new 
symphonic poem, "Salome” (after Oscar 
Wilde’s tragedy) will he performed for 
the first time at Mannheim in Septem- 
ber. 

Mr. Isaac de Camondo, the composer 
of "The Clown,” which was recently 
discussed at length in The Herald, j 
staged the opera at his own expense, 
and it is said that the opera was pro- 
duced with “enormously fine stage ef- 
fects, and with a completeness of ar- 
rangement that might defy the most j 
money-grubbing orchestra manage- 
ment.’’ Only three performances were 
given. 

Mme. Melba sang last month at Covent’ 
Garden in "La Boheme." According to 
the Referee, "she dressed the consump- 
tive heroine in what a man would de- 
scribe as bad pink, until the last act, 
when Mimi appeared in a satin tea 
gown — which struck me as peculiar, con- 
sidering the social status of the char- 
acter, but otherwise it was the same 
Mimi, with the same ways and the - 
same beautiful voice, perfect in quality 
through its entire register, and ap- 
parently produced with effortless ease.” 

Mr. Blackburn is enthusiastic over a ' 
young Hungarian fiddler. Joska Szigeti, 
who played in London May 23. "To our 
mind this artist plays with so remark- 
able a technical skill, so broad an intel- 
ligence, and so intimate a feeling for 
music that, although naturally the pres- 
ent writer did not hear Joachim in his 
early days, we should be inclined to de- 
scribe Szigeti. judging from all the his- 
torical reports which have been pub- 
lished concerning the grand old master, 
as a youthful Joachim. His tone is ex- 
quisite, and, though one need not go 
into any technical details as to his man- 
ner of holding the violin or of his meth- 
od of fingering, the point which one has 
to deal with iS simply this: What is the 
general effect? Men who wrangle over 
detads. very often miss the point that 
the object of playing the violin or any 
other instrument whatsoever is to give 
artistic pleasure, and also to prove the 
art of the player. It is the old storv; 
when in the days of Napoleon old-fash- 
ioned generals used to complain that 
Napoleon s army was marched out to 
work during the time of winter quarters 
they foryot that Napoleon's aim was to 
win battles. At any rate it would sure- 
ly,” 6 impossible for anybody to listen to j 
this wonderful young artist, whose gifts 
practically amount to genius, not to ac- 1 
knowledge his amazing capacity for 



$2* is snntirnenial, that which is 

difficult, and that which is brilliant in 
(he domain of violin work,” 

Mr. Blackburn says of Miss Don- 
P been singing at Covent 

Hat den . The golden quality of her 
voice persistently reminded ns of the 
voice of Melba. It is evident that she 
has modelled her methods in many ways 
upon the methods of Melba. She has a 
°f extreme purity. She has a splen- 
did technique; and in some respects es- 
pecially in her trills, she has tin l 
dazzling characteristic of making the 
most impressive crescendo for which 
Melba herself is celebrated. Of course 
she is not a Melba, and Mel bn was 
herself in art when first she sang® 
but Mile. Donalda is admirable in «ri 
respects, and just precisely in 
the Melba manner, that we doubt not 
that time, which mellows the quality 
of young voices, will bring her ail 
enormously brilliant success; she has 
already shown tint she deserves such l 
a success.” The Herald published not 

a picture of Miss Donalda, a 
Canadian soprano whose real name is 
Pauline .Lights tone. She made her 

debut at Nice, then sang at Covent 
Garden, and was engaged for three 

LT/ S fi?V£ e , Monnaie - Brussels, it Ts 
said that Saleza, the tenor, gave her 
encouragement and provided an on- 

her career/ 01 " h ® r at the be S‘ nili ng of 

THE "POPS.” 

Six more "Fop" concerts and Sym- I 
phony Hall will he closed for the sum- i 
mer, not to open again -until Friday I 
afternoon, Oct. 12, when Dr. Carl Muck, j 
the new conductor of the Symphony Or- 
chestra. will make his debut in Boston 
las i week of the “Pops" promises 
to be one of the most attractive of the 
season Tomorrow night brings the 10th 
annual graduates' night,” and for this 
a limited number of seats in the balcon- 
ies. are at the disposal of the public. 
This is always one of the liveliest nights 
of the year. Tuesday night will be the 
ninth Wagner night." Conductor 
Strube has designated Wednesday night 
as soloists’ night.” There will be solos 
by Mr. Jacques Hoffman, violin- Mr 
Brooke, flute, and Mr. Kioepfei trum- 
pet Thursday night will be "request 
night,” the first of the season, and all 
the most popular pieces will he plaved 
There will be special features for Fri- 
day and Saturday evenings. The pro- 
gramme for tomorrow night (graduates’ 
night”) will be as follows: 

March. "Stars and Stripes Forever,”... Sousa 

Selection. "Prince of Pilsen” Luders 

Wal tz, ■ ’Espana’ ’. Waidteufel 

Selection. "The Earl and the Girl”. .. Carvll 

March. "Cruiser Harvard" Strn'he 

Overture, "Stradella” Flotow 

Waltz. "Morning Journal” Strauss 

Selection, "Prince Pro Tem” Thompson 

American J aatasv . . Herbert 

v\altz Jolly Fellows” Vollstedt I 

Fair Harvard 

March, “Up tho Street” !!!!.’!!!. Morse 

1 i (jot 

MANY-HUED. 

Kin* Sisawath of Cambodia, now 
visiting in France with fifty beautiful 
women expert in “strange symbolic” 
dauces. changes the color of his native 
dress to suit the day of the week, as 
an experienced shaver observes rotation 
in razors. The King is for violet on 
Tuesday, deep yellow on AVednesday, a 
color for each day, but on Sunday, we 
infer, he submits himself to European 
conventionalism, for no color is allotted 
to that day. 

It is said that he superintended the 
selection of his symbolists and now ob- 
serves them with a managerial and 
benevolent eye. A lover of color, what 
would he not give if they could change 
hue thrice a day with a view to sur- 
prising .iridescence in the dance ! There 
is a baby, little Eli Rami, at Des 
Moines, who is pink and white at sun- 
rise ; at the stroke of noon he turns to 
the “dark ginger color of his princely 
ancestors” — his father is a Count 
Natho ; at night he is “alabaster white.” 
Voltaire commented on the fact that 
vampires were to be found only in 
Hungary. Des Moines, we regret to say, 
is not near Boston. If there could be 
such color changes at will, many might 
be pleased. If a wife could be blonde for 
twelve hours and brunette for the rest 
of the day, there might be less excuse 
fpr the fickleness of husbands. 

IN COLORS. 

London men, the journals of that city 
tell us, are now indulging themselves in 
dress of flamboyant colors. Shirts blaze; 
There are waistcoats that would turn 
the Hon. Bath House John green with 
envy and compel him to take his exer- 
cise after dark. Cravats send forth 
blinding rays and supply heat in raw 
weather. “A gentleman in the Bays- 
water road” was observed wearing 
white flannel trousers, a violet shirt, a 
scarlet cravat, a bright blue jacket, an 
omelette and mushroom waistcoat, yel- 
low boots and a black plug hat. “He was 
not a Christy minstrel, but a more or 
less ordinary citizen.” All this is as it 
should be. As Sarah Bernhardt re- 
marked before embarking, there is not 
enough individuality in dress. Man 
should no longer be the pnly drab and 



undistinguisnea uiuie in me animal King- 
dom. 

There is a return to former splendor, 
as far as London is concerned. It is not 
necessary to allude to the famous beaux 
and dandies. There was Mr. Leander, 
as described by Disraeli. lie wore as an 
ordinary costume for an informal after- 
noon green trousers braided with a 
black stripe, a waistcoat of maroon vel- 
vet, a black satin cravat, with a coral 
brooch, a bright blue frock coat, frogged 
and braided, primrose gloves and a new 
silk hat. And lie was a person of rather 
quiet taste, for his watch chain was of 
steel, but one of “refined manufacture.” 
Was Leander a professional swell? Oh, 
no. He was an artist, that is to say, a 
cook ; but what a cook ! 



- Z(o l 

UNDUE SENSITIVENESS. 

Some one said, apropos of a recent 
revival of "The Mikado,” that the 
libretto is a standing insult to a 
friendly and powerful government. 
The Japan of Gilbert exists only in 
the geography of opera bouffe. The 
ethnologist should never be a stage 
manager. Furthermore, in an ideal 
society all purchasers of tickets for 
a comic opera should be previously 
examined as to their sense of humor. 

Or why should any Englishman 
seeing “Chaine Anglaise” at the 
Vaudeville, Paris, be vexed at the 
portrayal of English life and charac- 
ter? Every other sentence spoken in 
the dialogue ends in “All right.” It 
is not good form in England, the 
playwrights assure Parisions, for you 
to remove your hat or take your pipe 
out of your mouth when you are in- 
troduced to a lady. In England chut- 
' ney is scattered freely in every dish. 
A highly respectable middle class 
Englishman invites an adventuress 
to his happy home by the Thames 
and endeavors to take advantage of 
her by assuring her that she is be- 
yond any help — all this is so thor- 
oughly middle class English. But the 
English traveller in the audience at 
the Vaudeville is amused by the play, 
as, no doubt, a Japanese smiles dur- 
ing a performance of "The Mikaro.” 

OUR NATIONAL FAULTS. 

According to “Les Envers des Etats- 
Unis,” a batch of books collected by 
Mr. Ernest Charles, the worse side of 
American civilization is seen not in po- 
litical corruption, not in the mad rush 
after the dollar, but in "brutality to 
the weak, as shown in the daily and 
nightly struggle for the tramways,” in 
drunkenness, and in the absence of true 
intellectual culture. The brutality and 
the drunkenness are, he insists, the first 
signs of degeneracy. But is it not a 
fact that men here, as in England, drink 
less and less? We do not refer, of 
course, to dipsomaniacs, but to the av- 
i erage sane and thinking man who is 
I able to control himself. Some years ago 
in certain cities of this country, as in 
| London, the sight of well dressed men 
| staggering home was not uncommon, and 
in the seventies New Year’s day in cities 
of New York state was a day of general 
and expected alcoholic excess. The ab- 
sence of true intellectual culture is a 
subject for Mr. Charles Francis Adams 
to discuss at any college commencement. 
One of our amiable English cousins 
lately wrote : “In spite of their mag- 
nificent endowments and their German 
professors, the knowledge acquired in 
many American universities seems some- 
times rather ‘smattery,’ and it is aston- 
ishing, when one considers the money 
spent on education, how little really 
original intellectual work they have 
turned out.” 

NATURE’S IRONY. 

A poet sang in a prosaic line, 
nothing in nature intimated that a 
great map was dead. Nature does 
not weep with mortals, she does not 
dance to their piping, unless her Own 
mood unconsciously sympathizes 
with that of Jones, who mourns the 
death of his only son, or with that of 
Robinson, who has been singularly 
fortunate in the street. Sunday is fol- 
lowed by a holiday. There is a rush 
to the seashore or the country. The 
city clerk will have a glorious outing. 
The cottager, whose cottage may vie 
with the traditional summer palace 



' of the kings of Persia — they had a 
i palace for each season of the year — 
invites guests that there may be golf 
and tennis and automobiling and all 
sorts of diversion in out-of-door life. 
In the country it rains steadily: by 
the sea there is a drizzling fog with 
Intermittent downpours. There is 
enforced gayety in the house for a 
dozen hours, and after that sulking 
or exaggerated alcoholic stimulation. 
Nature was not in holiday mood. 
After the mortals are again at work 
she shines resplendent and riots in 
her joy. For man, with his pleasures 
and ambitions, his fancied control of 
her forces and his proudest, heaven 
defying achievements, is no more to 
her than the grasshopper just escap- 
| ing the kitten, or the bee, voluble and 
calling attention to his industry. 

RUM AND GENIUS. 

A play actor now over (JO years old, 
who says he was the first to play 
successfully the part of Joe Slade in 
"Ten Nights in a Bar-room,” was 
sentenced at Denver to the county 
jail. He was sentenced at his own 
request, for he is "almost a wreck 
from constant indulgence in liquor.” 
When he played the part of a drunk- 
ard with thrilling effect he never 
drank. As soon as he became the 
real thing outside the theatre, he 
was not realistic on the stage. 

The Glasgow Herald not long ago in- 
quired editorially into the effect of 
alcohol in its various more or less 
pleasant forms and opium on the 
brains of authors. It gave a timid 
sanction to the foolish theory that 
Poe, Baudelaire, Coleridge and others 
wrote out their wildest fancies while 
they were under the influence of 
liquor or a drug. Poe was by no 
means a steady drinker. A glass of 
wine or of strong liquor took away 
his reason: but his most fantastical 
tales wire written in long periods 
of constant sobriety. Baudelaire was 
a tremendous poseur, who liked to 
make the bourgeois sit up. He ex- 
perimented with drugs, his life was 
irregular; but the disease that made 
him imbecile befoxe his death was 
in his family. Does any one seriously 
maintain that either Coleridge or De- 
Quincey wrote under the immediate 
influence of laudanum? There has 
been much nonsense chattered about 
E. T. A. Hoffman writing in wine 
cellars of Berlin, but what Gautier 
said about him is of general applica- 
tion: “Neither wine nor tobacco 

gives one genius. A great man when 
he is drunk staggers as any other 
man, and the fact that he falls into 
a gutter should not raise him to 
the clouds. I do not believe that any 
one ever wrote well when he had lost 
his sense and reason, and I think the 
wildest and most passionate pages 
have been written with a water bot- 
tle at the elbow.” 

't'] \*ieL> 

THE THRONE. 

So the Jukes and belted Earls and 
noble dames of England now have their 
own literary weekly, the Throne. They 
write for it, they draw for it, they back 
it, and each contributor will undoubt- 
edly read his or her own article. The 
Duchess of Argyll, the Princess Louise, 
illustrates her essay', and we are at 
once reminded of Mr. George Moore’s 
celebrated description of the artistic en- 
deavors of the Royal Family. The Duke 
of Portland is prudent in authorship : 
he does not theorize or speculate ; he 
writes on a subject that he thoroughly 
understands ; one that is dear to the whole 
aristocracy ; he describes a race horse. 
The theatre article is not a foolish dis- 
cussion of Greek tragedy, the symbolism 
of Maeterlinck, the disappearance of the 
soljloquy : it deals with society plays. 
Yet let no one pooh-pooh a magazine be- 
cause its contributors are men and 
women of title. Dukes, earls and 
women of high rank can write ns stu- 
pidly or as flippantly as any untitled 
purveyor to a magazine. There have 
been noblemen, and even kings, that 
have written nobly and memorably of 
government, art, life and the soul. 



IN PARADE. 

The old-time circus parade should not 
be abandoned. To the thoughtful and 
the experienced it is the best part of the 
show. What greater pleasure can there 
be than to sit on a fence or lean against 
a lamp-post and see the procession go 
by? There are the wise elephants in 
their ill-fitting, baggy, natural trousers; 
the dejected clowns, with painted grins, 
patiently doing their part; the dashing 
ladies and gentlemen who witch the 
world with noble horsemanship ; the 
lion tamer and the animals that pace 
up and down restlessly, remembering the 
jungle, without looking at him or at the 
crowd ; the counterfeit presentments of 
rulers, statesmen and other famous 
men ; the wanderers from the East on 
camels or other strange beasts ; stat- 
uesque and allegorical groups, drawn by 
milk-white or piebald steeds ; closed 
vans, each a mysterious cabinet with 
some roaring, bellowing, shrieking mon- 
ster within ; red Indians, cowboys, 
greasers. They all pass to the music of 
a sheet-iron band and a calliope. The 
whole world is a procession and the cir- 
cus parade is its epitome. The specta- 
tor, careless of duty, forgetful of the 
hour with its engagements, cares, tri- 
umphs.gapes and remembers Mr. George 
Meredith’s definition of humanity : “A 
supreme ironic procession, with laugh- 
ter of gods in the background.” 

AT COMPIEGNE. 

Mr. Rockefeller says he will sail 
home on July 20. This will give 
Pastor Wagner, who finds the sim- 
plest life in the houses of the rich, 
opportunity to visit him as he prom- 
ised. "He’s a lovely man, a sweet, 
good man, a beautiful spirit,” said 
Mr. Rockefeller a few days ago. 
Surely after such a testimonial to his 
character. Parson Wagner will not 
disapoint his friend in oil. Mr. 
Rockefeller has said many' memorable 
things at Compiegne. He denies the 
statement that he is a billionaire. 
"A billionaire could do things that I 
cannot do. There are many tempt- 
ings things to be done in New York 
time for Pastor Wagner to be at 
or in Paris.” True; but is it not high 
the chateau to turn the American’s 
mind from worldly thoughts? One 
trembles to think what Mr. Rocke- 
feller might do if he was alone in 
Paris. Parisian life, like death in 
the poem, loves a shining mark. The 
mind shudders at the thought of a 
Rockefeller going wrong. He was 
reckless on the Deutschland, for he 
gave away $500 in tips, whereas in 
1900 he did not spend over $100 in 
the encouragement of petty officers 
and stewards to do their duty. What 
might he not do, what might he not 
spend in Paris? He is comparatively 
safe at Compiegne, but what a relief 
it will be to know that Pastor Wag- 
ner is with him! 

A BLACK DINNER. 

Mr. Julius Brown of Atalanta, Ga., 
gave a dinner on his 58th birthday. The 
tablecloth was of black velvet, the din- 
ner cards were black, there was a skullj 
at the side of each plate, a huge one was! 
suspended from the chandelier, and be- 
neath it on a black pedestal sat a monk 
draped in black. A candle was snuffed 
for each course. 

This dinner has excited comment, and 
it has been characterized as gruesome, 
but Mr. Brown was not the first in this 
peculiar table decoration and ceremony. 
The fantastical hero in Huysmans’ ro- 
tnafice, “Au Rebours,” a study of a de- 
| generate, rather than a romance, gave 
a dinner in which not only the dining 
room and table ornamentation and 
equipage were all in black, but the food 
itself was symbolical of death. We re- 
gret to say that the bill of fare drawn 
up by Mr. Brown has not been pub- 
lished at the north, but a dinner in black 
much less elaborate and expensive than 
that described by Huysmans could 
easily be ordered : Caviare, black bean 
soup, liver, mushrooms, imported black 
sausage, plum pudding, wedding cake, 
coffee, Greek wines, porter and strong 
Havanas. The waiters should, of course, 
be negroes. Is such a dinner symbolical? 
Yes, it is death itself. 



MR. HARDY’S GARDEN. 

A personal habit of Mr. Thomas 
Hardy, as described by a reporter, is 
now revealed to us. We do not know 
whether he eats hard boiled eggs for 
breakfast or whether he prefers them 
soft and with a bit of bacon. Mr. 
Roosevelt is franker in self-revelation. 
But the reporter peeped over the garden 
nail and saw Mr. Hardy walking up 
and down at a slow pace, meditating, 
slightly bent, and with his hands behind 
his back. The eminent novelist does not 
resemble the hero of Ponson du Terrail : 
“The count paced up and down the gar- 
den, reading the newspaper, with his 
hands behind his back.” Nor, like the 
poet Thomson, does Mr. Hardy, hands 
in pockets, nibble the sunny sides of 
peaches on a wall. lie keeps his hands 
behind him. Would that he were medi- 
tating a new novel? But he is still at 
work on an interminable drama, and the 
fate of Napoleon is more to him than 
any tragedy of Wessex life. What 
woman at the imperial court is to be 
named in the same breath with Bath- 
sheba, or Eustacia, or the poor heroine 
in “The Woodlanders”? The. mayor of 
Casterbridge is nearer to us than Lannes 
or Ney, and Jude is a more tragic per- 
sonage than the Emperor himself even 
at Waterloo or at St. Helena. 

THE FATAL RING. 

We read now and then of the trials 
and tribulations of women school- 
teachers who lose their position or 
keep it under grave suspicion, and 
only for a time, because it is found 
out that they have been married or 
are married. Why a married woman 
or a woman that has been married is 
therefore an incompetent teacher or 
unfit to associate with children, is a 
question for others to decide. 

Not long ago in a village in York- 
shire, “a female pupil teacher” whose 
"indenture of service" expires June 30 
became engaged with the full consent 
of her parents. Subsequent to the 
engagement and while she was at 
school, she wore an engagement ring. 
The head mistress ordered her to re- 
move it. The girl refused to do It, 
and for this breach of discipline she 
was reported to a committee. The 
committee suspended her. She ap- 
pealed to the law. Thus she is in 
danger of losing both her betrothed 
and her position, for the latter may 
not be renewed and if the former be 
a bashful person or a base deceiver 
he may leave her, with the ring. Thu 
inevitable publicity of the affair 
might frighten any country swain. 
The committee, it is said, is under 
the Impression that a betrothed 
school teacher will necessarily soon 
be a wife. The view is optimistic, 
but disheartening evidence may be 
brought against it. And why should 
not a betrothed young woman be able 
to teach the young? Is not her be- 
trothal in itself an object lesson? 

* 7 9 l 

MEN OF THE WORLD. 

Lord Lamington is the author of a 
book entitled “In the Days of the 
Dandies.” In it he discourses pleasantly 
about the years and the men of his 
youth. He thinks well of famous dan- 
dies whom he knew. Their vanities 
were "merely the ripple on the surface 
of superior merit.” Men 4 who knew 
Brummel assured him that the famous 
beau was the possessor of infinite tact, 
of knowledge, of memory, of keenness 
of perception; thathewas welcomed in 
the circle of the most intellectual men 
of the time. “To be a man of the world 
was to be a man above the level of 
ordinary men.” And in those days, as 
Lord Lamington says, men "took great 
pains with themselves — they did not 
slouch or moon through life.” But 
what would he say to the behavior of 
Twistleton Fiennes, afterward Lord 
Save and Sele, who, going out to din- 
ner, answered his new valet, who asked 
him if there were any orders : “Yes ; 

put two bottles of sherry by my bedside, 
and call me the day after tomorrow.” 
Many of us would like to be called the 
day after a dreadful tomorrow, but is 
not this a mark of mooning ..or slouch- 
ing? Of all the famous dandies known 
in London, no doubt the Count 



d’Orsay was the most accomplished 
and the most of a "man of the 
world.” His life was spectacular; 
he enlivened the landscape — and 
what else can be said of him? 

A CLUB RULE. 

A member of a country club in New 
York sat on the veranda of the_ club- 
house with his wife and a woman 
friend in the shirt in -which he had 
been playing golf and without his 
coat. He was at once reminded that 
he W'as “costumed in violation of all 
country club etiquette” and told to 
put on his coat at once. He refused; 
there was unpleasantness for a time, 
and at last he was asked to resign. 

The offender was not requested to 
don a fresh shirt. Possibly it was a 
calm day. He could have walked or 
sat coatless on the grounds if he ! 
were busied at the time in sports. On i 
the veranda a coat was indispensable. 
Yet Abraham Lincoln once told Lord 
Lyons that a pair of shirt sleeves 
was an American’s coat-of-arms. 

If the offender were wearing a pair 
of suspenders or if he had on a 
waistcoat, or if his shirt were of the 
boiled variety but limp and soggy, 
we can understand the objection. We 
assume, however, that his shirt was 
an “outing” or "fatigue,” not too 
gaudy in color or device, and that he 
was neatly belted, like any self-re- 
specting earl. If he violated a for- 
cally expressed bylaw, he was 
rightly called to order, for a clubman 
is bound to abide by rules and regu- 
lations, however foolish, tyrannical or 
enobbish they may be. 

In the great majority of clubhouses . 
for men only, a member is not al- | 
lowed to sit in the dining room with- 
out a coat, although the dog-star may 
be raging. This rule is a reasonable 
one. We regret to say that even 
clubmen are not always like Alexan- 
der the Great or Herbert of Cher- 
bury in warm weather, and it is fair 
to all in the room that all should be 
coated. But a man on a veranda is 
as one out of doors. Shirts of various 
colors lend picturesquerjess to the 
scene. The members should sit with 
reference to a color scheme, so that 
j there should be no violent clashing 
to distress the eye of a sensitive 
woman. A special committee might 
be appointed to see to this. 



MODERATION. 

Prof. W. C. Palmer of the Winona 
Agricultural College assures us all with 
a benevolent smile that there is more 
nourishment in ten cents’ worth of peas 
than in seventy-five cents’ worth of beef- 
steak, and some, no doubt, will at once 
fill themselves with peas when they are 
at a moderate price. He does not say 
whether the comparison holds good in 
the case of canned peas or in that of 
fresh peas, cooked with a little salt 
pork. 

The professor is only one of many 
who tell how mankind may be saved, 
mind and body, by special diets. Jones 
warns you solemnly against white bread, 
sausages, veal, salmon, pastry and all 
vegetables that grow below the surface 
of the soil. Jlr. Ilolyoake, the Chartist 
and general agitator, lived to a hale old 
age, and he declared in his “Sixty 
Years” that there is no royal road to 
longevity except moderation. He had 
had accidents. Ho was knocked down by 

a cab in London, a form of death which 
appeared to him as "eligible, yet not sat- 
isfactory.” In the first years of his life 
he ate whatever came to hand. “As not 
enough came I easily obtained modera- 
tion.” In the second and later half of 
I his life he heeded the advice of the 
famous Cornaro, to whom the Fletcher- 
ites and other “ites” are indebted after 
many years. He ate little meat, “not 
thinking much of it.” Listen to this 
sane speech : “My general mode of mind 
has been to avoid excess in food, in 
work and in expectation ; by not expect- 
ing much I have been saved from worry 
if nothing came. When anything desi- 
rable did arrive I had the double de- 
light of satisfaction and surprise. The 
principles and aims of earlier years are 
confirmed by experience at 88. Princi- 
ples are like plants and flowers : they 
suit only those whom they nourish. 
Nothing is adapted to everybody.” There 
should be moderation even in the en- 



r 



joj ment of peas. It is said that a woman 
should eat four-fifths as much as a man ; 
but who would like to see a woman cat 
in this proportion when the man is 
either a gourmand or an ascetic? Yes, 
there should be moderation in all things, 
and to learn the value of this self-evi- 
dent truth many of us contribute to a 
stomach or nerve specialist a goodly 
sum toward the payment of his rent. 
Moderation also includes this: The 

willingness to take the next street car, 
not the one that is just on the point of 
moving. 



: - 

/• • •• .< ' -Y| * 



MODERN TEETH. 

The Herald alluded recently to the 
fact that the grandfathers of the 
present elder generation often kept 
their teeth sound and firm, till a good 
old age, although they knew not the 
use of the toothbrush. Dr. Sim 
Wallace believes that teeth decay for 
the reason that our diet is deprived 
of its coarser parts; it is so prepared 
and consumed that, lodging in the 
mouth, it provides a pleasing diet for 
acid- producing bacteria; hence acid 
solution of the enamel. We have 
toothbrushes and antiseptics, alka- 
line dentifrices. What of it? “It is 
quite certain that civilized man, plus 
the toothbrush and antiseptics, 
makes a very poor show in compari- 
son with- the unaided dog or savage.” 
There was once a theory that mod- 
ern teeth were degenerate. Civil- 
ization with various modes of selec- 
tion and cooking of food and with 
the introduction of knife and fork 
has put teeth into comparative disuse. 
The effects have passed from genera- 
tion to generation; in other words 
teeth become poor through inherit- 
ance. But the biologist denies all 
this; he denies it in the teeth of 
Lamarck, Darwin, Spenceh 
Then comes the natural selectionist. 
He insists that in old times teeth 
were needed in the struggle for ex- 
istence; they "tended to be selected.” 
Persons who had bad teeth “tended 
to die young and childless.” But he 
assumes that there are transmissible 
tendencies to have good or bad teeth. 
This theory, too, is denied. “The 
badness of our teeth does not depend 
upon inborn characters at all, but for 
each individual is a consequence of 
his individual circumstances during 
hi. existence as an individual.” Will 
this scientific thought comfort you in 
the dentist’s chair? 

A toothbrush may be merely a 
toilet ornament. Tooth powders, 
washes, pastes, may be of no avail 
against decay. Even when they are 
recommended in public print by 
statesmen and playactresses or shown 
to us diligently in use by smiling 
ladies pictured with surprisingly 
elaborate corsets. Nevertheless there 
is a prejudice in favor of brushes and 
powder, even if the faithful dog and 
the superb savage do not use them in 



at the closing sentences and you will see 
the, boom for Miss Donalda. 

, London critics, however, praised 
the singing of Mine. Melba on the verv 
occasions when, as we are now ln- 

mered d ’ and he ^t^ SP f d V gargled, stam- 
conrsc ? Jas , 1 broke down. Of 

thev were I s on tt one explanation- 

Tfir MnlJ 1 bought with British gold. 
Slhfi y paIms were crossed; pos- 

whb I K contented with a dinner, 
with unlimited champagne. 

eomin^ nvl 3 , thoi,sh Miss Donalda were 
coming over here next season. 

Then there is the sad case of Miss 
Marion Weed. She sang in Mr. Con- 
ried’s production of “Parsifal.” She 
heeded his earnest entreaty to aid him 
in the endeavor to give “Parsifal” to the 
world, to take it from a parish chapel 
and put it forever in the great temple of 
art. Miss Weed went to Bayreuth some 
days ago. Mme. Cosima Wagner did 
not meet her at the station. Siegfried 
was not there to look after the baggage. 
''’ as ‘his all. Miss Weed went into 
and sin 8rers and musicians 
whom sh e knew greeted her coldly or 
turned their backs. There was none so 

fr^rii 1 ? ,A? r glass and e lve a 

Prosit! Furthermore, she 
was told that no one in the town would 
coach her or even hear her sing. Bay- 
reuth was then to her as Coventry. The 
report of tills high-handed and outra- 
geous conduct was at once cabled to 
no S po C H Unt P r - yet ' we re sret to say, 
as , been taken by the govern- 
ment at Washington. 

I It looks as though Miss Weed expects 
| to sing in this country next season. 

,, Then there is Miss Olive Fremstad 
prima donna, pianist, linguist and ex- 
pert swimmer,” and now a bride. Her 
name is Mrs. Edson W. Sutphen, “but 
her stage name will not be changed.” 
be Mme - Fremstad instead of 
Miss Fremstad. Mr. Sutphen will still 
Sutphen, an automobile importer 
not Mr. Sutphen-Fremstad. Mme. Sem- 
brich s husband added her name to his. 
Mr. Julian Story is familiarly known as 
Emmurames husband.” Mme. Gadski’s 
busband is still Mr. Tauscher, not the 
still Mr. Tauscher. 



eminent over whatever poor glory this 
world gives.” In comparison with this 
homage, what is the affection of a hus- 
band or two? 

The husband may be useful and even 
ornamental. He may be tactful and 
genial with impresario, conductor 
stage manager, hotel clerk, railroad 
men and critics. He may keep a sharp 
eye over the box office receipts at a 
concert. He may start the applause 
. with genuine enthusiasm, and start 
'Brava!” at the critical moment lie 
may be punctually in the baggave 
room; ever watchful in the train with 
rug, fan, smelling bottle. The great -ir- 
tist has one thing steadily in view, and 
that is fame. In domestic intimaev she 
longs for the roaring and the wreaths 
If her husband were in any wav be- 
tween her and the goal, she would 
trample him under foot. Though lie 
be a skilled musician, he must not 
criticise He must not read newspaper 
notices to her unless they be eulogistic 
If she is a prudent woman she allows 
him a certain sum a week for suenri 
ing: money. 

For the singing woman of today has 
learned prudence. Her sisters in the 
ear her years occasionally married for 
a title 01 for a pair of eyes and ro- 
mantic whiskerage. The husbdnd too 

often turned out to be a spendthrift 
and a blackguard; he was often mer- 
cenary, cruel, vicious. Today the sing- 
ing woman always numbers among her 
friends at least one prominent banker. 

He advises her shrewdly. The money 
is so invested that the husband cannot 
get hold of it. 









In London visiting singers and pianists 
from the continent are Mme, Frau, 
Fraulein, Signora, Signorina, Mile, 
Herr. M., Signor, and there is often de- 
lightful confusion. Why should Burg- 
Istaller, for instance, be called Herr 
| in England and America? But a Ger- 
man singer or player is often called 
Monsieur in London. 

A London newspaper said recently “It 
is becoming a somewhat difficult matter 
to decide when it is proper to style a 
married vocalist Miss or Madame." If 
she is English, why not Madam without 
the ‘e”? “Mrs. Kennerley Rumford 
desires to be written about profession- 
ally as Mme. Clara Butt, but one still 
talks about Miss Ada Crossley, although 
half the musical world of London went 
not very long ago to her wedding. Of 
course. ‘Mrs.’ is the genuine Fne-lioh 



Mme. Yvette Guilbert and Mr. Albert 
Chevalier gave four special matinees 
recently in London. She says that it 
is her last season as a singer of songs; 
that she will appear at Brussels next 
fall as a play actress. She purposes to 
devote her “face, figure, brains and 
heart to an art which she does not 

nuun der , perf . ect in the eyes of the 
SS ,IC . unless it be sincere and genuine 
She also purposes to play the part of 
a woman of 40, “with her ardent Joy of 

knowffignfe U ” e She kn ° WS how tp live - 
Camille Saint-Saens will play at the 
first concert of the Philharmonic Society 
m Berlin next season with Mr Nikisch 
as conductor. Saint-Saens was once a 
welcome visitor in Berlin and he was 

bu? about 2o‘ve aS pianls ‘ and composer, 
out aoout 20 years ago he gave a rnn- 

article 0( in Su Publication of an 
UoVaif ‘2 ?dilch be actually had the 
hai dihood to criticise impartially and 
discrnninatively the music dramas of 

Whfn e Saiu^ tiSanship was then violent 
f amt-Saens appeared on the stage 
, Ji s . h ' ssed by a few fanatics. Al- 
tnough there was a counter demonstra- 
b,™ °.f . s yui p athy, Saint-Saens has not 
fnsufted m Ber m since he was wantonly 



the daily routine. 

CONCERT FOYER 

Stories of a Pathetic Touch 
Concerning Singers and 
Their Troubles. 

WHY NOT A DICTIONARY 
OF SINGERS’ HUSBANDS 



The press agents have been busy dur- 
ing the last fortnight and as persistent 
m their buzzing as the 17-year locusts 
that are now devastating the oak trees 
in Barnstable county. 

Shocking stories have been told about 
inhuman treatment of Mme. Melba by 
greedy managers— how they compelled 
her to sing when she was vocally unfit; 
how Puccini after a wretched perform- 
ance of “Boheme” rushed behind the 

frig n ht S firi t0 / e *u his .bain-nursed her with 
ana tfu drew his trusty stiletto 

W u S disa rmed in the nick of time; 
w ? pt on her knees and cried: 
e 5 wevings! my voice is gone! Why 
cannot you let me live in peace!” This 
others of a similarly pathetic 
ter e , nd - strange to say. with a 
glowing eulogy of Miss Donalda, who 
fS inagnificently risen to the occa- 
that the Australian songbird has 
. (been scarcely missed." 

“ I .Gm y Passionate press agents speak of 
l wru® women as “songbirds." 
LirL Pep ?, ver ,y ou see a dispatch begin- 
ning with a line about Mme. Melba, look 



course, ’ ‘Mrs.’ is the genuine English 
term, since we have forsaken the more 
dignified ‘Mistress,’ but somehow it 
doesn’t seem quite proper to place ’Mrs.’ 
before a lady's maiden name. * * * 

Madame seems a convenient term, only 
the question is, does it convey a possible 
probability in the immediate future or 
reflect on a lady’s past? In short, is it 
libellous to use a matronly prefix to a 
maiden name without permission?” Mme 
Butt, by the way, did not sing at the 
Handel festival. If she sang at all. it 
was over the cradle of her third child. 

It is to be hoped that Mr. Sutphen 
will persuade Mme. Fremstad to be con- 
tented with operatic parts suited to the 
display of her natural voice. She and 
Miss Edyth Walker have of late been 
attempting to shine as sopranos. Thus 
they think to acquire a more extended 
reputation and to gain a higher salary. 
Women singers before them have made 
the same experiment and in the great 
majority of Instances with disastrous 
results. Marietta Alboni’s voice was 
never so rich and beautiful after she 
sang the part of Amina. What Chorley 
wrote about her then might well be con- 
sidered by all contraltos of high or 
low degree, on the stage of the Metro- 
politan Opera House or in local church 
choirs. The upper tones will be with- 
out body, and shrill, however skilfully 
I they may be taken; the lower tones will 
gradually disappear; the middle tones 
will lose in richness and in resonance; 
and when the woman would fain sing 
within her natural compass and in con- 
certed music the tones are ineffective. 
The voices of Miss Walker and of Mme. 
Fremstad are naturally noble organs. 
It is a pity that the singers are not 
contented with them. 

A biographical dictionary of singers’ 
husbands would be a useful and enter- 
1 taining work. No matter how carefully 
prepared, it would be necessarily inac- 
curate and incomplete. The volume 
should contain essays on the different 
species. Years ago there were little 
illustrated books called physiologies 
and anatomies in which snobs, fops, 
medical students, dancers, singers, edi- 
tors were dissected and discussed. 
These books were written, both in Paris 
and in London, and among the illustra- 
tors were Gavarni and John Leech. 
Was the prima donna’s husband thus 
honored? 

The more emotional the singer, the 
more celebrated she is. the more hum- 
ble his lot, for even to her his love will 
be merely an episode in her life, or she 
will look on him as one of her belong- | 
ings or more favored servants. Vitto- [ 
ria in George Meredith’s romance was ' 
trained up to worship the idea of a 
united Italy; she proved her courage! 
and her devotion to the cause; she was 
sentimentally inclined toward two or I 
three men; she at last married a pa- 
triot; but the qf owning emotion of her 
life was when, in the opera “Camilla,’’ 
singing of Italy, she thrilled the rest- 
less audience. 

“The flattery of beholding a great 
assembly of human creatures bound 
glittering in wizard subservience to the 
: voice of one soul, belongs to the ar- 
l tist. and is the cantatrice’s glory, pre- 



The Musical Courier states authorita- 
tively that Emmy Destinn of the Berlin 
Opera House will not sing at the Metro- 
politan Opera House next season. Early 
this month she impersonated Senta at 
Covent Garden. The Referee said that 
her make-up was “somewhat heavy for 
so romantic-minded a young lady, and in 
appearance she suggested a practical- 
minded and reliable damsel rather than 
one dominated by a lively imagination, 

the ™L S f!P.? fic , ance 2 f her gestures and 
pla y of tone color In her 
T'ddeh seemed unconsciously af- 
trmS^h 5 ^ 1 le emotion °f the moment, 
triumphed over appearances, and the 
presence of an Introspective and roman- 
tic mind were very finely suggested.” 
Mr. Burgstaller made his first appear- 
ance at Covent Garden as Eric. His 
action was marred by exaggeration, the 
Londoners thought, and there are Bos- 
tonians who thought likewise when he 
was here. 

Miss von Mildenburg made her first ap- 
pearance at Covent Garden, June 6, as 
Isolde, and was highly praised as an 
actress. Naturally she has a glorious 
voice, but she uses it with a lavish reck- 
lessness that cannot fail ultimately to 
injure Its quality. Her mezzo voce slng- 
aif’o 1 ? delightful, and If she would only 
attack her high notes with more con- 
sideration for tone quality, and not, as 
shoot at them, her singing 
would be as enthralling as her acting." 
,,T be old. Old story! Does the Referee 
think that Miss von Mildenburg will pav 
s , attention to this sound 

criticism? She may or may not read it 
but she will continue to hoot and shoot 
and scoop. It s in the German blood, it’s 
a , prl ^ ipIe „ of German vocal dramatic 
art. The German singer would not be 
earnest and “sincere” if he did not 
stab the ear of any foreigner who hap- 
pened to be in the theatre. 



Much has been written about the char- 
acter of Isolde and the manner in which 
her interpreter should compose the part. 
For subtle analysis and fine esthetical 
expression commend us to this burst of 
“Lancelot”: “Making all allowance for 
the awkward circumstances surrounding 
Isolde on her voyage to Cornwall, that 
she is going to be married to an old 
man whom she has never seen, while 
she is over head and ears in love with 
a knight of renown, who avoids her, it 
must be admitted that Isolde is not en- 
tirely a pleasant lady; for her deliberate 
attempt to poison her lover is, to put it 
mildly, inconsiderate. It is, indeed, only 
the accentuation of the royalty of Isolde 
and the autocratic habits of her day 
fhat excuse this attempted murder.” In 
other words Isolde is not a restful per- 
son, and the honest Londoner cannot 
imagine her fitting into the home life of 
the late Queen Victoria. 

Mrs. Fanny Bloomfield-Zeisler, who 
was obliged to abandon her concert trip 
last season on account of prolonged 
nervous depression, has recovered, it is 
said, and she has gone to Europe. She 
will play In this country for six months 
beginning in the fall. 



REAL SOCIABLE. 

The following advertisement was pub- 
lished not long ago in the London Times : 
“Man, K. C., M. P., well known profes- 
sionally and called a good companion, 
over Cl, desires to be received as So- 
ciable Guest. He wishes to be accepted 
genially by those who would not receive 
him entirely for gain, and as possibly a 

I small contributor to expenses. Write 
Whist, U. 655, The Times Office, E. C.” 

This advertiser, who ftdmits that he 
is a man, a King’s counsellor and a 
member of Parliament, is frank in other 
statements, but he does not let the 
world know whether he wishes to be re- 
ceived merely for a dinner and the even- 
ing or for a stay at a country house. The 
Chevalier Strong, in “Pendennis,” was 
a “good companion.” He was invited to 
dine with the Claverings, and he stayed 
with them for some years. There is a 
friend that sticketh closer than a brother. 
If “Man, K. C., M. P.,” is really all 
that he says he is, he should be flooded 

i with invitations. How many guests 
there are that are not sociable ! How 
few even hint at contributing to the ex- 
pense of their entertainment ! 

! f HAIRLESS. 

There are girls rich in hair and 
with little money who cannot under- 
stand how young women can sell 
their tresses as at Limoges, even 
when the price is f.53 a pound. If a 
woman have long hair it is a glory to 
her, said both Paul and Apuleius in 
memorable passages. Thomas Dek- 
ker’s rhapsody Is not so well known, 
hut he exclaimed; “Long hair is the 
only net that women spread abroad 
to entrap men in. * * * How 

ugly is a bald pate! It looks like a 
face wanting a nose, whereas a head 
all hid in hair gives even to a most 
wicked face a sweet proportion.” 
And it was Dekker who anticipated 
Walt Whitman’s famous line about 
grass being the uncut hair of graves: 
"Grass,” said the Elizabethan, “is the 
hair of the earth, which, so long as it 
is suffered to grow, it becomes the 
wearer.” But French peasant girls 
are a thrifty lot; few of them sigh 
for the life of a chorus girl, and too 
many honest wooers in the villages 
look at the dot rather than at the 
head. 



A NOTE ON SUICIDE. 

A cable dispatch from London in- 
forms us that the hot weather is pro- 
ducing the “usual increase” in the num- 
ber of suicides ; that the men hang them- 
selves as a rule, while the women drown 
themselves. This is merely additional 
testimony to the truth of propositions 
laid down in various statistical works 
on suicide. Yet November has been pop- 
ularly supposed to be the month of 
months in England for taking one’s own 
life. As the old calendar put it: “In 
this month we hang ourselves.” Of 
I course the specialist has his theory about 
self-destruction due to the heat : The 
blood vessels are reiaxed and there is 
reduction of the blood pressure ; there- 
fore, the cerebral centres are depressed, 
the will power is affected and anemia 
of the brain is produced in the weak- 
minded. A normal person is only lazy 
under these conditions — too lazy to kill 
himself. Specialists are peculiarly in- 
genious in the matter of suicide. A few 
weeks ago Mr. Durkheim of the Sor- 
bonne showed by “startling figures” that 
the number of suicides among the mar- 
ried varies with the number of divorces, 
and anything which made separation 
easier would lead the French to kill 
themselves in battalions; for, according 
I to him, “marriage gives a man some- 
' thing to live for, and thus prevents him 
from rushing out of the world in a fit 
of ill-temper.” This last proposition 
might easily excite animated discussion. 

MR. HOWELLS. 

Mark Twain has paid Mr. W. D. 
Howells a pretty compliment about his 
English, and the compliment, on the 
whole, is deserved, for Mr. Howells 
writes with more authoritative ease than 
he did in the days when the Saturday 
Evening Gazette found delight in calling 
attention to solecisms and slovenly 
phrases in his books. No doubt his style 
is not flawless today, according to pre- 
cise persons, who are wounded to the 



quick if they detect a “who" used for a 
restrictive “that.” If Mr. Howells were 
impeccable in his English he would not 
he read with any pleasure, except by 
those who would choose “The Grammer 
of Grammers” for a wet afternoon. Mr. 
George Moore said lu his “Confessions 
of a Young Man” that Mr. Henry James 
went to London and read rurgenieft, 
while Mr. Howells stayed at home and 
read Mr. Henry James. There was 
much truth in the epigram when it was 
coined, but Mr. James has strayed far 
from the great Russian and Mr. Howells 
has always been clear in the expression 
of thought. Turgenieff’s style is remark- 
ably simple and direct, and the wonder 
is that Mr. James, who has written so 
well about him and Flaubert, should 
have grown deliberately perverse and 
cryptic. Mr. Howells read the early 
novels of Mr. James and was influenced 
by them at the time. However much lie 
may admire the later James— James the 
Less — he fortunately has not played the 
sedulous ape. 

DECORATED. 

For some years it has been con- 
sidered by the thoughtful in Paris a 
distinction not to have been reward- 
ed with the red ribbon. The honor 
has been made grotesquely common. 
Yet, as the traditional “sucker,” a 
man is born every second in France 
who will grow up eager to obtain the 
ribbon at any cost. Even in this re- 
public of the United States, there 
are thousands uneasy unless they 
have the privilege of wearing a but- 
ton, ribbon, badge of some sort. 

Guy de Maupassant wrote an amus- 
ing tale, “Decore,” suggested by the 
craze in France, and only a few days 
ago the Figaro published a delightful 
sketch to show the excitement in a 
French county councillor’s household , 
at the time of the yearly rain of dec- 
orations on the just and the unjust. 
Mamma rehearses her two little girls 
in a speech to their father against 
the time when the journal will ar- 
rive with the news that he is among 
the fortunate. Papa comes in, and 
his wife gives to him the ribbon she 
has prudently provided in advance, 
but he has anticipated her with one 
twice as large. Mamma’s mother en- 
ters and declares that she has alw'aya 
said her son-in-law could do any- 
thing he chose, but he had no ambi- 
tion and so she thought she never 
would have the opportunity of being 
proud of him. The husband’s father 
is a little sour, for In spite of his 
"faithful and long-continued ser- 
vices” he has not been decorated. 
Then there Is a discussion over the 
precise reason for the expected honor, 
and it is decided that the councillor 
owes it to his intimacy with the 
minister’s secretary. The doorbell is 
rung, and the secretary and the news- 
paper arrive at the same time. The 
secretary' breaks the dreadful news. 
There was only one cross left and 
the minister insisted on his keeping 
it for himself. The little girls come 
In and begin their speech, for which 
they are at once slapped. “Just for 
a ribbon to stick in his coat.” 

t7N SATISFACTORY EVIDENCE,. 

It is hard to see why a man w'ho 
put a lot of firecrackers on ice in 
the refrigerator a few' days before 
the Fourth should be considered in- 
sane, even in a summer when ice is 
unusually expensive. He seems to 
the true lover of humanity an emi- 
nently sane and prudent person. 
Where should he have put them for 
safe keeping? In the cooking stove? 
Nor is the fact that he used to recite 
poetry necessarily a convincing proof 
of insanity. Did not an eminent 
Cambridge authority in literary and 
artistic matters urge young men to 
read at least one good poem a day? 
And is there any better manner of 
acquiring a fine taste and strengthen- 
ing the mind than by memorizing 
odes, sonnets, lyrics, quatrains, bal- 
lads, pages of blank verse? Declama- 
tion is also helpful to the lungs. 

WOMEN IN CLUBS. 

Here is another problem in club 
etiquette. A popular member of a 
prominent club introduced as his 



guest a handsome young fellow of 
charming manners. The guest was at 
luncheon and afterward in the smok- 
ing room, where he made a hit, a 
palpable hit. The member, when he 
was asked next day who his friend 
was, said he was a relative of his 
wife. Not long afterward the com- 
mittee received an anonymous letter 
in a woman's handwriting. The 
writer informed the committee that 
Mr. So-and-So had introduced his 
wife into the club in the disguise of 
a young man; that she had told her 
adventures to some of her friends, 
with one of whom she had previously 
wagered that she would thus eat and 
smoke; that finally she had persuaded 
her husband to take her with him, 
though he w r as ignorant of the wager. 
Now what should the committee do? 
Should it pay attention to an anony- 
mous communication? Should it run 
the risk of offending an honorable 
and desirable member? No doubt 
the members who were in the smok- 
ing room at the time are trying to 
remember what they talked about, 
what stories they told. If the guest 
were the wife, pray how did she ar- 
range her hair? She probably did 
not keep her hat on at luncheon. Did 
she have a close crop for the occasion, 
a "dead rabbit” cut? 



THE FATHER. 

The Herald has already alluded to 
the well known story that Richard 
Grant White, the father of the late 
Stanford White, was obliged to sell a 
part of his library on account of his 
appreciation of Miss Pauline Mark- 
ham's statuesque figure. This amiable 
beauty came to the United States as a 
member of Lydia Thompson’s company, 
and she was then a show girl, and not 
distinguished as a singer or dancer or 
for any vivacity or archness in action 
or in dialogue. The eminent Shake- 
spearian editor and the accomplished 
writer about the uses and abuses of Eng- 
lish words began his career as a music 
critic, and he was acquainted with stage 
folkformany years. His versatility was 
remart|ible, and he would write enter- 
tainingly. long after his reputation as a 
Shakespearian scholar was established, 
about the Iagos and Lady Macbeths of 
the stage and also about the artistry of 
the Clodoche dancers. The famous ar- 
ticle in which he said that Miss Mark- 
ham had the lost arms of the Venus of 
Milo was published in the Galaxy. It 
Is only just to his memory to say that 
his friends denied the report that the 
tale of his library was connected in any 
way with fervent appreciation of any 
woman. And yet the authorship of a 
little pamphlet, a biography of Miss 
Markham, is still attributed to him. In 
the world at large Richard Grant White 
was a man of reserved and aristocratic 
bearing, and the enemies made by his 
pen called him cold and arrogant, but 
DO one denied that he was high-minded. 



CANDY FOR CLUBMEN. 

It is well known that many busi- 
ness men eat chocolate eclairs at 
luncheon, sometimes with a plate of 
soup, a ham sandwich and a few 
glasses of beer. Man is a daring ani- 
mal. As a rule he has a sweet tooth 
and a much-enduring stomach. In 
Philadelphia, the Record of that city 
tells us, candy is sold in large quanti- 
ties and great variety In the clubs. 
And this in the city of scrapple and 
pepper-pot! Not only do the mem- 
bers munch candy while they dls- 
£U £5 topics . of the day, but some of 

them, sitting late and dreading the 
question, “Where have you been?” take 
a box home as a peace offering. It is 
said that $4000 worth of candy w'as 
sold in one of the more prominent 
clubs last year. There is a possible 
explanation of this liking for candy, 
and it is isurprising that the Record 
does not allude to It in defence of 
the citizens. Prof. F. S. Lee said in 
a lecture delivered before the biology 
section of the Academy of Sciences 
that if one is tired a quantity of 
candy will, half an hour after eat- 
ing, make one feel more energetic. 
Any sweet stuff will correct the 
work of the fatigue-inducing acids. 
Therefore, it is a good thing to put 
a little sugar in your drink, and not 



only to prevent it from biting like | 
an adder. We are Inclined to be- ] 
lieve that a stiff mixture of old New j 
England rum and molasses will 
seek out the centres of life and take 
away that tired feeling quicker and 
better than a pound of chocolate car- 
amels, a dozen Jackson balls, or two 
feet of stick candy. 

DISCONTENTED. 

Mrs. Hannah Elias, it ij said, paid 
a Dr. Robinson, a “beauty doctor,” 
$1000 for remodelling her neck and 
shoulders, and then she w r anted a 
Grecian nose. Mrs. Elias is a negress, 
nevertheless Dr. Robinson, although 
he told her he could not change her 
complexion, "undertook the creation 
of a Grecian nose on a Senegambian 
foundation.” Only a few weeks ago 
Miss Alice Karr of Syracuse, N. Y., 
fasted for six days, until the health 
department interfered. Miss Karr, a 
mulatto, believed that if she should 
fast long enough her skin would turn 
white, and then she would be more 
pleasing to her husband, who is a 
mulatto, or, at least, a “dark com- 
plected” person. In London a lady’s 
maid told a sad story in a police 
court. Suffering from an eruption on 
her face, she was afraid she would 
lose her situation, so she went to a 
beauty doctor, who promised to make 
her all right in ten days for £20. Her 
face became w'orse and she could not 
recover the money that she paid. 
This beauty doctor was a woman 
who still advertises that she can 
change a woman of 70 into one of 30 



io cards, and put every seven-sTnliin? 
piece they can possibly spare to this 
detestable purpose. I "shall think It 
no sin to rob their card purses, for J 
am sure I could better employ the 
money. At least I will try.” She 
should have lived in the days and 
nights of bridge whist. Old Mrs. 
Garrick, then a widow, went to her 
and complained because the Duke 
was putting up a building which shut 
off the view from her window. Mrs. 
Jordan begged him to stop the work 
and to send a comforting message 
to this old lady. 

The tone of the letters Is often 
sad. She once wrote that her feel- 
ings rose and fell “more quickly than 
the weather glass.” When the time 
came for separation she wrote with 
dignity, yet she could not refrain 
from saying: "In an appeal I made 
to the mercy and munificence of your 
royal brothers I perceive that they 
I appear totally ignorant of the mean- 
ing of those words.” She loved the 
Duke with all her heart, and in his 
way he no doubt loved her. Lord 
Frederick FItzclarence gave the let- 
ters to Queen Adelaide and wrote of 
them: “My dear mother’s letters to 
my father.” It seems a pity that at 
this late day they were sold at auc- 
tion, “the property, of a lady,” long 
after the writer’s tumultuous heart 
was at rest and the laugh that 
cheered hundreds had no echo. Fire, 
next to death, Is the lover’s kindest 
friend. 

jus-] / / 7 °^ 



years. 

There are many women who are 
not willing to “stay put” as nature 
intended. Mr. George R. Sims knew 
a woman in Millbank prison who, in 
spite of the discouraging surround- 
ings, dyed her hair golden and col- 
ored her cheeks and lips red. No 
one ever found out how she obtained 
the dye. For, the red she scraped a 
wall of her cell till she struck the 
brick wall. Then she added a little 
of her gruel to brick dust. Was she 
in the end more fascinating? We 
doubt it. Mrs. Elias, it may be re- 
membered, succeeded in getting $700,- 

000 out of old Mr. John R. Platt. 
Did Dr. Robinson’s creation of a 
Grecian nose do the business? No, 
for Mr. Platt’s infatuation dated back 
to the “Senegambian foundation.” 
She wished “to look as much like a 
white woman as possible.” She even 
wished the kinks removed from her 
hair. . In other words, she wished 
the personality that had bravely 
served her wholly changed. Yet it! 
was the personality that had brought 
her wealth and fame. Suppose for a 
moment that the negro friend of 
Baudelaire by some freak of nature 
had had straight hair; one or two of 
his striking poems in her honor would 

I not have been written. The women 
in Syracuse and London had an ex- 
cuse, the former a sentimental one, 
the latter the desire for self-preserva- 
tion. But Mrs. Elias was eager to 
exchange that which had been more 
to her than rubies for something in- 
congruous or that would make her 
commonplace. Furthermore, she neg- 
lected to pay the beauty doctor for 
her nose. 

MRS. JORDAN’S LETTERS. 

Some time ago The Herald, com- 
menting on the sale at auction of let- 
ters written by Mrs. Jordan, the fa- 
mous play-actress, to the Duke of 
! Clarence, afterwards William IV., 
inquired Into the character of the 
letters. A few quotations from the 
packet were recently published in the 
London newspapers. The letters 
abound in expressions of affection for 
the duke, but they begin without any 
profession of endearment and end as 
a rule. “Yours sincerely, D. J.” She I 
welcomed his letters and eagerly an- 
ticipated them. “I feel like the chil- 
dren who, when they want to shorten 
time, w'ant to go to bed. I w’ish I 
could annihilate time." She con- 
stantly showed her anxiety for the 

1 welfare of their children. There are 

l many allusions to her theatrical ex- i 
periences, -with references to disap-J 

pointing managers and poor or un- 
certain pay. In one letter she wrote. 
“In York, I hear, they are devoted 



THE RECENT FESTIVAL 
IN THE TOWN OF ESSEN 



Mahler’s New Symphony, and 
the Unusual Features of 
His Orchestra, 



rot long ago Mr. Henri Marteau, the 
linist, who is now more German than 
: Germans, said, in an off-hand man- 
•, that the only music worthy of con- 
eration today comes from Germany. 

would not talk about French mu- 
ians or French music. For him they 
not exist. What a pity that he was 
; born at Eisleben or Plauen! 
low the recollection of student years 
France must torture him! Could he 
; even now persuade the Paris Con- 
vatory to drop his name from the list 

■here S' nT more pitiable or in some 

■cs laughable object t M", ?’ t 8 Tause 
rintpfl Derson who without cause 
*ses the social and artistic life J?.* 1 *® 
rive land. Mr. Marteau is still a 
ml man Let him see to it that he 
ta not follow in the footsteps o, 
jvv who living at Leipsic and 1 ailing 
lins’t France, excited the indignation 
1 scorn of Tschalkowsky. 

Vhat composers are gloriously bus a 
lav in Germany? For the sake of con- 
tience let us class Austrian with Ger. 
n music. Richard Strauss Salome 
making its triumphant way. Neither 
■ difficulty of production nor the sen- 
ilism of the subject is a hindrance, 
lereverthe opera Is given, there is , ri- 
se excitement, and there are crowded 
Is There is a lull in the Max Ke- 
- boom, and the wildly la.jdpd com- 
» er has not yet totally eclipsed the 
n° of Bacli or that of Beethoven. Mu- 
by them is still played or sung even 

•he U n 'there is Gustav Mahler, there 

> vounger composers— younger in iep- 
itionif not in years-who are not 
own in Boston, even by name, to the 
iss of concertgoers. 

Neitzel at Essen. 
l new symphony by Mahler and works 
some members of the young German 
tool were produced at the 42d coh- 
>ss of the Allgemeine Deutsche Mu- 
verein. This society w'as established 
1859 by Brendel, Koehler and others, 
d it was originally established to cel- 
■ate the 25tli anniversary ot the Neue 
itschrift fuel- Musik, the organ at that 
ie of the young romantic German 
iooI of music. The purpose oftlieso- 
tv is to produce new works of ment. 
bHshed o? in manuscript, and to per- 
■m older works that are seldom heard, 
festival Is held, yearly, as a rule m | 
e of the smaller German cities. _It Is 
, intention of tire members to support 
; cause of the young and romantic in 
rmany and to lend sympathetic aid to 

> like cause in other countries, as In 

> past to France and Russia. . 

’be congress was lield this yc&r ^ 
sen where the cannon come from, at 
sen! which is said to be a typical fac- 
•v town; but the concert ball 13 °ne 
the best in Europe. There were con- 
•ts from May 24 to May 27, and what, 

rhVre are several interesting ac- 
ints of this festival, among them 
e contributed to the Musical Cmirier 
New York bv Mr. Arthur M. Abell. 

Otto Neitzel of Cologne, com- 
ser ptanist critic, lecturer,, wrote an 
usually interesting description the 
tv music. His article was publislieu 




Ml 55 
pURTNkY 



'•dUUfyLmC’SAY & 



Constancy 



Mrs 

CHARbf/S 

CfiHlt-R 

^RPHEAJS 



EW MUSICAL WORKS 
PRODUCED IN EUROPE 



jltates next season as a lecturer-pianist, 
p e shall quote from him. more or less to- 

ay. 

; He, like Mr. Karl Muck, is a "Dr.,” a 
octor of philosophy and not of music, 
'itles mean something in Germany, 
nd they to whom the titles have been 
warded value them and with reason. 

doctor of music and a professor of 
tusic earn the honor. In this country 
, professor of music is no more than a 
irofessor of dancing, hair dressing, 
orn cutting, boot blacking. It is a 
■ >lty that Mr. Willy Hess of the Boston 
Symphony orchestra uses his title as 
freely as he does, for its peculiar sig- 
nificance is not understood by the 
crowd. To the average citizen any 
teacher of the piano, fiddle or banjo is 
a professor. It is to be hoped that Mr. 
Karl Muck will not insist on being 
mown here as “Dr.” “Doc” is as famil- 
iar and as important as “Coll.” or 
'judge” in a southern state. “Mr.” was 
good enough for Mr. Muck’s predeces- 
sors, and it is good enough for 
presidents of the United States. 

A New Symphony. 

The most important eyent of 
festival at Essen was the first per- 
formance of Gustav Mahler's new sym- 
phony in A minor, No. 6, led by the 
composer and played on May 27. The 
ymphony consumed an hour and a 
quarter in the penvrmance, and there 
was no other piece on the programme. 
As Mr. Neitzel says, the unusual na- 
ture of Mahler’s orchestra was the sub- 
ject of much comment long before the 
performance. The Herald has already 
mentioned some of the percussion in- 
struments that have hitherto been neg- 
lected even by extravagant composers. 
[According to Mr. Neitzel, it will now 
be necessary for every music school of 
the first rank to establish a "master 
1 lass" for pulsatlde instruments The 
■ass drum switched with a bundle of 
eeds gave the hearer the impression 
if "a sheeted ghost in a bed chamber 
lerforming a series of daring leaps.” 
dahler, however, used this switch in 
in earlier symphony. There were cow- 
>ells of various sizes in rows of four 
ir five, and they were employed in 
munding of themes or in producing im- 
iressions — thoughts of Alpine pastur- 
tge, awakeners of longing: “It is there 
[ would be.” There was a curious ma- 
chine, a stretched oxhide, which was 
placed on the top step of the platform 
This contrivance, which was "greeted 
by some as the symbol of Mahler’s new 
creation” was not employed at the per- 
formance. It is said that no man could 
be found In Essen and the neighbor- 
hood strong enough to strike the hide 
so as to produce the desired effect 
Then there were two celestas, the in- 
strument which Tschaikowsky heard in 
Paris; he was so pleased with it that 
he introduced it in one of 'his ballets 
and in a ballade for orchestra. It gives 
out a tinkling, etherial sound. “Cow- 
belis and celestas!” says Mr. Neitzel- 
Paradise on earth and Elysian Fields 
up yonder!” B 

For these reasons alone the new sym- 
phony should excite popular interest. 

I he percussion instrument appeals to 
any crowd, whether it be in a beer <mr- 
in Symphony Hall, whether it be 
used in the finale of the “Peer Gvnt” 

suite, in the -first piano- concerto -*of 

Liszt, In the overture to “Masienello,” 
or in the second movement of the “Pa- 
thetic” symphony, whether it be the 
bass drum, the cymbals, the triangle, or 
the kettle drums. And what was one 
of the most memorable episodes in the 
history of music in Boston? The per- 
formance of the “Anvil” chorus from 
“11 Trovatore,” with the assistance of 
brawny red-shirted firemen at the Peace 
Jubilee. Why firemen should strike an- 
vils in a gipsy encampment is after all 
a trivial question. And did not the 
great Hector Berlioz himself order that 
a cannon should be fired toward the end 
of the superb funeral march for Hamlet, 
one of the most, profoundly moving 
pages in the whole literature of music. 

Mahler is again accused of helping 
himself freely to melodic thoughts of 



• liV*, .*> --Vi 

tJtlblL LdUPBAY 



the 



others. Mr. Neitzel, a kindly ana broad- 
minded man, admits that he heard lyric 
echoes of ochuoert’s music and pathetic 
phrases after the manner of Meyerbeer. I 
Mr. Abell heard phrases or passages 
from works of Goldmark, Liszt, Tschai- 
kowsky, Bizet and others. It is easy in 
these days to detect “reminiscences,” 
which are often only vague and fleeting. 
Mr. Neitzel finds much more than rem- 
iniscences in this symphony. He praises 
the first movement, which he puts by 
the side of the first in Mahler’s third. 
The second and third movements are 
most attractively colored, finely worked 
out and most cle'verly anarchistic. The 
finale is brutally noisy. A hearer found 
in it ”a hypertrophy of instrumental ex- 
pression.” Grant that Mahler is wil- 
fully extravagant and at times bizarre, 
says Mr. Neitzel: “His technical knowl- 
edge and skill are so eminent, he han- 
dles tlie orchestra in such a new man- 
ner, he knows so well how to develop 
his themes and to build up his move- 
ments that he who does not follow and 
observe his progress loses much in the 
development of his own knowledge.” 

It appears that in spite of Mahler’s 
well known objection to an explanatory 
or suggestive programme, the unwritten 
title of this sympnony is “Longing After 
Redemption,” and to this might be 
added "Through Nature as a Refuge,” 
and, alas, to this, "but all in vain.” 

Made in Germany. 

The concert on May 24 was devoted 
wholly to orchestral compositions or 
compositions with orchestra. Seven new 
works were performed and the concert 
lasted from 6 P. M. to 11 P. M„ with the 
Intermission of an hour. Mr. Neitzel 
tells us that the best of the new works 
was “Sea Drift” (after Wait Whitman’s 
poem) for baritone solo (Josef Loritz), 
chorus and orchestra. Tills is generous 
of Mr. Neitzel for his "Life a Dream," 
a fantasy for violin and orchestra, was 



also on tlie programme. Mr. Neitzel 
conducted it and he writes of the w-ork 
as follows: “I pronounce no judgment 

on it. If it has life, tile reader will find 
out in due time this winter what there 
is in it; and if it died at birth, let it lie 
covered with tlie cloak of silence. But 
justice compels me to mention the great 
triumph which the modest composer 
achieved by conducting his work, al- 
though he had not held a baton for 25 
years, and then he was only a beginner. 
Richard Strauss himself slapped my 
shoulder and said: ’A man can or lie 

cannot. You c-an!’ Nevertheless the 
rumors that Mr. Ellis as Mr. Higgin- 
son’s deputy lias engaged the said com- 
poser for Boston at a yearly salary of 
75,009 marks are unfortunately not true.” 

The programme of this monstrous con- 
cert also included a Heroic Tone Poem 
by Rudolf Siegel of Munich, which, Mr. 
Abell says, is lyric rather than heroic, 
and lacks thematic invention, but shows 
a strong talent; a symphonic poem, 
“Dem Sehmerz sein Reclit,” by Richard 
Mors, “a tiresome, empty piece”; an 
hour-long symphony in E major by Her- 
mann Bischoff; "Falada,” a scene from 
fairy land, for soprano, baritone and 
orchestra by Walther Braunfels, and 
Humperdinck’s Festal Song, written in 
celebration of the silver wedding of the 
imperial pair, Feb. 27, 1906, for soprano, 
tenor, chorus and orchestra. 

Delius is an Englishman, a Yorkshire 
man by birth, but he has lived in the 
South of the United States, in France 
and in Germany. He has written an 
opera with a libretto founded on one 
of Mr. George W. Cable's novels, a 
choral work, “Appalachia,” and other 
pieces that have distinguished him. Mr. 
John F. Runciman began blowing the 
trumpet in his honor some years ago. 
Mr. Neitzel says that “Sea Drift” is in 
the manner of the latest French im- 
pressionists. “It is pure ‘mood-painting ' 
but it is done with great skill and deep 
emotion.” 



In England. 

A set of orchestral varintim.,, , 
Coleridge-Taylor on the theme of a 
negro song or hymn, “I’ m Tronhl^i • 
Mind,” was performed for the first fi 

June 14 at a Philharmonic concer t; 
London. The composer conducted Tim 

Is?™ rSe th 4;: h r 8 , won! 

b e° e? ' pfeas ure S t o "fm d ifi^ ^ip j nfo" ^ 
firmed V ^ perform a ncV^ in” Bo st on? 

ninnt i Co .l e I A I ' d?e ' Ta:v ' ,or became fa- 
nious bj ]iis Hiawatha” music he lias 
* '^lUen much and in great haste, and 
i Pieces that we have heard have 
been perfunctory and dull. Joseph Hoi- 
" An , nal ? el Lee.” for baritone 
•solo and orchestra, was performed at 
H'® ■ sa " 1 . e concert, with Mr. Jiennerley 
Rumford as the singer. There are no 
nutes, trumpets or trombones in the 
orchestra, but the English horn, bass l 
cl, a, met and double bassoon are used I 
Tile Tunes has little sympathy for mod- 
So’tfi 1111 '' 510 u , n ™ ss * >e oi: a conventional 
^ > p'V, ern ’ Mr. Holbrooke is a modern 
of the moderns; yet it admits that "the 
words are well accentuated" and the 
music has “more continuity of idea 
H? an I? 1 " 6 tile composer’s works.” 
Mi. Holbrooke lias written several 
works of long breath, suggested by 
Poe s poems and tales. Good judges 
speak highly of Iris vivid imagination 
and brilliant instrumentation, and it 
might be worth while to produce some 
of his works in Boston. We do not re- 
member to have seen any of his songs 
on a programme here. 

Gustav von Holst, born in 1S74, studied 
at the Royal College of Music, and he is 
now tlie musical director of the Pass- 
more Edwards Settlement, Bloomsburg 
His Mystic Trumpeter” (after Walt 
\\ hitman) for voice and orchestra was 
pei formed at a Philharmonic concert in 
London, May 31. (The work was per- 
formed in London last June.) Tlie com- 
poser is said to show fancy and skill. 

In common with many young writers 
jA manifest tliat originally lie did not 
gi\e sufficient attention to his design 
and lie has frequently written injudic- 
iously for the brass. The result is that 
the work is difficult for the listener to 
understand, and there frequently occur 
harsh sounds, not always justified by 
the character of the text. Tlie vocal 
part might also have been more effec- 
tively laid out for tlie voice. These 
taults, however, are more the result of 
inexperience than lack of idea, and it is 
obvious that Mr. von Holst lias some- 
thing to say. The singer was Miss 
Gleeson-Whrte. Mr. Frederick S Con- 
verse of Westwood, Mass., lias written 
a symphonic work illustrative of Whit- 
man s poem. It lias been played with i 
great success in Philadelphia, in one or 
X?!?. w ;? stRrn cities, and we believe in 
New York, but Boston has not yet 

’A , Let us h °pe that Mr. Muck 
will look favorably on it. 

A piano concerto in D by York Bowen 
with the composer as the pianist, was 
performed with unusual success at a 
Plnlharniomc concert in London, May' 

31. Mr Bowen is 22 or 23 years old, and 

Muafo Udl >r? at • * le RoyaI Academy of 
Music. There is no break between the 
three movements, and the performance 
does not last over 17 minutes. “The 
work is based on strong, significant 
themes, is skilfully scored, and is re' 
markable for terseness of treatment” 

, A 1 . 1 ? w cantata, “Odysseus in Pliaecia,” 

W .Alan Gray was produced in the 
Guildhall, Cambridge, June S. Tlie two 
chief soloists are Odysseus and Nau- 
sicae.. The .writing is “straightforward 
and simple. Tlie music “does not put 
an excessive tax on the technic of the 
performers.” “Tlie times do not come 
from Brahms or Schumann, the orches- 
tration is not Wagnerian, tlie declama- 
tion is not tlie declamation of Strauss. 

The result is that the thing strikes one 
as sincere, and as there are many mo- 
ments of real beauty in it, it ought to 
be a genuine success wherever it is per- 
formed. ’ TJie chief singers were Miss 
Agnes Nieliolls and Mr. William Green 8 
New songs that were liked in London 1 
Granville Bantock’s “Evening Thou 
Bringest All.” and "Song of the Genie”- 
Norman O Neil's “In Guernsey”; Roger 
Ouilter’s “Airly Beacon”; Sinisraelia 's 
“Sultry Night”; Sibelius’ “Black Rofes*- 
Songs!” S ' Ryan ’ s “ Pour Elizabethan 

Miss Muriel Elliot composed an over- 
ture, choruses, and two marches for 
the performance of Swinburne's “Ata- 
lanta in Galyclon.” procluppr] qf 
Crystal Palace School of Art June 7 
Mr. Walkley wrote; ’’The movement! of 
this chorus of maidens were always ex 
pressive and always graceful; they re- 
flected the emotion of the moment and 
thanks to Miss Muriel Elliot's music to 
one or two fine voices, and the admir- 
able leadership of Miss Marv Webb 
their singing was always a pleasure to 
hear Miss Elliot had wisely jfiven im 
all attempt to follow archaic modes hut 
her music, whicli was scored for strings 
and drums, had exactiv the necessarv 
qualities of breadth, simplicity, and re 
straint, and expressed to a nlcetv the 
feeling required.” B 



PERSONAL. 

Tlie Herald publishes today portraits 
of Mrs. Charles Calmer, Miss Courtney- 
Tliomas and Miss, Julie Lindsay, Mrs 
Cahier, born Walker, was well known 
in certain western cities and in New 
York as Mrs. Morris Black. She was 
born, we believe, at Indianapolis. Mr 
Black of Cleveland, a Harvard gradu- 
ate, died soon after his marriage, but he 
was already known as a lawyer and he 
would probably have been prominent in 
politics. Mrs. Black, who has a rich 
„and beautiful contralto vhice of large 
compass^' studied” la-’ New tfork^afd 

| afterward In Paris with tire late Koenig 
and also, it is said, with Jean de i 
Keszke. She sang for the first time in ! 
opera In Nice Feb. 14, |904, as OOrpheUS, 1 
and in Nice she met her second bus- 
band, Clinries Cttlilcr, a young Swedish 
physidan, who was living there. Last 
season Mr*. Cahier sung lu concert and 
in opera In various cities of Europe 



V. 1th considerable* uucco**. Hhe was 
neard in Boston two or throe season* 
e.go at a conoert.of the Boston Orches- 
tral Club. , 

Mjss Courtney-Thomae of St. Loulr 
lias been a member of tho Opera Com- 
)que company, Paris, for 30 years. She 
has been a useful singer, ready to art 
as an' understudy, ana not Irritable If 
she Is In the performance on an off 
night. She sang In Berlin when mem- 
bers of the Opera Comlcjuo gave per- 
formances there, and she has sung In 
other European cities, but without ex- 
citing marked attention. 

Julie Lindsay Is the stage name of 
Miss Julie Lillie, a daughter of Mr. An- 
drew Lillie, an American who has lived 
! for many years in Parle. She made her 
first appearance at the Opera, Paris, 
in December, 1903. when she was the 
Constance in Moaart’s ‘‘Escape from 
the Seraglio.” She lias appeared in 
other parts and is still a member of the 
company. 

Miss LouisecOrmsby, formerly of Bos- 
ton, has been chosen to slug the solo 
I soprano music In Verdi’s "Requiem” at 
the next Worcester Festival. Mme. 
Bouton will be the contralto. 

Mr. Fernandez-Arbos. formerly con- 
certmaster of the Boston Symphony Or- 
chestra, arranged the state concert at 
the wedding of the Icing of Spain and 
directed a series of special concerts In 
\tlu Alhambra, Granada. 

Elena Qerhardt. mezzo-soprano, gave 
aisong recital accompanied by Air. Nlk- 
isch in London, June 13, and was called 
by leading critics a great singer. Mr. 
Baugham characterized her as "one of j 
the few great singers of the day.” She 
^studied -with i Mme. Iledmont of Lelpslc. 

OPERATIC. 

Theifollowlng artists from other thea- 
tres have been engaged for this year’s 
Itlchard Wagner and Mozart festival 
at Munich: Sophie David, Cologne; | 

Ernesta Delsarta, Dessau; Geraldine 
Farrar. Berlin; Thila Plalchinger, Ber- 
lin; Ernestine Schumann-Heink, New 
York; Dr. Otto Briesemelster, Stock- 
holm; Karl Burrian. Dresden; Ernst 
Kraus,} Berlin; Albert Reiss, London; 
.Anton Van Rooy, New York; Deslder 
iZador, Prague. They will be assisted by 
the entire staff of the Royal Hof and 
! National Theatre. The musical arrange- 
ments are In the hands of the royal 
general musical director, Felix Alottl 
and the royal chef d’orchestre. Franz 
Fischer. A large number of tickets have 
already been sold. Descriptive pro- 
grammes and tickets may be bail 
through the general agency tourist of- 
fice. Schenker & Co.. Munich, Prome- 
nadeplatz 16. 

Alisa Ethel Smyth and her endeavor 
to have her opera, "The Forest,” pro- 
duced here by the Metropolitan Opera 
House company, under Mr. Grau, are 
still fresh in the minds of many. Her 
new opera, ”Les Naufrageurs,’ will be 
produced at Leipsic. they say. in Sep- 
tember, and three preludes from it are 
in the repertory of the promenade con- 
certs at Birmingham. Eng. „ 

Samara’s latest opera. Biondlnetta. 
did not please when It was produced 
in Germany. A soldier wounded in 
battle dreams, and In one of his fan- 
tastic visions his betrothed is about 
to marrv another. He recovers, goes 
home and lo! the dream was true, for 
he arrived at the wedding. Now Is 
■the time for disappearing, hut he pre- 
fers to shoot himself. 

"Der Bucklige” (“The Hunchback ). 
an opera by Alexander Morvaren, who 
is an Englishman named Alick Mac- 
lean, has been produced at Mainz. It 
is founded on Coppe’s "Luthier de 
Cremone.” Miss Marcella Craft, for- 
merly of Boston, took the part of the 
heroine. Maclean was horn at Eton 
in 1872. His other operas are "Quen- 
tin Durward" and "Petrucclo.” The 
latter won a prize of £100 and was pro- 
duced at London in 1895. 

Siegfried Wagner has composed a 
new opera on a fairy subject. “The 
Law of the Stars," which will be pro- 
duced at Hamburg. His admirers say 
It will be superior to anything he has 
yet written. The statement is not in- 
credible! 

EDITORIAL COURTESIES. 

Mr. Pott and Mr. Shirk are still 
famous for their exchange of "editorial 
courtesies,” nor is Mr. Slinkers wholly 
forgotten. lie, according to Artemus 
Ward, was unequalled for his ability to 
deliver in print a "genteel home thrust. 
The editor of the Western News at Bal- 
linasloe is a dangerous rival. lie does 
not like the master of the workhouse, 
who lias put money into a rival news- 
paper, and at his instance the master 
lias been charged with forging the sig- 
nature to a check, with conspiracy and 
with ’ fraud over a will. The Western 
News, while the case was pending, did 
rot hesitate to say editorially : "There 
is not a crime under heaven, from cheat- 
ing at cards to deceiving tho dying and 
robbing the dead of their shrouds, that 
this fellow lias not reseorted to for get- 
ting money to keep his accursed harem 
paper, that has ruined him, alive." The 
rival's reply was feeble ; it referred to 
the editor as "this creature” ; also to 
"the blasphemy of this wretch” and his 
“ioathsome organ.” r>ut the master of 
the workhouse did not waste time in 
windy words. It was enough for him 
that the rival of Pott, Shirk and 
Slinkers was lodged in jail for three 
months for contempt of court. 



HO FOR KANSAS! 

The Kansas farmer, it appears, wel- 
comes college men as "help.” Not only 
because they have had gymuasium prac- 
tice and are handy with hoe and pitch- 
folk, after a day or two, but also be- 
cause they know the latest slang; they 
have a fund of pleasing anecdote; they 
are acquainted with the niceties of eti- 
quette, and "without knowing it they 
teach these things to the farmers’ sons 
and daughters.” They also enliven the 
evenings and make Sunday pass quick- 
ly. Furthermore, they are agreeable 
companions in the fields and in the 
barn ; they sing and joke as they work. 
"Let the college men come,” exclaims 
an ageut of a Kansas employment bu- 
reau, “and I will see that every one has 
a job for the whole summer.” Here is 
an opportunity for those just graduated, 
and also for undergraduates, who would 
like to spend a sensible vacation. They 
will gain strength ; they will live in the 
open air; they will be an educational 
force. We like to think of them ex- 
plaining the origin and significance 
of “2?>” and “skiddoo” to blushing, 
corn-fed, wholesome maidens; delicate- 
ly correcting some solecism in table 
manners ; dispelling the gloom of a wet 
evening by telling some merry prank of 
the Med. Fae., or hinting at the horrid 
mysteries of the initiation into the 
Omega Lambda Chi society. Ho for 
Kansas, ;lnd again hoe ! 



UNDER THE BAN. 

The Topeka Public Library, it is said, 
will not give Mr. Sinclair’s "The .Tan- 
gle” shelf room on the ground that “its 
repulsiveness makes it unfit to he read. 
Thus is the hook advertised without cost 
and the desire to read it whetted. There 
is a long list of books that have been 
censured and condemned to be burned 
in a public square by the executioner. 
Gabriel Peignot made a list of them 
with entertaining annotations. Last 
winter a book— a novel, we believe — was 
burned publicly at Oxford, the univer-i 
sity town that has seen stranger and' 
more memorable burnings. We have yet 
to learn how the sale has been influ- 
enced. Trustees or committees of public 
libraries move in a mysterious way in 
their rejection of hooks. An interesting 
article could be written about volumes 
in the Boston Public Library that are, 
starred, or are put in the "Inferno,” or 
are conspicuous by their absence. Some 
time ago objection was made to the 
presence of Charles Dickens’ ‘‘Child’s 
History of England"! In Topeka they 
call for civet and look fearlessly on 
canned goods, but would they allow a 
description of the process of obtaining 
and preparing civet to be in the library? 
There are “repulsive” statements in 
encyclopedias, histories, biographies, 
works on scientific subjects, and even in 
dictionaries. There are many pages in 
the Topeka Public Library that should 
be torn out if the commiftee wishes the 
townsmen to read only that which is 
pleasant. 

STRAIGHTER ELBOWS. 

Mr. George R. Sims and other trained 
observers in London bear testimony to 
the greater sobriety of street life, as far 
as alcohol is concerned, and any bnr- 
keeper of long experience in New York 
or Boston will tell you that there is 
less hard drinking among business and 
professional men than there was a dozen j 
years ago. However fantastical or fool- I 
ish certain modern dietetic theories may | 
he, it is certain that men and women arc 
now much move careful about food and 
drink, and the majority live mere sen- 
sibly. We doubt if even in England, 
with the climate at its worst, any duke 
.would be applauded for saving, as a 
duke once said, "Next week, with the 
blessing of God. I purpose to be drunk,’ 
and while there are. no doubt, accom- 
plished drinkmasters still to he found, 
an Englishman of reputation is yot 
necessarily a three-bottle man. A letter 
written by a racing Duke of Richmond 
in 17", 7 was sold recently at auction. 

It began; "1 presume your graces 
scheme is to be drunk the whole first j 
week in August, for if four days’ drunk- | 
enuess would suffice you might just as , 
well have the races begin the day after | 
the assizes, which is the Tuesday, bj 
which megRg we western people may get 
home ro cur wives and children o:i the 
Friday ” It is hard to think of a letter 
like this, written either in jest or ear- 
nest, to an F-n*-’ ' 1 d’ii> today. 



DICTIONARY READING.' 

A "young and handsome society” 
woman in Chicago is suing for divorce 
from her husband, who is the “cultured 
editor” of a society paper. It is alleged 
| that, not satisfied with her youth and 
beauty, he wished to improve her mind. 
To quote Gilbert, he should have 
thought of that before he joined the 
force. In his zeal he recommended to 
her a dictionary for light reading, and 
urged her to commit to memory pages 
of “Paradise Lost." Thus he lost his 
paradise and she is seeking to regain 
hers. 

We do not blame her for revolting 
against the enforced committal of any 
epic poem to memory, but she should 
have found pleasure in an hour or two 
with a dictionary, and not merely for 
the purpose of ascertaining the spelling 
or the meaning of a word. \\ hen 
Baudelaire visited Gautier for the first 
time the latter asked him if he enjoyed 
reading dictionaries, and when the caller 
said that it was one of his chief pleas- 
ures, they were at once intimate friends. 
It is rumored that Mr. George Meredith, 
is an indefatigable reader of dictionaries 
that he may know what words to avoid. 

There is no book that is at the same 
time so full of fact and suggestion, state- 
ment and romance, form and color as 
any modern dictionary. Open one at 
random and read without special pur- 
pose and you will be engrossed. Try 
the experiment. The dictionary is, per- 
haps, one for student’s use. As .though 
opening the Bible in superstitious vein 
to read your fate in the verse on which 
your finger rests, you strike the word 
"scallop,” not a singularly happy choice, 
but it will serve. Pay no attention to 
derivation or variants. There is the verb 
associated with oysters the vision of a 
loved one arises with fancy work or ab- 
sorbed in planning intimate lingerie. 
There is the scallop itself, a delicious 
bivalve, designed by a beneficent creator 
for young stomachs in smooth running 
order. There is the scallop shell worn 
by pilgrims, and a world of romance 
breaks on the delighted view. In dialect 
a “scallops” is an awkward wench, an 
Audrey. Volumes are suggested by this 
one little word of two syllables. The 
“cultured editor” can easily make a 
strong defence, even if his mother did 
characterize the wife ns an “absolutely 
impossible person” and thus exercise a 
time-honored privilege. 



Mr. de Nion had on former occasions 
found fault with pieces produced at Mr. 
Antoine’s theatre. The latter said his 
playhouse was a place of business where 
he sold the latest fashion and best qual- 
ity in laughter, tears and shivers at 
moderate prices. “He (Mr. de Nion) is 
no more entitled to enter my house at a 
public performance and declare in print 
that the play is bad than he has to cross 
rhe road, dine at a restaurant and pub- 
lish his opinion that the cooking is in- 
ferior." To this a sound answer was 
made: “Mr. Antoine says lie is a trades- 
man ; he is therefore governed by the 
laws of trade; when he allows .the 
statement to be made that the play is 

good when it is not, he is attempting to 
obtain money by false pretences; and, 
being a tradesman, what justification 
has he for talking of ‘art’ ”? Since then 
Mr. Antoine lias shown in many ways 
t ha t lie puts art above business, and his 
administration of the Odeon will no 
doubt add to the glory of a iong estab- ■ 
lislied theatre. 



T 






MR. ANTOINE. 

Mr. Antoine, the celebrated play-actor , 
and manager, has been appointed direc- 
tor of the Odeon in Paris, to the joy of I 
all Parisians who have the best inter- 
ests of the drama at heart. It is said 
that years ago Mr. Antoine, then a clerk 
and an amateur actor, put on sideways 
one day a derby hat and was struck by 
his resemblance to Napoleon Bonaparte, 
lie immediately determined that he, too, 
would be great, and he knew that he 
had a guiding star. He founded the 
Theatre Libre, encouraged young play- 
wrights, introduced Scandinavian, Ger- 
man and Belgian plays, and was his 
own star. Afterward he had his Thea- 
tre Antoine, and he and his company 
travelled, even as far as Buenos Ayres. 
Aim all because he thought he looked 
like Napoleon. 

There have been others who plumed 
themselves upon a fancied resemblance 
to the great Corsican. No less a man 
than William Hazlitt pouted because 
Sarah Walker, the daughter of a lodg- 
ing house keeper, did not at once adore 
bun for the simple reason that his head 
was not unlike a bust of Napoleon, 
which the essayist valued as a worship- 
per his idol. There is always at least 
one youth in college who tries to look 
like Napoleon in the recitation room or 
ii the chapel. He arranges carefully his 
hair ; he sinks his head, after the man- 
ner of the exile at St. Helena in ad- 
mired pictures. There are brokers who 
pride themselves on being Napoleonic. 
We know a business man in New \ork 
who has a small bronze statue of Napo- 
leon on his writing desk, and he could 
almost kiss the caller who looks from 
statue to man and from man to statue 
admiringly. Short men with a paunch 
thus find consolation. 

Mr. Antoine, by the way. in a con- 
troversy some time ago with the critic, 
Mr. de Nion, made an astonishing ex- 
j planation for refusing to invite the 
i critic to the dress rehearsal of a play. 



STITCHED HEARTS 
There 'has been much talk about n| 
wonderful surgical operation in New] 
York. A man's heart was stitched up. 
Unfortunately, the patient did not reap 
the full benefit of the surgical skill. As 
a matter of fact, he died a few days 
ago and a few days after the operation, 
which, nevertheless, was described ns “a 
great success.” It was also described as 
daring and novel. Was it so novel? 

Only last March'the heart of a wom- 
an who had stabbed herself was stitched 
up in Paris. Before this case Dr. Rehe 
of Frankfort had a patient who had 
also been stabbed, and in the natural 
course of events would have bled to 
death. The doctor laid bare the heart, 
which worked violently during the oper- 
ation, and sewed up the severed edges 
of the right side. Tlie patient recovered. 
There was a still more remarkable ease 
in London. A man who had been stabbed 
in the heart was taken to a hospital. 
After the heart had been sewn up a 
metal plate was placed over it. The 
patient was watched night and day lest 
the wound should open and the plate 
become dislodged He was discharged 
and is alive and well, and the plate is 
still over the sewn-np organ— so that he 
now walks at night f with greater confi- 
dence. 

7^7 f & 

CONCERT FOYER 

If Saint-Saens Comes Here li 1 
Is Hoped He Will Conduct 
Symphony Orchestra. 

STORIES OF MUSICIANS 

HERE AND IN EUROPE 



Mr. Marc A. Blumenberg, the editor 
of the Musical Courier of New York, 
cabled from Paris last week that Saint- 
Saens had been engaged for an Amer- 
ican tour, which will begin next No- 
vember. “It is understood that his visit 
1 will be in the interests of French 
music generally, and he is expected 
to appear in the capacity of pianist, 
conductor, organist and composer, of 
course.” 

Camille Saint-Saens will be 71 years 
old on the 9tli of October next. On the 
19th of last May he celebrated at Paris 
the 60th anniversary of the beginning 
of his career, of the concert which he 
gave as a child pianist. At tills anniver- 
sary concert he played the andante and 
the allegro of his first concerto, his own 
piano pieces, “Wedding Cake” and 
"Rhapsodie d'Auvergne,” and Beetho- 
ven’s concerto in E flat. Messrs. Plante 
and Delafosse played four-hand pieces 
by Saint-Saens; Mme. Auguez de Monta- 
lant sang some of his songs; the orches-i 
tra of the Conservatory played his 
overture to "Andromaque.” 

There was a brilliant audience and 
the pianist-composer was greatly 
honored. He deserved all this and 
even more, for he has not only com- 
posed works of fine distiRction and 
pure taste, he has not only shone as a 
virtuoso; he has also fought during 
his career for the pure music of 
France and other nations, and al- 
though the Debussyites and the dis- 
ciples of Mr. Vincent cl'Indy may look 
upon him in their reckless enthusiasm 
for that which now is and is to come 



to makWebuL’af^Sd' <ri1^E5S!£ k - no ^ that the ‘' re £ t11 ^’' was not ‘Imt 



His music ] c d in' a way lo theirs. His 
struggles in behalf of orchestral anil 
chamber music, when there was a 
popular taste only for opera, prepared 
an audience that would listen patient- 
ly to the works of the ultra-moderns. 

He should have visited this country 
long ago. We believe there was an 
effort made to have him as a guest at 
tlie World's fair, Chicago, but he was 
then either coy or busied in some way. 
He was not deterred by dread of the 
sea, for Saint-Saens is often on the 
ocean. He has been a great traveller for 
r frenchman, though lie is especially 
fond of sojourning in the Canary isles 
and in Egypt. A restless man, he is a 
curious observer when on the wing', and 
the result of his observations is found 
in his writings as well as in his music, 
for Saint-Saens is singularly versatile. 
There are two volumes of his essays on 
musical subjects, a discussion of Gou- 
n0 a s Pamphlet on "Don Giovanni,’’ a 
study of the architecture of the Greek 
theatre, a volume of little philosophical 
essays, two or three comedies, for he 
is both playwright and playactor. He is 
a lively and witty conversationalist. ! 

As a correspondent to the Parisian 
press he is fond of writing in paradox 
and of writing the unexpected. He now 
gravely refuses to contribute to a monu- 
ment in memory of Cesar Franck and 
W 'ves plausible reasons for his apparent 
indifference or objection; he now writes 
an extravagantly worded letter in favor 
of modern Italian opera as represented 
by Puccini. Giordano. Cillea and others 
of the band enrolled under the banner 
of vensmo. 

. Perhaps his distinguishing character- 
istics as composer and man are a pe- 
culiar clearness In the expression of 
logically arranged thought, a refinement 
that at times comes dangerously near 
over-elaboration, a brilliance that is 
tempered by judgment and wit, and 
an inimitable elegance. 

| If he should come to Boston, let us 
(hope that he will be invited to conduct 
a concert of the Boston Symphony 
orchestra. Not that he is a great con- 
ductor in the modern acceptation of the 
word; that is to say, hypnotic, or "in- 
dividual” in his readings, or a man of 
curious mannerisms in carriage and 
gestures. It is said that Saint-Saens 
conducted once a concert of his works 
in the old Concert House in Berlin 
where Bilse ruled so long. The concert 
was a great success. Tlje next day 
Bilse said to the orchestra: "Mr. Saint- 
Saens is a most accomplished composer, 
a man of great musical talent, if not 
genius; but he is a poor conductor. We 
shall play tonight one of his composi- 
tions. Let us show him how it ought 
to go.” And with that Bilse began to 
train the men in one of the pieces they 
had played the night before under 
Saint-Saens’ leadership. 

Either the Handel and Haydn or the 
Cecilia might be persuaded to perform 
"Samson and Delilah’’ with the dis- 
tinguished visitor as the conductor. 



of the composer? He never heard 
Schumann "read" the "Carnaval.” 



Intendant von Huelsen has refused to 
cancel Felix Welngartner’s contract as 
conductor of the Berlin Royal orchestra 
concerts. It is stated that this contract 
does not expire until 1913. Only a short 
time ago Mr. Weingartner made positive 
assertions to the effect that he would not 
conduct any concerts in Berlin next sea- 
son ; that he would not conduct any- 
where ; that he wished to rest and also to 
have time for composition. It was 

rumored that he is afraid of Bright’s dis- 
ease and that he is really a sick man. 

Henri Marteau may be more German 
than the Germans in his views concern- 
ing modern music, as The Herald stated 
last Sunday, but he is generous as a 
violinist in his consideration for con- 
temporary composers of violin concertos. 
He has brought out and made familiar 
several works of this class, concertos by 
Sinding, Jaques-Dalcroze, Stenhammer 
and others. He will play next season a 
new concerto by Emanuel Moor, a Hun- 



Further information about Mr. Ros- 
enthal confirms our belief that he will 
be treated respectfully by the critics 
when he plays in Boston. New York 
is a larger city and a critic is not so 
easily found; then, too, he can quickly 
hide himself in the wilds of New Jer- 
sey. Mr. Rosenthal, it is said by those 
iwho are on intimate terms with him 
can tear a pack of cards, break a hoi'se- ! 
[shoe and lift 500 pounds with one 
finger and with the greatest ease. "His | 
chest, arm and leg development com- 
pare with Sandow’s.” And yet lie 
never worked in a gymnasium. "His 
strength comes entirely from playing 
the piano and swimming and walking, 
the latter being his two chief diver- 
sions.” Then, like Mr. Paderewski and 
some others, he plays the piano, not 
as a diversion, but for business pur- 
poses. We hasten to add, in view of 
ills terrible approach, that he is a 
great pianist — a formidable pianist, as 
the Germans say. 

Mr. Waldemar Luetschg, the pianist, 
who made a favorable impression at a 
symphony concert in Boston last season, 
did not like Chicago as a dwelling place 
and he left it and the Ziegfeld school. 
Dr. Ziegfeld has engaged Mr. Ernesto 
Consolo as his successor. Mr. Consolo 
is siad to speak four languages "with 
equal facility” and to be a "charming 
fellow." 

The disease that brought Mozart's 
death has been thought to be typhus 
fever, though some have called it cere- 
bral meningitis. Dr. Barraud of Bor- 
deaux insists that it was Bright’s dis- 
ease. As a boy Mozart was small, deli- 
cate and very nervous. He had scarlet 
fever, then typhoid fever, smallpox and 
later a severe attack of influenza. Just 
before his marriage lie was in a weak 
condition. To quote from the article in 
Musical America, he was then “thin 
and small, with a sallow complexion; 
the head was unusually developed, the 
nose enormous and the eyes were large 
and sunken, while his glanoe was very 
unsteady. The man was already in weak 
condition; lie was overworked, and to 
this cause of his physical decay must 
be added another— the lack of the neces- 
sities of life." 

We are informed that Mme. Plaichin- 
ger. who will sing at the Metropolitan 
Opera House next season, "though not 
beautiful off the stage, makes a most 
effective appearance amid operatic en- 
vironment," and that "conscious of lwr 
unattractiveness in private life, she 
invariably refuses to see a manager be- 
fore he has seen her in costume on the 
stage.” “Just tell them that you saw 
me.” Tile picture of her published in a 
New York newspaper was, indeed, a 
sight. She is 30 years old, or, as Ar- 
temas Ward said of a woman, “between 
30 years of age," and she is the w : fe of 
Mr. Carl Friedrichs, a singing teacher 
in Berlin. 



ol a great singer and {lie brotner oi 
Marie Malibran and Pauline Viardot, he 
had several distinguished pupils, of 
whom the chief was Jenny Lind. In 
JS.>. r ) he invented the laryngoscope. As 
his voice was one of ordinary quality he 
left the operatic stage in 1829 and set- 
tled in Paris, which he left in 1850 to 
make London his home, and there he 
taught at the Royal Academy of Music. | 
lie visited the United States in 1825 as 
a member of an opera company of which 
his father and sister Marie were the 
leading members, and he then took part 
in the first performance of “Don Gio- 
vanni” in this country. As teacher and 
man he was highly respected and hon- 
ored in London. The hundredth anni- 
versary of his birth was celebrated with 
pomp and ceremony. Active and alert, 
physically and mentally, till nearly the 
(lid of his life, he was a strong witness 
in company with Verdi, Franck and 
Wagner against the theory of Dr. Osier 
as applied to musicians. 

A oEA CHANGE* 

“The Lion and the Mouse,” it will 
be remembered, did not please the 
Londoners last season, although the 
American visiting company was said 
to be excellent. Now. Mr. Charles 
Frohman announces his intention of 
taking the play to London next season, 
but the company will be wholly Eng- 
lish. The failure there was attri- 
buted, as The Herald stated some 
time ago, to the fact that the subject 
and situations, such as those of brib- 
ery of judges and senators, were un- 
intelligible to a London audience. Is 
it possible that an English company 
will make the situations more intel- 
ligible? Will foreign imagination be 
more effective than national compre- 
hension? Will not the situations be 
the same, or will the play be rewrit- 
ten and the action take place in Eng- 
land? Such changes did not make the 
production of “Shore Acres” success- 
ful in London. 



Hermann Winkelmann of the Vienna 
Opera House and the creator of Parsifal 
at Bayreuth in 1882, has at last said 
good-by to the stage. But why did he 
leave the opera house forever? He is 
only 57 years old, and in Germany and 
Austria a singer of 60 years is much in 
favor; he is considered to be by that 
time "intellectual.” Mr. H. T. F>nck 
tells us that Americans who have heard 
Winkelmann in recent years say that 
he "usually sang atrociously in tlie first 
act of an opera, better in the second, 
and superbly in the third, when his 
cords were thoroughly limbered.” But 
what would this tenor do in an opera 
of one act or two? There are horses 
that cannot trot till they have been 
eight or ten miles. Theodore Thomas 
brought Mr. Winkelmann over to sing 
with Mme. Materna and Emil Scaria in 
a Wagner festival. 

Both Mr. Nikisch and Mr. Bauer ap- 
peared in London last month as ac- 
companists of singers. Mr. Nikisch ac- 

garian composer, of whom little is known 1 vWmi^The H ! S r a 1 d *17 a I ready* sno k e n f 
in this country. Moor’s _ce!lo concerto | Mr. Baughan declared that Mr. Nikisch 



will be played by Pablo Casels and his 
piano concerto by Marie Panthes; his 
sixth symphony will be performed at 
Bologne under Mr. Steinbach’s direction. 

Mr. Casals, some may remember, 
played here in a concert given by 
Emma Nevada at the Colonial The- 



as accompanist almost rivals Nikisch as 
conductor. He produces a fine tone 
from tlie piano, makes himself at one 
with the singer, and shows a subtle 
sense of harmony. Although he sub- 
ordinates the accompaniment to tlie 
voice the piano part is always clear. 



atre a few seasons ago, and they that and takes its proper place in the whole 
heard him then wondered at his great scheme of the song. Mr. Bauer aceom- 
reputation in Europe. The concert panied Mme. Jeanne Raunay, and he. 



Was a depressing one in many ways 
and no doubt the ’cellist was not 
wholly in the vein. He is a great 
friend of Mr. Harold Bauer and the 
two have made several tours to- 
gether. 

This reminds us that Mr. Bauer 



too, was warmly praised. 



A few Americans have appeared re- 
cently in London concert halls with 
more or less success. Miss Alexander 
gave a musical and dramatic recital in 
which she endeavored to show to the 
played recently in London, and some audience the negro "in all his pathetic 



A LOBSTER MODEL. 

Builders of ocean steamers are re- 
| ported as saying that it is doubtful 
whether the speed of the fastest ves- 
sels crossing the Atlantic will soon be 
surpassed on account of the problem of 
fuel and the enormous space required 
for carrying a sufficient amount of coal. 
Will the coming fuel be oil or electricity, 
or some less familiar or as yet unknown 
motive force? The builders might pon- 
der a statement made by Mortimer Col- 
lins in one of his whimsical and delight- 
ful novels. Collins argued that when 
man succeeds he is devoutly imitative. 
No Eddystone lighthouse would stand 
until a builder with imagination imi- 
tated the structure of the oak. The 
successful airship will be the result of 
intelligent study of avian flight. “And 
I firmly believe that speed in steamships 
should be obtained by the method which 
makes the lobster the swiftest of the 
sea’s inhabitants.” When the lobster 
is in a hurry he swims backwards, 
and his tail, as he rises and falls, 
grasps the water. Prawns may be seen 
doing the same in an aquarium if they 
are frightened. “These curious me- 
chanic powers conferred on the lower 
creatures are lessons to man. There is 
no animal without definite use.” But 
what is the lesson from the measuring 
worm or geometrid caterpillar? Pre- 
cision in daily walks abroad? 



of the critics were discriminative in 
their treatment of him, and also con- 
tradictory; One wrote that Mr. Bauer 
“has never taken such an important 
stride as in the time since his last 
London recital. The ’Carnaval’ of 
Schumann was given with full artis- 



truth and humor, freed from the dis- 
tortions that have been hitherto prac- 
tised 'On him in the ordinary music 
hall." Coquelin and others assisted her, 
but they did not "black up" for the oc- 
casion. Miss Edna Hoff of New York, 
a soprano who studied in Dresden, sang 
with "much intelligence and charm" 



tic intelligence, if at some points with in her recital June 6. Mr. Julius Falk, 
not quite the peculiar shadowy a violinist and a pupil of Sevcik, gave 

* * - m 1. . n nnni t ft I AT 17 * * LI o la n n a a of ov 



intimacy that the work demands. The 
idea of force which he conveys is al- 
ways one of mental rather than physical 
strength; one never pities the piano 
as one used to do with the ‘forcible’ 
players of the past.” 

On the other hand, the Telegraph 
said that in the finale of the “Carna- 
val” and in the beginning of Beetho- 



a recital May 17. "He is an artist of ex- 
ceptional ability.” Mr. Francis Mac- 
millen, violinist, gave a farewell re- 
cital previous to his departure for this 
country and was eminently successful. 

Among the newcomers not Americans 
were "Floris.” a violinist, said to be 
one of the Ondricek family. He has 
a fluent mastery over His instrument,” 



ven’s sonata op. Ill, he "tore passion wrote Mr. Banghan. "but ills tone is 
to iatters and so exaggerated his not very full or individual in quality." 
contrasts that the music’s effect was T,lon tl " >re n “ s " mv haired Fne- 



quite spoilt and the beauty of tone 
vanished.” 

"Lancelot” of the Referee wrote 
that his recital was “distinguished by 
a technical command and a power of 
expression possessed by few pianists. 
The reading of Schumann’s ‘Carnaval’ 
was not that of the composer, but the 
romantic spirit of the music was pre- 
served, and the sentiment was essen- 
tially manlv. both in vigor and ten- 
derness.” AA r hat more, then -would the 
gentleman have had? How does he 



Then there was a "sunny haired Eng- 
lish lad.” 13 years old, Lionel Ovendon, 
familiarly known as “Bino,” who plays 
both the violin and the piano “with an 
earnestness and significance uncanny in 
one so young.” 

AN OLD MAN. 

Manuel Garcia, who died iu London 
last Sunday, was in his 102d year, but 
he was remarkable in other ways. A 
1 Kinging teacher, born at Madrid, the son 



COOLED AFFECTION. 

It might promote domestic happiness 
in the AVest if physicians were to settle 
for all time the question whether cold 
baths are or are not injurious. Some 
time ago a woman in Nebraska sued for 
a divorce. She told the judge that her 
husband was a man with a system. He 
believed in cold bathing, and insisted 
that she should take three cold baths a 
day. The one at evening was of iced 
water. At the altar she had inad- 
vertently promised to obey her husband, 
and as she had a conscience she did 
obey him for five years. At last she re- 
belled, for, as the old deacon remarked 
after an unusually powerful sermon in 
which the nature of future and eternal 
punishment was graphically described 
and with almost loving detail : “Brother 
Slocum, no human constitution could 
stand it.” The judge smiled on her and 
said, “Madam, you have proved your 



A few days ago a music teacher in 
Chicago sued for a divorce from his 
wife Violet because she would not allow 
him to use hot water in his bath. “She 
(old me hot water was not good for me. 
I couldn’t stand that cold lake water,” 
and incidentally he mentioned a choir- 
master who was favored, he thought, by 
Violet, probably because he had a more 
rugged constitution and could stand cold 
water. Violet answered that her hus- 
band had no sense of humor and could 
not take a joke. Did she thus refer to 
the choirmaster or to the cold bath? 
But why did not Violet’s husband lock 
the door when he went into the bath- 
room and draw the hot water gayly with 
a song on his lips? Perhaps there was 
no bathroom and he tubbed it in the 
kitchen, where he could not easily es- 
cape inspection. The information is 
sadly incomplete. 



fu&7 7 / f •> ^ 

A LOST MAN. 

What has become of Mr. Nathan 
Gurfenkle? Some weeks — or was it 
months?— ago we read about him and 
his actions in a New Jersey, town. 
He was not of the ordinary run of 
men. He painted his cows red, white 
and blue and then named them “Old 
Glory,” "Star Spangled Banner,” 
"Stars and Stripes,” "Flag of the 
Free” and “Long May She Wave.” 
This of Itself excited interest in him. 
Nor was his imagination confined to 
outbursts of intense patriotism. He 
j used to lower his little one into a 
well. We regret to add that he also 
beat occasionally his wife. There 
was talk at the time of an inquiry 
into his mental condition. There was 
also talk of jail, for they are prosaic 
persons in New Jersey and plume 
themselves on swift visitations of 
“justice.” Many things have since 
happened, but we have not lost sight 
of Mr. Gurfenkle. The newspapers 
have been strangely silent. Has he 
suffered, as so many before him, for 
his devotion to country? 



MOATED ON. 

The Herald has already commented 
on the case of the clergyman in New- 
port, R. I., who was requested to move 
on while he was conducting a relig- 
ious service on the beach. Philan- 
thropic intention is often described as 
disorderly conduct even in conserva- 
tive England. We remember the case 
of a man who, wearing ’a mask, sang 
in a London street and drew a large 
crowd. He was asked to move on, 
but he refused and was at last arrest- 
ed. He confided to the magistrate 
that he had a hobby of singing in 
quiet streets and collecting money 
which he sent to hospitals or other 
charitable institutions. The magis- 
trate told him that his hobby, habit, 
taste, or want of taste, drew a crowd 
which interfered with the general 
enjoyment of the thoroughfare; that, 
if he must carry out his hobby, he 
j should do it in country lanes; that 
i he should not play the troubadour in 
a London street. Why was this phil- 
anthropist masked? And how did he 
sing? The two really Important 
questions were not answered in court, 
just as in Newport there was no dis- 
cussion concerning the quality of the 
sermon on the beach. 



HORSES’ NAMES. 

I he Springfield Republican tells a 
story of a turf critic who made au en- 
emy of a Texan by having fun with 
the name the latter gave his pet 2-year- 
old filly. The filly was the foal of 
Little Pearl and the sire was Gallantry. 
The Texan therefore called the offspring 
Little Pearls of Gallantry. When the 
hll.V ran the critic suggested names that 
might be given to the future product of 
the ranch, as Little Jars of Marmalade, 
Lizzie, Is My Hat on Straight? Big Bill 
with the AA’hite Hat, Little Things to 
Think About. Look over the list of horses 
| running or trotting today, and you will 
I find many grotesque and absurd names. 
And so it has been from the time when 
, the Greeks and Romans exercised their 
fancy in naming their favorites. There 
is a list of these ancient names in an 
appendix to a translation into French 
(of Lycophron’s cryptic poem. English 



' I x-ace horses within the last century have 
borne strange names : some of them, and 
the horses wore owned by noblemen, were 
1 coarse or irreverent. Henry Kingsley in 
! “Ravenshoe” protested against such 
names as Allow Me, Ask Mamma, Pam s 
Mixture. These were names of horses 
in 1802. In a footnote Kingsley added : 
“Surely men could find better names 
for their horses than such senseless ones 
! as these.” 

SWISS ABSINTHE. 

A cablegram states that the cantonal 
government of Vaud has passed a law 
prohibiting the sale of absinthe, and 
that the ^owners of the Xeuchatel dis- 
tilleries have placed on the market ab- 
sinthe bonbons. "Four of them will 
make a drink when broken into a glass, 
and a special law will be required to 
prevent their sale.” The cablegram also 
states that the people of Vaud were the 
best customers of the Xeuchatel dis- 
tilleries. 

It does not state the most important 
fact: Crimes by absinthe drunkards 

were so frequent that the Swiss news- 
papers started a crusade against the sale 
of the liquor, and obtained in a very 
short time over 100, 000 signatures in 
the cantons of Vaud nnd Geneva alone 
to a petition urging the government to : 
| suppress the distilleries nnd make the 
sale of the liquor unlawful. The crimes 
{ traced directly to absinthe drunkards 
were maiming of cattle, setting fire to 
| buildings, attempts at murder and mur- 
der. The absinthe was made from chem- 
icals and raw alcohol, and a large wine- , 
glassful was sold in small restaurants 
and in boozing kens for 2 cents. The 
drinkers were boys ami girls, as well 
Las men and women. Naturally in Neu- 
/ chatel there was opposition to the pro- 
posed legislation, for the canton depends 
for its revenue on the manufacture and 
I sale of the liquor. Why any one wishes 
to drink the green stuff even when at its 
I best is a mystery to some, who find the 
taste like that of paregoric taken by 
children much against their will to 
soothe their little “innerds.” 

SANS MEAT. 

A thrilling description of several men 
and women in New York who eat only 
nuts, vegetables, fruit and prepared 
health foods and yet achieve surprising 
mental and physical feats has been pub- 
lished. From the account we learn that 
Mr. and Mrs. Christian live chiefly on 
imported Italian nuts from the cones of 
edible pines. The turpentine has been 
thoughtfully extracted. Mr. and Mrs. 
Christian do not consider it harmful to 
read while eating “in a leisurely fash- 
ion” these nuts. The diet does not seem 
to be a quickener of conversation, and 
no doubt reading — possibly the book is 
Mr. Sinclair’s — may dispel gloomy 

thoughts. There are persons who both 
eat cereals and read. Occasionally Mr. 
and Mrs. Christian wax merry over a 
tomato salad with “hygeia dressing. ’ 
Then there is Miss Mary June, a pop- 
ular waitress in a physical culture res- 
taurant. Her hours of service are long; 
from 7 A. M. till 7 P. M. When she 
is not waiting she is polishing casters, j 
filling toothpick tumblers and doing all 
sorts of things. She, too, eats no meat, 
and is so strong that she is able to take 
her meals in the restaurant. This re- 
minds us of the story about the man 
who went into an eating house and 
asked, "Do you have a good cook?” The 
| head waiter answered, “Best in the 
| city.” “Let me see the proprietor.” said 
the man. “He's just gone out to get his 
dinner.” 

All the men and women described in 
the article are bitter against meat and 
scornfully pitiful toward the carnivo- 
rous. Vegetarinns have been thus from 
the beginning. No doubt Nebuchadnez- 
zar was excessively disagreeable at the 
court during his excursion into vege- 
tarianism. Many years ago Hazlitt, 
speaking of those who tease you to death 
with some one idea, stated that they 
generally differ in their favorite notion 
from the rest of the world. “Thus one 
person is remarkable for living on a 
vegetable diet, and never fails to enter- 
tain you all dinner time with an invec- 
tive against animal food. One of this 
self-denying class, who adds to the 
primitive simplicity of this sort of food 
the recommendation of having it in a 
raw state lamenting the death of a pa- 



tient whom he had augured to be in a 
good way as a convert to his system, at 
last accounted for his disappointment in 
a whisper — ‘But she ate meat privately, 
depend upon it.’ ” 



S’ 

/ 



AN ENGLISH CARMEN 

AND OPERATIC GOSSIP 




THE ACTING OF CARUSO 
AND OTHER SINGERS 



Mr, Baughan’s Paradoxical 
„ Views — Portraits and 
; Personal Paragraphs, 



The opera season at Covent Garden 
has naturally suggested articles con- 
cerning the tendency of modern opera, 
the art of dramatic singing, the man- 
ner in which certain familiar operatic 
parts should be impersonated, etc. 
Massenet's “Jongleur de Notre Dame,” 
the opera without a woman character 
in it, was performed at Covent Garden 
for the first time, and the Times pished 
and poohed, without knowledge appar- 
ently of the fact that the story is an 
old one and has been exquisitely treated 
by Mr. Anatole France. The Times 
critic dropped into French, considering 
the case of Massenet: “The composer 

has long ago shown great power of 
adopting styles that differ In external 
characteristics, and he has given us in 
this several pleasing passages of a kind 
of music that sounds austere enough to 
pass for an ecclesiastical manner. But 
it may be said ot him more than of al- 
most any other composer, 'Plus ca 
change, plus e'est la meme chose;' 
there Is the same lack of real individu- 
ality. the same flavor— if flavor it can 
be called— of eau sucree. and the same 
inherent debility of Invention that we 
have known so long." This is unfair, 
or does the Times critic really deny 
individuality to the composer of 
“Manon," “La Navarralse,” “Le Jong- 
leur,” and some of the music of the 
early suites? He does admit that in 
“Le Jongleur” there are “many grace- 
ful and appropriate numbers," but he 
admits it grudgingly and hurries along 
to say something disagreeable. 

There has been pleasing talk about 
the morality or immorality or unmor- 
ality of "Tosca,” for they take the 
libretto based on the play by Sardou. 
"The Caligula of the Drama,” as Jules 
Lemaltre dubbed him, very seriously 
over there. “The Telegraph Insisted 
that music should have no con- 
cern with a theme “so ugly and re- 
volting." “Especially are the grace, 
the crispness and the sparkle of Puc- 
cini's style out of place in such com- 
pany. * • * Where such repellant 

melodrama as the ‘Tosca’ is concerned 
it would have been better, on the whole, 
had the 'divine art’ remained dumb.” 
Did gcod old Mr. Bennett write this? 
The opinions and the form of expres- 
sion have his earmarks. If It were not 
Mr Bennett, it was his prayerfully- 
trained disciple. The Standard, on the 
other hand, declares the play to be an 
admirable piece of stagecraft— yes, it is 
a well-built slaughter-house— and Puc- 
cini’s treatment "eloquently musical.” 
Listen to this: “Tosca’ is the only one 
of the composer's work entitled an 
opera, pure and simple. It is. therefore, 
in a way more conventional in plan 
than, perhaps, any of his compositions.” 
Observe the "therefore.” and the inex- 



1-1 AVETIK 

orable logic of the conclusion drawn 
from the premise. Mme. Giachetti was 
the heroine. The Standard says that 
iter performance reached “the highest 
level of operatic art." It is the more 
painful to learn that Mme. Giachetti 
“continued” to flourish the knife after 
Scarpia had fallen. Did she kill him 
with a flourish? There should be 
straightforward incision. A little boy at 
the boarding-house table scowled fero- 
ciously and said to his mother: “I wish 
J had a dagger.” We see him now. one 
of the kind described as sunny-haired 
nnd cherubic. "Why, Willy!” The child 
said still more savagely: "I wish I had: 
a dagger,” and the mother replied, as 
the interlocutor to Mr. Bones: "Whi.i 

would you do with the dagger if you 
had It?" To which the boy answered: 
“I'd dag somebody.” There was a true 
artist. There would have been no melo- 
dramatic flourish in his blow. We fear 
Mme. Giachetti Is, after all, not an artist 
of the first rank— especially in her "dag- 
ging”— -especially as we learn from the 
Standard that the “eloquence of the 
silence” which ends the murder scene 
was “also a little marred by hurried 
nnd somewhat excessive movements.” 
Itov was she “excessive”? Did she 
dance a few steps of exultation? Was 
there a well-defined pas seul of tri- 
umph? 

The Daily News reviewed the perform- 
ance with rare discrimination. The 
libretto, as well as the play, is a story 
of "unmitigated brutality"; the two chief 
situations are on a level of a bull fight. 
“It is not really drama, for the sacri- 
fice of Tosca for her lover's sake is but 
a passing detail in a picture which has 
been painted merely for the sake of 
making the audience quiver with hor- 
ror.” The News says that the opera is 
accepted on account of the "wonderful 
atmosphere” of the music. “The little 
introduction to the last act, depicting 
the chill of early dawn over Home 
(never were consecutive fifths more 
justified) is a small masterpiece, and 
the ironical use of the gay little theme 
expressive of the happiness which Tosca 
and her lover think are in store for 
shorn gives a pathos to the discovery 
xiiat Cavaradossi has been really exe- 
cuted. It is a stroke of imagination 
rare in -music-drama, from- which sug- 
gestiveness is apt to be banished.” 

An English Carmen. 

Many of our readers remember Mme. 
Kirkby Lunn. She safig here at a Sym- 
phony concert, in Mr. Lang's last pro- 
duction of “Parsifal” in concert form, 



and In Mr. Savage s production of “Par- 
sifal” at the Tremont Theatre. When 
she first came to Boston she was merely 
one of a line of English contraltos with 
an extended compass, just the woman 
to sing sentimental songs in an English 
drawing room after a heavy dinner, or 
to sing at an English music festival In 
the production of a new oratorio, "The 
Witch of Endor” or “Hezekiah," by 
some English organist and music doc- 
tor. She had not the remarkable low 
tones of Mme. Clara Butt, who sang 
“Abide With Me,” to the accompani- 
ment of a cabinet organ and piano, and 
with the fervor of a barmaid on a holi- 
day. Mme. Kirkby Lunn sang songs by 
Elgar as though she had been com- 
manded to do so by the Queen. But 
when she returned to sing in Mr. Sav- 
age's company, she had Improved soj 
far as vocal skill was concerned, or site 
had been carefully trained in the music 
of Kundry. 

After she left this country she sang 
in opera at Budapest. Many things can 
be learned in that city. 

She had appeared in Carmen, as a 
member of the Carl Rosa company, be- 
fore she visited this country, and she 
impersonated the gypsy girl at Buda- 
pest. it is said, with conspicuous suc- 
cess. It is also said that she was the 
first Englishwoman to impersonate the 
part in London in the course of the 
grand opera season. Her appearance in 
this part last month provoked discus- 
sion. not only of her performance, but 
of the true character of Carmen her- 
self. No doubt she sang the music very 
well, as far as straight singing goes. 
But how about her dramatic perform- 
ance? According to the Telegraph, her 
physique and temperament are not 
suited by nature to the part, but she 
concealed "any marked unsuitabilities. 
"Her touches of passion and witchery, 
if at times a little wanting in spontan- 
eity, are, at any rate, well considered, 
and never pushed to extremes. All the 
allurement of this wonderful part may 
not be present, but one is thankful tor 
the absence of the uncouth picture 
which Miss Destinn gave us a year 
ago.” How English this all is! It is a 
wonder that the Telegraph did not use 
the phrase dear to so many London 
concert reviewers: “The part was in 

safe hands.” The Telegraph finally 
found refuge in this Bunsbyism: On 

the whole, her performance 13 "^h 
what the opera-goer who has heard and 
admired Mme. Kirkby Lunn in other 
arts would expect." _ 

Listen to the Times! Should Carmen 
d “a wild, untamed animal in womans 
nape, or a self-willed gypsy SirL Play- 
is: with love as a child plays with fire . 
[me' Kirkby Lunn takes the latter view 
nil elves the Kiri a heart, and tins 
entler view is really more in harmony 



1-S 1 



' 



| than the more brutal and violent read- 
| ,ing which some actresses prefer to give 
Jus.” Shades of Prosper Merlmee and 
the librettists and Bizet and GaJH-Marie, 
who created the part and played it with 
savage intensity! So Carmen was all 
heart and Bizet s music for her is “deli- 
cate” ! 

“Lancelot” of the Referee found fault 
with the singer because she did not 
realize that “a vain, hasty and veno- 
mous-minded woman such as Carmen is 
almost wholly absorbed in self-gratifica- 
tion, and is perpetually engaged in con- 
sideration of personal appearance, recol- 
lections of petty triumphs and securing 
sfelf-indulgence. Carmen Is the centre 
of her own universe, a vivid manifes- 
tation of intense selfishness; and the 
only moment when a ray of nobility 
glints across the picture is when Car- 
men seeks to learn her fate by the 
cards, and defies their tragic prediction. 
In this scene Mme. Lunn was at her 
best, the loftiness and largeness of her 
art coming to her aid, and if she will 
only consider the possibilities of a small 
mind, allied with exceptional strength 
of will, I believe her impersonation of 
Merimee’s heroine would acquire the 
distinction it now lacks.” 

Why should Lancelot say of Miss 
Donalda’s Micaela that “the fairness 
of her wig and the blackness of her 
eyebrows detracted from her air of 
innocence”? Would a woman with 
black hair and light eyebrows be in- 
evitably open to suspicion? And why 
should Micaela always be represented 
as a blonde? Merely to make a con- 
trast with Carmen, the brunette. 
Micaela herself, whether her eyebrows 
be bushy or apologetic, black or 
sandy, exists only as a contrast. The 
drama could get along without her, 
and her applauded air in the third act, 
which, by the way, written for another 
opera, was interpolated, delays the 
action. Merimee's story is all the 
stronger because there is no Micaela in 
it, and because the bull fighter is men- 
tioned only incidentally. 

The Standard praised Mme. Kirkby 
Lunn: "She kept well within the pict- 
ure, and her acting was full of re- 
straint.” “Kept well within” whose 
picture? It should be remembered that 
Carmen was not a restful person. The 
various newspaper articles confirm 
our suspicion that Mme. Kirkby 
Lunn’s performance was always lady- 
like, and at times sweetly sympa- 
thetic. 

Mr. Baughan Again. 

Mr. E. A. Baughan of the Daily 
News, going night after night to the 
opera, wrote a long article about act- 
ing in musical drama. The article is 
certainly original, and the statements 
will be found too sweeping by some 
'and irritating by others. The opening 
sentence is as follows: “Why is it 

that the spoken play does not attract 
such commanding talent as the mixed 
art of music and drama?” Many would 
answer this question: "It does.” Mr. 
Baughan goes so far as to say that 
some of the most gifted men and 
women on the stage are giving their 
services to musical comedy. 

The English play actor and play 
actress, it appears, are in a bad w r ay. 
Many of them have not been taught 
to sing and to dance, and therefore 
they are only half-educated as me- 
diums for expressing feelings. They 
attempt to make the body express the 
mind, and their acting is self-con- 
scious, unnatural. Yet these half- 
baked stage people probably look 
down on opera singers, at least Mr 
Baughan suspects them of this arro- 
gance. 

"For in the old days there was not 
much acting to be done in opera, and 
the idea that operatic artists cannot 
act has become a tradition. As a mat- 
ter of fact, however, there are sev- 
eral singers now at Covent Garden 
who have a greater right to consider 
tnemselves actors than the best known 
of our men on the ordinary stage.” 

It is by no means certain that there 
was not impressive acting in the old 
days of opera, but let us accept Mr 
Baughan’s statement. He points to 
an example in modern operatic life 
and to whom, pray? To Ternina? No 
To any singer of the Bayreuth school’ 

No, and we did not believe him cap- 
able of such 'folly. Caruso, of all men 



act the whole emotional pain of the man 
is expressed in the voire Music of 
course, gives the singer his expression 

ready-made to some extent but the 
mere smging of tho notes with precise 
attention to phrasing and expulsion 
and so forth will not result in the hn 
man reality which Caruso gets into his 
voice. He must be an actor.” 13 

his 'arGcfe 8 ’ thnt Kaid in t,lc first P art of 
nis article that many actors and act- 

ress have never learned to walk or to 
carry themselves. “It i s rare indeed 
that one sees that perfect freedom 
which only comes from absolute self- 
dontrol and absence of physical self 

s,T?h°o U tT SS .'' P oos heseHousIy ini 

sist that Caruso Is a well-graced actor 
that he even carries himself well, that 
he stands and walks as any one of the 
characters he Impersonates would bear 
himself, that his gestures are of pan- 
tomimic force or as the true italicization 

nHinbf i J £ a Phrase? To speak 

plainly, is not Caruso a tenor who has 
a naturally effective voice and Is other- 
™f® commonplace? How would he ap- 
pear before an audience if he were 
obliged to rely in making an effect on 
anything but his singing voice? Is he 
not heavy, sluggish, without personal 
charm or distinction? Has he physically 
any magnetic qualitv? 

Mr. Baughan refers to his Canio. 
Compare Caruso’s impersonation with 
H 1 - at .?£ De Lucia and you see at once 
the difference between brute force and 
lively imagination coupled with mental 
authority. Caruso's voice is a much 
more beautiful organ than that of De 
Lucia, and although he has slovenly 
tricks as a singer, he uses his voice in 
a freer manner; but De Lucia makes 
his voice the servant of his dramatic 
will, so that the tones, which are often 
wmite and shrill, seem necessarily the 
tones of Canio. 

Opera and Drama. 

It is true, as Mr. Baughan says, that 
a player in opera is bound by the music 
which "conditions the actual business 
of the part and dictates the time which 
may be given to the expression of feel- 
ing to a nicety. No pause is possible, 
and the player has always to come in at 
the exact moment with the orchestra ” 
This is indisputably true. It is also 
true that without the restriction of 
music— and this restriction is a support 
to a singer— applauded actors in opera 
cut a sorry figure in spoken drama. Ter- 
nina is admirable in Puccini’s “Tosca.” 
Put her in Sardou’s play. She would 
probably disappoint the most enthusi- 
astic of her admirers, and would not 
be so effective as any well trained and 
emotional actress. 

Whenever a singer renowned for dra- 
matic skill and force in music drama 
has essayed to play a part in spoken 
drama, the performance has disap- 
pointed or been a complete failure. The 
latest instance of this was the fiasco 
of Victor Maurel in a play performed a 
few years ago in Paris. Or take the 

example of a less distinguished opera 
singer. Mr. Bispham has acted in sev- 
eral music dramas with more than ordi- 
i nar Y effect. When he played the part 

Beethoven in the sentimental drama, 
Adelaide” at the Hollis Street Theatre, 
his performance was amateurish, as 
though he had had little stage experi- 
ence. Mr. Baughan believes that all 
players should learn to sing, even if 
they are not musical, and if they have 
no sense of pitch. "The necessity of 
realizing the emotional expression of a 
song has a wonderful influence on mak- 
ing the muscles of the face plastic and 
sensitive, for the singer modifies his 
expression by the use of his eyes, fore- 
head, lips, and every atttitude and bal- 
ance of his body.” But every actor who 
has been schooled at all, has studied 
the use of eyes, lips, arms, hands and 
postures. An actor of any emotional 
force must have a mobile face, he must 
know the value of a gesture. Are there 
not celebrated prima donnas with 
wooden faces, whose gestures qre con- 
ventional, and without significance? Let 
Ternina, Caruso and Scotti play their 
respective parts in Sardou’s “Tosca.” 

We ifoubt whether any audience would 
sit tlirough the performance. 



enunciation In the smaller space than 
Mr. Hardy-The seems capable of at 
present." „ „ , . 

Mr. Stanley Adams, a Canadian bari- 
tone, gave a recital in London last 
month. His voice was described as 
fairly powerful, but of hard and un- 
sympathetic quality. "If he wishes to 
achieve success in London it will be 
necessary for him to enlarge his range 
of expression.” So said the Telegraph. 
The Times said his voice is of "very nice 
quality.” 

We regret to learn from Paris that 
Mr. Safonoff, one of the judges at the 
competition for the Dlemer prize, slept 
wldle Mr. Lortat- Jacob was playing the 
piano. And he did not sleep peacefully, 
for he snored in an aggressive, Cossack 
manner. Yet at is hardly courteous for 
the Mercure Musical to call him “a fos- 
sil.” Perhaps Mr. Lortat-Jacob played 
so loudly that Mr. Safonoff was dis- 
turbed even when his thoughts were 
far away in New York and centred on 
the approaching salary which he was 
trying to figure in roubles. 

Maurice Ravel is composing an opera 
with Hauptmann’s "Sunken Bell” for 
the libretto. It will be the third or 
fourth one based on this subject. 

Geraldine Farrar will sing in "Don 
Giovanni,” to be performed next month 
at. Salzburg at the 150th anniversary of 
Mozart’s death. Mr. Karl Muck will 
conduct One of the concerts of the 
festival, which will last from the 14th 
to the 20m. 

"Mr. Kubelik purposes to withdraw 
from the stage in 1907 and live on his in- 
come.” M-m-m. 

Elgar’s “Dream of Gerontius,” per- 
formed in Paris May 25, bored the 
Menestrel, whose critic described the 
work as long, cold, monotonous, dull. 

Mr. Taffanel has resigned his position 
as first conductor at the Opera, Paris, 
and Paul Vidal will succeed him. 

HUMPHREY’S SOOTHER. 

Quartermaster-General Humphrey is 
blessed in Washington, U. C., for the 
invention, it is claimed, of a new thirst 
ossuager, which is known as the "Hum- 
phrey Soother.” The drink is thus com- 
pounded : “Take a long glass and squeeze 
a whole lime into it. Put in a chunk of 
ice, pour in a hooker of rum — Santa 
Cruz or Jamaica. Then fill the glass 
with the best ginger ale.” But this 
drink is practically the old and estab- 
lished favorite, known to those who do 
not fear the Demon Rum, as “A Com- 
plete Angler,” which was probably in- 
vented by a barkeeper or drinkmaster 
this side the bar named Walton. Limes, 
however, in the great scheme of the uni- 
verse, are designed for gin rather than 
i um, and the best rum for a long drink 
is our own New England, the joy that 
our fathers bequeathed to us as a price- 
less heritage. 



PERSONAL. 

The Herald publishes today portraits 
1 of Miss Lucia Crestani, Miss Parkina, 
Mr. Richard Martin and Mr. Josef 
Lhevinne. Miss Crestani was born at 
Verona. She made her debut at Turin 
as Aida, and last season was warmly 
praised for her performance in Cata- 
lani’s "Loreley” at the Scala in Milan. 
She is young and a brilliant future is 
predicted for her. Miss Parkina (Eliza- 
beth Parkinson) has been singing again 
at Covent Garden. She will givd con- 
certs in the Gnited States next season. 
Mr. Josef Lhevinne, a piano pupil of 
Safonoff, made his first visit to this 
country last season, and played in sev- 
eral cities with marked success. He 
will come to Boston for the first time 
next season. Mr. Martin, tenor, was a 
church singer at Yonkers. He studied 
with Sbriglia and Jean de Reszke, sang 
a few times at Nantes in 1904 and then 
studied in Milan. After further study 

„ with Mr. de Reszke he signed a contract 

Mr. Baughan argues that c , £or an engagement at Odessa last sea- 
"spirit of real acting” may be thf> a see° ? . and then changed his name from 

of his success as a singer 
oratorio and concert — ' S '■ famous 



real actm 0 g-” d ’ possesses “ the of 

Caruso as Actor. 

Mr. Caruso has been heard in several 

SMg in* 1 4 h ,i S , c .° ul .!ir y - ,. In 'Boston he 
olocrn dp ..' Lu f ia - Paghacci” and “La 
did In no one of these operas 

He- marked histrionic ability 
7,® 1 im Pressive dramatically in 

the curse or m the death scene in 
, and >n Ponchielli’s opera he 
was simply a tenor with a celebrated 
song to be sung on a vesseh It is ? r „e 
gift he was indisposed while he was in 

SS 'X'Sff ,JS£3g i™ °< 



MR. WINTER’S VERDICT. 

Mr. George V. Winter of London 
knows his business. When he landed 
for the purpose of designing certain 
improvements in the uniforms of the 
American soldiers, there were curses 
both loud and deep, chiefly from our 
own slighted artists. Was the great 
man resentful, supercilious? Not a[j 
bit of it. “The American soldier is the 
| best looking in the world.” There’s 
nothing like him in Europe, Arope, 
Irope, or Orope. Tommy Atkins is a 
sight to him. There was one little 
betterment to be made, and it was 
Mr. Winter’s privilege to make if 
”to give him a better fit,” and thus to 
give “full effect to his fine qualities.” 
Does the betterment include the 
cocking of the cap on one side of 
carefully greased hair? Mr. Winter 
should remember one thing; the 
soldier of any country is the hand- 
somest thing in the world in the eyes 
of the women of that country. “Ah! 
flue; j’aime le militaire!” Now that 
Mr. Winter has approved, let the 
parade go on. 



actors 



singers have to be 
. ■ . says Mr. Baughan, otherwis! 

singing is cold and uninteresting 
J t d °ubt if the great coloratura s 1ng2f s 
of the past, of whom fame has but little 
,® xc o pt of their voices, were only 
singers. Does not Mr. Baughan 

that thev® iS abu , ndan t evidence to show 

itura’ Th a T a 4 C ln th ® o^ 
itura.-' The quality of Caru*n’« 

oice that is admired is "really the ex 

££? 8 ?& n of bis emotional nature.” Bm 

E®. tbere n ?t naturally emotional voices 

ers'1kmlelve e s ffe are V VaUe a r U o^ fac't 

As an actor he (Caruso) has the gift 
of conveying feeling not onlv through 

85® outburst 11 awih^end^of ’ th^H 



Hugh to Richard for Russia. 

John Coates will sing the tenor part 
in Elgar’s new work. 

Granville Bantock is at work on an 
"Omar Khayyam.” Omar will be a 
tenor. 

It is said that Mme. Melba will play 
the accompaniments for Miss Irene Ain- 
ley, a New Zealand contralto, in London 
July 10. 

Battestini, the baritone, sang the part 
of Rigoletto in London last month. Mr. 
Baughan wrote: “Sig. Battestini evi- 

dently does not believe that Rigoletto 
need be deformed except, as it were, by 
courtesy. To present the character as 
normal in this aspect robs it of its sig- 
nificance.” 

Mr. Hardy-The, a well advertised sing- 
er in Paris, gave a recital in London 
last month, and the Telegraph frankly 
said: “We believe he would be of great- 



ei interest in a drawing room among 
those ’intimes’ whose presence means 
so much to a singer, than ln the con- 
cert room before a mixed audience, 
though, be it said, much more is re- 
quired in the matter of clearness of 



AFTER MANY YEARS. 

. ‘‘ Germa uy is no longer a poor tour- 
ist s paradise as in years gone by.” The 
statement is also made that Berlin is 
now one of the most expensive cities for 
travellers to visit or for the sojourn of 
a student. Berlin was the most expen- 
sive city in Germany to live in 23 years 
ago The price of food and lodging was 
higher than at Hamburg, Munich, Stutt- 
gart, and even Dresden, with its price- 
raising colonies of English and Ameri- 
cans. It is true that a student could 
live at a low rate in Berlin, but bow 
would he thus live? Uncomfortably and 
with little regard for his health. En- 
thusiasm carried some through, but 
many Americans today have wretched 
stomachs on account of the diet of stu- 
dent days. The tourist of 1906 revisits 
towns in Germany and finds the price of 
living much higher than it was twentv- 
bve years ago. (So it is in Boston.') 
He goes to inns, restaurants, pensions of 
the first-class, and sighs for the old days. 



Lut in the old days he would not have 
dreamed of going to such inns and res- 
taurants, for he did not have the money, 
today he could not endure the rooms 
and restaurants where once lie lived 
gaily with fellow students or resolved 
to make a name for himself. The Ber- 
lin that he remembers is purely a men- 
tal and glorified recollection. It did not 
exist as he now pictures it. 

SECLUDE1X 

It is not easy to gain seclusion even 
in a remote village. Our valued con- 
tributor, Mr. Herkimer Johnson, the 
earnest student of sociology, has 
made a brave endeavor. His cottage 
Is far from the highway and the 
private road is for 100 feet a cause- 
way which may be submerged; fur- 
thermore there is a drawbridge, and 
at the end there is a portcullis. The 
| approach to the front door Is easily 
commanded; there are stones at hand 
| on a balcony, and there is also an in- 
genious contrivance by which hot 
water can be squirted on an invader. 
Man traps and spring guns will take 
care of any one who leaves the 
beaten path. There is a yellow flag 
ready for hoisting, and a large 
placard marked “diphtheria” placed 
In the road can be seen at a long dis- 
tance. The front door gives admit- 
tance only to the second story, and 
the trick-steps that lead to it can be 
worked by a child. Mr. Crisp, a dis- 
appointed and weary man, whose let- 
ters have been published recently, 
made his home at Chesington, “where 
there was only one safe route across 
the wild common,” and the clew to 

this was given only to a few and 
trusty friends, so Mr. Johnson was 
not the first. There was Rosamonde’s 
bower, also the maze of Daedalus. 
But of what avail are all Mr. John- 
son’s precautions against the 17-year 
locusts that fly in swarms and buzz 
in their search for oaks hours at a 
time, a buzz that is more insistent 
and distracting than clangor in 
boiler shop or ruthless descent of 
pile-driver? 



NEEDLESS ALARM. 

Prof. John M. Tyler of Amherst Col- 
lege looks back with wild regret to the 
years when Americans “lived on pork 
and doughnuts to a great extent,” and 
i ate a huge piece of mince pie just be- 
fore going to bed. Yes, those were “hali- 
con” days and nights. “We say,” adds 
the learned professor, “ ‘what a barbar- 
ous bill of fare’ — we who can’t stand 
anything stronger than tea and crack- 
ers.” l'et there are brave men and wom- 
en today who gayly eat pork in one form 
or another and also doughnuts ; there 
are still braver persons who put down 
large quantities of lobster and cham- 
pagne late at night; there are even reck- 
| lessly heroic persons who eat Welsh rab- 
bit smeared on mince pie just before they 
go to bed well pleased with the labors 
of the day. And are not those who live I 
I exclusively on nuts, fruit, vegetables 
'and health foods also heroes and hero- I 
mes? Does it not take courage to eat 
granose and other “oses” with "oids” 
and “enes”? No, professor, the “children 
of business and professional men” are 
not all degenerates. Just put the dough- 
nut jar oefore them. 

“YOURS TRULY.” 

The American, writing “yours 
truly at the end of his letter, or 
"yours, etc.,” smiles superciliously 
at the Frenchman with his "Agreez, 
monsieur, 1’assurance de ma consid- 
eration tres-distinguee,” or “Agreez, 
je vous prie, l’assurance de mes sen- 
timents distingues,” and says, "What 
a waste of time!” and protests 
against this "guff.” Not many years 
ago Americans used equally florid 
professions of respect or affection, 
as “Believe me to be, sir, your obedi- 
ent servant,” or “I have the honor to 
refnain, sir, yours very sincerely.” 
These ceremonious endings went out 
with the quill pen. They are not 
to be thought of in the era of postal 
cards and type- written letters. Even 
in Paris the delightful formulae be- 
ginning, "Agreez” or "Veuillez” are 
beginning to disappear. 

There are Americans who careful- 
ly make a distinction. They write 
“yours truly” to "a tradesman” or 
to some one who, they infer, is in 



“a station below them." "Yours verj 
truly” Is a recognition of a little 
higher grade. “Yours sincerely” is 
the formula for the eciual, and “Yours 
faithfully" is preferred by some be- 
cause they think the phrase Is used 
in England. "Yours cordially” is an 
ending dear to many women, and 
some men use it, especially when 
they hardly know the addressed one 
or wish a favor granted. But does 
not "Yours truly” cover the ground? 
If you are “true” to any man you 
must necessarily be sincere and 
faithful. We refer exclusively to the 
correspondence of one man with an- 
other. A man writing to a woman 
Indulges himself in all sorts of as- 
surances unless he has learned pru- 
dence early in life through personal 
experience or through reading the 
sad experiences of others of his 
kind. Why should a man protest to 
a fellowman that he Is writing truly 
or sincerely when his letter may be 
an evasion or a deliberate attempt 
to deceive? These endings must nec- 
essarily be conventional in many In- 
stances. The very vagueness of 
"Yours, etc.,” is at least honest, for 
"etc.” includes every kind of assur- 
ance, wish, curse. Yet if you should 
end a letter to a Frenchman with 
"Votre, etc.,” he would be insulted. 

/ ^ / j* ' 

QUICK READING. 

A young lady, "a fashionable mem- 
ber of Philadelphia's fashionable set,” 
has a remarkable . automobile. It con- 
tains an ice chest, a little toilet room, 
a combination cigar cutter and lighter, a 
china closet, berths and bedding, but 
the truly remarakable feature is a re- 
volving bookcase, which is supposedly 
,ull of books. It will be remembered that 
Napoleon never travelled without books; 
that he drew up a list of 1000 volumes 
with minute directions as to size, paper, 
binding, for they were to be prepared 
for a portable library. Why books in an 
automobile? We can understand the 
reasonableness of ice chest and cigars, 
■water for washing face and hands, and 
perhaps there are confiding souls who 
can sleep peacefully while some one 
steers the devil wagon. But who can 
read at a fast pace and goggle-eyed? 
Why should one read, except perhaps 
some treatise on damages or a reprint 
Of "The Rights of Man”? 



Thomas Moore and other' poets Into 
ancient and modern languages, and 
then insisting that his translations 
were the originals and Moore and the 
others were unblushing plagiarists. 
The originality of Wolfe’s poem has 
been more than once denied and 
"Lally Tolendal” named as the au- 
thor. And now in 1906 the old 
mare's nest excites the attention of 
one of the most prominent literary 
journals in the country! We fear 
that the "Reliques of Father Prout” 
are not well known today. The book 
is probably not one of the “quick- 
sellers." 

T M S S REPETITION. 

Reading, it has been said, makes a 
full man. It is also a consolation in 
this: It shows that in all generations! 1 

known to us by record there have 
been noisy or pathetic outbursts 
against "abuses and frauds.” Henri 
Estienne in has "Apology for Herodo- 
tus” wrote bitterly against adulter- 
ated foods and drugs, a muck-raker 
in the sixteenth century. Over 
seventy years ago Leigh Hunt in a 
little essay probably unknown to 
many admirers of that singularly 
graceful writer remonstrated, yet 
with gallantry, against “ladies' bon- 
nets in the theatre,” and made the 
objection and the appeal that are, 
unfortunately so familiar today. But 
how prettily’ he stated his case! "We 
are aware that in modern, as In an- 
cient theatres, ladies come to be seen 
as well as to see. ‘Spectatum veniunt, 
veniunt spectentur ut ipsae.' But we 
are desirous that they should not pay 
themselves so ill a compliment as to 
confound their dresses with them- 
selves; it is the bonnets that are 
seen, in these cases, and not the 
ladies. * * * We never feel angry 

with a woman except when she per- 
sists in doing something to diminish 
the delight we take in complimenting 
the sex.” 



BONNY DUNDEE. 

There are some who wait impatiently 
for the verdict of boards of health, ex- 
perts in food, stomach specialists and un- 
attached, but busy reformers on the pur- 
ity of orange marmalade. Docs the flav- 
or of orange come from the peel? Are 
the oranges peeled by bonny Scotch 
lasses singing songs of Burns or some 
hymn of faith and confidence to the 
grand old tune “Dundee,” or do rude 
boys'search sidewalks, gutters and gar- 
bage pails? Let us not burst in ignor- 
ance, for if marmalade is good for break- 
last, there are deep thinkers who believe 
that breakfast is merely a pretext for 

^yalade. Eggs, fruit, buttered toast, a 
^ f bacon unless you are a confirmed 
vegetarian, these are all good enough 
in their way — but what is life between 
7 and 9 A. M.. without one spoonful of 
marmalade? Who. pray, invented mar- 
malade? Say not, the question is a fool- 
ish one. Did not Mr. Herbert Spencer 
delight in asking why sheep have their 
eyes on the sides of their heads and 
why a duck waddles? We know who in- 
vented Boston baked beans : “Which 

his name it was Gilson. \\ ho invented 
marmalade? 

AN OLD MARE’S NEST. 

There are certain mare's nests 
that are discovered by literary in- 
vestigators. and rediscovered at In- 
tervals. They reappear with the 
regularity of a well behaved comet. 
They excite interest, are discussed 
wisely, are at last exposed, and then 
they disappear for the allotted 
period. One of the most famous of 
these mare's nests is the statement 
that the Rev. Charles Wolfe stole his 
poem, “The Burial of Sir John 
Moore,” from "Lally Tolendal.” Over 
sixty years ago F. J. Mahony\ 
•Father Prout.” amused himself and 
,-nanv others by translating poems of 



CHESS AND BRAINS. 

The Saturday Review of London 
doubts whether a great chess player 
is often to be regarded as a man of 
powerful intellect. "It has never been 
shown that the greatest masters of 
the game were men with big brains 
for anything but chess.” Hazlitt ex- 
pressed the same opinion in a more 
condensed form when he said a 
great chess player is not a great 
man, for he leaves the world as he 
found it. “No act terminating in it- 
self constitutes greatness.” On the 
other hand it might be argued that 
to excel in any one thing is a mark 
of powerful and concentrated in- 
tellect, and the one that excels 
should not be required to shine in 
any other way. The greatest masters 
of the game might have been great in 
spine profession or calling, but they 
preferred to play chess, as others to 
practise law, mMicipp or the art of 
war. A list of names might be drawn 
up to dispute the Saturday Review’s 
proposition. Philidor, for instance, 
was for some years the most distin- 
guished composer of France In the 
line of opera-comique, and Philidor 
was a mighty chess player in his 
epoch. He astonished the world by 
beating three men at once when he 
was blindfolded. 

SCULPTORS AND FLATS. 

An esthetic person calls our atten- 
tion to the influence of the flat on 
sculpture. This is the era of the flat 
in our cities, as there was once an 
era of the mansard roof, an era of 
the photograph album. Our friend 
remarks: "Unless the sculptor sets 

himself to care for the flat dweller 
his work will never be accorded that 
universal attention which he justly 
claims as his right.” There is a good 
deal taken for granted in this sen- 
tence, and still more in the following 
words : “It is only now and then that 
a public body needs a life-size monu- 
ment. No sane man would wish to 
fill his drawing room with a col- 
lection ot contemporary busts but 
every person of taste would like tc 
have about him little statuettes and 
sculptured groups of a size propor- 
tionate to his home.” Not big and 
heroic statuettes, but “little statu- 



ettes,” things for the ’mantleplece and 
parlor tables. Our friend forgets the 
Dresden china shepherd and his 
sweetheart and the Rogers groups. Is 
he not content with them? Are they 
not “of a size proportionate” to his 
flat? If he craves statuettes he should 
also in his flat read novelettes and 
sermonettes and edltorlalettes and all 
the other "ettes" instead of literature 
suited to a three-story house with a 
cellar and a back yard. W hat is 
wanted apparently is a Michael Angelo 
for a seven-room flat. But are there 
not reduced copies of famous statues? 
Are there not girls from Tanagra? Me 
remember the "esthetic" parlors of 
twenty years ago. They were all dark 
and In green or yellow and everything 
was covered with Morris designs, 
which were said at the time to look 
like the entrails of plants. There was 
much talk about the dado and the 
frieze; there was a gloomy portiere 
over the door, a heavy drapery over 
the mantlepiece; there were cushions 
galore, and lilies, sunflowers and, in defi- 
ance of superstition, peacocks’ feathers ; 
there were plush monkeys, toy spiders 
and all manner of creeping things and 
Japanese animals; there were fans on 
the walls and there was a tambourine 
or a banjo with blue or yellow ribbons, 
sometimes painted with figures of 
storks, and it hung over a Japanese 
screen. There were no statues or statu- 
ettes. 

Such living rooms were in a curious 
clutter. What has become of all the 
encumbering, out of place stuff? Now 
that we are flat dwellers, must there 
be a stone age in decoration .’ Must 
there be gods and goddesses, heroes 
and nymphs, proportioned to the 
fourth floor without an elevator? It Is 
true that one would feel uncomforta- 
ble in a flat with a “stone gal” of life 
size, though ah Apollo Belvedere 
might hold a hat and overcoat. And 
If there are to be a lot of statuettes, 
so that the sculptors may live, the 
flat should be well heated. A room 
thus decorated and without heat in 
the radiator would be doubly depressing. 



her cbai’tfclers speak of a 'inn re as “kit- 
tle cattle to shoe.'’ A more singular 
use of the word occurred in a review of 
a dramatic performance in London : 
"Cleopatra is a kittle character for a 
London theatre, unless played by some 
French actress, who has no character 
tc lose” — a delightful example of in- 
sularity and international courtesy. 






MR. PADEREWSKI. 

So Mr. Paderewski, the eminent | 
Polish hypnotist, is really going to 
leave his chateau and come to the United 
States next season. lie will bring with 
him his “latest symphony,” which will 
be produced here by Mr. Muck with 
the Symphony Orchestra. This "latest” 
symphony is also his first. Mr. Apthorp, 
who, alas, has been too long in Europe, 
saw the' score of it some time ago and I 
praised it highly. When Mr. Pad- ! 
erewski first came to Boston in 1891 
he played his own concerto, but it had 
already been performed here by Mme. 
Uive-King. Later he played his own 
Polish Fantasia. We understand that 
the performance of this symphony will 
he the first, and it is naturally antici- 
r a ted eagerly by many, although Mr. 
Paderewski is, first of all, a virtuoso 
of a peculiarly fascinating temperament, 

; nd he will be remembered as such rath- 
er thau as a composer. 



A BELATED TRUST BUSTER. 

Prof. Arthur M. Wheeler of Yale Uni- 
versity, in the course of his attack on 
the Monroe Doctrine as “the embodi- 
ment of national greed and selfishness,” 
deplored the present chase after money 
and the existence of "great combinations, 
with their betrayal of public trust.” 
Let us see. Did not Yarn University a 
year ago, with tears of gratitude, ac- 
cept the sum of three millions of dol- 
lars from, perhaps, the one great head of 
the most nefarious of all these com- 
binations, and did not a prominent grad- 
uate at the alumni dinner exclaim in a 
line burst, “Bring on your tainted 
money?” Did Prof. Wheeler, on that 
joyful occasion, lift up his denouncing 
voice? 

FRENCH OR GERMAN? 

Mr. John D. Rockefeller has ordered 
a monument to be erected at Oswego, 
N. Y., in honor of his ancestor, “J ohann 
Peter Rockefeller, who came from Ger- 
many.” This should put an end to the 
story that Mr. Rockefeller is of French 
descent; that his name was originally 
Rochfeuillc, just as Bumpus is a cor- 
ruption of Bompasse and Dabney a cor- 
ruption of d’Aubigne. Mr. Rockefeller’s 
present fondness for France might lead 
one to believe the story of bis French 
origin. By the way, where is Pastor 
Wagner? Has be not responded to 
Mr. Rockefeller's invitation to join him 
in the simple life at C'ompiegne? Or 
was the story of Mr. Rockefeller’s reck- 
less tipping on the steamer too great a 
shock ? 

KITTLE CATTLE. 

An English writer on racing charac- 
terised certain horses on a track as 
"kittle cattle” and explains laboriously 
the meaning of the word "kittle” as un- 
certain, capricious, variable. But the 
word is a good dictionary word, and it 
lias been in use for over three centuries. 
It originally meant ticklish, then diffi- 
cult to deal with, requiring caution or 
skill ; then, naturally, risky, precarious, 
uncertain. George Eliot makes one of 



AT POINT LOMA. 

Mr. Lyman J. Gage was eminently 
right in saying that it is no business 
of the public how he amuses himself 
In his years of retirement. We like 
to think of him studying the life and 
manners of the Theosophical broth- 
erhood. First, Mrs. Katherine A. 
Tingley, the great high priestess, 
must be an ever-flowing fountain of 
joy and entertainment, for her mem- 
ory goes back to 1200 B. C., and 
many things have happened since I 
that date. The men of the colony, it 
seems, are dressed “somewhat as the 
ancient Greeks and Romans were 
wont to array themselves”; they 
wear undershirts, pyjamas and a 
piece of cheesecloth over the shoul- 
ders. Somehow or other we do not 
instinctively think of Caesar, Cicero, 
l’lato and Alcibiades in pyjamas of 
a uniform color or variegated, but 
Mrs. Tingley’s memory is said to be 
wonderfully accurate. When Mr. A. G. 
Spaulding of baseball fame arrived at 
Point Loma with his bride, they 
were welcomed with "Homeric 
dances and other fancy steps,” an 
honor greater than that ever paid Mr. 
Spaulding's old friend “Pop” Anson. 
No wonder that Mr. Gage prefers 
Point Loma to Chicago even though 
for breakfast he has only “a quar- 
ter of an egg,” a little dry toast, two 
or three walnuts and a few raisins. 

MICROBIC NAPKINS. 

We had always supposed that the 
Lancet arrogated to itself the privi- 
lege of frightening people out of their 
wits by finding death-giving microbes 
in everything, even on bell knobs, so 
that the prudent person never pulls 
one without first putting on antisep- 
tic gloves. But here comes Prof. 
Kron, a deep thinker in Germany, 
who sounds an alarm against the 
waiter's napkin, "a deplorably un- 
hygienic piece of linen which should 
be abolished in all civilized countries.” 

His article is. Indeed, a trumpet 
call. It seems that a waiter made in 
Germany wiped the guest's plate, 
glass, knife and fork, the sweat of his 
own brow, and the beer foam from his 
own lips with one and the same nap- 
kin: and yet he expected a tip. What 
would the learned professor say to 
the Boston stew, which has been de- 
scribed by envious restaurant-keep- 
ers in other cities as an oyster stew 
in which the waiter Inserts his 
thumb when serving it? 



J ^ 7 / z- / f o 

SEX AND HANDWRITING. 

Experts in handwriting are still 
taken seriously, witness tbe appear- 
ance of one in the incredible divorce 
case in Pittsburg. There is a maga- 
zine in Paris devoted to graphology, 
and in a recent number, Mrs. Walter 
Behrens advances theories of her 
own. She thinks that the state of 



health of the writer is revealed by 
the way the pen runs, which is not 
v beyond belief. She also thinks that 
the corset influences handwriting. "It 
is due to the conventional ‘figure’ 
that women’s handwriting is more 
uniform than men’s.” A woman “en 
pelgnor’ — in a delightful state of re- 
laxation— does not write in the man- 
ner of one corseted; she writes more 
naturally. This point might be dis- 
cussed in the present trial. Do the 
leading experts subscribe to this in- 
valuable magazine? 

POETS’ ERRORS. 

A Wisconsin poet wrote sweet 
verses for the Milwaukee Sentinel 
and one line reads: "There’s the chat- 
ter of the chipmunk, as he leaps from 
tree to tree.” A prosaic soul files ob- 
jections. He says that a chipmunk 
does not chatter, and that, like the 
elephant in the old conundrum, he 
cannot climb a tree. It is true that 
the chipmuck, or chipmunk, is gen- 
erally described as a ground squirrel; 
yet Mrs. Kirkland, a close observer of 
forest life? spoke of the “vagaries of 
thfe little chipmunk, as he glanced 
from branch to branch,” and he is 
generally characterized as merry; in- 
deed, some go so far as to say the 
colloquial appellation may come from 
"chip” or “chipper,” and a chipper 
person generally chatters; but Bart- 
lett thinks the word came from the 
Indians. The Wisconsin poet may 
plead poetic license. In poetry animals 
and plants do all sorts of things; 

| otherwise of what use is much lauded 
imagination? Mr. Phil Robinson who 
I lifts written entertainingly about 
poets in connection with birds, beasts 
and nature, should have taken judicial 
notice of the chipmunk. Aesop makes 
the squirrel give the fox a shrewd 
answer, and in the Edda, he is a mis- 
chief maker. 

NOT IX IOWA. 

Sarah Bernhardt has been for some 
years the heroine of many legends, 
but the latest is by no means the 
least romantic. The story, as now 
told, is that she was born Sarah 
King, at Rochester, la.; that she 
worked for some years with her sis- 
ter in a millinery store at Muscatine, 
and one night she finished' her sup- 
per before her sister — an impetuous 
eater, this Sarah King — and disap- 
peared. Her sister has never seen 
her since; but she learned that Sarah 
joined an "Uncle Tom’s Cabin” com- 
pany, to play the part of little Eva, 
not one of the bloodhounds. It is 
also said that Sarah “a few years 
ago” decorated “the graves of her 
•folks and carried away some stones 
from the old home.” The story is 
told with plausible detail. 

Unfortunately, when a pupil enters 
the Paris Conservatory she is re- 
quired to show her certificate of 
birth, and they are fussy about this 
certificate in France., Turning to 
Constant Piere’s "Dictionary of the 
, Laureats of the Paris Conservatory,” 

1 we find this note: “Bernherdt (Ro- 
sine, called Sarali), born at Paris 
Oct. 22, 1844). But • no doubt there 
will always be some who believe that 
Sarah wua born in Iowa, as there are 
those who swear that Marshal Ney 
was ' not executed ; that he escaped 
to Georgia and passed his remaining 
years there as a more or less honest 
farmer. 

RIVAL SHOPS. 

A man said lately that he did not go 
to his club because he would not run 
the risk of being bored. The old answer 
might have been made that any one 
capable of being bored must be himself 
a bore, an answer that assumes much 
and is hardly logical. He condescended 
to explain himself: There were too 

many at the Porphyry who talked shop. 
But a man appears to best advantage, 
as a rule, when he is talking about his 
own shop and the hearers all have dif- 
ferent shops. One of the most brilliant 
talkers that ever enlivened the world 
was William Ilazlitt, if the testimony 
of excellent judges who knew him can 
be accepted. Yet Hazlitt wrote: “I like 
very well to sit in a room where there 
are people talking on subjects I know 
nothing of, if I am only allowed to sit 



I silent and as a spectator.” If a clubman 
I would only confine himself to his own 
’"shop” and not irritate you by showing 
how little lie knows about your shop ! 
Golightly is all for golf and he has 
! much to say about his record in the last 
game. If be talks vvitli enthusiasm, be is 
much more endurable than if lie were 
to assign Ibsen his true position among 
diamatists. While he talks about bunk- 
ers and putting, listen to him, and won- 
der at the interests and pleasures of oth- 
ers. If you show an interested face, he 
will listen courteously to your disquisi- 
tion on realism in fiction and, no doubt, 
ring the bell, which you forgot to do, al- 
though the waiter several times has 
passed through the room. 

DISMAL ROMANCE. 

When the statue of the younger 
I Dumas was unveiled a month ago in 
the Place Malesherbes, in Paris, where 
(stood already the statue of the glo- 
rious father, some one, discussing the 
plays of the former and the romances 
of the latter, prophesied that fifty 
years from now there would be only 
one Dumas known to the world, the 
author of "The Three Guardsmen,” 
“Monte Cristo” and other marvellous 
tales of inexhaustible and cheerful 
entertainment. 

Reading “Sous le Fardeau,” by the 
two brothers who sign their work 
"J. H. Rosny,” we were struck by the 
remark about the elder Dumas. The 
entertainment offered by too many of 
the modern French novelists is a 
pressing invitation to be gloomy. 
Take this story by Rosny, which is 
told simply and without any appear- 
ance of wishing to shock or harrow 
up the reader. It is told as though 
the episodes described were those of 
everyday life. 

A young physician who, beginning 
to be successful, is making about 
$5000 a year, has a sister with a neu- 
rasthenic husband, and there are 
also poor relations to whom he feels 
himself obliged to contribute. Among 
his patients is a carpenter, Gilbert, 
who supports his father-in-law, the 
children of a sour-minded brother 
who dies suddenly, and his own chil- 
dren. There is Marcellne, the wife of 
a brute, a sort of tramp, who comes 
back to Paris only to rob her of the j 
few francs she has saved up by hard 
work for the benefit of two rickety 1 
children. There is Gabrielle, a pretty 
young woman, who Is dominated by 
her brother, a beast of a fellow. There 
is also the beautiful and poverty- 
stricken Madeleine, who lives shab- 
bily with her brother, a slaving clerk, 
and her mother, who looks after the 
house in a street where murder is the 
only diversion from grinding toil. The 
physician endeavors to help the lot. 
Gilbert turns out fairly well, but In 
the course of a strike he was jailed 
and he swears never again to be on 
the side of order. Gabrielle, who has 
been outrageously treated, is rescued 
from her brother, and her husband — - 
she finally marries — revenges her by 
shooting the scoundrel. Marceiine, 
placed by the physician in a sort of 
colony in Normandy, is discovered by 
her husband, who beats her to death. 
Madeleine, after thinking over the 
matter, calmly sells herself for an as- 
sured Yncome. And what is the re- 
ward of the good physician? He 
marries the widow of a friend. She 
never loved her first husband, and 
she tormented the doctor wooing her 
by her coquetry. 

The Rosny brothers are men of 

more than ordinary attainments and 
sympathy and they stand high among 
contemporaneous novelists. They are 
only two of many French writers of 
fiction who dwell persistently on the 
inevitable bui-dens of life a.nd hail 
death as the only deliverer. What 
wonder if men and women look back 
gratefully on the elder Dumas and 
prefer to read again the wonderful 
adventures of Porthos, Athos, their 
sly companion, Aramis, and tha most 
dashing and dazzling of the four im- 
mortals? 



CONCERT FOYER 



Thoughts as Suggested by 
Dancers and Their 
Costumes. 

INTERESTING STUDIES 
IN LONDON MUSIC HALLS 



Miss Aida Boni, a leading dancer at 
opera houses in Paris, London and 
Brussels, stated a few days ago that it 
made no difference in a dancer’s move- 
ments whether her skirts were short or 
long. Personally, she prefers them to 
hang below the knees. In “Armide,” 
this season, she will wear skirts that 
reach to the ankles. Miss Boni is di- 
vinely tall, graceful, and "she suggests 
the joy of living"— whatever this may 
mean. She took the leading part in the 
production of Messager’s ballet, "Les 
deux Pigeons,” at Covent Garden, and 
her costume was thus described: “Over 
the regulation muslin bush she wears 
a blue silk skirt reaching to the knees; 
that is, it gets there sometimes. This 
compromise seems all that can be de- 
sired; certainly with regard to Miss 
Boni.” Is this last remark a compli- 
ment, or does it reflect on the dancer’s 
structure? 

Some of the readers of The Herald 
may remember the case of Miss Eva 
Sarcy. Engaged by the Isola brothers 
tr. dance in their production of Masse- 
net’s "Herodiade,” she withdrew just 
before the first performance, on the 
ground that she would not and could 
not be compelled to wear the costume 
designed for her, a costume that in- 
cluded a wide-sleeved lunic, a Persian 
iionnet and a sabre. She brought suit 
against the Isolas for breach of con- 

Thev insisted in the course of the 
trial that the costume to which she ob- 
jected was historical. She replied that 
it was beneath the dignity of_ a pre- 
miere danseuse to wear anything but 
the traditional “tutu.” Now the “tutu” 
is a little gauze petticoat. Clad in 
“tutu” and with a smile she was wil- 
ling to dance in “Herodias,” "Herod, " 
“Salome” or any old thing. The court 
decided in her favor and ordered the 
historically correct Isola brothers to 
pay her f.1200. 

Scene for our old friend, the his- 
torical painter: Miss Sarcy clad in 

tutu triumphing over historical accu- 
racy: the Triumph of the Ideal Over 
the Real. 

On the other hand, the King of Cam- 
bodia, Sisowath, or, to give his full 
name, Prea Bat Samdoch Prea Siso- 
wath Chamchrocrapong Hairirach Bra- 
minthor Phouvanavkravkeofa Sobape- 
dey, visiting in Paris, says in his 
frank breezy Cambodian manner that 
all French women should wear only 
two garments: one fitting close to the 
skin, the other covering the first. "Be- 
sides, says the observing monarch, 
“your women harness themselves so 
tight that none of their motions are 
free.” With that he summoned some of 
his dancing girls to illustrate his 
meaning. 

Unfortunately, there are contradic- 
tory statements about the precise na- 
ture of their dress. The New York 
World says it is made of gold wire, 
and fits tightly the figure. The Lon- 
don Globe says the costume is of silk, 
yellow, red, blue or green, with inter- 
lacings of gold and silver filigree. The 
dancers’ hair is cut short, and they 
wear gold helmets studded with gems. 
A costume is worth from $7500 to 
$10,000. Not only are they loose and 
reckless dancers, but some of the dances 
in which they ravish the eyes of the be- 
holder and turn his knees to water are 
pantomimic and mimodramatic. The 
favorite musical instrument that 
spurs them on is the languorous, sen- 
sous xylophone. 

The London journals anticipate 
great pleasure in seeing the Cambo- 
dians' in London, where the ballet was 
for years, beginning with 1702, a pop- 
ular amusement. The London Times 
'reprints each day some curious para- 
graphs that appeared in its issue of 
100 years ago. We thus learn that 
on the night of June 9, 1806, there was 
a great and brilliant audience at the 
opera. The leading soprano was Gras- 
sini, who, courted before she died by 
both Napoleon and Wellington, 
charmed the eyes and ears of De 
Quincy, full of laudanum negus. She 
and the other singers were applauded 
that night. “But the ballet of ’Ninette 
a la Cour,’ which was first brought 
out on Thursday for the benefit uf 
Mile. Parisot, notwithstanding all the 
delightful attitudes and fascinating 1 
witcheries of that accomplished per- 
former, received but little of the pub- 
lic favor. The disapprobation in- 
creased considerably toward the con- 
clusion, and the dancing of Des Hayes 
and Parisot was absolutely stopped. 
When it was found that the audience 
were not likely to be in good humor, 
and the hour of 12 was close at hand 
the curtain fell rather abruptly before 
the termination of the piece." 

This shows the cultivated taste of 
a London audience long before Marie 
Taglioni was the idol of the town, the 
great Taglioni, who, although incom- 
parable for grace, lightness of step 
and bounding strength — “she seemed 
to fly the stage as from a spring- 
board “never showed so much as 
, r k ,‘? ee ’ n facing.” She, then, were 
she alive toc.»y, would agree with Miss 
Boni. 



Journals df London tell today of 
ballets and "nudepartures” in that 
city. Some of them are indeed of a 
surprising character. We do not be- 
lieve, from the descriptions given, 
that tile King of Cambodia, were he 
[ to see these shows, would find the 
j women too heavily clad or tightly 
harnessed. 

| There is a new Eastern ballet at the 
Alhambra, ‘L'Amour,” with a scenario 
by Mrs. Ritchie and music by Francis 






daughter of Darius, the Assyrian 
King, compete in javelin throwing at 
the golden apple on the tree of life 
, 1 * 1 ® fav ° rite Prince Nashar Is helped 
, ta, who shields his eyes from 
the light that flashes from beneath 
the branches. His javelin cleaves the 
apple, but it is then ordained that he 
shall be tempted by beauty, and the 
women that tempt him are not always 
Mylitta. There is one exciting scene, 
it is reported, where the prince “tries 
to rob ills disguised lady love of her 
gauzy garments and threatens to 
leave her ’mid nodings on,' ” not even 
her tutu. We are reassured when we 
a i e told by an enthusiastic reviewer 
that ’sometimes beauty unadorned is 
adorned t lie most, and only the ultra- 
prudish could find offence' in this in- 
cident.” 



The same reviewer says: "Nobody 

cares greatly for the story of a bal- 
let, and, indeed, the only approach to 
weariness in the new production came 
i of the attempt with an excess of pan- 
tomime to make plain the plot. There 
| was much flashing of eyes and gleam- 
ing of teeth and waving of hands and 
arms; but these things did not im- 
press." It was not so in the old days 
of the ballet, when the dancers were 
accomplished mimes, and there were 
elaborate plots often with tragic end- 
ings. 



In those days the scenario was care- 
fully considered by managers, dancers 
and critics. The descriptions by Theo- 
phile Gautier of "Giselle” and “Le 
Diable Boiteux” with minute analyses 
have been thought worthy of preser- 
vation in his “Souvenirs de Theatre ” 
an! the poet who wrote the scenario 
of “Griselle” had as much to sav about 1 
the pantomimic talent of Carlotti 
Grisi and Fanny Elssler as about their 
marvellous dancing. 

Gautier, by the way, in his praise of 
Grisi, refers to the “decent and volup- 
tuous abondon of Taglioni.” The cos- 
tumes worn by her and her contempo- 
raries and also by the famous dancing 
women of the Paris opera in the 18th 
century would seem prim and old- 
maidish in these days of frank bodily 
revelation and "nudepartures.” 



What, for instance, would Mmes. 
Taglioni, Grisi, Elssler, Cerito and 
Grahn have said to the exhibition of 
Miss Vulcana, Miss Irma Lorraine and 
"La Milo” in London music halls? 

Miss Vulcana is a "statuary imper- 
sonator” at the Pavilion. At first 
“sisters" were to assist her, but the 
manager, for some reason or other, 
changed his mind, and Miss Vulcana 



I displayed her “opulent physical 
beauty” in weight-lifting feats. 

Miss Lorraine, at the Holborn Em- 
pire, presents a study in sculpture,” 
entitled “Klio,” which is heartily rec- 
ommended as “the outcome of five 
years’ study and research.” This an- 
nouncement might draw archaeolo- 
gists and custodians of museums. The 
manager showed his knowledge of 
the public’s taste and long-felt want 
when he added that “Klio” » is “a 
startler for tne most blase.” Miss 
Lorraine impersonates 10 “famous 
statues”: "Salambo with the Snake,” 
“Diana,” “The Venus of the Capitol,” 
“The Nymph at the Fountain. ” “The 
Bacchante” (not the one bought for 
the Boston Public Library — not the 
same not the same) and others. She 
wears only dead white skin-tight 
fleshings. But the reporter for the 
Referee was not at all shocked. “The 
impression conveyed is that of be- 
holding a beautiful marble statue, 
perfect in form and graceful in pose.” 
Luminous fountains arise as the cur- 
tain closes on each statue. There is 
music, there is general excitement. 

“La Milo” has been impersonating 
statues at the Pavilion. From all ac- 
counts she may justly be character- 
ized as a corker. She measures 8 
inches from her throat to her shoul- 
der; the circumference of her throat 
is 13% inches; the circumference of 
her ankle is 8% inches. She is 5 feet 
8 incites, in height; the circumference 
of her bust is 37% inches. All sorts 
of intimate measurements have been 
taken, recorded and published, all for 
the sake of art. She is 21 years old 
and she weighs 162 pounds. She is 
also good to her mother. The pro- 
gramme announces that 'the impecca- 
ble correction of detail in La Milo’s 
poses must disarm the most austere 
censor.” 

Boston is, indeed, a slow town. 



Of course “La Milo” is a name as- 
sumed to remind the spectator of the 
famous statue. What is the imperson- 
ater’s real name? Higgins? There was 
a time when all the Spanish dancers 
who thrilled our gilded youth by their 
fire and passion in the eachucha, zapa- 
teado, manchega, jaleo and bolero came 
from South Boston. 

Perhaps "La Milo” is Miss Gerty 
Miles in private life. Miss Leginska was 
announced to give a piano recital in 
London a fortnight ago. A romantic 
story was told about her in advance. A 
little girl, she set out for Vienna to 
study with the great and only Laschet- 
itzki. who refused to hear her play, or 
even to see her merely to confirm his 
suspicions. She tried several times to go 
to him. "She hung about his door one 
morning for six hours, then sent word 
ihat if he would hear her play for five 
minutes, she would not trouble him ?nv 
more.” He relented, but at the end of 
five minutes he would not let her leave 
him; he said to her, “Play on.” and at 



' the end of two hours ne hurst into t 
passionate flood of tears and swore that 
he would teach her for noth. Mg. She 
made such progress that he was eager 
to attend her recital in London. Not 
long after the publication of this pa- 
thetic story a statement that Mr. 
Leschet'tzki had not the slightest idea 
of going to London was also published. 

And does Miss Leginska come from 
Warsaw or some other romantic town 
in the fair land of Poland? Oh. mo. She 
was born in Hull. Eng., and her name 
is Leggins. 

The readers of The Herald have al- 
ready been informed that the music of 
"Always in the Way” is suited to a mil- 
itary funeral, though the title of the 
story is perhaps inappropriate to the oc- 
casion. The band ot the marine corps 
at Olongapo played the music at ilie fu- 
neral of a private. This provoked Mews- 
paper criticism of an adverse nature; a 
soldier wrote a condemnatory poem 
against an officer in the more violent 
style of Mr. Rudyard Kipling; and final- 
ly an investigation was ordered The 
board reported as is stated above, and 
added that the music was the best the 
band could play and the repertory of 
the band was limited. 

It is true that cheerful, even gay. mu- 
sic is often played after the burial of a 
soldier, either by way of dramatic con- 
trast or to cheer the survivors. It 
would seem, however, that some care 
might be exercised in the selection of a 
title. We regret to say that we are not 
familiar with "Always in the Way." We 
do not know the tune or the words of 
the song— if it be a song. The title is 
I enough to prevent its use at a funeral 
| whether the music be solemn or lively, 
i and any officer of common sense and 
ordinary feeling would have ordered 
absence of music, if this piece was "the 
best the band could play." or chosen one 
of the pieces in which they were less 
proficient or whether "Always in the 
Way' were played as the soldiers 
marched to the ceremony, during the 
ceremony or after it had nothing to do 
with tlie case. 

It also appears that the newspaper in 
j Manila which first published an article 
' protesting against the selection was "se- 
verely condemned." Why? Was not the 
statement of fact correct? Was not the 
remonstrance reasonable and decent? 
Or can the military do no wrong to 
which a civilian may object? 



IN A BUSINESS WAY. 

Dr. Patterson, an expert in criminolo- 
gy, not long ago "a respected and pros- 
perous physician," now a “physical and 
mental wreck” in the Denver jail, says 
he is by nature a criminal, but his in- 
stinct was not developed till he delved 
or broke into criminology. "I could not 
be straight if I wanted to be straight. 
Nearly all the men convicted of crimes 
are criminals by nature.” Thus does he 
return to the doctrine of original sin. 
There are students of criminology who 
believe thnt many professional criminals 
are not at all perverts or insane, but 
go into crime as an industry, to main- 
tain a certain standard of comfort for 
their families. Thus burglars break 
into banks and dwelling houses that 
they may be able to pay promptly the 
landlord, grocer, dressmaker. They feel 
that they must discharge their duty to- 
ward wives and children. They are like 
Frederick in Gilbert's "Pirates of Pen- 
zance.” A slave to duty often becomes 
intolerant, bigoted, fanatical. It is a 
pity that these criminals cannot live a 
broader life. In jail they change the 
scene, but not their nature. It is a 
well known fact that distinguished bur- 
glars have shown fine taste in the deco- 
ration of their homes, and displayed 
even in the hurry of choosing silverware 
much discrimination. So they have 
been influenced by something more than 
what Waif Whitman called “the mania 
of owning things.” 



renewed incidents in Venezuela." She 

sees America “under a gloomy' phase." 
The world is topsy-turvy; It is In a 
state of evolution and not only of 
revolution. But, dear madam, revo- 
lution is perceptible evolution. We 
are at present the victims of our own 
discoveries. We have conjured up 
conditions by electricity, by' the auto- 
mobile, by the telephone, “by the 
means of acceleration that belongs to 
everyday life." In three generations 
we may' become habituated to them. 
“The buildings In San Francisco 
courted their doom, not merely' be- 
cause of their weight upon the earth, 
but because they attracted the de- 
structive fluid In the air, which Is the 
true fire of heaven." This opinion 
j settles a grave dispute. The death of 
Curie, who with his wife discovered 
radium, is significant. He was run 
over by a common wagon, harnessed 
to a lumbering horse driven by a 
peasant. “Is not that fate for you. 
this crushing out of a man. the high- 
est product of intellectual civilization 
by the brute instruments of nature?” 
There will be civil war between mas 
ters and workmen. The French ar- 
tisan has a desire to live well and 
his pay is inadequate. He wears an 
overcoat instead of a blouse, a “soft 
and stylish” hat instead of the old 
cotton bonnet. He must be placated. 
There must be old age pensions. 
There will be a revolution. “It is 
inevitable. I do not care to print that 






WITH WHISKERS. 

The nurses of the Hahnemann 
Hospital in New York have been 
haunted for several nights by a 
ghost “with a stubby growth of 
whiskers.” For some reason or other 
we do not associate ghosts with 
■whiskers, whether they' be zymos, 
Galway sluggers, mutton chop, or 
Piccadilly weepers. We all think of 
apparitions as pale and close shaven. 
When' we begin to reason in the mat- 
ter, it will be seen that the ghost 
■would not be readily identified if he 
•were not facially the same as to 
hirsute decoration. Many die In hos- 
pitals with a stubby beard or slight 
mustache. Nor is it reasonable to 
suppose that there would be any 
material difference in post mortem 
whiskers whether the hospital were 
an allopathic or a homoeopathic insti 
tution. The nurses were perhaps ac- 
customed to his whiskerage of a few 
days. It is a nice point In spookology 
one that is worthy of investigation 
by societies of psychical research. 

GRACEFUL RECOGNITION. 

The Evening Herald alluded re- 
cently to the craze for decoration — 
the wish to sport a button or a rib 
bon or some less familiar Insignia. 
“You uns there, with the gewgaws 
on,” as “Andy” Johnson remarked, 
pointing to foreign ambassadors and 
ministers on a ceremonial occasion. 
There are times when a decoration 
may be presented by a government 
■with a peculiar grace. Sir Conan 
Doyle, in a late number of the Corn- 
hill. related the history of the 
pamphlet he wrote In defence of 
England during the Boer war. Over 
300,000 copies were sold in England, 
end the pamphlet was translated into 
all the European languages, includ- 
ing Welsh. The first appeal for help 
in the cost of publication brought in 
12000. but a great part of the money 
was subscribed by governesses on the 
continent. Sir Conan adds that for- 
eigners who publicly stood by Eng- 
land, as Messrs. Yves Guyot, Talichet. | 
Naville and others, were awarded "a 
very handsome gold cigarette case, 
•which was suitably inscribed. But J 
how if some of these sympathizers 
do not smoke, or are members of an 
anti-cigarette league? From any 
ether European country they would 
have received a decoration. 



IN DUCKS. 

It has been said of late that the Eng- 
lish are steadily growing more tolerant. 
They shudder no longer at the thought i 
of straw hats for men in summer ; they I 
do not all wear constantly their hats in 
the House of Commons ; they now admit 
that ice may be something more than 
an ornament to a winter landscape. The 
fact that Mr. Gerald Paget wore a pair 
of white ducks at Ascot occasioned re- 
mark even in the staid Pall Mall Ga- 
zette. “No similar exhibition has taken 
place for some time.” So the English 
are not yet wholly civilized. We do not 
insist that they should wear white duck 
yellow nankeen arc infinitely prefer- 
able. Would that they could now be 



easily obtained in Boston! But cer- 
tainly a man of ordinary sense and 
aware of the flying season should be 
permitted, yea, encouraged, to suit his 
taste and comfort. But listen to this 
covert sneer of the Pall Mall: lei- 

haps the last man to be seen in white 
ducks in London was the late G. A. 
Sala, who had brought back a supply 
from India. lie wore them into the 
Reform Club, and ho came out alive; 
but the street boys were too much for 
him, and he had to take them home in 
a cab.” G. A. Sala, forsooth ! The 
name of that prince of journalists was 
George Augustus Sala. and lie v. as 
worthy of having it spelled out in full, 
fov the name suited him and his style. 



in prophecies, because it alarms peo- 
ple and does harm to commerce.” 

Unfortunately' we are not told how 
lime, de Thebes acquires her private 
information. Does she go into a 
trance? Does she hear voices? Are 
letters left on the centre table by 
spirit hands? Has she a crystal in 
her bedroom? Is there now and then 
strange handwriting on the wall? 

JiAjUj / V ( 1 J b 

AVENGED. 

A Gustave Flaubert Museum was re- 
cently inaugurated at Croisset, where 
the author of “Madame Bovary” lived 
long and worked hard. It is a pity that 
he is not alive to describe satirically 
this museum and the bourgeois staring 
at this or that relic. His one dread was 
the entrance of the commonplace and 
the expected into his life and works. 
His dread became bourgeoisphobia. He 
saw the awful shape, stupid and more 
boresome than the teredo spoiling the 
landscape, art and life. He saw it with j 
diseased eyes and perturbed brain. His 
last work, which he did not live to fin- 
ish, was a monument to his gigantic 
hatred, so gigantic that it was absurd. 
And now the bourgeois is avenged. 
There is a Flaubert museum, and he can 
visit it. 



A PARISIAN SIBYL. 

There is a renowned sibyl in Paris, 
and her name is Mme. de Thebes 
It was she that foretold the recovery 
of King Edward and the fire at the 
Bazar de la Charlte. This was glory 
enough for one sibyl, but In her 
Almanack for 1906. written last Octo- 
| ber, she prophesied the disaster at 
Courrleres, and her remark about the 
“unlooked for shock” in the I nlted 
States might have referred to the -an 
Francisco disaster. 

Mme de Thebes is described by 
journalist who talked with her recent- 
ly as handsome and debonair. He 
drawing room reminds one of an 
ancient Egyptian temple, and there is 
a professional smell of incense, but 
<*he wears no sorcerer's costume, she 
holds no wand, no lotus flower; her 
gown does not bear the zodlaca 
signs; there is neither skull or crystal 
ball on the table; no black cat or 
frog sits by as a familiar. Mme de 
Thebes has no make-up. She Is a 
woman of the world, who is recog- 
nized in Paris as one with the gift o 

prophecy. . , 

The year 1906, she says, is the mad 
year. There are all sorts of troubles j 
for South America, "great difficulties 
in Brazil of a political nature, and I 



UNCOVERED MEAT. 

The Herald spoke not long ago of 
the reprehensible practice of carry- 
ing meat unprotected against dust in 
the streets near the markets, meat 
that Is also exposed to contamination 
from the coat, shirt or neck of the 
bearer. The Herald then suggested 
an easy and inexpensive protection. 
In certain European cities meat car- 
ried or exposed for sale is covered 
with a kind of gauze. Certain Eng- 
lishmen In a highly nervous state 
over the revelations in Chicago and 
also In English towns have been con- 
sulting the ancients. They tell us, 
for instance, that the Romans had 
three classes of butchers — one for 
providing hogs, another for providing 
oxen, sheep, etc., and a third for re- 
ceiving them at the slaughter house 
and carrying out the necessary oper- 
ations; but the wise men have not 
been able to learn whether there was 
any' law against dust, though they say 
street traffic was not often great and 
the chariots seldom held more than 
two persons. 



OTHER HEROES. 

There was more than one hero in 
the Dreyfus case. In the army there 
was Col. Picquart, but it may be said 
that it is the business of a soldier to 
be heroic even when he knows he is 
most unjustly treated. There were 
heroic civilians, however, who had, 
as much to lose as Picquart. There 



on by their colleagues, hooted at by 
their pupils, and in some instances 
removed from their positions and 
thus apparently disgraced. There 
was Anatole France, the gentle Pyr- 
rhonist, who for once was not scepti- 
cal; his lambent irony grew hot with 
righteous indignation till it blazed 
and consumed the fetishes of mili- 
tarism. Above all there was Emile 
Zola, whose famous letter with the 
repeated and inexorable “J’accuse" 
may outlive the mighty structure o£ 
his romances which deal with life 
under the Second Empire. These 
names, honorable in themselves, 
would long be conspicuous if only 
for their association with that of Al- 
fred Dreyfus. 

MORTUARY DISAPPOINTMENT. 

Mortuary amateurs have awaited 
Impatiently, and so far in vain, to see 
what Mr. S. Baring-Gould would say 
about the character of the obituary 
articles that followed the false re- 
port of his death. They were not 
all complimentary, for some regret- 
ted that he had written so much and 
apparently in haste. It is said that 
he was “annoyed” at being reported 
dead, which reminds us of the old 
Vermonter who remarked to a friend 
condoling with him on the death of 
his wife that he had never been so 
"mortified” in his life. Mr. Baring- 
Gould should have followed the ex- 
ample of Mr. Richard Croker. Some 
time ago a Tammany friend west to 
his house at Wantage and blurted 
ojit: “The New York papers said you 
were dead.” The boss answered; “Oh! 

Did they'say where I went to?” How 
did Mr. Baring-Gould take his obitu- 
ary medicine? Did he pity the 
critics’ lack of appreciation, slap his 
forehead in fine frenzy and call on 
Time the Avenger? Did he way down 
in his heart feel that they were right? 
Prominent men, in fact all men, 
should prepare their own obituary 
notices for the press, and, if possible, 
see a revised proof. Some might go 
still further and imitate Mr. Kume- 
kawa of Kobe. He celebrated his 
77th birthday not long ago by having 
a mock funeral of himself. There 
was a procession, and he walked at 
the head of his own coffin. There 
was the prescribed service. “The 
Qoral offerings from friends were 

1 very large,” said the local journal, | 
which gave a full and commendably 
accurate account. Possibly there 
were fireworks, and, if there were, 
Mr. Kumekawa saw them. Funerals 
are often managed foolishly, and it 
would not be a bad idea if punctili- 
ous and fastidious persons should 
hold full dress rehearsals, with the 
privilege of criticising the “remarks 

to the mourner s.” __ 

NOT A BIT OF IT. . 

Now that Mr. Paderewski will re- 
visit the United States next season, 
he should surely play before the r«i- 
pils of Ennas Conservatory of Music 
in Des Moines and hold a reception 
after the concert, if only to clear his 
own name. For about two months 
ago Prof. Frank J. Fitzgerald, “wide 
ly known as a composer and instruc 
tor” — let us see, what is the name of 
that sweet thing he wrote? ad- 
dressed the graduating class and said 
in the course of his instructive re- 
marks; “Musicians as a class are 
cranks, and Mr. Paderewski is in- 
sane”; and again; “I do not believe 
there is a group of physicians in 
America who would not send Pad- 
erewski to the insane hospital if he 
were without his music and sent to 
them for examination.” He forgets 
that Mr. Paderewski can play with- 
out his notes. The learned profes- 
sor did not even qualify his opinion 
by specking of Mr. Paderewski as a 
remarkable instance of the influence 
of “emotional insanity” over an audi- 
ence. Those who have had the pleas- 
ure of conversing with the distin- 
guished pianist know that his most 
surprising characteristic as a man 
< and thinker is his sane view of life 
and mankind. If he were insane for 
a moment, he would have no control 
over his audience. He weighs cun- 
ningly every effect; he makes delib- 
erately his points. However hysteri- 














no doubt amused, perhaps a little 
bored. He is a witness to the truth 
of Diderot's paradox. 

/■/ ^ 

On the one hand, some deplore In 
England the popularity of musical 
comedy, the amount of money spent on 
the productions, the temptation to 
which young composers with a melodic 
vein are exposed, the pernicious -in- 
fluence on young singers who earn 
money easily — when they are physical- 
ly attractive and put aside ambition— 
the debasement of public taste. It Is 
true, they say, that many musical 
comedies fail and one of the best of 
them cost the manager about £10,000, 
but managers, composers, singers, and 
the public will have at present no 
other form of musical stage entertain- 
ment except grand opera. The true 
opera comique finds no place or wel- 
come for itself. 

On the other hand, the musical com- 
edy is taken seriously by many. The 
Herald quoted last Sunday a statement 
by Mr. Baughan to the effect that there 
were better actors and actresses in 
musical comedy today in London than 
on the stage of the spoken drama. It 
is also said that the public would be 
bored to death by the old-fashioned 
opera comiqrre of the French and of 
the Germans if even the best examples 
of the respective schools were to be 
performed in an English version in 
London. 

Yet “See See," produced last month 
at the Prince of Wales, Is praised as a 
comic opera, pure and simple, as writ- 
ten and composed, acted and sung, so 
that "See See” marks a movement in 
the direction of the despised form of 
musical entertainment. “Lancelot” of 
the Referee is unusually serious about 
it. “Musical comedy has positively de- 
generated. and the sort of play which 
I hare before now described as a half- 
way house between the theatre and the 
music hall has become very much of 
the nature of a variety entertainment, 
song and dance, and simple buffoonery, 
all strung together, like beads on a 
thread. You may hear people say they 
are sick and tired of that sort of thing; 
that they are craving for something 
that is not so aimless, brainless, and 
formless; but it seems to me that the 
public taste has been debased to such 
an extent by the lower class of mu- 
sical plays that I shall watch with in- 
terest and anxiety the effect of the 
experiment at the Prince of Wales. 
The fate of comic opera Is ‘on the 
knees of the gods.’ ” 

It might be added; the fate of mu- 
sical comedy is on the knees of the 
chorus girls. 

“Veronique” had a long run in Lon- 
?i? n l but -Lancelot” is not consoled by 
that fact, for Messager’s operetta is 
characterized by him as “comic opera 
doubled with musical comedy ” 

Significant, some will think, is the out- 

“Tti/p 1 !? st n f*T , muslcal comedy, 

. . B ® Ile Mayfair,” in which Edna 

May takes the heroine's part. The libret- 
to is said to be intolerably dull Mr De 
Foe in a letter to the New York World 
also complains of the show girls in the 
piece, who gesticulate “with the angular 
precision of Dutch windmills.” Listen to 
the blasphemer: “If the American show 
girl is the abomination of our stage the 
English variety of the breed is a hope- 
less curse, fche Is meek, bovine, angular 
and entirely without animation. De- 
signed originally as a piece of moving - 
scenery for the display of millinery, she 
does even this badly. She has not even 
fl ? e , ?. a ' -v '^ ry ?, hlc ° f the American chorus 
girl. Mr. De Foe speaks well of Mr. 
Farren Soutar, “a manly comic opera 
leading man,” but he does not care for 
many of the people on the stage nor 
does he cudgel his brain to exprefs sub- 
tly his contempt. “As a lot. the other 
comedians are a painful crew. They are 
not as boisterous as American musical 
comedy actors, but their devices for 
coaxing laughter are about as juvenile 
elementary as a painted monkey 
climbing on a stick ” v»i 



MUSICAL COMEDY AND 
ITS POSITION IN ENGLAND 



Afe C.ANDIA 



AMUSING DEFENCE BY 
GEORGE GROSSMITH, JR, 



VI r. Nikisch as a Conductor 
and Some Remarkable 
Performances He Gave, 



(Mr. George Grossmith, Jr., has been I 
seen and heard in Boston, so we might 
' express an opinion as to the reasonable- [ 
ness of his conjecture, were this rea- 
sonableness a subject for thumb screws 
or strappado. We remember him vague- 
ly as skipping about and singing “Beau- 
tiful, Bountiful Berty.”) 

Then there is Mr. Bernard Shaw, who 
also takes a low view of musical com- 
edy and boasts that he has visited the 
Gaiety Theatre only twice in his life, 
and the second time was on business. 
“Mr. Sliaw did not say what was the 
nature of the business. Possibly it was 
to call for some manuscript.” This was 
the best answer Mr. Grossmith could 



climbing on a stick.” Yet he admits that 
they sing “rather well.” 1 

Why this ferocious onslaught on the 
English chorus girl? We all have Seen 
some that were not “half-bad.” as the 
Englishman says when he wishes to be 
especmliy enthusiastic. When a band of 
them appeared in a musical comedv in 
laris, they were hailed as a revelation 
of .^ rai tean d sprightliness. The eminent 
critic “Willy” exhausted his rich and 
surprising vocabulary In praise of their 
marvellous discipline, their concerted 
dancing, singing and general action 

Cohesion,” said “Willy,” “ is the Engl 
lishman s and Englishwoman’s greatest 
gift. Perhaps Mr. De Foe does not care 
tor cohesion as a characteristic of clior- 
us girls. 

Young Grossmith in Defence. 

In the course of the last season Mr. 
George Grossmith, Jr., made a defence 
of the musical comedy at a meeting of 
the O. P. Club in London. He admitted 
that this species of drama is a pet sub- 
ject of vituperation except among those 
who profit by the performances and 
among the vast majority of the paying 
public. Mr. Tree, we believe, once re- 
ferred I ghtly to the musical comedy 
as the primrose path of drama.” This 
seemed to be more injurious to vountr 
Mr. Grossmith's feelings than the com- 
mon expressions of objection, “inconse- 
quential rubbish” and "pestilential 
trifling. Musical comedy had once been 
described by a dailj' newspaper as “stu- 
pidity and long legs,” and this charge 
Mr. Grossmith thought, was “almost 
personal.” 



make, and no doubt the expression of 
his face and the bitterness of his tones 
helped some, or else there was a good- 
natured person present, for the pub- 
lished report of the meeting stated that 
1 the repartee was followed by laughter. 

Mr. GrossmitlTs feelings were also in- 
jured at a famous playgoing club, for 
the ‘guest of the evening,” a distin- 
guished young actor, spoke despondent- 
ly of the drama and said the best news 
was that Mr. George Edwardes in all 
likelihood would spend most of his time 
ln . America, whereupon tire chairman 
said he saw no reason why the drama 
should not soon be lifted from “flic 
slough of indelicate musical comedy.” 
There is a general indictment, added 
Mr. Grossmith, against the modern 
iorm of the musical play: it lacks wit, 
p ot and cohesive construction, and the 
players are not actors, they are en- 
tertainers. 

Ibis was before an English court 
handed down the opinion that any stage 
woman who speaks only one line should 
be ranked as an actress. And in Ameri- 
ca is not any mute but shapely girl in 
the second row or in the background de- 
scribed as an actress by the newspapers 
the , moment site becomes through anv 
foolish. extravagant or scandalous con- 
duct a supposed object of Interest to 
the reading, gaping public? 

Futile Points. 

Mr. Grossmith was more fortunate in 
repeating the attacks on musical com- 
edy than in his defence of the form of 
drama in which. he shines. He could not 
understand why there should be large 
audiences, if the -’’play were without 
action and the music “trifling and remi- 
niscent.” He wished that he could give 
the names of people whom he saw night 
after night in the Gaiety — “some of the 
greatest names in Europe.” He insisted 
that there is “just as much plot in the 
average musical comedy as there is in 
the average comedy”; but he was ready 
to admit that in musical comedy the 
story becomes “subservient to the inter- 
est of the songs, the interpolations, and 
tlie personality of the operas”; that “the 
experienced exercise of his personality 
enables the players in musical comedy 
to entertain his audience.” He also 
argued that if the dialogue of a musi- 
cal ,P la . y were “continuous and consist- 
ent, ’ it would be successful at first; 
'but after a few months, the inadapta- 
bility of the play would become a sen 1 



ADELINA -STEHNF. 

AND F.D oAKBI ,N 

I ous handicap. It is rvo more inartistic 
to sing a song on the stage than it is 
to speak m blank verse, “but no one had 
ever suggested that Shakespeare was in- 
p’jLstic. Oh, yes they have— from 
Pepjs to Voltaire, and from Voltaire to 
Mr. Bernard Shaw. Mr. Grossmith end- 
ed with a glowing tribute to Mr. George 
Edwardes, “the maker of musical com- 
heai-t” Sreat ma nager with a great 

This defence was for the most part 
scattering and futile and occasional- 
ly entertaining chatter. Mr Gros- 
smith spoke the truth when he put a 
high value on the “comedian with 
fuliy developed individuality” as a 
box-ofnee lodestone. The people go to 
a musical comedy to feast eyes on 
tne girls in the play, and to be amused 
by the pranks and gambols of a come- 
dian known to them as a funny fel- 
low- It is, first of all, his comic in- 
dividuality that appeals to them, 
whether this individuality be exer- 
cised legitimately, within the frame 
ot the piece as designed by the libret- 
tist, or ‘developed” without regard to 
the action and situations. The music 
must be quick and chirpy, and there 
is no popular objection to one or two 
sentimental songs; but the girls must 
be physically attractive, full of steel 
spring's and ginger; the chief come- 
dian must be a spouting geyser of 
gags,^ quips and nonsensical sayings, 
and if he have amusing personai 
mannerisms, so much the better. 

Mr. Grossmith believes that a “con- 
tinuous and consistent dialogue” will 
soon rum the run of a piece. How 
about Gilbert's dialogue? How about 
the dialogue written by Meilhac and 
Halevy for Offenbach? 

1 here can be no doubt of one thing: 
musical comedy has driven true comic 
opera off the stage. Attempts to re- 
vive a genuine interest in true comic 
opera have failed. And why should 
any one wish to disturb the great 
public, the Ephraim of the Bible? 
Let it alone. 

On the Continent. 

Musical comedy is an English institu- 
tion and the English smile at all en- 
deavors to give imitations in foreign 
cities. A member of the Referee staff 
visited European cities last season, and 
although he was apparently amiably dis- 
posed he kept shaking his head and 
saying, “This will never do.” In Vienna 
be liked Mizzi Guenther and her “sunny 
style, but he wondered at the taste of 
the Viennese. The librettist of "Die lus- 
tige Witwe,” which was a great success, 
has no wit or dexterity in the manasre- 
ment of intrigue. “He takes it easy and 
the audience takes it easy, too. It is a 
way they have in Vienna. An important 
character walks on the stage without 
the least preparation for his entrance 
; and starts to sing a song, and, having 
sung , „ hl ® , son £, walks off without a 
i word. The uses of light and color are 
unknown. The visitor was amazed at 
abject poverty” of another musical 
comedy “Hug-dietrichs Brautfahrt ” 

I which he sav. tl the Carl Theatre. “Pro- 
fessedly comical it was accepted as such 



as Carmen 

by the too agreeaole audience; out the 
humble humors of a pantomime king 
and the buffooneries of a green dragon 
with the voice of a foghorn procured me 
only a feeling of deep depression which 
neither the music nor the actors did any- 
thing to dispel.” And all this was in 
Vienna where they make much of musi- 
cal comedy. 

Our friend went to Paris to see a new 
musical comedy which was the rage 
“A more brainless entertainment I never 
wish to see. Coarse humor, crude acting 
and cheap finery— et voila tout. But the 
costumes, I was told, were going to 
i make me open my eyes. Open my eyes, I 

[Tie hanged! The whole dreary, blowzy 
gbow produced exactly the opposite ef- 
fect upon me, I can assure you. It woke 
me up a bit. however, to hear the music, 
lor you may imagine my surprise when 
|1 heard, one aftijr another, familiar 
tunes from our English musical plays, 
actually including 'The Spring Chick- 
en. The dramatid motive of “The 
fopring Chicken” was taken from a 
h rench play. Why should not the French 
he neighborly and appreciative and in 
turn lift a tune or two? 

And why, we ask again, should this 
question of musical comedy be taken 
(seriously in any country? A few of these 
pieces have pretty music, none of them 
lias music that perplexes the average 
listener. They afford an opportunity 
ior the display of girls and the “indi- 
viduality ’ of this or that funny man. 

1 ou may not care for Mr. De Wolf 
Hopper, but Mr. Jefferson De Angells 
throws you into fits of laughter, while 
your friend the eminent geologist never 
fails to see Mr. Hopper when he comes 
to town. “I like port,” said Mr. An- 
drew Lang to Mr. George Moore. “Oh 
do you? T like sherry,” said Mr. Moore 
to Mr. Lang. Yet there are some to 
(Whom all musical comedy actors are as 
small beer. 

Mr. Nikisch Again. 

Mr. Gericke lias gone, Mr. Muck will 
come, and yet some even in Boston are 
still interested in the doings of Mr. 
Arthur Nikisch. They remember certain 
brilliant performances led by him in 
Boston and forget performances that 
were indifferent or slovenly. 

Mr. Nikisch is undoubtedly today 
ranked among the very first orchestral 
conductors in concert. There are some 
who say that he is without a rival, and 
they, as a rule, are those who live in 
cities where lie leads only one or two 
concerts, and programmes are carefully | 
chosen by him with a view to the 
dramatic display of his own musical 
nature. In Leipsic and in Berlin, where 
he conducts series of concerts, there is 
discriminative criticism and not merely I 
unalloyed or hysterical eulogy. If he 
conducts in a flaming and superb man- 
ner romantic works that appeal to him 
lie is comparatively or wholly ineffective 
when lie leads a symphony or a sym- 
phonic poem that does not lend itself 
naturally to an extravagantly passionate 
interpretation. 

TJ 1 ’®. is surprising, for even Mr. 
Ixikisch is mortal. When he was here he 
gave memorable performances of Schu- 
mann s , symphony in D minor, Tsehai- 
kowsky s Romeo and Juliet,” 



overtures 




hv v.iimer He also conducted concerts 
when showed oulv too plainly that the 

Dieee had not been thoroughly rehearsed 

and that he himself fol i£V 'hlVoes not 

hUuate to^ring^nto^romlnence a figure 
n the accompaniment to the detriment 
of tite composer’s scheme in the matte 
of proportion. Now, as then, he dellgnts 
in "freedom of interpretation — that is, 

o"f Ihe'l-omposer ‘w^ar^told that he 

I&S3& «W«ov^£t 

ofTwhalkowsky's ''P^thet.c’symphony 

Kjssrsn.,?. si,ss 

jgffiSS .ViJXJWS A> 

“grVa"^freedom '^^"it^erpretatTon^’ was 
excused or father lauded; for we quote 

Cmrductor/^publfshe^h^^h^^at^y^News 

iSSPISS 

E a y "Tns Wa me P nlaf i0n fl br e e "was "toug 

Tough, but devilish sly, might be 88111^ 
NUdsch f C(m'ducTe 3 d Brahms’ first sym- 

SSStoblte*’ than t, ’usual.’^ The second 
movement was sung with irreststifue 
charm; the Allegretto had too ,7r a ,V T \*i 
grace The final Allegro was built up to 
a stupendous climax, but one was cqn- 
Si ious that Mr. Nikisch was trying to 
make Brahms utter sentiments rather 
foreign tohim.” According to Mr 
1 Baughan. there is no conductor in tlie 
world who can get so much from las 
men as Mr. Nikisch. whose interpreti- 
i Uon of tlie “Tannhaeuser” overture 
! made the critic think that a great con- 
ductor is, after all, a creator. In Rich- 
ard Strauss’ ’’Death and Transfigurai- 
tion.” Nikisch’s interpretation wal. 
grander and more imaginative than that 
of the composer. 

PERSONAL. 

The Herald publishes today portrait^ 
of Mme. Maria Gay, whose Carmen was* j 
recently praised at the Opera-Comique* | 
Paris, and at tlie Monnaie, Brussels, as* 
one of remarkable dramatic originality* 
and intensity; of Adelina Stehle and 
Edoardo Garbin in Montemezzl’s new 
opera. “Giovanni Gallurese”; of Mme. 
Eleonora de Cisneros, as Candia della 
Leonessa in “La Figlia de Jorlo, and 
of Francesco Paolo Tosti, the cele- 
brated song writer. Mme. de Cisneros, 
who will sing with Mr. Hammerstein’s 
company next season in New York is 
an American, and as Miss Broadioot 
was a member of Mr. Grau s company. 

She has sung in South America, at 
1 nndon and in continental cities with 
mticbsuecess. * Mr, Tosti. born in 1846 at 
Ortono. has made London his home for 
the last 30 years, where he is highly es- 
teemed as singing teacher and com- 

talking recently with a re- 
poster regretted that poor health alone 
bail prevented him from completing a 
i second string quartet and a trio. 

M, \V W Cobbett ami the Musicians 
Companv offered prizes to the best six 
I “phantasies” for string quartet. B e 
r hief prize was awarded to W. Y. Hurl- 
stone P Who died lately, and his piece 
and five others were performed June I 

22 in London. Sixty-seven manuscripts 
had been submitted. The term ' phan- 
tasv” is now applied by the "Worshipful 
Companv of Musicians to certain com- 
positions of smaller dimensions and 
lreer structure than the traditional 
string quartet. The name “Phantasy 
goes back to "Fancy,’’ a title given in 
England in the 17th century to instru- 
mental pieces. Among tlie other five 
prize winners was Mr. Joseph Hol- 
brooke. whose “phantasy is said to 
have true individuality. 

At the recent Ilandel festn al in the 
Crystal Palace the London singers num- 
bered 2700, and 500 singers from the 
Yorkshire. Bristol and Birmingham fes- 
tival centres assisted. There was an or- 
chestra of. 500. - 

Mr Mark Hambourg offered a prize of 
P>0 to English composers this year and 
last year for the best new piece of vir- 
tuoso" piano music. He played the suc- 
cessful piece, “Tteme and \ aviations, 
hv Beniamin J. pale, at ins piano re- 
cital in London. Jime 17. There was an 
audience of about 2000. Mr. Dale is M 
pupil of the Royal Academy of Music, 
and this theme anrfl variations aie said 
to be “the tiiree latter movements of a 
sonata in D minor.” Tlie Times said. 
“How far Mr. Hambourg, having vir- 
tually acquired the piece by awarding 
it prize has an ‘artistic right to pie- 
sent it in a version varying at so many 
no hits from the written indications of 
the composer is not for us to decide. 
K,it as before presented tlie piece bad 
an artistic unitv Which it lost in Mr. 

Hambotirg’s version. « in of W force ™ve"re 
oHcrations of shades ot rorce ''ere 
made apparently for the mere sake of 

M^Dal™ was" too Invest® to appear be- 
fore them." 






CHEESE IT. 

Every gTam (nearly one-thlrtleth 
of an ounce) of fresh Emmenthaler 
cheese contains almost 100,000 living 
germs. After two months the num- 
ber increases to 800,000. Cream 
cheese after a month and a half is a 
home for 2.000.000 animalculae. 
“These figures apply only to the cen- 
tre of the cheese, while close to the 
rind families numbering 5.500,000 
bacteria may be found in every gram 
of cheese.’’ These are not the state- 
ments of some envious Dutch. Ger- 
man. English. Italian, Herkimer 
county cheesemaker; they come from 
the authoritative mouth of a profes- 
sor of the Swiss Dairy School at 
Sonntal. Well, what of it? As the 
man said in the old story: “Are there 
so many critters in this bit of cheese? 
Here goes. I can stand it if they, 
can.” 



reins made long ago by Mayhew in liis 
hook on the horse. The instruments of 
torture are still in use, and the docked 
tail, a hideous and cruel deformitj", is 
preferred by the genteel to any natural 
caudal line and length. 

The Londoners prefer, it seems, the 
word “blinkers” to “blinders,” and 
probably the term ’’blufts” is local. 
“Blintfer” recalls the most atrocious 

conundrum we ever read or heard. It 
was published in Vanity Fair, and un- 
doubtedly killed that humorous weekly, 
though some say the civil war put an 
end to it. The conundrum was some- 
thing like this: What is the difference 
between a Venetian shutter and a wager 
won from a sightless man? One is a 
blind over a window and the other is a 
win over a blinder. 



/ 



7 tw 



THE ABUSED DOG. 

Writers wise about dogs are now dis- 
cussing the question whether Gen. 
Lafayette was ,the first person to send 
any St. Bernards to the United States. 
Any one interested in the discussion 
should look at the article in Watson’s 
Dog Book, Part VIII. The St. Ber- 
nard. -of course, is a noble animal in 
winter, and he is highly esteemed by 
some because he carries about bis neck 
a little barrel of brandy or generous 
wine, but during an American summer 
lie seems out of place. A question of 
equal if not more engrossing interest is 
this: Why should an intoxicated person 
be said to “have a dog”? "I saw John- 
son yesterday, and, my, didn t he have 
a dog !” The origin of the old expres- 
sions, “drunk as a lord” and "drunk ns 
a fiddler,” is not hard to seek ; but why 
“drunk as a biled owl p ? He had a 
skate” is graphic, but, we repeat, why 
does a drunken man “have a dog"? 



PARALYZED. 

Many a true word is spoken from 
the chest, as Mr. Tommy Tompkins 
remarked. The victim of alcohol In 
common speech is often “paralyzed, 
and now the scientist after careful 
study says that the victim is con- 
stantly paralyzed, that is, even ex- 
tremely minute doses of alcohol 
paralyze the white cells, which pro- 
tect the body from microbes or de- 
stroy them. According to Metchnikoff, 
the white ceils in tlie blood inclose 
or eat microbes, hence their name 
phagocytes. Our immunity or sus- 
ceptibility toward a microbic disease 
depends on the state of these “eating- 
cells.” Recent experiments conducted 
in widely varying methods are in | 
concordance with one another, and ; 
prove that the presence of alcohol 
makes the white cells inactive. Metch- 
nikoff sums up the result of the ex- 
periments made by him and by man> 
investigators under the stimulus of 
his work: “Besides its deleterious in- 
fluence on the nervous system and 
other important parts of our body, 
alcohol has a harmful action on the 
phagocytes, the agents of natural de- 
fence against infective microbes.” In 
other words, give the phagocytes a 
chance, or they will sulk. 

BLINDERS. 



AUSTRIA. 

There is a peculiar pathos in the 
words of the ex-Empress Eugenie to 
the Emperor of Austria. Both have 
known many and heart-breaking 
so-rows in domestic life, and if 
Eugenie lost an empire, how long will 
Franz Joseph’s last after his death? 

It may be said that many distin- 
guished statesmen have denied the 
inherent strength and stability of 
Austria. Metternlch called the coun- 
try a state, and not a nation; Gort- 
schakoff said it was a government 
and not a state; Cavour insisted that 
it was solely a dynasty and not a 
government. The soldier patriot, 
Garibaldi, said “Austria is only an 
assassin,” and Gladstone character- 
ized her as the negation of all civil- 
ization. Furthermore, she has fared 
badly in the common speech. There 
is a Prussian saying that the Bava- 
rians are the connecting links be- 
tween Austrians and men. But what 
have the Saxons, Bavarians, the peo- j 
pie of Hanover and Hamburg not 
said of the Berliners? The Emperoi 
is a most courteous gentleman, and 
he will be gallant toward Eugenie, 
more gallant than the French were 
toward Marie Antoinette, “the. Aus- 
trian woman.” 



London has a yearly parade of work- 
horses, organized by the London ' an 
Horse Parade Society, and this year all 
winners of first prizes (red rosettes) 
were presented with a diploma by the 
Royal Society for the Prevention of 
Cruelty to Animals. There were 240 
entries, whereas two years ago there 
were only eighty. The horses, it is said, 
were generally in excellent condition. 
“Their well-groomed, glossy hides at- 
tested systematic good treatment. ’ Now 
comes an ironic touch. A correspondent 
of the Pall MAll Gazette wrote after the 
parade: “I would like to suggest that a 
prize might be given in each section for 
the best horses without blinkers. If 
every owner of a blinkered horse was 
made to wear a shade half over his eyes 
whenever he went out, he would soon 
realize how cruel blinkers are.” How is 
it in Boston? How many horses are 
without blinkers, or blinders, or blufts? 
Some of our readers may remember the 
o..,, I p nirainst curb bits and check 



THERE AND HERE. 

The recent tragedy in New' York 
moved Mr. George R. Sims to write: 
“More Tinned Filth from America. It 
Is the White Brand this time," and he 
hopes that the English journals are 
not going to put this “potted abom- 
ination” on the breakfast table every 
morning. But Mr. Sims also looks 
about him at home. He finds a cheap 
coffee made by Germans for his 
countrymen out of burned turnips; 
milk adulterated with boric acid, | 
colored with coal tar and other dyes; 
candy with arsenic in it, and he 
smiles a grim smile as he mentions 
native sausage. "A short way with 
adulterators,” he says in his wwath. 
“would be to make it part of the pen- 
alty to compel them to bear the cost 
of the public Advertisement of the 
particulars of their convictions, and 
to exhibit the same in a conspicuous 
position on their business premises 
for six months.” If he would only 

abstain from poetry! 

••The Human Ostrich swallowed pins. 

But people paid him for his feat. 



We swallow wliat we find in tins. ,, 

And pay. ourselves, for what we eat. 

He also talks of "uncleanly men in 
filth-befouled boots,” standing amon* 
fish or meat and doing all sorts ot 
nauseating things. Truly, there is a 
great awakening. 

ARCHAIC COC’KXEY’ESE. 

A character in a recent English novel 
of contemporaneous life uses the phrase 
“Drat your imperenee.” We remem- 
ber in connection with this Mr. George 
R. Sims saying not long ago that tlie 
phrase passed put of currency while 
Queen Victoria was still alive ; tlmt it 
is as dead as the Cockney’s “v” for “w” 
and ”v” for “v.” Mr. Sims went on to 
say in explanation : “Nor even in a 
music hall sketch would a costermonger 
today talk of White vine winegar,’ or 
address a pal as ‘Samivel’ or A llliam. 
Much of the cockneyese in Dickens is 
already archaic. “Vilikins” no longer 
stands for “Wilkins.” and “Evans is 



is still heard for “Smith." The coster- 
mongers in the heart of London still say 

“wif” for “with” and "fink" for “think. 

It would be a pity if all their distinctive 
speech had disappeared. 

“Imperenee” was perhaps a portman- 
teau word, to use the phrase of the 
author of “Alice in Wonderland”; a 
blending of “impudence” and “imperii 
nencc” ; hut might it not have been 
merely a contraction of the latter, or a 
slovenly pronunciation of “impudence ? 

It is said, by the way, that the cockney 
language in Mr. Bernard Shaw’s “Cap- 
tain Brassbound’s Conversion” is not a 

bit like the real thing. 

VP THE AISLE. 

Mr. Clarence Eddy, the distin- 
guished organist, played the organ at 
his own wedding, July 10. He timed 
the march with admirable precision 
so that when the bride reached the 
altar he struck the final chord and 
stood up like a man before the min- 
ister As his wife is said to be a 
sweet soprano, one might reasonably 
have expected her to sing “The Voicej 
That Breathed O’er Eden,” or "Blest 
Be the Tie That Binds,” as she went 
up the aisle. Mr. Eddy has thus set 
a precedent. When the bridegroom| 

is an organist a church wedding is 
the thing, though some can work- 
wonders with a reed organ. A violin- 
ist would have the advantage of a 
double-bass player in marching to 
the altar, but the finest fellow of all 
in this romantic situation would be 
the slide-trombone man, and let him 
go up the aislv with his bride, pro-| 
claiming sonorously his pride and 
joy, instead of waiting to meet her as 
in the days of courtship. Nor need; 
the drummer be ashamed to an- 
nounce to the assembled guests the 
bridal approach, and thus to sym- 
bolize the beating of his heart. 

AROUND THE NECK. 

Girls in New York who are on 
strike against the Neckwear Manu- 
facturers’ Association have heard 
that the strike is hitting the supply 
of Ascot and four-in-hand ties. “The 
strikers do not work on the made-up 
ties, and they pointed out that no 
man who gets into the habit of knot- 
ting his own tie will ever wear a 
made-up tie again.” These girls are 
shrewd observers; furthermore, they 
are on the side of beauty and truth. 
Years ago a study of the cravat with 
pictures of cravats then in fashion 
was published in England and trans- 
lated into French. It was a dignified 
study of a dignified thing. Would 
that some amply qualified person 

might bring the book down to recent 
years! What essays might be writ- 
ten on the Lord Dundreary, a sort of 
plastron, with a piece of elastic to go 
over the collar button; the Brother; 
Sam, heart-shaped, loud in colors,- 
with a cardboard foundation; the 
Stanley, popular in the seventies, es- 
pecially with those who took no note 
of time in changing shirts; the made- 
up sailor's knot with a tab and a pin; j 
the big French bow, a*so made up. 
All these ties were as the abomina- 
tion of desolation to The tier of cra- 
vats, who also scorned the string tie, 
which, slipping and showing the 
knot under an ear, suggested t e 
halter. Then there is the made tie 
that is not snug in the collar, but 
shows a tract of shirt below the but- 
a no-man's land of linen. The | 



wearer, conscious, may tug and ug. 
The hideous thing slips and blackens, j 
as It slips. Yes. every man should 
sit under his own vine and fig tree 
and tie his own cravat. The made 
tie should be reserved for flat dwe 



5 . 

DREYTFUS’ future. 

Now that Maj. Dreyfus has been as- 
■ a a crack regiment it may well 

rSw whStw «». »»>«« 

u, e will be no, a liabPJ » 
fcrtable one. Dreyfus.” The 

and cries out, -justice ha* - 

world at large rejoices tha j 

been done, though it is "^^aUitncl 

perfect. Bu ^ ^ d the outrageously 
of the army toward ui ^ 



'II not absurd race feeling still pre- 
1? Will not the fact that he and his 
(porters exposed the criminal machi- 
(ions of officers high in rank set him 
•art as one disloyal to military tradi- 
)ns? Unfortunately for him and for 
ranee the great majority of French 
fficers are not Picquarts, and the belief 
hat the army can do no wrong is not 
onfined to the army. 



has been on the stage ; he, too, has been 
in Arcadia. Mr. Belasco should re- 
cover quickly from his surprise and re- 
member that human nature enters occa- 
sionally into art. 



ELAT HORSEMANSHIP. 



UNDUE EMOTION. 

The trial of Mr. Thaw continues to 
be conducted In certain New York 
newspapers, and now a change of 
lawyers for the defence may arouse 
the drooping interest of the public. 
“Emotional insanity” was a defence 
long before the Cole-Hiscock case. 
When George Borrow took his fa- 
mous walks in Wales he attended at 
Llangollen the examination of a 
butcher charged with attempting to 
cut the throat of a rival in trade. The 
accused said that he merely wished 
to mark his man, and he talked sane- 
ly. as was his habit before the as- 
sault. The surgeon of the place, on 
being asked his opinion with respect 
to the state of the prisoner’s mind, 
said he believed that he might have 
been “laboring under a delusion” at 
the time, but what this delusion was 
he did not say. Borrow held his 
tongue, but made this note: “Judg- 
ing from his look and manner, I saw 
no reason to suppose that he was 
any more out of his senses than I 
myself or any person present.” Some 
have called Borrow a "bounder,” but 
no one ever accused him of being in- 
sane, and he was a shrewd judge of 
men and their actions. 



"ENJOYS GOOD HEALTH.” 

A man was corrected ^yesterday for 
remarking that he "enjoyed good 
health.” The purist said to him: "Of 
course your health is good if you 
enjoy it. Could you enjoy poor 
health?” and thu? he spake by the 
card and not with due reflection. There 
are persons who enjoy their poor 
health. It absorbs their attention. It 
keeps them busy, going from physi- 
cian to physician, consulting wise 
Women and wonder-workers, trying 
all manner of remedies from the ani- 
mal, mineral and vegetable king- 
doms. It gives them an endless sub- 
ject of conversation. It draws them 
close to fellow-sufferers and makes 
them sympathetic. In like manner a 
man may enjoy good health. He is 
radiant with the mere flush of life. 
He walks as though he were in the 
air, he smiles on the passers-by. He, 
too, talks about his health. “Never 
knew a sick day.” He plumes him- 
self on the fact that he never took 
medicine, as others say with an intol- 
erable air that they have never 
known the taste of ale, beer, wine, 
strong liquors or tobacco in any of its 
pernicious forms. It is hard to say 
which of these two enjoyments is 
| more trying to those who move in 
the immediate atmosphere. 

WHY SURPRISED? 

Mr. David Belasco has on many occa- 
sions— on first nights of plays, on the 
witness stand, and in conversations with 
! reporters — shown a philosophic calm 
| and the aplomb of a man of the world. 
It is therefore the more surprising that 
he should be wildly excited over the 
marriage of Mrs. Leslie Carter. “I 
would as soon think of the devil asking 
for holy water as of Mrs. Carter taking 
a husband.” This remark — say rather 
cry — is neither reasonable nor gallant. 
Why should not Mrs. Carter take a hus- 
ji band, as long as she does not take some 
t other woman’s husband? Many men 
find her attractive; there are women 
I who would fain exert her drawing 
power. She is not a boarding school 
miss to whom man is a romantic being, 
'clothed in thunder, irresistible. Mrs. 
ii Carter has reached years of discretion. 
■,:She is able to exercise judgment. She 
J knows what sue wants. Nor is her hus- 
' band one under a spell exerted by a 
' heroine of a drama, one to whom Haz- 
j litt’s bitter line might be applied: "To 
marry an actress for the admiration she 
excites on the stage is to imitate the 
man who bought Punch.” The husband 



The physician orders you to ride 
horseback in the country and you 
J cannot afford to take the prescribed 
medicine. We once heard of a man 
who used to ride a sort of mechan- 
ical horse in a room with a window 
that looked on a public square with 
trees. This exercise had been recom- 
i mended to him by a medical crank or 
supposed quack. The patient be- 
lieved that he was much benefited; 
he said the ride was better than one 
in the open air; and he actually 
gained in health. We told this story 
to a physician and he was not sur- 
prised at the patient’s enjoyment and 
gain. "The bedroom ride,” he satd. 
“was a symbol. Realities pall upon us 
because we are accustomed to them: 
shams give us a peculiar satisfaction 
of their own.” And he added as a 
confirming illustration that the 
chauffeur who takes his wife out 
in his master’s automobile has a bet- 
ter time than the owner of the car. 
(Perhaps this is the reason why the 
chauffeur is occasionally reckless, 
and criminally indifferent concerning 
the rights and lives of others on the 
highway.) If there Is so much in the 
symbolism of a rocking horse, and 
the popularity of merry-go-rounds 
might well be brought forward as a 
proof, the exercise should be within 
the reach of many. The story of the 
bronze horse may be only a parable. 



VOCAL NATURE. 

The Mt. Vernon (N. Y.) board of 
health has passed an ordinance 
against cocks, hens apd ducks. “The 
owner of poultry which persist in 
disobeying the ordinance must either 
kill the fowl or take them beyond 
the city limits.” It seems that a Mr. 
Hubsch kept a diary and “proved” by 
it that he had been awakened over 
100 times last winter by Mr. Tier’s 
domestic animals. A light sleeper! 
Also a methodical man, for the en- 
tries showed the day, hour and min- 
ute he was disturbed and the precise 
nature of the disturber. Cocks crow, 
hens cackle, ducks quack, for ’tis 
their nature to. Poets and novelists 
of the pastoral class have delighted 
in barnyard activity — at least in 
print. A cock that does not crow is 
a loathsome object, and there is only 
one more delightful sound than the 
quack of a duck in a marsh heard by 
the half-awakened sleeper in the 
morning, and that is the cawing of 
crows as they fly in groups of nine. 
Mr. Hubsch is as nervous as Herbert 
Spencer or Octave Feuillet. He 
should live in a great city, where the 
constant din lulls, so that a sojourn 
in the country frets at first the 
nerves. Herbert Spencer tried the 
experiment of putting an offending 
Icock under a bucket, but all in vain, 
as the readers of his curious auto- 
biography remember. But why not 
try the animals in court? A cock 
was tried at Basle in 1474, convicted 
and burned alive for having laid an 
egg. 

WOMEN JOURNALISTS. 

An able defence of that much 
abused person, the woman journalist, 
was published recently in The Herald. 
The writer might have stated facts 
that are not known to those who live 
only in the present or in the future. 
The first daily newspaper in the 
world was published in London by 
a woman, Elizabeth Mallett. The 
newspaper was one sheet of two 
columns, and it professed to give only 
foreign news. TJie publisher confessed 
that her venture was “to spare the 
public half the impertinences which 
the ordinary papers contain,” nor 
were there any editorial comments; 
the readers were supposed “to have 
sense enough to make reflections for 
themselves.” Was not the first news- 
paper in Rhode Island owned and 
edited by Anna Franklin? Did not 
Clementine Reid found a newspaper 
in Virginia to support the Colonial 



cause? Was not tne 'Massachusetts 
Gazette and Newsletter conducted by 
Margaret Craper, published even 
when Boston was besieged? It is true 
that there are contradictory state- 
ments in certain instances: Thus 

some say that Mrs. Mallett’s journal, 
the Daily Courant, was started in 
1702, and others that 1720 was the 
year, for man, the lord of creation, 
and made in the image of his Maker, 
is occasionally in doubt or inaccurate. 



SEEN AND UNSEEN. 

Mr. William H. Thompson at work 
on the “televue,” a device "which will 
enable a person talking over the tele- 
phone to see the face and figure of the 
person to whom he is talking,” is no 
doubt a most ingenious person, but the 
value of his invention is questionable. 
One of the chief pleasures in using a 
telephone is the consciousness that your 
face is not seen. Suppose, for instance, 
you are obliged to deceive the person at 
the other end, to tell a white lie to save 
trouble or annoyance. The deceived one 
has no opportunity of seeing your face, 
which might betray you. A pleasant 
voice belonging to some unknown 
woman asks information or some slight 
favor. The voice is caressing, it has 
flattering tones, it is appreciative. It is 
surely the voice of beauty, and you mod- 
ulate at once your own and are eager to 
do all that is in your power, whereas 
if you saw at that moment the woman, 
hatchet-faced, with the thin long golden 
line of American dentistry and with a 
fine development of bone, you would be 
more cautious in yielding to the vocal 
touch. Or suppose that Mr. Marcellus 
B. Graves reminds yoit of the little loan 
which you have neglected to pay. How 
much better for you not to see his face, 
whether ir be cloudy In anger or piteous 
in appeal ! Furthermore one will be 
obliged to dress for the telephone 
Neither the statesman nor the lover will 
dare to answer a call, as at present, un- 
shaven and in pyjamas. 

CONCERT FOYER 

Show Girls and Chorus Girls 
in View of the Tragedy 
in New York. 



NEWS OF MUSICIANS 

HERE AND IN EUROPE 



Naturally there has been much talk 
lately about chorus girls. The Stan- 
ford White tragedy has furnished 
texts for entertaining, and in some in- 
stances preposterous, sermons. Thea- 
tre managers have spoken in warm 
terms of the artistic and moral char- 
acter of the chorus girl, who is now 
daily in evidence in the newspapers, 
though it is out of the season. Miss 
Jume Coughdrop, who knew young 
Mrs. Thaw well, tells the world all 
about her. Miss Flossie Bilberry is 
the intimate friend of a girl who once 
was on speaking terms with Mrs. 
1 haw, and therefore Miss Bilberry’s 
portrait, taken apparently when she 
was in the bath, is published, no 
doubt to her extreme annoyance. Miss 
linger me Jumper saw Mr. White sev- 
eral times, and she declares that he 
was an “elegant gentleman, just as 
polite and thoughtful as he could be.” 
Mtss Jumper’s portrait is also pub- 
lished, and we see at once that she 
believes in high living and high- kick- 
ing. 



It should be understood that nearly 
all these chorus girls are “actresses.” 
The recent decision of a London court 
about a Gibson girl settled this dis- 
pute. If a chorus girl speaks a line, 
or even two words, in the course of a 
play, she is an actress, and in the cat- 
alogue with Bernhardt and Duse. An 
amusing skit founded on this decision 
was published not long ago in the 
Pall Mall Gazette. Mr. Frank Rich- 
ardson wrote, it, and here it is: 

She was not exactly an intellectual girl, 
* Ut * slie hoped to illuminate the stage 
* , anc * she wasn’t pleased with her 
position in the chorus. The young man 
loved her very much, and fed her a great 
deal fit the Savoy and Romano’s. 

It s an awfully hard world for women,” 
she said despondently as they were sitting 
at lunch. 

I “Nonsense,” he replied loyally. “You’re 
allowed to say ‘Hurrah’ in the second act 
now, as well as in the first act. and deuced 
well you say it! You’ll get the Aspirate 

m . . ,\ n he added thoughtfully. 

She bridled: 

The Aspriate? There's no part in the 
piece called ‘the Aspriate!’ You mean ‘The 
Maharajah.; Well, if I doft’t succeed in 
'the ^ profession I shall commit suicide I 
fion t care tuppence about being- buried in 
unconcentrated ground.” 

For many years certain, classes of 
young 1 women earning their living 



have been a mark for dealers in flip- 
pancy and cheap wit, and for profes- 
r* 1 s f„ tirlsts - In the. days of the 
Greeks it was the flute player, and 
^seldom was she described with the 
sympathy shown by Pierre I.ouys in 
in I >h Jirf lte - , V ator u was the weav! 

glr ’ and sll <‘ remains a tradition 
wiIL” 8 .! son8 ' Popular among col- 
, n the seventies — perhaps it is 
today- — 1 1 is in some of the col- 
lege song books, but al! the songs in 
these collections are not sung: 

Says I to her. what is your trade? 

Says she to me I'm a weaver's rnaid 
CHORUS. 

A rig-a-jlg- jig and away we go, «tc. 

so ! 1 - s ’ ls a " old one, and its ama- 
tory sentiment has been much chast- 
*“« d ' n the course of the years. Did' 
not Montaigne make some wise re- 
marks about weavers’ maids? | 

'Tif "(oman book agent became a 
mark. Later it was the turn of the 
stenographer, then the typewriter and 
they are still marks. Tmlay it is the 
chorus girl who provokes jests that 
are often foolish and seldom compli- 
l ™?'? tary rrhen the girl with good looks 
modesty addltlonal charm of reasonable [ 

According to the paragrapher and the i 
inventor of thrilling specials all chorus I 
girls prey on lobsters, tire human live 
and broiled live. The intimate lingerie' 
ot these girls would excite the envy of 1 
any European queen; their fingers I 
bleeze with precious minerals. They 
walk only on the stage. Outside of the 
theatres they dash about in cabs, whizz 
m automobiles, lounge on yachts. The 
only water they drink is of a gaseous 
nature and with something when they 
are low in mind. The earnest student of 
sociology is terhpted to believe that 
Society for Physical Research were 
founded exclusively for them, although 
ja Society for Providing Indigent Worlt- 
ln ? ,9. lrIs with Birds and Bottles was 
established two or three years ago in 
Boston. The list of its members Is a 
ong one, and subscriptions to the cause 
have been liberal and constant. 



These girls that have easily won noto- 
riety are show girls; they are not chorus 
girls. They either have a naturally 
piping voice which in an emergency 
resembles the “shrill edged shriek of a 
mother dividing the shuddering night”; 
a bass voice; or a low voice of fog horn 
quality. They have little or ng vocal 
skill; they are not musical; the con- 
ductor groans and swears and sweats 
at rehearsal, hammering the notes into 
them, trying to make them sing in time. 
Nor can they act. They are seldom 
vivacious, spry, slyly attractive. Many 
of them are as stockvard beauties. 
They are simply show' girls, to be 
shown, to be seen— and like good little 
children, not heard. The show girl is 
a variety of a long established class. 
Sometimes she is dull and amiable, tak- I 
ing without thought what her gods give 
her. Sometimes she is calculating and 
malicious, in assumed coldness toward I 
the male. Then there are show girls ! 
who are supreme leg pullers and of 
historical significance. 

The true chorus girl is often hard | 
working and self-supporting. A “For- | 
mer Chorus Girl” gave reasons some 
days ago why girls join and quit the 
chorus. Whether a woman -wrote the 
article or whether a newspaper man 
with whiskers thought tne signature 
a plausible one is here not to the 
point. 

Well educated girls are sometimes 
forced suddenly to earn their living. 
They have neither the time nor the 
money to fit themselves for any busi- 
ness, and they have not the courage 
to work “as beginners on a beginner's 
Salary” in the shops. “A girl of in- 
telligence and beauty or style can 
usually obtain chorus work. The sal- 
ary ranges from $15 to $30 per week. 
This work enables a girl to travel and 
to, stop at good hotels. She studies 
operas, expression, dancing, poise, etc., 
instead of slaving behind the counter 
in t lie city at $8 per and living in a 
hall bedroom. Many productions are 
rehearsed several weeks without sal- 
ary.” 

But how many chorus girls are paid 
so that they can “stop at good hotels”? 

W’hy do chorus girls quit the stage? 
Some get discouraged because they 
are not advanced; some find the life 
intolerable. “Former Chonls Girl” 
takes a more cheerful view: "A 

bright, good looking girl usually gets 
married after a few seasons, for she 
is placed before the public and the 
right fellow happens to see her.” Yet 
our informant has known downcast 
hours. Although she has left the 
stage, she still sees the awful appari- 
tion of the "paid instructor of the 
chorus, usually a man of more stage 
cunning than education and breeding, 
who considers it thoroughly unbe- 
coming to his position to treat the 
chorus workers with respect. Some of 
these men shout and swear and strike 
their canes on the floor in frenzy; 
some study sarcasm and smart say- 
ings, and mimic and ridicule. They 
often call girls by their surnames 
only, or by nicknames. 'Move your 
long shanks lively,’ they will say; or, ■ 
‘You haven't got no more ginger in 
you than that chair.’” 

Our informant says nothing about the! 
young woman who is ambitious to be) 
Ian opera singer, who is willing to begin 
las a chorus girl, for she knows that' 

I some day sh'e will be applaunded as Aida, j 
Leonora, Bruennhilde. There are many 
of these girls whose struggle is heroic. I 
The great majority drop out. Some 
teach and some marry. Some are ad- I 
vanced to the dignity of a minor part, j 
(some end in the hospital. Here and 
'there a girl arrives at the goal. They 
make a brave fight, they endure much, 
but as long as they are sustained by am- 
bition, they would lead no other life. 

To accuse them recklessly of light be^ 
h'avior is eminently unjust and cruel. 
[They should never be confounded with 
show girls. 

Mrs. Rosalba Beecher Collins, a mem- 
ber of the McCaull Opera Company in 
the early eighties, was married July 12 
to Lloyd G. Hartshorne. Otto Lohse’s 



second wife, an opera, 
ruhe, where Mr. Lohse is conductor, at- 
tempted to 1:11! herself by jumping from 
a hotel window in Cologne. His first 
wife was Katherine Klafsky, and he 
came to this country when she was a 
member of Mr. Damrosch’s opera com- 
pany. The New York Sun states that 
Leoncavallo is anxious that Mr. Ham- 
merstein should produce his opera 
“Fedora.” First let Leoncavallo write ;« 
"Fedora.” The opera of that name was 
composed by Giordano. 

It is said that Mr. Hammerstein has 
engaged Pauline Donalda and Folia Lit- 
vinne for his opera house. Miss Don- 
alda has been well advertised this season 
in London. She is now betrothed to 
the opera singer Sevellhac. "He dis- 
covered her and brought her out." It 
will thus be seen that sopranos, like 
republics, occasionally are grateful. 

As The Herald has stated before this. 
Miss Donalda’s name is Pauline Light- 
stone or Lighstone, for the name is 
spelled both ways by the passionate 
press agent. She is a Canadian of Jew- 
ish descent and took the name Donalda 
because she received a pension from Sir 
Donald Smith, “founder yf the Royal 
Victoria College. Montreal, which insti- 
tution she entered, being called, as are 
all the girl students. 'Donaldas.' ” It was| 
in recognition of Sir Donald's generos- 
ity that she chose his name as a stage 
patronymic. And so she is twice grate- 
ful. Felia Litvinne has sung here in 
opera. She is a very large person and 
as a singer is “massive and concrete." 

Will Puccini conduct the first per- 
formance of his “Mme. Butterfly” at 
the Metropolitan Opera House in Janu- 
ary? Will Mr. Conrled produce the 
opera, or has Mr. Savage the exclusive 
right for this country? Insatiable Mr. 
Hammerstein : They say he is trying to 
engage Mme. Calve, who has broken her 
contract for concert engagements in the 
t'nited States next season. Mr. Ernest 
Hutcheson gave a piano recital in Lon- 
don last month (June 25). He was criti- 
cized with discrimination-. It appears 
that he "touched off with agreeable 
neatness” pieces by Beethoven and Men- 
delssohn, but he “made too much use of 
his strength" in Schumann's sonata in 
G minor and “assailed the ears of his 
audience sornewliat fiercely." Mme. 
Belle Botsford. a violinist “who hails 
from Boston, .F. S. A.,” was announced 
to give a recital in London on .July 5. 
“She now returns to the concert plat- 
form after some years' absence." 



northern Italy or see Santiago in Chili, 
singer at Carlis- What pleasure did Mr. Beit derive from 
his superfluity? Only to give some of it 
away ; and what incredibly rich man is 
confident that his charity is not misdi- 
rected? A driblet put in the hand of a 



will be said in paraphrase: ‘A woman's 
crowning glory is her (red) hair.’” 

But why should Mrs. Carter be so 
earnest in defence? Like Massachusetts, 
she needs none. Aunt against niece, and 
in the matter of hair we side with the 



ful to any >*>ung man who reads a 
novel for moral instruction. But a 
novel deliberately didactic Is not a 
work of art. 



needy soul rejoices the giver ; but who latter We do thfa knowing the ancient 
knows the future of charity in a lump prejud . ce; how thg Egypt5ans cere _ 
and pompous sum and under the con- ( moniously burned aIive red -haired 

trol of t rustees? women ; how Southey figures cruelty as 

CORRUPTION OF YOUTH. red-haired ; how Brahmins were forbid- 
It appears by the action of the board den to marry the red-haired; how Judas 



Cesar Thomson, the violinist, will give 
30 concerts in this country after Jan. 1. 
He played in Boston some years ago 
with little popular success. Ysaye will 
not come here next season. “As he and 
ms manager had a stormy time in his 
last tour here, the news that Ysaye had 
declined to come hack created no sur- 
prise in musical circles." Is it another 
case of too much Johnston, this time 
[with a “t”? 

| Vladimir de Pachmann and Ramil 
Pugno will play the piano in this 
’country during the season of 1907-8. 
The former says it will he his last 
tour in America. Ossip Gabrilowitch. 
the pianist, will begin a tour ot the 
United States and Canada in Novem- 
ber. Musical America announces the 
engagement by Mr. Hammerstein of 
Victor Capoul as “artistic director of 
the new Manhattan Opera House. 

There are sound, ripe musicians in 
Scranton. We nave a right to , e .T 
this from a paragraph published in a 
Scranton newspaper: 'Mr. JOoepn 

Whitekofsky of U23 Meade avenUe at- 
tended the birthday party ot Mrs., 
Wesler in South Scranton last evening 
with his new accordion Which he got 
from Vienna. He certainly is the best , 
accordion player in Gernnuimusitin 
Scranton. He plays all over at most 
any social affair at a reasonable 

^"'Plie New York Sun publishes a 
rumor that Saint-Saens visited New 
York several years ago on his way 
from South America; th ®t he came in- 
coenito and “remained concealed in a 
French hotel until the departure of 



of education committee in Philadelphia 
that school teachers of that city have 
been using slang phrases and thus cor- 
rupting youth. Henceforth they must 
not say, “Skidoo, Get busy, Cut it out, 
Quit your kidding, Fade away.” 
"Skidoo” is undoubtedly slang, but “kid- 
ding” is an old English term and of 
reputable provincial authority : “Kid, to 
entice by conversation, to make a per- 
son believe an untrue statement.” Why 
hould any one object to “Get busy,” 
or “Fade away”? The former is terse 
and stimulating ; the latter is poetic and 
used by poets. The committee also 
objects to "Beat it while your shoes 
are good.” But the shrewd expression 
of this sound advice would have delight- 
ed Benjamin Franklin. Nor should we 
discourage the use of the phrase 
“Eighteen and a bottle of milk” merely 
because we do not understand it. The 
wings of slang are swift. As the learned 
college president in Worcester remarked, 
slang is language in the making. The 
slang of a few years ago is in the ortho- 
dox dictionary of today, and lexicog- 
raphers of a dozen years hence will 
quarrel over the derivation of “skidoo.”* 
“Eighteen and a bottle of milk.” A 
I phrase that is sonorously cryptic. We 
should think twice before disallowing it. 



was probably red-haired, and so on. But 
the old Romans liked red-haired women, 
and let us be sternly Roman toward 
Mrs. Dodge’s niece. 



A still more re- 
markable story 
he New Y^ork w - 

of* ' noblest 

a years ago in Europe and America 
a, Sig Bravara, and taught sine-iog 

£ °A Vonl!rt n “of music calculated to 

o f the* a u d feiTc e' " 'was 9 V 1 v e n ' re c e n 1 1 y 

sal^°tlm° prospectus, ^'th^pro'framme. | 

Concert givers m Losion | 

take note 

/ c, o n 



wn- ka ble* *s to r V r I s that' published by 
the New VorkWorH to the effect that 






- 2 'O ‘ j 



MEDIAEVAL. 

A private censured in rhyme the 
officer who permitted the playing of 
“Always in the Way” at the funeral 
of a marine in the Philippines. His 
rhyme was published in a Manila 
newspaper. Mars and Apollo are 
not always fast friends, and the imi- 
tator of Mr. Kipling was brought 
before a prosaic court-martial. Ac- 
quitted, he was soon afterward “ex- 
iled to a dreary army post in Zembo- 
ango.” We know not the place, not 
even on the map. The word Itself 
has a dismal sound. Zemboango! 
“The post is near the equator.” That 
Is enough. It suggests leprous trees, 
huge snakes, foul scum on stagnant 
water, carnivorous and roaring 
beasts, fever and ague, shooting 
pains, deathlike lethargy, creeping, 
poisonous things, an absence of but- 
ter and ice, treacherous natives — 
what does it not suggest? But what 
mediaeval vengeance! It reminds 
one of some of the fine old Italian 
tales, In which men are put out of the 
way, neatly, without any mess due to 
sticking or carving, and wives sus- 
pected of Infidelity are compelled to 
pine In a poorly furnished tower in a 
swampy region until they died a ma- 
larial death. 

HER GLORY. 

Mrs. Dodge, the aunt of Mrs. Leslie 
Carter, speaks out in meeting with the 
freedom of a blood relation : “The same 
thing that made Leslie Carter marry 
her was just what made him divorce 
her. It was her mad impetuosity, her 
violent emotionalism, her red hair that 
attracted him, and it was her impetuous 
nervous temperament, her violent emo- 
tionalism and her red hair that caused 
all the trouble.” 

When Mrs. Carter was last playing 
in Boston she freed her mind to a re- 
porter of The Herald. “I wish most 
emphatically to deny the theory that a 
red-headed woman has more temper, 
loses her temper more easily, is more 
quick-tempered than any other woman. 
Temper is a matter of temperament. It 
has nothing to do with complexions or 

skin pigments.” Then Mrs. Carter said 



ENOUGH. 

There has been wild guessing about 
the fortune left by Mr. Beit. Some say 
it is below $50,000,000; others that it 
is $625,000,000. A million for each day 
in the year would seem to be a liberal 
sum for one who, like Mycerinus, was 
warned by the gods he had only a cer- 
tain number of months to live. Mr. 

Beit had had his stroke. Above a cer- 
tain amount of money the rest is vexa- _ 

tion. What this amount should be (le- tha£ the hair of Rosalind, Desdemona, 
pends on whether you are demente Imogen, Viola was red, or tinged with 
with the mania of owning things. Lor red> while Katherine, the shrew, had 
Saltire told Mary Corby thac he was faven b]ack ba ; r she referred to 
going to leave her £20,000. Believe an r pjtj an 's glorious women, and ended 
old man wl'.eu he says that more «ou with this tine burst: "Eventually, when 
be a plague to you.” It would be some tbe art j st ; c sensibilities of mankind re- 
thing to know that you would be sure S p onc ] t0 tbe beautiful in art and nature, 
of $4000 a year the rest of your li e , re( j-haired woman will be enthroned 
then you could smoke calm pipes in ag tbe Q ueen 0 f n ear t s , and of her it 



THE REASON WHY. 

The Gaulois of Paris is deeply in- 
terested in all anthropological and 
sociological questions. It lately asked 
100 men why they wore mustaches. 
The answers were as follows: Sixty 
“because women do not like clean- 
shaven men” — but how about play- 
actors, are they not pursued by many 
women? 17 to please themselves; 7 
for the sake of their health; 6 on ac- 
count of the trouble of shaving; 3 
because it improves tho air they 
breathed; 3 to avoid colds; 2 to 
please their wives; 1 to hide his long 
nose; 1 to hide his teeth. How can 
a man hide his nose by growing a 
mustache unless he uses his nose as 
a pergola and trains the hair over it? 
We know men who shave the upper 
lip because they are passionately ad- 
dicted to black bean soup and green 
corn. Then there Is the man who Is 
never satisfied with Ills face and is 
constantly changing it. The only 
way to deal with him is not to show 
surprise at any dispes d of his facial 
fungous growth. 

MENTAL SURGERY. 

This news about “Black Bart” Hol- 
shay, the Wisconsin bandit, is re- 
assuring, but a little vague. He was 
sent to prison. “It was believed his 
efimes were due tj a diseased mind, 
and an operation was performed. I 
Soon after his character changed, 
and his criminal Instincts seem to 
have disappeared.” Did the surgeon 
operate with a knife on his mind? 
Where was the incision made? In 
other words, where is the seat of a 
perverted mind? The ancients, who 
were cocksure of many things, had 
v.-rious opinions about the seat of 
any sort of mind: they named the 
train, the heart, the spinal marrow, 
the liver. With some a disposition 
to do dark deeds is undoubtedly in 
the liver, though some insist that an 
undue pressure on a part of the brain 
incites the victim to arson, murder or 
watering of stocks. The theory has 
been advanced that if a criminal be 
caught young and operated on, he 
will be at once converted into a be- 
nevolent and industrious person. 
There Is talk of obtaining a pardon 
for Mr. Holshay, probably with a 
view to studying his future out of 
prison walls. 

A MODERN “BIBLE.” 

It is said that the new pocket edi- I 
tion of Mr. Meredith’s novels is caus- j 
ing a revival of interest in his writ- 
ings. “ 'Richard Feverel,’ which has 
been called the young man's Bible, is 
an artistic as well as uplifting bit of 
literature to read in the summer hol- 
idays.” Who called this novel “the 
young man’s Bible,” and why? It Is 
undeniably entertaining and often 
brilliant, but what lessons of profit 
does a young man draw from it? To 
be prudent in the choice of a father. 
The true tragedy Is the failure of Sir 
Austin’s preposterous system. If the 
book be a Bible, it Is one for fathers. 
Richard Is merely an Impossible 
young person sacrificed on the altar 
of parental pride and vanity. What 
Is there in his life for any young man 
to imitate or avoid? His episode with 
Bella is fantastical; it is in the dry 
light of Congrevian comedy. In this 
novel Mr. Meredith’s view of human- 
ity is that of the wise youth Adrian: 
“A supreme ironic procession, with 
laughter of gods In the background,” 
and this is not the view of a Bible. 
Mr. Meredith's "Adventures of Harry 
Richmond” will be much more use- 



SCRAPED PLATES. 

The periodical What to Eat tells a 
“good homemaker” how to provide 
"a fine table" for two at a cost of $5 
a week. “Don’t throw away the little, 
clean pieces of butter kept by your 
husband on his plate. Better still, 
train him to take just enough. Do it 
in an unassuming way. so that he | 
can’t call you stingy. Do it almost as 
a joke. When you have a criticism 
of that kind, laugh, about it, and see 
how soon the man of the house will 
take the hint.” This is dangerous ad- 
vice. The success of the experiment 
will depend wholly on the character 
of the man. Few husbands like to be 
criticised in any way, and any re- 
flection on their table manners drives 
them wild. Nor is the advice prac- 
tical. What man of you sitting at 
table knows exactly how much but- 
ter he will need for buckwheat cakes, 
or in the glorious season of green 
corn? Laus Deo! This season is com- 
ing. In old days there was a sound 
reason for cleaning a plate after the 
manner of a hungry cat. 

O. never sit down at thy table 
When llie number is thirteen; 

And lost witches 1 m- there, 
l'nt salt in your beer 
And Hcrapu yonr platter clean. 

Does any wife of refinement find 
pleasure in the sight of the loved one 
scraping a plate with knife or spoon 
to the detriment of the crackling? 
Will the loved one relish economical 
knagging? It should be remembered 
that the ordinary every day husband 
likes to have his wife laugh with 
him, not at him. 

DE FOREST’S NOVELS. 

The name of J. W. De Forest, who 
died last Tuesday at New Haven, Ct., 
is not known to the younger genera- 
tion of novel readers. It is probably! 
as unfamiliar as that of Richard B. 
Kimball, the author of “Was He Suc- 
cessful?” and “Saint Leger.” R. H. 
Newell is remembered by some as 
"Orpheus C. Kerr” and as one of the 
husbands of Mazeppa Menken; but 
how many have read his “Avery Gll- 
bun.” a story of New York in which 
men and women 'who frequented 
Pfaff’s are introduced? Yet some of 
De Forest's stories would repay read- 
ing today. In “Miss Ravenel's Con- 
version” he drew a satirical and 
highly entertaining picture of New 
Haven society, and hi; description of I 
a college belle was a masterpiece in 
an unpleasant way. This description 
was more than once reprinted in Yale 
college papers when an editor or a 
contributor felt himself unappreci- 
ated by the young women of the 
town. New Haven apparently did 
not resent Da Forest’s satire, for he 
lived there many years, liked and re- 
spected, and as ho drove about he 
was a conspicuous figure. His best 
novels eontaiij both incident and 
character drawing, and they are the 
work of a man who had seen much, 
thought in his own way and done 
deeds. 

THE FESTAL MUMMY, 
j A Paris correspondent writes that 
medical debates, monopolizing conversa- 
! tion, throw a gloom over dinners in that 
city. The diners have symptoms of all 
diseases from Potts' to “housemaid s 
knee,” from ichthyosis to malignant 
pustule. Furthermore, digestion is no 
longer fearless and catholic. “Many 
men and women have their own regime, 
which they are bound to follow under 
pain of ‘distress.’ The festive board is 
garnished with bottles of digestive pow- 
der and with extracts of various sorts; 
it could hardly be more depressing if a 
death's head presided.” Each newspa- 
per has its physician to frighten or re- 
assure subscribers by his article on the 
latest fashionable disease. “Docteur 
Ox” of the Matin, for instance, wrote 
so alarmingly about the activity of the 
common fly in the dissemination of in- 
fectious germs that an anti-fly associa- 
tion was immediately founded. 

All this is nothing new. The Paris ■ 
public for years has been deeply in- 
terested in the discussion of symptoms 
I and diseases. Noble dames in the eight- 
eenth century attended medical leituies 



Mini operations. We remember reading 
in a book of memoirs of some courted 
beauty who took about with her in her 
carriage as she was making visits a Jeg 
that she might not suspend for too long 
a time her dissection of it. At present 
there is a movement against (lie op- 
erative zeni of the Surgeon. French doc- 
lors talk freely to reporters, and Prof. 
Dieulafoy of the Academy of Medicine 
gave as his opinion before a meeting of 
bis colleagues that many are operated 
on for appendicitis who do not have the j 
disease at all. 

Talks on medical subjects are not only i 
intimate,” they shape stage dialogue j 
and suggest strong situations. A drama , 
called “'Chirugien de Service” was 
played some time ago. The authors were j 
two young doctors. A dying man is ' 
brought ou the stage, and the scen§ rep- j 
resents the kitchen of a Paris hospi- - 
tal. The resident physicians are busy 
,nt bridge whist. They ease the condi- 
tion of the patient, telephone for the 
uirgeon on duty and resume their game. 
Ueanwhile the patient dies. Naturally 
there were outcries and protests at this 
representation of hospital service, but 
it was proved that, according to the 
rules, no resident doctor may operate 
on any case; he must ring up the sur- 
geon on night duty ; and at that time, | 
hough it seems incredible, there was 
inly one surgeon on duty for the thirty 
lospitals of Paris. 

I he authorities on etiquette warn 
their readers against talking at dinner 
> in any company about their health, 
hey forget that men and women are 
terested respectively and chiefly in 
eir own individuality. There is no 
wee ter flesh than that which sticks to 
eir own bones. One's symptoms are 
momentous importance, but Mrs. 
pnes should he willing to listen to Mr. 
fou Iter’s account of his physical con- 
e tion after lie has courteously heard 
r to the end. 

(■) 



LIFE OF CESAR FRANCK, 

BY VINCENT D’lNDY 



>1 



l?l 



‘ Vincent d’Indy’s )ife of Caesar Franck 
I is been published by Felix Alean, 

! arls. The volume is the second In a 
iries “LCs Maitres de la Musique,” 
3 i ted by Jean Chantavoine. 

Franck’s, life was not an adventurous 
ne and he was not a romantic person- 
ge. An entertaining book could be 
vritten about Lull!, Handel, Haydn, 
Muck, Mozart, Beethoven, Weber, Schu- 
mann, Liszt, Chopin, Berlioz, Wagner, 
r Tschaikowsky with only a few ref- 
.rences in each instance to the strictly 
nusical career of any one of them and 
.vithout any study of the quality of 
their music, Franck knew not court 
intrigues; noble dames did not conspire 
for him or against him; lie was neither 
a man of the world nor a self-torturing 
analyst with a journal that reminds 
one of Rousseau or Senancour. Were 
he to figure in a novel of Parisian life, 
he would not be unlike the German 
music master in “Cousin Pons;” the 
latter is perhaps the more sharply de- 
fined character. Yet it is not hard to 
see why the disciples of Franck speak 
of Franck’s life as heroic. 

Mr. d’lndy is one of these disciples, 
end h e frequently reminds the reader 
of the fact. He knew Franck well as 
musician and as man and he admired 
and loved him when It was not the 
fashion to be a Franckist. As he him- 
self says, and not without a flavor of 
bitterness that seasons other pages the 
title "pupil of Franck" was not always 
considered a glory. "I have known the 
tune when a young composer who had 
ventured to go to his'liome in the Boule- 
vard Saint Michel to ask advice from 
tile master, just to see him, would have 
veiled his face, if he had been ques- 
tioned concerning his relations with the 
organist of Sainte Clotilde, and would 
have replied, as Peter, to the high 
priest, I know not this man,’ ” 

Personal Characteristics. 

Hr. Johnson is known to us by his 
‘‘brown coat with the metal buttons 
and the shirt which ought to be at 
wash,” asthmatic gaspings and puf- 
fings, drumming with his fingers, tear- 
ing his meat, swallowing floods of tea 
touching punctiliously all posts in his 
walk, treasuring Jpits of orange peel 
He is a more distinct figure than many 
whom we meet in the street or at the 
club. Some of Plutarch's men and of 
Clarendon’s friends and acquaintances 
are so well known to us that we shall 
recognize them at once in the next 
world. There will be no need of a for- 
T a . introduction. Aubrey, Brantome 
Saint-Simon, had this happy trick of 
portraiture. There are biographers who 
have a soul above trifles. What to them 
the precise whiskering or the taste 
at table of the man whose life they 
take? But we know Hazlitt all the 
better on account of his pimples, and 
.it would be a pleasure to know the 
brand of tobacco used by Charles Lamb 
.lust before lie wrote the famous ode of 
renunciation. Disraeli tells us of the 
curtain of violet velvet, the Axniinster 
carpet, the table of ivory marquetrv 
the inkstand— a Naiad with a golden 
urn— vases released from an Egyptian 
tomb and ranged on a. tripod of malach- 



ft HE CHARACTER OF 
THE GREAT COMPOSER 



(Described by His Chief Pupil— 
His Books and His Tastes 
—First Article, 



Portrait of a statesman and 
the bust of an emperor that, were in 
fcidoma s library. The reader at once 
wishes to know how Disraeli’s library 
was furnished. 

„Mr. d’lndy has written a volume of 
Plot’s about Cesar Franck and only 
‘Hi ol them are of a purely biographical 
nature. 

How did Franck look to the passer 

"'as short in stature, with a 
highly developed forehead, with a quick 
and loyal glance, although his eves 
were buried undef the arch of his eye-, 
brows ; Ins nose was prominent and hi .4 
chin retreated under a large and extra- 
ordinary expressive mouth; he was 
round faced and lie wore side whiskers 
One of his friends told us that he 
looked like a respectable lawyer in a 
small French town. In no way did 
iranck call to mind the artist of the 
conventional type created by romantic 
legends or dear to Montmartre. 

Whoever jostled this man in the 
street, a man always in a hurry, with 
the face of an absent-minded ‘ person 
constantly making grimaces, trotting 
along rather than walking, with a ba“- 
gy coat and trousers that were too 
snort, would never have suspected how 
Je was transfigured when, seated be- 
fofe the piano, lie explained or com- 
mented on some beautiful work or 
wh , en ' . Wlth , on e hand on his forehead 
and the other about to combine the 
stops of the organ, he prepared one of 
his grand improvisations. Then music 
as an aureole wholly enveloped him’ 
then, only then was one struck by the 
conscious firmness of his mouth and 
chin, and only then did one remark the 
close identity of his broad, high fore- 
head with that of the creator of the 
Ninth Symphony: one felt himself over- 
come, almost frightened, by the palpa- 
ble presence of genius shining around 
the highest and noblest figure of a mu- 
?ni’, lan P ro< 3 u eed in the France of the 
19th century.” 

His Married Life. 

Little is said about Franck's domestic 
life. He married in 1S48 a young woman 
of the stage, the daughter of Mme. Des- 
mousseaux, a tragedian of some fame. 
He married her against the wishes of his 
parents, who were shocked at the 
thought of a theatre woman coming into 
the family. Franck was then in strait- 
ened circumstances. He was the organ- 
ist of Notre Dame de Lorette, but the 
salary of a Parisian organist lias al- 
ways been small, and many of his piano 
pupils had left him. They were with- 
drawn by thqir parents on account of 
the squally political outlook. Perhaps 
the one romantic event in Franck’s life 
[was on his wedding day. The nuptial 
party was obliged to climb over a barri- 
cade on its way to the church, and the 
bride and the groom were helped in gal- 
lant fashion by the rioters behind the 
improvised fortification. 

Mr. d’lndy says nothing about Franck’s 
married life, and lie mentions a son 
Georges, only incidentally. We have 
heaid that Franck was sadly henpecked - 
his wife constantly reminded him of the 
tact that his music was not popular- she 
begged him to compose in lighter vein, 
tc follow the example of Jules Massenet 
and others; it is said that she knagged 
him m many ways. Perhaps her terrors 
have peen exaggerated. The wife of a 
n istmenushpri man- ic* — ? 



(Q 

A, 



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w 



V 

y i 



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it! 



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Ml 



M 















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SCENE FROM “LA TRAVIATA.” 
Sobinoff — Pa-a-ri-gio ca-a-a-ra! 
Storchio — Pa-a-ri-gio ca-a-a-ro. 



distinguished man 'is often misunder- 
stood by his friends, possibly because she 
suspects the sincerity of their devotion - 
possibly because she has found out that 
the feet of the idol are clay. However 
irritating Mrs. Franck’s tongue might 
have been, she might have coaxed her 
husband to wear trousers of a proper 
length. Dreamers, mystics, even sternlv 
practical men of distinction have been 
careless in this respect. It is commonly 
rumored that the late Johannes Brahms 
wore his trousers at half-mast, and there 
are pictures that unblushinglv confirm 
tile report that should be whispered 

The main question is this: Did Franck 
know that he was henpecked? A Grecian 
matron asked how she coukl endure her 
husband s foul breath, made this noble 
reply: I thought ail men smelt so ” 

Franck mignt well have thought in hi« 
simplicity and purity that all women 
were as his wife. Ironical or not as the 
?££* m »y be, he dedicated to her a song 

"SofA’y.. and the c bild,” and his 
-Beatitudes. 

At Work. 

Franck was an indefatigable work- 
er. Winter or summer he left his 
bed at half past five and worked for 
tw'o hours "for himself” at composi- 
tion. After a slight breakfast he set 
out to give his lessons in all parts of 
the cits', “Even to the end of his life 
this great man occupied the most of 1 
his time in teaching the piano to am- 
ateurs, even in classes at boarding 
schools or colleges. Thus all day on 
foot or in an omnibus he would go 
Lorn Auteuil to the Saint Louis, from 
Vaugirard to the faubourg Poisson- 
nierc.” , As a rule lie did not return 
to his calm lodging in the Boulevard 
feamt Michel until the evening meal, 
and, though he was tired out with 



the labor of the day, he, nevertheless, 
found a little time to orchestrate or 
copy his scores, when he did not set 
apart the evening for his organ pupils 
or for those to whom he taught com- 
position. to lavish on them all dis- 
interested, precious counsel. His 
chief works, the masterpieces that 
will, resist the teeth of Time, were 
meditated, planned and written in the 
early morning hours or in the few 
weeks of vacation from his duties at 
the Conservatory. 

Franck’s Tastes. 

We are well informed as to the lit- 
| erary and artistic tastes, the views 
on social, political, religious subjects 
of certain. celebrated composers, 
Berlioz, Schumann, Liszt, Wagner 
wrote many articles for publication; 
they had facility of expression in 
words as in notes. Weber also wrote 
feuilletons easily and witli force. 
Furthermore the correspondence of 
Berlioz, Liszt, Wagner gives an even 
more intimate insight into their 
tastes, opinions, beliefs. We know 
what books Beethoven read and the 
authors that he esteemed highly. He 
himself was one of Plutarch’s men. 
Haydn kept a diary in London and 
was a shrewd observer. There were i 
^contemporaries of Chopin who have j 
(told us much about him and his ; 
characteristic fastidiousness in all 
1 matters of life and art. We know 
that Verdi was a simple man. hap- 
ipiest when on his farm, but his let- 
ters, especially those written about a 
proposed opera based on the story of 
King Lear, reveal him as a fine, dis- 
criminative critic. And what do we 
not know about Tschaikowsky! , A 
man of wide reading, he gave in his 
letters and journal the reasons for his 
admirations and his hatreds, and with 
such keenness and gusto that the 
reader is convinced, for the time at 
least, and is ready to dislike that 
which once was dear to him. Fur- 
thermore, Tschaikowsky had a grim 
critical humor, as is shown in his 
parody of the modern French real- 
istic style. 

Mr. d’lndy assures us that Franck’s 
industry in music did not fbrbid ac- 



quaintance with current manifestations 
of art, and especially of literature. In 
the summer he rented a little house at 
Quincy, and there he reserved some 
hours for reading books, both new and 
old, often books of a serious nature. 
One day, seated in the garden, he kept 
smiling as he read, and one of his sos 
asked him the title of such an amusing 
book. Franck answered: “ ’Kant’s 

Critique of Pure Reason’ — it is very 
amusing!" Mr. d’lndy adds: "Are not 
these words coming from the mouth of , 
a believer and a Frenchman the most j 
subtle criticism that can be made on j 
the heavy and undigested work of the 
German philosopher?” De Qulncey. who I 
wrote a ludicrously savage attack on 1 
Kant for "his hatred to pure Chris- 
tianity,” and argued from the paradox 
that “in all probability ICa lit never read 
a book in his life,” would have been 
delighted at this summary disposal of 
the great philosopher. Mr. d’lndy, in 
turn, might have borrowed De Quin- 
| cey’s adjective "incondite,” i, e., "with- 
out composition or digestion” to char- 
acterize Kant’s diction. 

A Noble Nature. 

Franck was a man of singular mod- 
esty. He wrote neither for money, im- 
mediate success, nor future glory. "He 
never pretended to do anything else 
save to express, as best he could, his 
thoughts and sentiments with the aid 
of his art." He was not feverish in his 
longing for honors and distinctions. It 
never entered his head to intrigue, or 
to solicit votes, for a chair at the insti- 
tute; "not that, like Degas or Puvis de 
Chavannes, he disdained the title, but 
because he naively thought lie had not 
done enough to deserve the honor.” 
Singularly modest as he was, he had 
confidence in himself when he wrote. 

It was his delight to assemble his pu- 
pils and play before them a new work; 
he would invite their criticism, and if 
their suggestions seemed well founded 
he would follow their advice. He was I 
most appreciative of the good works 
of others, even of contemporaries, and 
or. liis deathbed he expressed, though 
suffering, his warm liking for Saint 
Saens’ “Samson and Delilah.” The 
phrase “J’aime" was one of which h 
; was never weary in praising a work r 
i s ’j me <^ etai l ln it. The personificatir 
I of goodness in life and thought, he w 




not of a placid -or cold nature; on the 
contrary, he was passionate, and his 
works bear testimony to this. He was 
; righteously indignant against bad mu- 
sic and lie would thunder against his 
pupils when they were careless or stu- 
pid He knew not suspicion or jeal- 
ousy He was disinclined to believe 
evil of any one. Not that he was a re- 
cluse or a fanatical ascetic, as some 
have thought. He gladly dined with 
friends or spent the evening with them. 
He was a devout Christian, but lie was 
not by nature or through disappoint- 
ment monastic. 

Biographical Notes. 

' The few important facts in the life 
of Franck have been told by Coquard, 
Imbert, Servieres, and are to be found 
in the modern encylopedias of musical 
biography. Mr. d'Indy has added cer- 
tain details that are interesting in them- 



as one of its own. The Institute was 1 
not represented, for although it had 
welcomed nonentities', it never opened 
its doors to one of the greatest of 
French musicians. 

"Of what importance, however, are 
these fleeting labels, these shabby dis- 
tinctions to those who as Veuillot in 
literature. Puvis de Chavannes in paint- 
ing. Cesar Franck in music, have 
known by the beauty and the sincerity 

of their work, to deserve the free name 
of creative artist?" 

The Herald next Sunday will consider 
Mr. d' Indy’s judgment of Franck the 
composer, and bis Investigation of the 
influences that shaped him in his crea- 
tive work; 



selves or throw light on Franck as a 

composer. 

•Franck came of a \\ alloon tani.lv 
Which was in the 16th and Lth cen- 
turies a dynasty of painters. In ms 
‘youth Cesar studied drawing and tin 
taste remained with him when lie reached 
maturity. We shall speak of the pos- 
sible influence of this miieriteu and 
natural taste over his music in the 
second of this series of articles. I ranch s 
father, a harsh and masterful man. was 
connected in some way with a bank, nut 
he had many acquaintances in the 
world of art and lie decided that lus tw o | 
sons should be musicians. Mr. d Indy , 
savs nothing about the career ot Cesai s 
brother, Joseph. We have been told 
that this brother drank immoderately, 
and did not hesitate to call on Cesar for 
sums of money when the lattei could 
il' afford to give it. Some of Joseph s 
music for the church is in the Brown 
room of the Boston Public Librarj • 

The father exhibited Cesar as a chhd 
pianist in cities of Belgium, and the 
bov met Pauline Garcia, then also a 
child pianist. (Mine. Viardot was a year 
older than Cesar, and her firs L piano 
lessons were given to her in Mexico \\ hen 
she visited America with her parents. 

She afterward studied m Paris wita 
Meysenberg and Liszt, ljut in lbo7 sue 
made her first appearance as a singei at 
Brussels and abandoned the career ot 
a pianist.) Cesar, brought to Paris in 
1835. entered the conservatory in 183j, 

1 ut the year before he took private les- 
sons of Reicha. A volume of ills manu- 
script exercises is in the collection that 
Mr. Brown so generously gave to tne 
Boston Public Library. 

Why did not Cesar, who took prizes 
at the Conservatory with astonishing 
i ease, compete for the Prix de Rome. It 
appears that his father wished him to be 
a piano virtuoso, and thought he would 
thus gain fame and money ; that he made 
' the youth dedicate his first piano trios 
to King Leopold I . and. building tan- 
t as tic hopes on an interview granted at 
the palace ill 1S42, withdrew Cesar from 
the Conservatory. Little is known about 
the two following years, which were 
spent in Belgium. In 1S44 the farm > 
again settled in Paris, and was largelv 
dependent on the earnings oi the two 
sons. Cesar worked day and night from 
that year to the year ot his death. 1890. 
Shortly after his marriage he left his 
father’s house and made his own home. 

He was exceedingly happy when he was 
appointed organist of Sainte Clotilde, for 
the organ was at the time one of Ca- 
vaille-Coll’s masterpieces, and it still re- 
tains its admirable qualities. 

When the Franco-Prussian war broke 
out Franck was too old for active ser- 
vice but liis patriotism ran high, and. 
reading an article in heightened prose 
published in the Figaro, he set music to 
it- "I am Paris, the queen ot cities. 
This ode for tenor and orchestra was 
never published. Mr. d Indy says that 
this was the first attempt of a composer 
to set music to a prose poem. 

Mr d'Indv, speaking of i 1 ranch s ap- 
pointment as organ teacher at the Con- 
servatory. says: “From that moment lie 
began to be exposed to the amniositj , 
conscious or not. of his colleagues, who 
always refused to consider as 'one of 
themselves’ an artist who placed art 
above every other consideration, a musi- 
cian who loved music with a sincere and 
disinterested love." He gives instances 
of this animosity shown tow aid !• i anck 
and his pupils. He assails the govern- 
ment for its neglec t of this genius. It 
is true that the minister of line arts, 
ashamed, perhaps, of breaking an en- 
■agement with Franck lie had prom- 
ised to attend a private performance of 
"The Beatitudes"— endeavored to make 
him a teacher of composition at the 
Conservatorv after Masses retirement 
"but Ernest Guiraud, the author o 
'Mine Turlupln' was preferred to the 
author of 'The Beattitudes . And then 
the government granted Franck a dis- 
tinguished favor: "It raised him with 
the 6 tailors, the bootmakers and the 
tradesmen of all sorts who dealt with 
official persons to the h'gh dignitl of 
officer of tlie Academy. W hen kiancK 
was given the ribbon of the Legion of 
Honor some years later lie received it 
..s a functionary who had served ovei 
10 years and not as a composer who 
had honored his country. . . 

It was not till 1890. the year of his 
death, in ids 68th year, that one of lus 
works, the superb quartet, aroused the 
enthusiasm of the audience, and then 
Franck pleased with his first success, 
-aid to a pupil "See. the public is be- 
’inninu: to understand me. . 

’ In May of that year the pole of an 
omnibus struck him in the side, and he 
Oid not recover from the shock. In to* 
autumn he had a serious attack of pleu- 
r .sv Complications followed, and he 
died His Imrial was as simple as his 
life Mr. d'Indy takes a morose pleas- 
ure in calling the roll of those who 
should haw been present, from the 
representatives of the government to 
the officers of the Conservator! . Am 
bioise Thomas, the director, who. all 
liis life, poured out dithyrambic com- 
monplaces over less worth} tomb, 
hastened to put himself in bod when 
thev announced to him the visit of one 
of Franck's family calling to. invite him 
to the ceremony." Fourteen years 
afterward when Franck s statue^ was 
inaugurated in the square of sainte 
Clotilde. in the presence of an enthusi- 
astic throng, the Conservatory that had 
ignored him living claimed him nroudlv 



NOTES. 

The Herald publishes today a carica- 
ture of Rosina Storchlo and L. Soblnoff 
In "La Traviata." The caricature ap- 
peared originally in the magazine Ars 
et Labor of Milan. 

The Worcester (Mass.) Festival, the 
49th will take place the first week in 
October, a week later than before. The 
conductors will be Messrs. Wallace Good- 
rich and Franz Kneisel. Handel’s “Israel 
)n Egypt” will be performed on Wednes- 
day night. Oct. 3. and Verdi's Requiem 
and Brahms' “Song of Destiny" on 
Thursday night, Oct. 4. Cesar Franck 6 
Symphony and suite by MacDowell wil 
be among the orchestral pieces. Mist 
Louise Ormsby, Mme. Isabelle Bouton, 
and Mr. Frederick Martin have been 
engaged for the performance of the ''Re- 
quiem.’’ Miss Bessie Collier, violinist, 
will play at the "Artists' Night” concert 
The programme book will be prepared 
by Mr. Arthur L. Curry. 

The Mendelssohn Glee Club of New 
York purposes to raise a permanent fund 
In the Interest cf Edward MacDowell, a* 
one time conductor of the club, whose 
health has become Impaired to such an 
extent "as to preclude the possibility of 
his ever again being able to contribute 
to his own support. The committee 
would like to enlist the co-operation in 
this work of every person throughout the 
country who is interested in MacDowell 
or his music. All such will please com- 
municate with the secretary of the fund \ 
(former president of the Mendelssohn i 
Glee Club). Mr. Allen Robinson, No. 60 
Wall street. New York city. 

Elgar's “The Kingdom. Part I.. Gran- 
ville Bantock's “Omar Khayyam," Hol- 
brook’s “The Bells" (after Poe), and 
Percy Pitt's Pinfonietta in G minor will 
be the new works performed at the Birm- 
ingham (Eng.) Festival. Oct. 2, 3. 4. 5. 
The chorus and orchestra will number 
500. The prospectus tells us that young 
Mischa Elman, the boy fiddler, wall be 
"the bright particular star.” Listen to 
this : "He possesses not only perfect 

technique, but an exquisite, tear-com- 
pelling expression that is awe-inspiring 
in one so young. Wherever he goes he 
nonmioro eimnh' nf i r St 1 1)lC 



or clubmen muzzy over a bottle of the 
celebrated Hoodoo whiskey may now be 
6pen, even through a glass, darkly. The 
sporting pictures — race horses, the ride 
to hounds, the old stage coach series, 
pugilists- — these are excellent in an old 
ale - , house. Mythological subjects are 
pleasant to the sight of the casual vis- 
itor" and of those stranded on the bar ; 
but Venus should not be represented as 
urging a particular brand of cham- 
pagne, Diana should not be drinking 
any specific beer after her emergence 
from the forest stream. The famous 
pictures in the bar-room of a New York 
hotel were admirably chosen, and their 
educational influence on guests from the 
country should not be ignored by writers 
on the growth of art in America. 



in unc .ywuiife, »• . i 

conquers simply by virtue of irresistible 
genius. To have listened to his playing j 
is to have added a treasure to one's store- 
house of memory. Like Rubinstein at 
the niano. Mischa Elman on the violin is 
unforgettable. He is an incarnation of 
Apollo himself." This is not Brum- 
magem ; this is the real thing. 

9*^*1 ) e !°b 

AT NIGHT. 

A tear-stained voice is heard in 
New York deploring the fact that 
Americans do not know how to wear 
pyjamas, and Englishmen know very 
little more. "The average American 
goes to bed with pyjamas flapping 
about his ankles.” It is said that in 
Japan they are rolled up until they 
do not fall below the knee. But 
what are pyjama legs for? Men 
that are still faithful to the old-fash- 
ioned nightgown, or "nighty," say they I 

are warmer In winter and cooler in 
summer, just as there are men who 
drink whiskey in winter to keep 
warm and in summer to be cool. If 
the pyjama leg Is to be rolled above 
the knee so that the wearer may be 
cool, there might well be a return to 
the habit before the Tudors of sleep- 
ing wholly without clothing. Anne 
Boleyn’s nightgown was of black 
satin, bound with black taffeta and 
edged with velvet of the same color, 
and Queen Elizabeth's nightgowns 
were black or purple. A still more 
, striking instance of coquetry was the 
1. preference of blondes for black 
sheets. The complaint of the New" 
Yorker seems to us groundless. The 
truly wise man wears a nightgown 
in summer and pyjamas in winter. 
He is not heroic or sculptural in 
either. 



A NEGLECTED FOOD. 

Dr. Field of Harvard was the chief 
cook at a supper given by Dr. Sumner 
to biologists at Wood's Hole. Sea food 
was served ; cheap, but nourishing and 
appetizing, so the guests said. The squid, 
whether fried or pickled, was not prob- 
ably a fragment of the great squid, the 
food of the sperm whale, the squid 
which, alive, few whalers ever see and 
return to port to tell of it. One of the 
entrees was boiled snail. Snails, espe- 
cially land snails, are not a favorite 
article of diet in this country. In cer- 
tain New York restaurants you will see 
Frenchmen eating imported snails of 
Burgundy, but the American who swal- 
lows the raw" Oyster fearlessly, in spite 
of typhoid fever scares, shies at the 
snail. The land snail is a cleaner 
feeder than the water snail, for it lives 
chiefly on vegetables. It is also more 
delicate. A snail is said to contain 70 
per cent, of water, 16 of nitrogen, 7 of 
fat, 2 of salts and 5 of undetermined 
matter. >’et the poor thing is called un- 
palatable by the great majority. In 
England the garden kind is called the 
“poor man's oyster," and there is an 
effort to bring it into favor. Thrushes 
in this respect are more accomplished 
gourmets than English or Americans. 
The snail was used in household medi- 
cine years ago. Mrs. Delany wrote in 
1758: “Does Mary cough in »he night? 
Two or three snails boiled in her bar- 
ley water or tea wuter, or whatever she 
drinks, might be of great service to her ; 
taken in time they have done wonderful 
cures. She must know nothing of it. 
They give no manner of taste. ’ The 
household medicine of that century 
looked favorably on remedies that were 
really nasty. 



ART IN BAR-ROOMS. 

What forms of pictorial art should 
bang in bar-rooms when inflammatory 
political cartoons disappear forever.' 
Our friends, the prohibitionists, w.ould 
recommend "The Drunkard's Home’ 
Cruikshank's "Bottle,” yet they would 
not insist on an engraving of Rembrandt 
ppale’s “Court of Death as the chief 
decoration in the waiting room of a 
physician. Advertisements picturing 
thinly clad ladies sipping champagne or 
bulky heroines of the Bruennhilde type 
pouring down libations to Gambrinus, 



A HIGH FOREHEAD. 

A Philadelphian writes, and as a 
man of authority: "I do not admire 
the style of hairdressing w"hich makes 
a woman look as if she had no fore- 
head. The forehead is the seat of 
reason, and a bro»d one is supposed 
to indicate the possession of brains.” 
What he likes to see. no doubt, is a 
domelike forehead, a brow bulging 
with thought, a forehead like a 
porcelain door-knob, with hair 
brushed tightly back. Measurements 
of "Ideally beautiful” women are 
taken from year to year and pub- 
lished for the benefit of the palpitat- 
ing world, also to give the women 
readers something to do on a rainy 
day when no visitors are expected. 
We happen to have the measurements 
pf Miss Joyce and of "La Milo.” Thus 
"La Milo” measures eight inches from 
her throat to her shoulder, and the 
circumference of her ankle is eight 
and one-half inches. The waist of 
Miss Joyce is twenty-five inches in 
circumference and her "skirt length 
is fdrty-three inches. The bust 
measurement of Miss Joyce and of 
••La Milo" is thirty-seven and one- 
half inches, while that of "the artis- 
tic American woman” Is thirty-five 
inches. The measurements of the two 
physically distinguished women, Miss 
j oyce — not Laura — and “La Milo” are 
so minute as to satisfy the most ex- 
acting. but there is nothing said 
about the height of the forehead, and 
for a good reason: a low forehead, 
like a low voice, is an excellent thing 
in woman, and it is expected of pro- 
fessional beauties. Poets, painters, 
sculptors and deep thinkers have long 
agreed on this point. “The forehead 
is the seat of reason.” But have the 



famous women of the w"orld, the 
shapers of man’s destiny, all been 

reasonable ? 

WITHOUT CEREMONY. 

It is not the fault of the newspapers 
if table manners are not constantly 
improved. “In many households where 
there is a regular waitress there is a 
rule sometimes that nothing shall be 
handed by the members of the 
family. In offering to serve any one 
at the table use one of these forms: 

'May I help you?’ ‘May I offer (or 
send) you?' ‘Let me give you, etc.’ 

The form, 'Will you have?’ is out of 
place save for a waitress." Thus is a 
cheerful family meal turned into a 
grim formality. We know husbands 
who are now compelled by their wives 

to sit at dinner where everything is 
served separately. They sigh for the 
years gone by when the roast beef 
and the vegetables were all put to- 
gether on the table, and there was 
miscellaneous helping. "Jennie, dear, 
give me a little turnip?” "Bill, just 
hand over that Worcestershire 
sauce!” The sitter near any dish 
was expected to help others and him- 
self. Thoreau. when asked at table 
what dish he preferred, answered "the 
nearest”; but suppose it had hap- 
pened to be a gravy boat. Who does 
not like the personal attention of a 
host? "Here is a bit of the fat I have 
saved for you.” "Sir, a glass of wine 
with you." The host in Keene’s draw- 
ing, flushed with hospitality, asks: 
“What gentleman says pudden?” A 
guest answers: "No gentleman says 

‘pudden’ ’*. He should have been 
booted from the room. The picture is 
both snobbish and cruel, and the two 
adjectives are often synonymous. Or 
was the daughter of the hostess ever 
more charming than when she served 
you with her own lily white hand, 
which held a spoon you envied. 
Gentility now forbids this social in- 
tercourse. A serving maid may be 
comely and graceful, but in her heart 
she is indifferent to your comfort, and 
the serving man, sometimes called 
butler, even in the house of a tee- 
totaler, scrutinizes your appetite and 
table manners. 

) 2- y &(<? 

FOR THE THIRD TIME. 

So the Putnams will try for the 
second time a reissue of the maga- 
zine that was an honor to the family 
and to the American literary world. 
The first, volumes, published in the 
fifties, are a monument to the taste 
of George William Curtis, who edited 
them, and it is doubtful whether even 
the Atlantic Monthly in its best days 
had a finer flavor. The attempt at a 
re-issue made by the Putnams some 
years ago was not successful, and no 
wonder; for there were not the con- 
tributors that made the original vol- 
umes famous. The coming experi- 
ment will be watched with interest, 
especially by those who remember the 
magazine of the fifties, or by those 
still luckier who have the bound vol- 
umes for present enjoyment. 

AESTHETIC FERVOR. 

Some may have smiled, others may 
have been shocked when they read of 
the beauty contest at Deed Lick, Ta. 
"One of the two successful beauties is 
dying, half a dozen young men are un- 
der arrest and many of the town folk 
are in hiding.” The contest had lasted 
for several days, and Miss Stringer and 
Miss Belmont were far in advance of 
the other competitors. A “rooter” for 
Miss Belmont was attacked by Miss 
Stringef, and then all took a hand in 
the proceedings. Hatpins were drawn 
and not only flourished. There is no 
more dangerous weapon, but it was a 
club that laid Miss Stringer low. These 
disputants were in earnest. Beauty to 
them was something more than a sub- 
ject for lyceum debate. They bravely 
dared and did. It should be remembered 
that where there is no dispute over a 
question of art. there is artistic stagna- 
tion. At present there is an interreg- 
num at Deed Lick. There must be a lull 
between aesthetic commotions. Let us 
hope that the nows of Miss Stringer’s 
condition is exaggerated ; that she may 
again lead a party of definite and pro- 
nounced aesthetic ideas. 



•Ihra. « — r ’ •;.-**! 

LORD ALFRED DOUGLAS. 

Lord Alfred Douglas 4s. indeed, a 
chlvalric husband. Instead of dis- 
couraging his wife from writing po- 
etry, he assails the critics who do not 
hail her as another Sappho. Lord 
Alfred himself is a bit of a poet, a 
sweet singer, and a volume of his 
verses was published some years ago 
in Paris; but he is not a “boss poet,” 
to use a phrase of Artemus Ward. 
Douglas also translated Oscar Wilde's 
“Salome” from the original French 
'into English. There is, by the way, 
a reprint of this drama, no doubt on 
account of the present interest in 
Richard Strauss’ opera. We well re- 
member the sensation made by 
Beardsley's illustrations when the 
drama was first issued by John Lane 
In London and by Copeland & Day in 
Boston — a firm that is no more. Two 
or three of the illustrations were sup- 
pressed, but were kindly given to 
some of the friends of the locVl pub- 
lishers. There was no reason why 
they should not have appeared in the 
volume. We also remember that at 
the time of the Wilde trial his pub- 
lishers in London dropped his name 
from their catalogues. Now that 
“Salome” is famous and Wilde’s 
dramas are played in Germany, they 
have seen a great light. 

“STOP THAT KNOCKING!” 
Whether the tappings in the Newport 
bouse were in a choked gas pipe ; whether 
they were made by earthly and jocose 
hands ; or whether they were the an- 
nouncement of a spirit anxious to com- 
municate dread secrets — these are seri- 
ous questions. Woodpeckers on the 
roofs of Cape C'od cottages alarm the 
superstitious early in the morning, for 
rapping is still thought by many to be 
a favorite pastime of spirits. It was 
stated recently that the first to hear 
rappings were the members of the Fox 
family at Rochester. The statement is 
not accurate. Michael Weekman of 
Hydesville, Wayne county, N. Y., was 
so troubled in 1847 by knockings on the 
door of his house that he moved out. 
John D. Fox, a respectable farmer, 
moved in, and the knockings continued. 
Fox had three daughters, Catharine, 
Leah aud Margaret. Kate, then nine 
years old, observed that the sounds she 
made were imitated exactly, and this 
led to communications. The spirits be- 
came so pressing in their attentions that 
Kate went to Rochester to get rid of 
them. The spirits followed her, and 
there was so much talk about the mat- 
ter that a lecture was given Nov. 14, 
1848. Catharine married a French- 
man, Leah became Mrs. .Underhill, and 
Margaret married secretly, as some 
insist, I)r. lvane, the Arctic explorer. 
The story of her relations with Kane, 
as told in "The Love Life of Dr. Kane” 
(New York, I860), is certainly a curi- 
ous one. 

A WOMAN’S DUTY. 

We read of a woman who is going to 
establish “a class in carving for pros- 
pective bridegrooms.” Each pupil will 
be required to cut up all kinds of meat 
and he will r.ot be granted a degree un- 
til he has learned to locate and sever all 
joints. Each lesson will cost 50 cents. 
This class should be for brides, for in an 
ideal household th p mistress carves as 
she did in o.u times. She has no more 
graceful and hospitable duty. Some 
will remember the innkeeper of the 
Tete d'Or in “The Cloister and the 
Hearth,” a young woman cursed with 
| white teeth and lovely hands, “for these 
1 beauties being misallled to homely feat- 
I ures had turned her head. She was a 
j feeble carver, carving not tor the sake 
of others, but herself, i. e., to display 
her hands.” All young women, those 
with matrimonial hopes aud those who 
look down on man as a poor, weak 
creature, should learn to carve aud also 
ihe name of the operation when applied 
ic a particular meat, “divide,” “bruise,” 
"break,” etc. There will be another in- 
ducement to care for the hands; the 
men at table will be more amiable; 
and it should be remembered that a 
woman’s foot on an impregnable duck 
! in a prettier sight than a man’s. 

IDENTIFICATIONS. 

The Philadelphia Record published 



lately a curious article on~tlie odors of 

diseases. By their smells ye shall know 
them. Rheumatism smells sour; chronic 
peritonitis, musky; scrofula, like stale 
beer; intermittent fever, like fresh- 
baked brown bread ; hysteria, now like 
violets and now like pineapple. (O, 
pineapple! a blessed word! We never 
see or hear it without thinking of the 
retired mariner sweeping the offing with 
a spy glass, while near his hand is a 
case bottle of pineapple rum.) Aud in 
like manner, measles, epilepsy, diph- 
theria, *ach has its characteristic odor. 
Poor humanity! What curious treatise 
lias the Record been consulting? A 
Frenchman some years ago wrote a 
pamphlet, in which he discussed the in- 
fluence of odors on Zola as a novelist, 
and there is a singular treatise on odors 
by a deep-thinking German, a book that 
is for the alienist rather than for the 
young person. It is said that the nat- 
ural smell of a healthy, clean white per- 
son is indescribably offensive to certain 
African tribes. To Thoreau at night 
every dwelling house gave out bad air. 
like a slaughter house, and he thought 
scent a more “oracular and trustworthy 
inquisition” than sight. Man may be, as 
Sir Thomas Browne exclaimed, a noble 
animal, “splendid in ashes and pompous 
in the grave” ; but, even in the beauty 
of his vigor, what is he without soap? 
And when he is sick, his body antici- 
pates the mortuary question of Ilamlet. 

J ^ 7 2 j~ / / * 6 

A CUP OF TEA. 

Albert P. Rose, “one of the most 
expert tea tasters in the West,” died 
lately at San Francisco. “On one 
occasion 200 varieties of tea were 
steeped and placed before him and 
by taste he was able to tell name, 
quality and value of each.” But was 
he fond of tea? Did he drink it with 
the impartial frenzy of Dr. Johnson 
or with the fastidiousness of a con- 
noisseur? Did he go to afternoon , 
teas? It was surely a brave woman 
who offered him a cur. There is an 
old belief that girls in a candy shop 
never eat candy, that barkeepers 
never drink. This is not strictly true: 
as the boy says, “We’ve seen 'em do 
it.” We like to think of Mr. Rose 
enjoying tea outside the warehouse, 
particular as to the thinness and dec- 
oration of his cup, drinking in soli- 
tude or with one congenial friend. 
We cannot imagine him at a formal 
“tea,” however lovely the women 
pouring or sipping: 

Their chattering makes a louder din. 

Than fishwives o’er a cup of gin; 

Far less the rabble roar and rail. 

When drunk with sour election ale! 

And as it was in the time of Swift, 
bo it is today. 



WHISKERS AGAIN. 

A correspondent of the New York 
Sun asks “What man shall wear a 
beard?” He notes the fact that many 
physicians wear “germ catchers,” but 
lawyers, as a rule, are without them. 
Young physicians, before there was 
so much talk about microbes, wore 
beards to give them age and au- 
thority. A beard contributed to the 
impressiveness of a bedside manner. 
The physician stroked it thought- 
fully during the diagnosis. In short, 
a beard was considered to be a sym- 
bol of wisdom. But a beard is a mat- 
ter largely of geography and chron- 
ology. Should waiters be allowed 
whiskers or a mustache? Certainly 
not a beard. After all there is no 
reasoning about the matter. George 
Borrow said that all jockeys should 
have whiskers, but no genuine jockey 
should wear a mustache “which looks 
Coxcombical and Frenchified.” Might 
not luxuriant whiskers lessen the 
speed of the ridden horse. The wind 
bloweth where it listeth, through 
whiskers or along smooth cheeks. The 
man who has been told that his mouth 
is like Cupid’s bow will shave his up- 
per lip. Perhaps the smooth-faced 
lawyer thinks that he thus shows 
shrewdness and an iron will. The old- 
fashioned jury lawyer was essentially 
a play actor, and his mobile face 
should not have been covered by any 
concealing hairy growth. 



COOLING DRINKS. 

There is much discussion about a 
I cooling drink for the dog days, a non- 
| alcoholic soft drink. Some without a 



sense of humor recommend vermouth, 
with plenty of gaseous water. Possibly 
they do not know that innocent appear- 
ing vermouth harbors much alcohol — 
hence the surprising strength of certain 
cocktails. Elderberry blow is urged by 
a reformed drinkmaster, and there are 
heroic souls whose heat is relieved by a 
Jersey sunset — applejack and Angostura 
bitters. Soft drinks, temperance drinks, 
as a rule sour, or sweeten, or inflate the 
stomach. The clink of ice has only an 
optical effect. Hot tea is more cooling. 
In our boyhood there was nothing like 
the hayfield beverage into which mo- 
lasses and vinegar entered, but we should 
not have the courage to take a swig of 
it, though fortified as to our heart by 
pleasant memories. Even a strong heart 
may have a cowardly stomach. After 
all, it is a pity that John Phoenix’s 
bingo, a summer drink, is not sold at 
the apothecary shops or given without 
charge to sufferers in baked streets. The 
recipe is a simple one. Perhaps The 
Herald has already published it ; but 
eacji year brings new readers, and the 
recipe is of eternal worth : Three parts 
of water gruel, two of root beer ; 
thicken with a little soft squash and 
strain through a cane-bottomed chair. 
For recent converts to temperance the 
parts of gruel and beer may be as two 
to three. 



JONAH’S WHALE. 

The contributors to the New York 
Sun, having discussed at great length 
the question whether the chipmunk can 
climb a tree, are now exercised ovei 
scriptural texts. The Rev. Mr. Cook of 
Bayonne insists that the Bible nowhere 
uses the word “whale” in connection 
with Jonah. Mr, Snyder of Poughkeep- 
sie quotes Matthew xii., 40, in reply. 
Mr. Conger of Cooperstown says that 
“whale” in this lagt text is a transla- 
tion of "Ketos,” which is used of any 
large fish. 

Do not these disputants know the 
hymn beginning : 

The ribs and terrors in the whale, 
Arched over me a dismal gloom. 

While all God’s sunlit waves rolled by. 
And lift me deepening down to doom. 

Do they not remember Father Map- 
pie’s sermon, preached at New Bedford 
in the glorious days of whaling? And 
Father Mapple had been a harpooner. 
Jonah is dropped in to the sea. The 
yawning jaws await him. “And the 
whale shook, to all his ivory teeth, like 
so many white bolts, upon his prison.” 
And how did Herman Melville, the 
whaler, in “Moby Dick,” a far greater 
book than Mr. Bullen's widely adver- 
tised volume, define the whale? “Waiv- 
ing all argument, I take the good old- 
fashioned ground that the whale is a 
fish, and call upon holy Jonah to back 
me. * * * A whale is a spouting fish 
with a horizontal tail.” Furthermore, 
the sperm whale has been in the Medi- 
terranean, and at Joppa, now Jaffa, 
where .Jonah set sail, the Vast skeleton 
of a whale stood for ages in a temple, 
though the inhabitants believed the 
bones to he those of the monster that 
Perseus sJew. This skeleton was after- 
ward taken to Rome by the victorious 
legions. 



/ 



2. £ //o £ 

itudy of Mme. Isabelle Bou- 
ton, Who Finds No Musical 
Atmosphere Here. 

)NE THING TO TEMPT 
HER BACK INTO OPERA 



Mme. Isabelle Bouton has at last sat- 
isfied the curiosity of a gaping world. “I 
refused to sing at the Metropolitan Opera 
House after one season's experience with 
Conried, because I felt that my artistic 
standing was being injured, and that my 
surroundings were of such a nature as to 
make it impossible for me to continue 
there.” This is rather hard on Mr. Con- 
ried, after his losses in San Francisco 
and in view of the activity of Mr. Ham- 
mersteln. 

Pray, what parts did Mme. Bouton im- 
personate at the Metropolitan? We have 
a vague remembrance of her in Boston 
as one of the hojotohoing Valkyries. She 
afterward sang at a Cecilia concert. She 
then wore a striking, glittering costume, 



and made little out of the music by 
Charpentier and Debussy ; but she showed 
her appreciation of art by applauding 
vigorously the conductor and the chorus. 
She sang with much bodily expression at 
an Apollo concert, and last season she 
was truly effective as Amnerls in a con- 
cert performance of “Alda" by a visiting 
choral society and some solo singers. 
Mme. Bouton lias a full and emotional 
voice, and as a mezzo-soprano has given 
pleasure at music festivals in various 
parts of the country. Her name is not 
yet as a household word ; nevertheless, 
she has much to say, and she said some 
of it to a representative of Musical 
America. 

Why is not Mme. Bouton, as a member 
of the Metropolitan company, causing 
Miss Edyth Walker to turn green, giving 
Mme. Fremstad white nights, and driv- 
ing Mme. Jacoby to strong waters? “I 
abandoned grand opera for the broader 
field of oratorio and concert work, pri- 
marily because of the conditions existing 
at the Metropolitan Opera House and 
subsequently because I came to like the 
work much better.” She Is naturally 
pleased with her success — and she admits 
that she has been successful — but what is 
fame in comparison with patriotism. I 
am far more proud that I am an Ameri- 
can product by birth and by training.. 

Her early years were not spent in a i 
stiffing city' with its pernicious in- 
fluences. Her home was in pastoral 
Connecticut, in the town of a once dis- 
tinguished humorist, the Danbury News 
man. There she began to study. I 
took singing lessons from a teacher 
whose name I will conceal for the sake 
of her family.” Is not that a neat 
swipe? Is it not more effective than 
any demonstration of displeasure with 
sandbag or stiletto? 

In New York there was “the great- 
est vocal teacher this country has ever 
had,” and Mme. Bouton studied with 
him. He knew everything about the 
mechanism, habits and vagaries of the 
throat. He had been through it with a 
dark lantern. He had experimented on 
it with a piece of pork and- a strip of 
red flannel. Mme. Bouton has authori- 
ty. then, for saying: “Tone production 
became natural with me.” And the gen- 
erous soul discloses a secret of her art , 
for the benefit of beginners: “A num- 
ber of people who have heard me sing 
have commented upon the fact that the 
muscles of my chin are contracted 
when I sing. I do this because by con- 
centrating all muscular effort upon the 
little muscles of the chin below the 
lip, I relax those of my throat and 
consequently can sing naturally. I do 
not know that any other singer has 
ever utilized this method.” 

The chin has not been sufficiently 
utilized by singers to display fully 
their art. Many of them are "chin- 
ners,” but not in a strictly musical 
sense. Mme. Bouton, however, has had 
a predecessor. On June 7, 1830, Mr. 
Michael Boai appeared at Egyptian 
Hall, London, before a large, surprised 
and delighted audience. Mr. Boai was 
known as “the chin performer.” "When 
the cavity of the mouth,” says a deep 
thinker learned in acoustical matters, 
is lessened by the voluntary action of 
the muscles, it will resonate higher or 
more acute tones than when in its more 
expanded state. The tones themselves 
may be produced in some other way; 
but the audible pitch may be varied in 
a remarkable degree by variations in 
the size and form of the interior of the 
mouth. 

Mr. Boai depended on the rapid 
changes in the shape and size which 
he gave' to the cavity of his mouth. 
His method of striking his chin 
something like that in which the flint 
and steel were formerly used in strik- 
ing a light," clapped or slapped the 
lips together. The sound was thus 
P u° dl i ced: the P itcl1 was regulated by 
the shape of the mouth. Mr. Boai was 
accompanied by a violin and a guitar. 
No doubt an orchestra with a discreet 
conductor would be still more effec- 
tive. And Mr. Conried let Mme. Bou- 
ton go. And Mr. Oscar Hammerstein 
j has r.ot yet engaged her! 

When Mme. Bouton was at the Met- 
ropolitan Opera House she pleased the 
critics and the audience. There is no 
reason why this fact should be kept 
from her, for she herself does not 
deny the truth of the statement. But 
“certain conditions prevailed there 
which made it impossible for me to 
continue.” How simply she describes 
the state of affairs! “The Conried 
performances were utterly inartistic” 
— “utterly” even when Mme. Bouton 
took part in them — "hut, leaving this 
aside, the conditions existing there 
made me leave a field of endeavor 
which had great possibilities for me. 

There is only one thing which 
would tempt me back into opera. I 
have an overwhelming desire to be 
heard as Ortrud, my favorite role. I 
have an idea that I can sing it as well 
as most artists, and I w-ant a chance 
to convince the public. Some years 
ag"o I sang Ortrud to Nordlca’s Elsa 
in Providence, and I was the only one 
to receive a ‘bravo.’ ’’ We had thought 
better of Providence. Is Mme. Bouton 
wholly sure that the audience did not 
shout “brava”? 

Wild horses could not drag Mme. 
Bouton from her beloved land to study 
in any European city. “I shall prob- 
ably go to Berlin to hear and see and 
to absorb the musical atmosphere, 
which is almost totally missing in 
this country." No “musical atmos- 
phere" in Providence, where Mme. 
Bouton was highly appreciated with a 
noble disregard of the rules of gender 
in the Italian grammar? No musical 
atmosphere in Symphony Hall, Boston, 
where Mme. Bouton was wellnigh 
overcome by the work of the chorus 
and the conductor? No musical at- 
mosphere in Worcester, where she 
will sing early in October? Artemus 
Ward lamented bitterly that America 
had no Tower of London — the Tower 
that is a sweet boon.” What would 



he have said If he had been told that 
America is without a “musical atmos- 
phere”? 



The Herald spoke last Thursday of 
j the decision in a London court which 
declared that any woman in any show 
who speaks a line is an actress. The 
Pall Mall Gazette published this edi- 
torial comment on the decision: 

"At the third time of asking the Gib- 
son girl has obtained the decision with 
I its useful pecuniary corollary, that she 
| is not a super, chorus girl, show girl, nor 
anything less than an actress. No doubt 
the same important decision applies to 
a Bath Bun, provided that she has lines 
of her own to say. As everyone who has 
read the case or who saw 'The Catch of 
the Season' knows. Miss Thomas tthe 
present Mrs. Hawkins) did have lines to 
say: 'I am a perfect wonder at spotting 
winners, and I hardly ever lose at 
bridge.’ and ‘Dear old Hyde Park.' Sure- 
ly there was plenty of opportunity to 
'express her individuality’ even in the 
shorter sclntilation. One might say 
'Dear old Hyde Park' In non-committal 
fashion, as if one were reading the les- 
sons In church, or with rapture, scorn, 
flippancy or boredom. There Is an effort 
of individual memory required to re- 
member that it is Hyde Park and not 
St. James' or Battersea, and an effort of 
enunciation in giving 'Hyde' its 'h.' Also 
there is the temptation to introduce 'gag' 
to be resisted. A lady who lias to go 
through all these intellectual a-nd artiST 

tic processes, and not merely to come on 
and 'Gib' about the stage, is an actress, 
surely. How many of us co.uld be trusted 
not to say, '1 am a perfect spotter at 
winning winners'?” 

The Herald described not long ago 
some of the extraordinary sights to be 
seen by the fortunate in Lodon music 
halls and in theatres devoted to the bal- 
let. Miss Ruth St. Denis appeared at 
the Aldwych Theatre July 5, and the 
Referee assures us* that a fairly large 
number of spectators "followed her do- 
ings with evident a-.id eager interest. 
Miss St. Denis is strong in East Indian 
dances, and "darkens her skin so that 
the necessary local color shall not be 
wanting." Let us hope it was uniformly 
distributed. A dancer In spots is deaj 
neither to gods nor me.i. She first ap- 
peared as the “Spirit of Incense." 

"There was a lot of incense with very 
little spirit." Our fellow-countryman. 
Mr. H. W. Loomis, wrote the music for 
the dances, a series of wriggles. Miss 
St. Denis then impersonated a snake 
charmer. “She seemed with remarkably 
sinuous movement to turn her arms into 
living stiakes, with the emeralds on her 
fingers for eyes, while the rest of her 
supple person represented the charmer 
keeping the reptiles in order.” Great 
snakes! The spectators, however, began 
to grow uneasy. What they wanted was 
lively dancing. 

“It came as with a whirlwind in the 
third section of the programme, which 
introduced Radha, the deified wife of 
Krishna. She posed as an idol in a beau- 
tiful Hindu temple, and her worshippers 
waved Incense and scattered flowers in 
her honor. And presently she arose and 
came down and drank from a bowl and 
was filled with ecstasy and started on 
her gyrations. She dealt with five cir- 
cles each typifying one of the five 
senses. But the circles were formed with 
such amazing rapidity that it was im- 
possible to count them. They were not 
five, but 500, and they were formed with- 
in a minute and a half. The play with 
the dancer'^fcirt was astounding and 
delightful. "MM*! Hot stuff! To quote 
from a disftBsajttihed New York state- 
man. ' 

Every day there is a statement or a 
denial of a statement concerning the 
operatic war between Mr. Conried and 
Mr. Hammerstein. It is now said that 
Saint-Saens will conduct a performance 
of his "Samson and Delilah” at the 
Manhattan Opera House and that the 
chief singers will be Dalmores. a tenor 
of the Monnaie, Brussels, and Mme. de 
Cisneros, formerly Miss Broadfoot. Of 
course, the “scene painters are already 
at work.” When the opera was per- 
formed at the Metropolitan. with 
Tamagno as Samson, it attracted little 
attention or comment. It lias had a 
curious fate— oratorio lovers have char- 
acterized it as too operatic, and opera- 
goers have yawned and dubbed it an 
oratorio. T „„ 

Another rumor is that Leoncavallo 
will conduct performances of "Pagliacci 
at the Manhattan, with Bonci and Mme. 
Melba as Canio and Nedda. Lanio is 
not one of Bond's conspicuous parts. 
He Is a purely lyric tenor. Nor is It 
probable that Puccini will conduct his 
"Mme. Butterfly” at the Metropollitan, 
for Puccini is not a conductor. 

Another story is that Raoul Guns- 
bonrg will supervise the production of 
Berlioz's "Damnation of Faust' as an 
opera at the Metropolitan. The "Surac- 
tif Gunsbourg,” as Jules Claretie calls 
him. has worked wonders at Monte 
Carlo, and we believe it was lie that first 
put Berlioz's work on the stage as an 
opera. But Renaud. the baritone, whose 
Mephistopheles, according to Berlioz, is 
famous, will be at Mr. Hammerstein s 
house. , .. 

Carl Burrian, the heroic tenor of the 
Dresden Opera House, who is well 
known at Covent Garden, will take the 
place of Heinrich ICnote at the Metro- 
politan. and Georglana Russ, an Italian 
dramatic soprano, will join Mr. Ham- 
merstein's company. 

j Walter Rothwell. who conducted Mr. 
Savage's "Parsifal" admirably, will con- 
iduct “Mme. Butterfly,” as produced by 
Mr. Savage. Mme. Elza Szamosv of 
Budapest will be the leading soprano. 
Many will be pleased to learn that Ade- 
laide Norwood, who has been studying 
and singing in Euiope for two or three 



years, will return to America this next 
season as a member of Mr. Savage s 
company. The first performance ot 
"Mme Butterfly" will be at Washing- 
ton, D. C., Oct. 15. Performances will 
afterward be given in Baltimore and 
Boston, and early in November the 
opera will be produced in New 1 ork. 

Elizabeth Dodge, an American so- 
prano. who has been studying In Paris 
tor several years, sang in London tor 
the first time July 12. 

Marguerite Claire of Atlanta. Ga., sang 
at a Marchesl concert in London the 
following day. Irene Ainsley. the hew 
Zealand contralto and protegee of Mme. 
(Melba, has. it is said, a. warm a nd 
sonorous voice of an extended compass. 
She still lacks ease and authority, ac- 
j cording to Musical America. 

IN THE PARK. 

We read with regret that police com- 
missioners in various cities are opposed 
to spooning in parks and other public 
places. But what are parks for? Are 
they only for the whizz wagons and the 
carriages of the rich and for those who 
walk or sit up straight? Open-air court- 
ing is a healthy and invigorating amuse- 
ment, and it should be encouraged, espe- 
< ially in Massachusetts, if a recent sta- 
tistical report is to be believed. If a 
young woman leans her head on her 
sweetheart’s shoulder, under the sky, 
careless of the world’s scorn or laugh- 
ter, then is the time when policemen and 
sentimentalists should leave quietly, as 
those who tread unwittingly on holy 
ground. If this wooing is to be visited 
with fines and other penalties the by- 
laws of “Cqpid’s 10 O’Clock Club” at 
Logansport, Ind., may well be enforced 
in Boston : Calls are limited to two a 
week, and “good night” must be said — 
and without sweet but undue repetition 
— before the stroke of 10. Miss Flossy 
Moore, the president of this club, "a 
daughter of one of the oldest families 
in Logansport, hopes to make the 'club 
a national organization. Does she ob- 
ject to courting in the parks? As she is 
only 18 years old her heart cannot be 
wholly granitic. 



TAINTED. 

There was a joyous oyster supper last 
winter at the house of Mrs. Apgar in 
Morristown, N. J. The money taken 
from the guests was given to the church. 
The trustees accepted it, but the pastor 
declared that the money was tainted, and 
ns the trustees insisted on keeping it, he 
has resigned. The money was not 
"tainted” because there was any com- 
plaint about the quality of the oysters; 
but there was dancing, and the maidens 
and matrons and members and laymen 
disported themselves in the mazy. “A 
violinist, accompanied by a mouth or- 
gan, served as an orchestra.” Applejack, 
judiciously used, is not incompatible 
with piety, but the pastor drew the line 
at* dancing, not, as some fastidiously 
musical might suppose, at the mouth or- 
gan, however sweet-breathed the player 
may have been. It was the Rev. Mr. 
Jones, pastor of a negro church in Cleve- 
land about fifty years ago, who remarked 
in the course of a sermon reported by 
Artemus Ward : “Whar there’s dancing 
1 here’s fiddling; whar there’s fiddling 
there’s unrighteousness, and unright- 
eousness is wickedness, and wickedness 
is sin ! That’s me — tha t’s Jones 1 ” 

POPPAEA REDIVIVA. 

When in doubt, the beauty doctors 
go back to the wisdom of the ancients. 
As is well known, Poppaea, one of 
Nero's wives, bathed in the milk of 
she-asses, and kept for this purpose 
500 of them, which she took with her 
wherever she went. She bathed to 
whiten her skin and keep it free from 
wrinkles. Now in Paris the women 
whose profession is that of beauty, 
first clean the body and face with 
wadding soaked in a mixture of olive 
oil and cognac or olive oil and cologne 
water. The skin is then dried and 
they are ready for the milk bath. 
Anna Held bathed in New York milk 
— possibly her bath was condensed, 
or perhaps there were still enough 
goats in Harlem. Some playactresses 
prefer a champagne bath as more in- 
vigorating, and they take it inter- 
nally and externally as the Parisian 
beauties take milk. What a change 
in Paris! The noble dames at the 
court of Henry III. and of Henry IV. 
seldom, if ever, bathed in water. Even 
at a much later date the aristocrats 
did not count cleanliness among the 
household virtues. The memoirs of 
the various courts renowned for their 



“brilliance give curious information 
about the personal habits of famous 
Frenchmen and women, and the read- 
er in his amazement sometimes for- 
gets to hold his nose. 

A CHANGE IN ETIQUETTE. 

The Philadelphia Bulletin gives inter- 
esting information concerning the “eti- 
quette governing jewels” in the city of 
brotherly love. The etiquette has 
"changed greatly.” "Diamonds at the 
breakfast table are no longer vulgar be- 
cause they are universal. We tolerate 
all ornaments save the tiara.” Phila- 
delphia once prided herself on the fact 
that every workingman had his own 
home. Now, it seems, he wears dia- 
mond^. There was a time when the 
American woman only wore them at 
balls, formal dinner parties, on the 
verandas of summer hotels in the after- 
noon and at hotel dinners during the | 
gr«eu corn season. Gamblers wore dia- [ 
monds, also a white plug with a 
weed on it. As the Bulletin says, the 
etiquette has changed greatly. A young 
woman in New York a few days ago 
took off her white petticoat in a jiffy 
to bandage a boy wounded by a trolley 
car. She would not give her name, but 
“she wore diamonds and fine clothes.” 
Yet, we regret to say, even in Phila- 
delphia they are a little behind the pro- 
cession, for the gem of the season is 
the amethyst. Queen Alexandra set the 
fashion and you can buy a beautiful 
stone the size of an almond for $12. The 
best come from Ireland, not from India, 
as in Pliny’s time. It is a useful stone, 
for the wearer is kept from injury, ob- 
tains favors from the influential and 
mighty, and it protects a farmer from 
hail, grasshoppers and seventeen-year 
locusts. There are decent amethysts to 
be had for $3 — only three bones. 

THE INSULAR EYE. 

Each country praises the beauty of 
its own women, though in each there 
is vague talk about the surpassing 
loveliness of the Circassians. It is 
also true that each nation is inclined 
to doubt the beauty of the women of 
a rival. We read recently an English- 
man’s sketch of the famous Allee in 
the Bois: "How rare to see a pretty 
face!” and he repeats with pride the 
polite remark of a friend just re- 
turned from London, who was en- 
thusiastic over the "types of feminine 
loveliness to be met with, broadcast, 
over the British capital. After an 
evening spent at Covent Garden, his 
verdict was that no such galaxy of 
fair women could be found the world 
over.” The Englishman admitted, 
however, that the English woman 
hangs on her clothes in a certain dis- 
order; "they do not envelop her as 
do the French woman’s; on the other 
hand, she shows greater personality, 
and, consequently, more picturesque- 
ness in her style.” This is not far re- 
moved from the unprejudiced opinion 
of the Squire in “Harry Richmond.” 
ile had never been in Germany, but, 
when his grandson returned from a 
visit, he asked the accompanying 
clergyman about the German women: 
"They’re a whitey-brown sort of 
women, aren't they? with tow hair 
and fisheyes, high o’ the shoulder, 
bony, and gone teeth, so I've heard 
tell. I’ve heard that’s why the men 
have all taken to their beastly smok- 
ing.” And we remember that at a 
meeting of Platonists in London last 
spring some one explained why the 
women of North Germany were plain 
and unattractive: because by the 

wedding of money-bags to money- 
bays from the days of the Hanse 
towns onwards, they hac^ lost touch 
with the universal. At the same time 
this close observer paid the American 
woman a graceful compliment, so we 
record and make no comment. 
American women are beautiful, he 
said, because they are free to follow 
their own personality in their quest 
of their universal, and the facilities 
for divorce in the United States gi\e 
them unusually wide scope. 



Tarriage of justice in Italy that came to 
ight this year. In 1803 Lieut. Pnsquiui 

it mess left his overcoat in the hall. A 
pocket of this overcoat contained 6000 
ire of regimental money. When he re- 
turned the money was gone, but he did 
□ot like to accuse anyone, and he said 
oothing until the money was needed. 
Court-martialled for embezzlement, he I 
tvas degraded from the army, and con- 
iemned to ten years’ imprisonment. The 
degradation was sustained by him, 
“with a courage which won admiration 
sven from those who considered him 
guilty.” As he was taken to prison he 
saw a detachment of the Bersaglieri 
and then he wept. The soldiers stopped, 
and the commanding lieutenant stepped 
forward and, embracing him, said : 
“Courage, dear innocent one.” Many 
could and would not believe Pasquini 
guilty, but there was no way of proving 
bim innocent. A few months ago a cer- 
tain officer died after confessing that he 
stole the money from Pasquini’s coat. 
Pasquini is to he rehabilitated. But 
think of the ruined life, of the shame of 
forty-three years ! A prominent lawyer 
of Boston once said to us : "I do not 
believe that one man in prison in this 
state sentenced for any serious crime is 
innocent.” What a pathetic belief in 
the divine working of human justice. 
Even physicians are not so cocksure in 

their treatment of the sick. 

FRIENDLY FIRE. 

“Miss Goodell destroyed a lot of 
letters before leaving home.” There 
was nothing suspicious or sinister in 
the action. The wise man said: 
“Never write a letter and keep all 
that you receive”; but it was the 
thought of a knavish mind. Life is 
not wholly business, and letters are 
written to relieve emotions. It is 
seldom that the writer and the re- 
cipient are in the same mood. The 
most affectionate or sensible letter 
may, therefore, irritate the reader. 
The beloved one may commit sole- 
cisms which do not disturb the 
wooer when he sees her face to face, , 
but a recorded slip in grammar or a] 
poorly expressed thought sets him 
. a-thinking. He asks in his vanity: 
“Is she really worthy of me?” The 
son disappoints the expectations of 
his mother. If he looks over the 
letters she wrote in her years of 
anxiety and hope, they are as stabs 
to his conscience. He is easier if 
they are destroyed. It is better, 
after all, to burn all letters except 
those which you may need in self- 
preservation against the unscrupu- 
lous. The remembrance should be 
enough without the affidavit. Or 
what man or woman relishes the 
thought of the indifferent or the 
morbidly curious reading letters as a 
funereal duty? A letter should be 
burned after it is answered prompt- 
ly. Sometimes it is better to burn 
it immediately. And forget it with- 
out answering. 



PASQUINI’S CASE. 

It is siugular that in connection with 
:he Dreyfus case and that of Beck in 
[.ondon, no one has referred to a mis- 



DE SENECTUTE. 

Gustavus Flowers, who had been a 
watchman in department buildings at 
Washington, D. C., for sixteen years 
died a few days ago, heart broken, ex- 
claiming "the government has mur- 
dered me.” He had been discharged, 
an old man, with seven other old men, 
for the sake of economy. What was 
there left for him? And men who 
become feeble after long and faithful 
service in the employ of corporations 
or individuals are thus discharged 
daily. The atrocious crime of being an 
old man! Even the new hotel in New 
York for working girls and young 
women bars women of 35 years and 
over. The builder of the hotel looks 
upon the woman of 35 “as somewhat 
settled in her views of life and likely 
to be bored by the giddier pleasures 
of the girls from 18 to 25, who will 
make up the majority of the clien- 
tele.” What is this hotel for? For 
the harborage of chorus girls? “The 
only restrictions imposed are those of 
having a position which pays $10 or 
$12 a week and a sufficient capital of 
youth.” But are there no working wo- 
men over 35 who need a decent, com- 
fortable home? Are all women over 
35 ascetically disposed? Why should 
not women of 40 chirp and frolic, 
even when they earn only $10 a week? 
Some, alas, do not earn this amount. 
Yv’hat-is^to be - done with-the : old 







This is more and more of a problem. 
Homes for the old' and needy might 
bo of more advantage to the commu- 
nity than library .buildings construct- 
ed after one and the approved pat- 
tern. 

V COUNTRY clubT 
Mr. Auger cannot understand how 
Mr. Johnson can be happy away 
from the Porphyry during the sum- 
mer. Occasion drew the eminent so- 
ciologist from Clamport to the city, 
and Mr. Auger, meeting him, 
plumped the question: "Don't you 
miss the talk at the club?” "But 
we have a club at the store,” an- 
swered Mr. Johnson, "and mail time 
answers to the live-o'clock at the 
Porphyry. I hear the same subjects 
discussed in about the same way. 
The Thaw case, the future of Russia, 
what Mr. Moran is going to do, the 
state of the weather, a surgical oper- 
ation — and what matters It whether 
the patient be a clam digger or a 
brilliant financier? — -the play that is 
to be performed in a few weeks at 
the town hall, a realistic drama of 
Cape Cod life, the price of ice — why, 
Auger, the topics are the same, or 
nearly the same. The discussion is 
now spirited, but not from alcoholic 
ingurgitation; and now slow, but not 
because tongues' are thick. The 
repartee is quick, and there are irrel- 
evant personal attacks by way of en- 
livening digressions. If I shut my 
eyes I am in the Porphyry. Fur- 
Ihermore, there is this resemblance: 
the same topics are discussed day 
after day without an arrival at any 
conclusion.” 






PI.ATOXISTS. 

Y e heard Mr. Bronson Alcott say 
with a bland smile in Oosmian Hall, 
h lorence (Mass.), that the millennium 
would be here when every working man 
was provided with the complete works 
of Plato. It may be remembered that 
Emerson thought the'-'publication of 
translations of Plato in Bohn's library 
one of the chief benefits yielded by the 
cheap press. But Platonists in congress 
are not helpful persons. We read the 
report of a recent meeting in Loudon. 
Dr. Reich observed that history is one 
long ebullition of passion. Only middle- 
class persons believe that passions are 
“low.” The true Platonist does not at- 
tempt to suppress them. He cultivates 
them with a sophrosyne. But where do 
you buy a sophrosyne? At an apothe- 
cary s, or at a hardware shop? Three 
manifestations of passions are alcohol, 
avarice and love. Plato believed it is 
better to control a passion than to 
efface it, so he took his regular glass of 
wine and his occasional gin and bitters. 
A teetotaler once invited Dr. Reich to 
take the pledge. He replied that she 
was insulting his mother, a repartee that 
went over the teetotaler’s head. If you 
suppress the passion for alcohol, it will 
break out in homicidal mania or in a 
taste for tea, which is ten times worse 
than opium.” Avarice, “within its 
limits, ’ should be encouraged. The 
French are thrifty and gay. “They re- 
joice over every sou they do not spend” 
and therefore are constantly cheerful. 
Love is “the most artistic expression of 
tne universal.” How? as our village 
friend Mr. Marcellas B. Graves would 
say. Montaigne, Spinoza, Mr. Hall 

Gaine and Mrs. Ella Wheeler Wilcox 
all admit its universality. Platonic 
love, as it is generally understood, is 
impossible in the case of mature per- 
sons. A thwarted passion may break 
out into protectionism or the invention 
of airships. A discussion followed the 
lecture. W hat is woman's strongest 
passion? Some admitted that it was 
love of admiration ; others hurrahed for 
maternity. Then there was the question 
w-hether maternal affection is not an in- 
stinct instead of a passion. “A hen has 
it, ’ said one excited disputant. It wms 
voted that womatris essentially monog- 
amous. As Mr. Oliver Herford re- 
marked. “Why do men marry Lillian 
Russell?” 



9 years old.” Perhaps she will ’yet 
I catch it. The young lady "absolute- 
ly disputes” the statement that Poe 
was born In Boston. The statement, 
however, rests on fact, and the poet 
himself on more than one occasion 
referred to this city with peculiar 
sentiment, though he delighted in 
roasting the New England literary 
school. Miss Poe would take away 
from Boston a great honor, but it is 
something of a consolation to know 
that "she resents having been born 
in Philadelphia.” She, too, is a bit 
of a poet. "She inherits from her 
melancholy and poetic ancestor much 
of his striking originality of thought 
and action; but with her there is a 
brighter setting, and she could 
hardly be guilty of anything so grim 
and unhappy as the greatest works 
of Edgar Allan Poe.” Any jury of 
ordinary intelligence would acquit 
her. This “appreciation” of the 
; master of terror and exquiiite sound 
reminds qs of the illuminative criti- 
cism that was published in one of 
Chambers' volumes some years ago. 

Edgar Allan Poe, an eccentric 
American poet. It may seem absurd 
to say that he belonged by birth to 
the aristocracy in a country where 
no aristocracy is recognized. Still, 

It is a fact that Poe was an aristo- 
crat.” Mr. Barrett Wendell should 
remember this when he revises his 
encyclopedia of American gentle- 
men who have dropped into litera- 
ture. 

JuUj if, 

MANNER OF COMPOSING 

des cribe d by dindy 

His First Favorites in Music 
— Three Periods in 
His Car-s-er, i 



,, expression — 

111 ' true sense of the word, 
as not Flemish or Dutch. 

artistically related to the old 



He was ammiv <in.> i «.*«*. ^ %...w ~ 
Vrenc-h cathedral builders, both In t 
beauty and the rhythm of his music 
line* and In absolute sincerity and co.. 
scientlous naivete. He was never music- 
all, successful In the expression of an 
o il sentiment. When lie would fam 
sing of Satan and all his works, his 
voice was that of Meyerbeer. His soul 
was with the angels, and when lie chose 
the pagan story of Cupid and Psyche, he 
paraphrased it mystically and the 
amorous dialogue was between the 
celestial bridegroom and the soul. 

On the other hand, Franck, by reason 
of his sense of order and proportion, by 
reason of his logic in diction and the 
expression of his thought, was indis- 
putably French. 

Franck’s Musica Likings. 
Franck's first favorites in music were 
among the French composers who 
nourished toward the end of the ISth 
contury. He delighted in the music of 
Monsigny — especially his "Deserter"; of 
Dalayrac,' from v^liose operas ^he took 
themes for his first piano fantasias; of 
Gretry, and he could not in the years 
of his maturity read certain pages of 
Gretry without deep emotion. The mu- 
sic of Mehul was dear to him. and 
"Joseph” filled him with enthusiasm. 
For at least 20 years the influence of 
Mehul was anparent in his own com- 
positions. Themes in the piano trios 
find in "Ruth” might well he signed by 
Mehul, although here and there, faint- 
ly expressed, is the unmistakable in- 
dividuality of Franck. 

His love for certain masterpieces by 
Gluck. Bach, Beethoven absorbed him, 
so that in reading them he would for- 
get time and the pressing duty. His 
pupil, Duparc, remembers him giving 
pia.no lessons at the College de Van- 
girard, but, instead of hearing scales 
and exercises, Franck would play with 
infinite gusto and with instructive com- 
ments an act of “Iphigenia in Tauris.” 
pieces by Bach, or pages of “Eu- 
ryanthe,” and soon to his consterna- 
tion the hour was at an end. Franck 
also admired greatly Schumann, the In- 
timate melodist, and the songs of 
Schubert were for him an abiding joy, 
“He had even an inexplicable affection 
for certain works of Cherubini, and 
also for the preludes and the ‘songs' of 
Ch. Valentix Alkan. whom he ijponsid- 
ered to be a ‘poet of the piano.’” 

Here speak the prejudices of Mr, 
dindy. There was also a time when 
I Franck was passionately Interested in 
Wagner s works, although he could not 
be reckoned among the Wagnerites of 
his period. As Coquard says of him: 
KETM h r°V e - Stly e „ n -> oyed all that was 
with wnl f U1 ■ con teroporaneous art. and 
with what simplicity did he do justice 
T°^ e success ful colleagues! The 
2 'Y ln S bad no more kindly and fair- 

I Connnd 'Y, hether they were named 

Gounod, Saint-Saens, or Delibes.” 

Are there proofs of his musical nre- 
ferences and affections in his own 

There ' EY 1 of any us , e to Point them oui." 
There aie some melodic phrases that 
remind one of Bach; the initial theme 
or the symphony recalls the que"t™n 

tAe U ern eS l eln? P, u t by Beethoven 'a" 
the end ot one his quartets - th<» in 
fiuence of Meyerbeer seen fil some f 
the infenor pages “The Beatitudes ” 
and that of Wagner in tho symphonic 
P°a enl 'rT Les Eo'idos” and in "£?e 
I lu 2 T e ' , Choral and Fugue” for the pia^o 

"thatYt " 0t thmk ' ” says Mr. d’Indy 
that it is necessary to attach much 
I importanoe to melodic or oth-u resem . 

• TIle sreat contrapuntists and 

t t h h e e : fess a o"r d 1 

rnaTy Um^tFe^LTT'TAe me" ” Y-E 

Ef' S FEnc a k e w a a a s de s d 

could afford these few deliberate or Un- 
conscious reminiscences. 

I A Composer at Work. 

How did Franck work? 

The Jesuit Balthasar Graclan preached 
a short sermon in his "Art of Worldly 

I °" the text: " Kee P t0 

self the final touches of your art.” The 

, teacher must always remain the superior 
master. He must teach an art artfully, i 
The srurce of knowledge need not be I 
i I s out ’ no more than that of giving. 

Ay this means, a man preserves the re - 
spect and dependence of others " re ' 
do not know whether Franck or 
dindy were familiar with the little 

hauY reS bu e t Cte n T° highly by Schopen - 
nauer, but it was not in Franck’s 

! ? at iu e to , conceal anything perta?nin® 
j to the art he dearly loved in his com 
versations with ins pupils. At the 
same time not even a favorite pupil can 
teil how a man like Franck ach evtd 
certain things. He can describe only his 
external methods. J s 

-cA2w rdins ' to Mr - d Indy . and he here 
speaks as a composer who has fuilv 
mastered all matters of technic, there 
three periods, absolutely distinct 
in the composition of a .work: concept 

tion, disposition or arrangement, ex- 
ecution. 

The conception may be subdivided 
into two different operations: synthetic 
and analytic conception. Suppose a man 
girds up his loins to compose a sym- 
phony. First, he establishes the great 
lines, the general plan of the work; then 
lie fixes the constituent elements, the 
themes, tile musical ideas which are to 
be the essential features of the plan. 
These two labors are, as a rule, suc- 
cessive, but they are connected and 
may be modified; for the nature of the 
"idea,” which is purely a personal ele- 
ment, may lead the composer to change 
| the preconceived disposition of his plan, 
while, on the other hand, the nature of 
the plan may bring in certain types of 
musical ideas that will exclude others. 
"Whether the conception be synthetic 
i or analytic, it is always independent of 
the hour, the surroundings; I may say it 
almost independent of the composer’s 
will.” He is not able to continue his 
work until the materials are presented 
Jo him in a wholly satisfactory form. 

1 his mysterious period is often very 
long, especially with the great com’- 



'The Herald last Sunday considered 
Cesar Franck, the man, as portrayed 
by Mr. Vincent d'Indy. Let us today 
consider Mr. dTndy's study of the influ- 
ences that shaped Franck in his creative 
work, and Mr. dTndy's description of 
his manner of composing. His volume 
“Cesar Franck" is published by Felix 
Alcan, Paris. 

It has been said’that Franck was a 
Fleming by birth, and. therefore, a mys- 
tic. He was a Walloon, and the Wal- 
loons are active and passionate rather 
than mystical. His ancestors in the 16th 
and 17th centuries were painters, and, 
as was said last Sunday, he thus inherit- 
ed a taste for drawing. Mr. d’Indy 
hints that Franck's mastery of combina- 
tion, shown even when he was a young 
pupil in the Paris Conservatory, “an es- 

spntinl email tv in tlio n n m nminrlino- n f 



POOR POE! 

Poor Poe! His life is to be taken 
again, and this time by the daughter 
of a second cousin. She has "pur- 
sued a literary career since she was 



I-’ f i F 1 1 in 1 1 it jl cli io GUfioci v ritui j , till 

sential quality in the compounding of 
that bizarre and useless form of scribble 
known as 'The School of Fugue.’ " was 
also an inheritance from old Walloon 
contrapuntists. 

Franck's father had something to do 
with a bank, but he knew persons in the 
artistic world. We are told that he was 
a stern, authoritative man; that he or- 
•dered his two sons to be musicians; that 
he wished Cesar to be a virtuoso pian- 
ist. Nothing is said about Cesar's 
mother. We learn nothing from Mr. 
d’Indy about her character or her tastes. 
It is a pity, for a great man has much 
of iris mother in him. The other son, Jo- 
seph. wrote correct and undistinguished 
music, drank too much, and often lived 
and drank on Cesar's money. Mr. d’Indy 
does not give this information. He is 
not inclined to be anecdotioal. 

Nor are we told anything at all about 
the home life of the young Cesar. He 
studied. He travelled as a child pianist 
when lie was 10 or 11 years old. He left 
the Conservatory in his 20th year, anil 
he worked with the utmost industry and 
energy until he died in 1990, when he was 
almost 68. 

Genesis of Franck’s Work. 

But Mr. d’Indy studies carefully what 
may be called the genesis of Franck’s 
work, and he knows that any one who 
wishes to judge sympathetically and 
honestly the work of a genius should 
go back to the first causes and try to 
discover the trunk and roots of the 
richly flowering branch. 

Franck, according to him. was in no 
way connected with the men of the re- 
naissance. Tlie art of the renaissance, 
seeking nutrition in the sap of pagan 
art which had already dried, in spite of 
glorious efforts could produce only ster- 
ile forms without true aesthetic signifi- 
cance. Franck did not regard form as 
an end. He looked on “this manifesta- 
tion of the work which one calls form” 
only as a corporeal part, the clothing 
of the ideal, which he named "the soul 
of music”; and in all his works the 
form changes constantly, according to 
-the nature of the idea. Franck, by rea- 
son of his clearness, light, vitality, was 
nearer to the Italian painters of the 14th 
and 15th centuries. His. art was one of 
clear truth and serene light, a light 
without any violent color, for he was 



posers— see 'the sketch books of Beet- 
hoven; "for their artlstie conscience 
forces them to extreme severity In the 
j choice of expression: but mediocre com- 
posers. or those intoxicated with their 
?i Wn su PP°sed merit, are satisfied with 
"‘'St material that comes to them, 
although its bad quality can make only 
!a fragile, perishable monument.” 

I During the second period, that of dis- 
| position, the composer, using the deter - 
n ?. material, fixes definitely the plan 
I ?J- me work, both as a whole and in all 
its details. Even in this period he must 
invent, and there is often much hesita- 
tion and harassing doubt. “It is the 
moment when one undoes in the morn- 
mg that which lie laboriously did the 
night before; it is also the moment of 
full enjoyment in the knowledge of close 
communion with beauty." 

At last, when the heart and the im- 
agination of the composer have con- 
ceived, when he has planned everything 
through the force of his intelligence, 
then comes the final period, that of exe- 
cution, and this is only an amusement 
for the musician who is a master of his 
trade. There Is the labor of writing; of 
scoring, if the work is to be orches- 
trated; there is the "plastic presenta- 
tion on paper” of the completed musical 
work. 

One composer will wait patiently for 
the dawn of an idea; another will try to 
hasten its coming, and he will stimu- 
late his fancy. One. like Beethoven, will 
write at fever heat a mass of differ- 
ent sketches for one musical idea; an- 
other, like Bach, will not put his 
theme into writing until it is shaped 
definitely and irrevocably in his mind. 

this is Mr. dTndy's explanation of 
the process of composition when the 
composer is a man of true creative 
force. 

Cesar Franck’s Method. 

Franck, like Gluck and many others, 
needed stimulation. It is told of Ring- 
lake that when he was at work on his 
"Invasion of the Crimea,” he would 
write in the morning a certain num- 
ber of pages, but he would leave 
bldnk spaces for the fitting adjectives. 
Then he would ride horseback for an 
hour or two, and on his return write 
down the missing words. Franck 
round inspiration in music itself.. 

How often have we seen him," says 
M !;. d In u dy ’ J ‘‘P°unding on the piano 
with a hard and constant fortissimo 
the prelude to ‘The Master Singers ’ or 
a piece by Beethoven, Bach, or Schu- 
maiin. At last the deafening din 
would sink to a murmur, and then 
there would not be a sound — the mas- 
ter had found his idea.” Throughout 
thus coveted inspiration. 
One day when he was at work on one 
ot his last pieces, a pupil found him 
ruthlessly massacring a piano piece 
P U PA was astonished at the choice 
°r the music, but Franck answered- 
Oh, that is only to excite me. When 
1 wish to find a really good idea I 
P} ay ,°Y er " rhe Beatitudes,' for that 
still helps me best!" 

He was fortunate in this: he could 
conduct at the same time two musical 
operations without in.iurv to either- he 
couId/3*ume immediately an abandoned 
task without taking time to put him- 
self again in the vein. He gave his les- 
sons with the conscientiousness that 
characterized him in all walks of life, 
but lie would often walk suddenly to a 
corner of the room and jot down some 
measures which he did not wish to 
forget, and then return to the demon- 
stration or the examination. Important 
works were written in this manner, 
from notes taken here and there, and 
the connection was logical and without 
a break. He was especially busied bv 
the task of disposition, for, although in ’a 
way he was classical and even" tradi- 
tional, he thirsted all his life for new 
forms in the constituent elements and 
m the structure of a work. As soon as 
Beetbo\*_*n after innumerable experi- 
ments settled on his theme he apparently 
established at the same time its devel- 
opment and he sometimes forgot to note 
Us course in his sketch book. Franck 
filled and erased many pages before he 
determined definitely the disposition of 
a composition. He w-as a stern critic 
of himself, and when he was in doubt 
concerning a relative key or the pre- 
cise course of a development he liked to 
consult his pupils, to share with them 
his anxiety, to ask their advice. The 
three versions of the "mother idea” of 
the string quartet (published on pages 
167-9) show Franck's labor in search of 
perfection. He was at times active in 
composition, for during the two months 
oi his vacation in 1S89 he wrote this 
string quartet and sketched the two last 
acts of his second opera "Ghisele.” Yet 
l-.c searched a long time for the prayer- 
like phrase of the larghetto. and Mr. 
d’Indy remembers how one day. when he 
went to visit his master, the latter ex- 
claimed even before shaking hands: "I 
have found it! It's a beautiful phrase. 
You will see,” and they went at once 
to the piano. 

Three Periods. 

Mr. d’Indy is one of those who be- 
lieve that the majority of great creators 
whose life is sufficiently long present 
in their work three modes of expression. 
This, he believes, is a law of nature. 

To argue this point would now be irrel- 
jevant. It is enough to say that Beet- 
ihoven and Verdi showed a continuous 
j and logical advance from youth to then- 
last year. Whether three successive and I 
absolutely different modes of expression 
characterize tlieir work is another cues- ! 
tion. 

Franck’s first period, according to ! 
Mr. d'Indy, extended from 1841 to about I 
1858; the period of the four piano trios I 
ail the fugitive piano pieces, many I 
songs, and, as the chief mark of the i 
period, his first oratorio, “Ruth ” 

The second period extends from 1858 
to 1872. the period of strictly religious ! 
works, masses, motets, organ pieces ' 
with the oratorio. "The Redemption ” I 
as the climax. 

The third period includes all the or-N 
chestral music from 1S75, the admirable 
string quartet and piano quintet the i 
two operas, the organ chorals, and -is i 

a -r C l° n « 1 ' et f-i ex , pre ^ sion - Ule sublime epic. 
"The Beatitudes. 1 

The chief characteristics of Franck's 
style are: (1) the nobility and the worth i 
ot the melodic phrase; (2) the originality - 
( o£ the harmonic aggregation; (3; thi 



THE INFLUENCES THAT SHAPED 

FRANCK IN HIS CREATIVE WORK 



solid eurythm of the musical archi- 
tecture. , . . 

An examination of these claims of 
Franck’s use of the cyclic style, the 
fugue. and the variation in an evolution 
of the sonata form, and of his peculiar- 
ly serene and lofty expression must be 
reserved for next Sunday’s article. But 
it may here be said that as Tschaikow- 
sky’s music, by reason of Its savage in- 
tensity. barbaric love of color and mo- 
notonous rhythm, or simple declaration 
of personal emotion with, at times, a 
childlike blurt, does not appeal to the 
fastidious and the ingeniously super- 
refined, so the noble qualities ot Franck s 
music are not quickly recognized by all. 
Mr. d’Indy. speaking of Franck s love of 
order, style and meditative weight, says. 
"Perhaps It Is for this reason— I like to 
think that their attitude is ? ot ,, 
had faith or ignorance of art— that tne 
Germans do not yet understand his mu- 
sic. the luminous logic of which is not 
to be assimilated easily by minds how- 
ever profound they may be, which will 
always lack the sentiment of true Pro- 
portions and of good style. He cites the 
Wallialla near Regensburg, the pictures 
of Boecklin and the too long tone poems 
of Richard Strauss as flagrant proofs of 
I this lack. , ...... ... 

Hazlitt sometimes thought that the 
i most acute and original-minded men 
make bad critics, for they see every- 
I thing too much through a particular 
medium. "What does not fall in wltli 
their own bias and mode of composition 
strikes them as commonplace and tact - 
tious What does not come into the di- 
rect line of their vision, they regard 
Idlv. with vacant 'lack-lustre eye. Men 
wlio have fewer native resources, and 
are obliged to apply oftener to the gen- 
eral stock, acquire by habit a greater 
aptitude In appreciating what they owe 
to others. Their taste is not made a 
sacrifice to their egotism and vanity, 
i and they enrich the soil of their minds 
with continual accessions of borrowed 
strength and beauty.” A man like Haz- 
litt’ s friend Joseph Fawcett has the true 
I critical spirit: "That is the most dellc- 

! lous feeling of all.” he would exclaim, 

I "to like what is excellent, no ma.ter 
whose it Is.” 

MUSIC MOTES. 

The Herald publishes today portraits 
of Iridi Motto, Ladtslawa Hotkowska. 
Oliva Petrella and also an Italian cari- 
cature of Mr. Caruso at San Francisco. 
Iridi Motto, a soprano of Turin, and a 
pupil of Giulo Tanara. made her first 
operatic appearance about a year ago at 
her birthplace, as Santuzza. Nanon is 
one of her best parts. Ladislawa .Hot- 
kowska. here portrayed as Amneris. is 
a Warsaw singer, who has sung recently 
with success at Cremona and at Trieste 
in Tommastno's "Medea. Oliva let- 
rella a young Italian singer, was in San 
Francisco in 1905. She is here portrayed 

aS Mr 01 Ernest Tirfehs. the general repre- 
sentative of Messrs. Steinway & Sons 
will have charge of the concert tour of 
Mr. Josef Uhevlnne. the distinguished 
Russian pianist. Mr. t rehs has had 
much experience in the handling of large 
musical undertakings. He was an active 
manager of the New York Arion So- 
oietv’s European tour in 1S92, and in 1S94 
he was in full charge of the great Saen- 
gerfest in Madison Square Garden. Mr. 
Lhevinne will play Rubinstein s col }™; r * 0 » 
In E Hat with most of the leading Amer- 
ican orchestras next season. The con- j 
oerto is seldom played in this cmintrw 
It was heard in New York about if 
vears 'ago. and It has been played once 
in Boston. Mr. Uhevlnne chose it for his 
first appearance in New 1 ork las«. spring 
'inf! made a sensation. 

The Rembrandt festival at Amster- 
dam this month inspired these pieces: 
\ svmphonic poem. ' fcaul and David 
(after Rembrandt's picture), by 
i Wagenaar of Utrecht; a cantata, with 
text bv Van Moerkerke, music by Die- 
penbrock and an orchestral prologue 
I by Bernard Zweers. 

I A symphonic prologue to Spitteler s 
"Hympischer Fruehllng," by the tewiss 
composer. Walter Courvolsier. has been 
performed at Mannheim. , 

1 Mr. Rudolf Krasselt. once first cel- 
list of the Roston Symphony orchestra, 
has been engaged as conductor at the 
Danzig opera house. 

“Automobilhymnos. for chorus and 
orchestra, by Carlo Galione, a pupil of 
Rhetnberger. has been performed at 
Milan. 

Mrs. Richard J. Hall of Boston gave 
n concert in Paris June 1. when she 
played several saxophone pieces writ- 
ten for her, which have been performed 
here at the concerts of the Orchestral 
Club. Mr. Renard, the baritone, assist- 
ed. and Mr. Dongy led the orchestra. 
The Guide Musical and the Courrler 
Musical spoke highly of her per- 
formance. 






m§ 




.ODWA PE/TREL1A-/A 
a. a CtfORI-aA 



/ 



'/(? C? 



IX THE KECK. 

The story of Mr. Fred Smith's desire 
to be the executioner in Denmark is a 
good one. The Danes are in need of a 
“reliable, sturdy executioner,” and offer 
S3G4 and expenses for each performance. 
Mr. Smith, it seems, is weary of serving 
beer in Bethnal Green, and he has en- 
deavored for seven years to secure a 
positiou as public executioner some- 
where. The excitement, he thinks, 
would be good for iris health, and he has 
long been accustomed to chopping wood. 



Is tlywe a history of executioners worthy 
of their deeds? How many know that 
the familiar apparatus, the derrick, was 
named after a Londou headsman? Do 
not some believe that .John Ketch was a 
legendary character? There are passion- 
ate collectors who treasure bits of rope 
that have served, and other memorabi- 
lia of executions. Has any one a com- 
plete library of all books pertaining to 
punishments and executions? There arc 
headsmen in admirable literature, as in 
Merimee’s comedy attributed to . the 
Spanish Clara. And what a wealth of 
pictures ! We see even now with a shud- 
der Cruiksliank's “Burning of Lnder- 
bill” and “Mauger Sharpening His Ax.” 

k VERBAL SEDITION. 

As is known to close students of the 
surprising German Emperor, there has 
been for some years at his instiga- 
tion a warfare against all words in 
common use that were taken from the 
French, Italian or in fact any modern 
language. A society for the rigorous 
preservation of German* was formed 
some years ago and it has published 
little dictionaries and pamphlets. Thus 
the words “bureau,” “billet” are for- 
bidden in railway stations and in thea- 
tres. Of course the rules are applied to 
Alsace-Lorraine. A professional spirit- 
ualist named Epstein — a good German 
name — was giving exhibitions not long 
ago in these provinces. He did not have 
his little dictionary with him and he 
could not think of any German word 
for “seance,” so he used on his posters* 
the French term that has been heard in 
Germany for years. He was at once 
hauled before the commissary of police 
and solemnly warned. The police were 
instructed to correct the posters. This 
they did by posting “soiree” over 
“seance.” Yet there are admirers of 
everything made and done in Germany 
who insist that Germans have a sense 
of humor. 

MR. SAGE'S WILL. 

The relatives of the late Mr. Sage 
should read Ilazlitt’s essay on will- 
making. The thousand and one phil- 
anthropists who are eager for other 
men to give in charity might also 
read it with profit. It opens in a 
manner that expresses their feelings 
better than they could do it: “Few 

things show the human character in 
a more ridiculous light than the cir- 
cumstance of will-making. It is the 
latest opportunity we have of exer- 
cising the natural perversity of the 
disposition, and we take care to make 
a good use of it. We husband It with 
jealousy, put it off as long as we can, 
and then use every precaution that 
the world shall be no gainer by our 
deaths." But a kindly disposed man 
might say: “Mr. Sage acted gallantly 
and wisely. lie paid his wife the last 
compliment in his power. Knowing 
her sound sense and charitable na- 
ture, he wished her to distribute much 







m 



Hk A ' 

,s .. &> '? 











1 ripe/ Motto 




A 



v- 






\ 



Caruso a-c 



i 

of his wealth. She had not had, while 
he was alive, the opportunity of grati- 
fying her benevolent desires. Now 
she can spend his money as she 
pleases, and hers will be the glory.” 
“The art of, will-making,” says Haz- \ 
litt, "chiefly consists in baffling the 
.importunity of expectation.” Mr. 
Sage was, then, in the eyes of many, 
a great artist. 

NEARSIGHTED. 

The appearance of many school chil- 
dren with spectacles leads some to pity 
and »ome to the opinion that, the race is 
degenerating. No doubt the children of 
former generations suffered from head- 
aches and nervous strain because their 
eyes were neglected, though it is not nec- 
essary to believe that all victims of nerv- 
ous dyspepsia, as Carlyle, Darwin, 
Spencer, would have been cheerful and 
robust if they bad worn glasses suitably 
curved. It is also true that many chil- 
dren in the sixties were looked on by 
School teachers as little liars when they 
said they could not see diagrams on the 
board, and parents were ignorant or 
careless. The belief that an acquired 
parental shortsightedness can be trans- 
mitted is now exploded, as is the theory 
that a shortsighted eye is weak or de- 
generate. The modern theory has been 
stated as follows: The prevalence of 
shortsightedness is an instance of adap- 
tation to environmental needs. Civiliza- 
tion involves reading and writing the 
use of the eye at short distances, not- 
withstanding the fact that the eje 
which we have inherited from our an- 
cestors is one which is used without 
effort at long range, merely containing 
within it an apparatus enabling it. at 
the cost of nervous and muscular effort, 
to be used at short range.” Perhaps it 
would be better to, have an eye which at 
rest would be focussed on near objects, 
but could be accommodated to se? things 
afar off. This may come in time. 

NEXT SEASON. 

Again there is a threatened change 
in men’s evening deess. Our^ old 
friend, the “high clbss tailor” in 
London, is even now at work on 
models. The coat will be blue, with 



Lapisdava Hotkowska 

AS 



a velvet collar and silk facings. 
Trousers or knee breeches will be 
optional, according to the substan- 
tiality of the leg. Men whose legs 
are immaterial, as Hood said of 
Lamb's, will wear trousers, yet men 
are very vain, and they are self-de- 
eeivers even as to their legs. The 
leg covering will be of black cloth. 
Trousers will have two rows of braid 
on the side seam. This fashion may 
change the next season, and then 
where shall we be? There Is talk of 
gilt buttons. This reproach has 
been made against the conventional 
evening dress — that a “gentleman ’ 
Is not easily distinguished from a 
waiter. The proposed dress will 
make him look like a footman. And 
why should not a “gentleman” look 
like a waiter? We are all waiters; 
we all serve some one. and the pro- 
fessional is often more courteous, 
tactful and honest in the act, nor is 
he the only one who expects a fee. 
Will the knobbed and tasselled cane 
be carried next season? Canes have 
their pedigree, and a well authenti- 
cated one, though it be of common 
malacca with plain silver top, may 
easily bring £100. Ever since we 
read “The Rape of the Lock” in 
boyhood we could n6t thijik of a 
prodigious swell without his ' “clouded 
cane.” 



/ I 

SPEAK GENTLY. 

When we were in* school we used 
a singing book which contained songs 
that are no longer in common use: 
•‘Wild roved the Indian girl, s 
clan's Serenade,” "Lulu is our dar- 
ling pride,” and other masterpieces of 
sentiment. A song that we all used 
to roar with peculiar fervor was 
-Speak gently! It Is better far." Few 
carried this precept with them Into 
life's struggles. Yet Miss Dottie 
Gore's voice— she was a telephone gir 
in Westchester— won the heart of the 
son of a prosperous real estate agent 
and politician. He could not resist 
the appeal of her soft "Hello, 
went to his heart and ear. feo they 
eloped. He thoughtfully telegraphed 
his fht’ner, who leaped into the air, 
-angrily tore the telegram to bits,” 
and” swore that he would not give son 
Edward a house and lot. But wai 
till Dottie uses her voice on the fathei. 
See on the other hand the effect of a 
harsh telephone message. Miss Rosie 
Koch in New York called Mr. Kauf- 
man a fool over the telephone, and he 
ungallantly says she prefixed "fool 
with the word which is used With 
thrilling effect in “the glorious old 
English comedies.” to quote from 
Boston Museum playbills. They me 
afterward. He said to the magistrate 
that Rosie bashed him with her para- 
sol and satchel and he exhibited a 
crumpled collar In evidence. Rosie 




and bluo and she put them in as her 
exhibit. Here was no thought of 
elopement, and all because the rhoral 
of the old song was not a rule in dally 
conduct. 



HISTORICAL NOVELS. 

The Master of the Rolls was obliged 
to make a speech at the presentation 
of prizes in an English girls’ school. 
He urged the importance of reading 
Judiciously chosen novels as one of 
the best ways to acquire historical" 
knowledge. It was perhaps natural 
that he should say in the course of his 
remarks: “Look at me!’’ He told the 
girls that he triumphed in a scholar- 
ship examination by one mark be- 
cause he remembered “The Three 
Musketeers.” He was thus, enabled 
to answer the question: “Who was 
the mother of Louis XIV.?” Many of 
us have read the delightful romance, 
but who was Louis’ mother? No 
dcj^bt much historical information can 
be learned from novels by Scott and 
Dumas, even if one does not go so far 
as Sir Edward Burne-Jones, who 
spoke of Dickens and Thackeray as 
the only English historians. He might 
better have said that Fielding, Jane 
Austen, Thackeray and Trollope were 
the true English sociologists. When 
Thackeray was at work on “The Vir- 
ginians” he spent hours trying to find 
out whether Gen. Wolfe wore wliite 
or blue trousers. The reader of his- 
tory should visualize it, but does ac- 
curacy in the matter of Wolfe’s 
trousers make amends for the .por- 
trait of Washington in the samt 
novel? Pitt declared that his knowl- 
edge of English history was derived 
from Shakespeare, but is not the dra- 
matist’s Richard III. largely fantas- 
tical, a stage bugaboo? Then there 
are so many worthless "historical” 
novels. Where there is one “Cloister 
and the Hearth” there are a hundred 
of the Muehlbach order. But there 
. have been very few Charles Reades, 
and the eat novelist, now neglected, 
will have again his glorious day. 

SAVED! 

It is a close race between the Lan- 
cet of London and Prof. Metchnikoff 
of Paris in the endeavor to frighten 
simple people who wish to move 
along the line of the least digestive 
resistance. The Lancet warns sol- 
emnly against microbic danger in all 
things eatable, drinkable, touchable. 
It warns and does not at the same 
time comfort. The eminent Russian 
diligently at work in Paris hastens 
with preservatives and remedies. 
Does he find out that gray hair is 
caused by the “chromophage” who 
expels the coloring pigment? Run a 
flatiron heated to 140 deg. Fahr. 
over your hair; this will cause the 
chromophage “most extreme dis- 
gust.” Prof. Metchnikoff shows us 
that strawberries introduce into our 
systems parasites, ova and infectious 
germs. Therefore strawberries 
should be boiled before they are 
served. Eggs are dangerous, espe- 
cially when they are new laid. The 
entozoa make them palatable. Drink 
great quantities of sour milk daily, 
and you can eat eggs fearlessly, even 
after the manner of Mr. Roosevelt. 
The Bulgarians live tn an extreme 
old age — that is, when the Turks let 
them alone — because they drink 
much sour milk. Sour milk con- 
tains thousands of benevolent mi- 
crobes who war against the malevo- 
lent; they war while you are court- 
ing or in church or addressing a pal- 
pitating crowd or sleeping. Inci- 
dentally, the professor has given a 
recipe to a firm in Paris that will 
benevolently furnish you with these 

kindly microbes for use in milk 

for a consideration. 

sA Ufl / l f 



for she prefers art' fcf The temporary 
success of the variety theatres.” Sup- 
pose, for a moment, that this story be 
true, would it not have been better 
for her to have accepted the offer for 
at least one season? Was it not her 
duty to accept it? At present she, is 
unknown, except to her immediate 
friends. She need not be wholly in- 
artistic in vaudeville; in fact, she 
might learn many valuable lessons 
that would make for her artistic fut- 
ure. By refusing the offer she jeop- 
ardized the comfort of her family. 
She stood between art and duty. But 
duty may be art. 

IMPORTANT, IF TRUE. 

Lord Ivor Charles, 7 years old, the 
younger son of the Duchess of Marl- 
borough, curled himself up in an 
elevator in Sunderland House, and 
when the elevator descended to the 
basement he rolled out on the floor 
and shocked chef, assistant cooks 
and the scullions. A full report of 
this important occurrence, one of in- 
ternational interest, was cabled to a 
New York newspaper. The Princess 
Yolanda, 5 years old, and the eldest 
daughter of the King of Italy, re- 
cently said to her 4-year-old sister: 
“Mafalda, just look at your finger 
nails. They have gone into mourn- 
ing.” This sparkling play of fancy 
was telegraphed from Rome to the 
Pall Mall Gazette. Thirty and forty 
years ago there was a famous re- 
ceptacle for such stories: the Edi- 
tor’s Drawer of Harper’s. But-the 
newspapers have changed the policy 
of magazines and usurped some of 
their privileges. 



(j 

ART AN D DUTY. 

The passionate press agent of a 
young fiddler in New York tells a 
pathetic story: “Only last week x a 

well known vaudeville manager of- 
fered to book her forty-two weeks 
at a salary of $200 a week, but she 
declined his proposition, although she 
is the sole support of an invalid 
father, mother and younger sisters. 



ON COLONELS. 

Note the dramatic opening of this 
story cabled to the United States: 
“A ragged, wild-haired Russian ar- 
rived at Lyons the other day. He 
I had two grips, his only baggage.” 
Is not this enough to excite curiosity, 
to lure the reader on? But now see 
the great gulf fixed between Euro- 
pean and American life: “He elicited 
suspicion at his hotel by calling him- 
self a ‘colonel,’ a rank which was 
not well supported by the condition 
of his collar and his general shabbi- 
ness.” Does the collar make the 
“colonel”? Are there no “colonels” 
under a temporary cloud, but shabby 
only in the eyes of the superficial ob- 
server? We hear voices both indig- 
nant and pathetic from life-saving 
stations in cities and groceries North 
and South. Kentucky is not the only 
state of gallant men who have served 
outside the army. Even under a 
prohibition sky the proudest collar 
may wilt and soon be ready for the 
ash heap. 

IGNORANT PREJUDICE. 

It surely was in execrable taste for 
a tailors’ journal in London to com- 
ment on Mr. Bryan’s frock coat as 
“heavy and shapeless.” Mr. Bryan 
was a visitor, an untitled, free and 
roving ambassador to all parts of the 
earth, and he should have ambassa- 
dorial privileges. Furthermore, the 
attack shows a painful ignorance of 
American life. A heavy and shape- 
I less frock is the distinguishing coat 
1 of a western statesman. Would an 
English tailor have a man like Mr. 
Bryan necessarily flippant in a bob, 
a sack, a Seymour? The “sombre- 
ness” of the frock was “quite hurtful, 
and even offensive, to the English 
tailor’s taste.” Mr. Bryan is a deep 
thinker, and deep thinkers are som- 
bre. It’s their business to be som- 
bre.' The tailors’ journal hinted at 
something of English design and 
manufacture, something in gray, but 
with the coat a frock. Does it think 
for a moment that Mr. Bryan would 
venture to show himself in Lincoln 
dressed in an English suit? He is 
jnot a gaudy goldbug. 

- — __ 

THE LUDWIGS. 

So Duke Ludwig of Bavaria, now 
75 years old, wishes to contract a 
third morganatic marriage. His sec- 
ond wife, now living, is only 3 5, but 
she is too old. The duke is now in 
love with a young singer at the Mu- 
nich Opera House, and, as he is a 
I proper man, like Werther in Thack- 



eray's immortal ballad, there must 
be a divorce and then a marriage. 
The Wittelsbach Ludwigs have not 
been fortunate with women. Ludwig 
the Strong, in the fifteenth century, 
suspecting his wife’s fidelity, pitched 
1 the lady-in-waiting out of a window 
| and sent the wife to t he scaffold. 
Lola Montez played the mischief 
with Ludwig I., and Sophie Char- 
lotte, who, as the Duchess d’Aleneon, 
was burned in the bazaar fire at 
Paris, might have made Ludwig II. 
reasonably happy, if for some reason 
— several were widespread in Mu- 
nich — he had not broken the be- 
trothal. And now the old duke is 
hunting trouble. Of course, if the 
young singer does not become Lud- 
wig’s wife, she will come to either 
the Metropolitan or the Manhattan 
Opera House. We see Messrs. Con- 
ried and Hammerstein bidding for 
her. But the New York public may 
not be so musically easy as the duke. 

IN THE BARN. 

Dr. Johnson of Glen Ellyn, 111., is, 
like Ulysses, a much enduring man. 
Eight years ago his dearly beloved 
spouse Ida eloped with his coach- 
man. He obtained a divorce from 
her, but she was soon at home and 
threatened to kill herself unless he 
remarried her. He did not wish to 
be disobliging, and he did not relish 
the inevitable mess, so there was an- 
other ceremony. The coachman re- 
appeared, and for six months the 
doctor has been sleeping in the barn. 
Once or twice he said he was tired 
of the hay and would like to live in 
his own house, but the coachman, 
who seems to be a particular person, 
threatened to shoot him. “I can 
stand it no longer,” now cries the 
doctor. It would seem to the fair- 
minded that if the coachman insists 
on living with the physician and his 
wife he should sleep, ex officio, in 
the barn. Many years ago an Eng- 
lish woman who married a coach- 
man against the wishes of her fam- 
ily settled in a Maine town. She was 
a handsome woman of considerable 
force; she used vigorous language 
and smoked a clay pipe— at least 
such is the tradition in the family. 
She never allowed her husband in 
his own house, but she made him 
comfortable in the barn until he 
died. Occasionally, she would take 
dinner or supper with him— but in 
the barn. The children played with 
him— but in the barn. Dr. Johnson 
should cite this case to his wife and 
her friend. 



THE GALAPAGOS. 

The story of the proposed sale of 
the Galapagos Islands to the United 
States is not new in this country, 
however surprising the tale may be 
in Ecuador. When the rumor was 
published two or three years ago. 
The Herald gave a description of the 
islands, the Encantadas, or En- 
chanted Isles. Herman Melville’s 
account of them, first published in 
the old Putnam’s Magazine, still 
works a strange spell over the 
reader. It was Melville that com- 
l pared the islands to “five-and-twenty 
heaps of cinders dumped here and 
there in an outside city lot; imagine 
some of them magnified into moun- 
tains, and the vacant lot the sea ” 
Yet two or three of these cinder 
heaps have seen strange sights since 
Cowley the buccaneer named one of 
them with his own name. But why 
should the United States pay $5,000,- 
000 for these volcanic isles? For 
the tortoises, the wild dogs, the sul- 
phur, or possibly for the hidden 
| treasure which led Maj. Maude to 
sail from Coquimbo two years ago in 
his yacht, the Chevalier, with two 
j guns and 100 rifles? Oh, no. “The 
islands are of strategic importance.” 
Mr. Dooley should be summoned as j 
an expert. 

Lea L I ‘f 0 L> 

JOHN L. TOOLE. 

The late John L. Toole visited this 
country over thirty years ago, when 
it was n jit the fashion to wax enthu- 
siastic'over everything English. His 



engpgemem was a disappointment to 
him? and his English friends, for even 
the; most unprejudiced American 
fouhd his humor hard and his art in- 
herently vulgar, and he wondered at 
the' actor's popularity in London. 
Tocfle was, first of all, a character 
actor, and the characters in which 
he won his reputation at home were 
chiefly and distinctively London 
types, unknown, to Americans and 
incomprehensible to them, so that 
perhaps they were not qualified to 
appreciate his talent. For he must 
have had true talent to have won 
thej favor of both skilled English 
critics and the public. The types he 
delighted in were parochial, not uni- 
veifeal, and he was a broad carica- 
turist rather than a subtle portrait 
paijhter. 



CHURCH IN ELVVOOD. 

! There is pleasing religious news 
from the West. The Men’s League, 
composed of 300 “business men and 
yoqng men” of Elwood, Ind., resolved 
in Solemn congress that during Au- 
gust the members would attend morn- 
ing and evening church services in 
thjir shirt sleeves. They will not 
evjn carry a coat thrown over the 
anji, or a waistcoat in a green bag. 
They have no east wind in Elwood, 
or perhaps they are a hardy race. 
Nothing is said about the question of 
suspenders or belts. Aestheticism 
cries for the belt. A man looks sin- 
gularly undressed with moist sus- 
penders over a bulging soggy shirt. 
Tlte shirt for church service should 
ofj course be of the kind known as 
"fatigue,” and the colors and patterns 
shbuld be chaste; besides the shirts 
wi|h simple black and white designs 
wash and wear best. Pictorial shirts 
representing baseball players or bai- 
led girls do not commend themselves 
I to Jpersons of fine taste. Some years 
agp a popular clergyman out West 
preached in his shirt sleeves, not at 
calnpmeeting, but in the pulpit, and 
thjjs won souls and showed all the 
erfor of their ways. How will it be 
at? Elwood? Will the preacher be 
coatless or will he be permitted to 
wear a Monna Vanna gown? 



AN EPISODE. 

No one should be surprised if it 
turns out that Lafcadio Hgdrn mar- 
ried a negress in Cincinnati. Hearn 
was unfortunate in this: his face was 
singularly repulsive by reason of the 
abnormality of an eye— he saw only 
w'fth this, and he was in other re- 
spects physically unattractive, so that 
hejsettled in Japan, it is said, because 
there for 1 the first time he was not 
mide conscious of the fact that he 
was not as other men. Furthermore, 
the negress, Mrs. Foley, was hand- 
some 30 years ago, a woman of in- 
disputable fascination, according to 
the testimony of those who knew her. 
It is not necessary to assume that 
she had just landed from near the 
Congo river. She may have been 
only a rich brunette, but even if she 
were of the Congo type, no doubt her 
friends and the passer-by wondered 
hqw she could endure the presence 
oft Hearn. Baudelaire’s tenderness 
arid loyalty toward a negress is his- 
torical, but she was wholly unwor- 
thy. She was a drunkard, unfaithful, 
avaricious, stupid. Yet the poet loved 
her, and she was the inspiration of 
some of his most remarkable verses. 
Hearn had much more excuse, and 
if he married Mrs. Foley he paid her 
the greatest compliment in his power. 



TOO LATE. 

It is said that Mr. Frohman rests 
fojjn' months, even when he is osten- 
sibly. at work in London, for a Lon- 
doner does his business between 11 
Af M. and 3 P. M. Not long ago 
Mir. George R. Sims warned his fel- 
low-countrymen that they were suf- 
fering commercially from their habit 
of beginning the working day too 
late. He said that Germany is at 
business at i, Paris at 8, whereas in 
London it is difficult to find a prin- 
cipal before 10:30. Professional 
men in London are much earlier in 
their habits than business men. Doc- 
torS and lawyers are generally ready 
abqut 9. and authors and journalists 
are. both late and early birds. They 
hold their, own, said Mr. simc- is 



the business man who has begun to 
starL work too late and leave it off 
too earlv, and has thus played into 
the hands of his early- rising and 
hard-working continental rivals. It 
may here be said that business hours 
are earlier in Boston than in New 
York, but as more and more dwell at 
a distance from the city, the hours 
of beginning may grow later. In 
hot weather the euriier the better, 
and there should be a long rest in 
the middle of the day. It might not 
be practicable to follow the example 
of those in the old Arabian town 
who in the most sultry days kept 
open market only at night. 



IRRITATING MILDNESS. 

Mr. S. T. Jennings of Geneseo, N. 
Y.i has been playing the flute with 
great diligence and some skill in his 
office, onq of many in a block where 
lawyers, real estate agents and insur- 
ance agents do congregate. His 
ethereal tooting and tootling are un- 
appreciated, for his neighbors have 
obtained an injunction against him. 
and in it his musical enthusiasm is 
described as "a public nuisance” and 
“obnoxious.” They do not like to 
hear “Will You Love Me When I’m 
Old?” ai^d "Should Auld Acquaintance 
Be Forgot?” when they are en- 
grossed in '’sordid speculation or in 
problems of litigation. Pan would 
be more welcome in Mall street, at 
least he was to New York’s banker- 
poet. It must be confessed that, in 
spite' of the associations with Fred- 
erick the Great and Mr. Dick Swlv- 
eller. the flute is a singularly irritat- 
ing instrument, chiefly by reason of 
its insistent mildness. The cornet-a- 
pistons has an impudence, a devil- 
may-care defiancethat almost winsre- 
spectj A trombone is pontifical. The 
flute is monotonously sentimental, 
and nothing is so distracting in busi- 
ness hours as sentiment blown 
through a waterlogged instrument 
by a mild-mannered person, with or 
without spectacles and lavender 
necktie. 



chesi is an extraordinary woman. She 
is now SO years old, nevertheless she 
teaches singing, busies herself in the 
interests of her pupils, and will even 
cross the channel to attend a con- 
cert given by one of them, as she did 
recentlv. German born. Ior . 
maiden' name was Graumann, and her 
hirthDlace was Frankfort, sne n,a 
true German persistence in repeating 
disagreeable statements. , freely 

A few days ago she tf lk « d ;Ef® a l | 
with a reporter about American 
nuD ji s their voices, their mental 
equipment, their manners or lack « f 
manners The quality of these Amer- 
ican voices is admirable, but their 
musical education has been shocK 
ingly neglected” in their childhood 

^"They ' haven’t the most .?lfJT eI i Iftle 
conception of art and those little 
graces and courtesies which bespeak 
I careful training and are so indis- 
pensable to an operatic career Their 
parents spoiled them by giving them 
an injudicious freedom. TW " 
from one study to another without 
retaining much lasting benefit 
any Then when they have spent 
vears filling their brains with a showy 
surface knowledge of many subjects 
they come abroad, only to discover 
that they know practically 
languages, or art and music. This, 
Mme. Marches! says, is true not onlj 
of her pupils, but of nearly all the 
young women from the United States 
that she has seen. The American 
young woman hajs none of those m 
tie social niceties which are ingra, I\te 
in the European. She does not rise 
when an older woman comes into the 
room; she seldom even °« p J s hPI ®; 
chair; she does not know how to enter 
a room gracefully; she ca nn°t ma . e 
the slightest courtesy; , she y all ? a 
foolishly; in a word, she 13 n n n ^ tu hP in 
awkward and she has not been 
trained. 



A NEW BOSWELL. 

“I am confident that there is more 
good than bad in the world, and I am 
full of the joy of living. I believe in 
men. Do that and the world is bound 
to seem a good world to you.” And ) 
who spoke these words more precious 
than the ointment that ran down upon 
the beard, even Aaron's heard? Who 
but Mr. John D. Rockefeller? His whole 
life in France, as Dr. Biggar assures 
us, was a benediction. He went about 
scattering five-franc pieces — or were they 
louis? — among the simple peasants, and 
he himself was “discovered” on a formal 
occasion bringing home a basket of 
greens from market, just as the judge in 
a New England town forty years ago 
would take home a salt cod in a piece 
of brown wrapping paper under his arm. 
Mr. Rockefeller loves Fiance, but he 
loves America more. Hear him : "Yes, 
all the hard things that my country- 
men say of me can never be cruel 
enough to offset love of home and coun- 
I try.” But Mr. Rockefeller in France 
mingled also with the upper classes, and 
found them “charming.” The women 
have “a vivacity not found in women 
I here.” Sly dog! But-Aheir feet dis- 
tressed Mr. Rockefeller and his physi- 
I cian. They were the first to discover 
that the French women are not well 
shod. The extracts from Dr. Bifgar's 
reminiscences make us long for bis forth- 
coming biography. Johnson had his 
Boswell ; Grant his Badeau ; Bismarck 
his voluminous admirer, and now Mr. 
Rockefeller hns his Biggar. 

CONCERT FOYER 



Mme. Marches! has been talking 
this way for over 20 years. We re- 
remember that she spoke in exactly 
the same words in 1883, when she 
numbered among her pupils Mme. 
Melba, then Mrs. Armstrong; Miss 
Rose Stewart, now living and teach- 
ing in Boston, and Mme. Emma 
Eames, who was then unmarried. 
Mme. Marchesi was never so happy as 
when ridiculing the manners of her 
American pupils, their mothers 
their friends, even when the puDtls 
were paying a high price for lessons, 
and mothers and friends were there- 
fore makin- personal sacrifices. No 
doubt Mme. Marchesi talked in like 
manner of American women before 
she knew them, before she became a 
fashionable teacher in Paris. She has 
always had a lively tongue 

She insists that a girl who Intends 
to be an opera singer should begin 
studying the piano when she is eight 
years old. Of course, few girls of 
eight vears have any definite thought 
as to "their future. And how do the 
parents know whether a child of eight 
will have a voice? This girl should 
also "practice continually composition, 
sight reading and beating time from 
the day she can find any meaning in 
them. But she should not "take up 
singing" before she is 16. 

And here Mme. Marchesi talks in a 
sane manner for a few minutes: What 

the American girl frequently does is to 
start cultivating her voice when she is 
young, and then she changes teachers 
each year, as if they were rungs on the 
ladder of fame. This Is a grave mis- 
take. but quite, in keeping with the su- 
perficial transatlantic way of studying. 
Thev come to me, their voices patch- 



pupils. How few were the young wom- 
en Who bore themselves with any ease 
or dignity, who walked, stood, bowed 
with grace or composure! We remem- 
ber only one who was really at home 
on the platform, and she had been for 
a season or two seasons in a comic 
opera company. 

As for the general behavior of Ameri- 
can pupil's toward older women. Mme. 
Marchesl’s remarks are of general ap- 
plication to young women who are con- 
spicuous In society. A gentlewoman of 
the old school, one of the Brahmin cast 
in Boston deplored bitterly not long ago 
the shocking lack of manners among 
young girls who should he otherwise 
distinguished "It seems to be the fash- 
ion now for ypung women to be rude, 
especially to those that are older.” But 
this Is a sociological rather than a 
musical subject. , , 

Mme. Marchesi’s remarks about her 
pupils who come to her after flitting 
from one study to another may be true 
of "parlor pupils.” who have not been 
brought up with a view to a profes- 
sional career, but the ordinary pupil 
who looks forward to an operatic life 
has studied little but singing, and pos- 
sibly the piano. As a rule she has at- 
tended the public schools up to a cer- 
tain grade, then she has been obliged 
in large measure to support herself, by 
singing in church, or in concerts of a 
humble order, or by work in an office 
or in a shop. She has seldom had time 
to read or for general improvement. 
Not infrequently she lives In a cramped 
and disheartening manner, denying her- 
self little comforts, pinching and saving 
that she may finally go to some cele- 
brated European teacher for further 
instruction. This girl does not deserve 
ridicule even from the self-privileged 
mouth of Mme. Marchesi. 

jjeyer-Foerster’s play, "Old Heidel- 
berg." has been turned into an opera, 
"O Eidelbergla Mia," with music by 
Ubaldo Paechterotti. There is an op- 
eretta. "Old Heidelberg,” with music 
by Mllloecker. 

A singer. Ugo Africano, in speti of 
his denials, was condemned in Milan 
not long- ago to 40 days in jail for 
theft Sailing with an opera company 
from Naples to Palermo, he threw ntm- 
self overboard and was drowned. It 
is thought that some one taunted him 



with his unmerited or merited dis- 

Sr A Ce iawyer In Brussels, Mr. Durant 
organized and conducted an orch 1 ®* t T^{ 
concert. Furthermore, ^ brought out 
his own symphonic poem. ^ Amo 
Maudit." in which a critic, found the 
rhTef themes of The Rin&. . 

Mrs. Antoinette Arntzen has mi _ent- 

ed a method of " in ® re . as i" g H J 1 , l e J £ 
nanc#* of the voice by inserting 
Snde? the roof of the mouth.” perhaps 
wHh a view to the Festhalle to be 
built in Frankfort. The hall 
25,000 seats; there will be ro< the 
4000 on the stage, and the cost of ,th 
building will be about $ ^• 000 ' 0 e ° e 0 ( j s 
ordinary German singer needs 

'" ° a" v i o ll n i s t F n a m ed D 0 r ‘ t 'll e” 

Madras’ “of high caste , Ga T mk H la *1® 
daller parents played In London for 

the Referee to observe. To be sen 
taught is commonly mentioned as a 

proof of being rarely of 

of fart it is more indicative oi 

n ]nvq thr violin as he would a ceiio. 
gripping its low f r edges bewee^ h.s 



poser was the nephew of a famous Mu- I 

n Mr b August Spanuth, the music critic 
of the Staats Zeitung. New \ork, has 
moved to Berlin. He gave Mme. Nord- 
ica a parting shot in his review of the 
New York opera season published In the 
Silnale of Leinsic. According to him 
.La 5 c “firrowing old and her voice has 
fost in strength and fulness.” When her 
voice was most brilliant she never made 
a convincing argument to the lover of 
Wagner who listened with more than 
his ears, for she lacked dramatic emo- 
tion and the intelligence that conquers. 
"Now that her voice, her best posses- 
sion. is leaving her. there is H\tle left 
to admire in her performance except 
good intentions.” 

Friedrich SDlro. the Roman corre- 
spondent of the Signale, says that Ital- 
ians do not know how to interpret a 
northern dance. They do not under- 
stand that in the polonaises of Chopin 
there should be a stately, rhythmic feel- 
ing. This was said apropos of a, per- 
formance in Rome of the finale of 
Tschaikowsky’s well known orchestral 
variations in Suite III- 

Massenet, now in his 6oth year, is at 
work on an opera. “Therese. which will 
be performed at Monte Carlo next Feb- 
ruary. His new opera "Arlane ’ will be 
produced at the Paris Opera about Nov. 
1 with Lucienne Breva as the heroine. 

'Glazounoff wrote a hymn for chorus 
and orchestra, which was performed at 
the opening of the Douma. There was 
no music for the dissolution. That music 
I Is yet to come. 



PRUDENT DEFEATS. 

“Mr. Rockefeller beat his doctor free- 
ly at golf while they were abroad.” Of 
course he did. The physician thorough- 
ly understood bis business. Grevy used 
to play chess with the sacristan of St. 
rhilippe du Route, and as President of 
the French republic he continued to 
play with him ; but what was his sur- 
prise to find that as President he al- 
ways beat the sacristan, while as pri- 
vate citizen he invariably lost. One 
day the sacristan applied for a little 
; patronage. Grevy exclaimed: “Check- 

mate!” and the sacristan got nothing. 
The physician is said to be more for- 
tunate. 

i 7.r»c 

! b')} 



Mme.Marchesi s Harsh Words 
on American Pupils and 
Their Manners. 

NOTES OF MUSICIANS 

HERE AND IN EUROPE 

Mme. Uathilde de Castrone-Mar- 



Th ey'comT'to* me ,th e i r" v o ic e s pate h - hope^ to aa e some day a 

work of several different methods, and -^euist varying the . Ibonotony of r | g 
rely on me to straighten them out in a cltal by holding his instrum 
few months. Now a girl must remain though it were a fiddle. 

d...o — 

as . ....... ....... .r ... T 

Marchesi’s most distinguished pupils woman , and she showed true 

had been well taught before they went some worn, . , 

to her for the finishing touch, or for 
the name of it, or to secure her in- 
fluence in' obtaining an operatic en- 
gagement. Mme. Marchesi said to the 
reporter: “I never had but one profes- , 
sor, and that was Manuel Garcia.” but | 
did she not study tn Vienna with Nico- 
lai before she went to Garcia . 

It should also be said that Mme. 

Marchesi has been most fortunate in 
this; not only had several of her most 
distinguished pupils been well taught 
before they went to her. but they had 
by nature remarkable voices. If she 
had taught them only the little social 
niceties” and taken with true profes- 
sorial dignity their money, they still 
would have been to her a credit. 

Unfortunately for American pride, 

Mme. Marchesl’s ridicule of the man- 
ners of her American pupils when they 
come to her is not without cause. They 
are as a rule self-conscious and awk- 
ward or fresh and thoughtless. 

This may also be said of nearly all 
American young singers, and of many 
who are older; for. of course there are 
no old sopranos or altos. How many 
I voung women who appeared In concert 
last season in Boston saluted the aud - 
once with graceful dignity, or acknowl- 
edged applause with any grace? The 
great majority nodded carelessly when 
thev came on the stage, or if they saw 
a friend sitting near smiled at her. 

Some came on swinging their arms as 
though they were walking across fields. 

Some gave an unconscious imitation of 
Miss Lewis as the "tough girl. 

It may also be said that certain fe- 
male pianists were singularly ungrace- 
ful in their entrance. Mme. Samaron. 
who fascinates easily by her personal- 
ity and her abilities as a pianist, was 
surprisingly awkward in this re ®P e ®;t. 

“surprisingly,” because she was reared 
in France. 



It is a pity that teachers in Boston do 
not pay more attention to the stage de- 
portment of their pupils. We were 

( obliged last season in the discharge of 
duty to attend three or four concerts 
and a few operatic exhibitions given by 



some v 

sSSs *• sk 

0r The 0 London corrMMHdent ■ of Die Mu- 

HiSfiii 

register, but her |r be posse ssed 

i a They® have n muelc worth hearing in 
) Livingston If the Enterprise is, ^In- 
fluenced by Gateway City band 

music was felt and appre^ some 

asleep in loving arms. 

Gen. Adolf de Ahna, the fatl )f''' m ' la ^ 
of Richard Strauss, is dead. They say 
he showed his fiery nature when _ Rich 
ard proposed for the hand of his daugh- 
ter even though the then young com- 



merry monakchs. 

" ft ne likes to think of Alfonso of Spain 
g&Thg about among bis people as any 
private, careless man. taking his wife 
to a pastry cook’s for tea and cakes, 
.driving in a public cab, disporting him- 
self gay and crownless. A king should 
■ have some privileges and perquisites, 
and the greatest of these is privacy in 
ithe crowd. The splendid Calif Harun 
iaWRaSChld, disguised and watching, 
ijipjcb amused, in the wondrous tale the 
fextraordinary aquatic and festal pomp 
Fo'f the false calif lording it on the river, 
was by far the happier. Then there 
was the Peruvian ruler in “La Peri- 
cbole,” who acted Harun’s part, but 
only to try the temper of his people, and 
ire - was deservedly punished. If it be 
'■said that this ruler — was he a vice- 
jo*.? — i s purely an opera bouffe char- 
ajfer, it might also be said that the Em- 
T'erbr William in one of his gregarious 
moods is also opera boulfe. Never is he 
’’’less democratic than when he puts 
aside his crown as a head covering. 
Nero, disguised by cap or wig, would 
enter taverns and ramble about the 
streets in sport, but he was on mischief 
bent, for he would break into shops and 
them, and beat his subjects, who, if , 
i?lify in ignorance resisted him, were | 
thrown into the common sewer. Never- 
theless, he, too, reckoned himself an af- 
fable and merry monarch. 






BENEVOLENT FOG. 

There is complaint against the 
weather all along the coast. On Cape 
Cod the oldest captain does not re- 
member as man and boy ever to have 
seen so much and so long continued 
fog. When it is not foggy, the sky is 
cloudy. The sun may shine from II 
till 4, but he rises as though he re- 
sented the presence of visitors and 
he goes to bed with the utmost 
privacy. Neither men nor women 
should rail bitterly against the 
weather. Fog encourages concentra- 
tion of thought. Deep thinkers think 
in fog which often gets into the ex- 
pression of their thought. Fog is 
restful unless you happen to be out in 
a boat, and why should one without 
an Imperative business call lea»e 
land, to which he belongs, for he is 
terrestrial, not aquatic. Fog lowers 
the vibrations and thus rests the | 



nerves. Fog is the best and sarfesc 
face-wash for women. Nor Is this 
fog anything like the pea soup of 
London, that looks and feels and 
smells unclean, yet the English boast 
of it. 



NIIIIL FIT. 

Poor Napoleon! They will not let 
him alone. He must endure the fate 
of so many men who accomplished 
much. Specialists have examined 
their lives and deeds and used the 
great to confirm a theory or as shock- 
ing examples. All famous men, it 
seems, were either mad or epileptic, 
neurotic or troubled as to their eyes, 
and some would have them all de- 
generates, or at least with the in- 
stincts of a pervert. Dr. Cabanes, the 
author of three or four curious and 
entertaining volumes, "The Indiscre- 
tions of History,’ discusses the ques- 
tion whether Napoleon was an epi- 
leptic. The conqueror whittled pieces 
of furniture, pinched the ears of 
ladles to whom he whispered compli- 
ments, suffered from "unilateral 
headache," was irritable and had a 
slow pulse. But no one ever saw him 
in a fit. On the contrary, the generals 
of France's foes were in the habit of 
having fits when they heard of his 
terrible approach. It may be that 
Napoleon lost the battle of Leipsic 
because he ha^l eaten too heartily of 
mutton and could not concentrate 
his mind. Was it, then, his alleged 
epileptic condition that won so .many 
battles? 



miliar with arf article oT' clothing 
known as "drawers.” In Artemus 
Ward's thrilling short story, the hero, 
about to Join a pirate ship, Insisted 
on board and washing, and he ex- 
plained that the fatter consisted 
every week of "a shirt and a drawer." 
But "drawers” Is the word in com- 
mon use. Reading the other day Dek- 
ker's "Lanthorne and Candle Light,” 
published in 1608, we found in it a 
short dictionary of slang. “Drawers" 
is there given as the cant term fori 
“hosen.” Now hosen, or hose, was 
the name of a tight nether garment! 
worn by men, and only later was it 
applied to stockings. Slang is only 
language in the making; that which 
is fit survives and is Incorporated., 
Booze, that fine old Egyptlan-Ara- 
blan term, is in this dictionary, but 
it is spelled “bowse.” “Dudes” is also 
there, and Dekker gives it as a syno 
nym of clothes. Did our “dude” come 
from "dudes,” and is It of close kin 
to “duds”? In this dictionary are one 
or two coarse words that are still 
found in the slang of today. 



CRITICAL REVIEW BY 

A FAIR BIOGRAPHER 

Early Experiments; Inferior 
Music for the Church; 
Renovation of Form, 



NOT YET. 

The heads of the Natural History 
Museum in England have requested 
the director, Prof. Lanlcester, to re- 
sign on account of his age.^He is 59 
years old, "robust and active and 
does not look his age." He refuses to 
resign, for he believes that he has 
many more years of usefulness as di- 
rector. Nor is he tempted by a pen- 
sion of £300, for his salary is £ 1200. 
Fifty-nine and too old? Nonsense, 
he’s in the flush of mental activity 
and physically able to hold the eel 
of science by the tail. It is not neces- 
sary to name the men that did famous 
deeds after 60, from Sophocles to 
Verdi. The mere fact that Prof. Lan- 
kester is aggressive in his refusal is a 
cheering sign. Too many men in pub- 
lic or private employ begin to shake 
in their shoes as soon as they are 45; 
some even dye their hair and whis- 
kers or shave close, or attempt in 
other ways a youthful make-up. A 
bold front impresses even the young 
Napoleons of finance and business. 
There’s nothing so terrible as a mid-' 
die-aged man at bay, especially when 
he is fighting for his family and Is 
suspicious that after all it may be 
true— he may really be a fossil, or 
"all In.” 



TEARS, IDLE TEARS. 

A contemporary thinks that “the 
decline of weeping” has much to do 
with the "present ebullient and 
storm-tossed condition” of woman's 
soul. If she should weep freely, she 
would be docile and satisfied, ac- 
quiescent and domestic. "Not to weep 
is to practice self-control. Self-con- 
trol Is the progenitor of many virtues 
of character." And so one might go 
on, starting afresh with "character.” 
Women do not weep constantly in 
the novels of today. The heroines are 
always chipper when they are not 
wholly fresh. They grit their teeth 
and smile. What has become of all 
the old sentimental novels in which 
Laura was represented on two pages 
out of three as “suffused in tears”? 
The German women in fiction and 
poetry are always snivelling. Mr. Job 
Trotter was a covered bridge in com- 
parison. The French still weep copi- 
ously in fiction, especially the hero, 
who, whether he is pursuing his 
friend s wife or is wondering how he 
can get rid of her, is always burst- 
ing into a passionate flood of tears. 
But in English and American novels 
this epoch is tearless. 



OLD SLANG. 

They reckon ill who leave slang 
out in their consideration of a lan- 
guage. We are all more or less fa- 



NO TRESPASSING. 
Everywhere, along shore and in 
mountain region, is the same cry 
"The rich are grabbing all the land.’ 
Thoreau, in his essay, “Walking,’ 
one of the three delightful essays on 
this subject — the others are by Haz- 
1 it t and Stevenson, Walt Whitman’s 
“Song of the Open Road” should be 
added — spoke of his being able to 
walk easily any number of miles, 
starting from his own door, without 
going by any house or crossing a 
road, "except where the fox and the 
mink do.” That was in 1S62. But 
he foresaw the evil days to come, the 
day when the landscape "will be 
partitioned off Into so-called pleas- 
ure grounds, in which a few will 
take a narrow and exclusive pleasure 
only — when fences shall be multi- 
plied and man traps and other en- 
gines invented to confine men to the 
public road, and walking over the 
surface of God’s earth shall be con- 
strued to mean trespassing on some 
gentleman's grounds. To enjoy a 
thing exclusively is commonly to ex- 
clude yourself from the true enjoy- 
ment of it. ' Mr. E. S. Martin lately 
praised the sea, for the rich, he said, 
can deprive us of land, air and light, 
but not of the full enjoyment of the 
ocean. Yet a woman at Boulogne 
who took two buckets of salt water 
from the sea was a fortnight ago 
threatened with a fine, for an unre- 
pealed law of Louis XIV. forbids 
the taking of sea water, lest the 
taker extract the salt and defraud 
the revenue of the salt tax. And 
there ^re seaside towns where the 
rich cottagers would fain shut off 
even any close view of the ocean 
from the public. Witness certain 
incidents at Newport. R. I. 

SEMICOLONS. 

The Atlantic Monthly discusses 
certain punctuation t points. “The 
semicolon has nowadays a much 
closer relation with the comma than 
with the colon. In the days of the 
scribes it shared with the colon a 
function now confined to the period, 
viz., of denoting a terminal abbre- 
viation." It is all very well for a 
writer to be fastidious in the matter 
of punctuation, but let him discrimi- 
nate nicely between semicolon and 
comma, between colon and semi- 
colon, and what proflteth it him? 
Punctuation in the great bulk of 
printed matter is determined by the 
compositor; in certain publishing 
houses that pride themselves upon 
"artistic work” by a learned proof- 
reader who knows something about 
five or six languages and has a 
pathetic confidence in books of rhet- 
oric. The average printer has a prej- 
udice against semicolons and colons. 

A comma is always good enough for 
him, and the tendency today is . to 
leave out commas whenever It is pos- 
sible. How the famous sentence of 
two pages in which Hazlitt sums up 
Coleridge's career — the most remark- 
able long sentence in English both 
for brilliance of thought and manner 
of expression — would perplex and ir- 
ritate any proofreader of today! But 
change Hazlitt’s punctuation and the j 
sentence loses charm and force. 



| Mr. Vincent d’lndy is not one of 
those biographers who are idolators. 
Examining the complete works of Cesar 
Franck he does not believe in their 
plenary inspiration. Nor does he think 
it treasonable to say that although 
there are certain interesting features in 
the early works of Franck there is little 
in them to foretell the great composi- 
tions of his third and last period. 

The first epoch of Franck’s produc- 
tiveness (1841-1858) Included four piano 
trios. piano pieces, songs, the oratorio 
"Ruth” and an opera in three acts, 
which was never performed and, ac- 
cording to Franck's own wish, it has 
not been published. There are traces of 
both Beethoven and Meyerbeer in the 
trios; of Liszt in the piano pieces; of 
Franck’s favorite French composers of 
the 18th century and of Mehul in the 
songs. No doubt the majority of the 
piano pieces were Dot-boilers, foi 
to Franck's futher the temple of art 
was at tlie end of an avenue of prosper- 
ous business. Some of the songs writ- 
ten in 1842-3 are known to us; “L'Emir 
de Bengador,” which was sung in Bos- 
ton by Mr. Gardner Lamson, the first 
time that Franck’s name appeared here 
on the programme of a public concert- 
“Robin Gray’’ with Florlan's words; 
and is not “Passeztou jours.” which Mr. 
d’lndy dates 1872, a song of the earlier 
epoch? Of these early songs only 
“L'Ange et i’enfant," “the first of 
Franck’s angelic expressions.” reminds 
one of the higher qualities of the com- 
poser. 

The piano pieces are all cast in the 
same mold, and they are monotonous 
by reason of an absence of modulation. 

“Ruth,” which has not been per- 
formed in Boston, is melodlcally fresh 
and ingenuous, though the melodic vein 
often reminds one of Mehul and the in- 
fluence of Meyerbeer may also be de- 
tected. Mr. d’lndy points out a curious 
and striking resemblence between the 
motive of Boaz's tenderness written by 
Franck in 1843 and that of Des Grieujfs 
passion for Manon, written by Massenet 
40 years after. The motives are almost 
identically the same. The embarrass- 
ment, the timidity, the monotony that 
characterize nearly all the early works 
of Franck are also found in “Ruth ” 
There is almost nothing in these early 
works to foreshadow Franck's quintet 
violin sonata, quartet, portions of “The 
Beatitudes” and "Psyche." Yet the 
piano trios deserve a special note, and 
not merely because Liszt and Von 
jBuelow were struck by certain novel 
methods of expression in them. Readers 
of the latter’s correspondence, will re- 
member several allusions to the trios 
and although Mr. d’lndy does not men- 
tion these letters he quotes from D 
Mason s "Memories of a Musical Life.” 
in which Mason, a pupil of Liszt, noted 
m his journal of 1853 performances of 
two of Franck’s trios by Liszt, Lank 
and Cossmann. 

Renovation of Form. 

Mr. d’lndy says that Franck’s thought 
was constantly nourished by tradition 
and was not the slave of conventional- 
ism. Mr. Paul Dukas finds that the 
classicism of Franck does not consist 
in purify of form. “It is not merely a 
more or less sterile filling of scholastic 
frames, such as the imitation of Bee- 
thoven has suggested by the hundred, 
later the imitation of Mendelssohn, a 
yearly product, due to the respect for 
lutue traditions.” The music of Franck 
is not beautiful by reason of reproduc- 
tion of the form of the sonata and the 
symphony. Because Franck’s thought 
was classic, it found its natural, inevit- 
able expression in the classic form; not 
because there was obedience to a pre- 
conceived theory, not because reaction- 
ary dogmatism subordinated thought to 
torm. “Productions of this kind, like 
unto organisms in which the function 
creates the organ, are as different from 
the majority of the planned works of 
the neo-classics as a living body from 
o wax anatomical figure." 

Mr. d'Indy quotes Mr. Dukas at some 
length ana approvingly. He himself 
points out that Beethoven in his later 
works, written from 1815 to 1827, showed 
the path to others on which he himself 
hardly entered, oeethoven indicated, 
perhaps unconsciously, the transforma- 
tion or the renovation of the sonata 
form which had been imposed on all 
composers by virtue of its harmonic 
logic ever since the 17th century. He 
added to this form two other forms that 
till then had been essentially separate. 

One of them was the fugue, which had 
m Bach's time a moment of ineffable 
grandeur— and it may be said that com- 
posers for a period of years thought in 
fugue torm; f lie other was the “grand 
j variation," which should not be con- 
founded with the “theme and variations" 
dear to so many later composers and 
f hearers. These torms were languishing 
when Beethoven revived them, as in the 
piano sonatas, op. 106 and HO and the 
quartets op. 127, 131. 132. 

Beethoven died, and no one saw the 
inestimable worth of the new’ form in 
Italy. France or Germany. Italy with 
its splendid 16th century was in the 
course of a glittering degeneracy 
France was under the influence of 
Meyerbeer, and there was no orches- 
tral music worthy of mention save 
that of Berlioz, which was far re- 
moved in thought and expression from 
that of Beethoven. “Neither the ele- 



gant symphonies of Mendelssohn nor 
those of Spohr brought a new element 
to the ancient form. Schubert and 
Schumann, true geniuses In the song 
or ill tile piano piece of small dimen- 
sions were ill at ease in tile sonata 
(O'- the symphony, perhaps beeause 
they did not know enough of that 
which Spohr and Mendelssohn know 
too much. Brahms himself, in spite 
of a sense of development which can 
without exaggeration be likened unto 
ttiat of Beethoven, did not know how 
to take advantage of the precious in- 
formation left by the master of Bonn 
for the future, and his mass of sym- 
phonic work ran be regarded only 
as a continuation, not a progress.” 

It was toward the end of 1341 that 
Lesar Iranck, then 19 years old. "took 
up the thread of the Beethovian dis- 
course and attempted to knot it to his 
own thoughts and to make with it a 
solid band of new musical forms and 
expressions.’ But how did lie con- 
ceive the idea of establishing in his 
first piano trio an Important work on 
the base of a single theme competing 
with other motives equally recalled i 
in the course of the work, and of I 
! creating a musical cycle? This will 
remain, a mystery. Liszt, according to I 
Mr. d Indy, hafi a glimpse of this i 
torm but he never succeeded in the 
perfect presentation of it. This trio 
v.-itn cw , generative rhemes, treated 
either in fugal manner or after the 
manner of the variation, as the later 
Beethoven conceived It, was, indeed 
the source of the synthetic symphonic 
school which arose in France toward 
the end of the 19th century. 

Second Period. 

The second period (1858-1872) was 
one almost wholly of music for the 
church. The charming songs "Le 
Mariage des Roses" and “Lied” were 
however of this period, which reached 
| its climax in the oratorio, “The Re- 
1 demption.” 

Mr. d’lndy does not rank Franck 
among the greatest, or even the great, 
composers of music truly suitable for 
church service. He makes, first of all I 
the bold statement that the origin of I 
music, as that of other arts, was in re- 
llgion. The first song was a prayer ’’ 
j This may well be disputed. “To praise 
God. to celebrate religious beauty lov 
and even terror, was the sole object of 
all arLstic works for nearly 800 years. 

hds * be ar ^ s I s then expressed life 
tlmi t « 1S inco Sa ?’ man .’ s thoughts and emo- 
tions, love, hope, joy and sorrow, in a 
manner, it may be said in passing far 
more profound and true than those Who 
under pretence of portraying actual life' 
are able to express only the decoration’ 
, t I 1 ®,. ext n e ,r i lor ' wh i. ci ' >s futile and fleet- 
ing. . 1 he Renaissance, obedient to a 
talse idea, produced certain individual 
masterpieces, but from that epoch a sort 
of conventional art arose in church 
music. Ihe rhythm of the old monodies 

generated with stupifying ra$ditv n 
fashion “it P>™ng of °the prilling 

century, £ ^ ^YiqueuYYf ^ 

fnThe 18th al to h ’ S C ° Urt: 11 was fr lvolous 
bVdam Yhn ?™, use the Iords and no- 
a sen-k? ? T„ left a slJ PPer to yawn at 
in the „ f a f, b °m'geois and formal' 

tlle Juste-milieu," and 
this st j ie, without the nobility of the 

K5:“CF 

*HsS «- 

•wssarS' 

its 

oSe? cl,se e wa n s e & t g °o r f an i °° n *- ^ 

organkst and C \ ersy eou nted on the 

f ? rnish 

»v stasr^ " m,i 

penod are ’ l 'Ti 1 0 e US R^ V i 0rks hls second 

ZM S B Y 1 great* 3 m a s ter^who 

VpXt,^ Ji!, te s r taX k I S n SMg&S 

fi“t' im h e e thW ^'Iherately f e o de X' 

tecture with Bgncjpies of tonal archi- 
Bmidiy experimented Ye^hi^ 11 ^ 0 
Of this oratorio are'of unequal* wor?h &eS 

Third Period. 

of T Fran th i r<i ^ Sreat creative Period 

in M b WaS m° m 1872 UnUI hiS death 
1S90. It would seem that at last he 

was sure of himself and through with 

is 

frlSsF* & » We threshold 

u U h of 5 °^InT\^ d anti 

a^YhTwilY 6 had b ° th th ® k -w!ed e g n e’ 

Mr. d'Indy says little about the sym- 
phonic poems and the two operas He 
f r oe ® dnd , in tbe latter themove'ment 
ir, advance winch characterizes Franck’s 
other music of this period. The operas 
are Jess dramatic than his oratorios 
f.t n °t wholly the fault of the 

librettists Franck’s genius was not in 
any way theatrical. He could not coA- 
ceive music solely for stage effect or to 
catch the votes of an opera house ami; 
cnee. He did not search for any ^ew 
oramatic expression, and the libretto^ 
suggested none to him uorettos 

Nor do we think that the symphonic 




THREE PERIODS OF FRANCK’S 

WORK DESCRIBED BY D’INDY 



,vith the possible exception of 
_o Failles.” will have long life. "Les 
Djinns” (after Hugo's fantastic poem) 
is far from the spirit of the poet, and 
there hardly seems to be any attempt 
at transliteration. In "Le Chasseur 
Maudit" the most successful episode is 
the suggestion of a peaceful Sunday 
morning with a serene landscape and 
church bells Inviting the faithful. 
Franck was not an adept in musical 
demonology. Me knew not how to 
press diabolical passion and rage. He 
saw celestial visions; he had no power 
to sing of hell, its ruler and his hosts. 

It is surprising that Mr. d’lndv onsets 
ever the wonderful piano quintet with 
only a line and says little about the 
symphonv. On the other hand he dwells 
oil the quartet, the three organ chorals 
end "The Beatitudes.” "e cannot un- 
derstand the implied subordination of 
the quintet, which is to us Franck s 
masterpiece. Mr. diaries Martin I^oef- 
Her. one of the keenest. , most discrimi- 
native and illuminative of critics, as lie 
is one of the few composers of marked 
distinction now living, once finely said: 
•‘When everything has been discussed 
and disputed let every musician retire 
with tile score of Franck's quintet, and 
soulless must he be that does not ex- 
claim: ‘Holy, Holy, Holy! at such 

music ** 

What Mr. d'Indy says of Franck s 
piano music of the third period is in- 
teresting chiefly by reason of an incom- 
prehensible omission. 

It will be remembered that Franck 
wrote piano pieces in his first period. 
For manv years afterward he neglected 
the piano. ,Mr. d’Indy. commenting on 
this neglect! says: “After the avalanchel 
of fantasias and the plethora of con- 
certos that burdened the first half of 
the 19th musical century. It seemed that 
the instrument, heir to the masterpieces 
thought for the clavichord by Bach 
Haydn and Mozart, and conqueror of 
the title of nobility through Beethoven, 
was doomed, artistically speaking, to a 
barren decadence. If great specialists 
uf the piano adapted their talent in- 
geniously to the new technic; If a Schu- 
mann found for the expression of the 
poetry of his soul in little compositions 
of genius a style more orchestral than 
his orchestration and spreading Itself in 
charming and intimate sonorities; if a 
Liszt, demolishing at a blow the whole 
scaffolding of classic 'pianism. enriched 
the instrument by means of combina- 
tions previously unsuspected, and gave 
a decisive impetus to virtuosity, no mas- 
ter however had brought new artistic 
material to Beethoven's monumental 
work; in a word, if the technic and the 
piano writing had become quite trans- 
I cendent the music Intended for tne in- 
strument alone had rather degenerated. 
Now every form that does not progress 
ends by withering and disappearing.’ 

Not one word about Chopin, the su- 
preme composer for the piano! Is it pos- 
sible that Chopin does not exist for Mr. 
d'Indy? We are aware that the music 
of Tschaikowsky, with its fierce inten- 
sity unreserved emotion, and barbaric 
splendor is distasteful to him; but is he , 
unable to find new forms of exquisite 
beauty and rare and personal emotional j 
expression in the music of Chopin? The < 
omission of this great name i« simply 
inexplicable. Nor do Mr. d'Indy s fine 
words about Franck’s ''Prelude, Choral 
and Fugue” console us for this exhibi- 
tion of prejudice or lack of artistic ap- 
preciation. , A , . 

In his remarks about Franck s sym- 
phony Mr. d'Indy reminds the reader 
that In the lustrum 1SS4-S9 there was in 
I France a curious return toward pure 
symphonic form. Three composers. 
Lalo Saint-Saens and Franck, came 
; forward with true symphonies that de- 
mand most respectful attention. Lalo’s 
in G minor, classic in form, is remark- 
able "through the seductiveness of the 
motives, and still more by reason of 
I the charm and elegance of harmonies 
, and rhythm." This symphony is not 
known in Boston to audiences of the 
| last 15 years, If It has ever been played 
! here. We are under the impression it 
had one performance. (Books of refer- 
ence are not now at hand.) The sym- 
phony in C minor by Saint-Saens. 
charged with indisputable talent, seems 
as a challenge to the traditional laws 
of tonal construction, a challenge sus- 
tained with much eloquence, but the 

final impression is one of doubt and 
sadness. The symphony of Franck, on 
the other hand, is a steady flight toward 
pure joy and vivifying light. 

There is a careful and detailed study 
of Franck's quartet. In his preparatory 
remarks the biographer says that a 
string quartet, if it is to have any 
artistic significance, must be a work 
of maturity. He does not know one 
good quartet written even by a genius 
in his youth. The best quartets of 
Mozart were composed when he was 
33 years old. and that for Mozart is al- 
most old age. Beethoven did not ven- 
ture to write a quartet until he was 
In his 39th year, and his truly char- 
acteristic quartets were not written un- 
til he was 52. Mr. d’Indy incidentally 
says that Grieg, “a charming impro- 
viser of more or less popular songs, 
is not at all a symphonist and probably 
will never be one. Nor is it true that 
he who can write for the orchestra 
should a fortiori be able to write a 
quartet. “There is hardly any connec- 
tion between the manner of thinking 
and realizing an idea by means of the 
strings in the orchestra and by achiev- 
ing the same operation for a chamber 
quartet: the foundation, the form, the 
manner of writing itself are, in this 
latter sort of compositions, nearly the 
opposite of what they are in a sym- 
phony for orchestra.” Franck first 
hought of his quartet in 1SSS, and no.t-tdl 
the spring of 1889 did he make the first 
sketches— when he was in his Gith year. 

“The Beatitudes.” 

The Sermon on the Mount urged 
Franck to composition long before he 
sketched the plan of "The Beatitudes.” 



He loved the sacred text and read it 
constantly. 'When he first began his 
career as a church organist he wrote 
an organ piece entitled "The Sermon on 
the Mount.” but the manuscript of the 
unpublished piece is lost. He gave the 
same title to an orchestral piece, a 
species of symphonic poem, composed 
about 1S46. This work was never pub- 
lisehed. but the manuscript is in the 
possession of Franck's son Georges, 
Franck wished a versified text for his 
oratorio, but lie had no confidence in 
his literary ability, and he was per- 
suaded to take a version prepared by 
Mme. Colomb. after he had sketched 
the plan of the poem as he wished it. 
The gallant Mr. d'Indy says that while 
Mme. Colomb’s verses are not remark- 
able as poetry they didn't hamper the 
composer and were to be preferred to 
those that would have come from a 
professional librettist. Franck worked 
10 years on this epic, as Mr. d'Indy ' 
names the oratorio. 

And Mr. d’Indy has much to say about 
oratorio and epic. "At first a mythical 
opera, the oratorio soon became purely 
lyric and then approached the sym- 
phonic form by changing into the can- 
tata; but in our modern epoch, one full I 
of doubt and trouble, when faith sub- 
mitting to the assaults of skepticism no 
longer finds its natural expression in | 
art. the musical oratorio was led in- 
I sensibly to replace and continue the 
I epic, a' species of literary work wholly 
abandoned." This "lotus of literature.” 
which is named the epic, flowers in- 
variably in times of trouble, periods of 
gigantic wars or intestine strife, sub- 
lime acts and monstrous crimes. Such 
are the Homeric poems, the Aeneid— 
which crosses the boundary that sepa- 
lates the pagan world when it was most 
skeptical from Christian civilization 
with Us burst of enthusiastic faith. 
Such Is the “Divine Comedy." But 
when there is an attempt to produce 
an epic out of its "milieu.” then it 
loses in part its significance, and Mr. 
hlnctv names the 'Fharsa ua," 
dise Lost”— but was not the condition 
of affairs, political and religious, in the, 
England of Milton's time favorable to 
an epic? Among musical epics Mr. 

<J Indy ranks Beethoven’s Missa Solem- 
nis. Schumann's “Faust." Berlioz' 0 
“Damnation of Faust." Wagner's 
"Bing" and Franck's "Beatitudes." He 
tevlews Franck's work at length, find- 
ing in it all the requisite conditions in 
i lassie times for the constitution of an 
epic poem: unity, grandeur, a subject 
of abundant interest. He names it in 
short the "Expected work of the end 
of the Nineteenth century, a work which 
in spite of some Inevitable weaknesses 
(sometimes good Homer nods) will re- 
main as a superb temple solidly built 
on the traditional foundations of faith 
and music, rising in fervent prayer 
above the tumult of the world toward 
heaven.” .. , 

The fourth and last article on Mr. 
d'Indv's remarkable study of Cesar 
Franck will be published in The Herald 
next Sunday, when there will be consid- 
eration of Franck as a teacher of the 
“chool that he unconsciously founded, 
and of Mr. d'Indy's personal attitUv.o 
and characteristics as a biographer. 

MUSIC NOTES. 

The Herald publishes today a portrait 
of Mr. Cesar Thomson, the distinguished 
I Belgian violinist, who will next season 
I make his second visit to the United 
States. Mr. Thomson, who is in his 50th 
year, succeeded Mr. Ysaye as first violin 
teacher at the Brussels Conservatory. 
He was born at Liege and studied with 
his father. Dupuis, and Leonard. In 1S73 
he went to Italy to join the orchestra of 
the Baron von Derwies, and there he sat 
at the same desk with Mr. C. M. Loeffler. 
After concert tours in Italy he became 
the concert master of Bilse's orchestra in 
Berlin. In 1S83 he went to Liege to 
teach at the conservatory of that city, 
and made Liege his dwelling place till 
1S9S. when he moved to Brussels. He is 
wldelv known as a virtuoso of the first 
rank. The portrait is from his latest pho- 
tograph. 

The Herald also gives portraits of 
Italian youngsters who have taken part 
in operatic performances. The portraits 
were published originally in Ars et Labor 

of Milan. 



The London Times said of Miss Eliza- 
beth Dodge, the American soprano, who 
gave a recital recently in London : "Her 
voice is of lovely quality, even through- 
out, of great compass, and in things like 
the mad scene from Thomas' ‘Hamlet’ 
she sings with rare brilliance and pre- 
cision. Her command of the four usual 
languages is complete, and in style she 



excels as well in Mozart and Bach as in 
modern songs.” 

The Pall Mall Gazette thus spoke re- 
cently of Mr. Francis Macmillen. the 
young American violinist : “We need not 
use more than a few words concerning 
Mr. Macmillen, because we are not yet 
convinced that he has reached (as we 
already said in a previous notice) the 
summit of ills ambition or the completion 
of his artistic work, to which goal, how- 
ever. he is now advancing rapidly. In 
Paganini’s Concerto in D major he was 
spirited, and his technique showed a 
marked advance upon the technique at 
which he had arrived when last we heard 
hint. After all, the idea cannot be too 
extensively propagated that nobody can 
reach any great accomplishment in art 
without completeness of technique. Mr. 
Macmillen has this particular character- 
istic, that he gives one the Impression of 
industry, so that we may trust that his 
work, as he feels more and more the 
depth of musical thought, will attain to a 
high accomplishment.'' 



“UNCLEAN!” 

Mr. George Rossett, the Syrian leper, 
is finally at Elkins, where he started in 
his attempt to go back to his native 
land. He has been carted about and 
gaped at as though he were a wild beast. 
In the states where he has thus been 
treated what advance in civilization is 
there from the old days, when the leper 
was publicly and pontifically declared 
unclean and forbidden to seek shelter 
and food and water, wheu all were 
warned against helping him, when hej 
was obliged to signal his approach by 
sounding a clapper or a bell? There 
was a time when lepers were common in 
England, but there were hospitals for 
them and they were cared for as persons 
cruelly afflicted yet not wholly under 
the ban. 

VOCAL ENCOURAGEMENT. 

The news that a permanent con- 
sultative racing committee has been 
formed by the French minister of j 
tio-rlnilture in order to place horse | 



racing in that country more than 
ever under governmental jurisdiction 
reminds us of the curious manner in 
which the first French Derby was 
run at Chantilly seventy years ago. 
when the Jockey Club gave a prize 
of f.6000. Most of the spectators 
were on horseback and rode by the 
side of the horse chosen by them as 
winner and cheered him on by fran- 
tic yelling. The spectators thus an- 
ticipated university games of football 
and baseball. But racing at that 
time in France was considered to be 
merely a concession to Anglomania. 
Horse racing was not really acclima- 
tized there until Napoleon III. insti- 
tuted the Grand Prlx. Now the min- 
ister of agriculture purposes to “cre- 
ate a centre” for the study of all 
matters relating to breeding and rac- 
ing. 

DESIRABLE LOOSENESS. 

Mr. George B. Winter, the English 
“sartorial artist” who was imported to 
give the American soldier a “dressy” 
appearance, is now, safe home at last, 
satirical over inis American brethren in 
the calling. The gilded youth of New 
York are described by him as "the most 
foolish looking young dudes” -he has seen. 
“As for the trousers, they only fit where 
they touch.” But trousers for warm 
weather — and Mr. Winter was here in 
summer-'-shouId not touch except at the 
waist, for if they do, they stick. But 
have the English never worn large and 
loose trousers? Y'es — the Spanish slop 
and the skippers galligaskins were in 
fashion shortly after the dentil of Eliza- 
beth, for the English then borrowed the 
cut and style of their dress from the 
Dutch, Spanish, Gascons, Swiss, Danes, 
Italians. Look through the volumes of 
Punch and mark the frequent appari- 
tion of the flapping - trousers. At the 
same time Mr. Winter remarks that the 
American will soon be the best dressed 
soldier in the world — thanks to Mr. 
Winter’s skill, taste and personal super- 
vision. The Emperor William exclaimed 
recently in a fine burst; “Anti-mili- 
tarism is an international pest.” Pos- 
sibly the reform of our soldiers’ dress 
will change the hearts of all misguided 
Americans now clamoring for peace. 



CRAVAT HUMOR. 

There are many varieties of the 
practical joker, and among the less 
dangerous have been reckoned the 
man who creeps up behind you and 
slaps your back by way of a cordial 
salutation, and he that pulls your 
cravat to Its undoing, especially In 
the presence of women before whom 
you would fain shine. A friend— he 
Is always a warm personal friend 
pulled the cravat of Mr. Joe Anderson 
“just In fun.” Mr. Anderson “hap- 
pened” to be wearing a "rag" collar— 
from which we infer that he occa- 
sionally wears other brands and 



when the cravat was pulled the collar 
strangled him. He fell unconscious, 
and therefore unappreciative of his 
friend's exqulsit£_iyimor. He turned 
black in the face before the cravat 
could be taken off. He has our full 
sympathy, but the question will not 
down: Is such an assault more deadly 
with a self tied cravat or a “made 
tie”? The latter would seem to be 
the less dangerous, and yet should 
the well-grounded prejudice of years 
against this form of cravat be re- 
moved through fear of a like catastro- 
phe? For the humoristic tie-puller 
is not confined to New Brunswick. 
He is in the village store; he walks 
the streets of Boston. 

HEARN’S FRIENDS. I 

The story of the late Lafcadio| 
Hearn's marrjage to a negress and the 
editorial and descriptive article about 
Hearn published in the New York 
Sun have called forth letters of pro- 
test, which show that the gifted and 
unfortunate ■ author had many warm 
friends who are loyal to his memory. 
Some even go so far as to deny that 
he was physically repulsive in any 
way. Among these letters the most 
sympathetic and simply eloquent is 
one written by Mr. Elwood Hendrick, 
who sojourned In Boston for some 
years and now dwells in New York. 

It is to be observed, however, that no 
direct and conclusive evidence against 
the alleged marriage has been pro- 
duced, if such evidence were neces- 
sary or even desirable to the admirers 
of Hearn’s work. That he afterward 
married in Japan a woman of that 
country has nothing to do with the 
case. A brilliant writer, now dead, 
who settled in Boston years ago, mar- 
ried In this country, although his first 
wife was still living in a foreign land, 
and when he was reminded of the 
existence of No. 1, he answered in a 
childish manner: “I thought crossing 
the Atlantic was in itself a divorce." 

In connection with the present rumors 
and correspondence it is interesting 
to note the forthcoming publication of 
the “Life and Letters of Lafcadio 
Hearn” in two volumes by a Boston 1 
firm. 



the demanded price? We were once 
summoned as a witness into court on 
the island of Jersey — where the cows 
come from. A fellow-lodger kept a 
cock, which, after the manner of his 
kind, crowed early in the morning. 
His clarion call disturbed two elderly 
women in the adjoining house — one 
was epileptic and had a fit in court. 
They charged him with maintaining 
a nuisance. The case was conducted j 
with great dignity; the proceedings, 
except the examination of witnesses 
and the summing-up of the lawyers, 
were in old Norman French; and the 
cock was solemnly brought into court, 
where he behaved himself admirably. 
In 1474 at Basle a cock was tried for 
having laid an egg to assist a sor- 
cerer in a malignant preparation. In 
vain did his advocate insist that the 
laying was an involuntary act and 
therefore unpunishable. The poor 
fowl was condemned to death and 
burned at the stake, together with his 
egg. For it is well known that cocks' 
eggs are rare and highly prized by 
professional sorcerers. Furthermore, 
in Switzerland animals were admitted 
as witnesses, and so they were in 
Savoy as late ns the last century. 
When a person died at night in a 
j house not his own, the solitary house- 
holder was not believed possibly In- 
nocent, unless he brought forward a 
dog, cat or cock that had witnessed | 
the death. He swore in the presence 
of the animal that he was innocent, 
for it was thought that if he swore 
falsely, the Lord would move the ani- 
mal to contradict him. Again we ask, 
was the cock brought Into the Wil- 
mington court, and if so, had he any- I 
thing to say? 

7 , tfv b 

A RULING PASSION. 



THREE IDENTITIES. 

A woman “with three identities” is 
of interest to others than psycholo- 
gists. Mr. Ribot was, we believe, the 
true inaugurator of the psychological 
movement, and Messrs. Charcot, 
Binet, Janet, Richet, Fere and others 
owed much to him. Alfred Binet’s 
essay on double consciousness was 
translated into English at least six- 
teen years ago and published in Chi- 
cago. Much has been written since 
then, but as Ribot bravely said: “Psy- 
chology should, like any other science, 
resign itself on many points to tem- 
porary ignorance and not be afraid to 
confess its ignorance. In this respect 
it differs from metaphysics, which 
assumes the duty of explaining every- 
thing. Why should not a woman 
with three identities or rather a triple 
consciousness, other things being 
equal, be for certain restless and 
craving souls the ideal wife? It has 
been said that Don Juan was merely 
a disappointed searcher after the 
ideal. It has also been said that in 
an ideal community a man would 
have three wives: one to look after 

the house; one as a mate and for the 
family; the third, artistic, spiritual, 
a psychic companion. Why should 
not these three be in one at the same 
time, like Mrs. Malaprop’s Cerberus? 
Or would the psychic third forget to 
order the dinner and see that the 
water was not too hot for little Jane’s 
bath? There should be schools for 
the cultivation and also the self-con- 
trol of three or possibly four “identi- 
ties.” Psychology is still in its in- 
fancy. 

A CROWING WITNESS. 

A negro in Wilmington, Del., sued 
another negro for the possession of his 
gamecock. The sued admitted posses- 
sion, but demanded seventy-five cents 
for the board and lodging of the fowl. 
There was a compromise, and forty 
cents was paid. But was the cock 
brought into court to show his condi- 
tion and whether the board was worth 



It is not surprising that at least one 
nephew of “Uncle” Russell Sage pur- 
poses to contest the will. What he re- 
vives by its provisions is only a drop 
in the bucket of expectation. What was 
written long ago is of singular force in 
:his instance : “Men like to collect 
I noney into large heaps in their life- 
j lime ; they like to leave it in large heaps 
ifter they are dead. They grasp it into 
1 iheir own hands, not to use it for their 
j >wn good, but to hoard, to lock it up, to 
nake an object, an idol and a wonder 
>f it. Do you expect them to distribute 
It so as to do others good ; that they 
will like those who come after them 
Jetter than themselves ; that if they 
were willing to pinch and starve them- 
selves they will not deliberately de- 
iraud their sworn friends and nearest 
rindred of what would be of the utmost 
ase to them?” On the other hand, 
ihould not the last wishes of a man be 
■espected, however small and disap- 
pointing they may be, lest the over- 
ihrow of what is mean may be used as 
t precedent for diverting or thwarting 
i generous and noble purpose? The old 
lormula, “In the name of God. Amen,” 
Is today without significance in too 
nany families and courts. 

TO BARREL ORGAN. 

Mr. Birrell spoke in one of the de- 
bates on the education bill of “the 
acquirement by children of the charm- 
ing and graceful accomplishment of 
Sancing, even if it were only round 
a. barrel organ.” This accomplish- 
ment is acquired in Boston by chil- 
dren from the North end to the Back 
Bay. The youngsters in the streets 
off Hanover and in those near the 
Revere House are more unconflned 
and bacchAntic in their joy than the 
private school children occasionally 
seen in BoylstdK- street above Fair- 
field, who dance demurely and with a 
sense of necessary physical exercise. 
The Westminster Gazette, Commenting 
on Mr. Birrell’s remark, quoted one of 
Jane Austen’s characters as saying: 

"I should like to see you dance, and 
I’d dance with you. We used to jump 
about together many a time, did not 
we? when the hand organ was in the 
street?” The Gazette also quoted 
some lines from one of Mr. Laurence 
Binyon’s “London Visions,” but cu- 
riously enough it did not mention a 
grim poem on the same subject, a 
depressing parody of “Tarara-boom- 
3e-ay” by Mr. John Davidson. Dancing 
in the street is perhaps not so pretty 
as dancing on the village green, but 



THICK BLOOD. 

Here is another instance of how much 
thicker blood is than water. The 
dramatic critic of the London Times 
began his review of “The Prince Chap,” 
by E. W. Peple, a play produced at the 
Criterion Theatre, by saying: “Ameri- 
cans are fond of reminding us, justifi- 
ably enough, that what we call Ameri- 
canisms often repijeseut old English 
idioms that have become obsolete in 
their native land.” Yes, and some of 
these “Americanisms,” if not the ma- 
jority of them, are still heard in cer- 
tain English provinces, and are to be 
found in Wright’s Dialect Dictionary. 
The reviewer added: “Contemporary or 
Rooseveltian America offers us some 
other products which, though they may 
have the superficial appearance of be- 
ing home-grown, are easily recognizable 
as early Victorian English things, 
though in transit across the Atlantic 
they have naturally suffered a sea- 
change. One of these is a rich and 
sirupy sentimentality in fiction.” Mr. 
Peple’s play was characterized as an 
American variant of some Christmas 
story by Dickens. “An American vari- 
ant, one perceives, because the genius of 
Christmas is called Santa Claus, and be- 
cause the dialogue is strewn with such 
words as bully (in its adjectival use) 
and jamboree.” So Santa Claus is 
known only to Americans, and not at all 
to the Dutch, and “bully” is never 
found as an adjective in Shakespeare’s 
plays or in other Elizabethan dramas. 
Mr. H. R. Roberts “is, we understand, 
an American actor. He is pleasant 
enough, and would be still more pleas- 
ant if he did not say ‘to lay down’ when 
he means ‘to lie down.’ ” Mr. Anthony 
Comstock would enjoy this play. For 
the hero, William, is a sculptor whose 
“noblest moment is when he refuses to 
let Blandia — aged eight — pose as a 
cherub, because cherubs do not wear 
clothes.” . 



T 

imperious manners. 

As is known to sociologists, every 
profession and trade has its peculiar 
etiquette. There is a strict etiquette in 
any sport, in burglary, in the boozing- 
ken. We do not know whether any 
pamphlet on telephone etiquette has 
been written for private or public circu- 
lation, but we learn that a peculiar eti- 
quette must be observed in Germany in 
talking to the Emperor over the wire. 
He never gives his name; he does not 
open the conversation with a friendly 
“Hello, Heinrich,” or "Hello, Johann,” 
but with “I command that,” and when 
he is through commanding he stops, like 
a gramophone, without “Good-by,” “So 
long” or any other signification that he 
is at an end. This behavior is not 
dignified ; it is imperious, not imperial ; 
it does not become a father of his peo- 
ple ; it is simply an instance of bad 
manners. Even Mr. Chucks, Marryat’s 
boatswain, who was decided in his 
opinions and succeeded in conveying 
them forcibly, displayed the finest flower 
of courtesy at the start : “Allow me, my 
dear sir, to insinuate in the most de- 
licate manner in the world that you are 
a blankety, etc., etc.” “Noblesse ‘oblige” 
is a French phrase and therefore prob- 
ably obnoxious to the Emperor. 

’ PEACOCKS’ FEATHERS. 

The superstitious remember that the 
late Lady Curzon wore at the Delhi 
Durbar a dress with a design of pea- 
cocks’ feathers, and that she was told at 
the time that she was courting mis- 
fortune. In spite of the old superstition 
that these feathers are unlucky they 
may now be seen as ornaments in houses I 
; whose inmates prefer to see the new 
moon over the right shoulder, and would 
not kill a spider though it were weav- 
ing over the bed. Young maidens in 
England were taught to believe that 
these feathers forbade their marriage and 
that minor misfortunes would happen, 

| just as the voice of the peacock is sup- 
I posed to foretell rain and even death 
The origin of the superstition is not 
easy to find, though it is traced back to 
Juno’s anger excited by the plucking of 
her favorite bird. Yet among the 
ancients the peacock was a symbol of 
immortality, and Pythagoras himself 
was once a peacock, with a tail no doubt 
into which the eyes of the dead Argus 
passed. Nor was the peacock among the 



old Hindus an unlucky bird. Many have 
found fault with him without regard to 
bad luck, and said of him that he hath 
the voice of a fiend, the head of a ser- 
pent and the pace of a thief. 

NOT A MATERIALIST. 

Mr. Clews, a son of the well known 
banker, has written in collaboration a 
French play in verse and it has been 
published in Paris. It is said that an 
English version will be performed in 
New York. The object of the play is to 
show the inadequacy of wealth to secure 
true happiness. The preface — for the 
playwrights here follow the example of 
Mr. Shaw — contains an estimate of 
American civilization. The hero is there 
described as “the new man, without 
traditions of any kind ; in other words, 
the American. He does not feel the 
need of loving or of being loved. * * * 
In his hours of idleness at his club he 
is plunged into a kind of material 
Nirvnna. He is a materialist and Walt 
Whitman is his prophet.” Mr. Clews 
and his friend do not know Whitman. 
No one has sung more nobly of the soul 
than the Good Gray Poet. If he praises 
unashamed the body and its functions, it 
is because to him the body is the holy 
temple of the soul. The intensity of 
Whitman’s spirituality is oriental, and 
he almost swoons in rapture at the 
celestial vision of never ending life. 
There are passages in “Leaves of Grass” 
that might be in the “Upanishads.” 

A STANDARD. 

At the trial of Thurtell, a witness 
asked how he defined a respectable per- 
son answered: “He always kept a gig.” 

That is the old Story ; the witness really I 
answered :• “He always maintained an 
appearance of respectability and kept 
his horse and gig.” And so Carlyle spoke 
of gigmen, narrow-minded persons of the 
middle class, to whom “respectability” 
is the chief concern of life, and he also 
coined the words, gigmania, gigmanity, 
gigmanhood, gigmanism, gigmaness, etc. 
This is not the only whimsical standard 
Invented or rather first expressed in 
court. It was held recently in London 
that neither frequent intoxication nor 
the habit of driving about in hansoms, 
“nor even the combination of the two 
luxurious practices, is evidence of 

means sufficient to justify an order 1 
against the sybarite on a judgment sum- 
mons, though both are evidence of the 
possession of a certain sum of money, 
since cabmen and barmaids who will 
consent to allow credit are painfully 
rare.” It was regarded as a sound prin- 
ciple at this trial that “a man’s liability 
to income tax can not be estimated in 
direct proportion to the freedom and in- 
tensity of his alcoholic excitements.” 
There is to be sure the old saying, “as 
drunk as a lord” ; but many lords are 
impecunious. Furthermore there are 
qualitative as well as quantative con- 
siderations, for a man may be highly 
stimulated on blue ruin as on cham- 
pagne, on beer as on port with a bees 
wing. 






> ? '?• 



FOR EXPORT ONLY’. 

The news that the Ivernia carried 
the first shipment of 300 barrels of 
apples to leave here this year will 
strike some with dread for the com- 
ing winter. Last season the ship- 
• ments* of apples were enormous, and 
-the fruit left for sale in this country 
was scarce, expensive and as a rule 
poor in quality. Mr. G. R. Sims of j 
the Referee wrote last winter con- 
cerning the disappearance of Eng- 
lish fruit from the London market , 
and the American invasion. To many 
apples are not a luxury, but a neces- 
sity. There is no more wholesome 
and appetizing fruit, and it is a pity 
! that it is not within the reach of all. 
Fruit growers naturally accept the 
liberal offers of commission mer- 
chants, and here is another instance 
where true patriotism does not enter 
into business. 



IN WAX. 

. It has been said that no man is really 
great until he stands or sits in wax in 
: Mine. Tussaud’s galleries. There are 
some who would be willing to figure in 
(he Chamber of Horrors, rather than be 
ignored, as yet unworthy. Mr. John D. 



Rockefeller is now in the Eden Musee, 
which is certainly a step toward su- 
preme fame in life, lie is bending oyer 
a golden cradle, which holds an infant, 
•supposed to be his grandson, but the 
child has no silver spoon in his mouth 
and thus is free from the suspicion of 
being an infant Bryanit?, nor does he 
Jpibibe from a soothing bottle of stand- 
ard oil, The golden cradle is a signifi- 
cant touch. Even Miss Kilmansegg did 
not thus rest in babyhood. 

At tier first debut stir found her bend 

On u pillow of down, in a downy bed. 

With a damask canopy over, 
though she was afterward fed from 
a golden boat with a golden spoon. We 
Wipuld have preferred Mr. Rockefeller 
iff' the act of distributing louis d’or 
among the peasantry near Compiegne or 
addressing a Cleveland Sunday school on 
’the true explanation of certain passages 
in the New Testament concerning the 
licit. 

SOCIABLE PASSENGERS. 

•A New Yorker and his wife recently 
boarded a surface car, and a Mr. 
Strauss boarded the car at the same 
time and sat by the wife. He took 
pfC his hat to her and. being of an 
optimistic, cheery nature, said that 
R 'was pleasant weather. He smiled 
as he spoke and, like the man in 
Lear's immortal Limerick, he contin- 
ued to smile, until the wife summoned 
her husband, who promptly bashed 
Mr. Strauss. The smller had the 
husband arrested and the magistrate 
remarked: “You had no right to 

strike the man. I fine you five dol- 
: lars.” The decision is an interesting 
fjrte and it invites discussion. Should 
or should not a husband be proud of 
the admiration of other men who thus 
proclaim the excellence of his taste 
and wisdom of his choice? Should 
not fellow passengers, exposed to the 
hardships and dangers of a car-ride, 
be agreeable one toward another? 
Perhaps Mr. Strauss has a rietus and 
cannot help smiling. It surely Is not 
Insulting to say to a neighbor: "It is 
pleasant weather, mum.” Is not a 
smile preferable to a gorgonizlng 
stare ? It might be said that the hus- 
IWnd. not wholly convinced of his 
wife's charms, thought that Mr. 
Strauss was guying her; but this 
would be an Illiberal, ungallant con- 
clusion. 



mouths of men nor his fist upon their 
mouths. His wife no' longer lives 
with him, not because fortune has 
wholly forsaken him — he gave her 
£8 for a dress for the Oaks — but be- 
cause he deserted her and in the pas- 
sion of leave-taking tried to choke 
her. She must be a woman of con- 
siderable reserve force, for she seized 
the opportunity to bite his fingers. 
Why does not Mr. Palmer keep a 
pub? Many of his distinguished 
predecessors in the profession have 
thus made money ari'd fought their 
uattles o’er again. We remember 
with pleasure Mr. Paddy Rypn In 
Albany, N. Y., thus dispensing hospi- 
tality and rude eloquence. 

TATTOOING. 

It is said that there is a movement to 
do away with tattooing in the navy, yet 
it is hard to think of a true tar whose 
body is not decorated in India ink with 
a ship or a crucifix, a flag or a brace 
of hearts with an arrow through them. 
The famous captain who was exhibited 
for years and suggested to Gillam the 
cartoon that excited the indignation of 
Mr. Blaine’s friends was over-tattooed. 
There was neither the wild irregularity 
that is' often a beauty nor the simplicity 
of design, the few lines and points that 
made Herman Melville’ssweetheartin 
Typee the more adorable. The history 
of tattooing from its origin as a re- 
ligious rite is a strange and interesting 
one, whether the practice be studied in 
Africa, New Zealand, Madagascar or on 
the Pacific isles. And when did sailors 
first adopt the practice? It was said 
some years ago that degenerates in 
fashionable life in London were^much 
given to this ornamentation. The old- 
fashioned sailor is fast disappearing. As 
long as the species survives, he should 
no more be deprived of his India ink 
pictures than of his quid or loose 
trousers. 



would 'have ••spected; a rSRe-helly I 
person, he was a member of the 
Hell-Fire Club that celebrated its 
orgies in a house on a Dublin club. 
And his companions were pretty fel- 
lows! Buck Sheehy jumped on a 
I wager from the top window of Daly’s. 

Buck English killed a waiter at an 
| Inn, because his steak was a trifle 
' overdone, but with a fine sense of 
justice he had him charged in the 
bill: Item, one waiter, £20. 

Buck Whaley ran through his for- 
tune of £400,000 and Into debt to 
the tune of £30,000. He had need 
of money, and therefore wagered that 
he would go to Jerusalem and back 
within two years. Some of the bucks 
present insisted that there wds no 
such city. The sum of £ 15,000 was 
raised and Buck Whaley started off 
gayly as a crusader. He came back 
with proofs of his presence In Jeru- 
salem long before the allotted time 
was over, and the people of Dublin 
lit bonfires in his honor. The trip 
cost him £8000, so he was in £7000. 
He wrote an account of his journey — 
hut there is no mention of the book 
in Allibone’s. The manuscript was 
found by accident In a London auc- 
tion room, after It had been passed 
about among collectors who for a 
century had been attracted by the 
richness of the binding. 

Bucks do not always live to the 
age of rouge and plumpers. This one 
died at an inn when he was 34 years 
old. “As the body, inclosed In a 
leaden coffin, lay in the assembly 
rooms awaiting interment, a man 
danced over It a jig. A grotesque, 
but hardly Inappropriate requiem for 
so strange a career.” 

CONCERT FOYER 



terest to tell concerning his mother’s 
friends than about her. 



“THERE WOULD I BE.’’ 

Mr. Johnson, in his endeavor to 
lead the simple life, is now painfully 
distracted. In a Virginian or West 
Virginian town, two rival ice compa- 
nies are not only giving away ice 
free in the frenzy of competition, 
tut each Is. offering free beer as an 
inducement, and one brewer, with 
an artificial ice plant, promises a lib- 
eral supply of beer for a term of 
years to the one that will take his 
ice. This reminds Mr. Johnson of 
the glorious old days of Mississippi 
steamboating, when a line would 
add the inducement of a bottle of 
wine to free transportation. But 
the emirient sociologist read last Sun- 
day of the town of Klingenberg in 
Germany, where taxes are unknown, 
and the sum of 200 marks was paid 
thi£ year to every citizen from the 
profits of the municipal brick works. 

I Mr. Johnson, in Ciamport. is now 
:pfwlng SO cents a hundred for iee, 
-**d the village went no license; fur- 
thermore the tax rate is from $13 
to $14. How happy, would he be in 
either of the two Elysiums on earth ! 
But even to go to the Virginian town 
requires some cash in hand, however 
ridiculously small the sum may 
seem to thousands. 

THE PASSING OF PEDLAR. 

Lovers of the manly sport hear 
with regret the passing of Pedlar 
Palmer, the once famous light- 
weight. There was a time when he 
was earning over £2000 a year. He | 
himself has no illusions. He told a ’ 
London magistrate not long ago: 
"I'm not the Pedlar Palmer I was." I 
He turns a penny by appearing at 
race meetings and music halls, but 
his name is not constantly in the 



IN VIENNA. 

Dr. Richard Gluck of the Vienna 
police department has been observing 
the conduct of New York policemen 
and finds them noble specimens of 
manhood. After this his remark that 
they are no worse as regards corrup- 
tion than the police of any other great 
city comes as an anti-climax. It 
would be interesting if he were to 
compare the New York janitors with 
those of Vienna. Dwellers in the lat- 
ter city are becoming tired of paying 
a small fee to get in or out of theih 
own houses after 10 o’clock at night, 
and they demand at least an hour’s 
extension. For in Vienna, as many 
know, the tenant is not allowed a 
house key. After 10 P. M. he must 
ring up the porter. The landlords 
and police aithorities insist on the old 
rule and allege as a reason “public 
safety.” But it is really a matter 
of thrift. The “Sperrgeld” induces 
house-porters to serve at very low 
wages, and the police department 
also economizes. It is said that the 
custom originated in 1848 when the 
government used the house-porters 
for the purpose •pf spying on the 
tenants. 

AN OLD BUCK. 

“Buck Whaley’s Memoirs,” edited 
by Sir Edward Sullivan, Bart., and 
published in London by Alexander 
Moring, gives curious glimpses of an 
incredible period in any country, even 
Ireland. In the eighteenth century 
the term '“Buck” was applied to a 
spirited, gay person rather than to a 
fop. The latter use Dr. Murray tells 
us came forward early in the nine- 
teenth century and the term still sur- 
vives, though it is somewhat archaic. 
In the slang of the eighteenth century 
a bold, dashing woman was also 
called a buck. No longer ago than 
1889 a London journal spoke of an 
“ancient buck” last seen at the age of 
84, wearing a wig, stays, plumpers, 
rouge, padding and anointing his face 
daily with a compound called "Skin 
Tightener” and washing it with 
“bloom of roses.” 

Buck Whaley was a contemporary 
of Henry Grattan and a member of 
the Irish Parliament, but he is not Re- 
membered as orator or patriot. He 
was a swell, libertine, gambler, duel- 
list; wasteful with money, he was an 
adventurer whom even Casanova 



Life of Antoinette Sterling, by 
Her Son, Is Full of 
Anecdotes. 



NOTES OF MUSICIANS 

AND STAGE DISPLAYS 



Mr. J. Sterling MacKiniay, M. A., has 
written the life of his mother, who 
waS known for years in public as 
Antoinette Sterling. The book, en- 
titled “Antoinette Sterling' and Other 
Celebrities," is published by Hutchin- 
son of London and the price of it is 
1(1 shillings net, an absurdly expen- 
sive book. 

The life of this singer both in Am- 
erica and in England was neither 
stormy or adventurous, except in this; 
toward the close of it she suffered a 
“heavy financial loss." She was ex- 
ceedingly popular in England as a 
ballad singer, and her performance of 
"Caller Herrin’,” "The Three Fishers” 
and "The Lost Chord” was commonly 
described there as “superb." As a 
singer, pure and simple, she had little 
art. She sang songs of the heart and 
home with great intensity, or, to use 
the language of her worshippers, with 
"great expression.” 

Some musicians admired her or 
said they admired her. when she was 
in her prime; thus Liszt was "enrap- 
tured," while Rubinstein remarked 
that she had never "lived” and had 
no heart. The fact that she refused 
to wear a low neck dress when she 
was commanded to sing at Windsor 
endeared her to many. No doubt Mr. 
Anthony Comstock puts her at the 
head of all singing women. Queen 
Victoria was not offended by Mme. 
Sterling’s scruples, or bad manners, 
however ber conduct strikes you, for- 
gave the refusal and "honored her. 

There are many anecdotes in the book, 
stories about Mme. Sterling, her friends 
and acquaintances. Here is a sample 
one: She once went to the Savoy chapel 
at the hour of organ practice and in- 
quired for the Rev. Henry White. Told 
that he had left the church, she wished 
to send after him, but there was no one 
except the blow boy to do the errand. 
“Oh. I’M do that for you till you come 
back, if' you’ll run over for him, she 
said to the boy. And she was as good 
as her word.” One has a right to expect 
more entertaining stories for 16 shillings 
net. The book is not a heating one. 
There are stories about Manuel Garcia, 
who died recently, Leighton, Holman 
Hunt, Patti, W. G. Willis, George Ber- 
nard Shaw, Elizabeth Robbins and oth- 
ers. Mr. MacKiniay in spite of the fact 
that he Is an “M. A.” has not given his 
days and nights to Addison, P. a l er > ° r 
any class book of rhetoric. Alluding to 
the swarm of Americans who boast of 
ancestors that embarked in the May- 
flower, he exclaims: “Oh. Mayflower, 
mammoth of elasticity! Oh, Truth, as 
elastic.” But he modestly excuses him- 
self for writing the biography, saying 
that he has much mor» of greater in- 



It has been said that "to any one who 
is gifted with' a voice his own method Is 
practically the best.” There is truth in 
the remark, and yet a treatise on tone 
production is published once a month. 

Here Is a recently published book, "Sing- 
ing. or Method of Song and Speech," bj 
A. Singer (London: Elliot Stock). There 
is Both sense and nonsense in this vol- 
ume. The author discusses many things 
soul effusion, the round earth, consci- 
entious nervousness, the elliptic, collars, 
the houses of Parliament, deficient circu- 
lation of the blood, indigestion, nightmare, 
intoxication (alcoholic, not uewhetlc), 
and a disease which the author describes 
as “rubbed up.” . 

He thinks that sensitiveness is not a 
fault; on the contrary, it is a virtue, for 
it is a proof of the highly strung constl- 
tution of the artist; and fie also has 
Invariably found that claret is the best 
thing for singers.” but it should be taken 
in moderation. Furthermore, he has 
much to say about neurosis and the psy- 
chology of the voice. 

Giovanni Clerecl Is the author of Per- 
fection in Singing." The book Is Pub- 
lished by O. Newman & Co. of London. 
There is need of bodily gymnastics if you 
wish to produce tones properly. Here is 
an example: "The lung on the right side 
will, owing to the raised (right) arm, 
expand more than the left. Now change 
arms and repeat the breathing, noticing 
carefully whether the^ left lung is filled 
as the right one was.” 

The Herald of Aug. 1 published in its 
evening edition an editorial article en- 
titled “Art and Duty,” which called 
forth a letter in reply. As the editorial 
article is short, we republish it here, 
fir it is concerned with a musical mat- 
for it is concerned with a musical mat- 
selves how some misread or “read be- 
tween the lines": 

art and duty. 

The passionate press agent of a young 
fiddler in New York tells a pathetic story . 
“Only last week a well known vaudeville 
manager offered to book her 42 weeks at a 
salary of $200 a week, but she declined his 
proposition, although she Is the sole sup- 
port of an Invalid father, motherland young- 
er sisters, for she prefers art to the tempo- 
rary success of the variety theatres. Sup- 
pose for a moment, that this story be true, 
would it not have been better for her to 
have accepted the offer for at least one 
sen son? Was it not her duty to accept it? 

At present, she is unknown, except to her 
immediate friends. She need not be wholly 
inartistic in vaudeville; in fact, she might 
learn many valuable lessons that would 
make for her artistic future. By refusing 
the offer she jeopardized the comfort of 
iter family. She stood between art and 
duty. But duty may be art. 

The letter in reply is as follows: 

BROOKLINE, Aug. 2, 1906. 

To the Editor of The Herald: 

In your edition Wednesday, Aug. 1. occurs a 
short" editorial headed "Art and Duty.” to 
which much exception might be taken. What- 
ever raav be tin- Intention of those who insti- 
gated tlie article or the individual who wrote 
Ft an impression tnit-lit bo gained from glean- 
ing it that to my belief is most erroneous. I 
refer to til" Inference that vaudeville and art 
are incompatible. Tills supposition is. I -tan 
sure, as absurd ns the one that the stage ns 
an institution is immoral. There is hardly any 
class of theatrical entertainment that I have 
not seen represented in vaudeville, and some 
of it lias been most aitistlc. Another Impres- 
sion used that | s wholly incorrect is “the tem- 
porarv success of the variety theatres.” A suc- 
cess in vaudeville is the reverse from tempo- 
rary; quite an eontralre It will last for years, 
'flint there exists among certain artists a tinie- 
hoitored prejudice against vaudeville Is true;, 
also that a certain portion of the uninitiated 
shrug their shoulders at anything "in vaude- 
ville" Is obvious. Happily this belief is fast 
disappearing and the conviction fast appearing 
that lit vaudeville one must not he less clever 
hut 10 times more clever titan the so-called 
legitimate artist. ARTHUR ROW. 

Of the 23 orchestral works unknown In 
London to be produced at the Promenade 
concerts which begin the isth, six are by 
British composers' Granville Bantock’s 
prelude “Sappho”; J. H. Fould’s "music 
poem,” entitled “Epithalidm”; George 
Halford’s “In Memorialin'’ overture; 
Joseph Holbrooke’s “Bohemian” suite; 
Norman O'Nefll’s overture, "In Spring 
Time,” and Vaughan Williams’ ”A Nor- 
folk. Rhapsody.” Novelties by foreign 
composers are Gllere's symphony, Enna's 
symphonic poem “Maerchen,” George 
Dorlav's symphonic poenr “St- Georges 
and "Finlandia” by Sibelius, and pieces 
bv Blockt, Br> lr| pai>. Busoni, Arensky. 
Borodin. Moussorgsky, Liadoff, Boehe, 

I Fini Henriques. Egon Petri and Fibick. 

I It is rumored that Mabelle Gilman, 
who itns been studying with Jean de 
Reszke. will sing at the Opera Comique, 
Paris, next season. When and where 
did she get the voice? Her other quali- 
fications for an engagement at tills 

onera are indisputable. 

Julian Edwards' new cantata. The 
Redeemer,' was performed for the first 
time at Orean Grove, ‘ N. J.. July 29. 

' The Greater Love," a four-act drama 
based on “romantic episodes” in the life 
of Mozart and written by Ivy A. Root, 
a niece of Mr. Elihu Root, will be pro- 
duced at Columbus, p„ . Sept. 3. Mr. 
Aubfev Bouctcault will take the part ot 
the composer. The death scene, “ending 
In the singing of the Requiem, will be 
given with fidelity.” Selections from 
Mozart's works will be performed in the 
course of the play. Several dramas 
with Beethoven as a hero have been 
produced- and one of them, a singularly 
sentimental and dull piece, with Mr. 
Bispham as Beethoven and Miss Julia 
Opp as the heroine, was performed in 
Boston at the Hollis Street Theatre. 
Stradella. Haydn, Chopin and one or 
two other composers have been chosen 
as the heroes of operas. 

Mr. Baughan of the London Daily 
News wrote apropos of Mr. Ben Davies 
at the recent Handel Festival: 

“It is not generally held that the 



Poems. 



opera stage is 

oratorio, and many think that tho two 
styles of singing: are Incompatible, but it 
is largely the early opera training of Mr. 
Santley that gave his singing such ease 
and forte of emphasis, and experience 
on the opera stage has done the same 
thing for Mr. Ben Davies. No tenor 
who has not sung in opera could have 
given so much variety and point to the 
recitative, 'So will'd my father.’ A no- 
th cable point was the singing of t lie 
dying patriarch's 'Hesolve. my sons, on 
liberty or death,’ which Mr. Hen Davies 
made the utterance of 'expiring breath.’ 
The high notes of the part were success- 
fully managed, but it is well known 
that Mr. Ben Davies cannot pretend to 
achieve them with the ease which was 
:-o remarkable In the singing of Mr. Ed- 
ward Lloyd. On the other hand, the 
great oratorio tenor left something to be 
desired in respect of dramatic force and 
emotion. The ideal tenor for oratorio 
would be an amalgam of Mr. Ben Davies 
and Mr. Edward Lloyd, but. as most 
ideals, It is unattainable, and. for my 
part, I am well content to hear the 
music sung with the dramatic point 
which Handel evidently Intended.” 

Saint Saens’ cello sonata was played 
in London for the hrst time July 12 by 
Mr. Hollman and the composer. It was 
composed in 1904, when Saint Saens was 
at Biskrah, and played for the first 
time In Paris last year. The work Is said 
to have much freshness. The scherzo 
concludes with a set of variations on 
the opening theme. The third movement 
is described as a charming romance. 



a good preparation roi"| carried with it a settlement of 
£25,000 if she would quit the stage. 
Look at this advertisement In the 
Era — that is to say, the paragraph 
appeared In the advertising columns 
of that weekly: ‘'Mr. Louis Brad- 
field, while in Australia ten years ago 
with the Gaiety company, was able 
to render an important service to a 
gentleman of enormous wealth, 
whose gratitude was such that he 
immediately, it is said, made a will 
In Mr. Bradfield’s favor by which 
the actor would benefit to the extent 
of over half a million. Difficulties 
have, however, arisen, and Mr. Brad- 
field’s legal representatives in Aus- 
tralia are trying to bring-- about a 
satisfactory settlement.” The pre- 
cise amount over which “difficulties 
have arisen” is £780,000. Mr. Brad- 
field says so himself. 



Maeterlinck’s “Mdnna Vanna” has been 
made Into an opeTa and with music by 
Fevrier, a pupil of Gabriel Faure, will 
be produced at the Monnaie, Brussels. 
Fevrler’s opera, "L’Aveugle,” short and 
mystical, was produced In Paris last 
season and harshly criticised by some. 

Mr. Blackburn protested not long ago 
against the habit in London of naming 
any young violinist who is brought to 
the fore by his surname, “without any- 
thing else (so far as one may judge) 
attaching to his reputation.” He then 
referred to “Florls.” 

“We should like to know why this 
young man should be described sim- 
ply as Florls, just as we speak of men 
like Gluck, Mozart, Joachim, Wagner 
and the rest. In any case, despite 
the obvious intolerance which is engen- 
dered by tnat habit, it may be stated 
that he was born at Prague some 23 
years ago and received his first lessons 
from his father, who. following a tradi- 
tion, which now begins to J>e somewhat 
tiresome, taught him how to play the 
F sharp minor Concerto of Ernst, the D 
minor of Wieniawskl, and Mendelssohn's 
Concerto. It says much, however, for 
his father, who publicly, opposprl the 
Idea of the child prodigy, and who sent 
his son to the Prague Conservatory 
where the examining committee, as we 
are informed, were excited to wonder by 
his playing.” We understand that “Flo- 
ris” is a brother of Mr. Ondricek of 
Boston. 

^ /fo C 

TOO SOLID FLESH. 

When Mr. Link, tailor in New 
» York, married his Sarah, she was 
isvelte and clinging. Happiness agreed 
with her, and from month to month 
her waist measurement increased, 
until now she weighs 225 pounds; 
but as her happiness and flesh were 
enlarged, his love waned, until he 
began to neglect Sarah and he did 
not take her to balls and parties. 
Perhaps the fact that, according to 
tradition, he is only a ninth of a 
man made the disproportion seem 
greater in his eyes. Unfortunately, 
we are not told whether she is of he- 
roic frame or short; whether she is 
Amazonian or architecturally like 
unto a gasometer. At any rate, Mr. 
Link deserted her, and Sarah has ob- 
tained a limited divorce. Her hus- 
band said in court “with a trace .of 
the old-time affection” that if she 
would reduce her weight to 130 
pounds he would have the divorce 
annulled. But would the prize be 
worth a Banting or sweating proc- 
ess? Did he not take her at the altar 
for fatter or leaner? Mrs. Link said 
when she heard of his proposition; 
“I don’t know what we shall do. No- 
body can tell what may happen in a 
few years.” A truly philosophic re- 
mark. Flesh comes and goes. t Ten 
years from now Sarah may be a liv- 
ing skeleton. Nor should she forget 
that there are men who admire rich- 
ly upholstered women. 

OUT OF FASHION. 

In a certain way Mrs. Edna Wal- 
lace Hopper is out of fashion, for 
money was not bequeathed to her or 
even offered to hereon the con- 
trary, she has failed in her attempt 
to break the will of her stepfather. 



ART IN HOBOKEN. 

Messrs. Busigilona and Hintz dis- 
puted in Hoboken over the credibility, 
the realism and the literary style of 
Mr. Sinclair’s slaughter-house ro- 
mance, or bundle of human and ani- 
mal documents, or what-you-will. 
Mr. Hintz in a fine state of aesthetic 
fury threw the book into Mr. Busig- 
ilona’s face. Not content with this 
in the fight over an idea, he drew a 
butcher knife — expert testimony — and 
stabbed Mr. Busigilona repeatedly. 
We had thought that only in Paris 
could there be so great interest in a 
literary subject, and, mark you, this 
dispute was not in any one of the so- 
called literary centres of the United 
States, Boston, New York, Indianapo- 
lis, but in Hoboken, which is asso- 



our readers may recall the pleasing" in- 
cident. A London student of sociology, 
“W. F. W.,” made the comment that 
the (lancer’s name was in headlines and 
his fame was assured, but the accom- 
panist was unknown, although he 
played the whole time. "Though this 
was a performance not less remarkable 
in its way than was the other, he re- 
mained in his original obscurity. As a 
father once remarked in reply to kind 
inquiries: ‘Everybody asks after Mrs. 
Jones; nobody asks after me.’” “W. F. 
W.” draws a moral. The accompanist is 
not always a pianist ; he may be the 
statesman’s secretary, the lawyer’s 
drudge who condenses the evidence and 
finds the cases, the husband of the lead- 
ing lady. The more indispensable he is, 
the farther is he from the limelight. 
Born to play accompaniments, he does 
not sulk or rebel. “Once he did assert 
himself. ‘Did you paint that picture?’ 
he was asked that time. ’No,’ he said, 
triumphantly, ‘I made the frame.’ ” Un- 
fortunately for “W. F. W.’s” argument, 
the name of Mr. Guattierro’s accom- 
panist was published, “which it is,” ac- 
cording to the London Globe — for we 
saved the clipping describing the his- 
toric event — Mr. Poli Luixi. According 
to another journal, It is PiSliluigi. But 
“W. F. W.” might argue that this con- 
fusion in a name is an indisputable 
proof of obscurity. | 



/ f' 






AN EMPRESS DOWAGER. 

Several descriptions of the Empress 
Dowager of China have been pub- 
lished recently, but no one of them 
, , is equal to that in Mrs. Archibald 

elated chiefly with steamship^, beer Li ttle's “Round About My Peking 

Garden,” which appeared last year. 



and picnics. While the benevolent 
may deplore the manner of ending 
the discussion, those interested in the 
arts will welcome the incident as a 
proof of the steadily growing atten- 
tion paid aesthetics throughout the 
land. Where there is no fierce dis- 
cussion, where men and women are 
not willing to die for a principle, art 
is stagnant or non-existent. Even the 
recent outrageous conduct of Mr. An- 
thony Comstock will be of service to 
art by reason of the storm of indigna- 
tion he has raised about him. 



REMOVING THOUGHTS. 

The ancients, who wore sandals and 
knew not tight boots, had corns. Many 
were the heroic cures recommended in 
their treatises on medicine and surgery. 
Thus a hole was bored in the corn and 
a fiery acid was poured in through a 
quill. No doubt Cleopatra, Caesar’s too 
celebrated wife, Lais, Phryne, Thais 
and other noble dames, even the spotless 
Lucretia herself, were visited by 
chiropodists. Years afterward a deep 
thinker thought he had solved the prob- 
lem by declaring that corns are only a 
matter of digestion, but it was reserved 
for New Thought to give an unfailing 
remedy. You bare the corn, then pass 
the finger tips of the right hand over 
it slowly and with personal affection, 
and at the same time send vibrations 
from the brain to the offender. For a 
soft corn 413 vibrations a second will 
do. You repeat slowly this speech : “I 
am now sending a current of thought 
I force into my corn, and so separating, 
deducing, disintegrating, rendering, 
splitting, sundering, splintering, snip- 
ping, dweliicating, whittling, dispersing, 
dislocating, eliding, divorcing, pulveriz- 
ing, slashing, slicing and dissecting it, 
that presently it will pass away.” This 
you say thrice, and then add : “Avaunt ! 
avaunt ! avaunt ! The universe is mine. 

I am it!” But if you are the universe 
you include corns, and they have as 
much right to be on your feet as miles 
away. Our old friend the Count of 
Monte Cristo exclaimed wAh a famous 
gesture — we see Fechter in the tableau 
now — “The world is mine !” Is it pos- 
sible that the count was tormented by 
icorns? 



She saw the Empress and had a 
pricking in her thumbs for long af- 
terward. The face is a pleasantly 
flattering one, with falsity written all 
over the apparently good humored 
surface. This reminds one of the 
Prussian seen by Coleridge on the 
packet from Yarmouth to Hamburg: 
“Amid all his droll looks and droll 
gestures, there remained one look un- 
touched by laughter; and that one 
look was the true face, the others 
were but its mask.” They say the 
Empress Dowager’s smile chills even 
foreign ministers. Mrs. Little thinks 
her type is common wherever society 
exists. “Were she an English mother 
she would marry all her daughters 
to eldest sons, irrespective of whether 
they were lunatics or confirmed dip- 
somaniacs. She would smile and say 
pleasant things as she pressed for- 
ward over her enemy’s dead body, 
(without even a thrill of pleasure ini 
the doing so.’’ It was thought a year | 
ago that a disease, probably diabetes, 
would carry off the Empress Dowager 
in two years’ time. 



ACCOMPANISTS. 



Last month in Paris the champion 

But only a short time ago Miss Billie Italian waltzer, Mr. Guattierro, offered 



Burke entered into the joy of a leg- 
acy of several thousand pounds, and 
I Mlss Vesta Victoria, although her 
name suggests a parlor match con- 
fessed coyly to London journals that 
she had received and refused an 
anonymous offer of marriage which 



a prize of 1000 francs to any one who 
could outwaltz him. Three Frenchmen, 
an Italian and a Russian entered the 
lists, but Mr. Guattierro, waltzing un- 
ceasingly for fourteen hours, danced 
them to a finish. Two hundred and 
fifty-(*vo dances were played. Some of 



BLUE DRESS COATS. 

The Herald some time ago described 
the efforts of certain London tailors 
to introduce the dress coat of blue 
cloth this season. Opponents, revolu- 
tionary and conservative alike, ob- 
ject to the innovation on the ground 
that the new coat is “flunkeyish.” By 
saying this they insinuate that it is 
an imitation of a new livery devised 
by King Edward for his household, 
with this exception: black buttons 

are substituted for gilt. Nevertheless 
the blue coats have been seen re- 
cently in both the opera house and 
the theatre. The Daily Mail inti- 
mates that the color will be gener- 
ally chosen next season. The Pall 
Mall Gazette is of the contrary opin- 
ion and gives a plausible reason: “In 
a community such as this, where 
classes slide into each other without 
yawning gulfs to mark the divisions, 
there are plenty of people who do 
not get a new dress coat every few 
months, and the more courageous 
among these would certainly stick to 
the old black, with the result that 
many wearers of blue would be sus- 
pected of snobbish pretences to be 
‘better’ than they really are.” There 
are many men who have a new dress 
suit once in ten years, and they insist 
that there is no exaggeration in style 
of design and ornamentation; that 
the dress is modest and self-effacing. 
The more pronounced a style is the 



more violent Is the reaction. Black j 
has been the prevailing color for I 
many years and it will no doubt main- | 
tain its authority for many more to 
come. 

THIRSTY HOUSES. 

The amount of money spent on 
drinks in the House of Commons 
during the year just ended was 
equivalent to $40,000, an increase of 
$10,000 over that of the year before. 
We hasten to add that 100,000 bot- 
tles of mineral water were consumed, 
but we fear that most of them were 
used to temper whiskey. Strong 
drink is raging even in the House of 
Commons, for only 2400 bottles of 
light wines and champagne went 
down the throats of the legislators. 

In the old days English judges and 
statesmen were mighty drink mas- 
ters, though no one equalled the 
great Gallaspy, who drank seven in 
hand; that is, "seven glasses so 
placed between the fingers of his 
right hand that, in drinking, the 
liquor fell into the next glasses, and 
thereby he drank out of the first 
seven glasses at once.” It is said 
that Lord Oxford more than once 
was ingloriously intoxicated in the 
presence of Queen Anne, and when 
Walpole was a young man his father 
always poured for him a double por- 
tion of wine, saying: “Come, Robert, 
b’ou shall drink twice while I drink 
once, for my son in his sober senses 
imust not be witness of the intoxica- 
tion of his father.” But for many 
years it has been considered dis- 
graceful for a member of the House 
of Commons to take his seat when 
overcome by wine or strong waters: 
witness the dramatic scene in Trol- 
lope s ‘The Way We Live Now” 
Iwhen the great speculator elected to 
a seat attempts to address the House 
early in the night of his suicide. 

eh 

MORE DISTINGUISHED 

OF HIS DISCIPLES 

Fourth and Last Article on 
Vincent d' Indy's' Life 
of His Master. 



Mr. Vincent d’Indy, the biographer of 
Cesar Franck, fights ingeniously his own 
battle in recounting (he life of his mas- 
ter. His description and approval of I 
Franck’s manner of composing and style | 
are a defence of his own. When he 
comes to the portrayal of Franck as a 
teacher, he seizes the opportunity to re- 
new his war against the - Paris Con- 
servatory, and to praise indirectly the 
instruction offered at the Schola Canto- 
rum. Mr. d'Indy is at the head of this 
school, and the instruction in composi- 
tion is supposed to be similar to that en- 
joyed by Franck's private pupils. There 
is today dispute over the true char- 
acter of the Schola Cantorum and the 
“pretensions" of Mr. d'Indy, who bv 
rigid adherence to the principles of art 
as he understands them has made bitter 
enemies. He has on all occasions spoken 
plainly his opinions concerning official 
and commercial musicians, whether they 
were living or dead. It. is not surprising 
that he in turn is assailed. 

A witty attack on him was published 
in the Mercure Musical of last June, and 
in July the attack was answered. The 
assailant. Mr. Emile Vuillermoz, gave 
an amusing description of the Schola 
Cantorum. He spoke of the establish- 
ment of the school as apparently praise- 
worthy, but the real purpose of the 
chief was soon exposed. "In place of 
furnishing simply to young pupils the 
means of drawing freely from the treas- 
ures of science and history, it seems to 
have been in the chief's hands an instru- 
ment of systematic pedagogy, a sort of 
lists where this obstinate fellow put the 
worth of his dogmas and rigorous for- 
mulas of art to the proof. He drew high 
barriers about his new disciples, and 
said unto them: 'You are my beloved 

sons in whom I am well pleased; I 
wish to create you in my image, and the 
universe will belong to you. Here in mv 
garden you will find the tree of the 
knowledge of good and evil. When you 
have eaten its fruit, you will be iike 
gods. Do not mix with the crowd that 
surrounds you. for it is nourished on 
error, and here only will you find the 
divine food of truth.’ And with the 
ascendancy which characters of tem- 
pered steel always exert, this inflexible 
captain quickly persuaded his young re- 
cruits that thp official conservatories 
were homes of heresy and imbecility 
and ..that tile Schola Cantorum would 
change the face of the world. Timid 
persons, amateurs, sons of families and 
the young who had been rejected at the 
entrance examinations of the Conserva- , 
tory hastened to his side.” These words 
are put into tire mouth cf one reporting 





CESAR FRANCK AS A TEACHER: 

' STUDY OF EACH PUPIL’S NEEDS 



as a committeeman years hence on the | 
question of whether an e ?humed I name 
“Dindv" or “d'lndy" should be admitted 
to a biographical dictionary. The words 
of Mr. Vuillermoz grow more and more 
biter, as when Mr. d'lndy is described 
as discrediting all harmonic studies that 
put into play sensorial and innati 
faculties, and choosing "a system of me- 
chanical writing. an automatically 
sonorous arithmetic. which reduced the 
divine exercise of inspiration to a 
patient game of chess.” 

Franck's Pupils. 

Cesar Franclt was the teacher of the 
organ at the Paris Conservatory. He 
was never a teacher of composition at 
that institution. He was talked of as 
the successor of Victor Masse, one of 
the Conservatory teachers of composi- 
tion. To quote Mr. d'lndy: "Ernest 

Guiraud, the composer of 'Mme. Tur- 
lupln,' was preferred to the composer 
of ‘the Beatitudes’”; but the latter's 
organ class was, according to Mr. 
d’lndy, for a time at least, 
the ‘‘true centre of composition 
study.” In 1S72 and for some years 
afterward the three teachers of ad- 
vanced composition were Masse, ”a 
composer of operas-comiques, who had 
no idea of the symphony" and was con- 
stantly sick; Iteber. “an old woman, 
of a musician, with narrow ^and anti 
ouated ideas,” and Bazin, who had, 
no suspicion of^ what musical eomposi- 

^The'^organ pupils at the Conservatory 
naturally came under Franck s influ- 
ence, the late Samuel Rousseau, Pierne, 
Chapuis, Dallier. Marty, Vidal and 
others. He influenced in a measure no 
doubt his colleagues in the National 
Society of Music, Chabrier, Gabriel 
Faure, Dukas. Guilmant and certain in- 
terpretatlve artists as the violinists 
Ysaye and Armand Parent. 

There were more intimate pupils, how- 
ever. those taught composition by him 
at his dwelling in the Boulevard Saint 
Michel. “They contributed to estab- 
lish and preserve the high traditions of 
his instruction and to prove its excel- 
lence by their own works. In a 
lormer article The Herald has told of 
me™ that studied with Franck stealth- 
ily as though ashamed. Now tl.at his 
name is illustrious the name of 
“Franck's pupil” is legion, and the 
majority of composers who lived in his 
period pretend that they drank from the 
cup of his wine and fecund mstruc- 

Who were the true pupils of Franck, 
according to Mr. d’lndy? Those who ! 
studied composition with him before 
the war of 1870 were Cahen, Coquard 
and Dupare. Then came the cavalry 
officer, Alexis de Castillon. After 187- 
the intimate pupils were dlndy. Camille 
Benoit. Augusta Holmes, Chausson, de 
Wallly, Kunkelmann, de Breville. de 
Serres. Ropartz, Vallin, Bordes and the 
lamented lelceu. With the exception 
of Messrs, d’lndy, the most talented, 
de Castillon. Chausson and Lekeu, are 
dead. Coquard is known in this country 
onlv by one song. Augusta Holmes, 
known here chiefly by her songs had 
other teachers and shows little of 
Franck’s spirit or knowledge in her 
music. Dupare, a composer of a few' 
remarkable songs, has long lived in re- 
tirement on account of his health. The 
music of de Wailly that we have heard 
h-is little distinetion. Mr. il Indy him- 
self is the most conspicuous and ap- 
parently the most talented of these 
"intimate pupils,” who. lo use Mr. 
d’Indv's words, were closely acquainted 
with their teacher and able to enter 
into mental intimacy and heed lus vivi- 
fying counsel: “they alone knew what 
one of Franck's lessons in composition 
was, the united effort of master and 
pupils to gain one and the only goal, | 

^Aml vet a distinguished composer who 
reverences Frank 'and admires Mr. 
d’lndy as man and musician said to 
us not long ago: “The general scheme 
01 Franck's sonata form as in his quar- 
tet, symphony and sonata may be 
found most masterfully expounded in 
d'Indy’s works. In the works of all 
the other followers, however, this 
scheme becomes annoying, tedious, and, 
above all, foreseen. A scheme of cast 
iron!” 

At Conservatories. 

Vincent d'lndy entered the Paris Con- 
servatory as a member of Franck's 
organ class. As a conservatory pupil, 
he took a minor prize; he then left the 
institution to be Franck's private pupil. 
He has never lost an opportunity since 
his withdrawal of showing his dislike, 
contempt is the better word, for that 
school, and as the biographer of Franck 
ho has much to say against the Cont 
servatory and its shabby treatment of 
Franck and his pupils. Thus he insists 
tl.at the majority of the teachers in 
Franck's time were wholly Ignorant of 
the music of the 18th and 17th centuries 
: 1 of much of ISth century music; that 

they looked on Bach as an unmitigated 
bore and laughed at Gluck — they found 
"(ifths” in "Armide.” "Now it is all 
changed, and any young pupil would 
th.nk himself disgraced if lie, did not 
ornament his pieces with a multitude of 
parallel fifths more or less exposed to 
view. Other times, other fifths'.” Bizet s 
•Carmen” found no favor with the pro- 
fessors or w'itli many of the pupils: 
some accused the composer of extreme 
Wagnerlsrti! others veiled tiieir face' be- 
fore tile "coarse subject" and cried 
“Shame:” There were pupils vyho re- 



MISS SEXTON AS LUCIA. 

fused to read even masterpieces for fear 
of "harming their individuality.” 

And w'as it much better in other con- 
servatories of Europe? 

"To teach an art with good results, it 
is necessary first to know the trade, the 
business, then the art. and, finally, the 
pu ,i who is to be initiated into the art. 

Mr. d’lndy believes that in all the music 
schools oi Germany and France— except, 
of course, the Schola C&ntorum there 
are very few' teachers of composition 
who know how to teach art. because they 
scarcely know' art themselves and prac- 
tise it only empirically. Now, the me- 
chanical part and art itself are two dif- 
ferent things, though they are often 
confounded. "In my time at the Paris 
Conservatory there were some profes- 
sors of composition who did not know 
well the mechanical part and were whol- 
ly unfit to teach it to others. As for 
any knowledge of the pupil and his in- 
d. -idual gifts, requirements and char- 
acter. the whole system of musical in- 
struction in France is based on the lev- 
elling of different minds. How, then, 
can these teachers be expected to clis- 
c. minate and differentiate? They pour 
the same and commonplace instruction 
into young minds that may differ wide- 
ly. They do not suspect that musical 
food which is good or, at least, inoffen- 
sive for one may poison another; that a 
precept necessary for a pupil of limited 
intelligence will be intolerable and in- 
jurious for one more highly endowed. 

At a conservatory, especially at that 
of Paris, where the chief aim is to pro- 
duce first prize men. the professors usu- 
ally succeed in turning the pupils into 
rivals who often become enemies. I he 
teachers also urge their pupils to com- 
pose much, for practice, to gain facility 
Pupils in these schools feel themselves 
obliged to perform tasks, but in art 
there is no such thing as a task, a duty, 
something obligatory; no more in music, 
than in painting or in architecture. 
“Everything,” says Mr. dlndy, that 



CLARA SEXTON, SOPRANO. 



Ho was most conscientious in the 
examination of the exercises and 
pointed out at once the fault. Pic 
was pitiless toward any error in con- 
struction. He would examine for a 
long time a doubtful passage, then say 
"No I do not like it;” .but when he 
found even in the stammering of 
musical expression some new modula- 
tion or an attempt at a new detail m 
form he was happy in exclaiming, I 
like it; I like it. He was ncvei 
ha.stv in judgment, nor had he a Pf 0 ’ 
erustian bed of opinion and prejudice 
on which he stretched his pupils 

Franck insisted on his pupu-’. Y 1 ^’*7 
ing. not much but well. He did hot 
ask for a quantity of exercises, lie 
demanded that what was brought, 
however little, was most carefully 
considered and worked out. ... 

When a pupil had completed with 
him the study of counterpomt-he 
wished the counterpoint to be intelli- 
gently woven and melodic- and the 
study of fugue, In which he sought 
after expression rather than comnina- 

. . . • • i - ^ ,1 the “m VR_ 



master in a spirit of religious enthusi- 
asm and worship. 

Mr. d’lndy as Biographer. 

Mr. d’lndy as man and composer is 
known and honered in Boston, for 
even those who were unable to ap- 
preciate wholly his noble, second sym- 
phony realized the sincerity of the 
man and the dignity of his art. It was 
to be expected thart his life of Caesar 
Franck would be a careful, discrim- 
inative, illuminative study of the 
great composer. He is eloquent, but 
his eloquence is not extravant, and his 
love for Franck does not blind him 
to the existence of inferior composi- 
tions signed by the loved name. 

It may be in writing certain pages 
that Mr. d’lndy has furnished "an elu- 
cidation of himself and his proceedings 
in composing at the same time.” It may 
be that in his zeal for the welfare of 



OK LI let 1 in Axrci.1 j Vi 

than in pamuiig m m < *• * ^ • * * *- » - ^ ~ • .. onmhin:i - the Schola Cartorum, he has gone out 

“Everything,” says Mr. d’lndy. “that after expression. rather .than combina q£ hlg xvay t0 attack both the living 
one produces in art should be. not a tion he then Initiated him in the W8 and the dead as when he describes 
•pensum/ but the result of some tones of composition, ". oll £ T™ Gounod, leaving the concert hall of the 
suffering in which the young artist has |i according to him. on tonal eonstruc^ conservatory after the first performance 
left a bit of his heart, and Ion the ex- non. He built yP_ mu h s 'f. “ s Musical of Franck's symphony, surrounded by 
pression of which he employs all his in- tec t an endu ring .house Mu'ical jnce „^ burners of each sex and say- 



phrases, like builder's material, how- 
ever beautiful, are as naught they do 
not constitute a musical work unless 



to form, but he gave the pudiI liberty 
to apply it. His teaching was liberal, 
for "respecting more than any one 
else the high laws of our art. laws of 
nature and tradition, lie knew how 
to apply them in an intelligent man- 
ner by conciliating them with the 
right of imitative individuality. se- 
vere in his denunciation of vices in 
construction. lie was indulgent to 
faults in detail, nor was he shocked 
bv violations of eonvei»tional rules. 
He would say: "That is not permitted 



tellectual faculties.” The system of .re- 
quiring each pupil to produce much is 
not good for the majority, because it ac- 
customs them to writing something, no 
matter what, and to being satisfied with 
all that flows from the pen as long as 
the flow is copious. They have, then 
no idea of the leading part that should 
be played by that faculty of the intel- 
ligence which is called taste, which de- 
termines the choice of material and the 
orderly and fitting arrangement ot it. 

To this mistaken instruction is due the 
production of w-orks hurriedly thought 
and useless to art that are heard in 
theatres and concert halls throughout 
I Europe. _ , . 

Franck’s Teachings. 

It is not necessary to discuss Franck's -^-^ Con&prvator ^ but I like it.” 
mastery of technic in considering bin never said merely: “That is bad. 

~~ n teacher Mr. d’lndy analyzes other Do it over for me;” he sought out the 
characteristics that made him. as he reason wh^U was bad and explained 
says, a pre-eminent instructor In com- Hr , taugnt a j so by example. If a 
position First of all. he had the gift ot pupil found a difficulty in the course 
tboronehlv acquainted with of construction. Franch would take 
eneb mipil ' with his abilities and his , a volume of Bach, Beethoven. Schu- 
f imitations He studied no doubt un- mann, or Wagner, point out a pas- 
ronsciou«ly the psychological character sage, and say: "lou see he had the 

htmselV; 0 *st ucl'y S< these "m^asures^^irid 
I individuality and tried to preserve it in \ the 
developing nnd training it. ' This Is | solution.” 

why the musicians of his schooling, all His affection for his pupils was so 
solidly educated under him. have kept g r <. at that he bore them constantly in 
in their music an individual aspect. m i n( t,and informed them of what he 
Franck loved his art passionately ana thought might interest them. Often 
exclusively, and his teaching was found- 1 late at n j g ht after he was through, 
I ed on love. He was not bound by strict i a3 on ,. wou]< j think, with teaching. 

rules, by dry and fastidious theories. 

' He was a father as well as a teacher to 
j each pupil, and such was his kindness 
! and affection that the pupils were not 
i only devoted to him. but were closely 

I ~ c /l u'lMi nnntlioi' art that thprp. 



UL r idiiuiv a uijjuuiij i j 

incense-burners of each sex, and say- 
ing pontilically that the symphony was 
the "affirmation of impotence pushed to 

■ > T-» . ^ d t-,1 nelrt tVllC 



not constitute a musical ™ork unless dogma perhaps Gounod made this 
their place and relation are ruled 1 > | ech> perhaps he did not. Some of 
sure and logical^ laavs^ the disciples of Franck are too much 

busied jn addin g to the legend of his 
martyrdom. Franck was not the only 



omy ut’vuuju iu mm, out v. * “ • 

I joined one with another, bo that there 
| was no disputing, no envious, sour ri- 
I valry, and since his death there has 
i been no clouri on their relationship. 



do uii' " wui't miiirw, »**».»* ' • , 

he would write at length and with 
pains advice to pupils in the coun- 
try. No wonder that this master is 
still gratefully and lovingly remembered 
as “Pere Franck” or that Mr. d'lndy 
when he was in Boston spoke of his 



martyrdom. amneu nut 

composer who was long unappreciated i 
bv colleagues and critics, and in tills 
respect he is in line with Mozart. Bee- 
thoven. Schubert, Schumann. Wagner. 

Especially to be regretted is the pub- 
lication of one sentence in Mr. d Indy s 
book. After speaking of the influence 
of Franck's love for humanity, truth, 
art and God. his biographer says: "We 
know onlv too well, we men who live at 
the end of the 19th century, that never 
can truth manifest itself by hate, and 
all the monstrous 'j'aecuse' are and will 
remain powerless in comparison with the 
simple 'j'aime' ot Pere Franck. But 
this “monstrous ‘j'aecuse’ brought 
truth to light, saved the honor and the 
glory of France, restored to humanity 
belief in justice.- France has had many 
illustriou>s men. and among them Cesar 
Franck: but the name of Emile Zola 
may well be remembered in honor when 
the score of "The Beatitudes” will havo 
chiefly historical interest. For art is not 
everything, nor is the creative artist the 
only herd. The man who risks all in 
the cause of humanity and nobly dares 
in the face of public opinion and of 
rulers and judges to lift up his voice 
for the oppressed deserves better ot a 
fellow countryman than this ill-con- 
sidered speech. ... . 

One or two of Mr. d'lndy s statements 
oi fact are open to discussion. lus 
readers will be under the impression 
t> at Franck barely scraped his way 
through life as a poor piano teacher. 
Some of his intimate friends in I aiis 
spy that his income must have amount- 
ed’ to about 28, 000 francs a year, and to 
a man of simple tastes in Paris, this 
h come is by no means poverty. 



,' Va ? Fraheij of Walloon dtescei- 
•'V • “Outot dc Mouv 1, cousin to Franc. . 

, , ‘ rn he was in Boston, spoke of 
I ranck s parents as Germans or of Ger- 
A( tn descent. However tills may be, 
ols, music is not essentially French, as 
; that of Saint-Saens, Debussy, and 
(lio Massenet of "Mnnon” and "La 
Nnvarralse.” 

We have already questioned the date 
c the composition. “Passes:, passez 
loujours,” as given by Mi-. d'Indy. Was 
not the first performance of “The 
Beatitudes” as a whole at Dijon? 

f he Herald has endeavored to give its 
(readers a fair Idea of one of the few 
remarkable works In the field of mu- 
sical biography. Seldom has the life of 
a groat composer been written by a 
musician of Mr. d’ Indy's calibre. Sel- 
dom is any biography written with like 
understanding, artistic conviction, con- 
tagious sympathy. Seldom is biograph- 
i- al enthusiasm tempered by sane crit- 
icism. Pages that will be helpful and 
stimulating to all who are seriously con- 
cerned with music are riot merely 
digressions to sw-ell the volume. They 
are connected intimately with the ca- I 
-cer of Franck. The book Is written 
by one who has thought deeply on | 
problems of life and all the arts, and | 
in raising this monument to his master j 
Mr. d’Indy has honored himself. 

The biography should be translated i 
into English, but pot in .haste, not as ! 
a perfunctory task for pay. It should ! 
hi Englished by a musician intimately I 
acquainted with French a? used b.\ 
a composer of original ideas and fas- 
tidious taste. -No better translator 
could be found for this purpose than 
Mr. Charles Martin Loeffler. Would that 
ht might be persuaded to do this work 
and enrich the volume with his anno- 
tations! 



MUSIC NOTES. 

The Herald publishes today a portrait 
of Miss Clara Sexton, lyric soprano; 
also a portrait of her as Lucia. Miss 
Sexton, born in Springfield, studied in 
Boston with Mr. W. L. Whitney and Mr. 
B:mboni, and in Florence with Messrs. 
\ annuccini and Lombardi. She made 
her debut last season at Gergamo as 
^Lucia, and sang during the engagement 



ile to he in s-. nq.ri In lie inti’s! 

scientific thought. They are no more 
modern than were the Greeks, who rose 
in the theatre and remained standing 
until a stranger, an old man, had found 
a comfortable seat. 

CELESTIAL SPEECH. 

Mr. Johann Martin Schleyer, the 
Inventor of Volapuk, now 75 years 
old, told his friends who celebrated 
with him his birthday: “I shall soon 
make my last and longest journey. 
My reward will be to hear the angels 
speaking and singing Volapuk.” Dotes 
tills mean that volapuk is the pre- 
vailing language in heaven, or that 
it Is merely an accomplishment, as a 
New England singer gives a recital 
with 4°ngs in three languages? Swe- 
denborg tells of the strange language 
of the" fiends, and Berlioz put music 
to a demoniacal text in the finale of 
his "Damnation of Faust." There are 
deep thinkers who insist that the 
speech in the Garden of Eden was in 
low Dutclj. Paul, who had celestial 
visions when he was caught up to the 
third heaven and heard "unspeakable 
words}- which it is not lawful for a 
man to utter,” spoke of the “tongues 
of man and of angels.” Does Mr. 
Schleyer believe that the “unspeaka- 
ble words” were in volapuk? Of 
course the advocates of Esperanto 
can sky nothing. Esperanto was in- 
vented for commercial purposes only. 

AMOROUS BLUFF. 

A female philosopher has given 
counsel to men in the matter of the re- 



who lmd reached the age of 10G. Opium 
was not strong enough for him in his 
youth, so he abandoned it for the mer- 
curic ohlorid, and increased gradually 
the dose until for upward of thirty 
years he had taken sixty grains daily. 
Lord Elgin and others knew him, and 
he assured them of his intense happiness 
after swallowing the stuff. Today there 
is Capt. Vetrio, “a young American 
genlleman,” who made a stir at the 
Queen’s Hotel, London, not long ago 
by dining in the presence of a few 
favored guests on Paris green, strych- 
nine, blue indigo, phosphorus and atro- 
pine. Each plate in turn contained its 
green and blue and white powders, and 
the gallant captain regretted bitterly 
that he was unable to add to the feast 
in consequence of the stringent laws 
that control the sale of poisons in 
England. 



M a month with genuine success. She 
lien sang at Barcelona In Massenet's tention of a woman’s love and 
Worther.” After a visit of a month at n . , an ° respect, 

her home in Springfield she sailed yes- une 01 her maxims is this : Don’t be 

terday on the Canopic for Italy to fulfil mean to a woman or to any one in her 



ngagemehts for the coming year 
The London Times thus spoke of Mme. 
Melba’s Violetta: “In spite of its famil- 
.irily, Mme. Melba’s Violetta always 
takes us by surprise every, time we 
hear it. For It is surprising as well 
as refreshing to hear coloratura sung 
nowadays as she sings it; it all comes 
pouring out with amaziig spontaniety 
and that splendid sense of enjoyment 
which makes one feel that here, at any 
rate, coloratura is not an artificial pro- 
duct, forced by the singing teacher for 
•he mere caprice of the operatic com- 
poser, but the natural expression of the 
person who is singing, just as it was 
n the eighteenth century when people 
.--ok to singing and made a virtuosity 
of it, much in the same way as we do of 
he piano. Mme. Melba is, in fact, the 
ink that connects the twentieth cen- 
.ury with the golden age of singing. Her 
costume may also be regarded from a 
chronological point of view, for it was 
at least a couple of centuries ahead of 
every one else’s on the stage and rather 



presence.” A woman, it appears, 
despises a niggard “as she hates a spot 
on her nose,” even when she herself is 
obliged to be economical. IVe once re- 
proached a girl for ordering extrava- 
gantly- at a restaurant when she knew 
her companion had a small salary. She 
answered : “He had no business to in- 
vite me if he couldn’t give me what I 
wanted.” Yet she was of a thrifty na- 
ture, and was often obliged to deny her- 
self things that to many are necessities. 
The philosopher says you should tip 
nobly , a waiter or cabman, and if you 
endeavor to conceal from your com- 
panion the amount of the tip, she will 



. - judge the amount by the reception. A 

more than oO years too soon for the pe- , , ... 

l-iod in which Dumas places the scene dangerous philosopher, both as sociolo- 
gist and- economist, one to make trouble ! 
She should be denied pen and ink. 
She should be : shut up. Yet the follow- 



'd the original story. Our ancestors 
knew what they were about when they 
clothed themselves in the fifties; how 
long will it take us to realize the charm 

and beauty of the fashions of that peri- . , , ,. T . , 

od? It ought not to take the manage- remark-may save her: “If you have 
ment long, at "any rate, to realize the not the money to be generous in actual- the pavement may compare with most 
incongruity of mixing up tile costumes , ., , . , ^ ■ 

■ — ...... i ty , be at least generous in thought and 



SLANG AGAIN. 

Some time ago, to show that slang 
was only language in the making, 
The Herald called attention to a few 
words published in Dekker’s “Lan- 
thorne and Candle Light,” three cen- 
( turies ago, words that today are in 
respectable colloquial use, but were 
then used only by thieves and rap- 
scallions. Some of the editions of 
“The History and Curious Adventures 
of Banyfylede-Moore Carew, King of 
the Mendicants” — the first was pub- j 
lished in 1745 and now brings $10 or' 
$12 in the second-hand book shops — 
contain a list of words that, generally 
used by beggars at the time the list 
was compiled, are, now in colloquial 
use and some of them in literature. 
Carew, an extraordinary rascal, visit- 
ed the “plantations in America”, and 
gave a description of Boston with its 
harbor defences. He considered the 
town safe from the approach of any 
sea foe, and found it was impossible 
“for any ship to be run away with out 
of this harbor by a pirate.” Nettle’s 
I Island was worth two. or three hun- 
I dred pounds to the owner. Col. 
Shrimpton. Carew described the 
streets as “broad and regular,” and 
the houses of the richest merchants as 
“stately, well built, convenient.” 
There were five printing houses, “at 
one of which the Boston Gazette is 
printed and comes out twice a week. 
There were nine churches: “Old 

Church, North Church, South Church, 
New Church, New North Church, New 
South Church, the Church of England 
church, the Baptist Meeting and the 
Quakers’ Meeting.” “The goodness of 



of Van Dyk with the latest ‘creatons’ 
from Bond street.” We quote this with 
peculiar pleasure on account of the un- 
warranted stories that have been told 
about her passing as a singer. 

The press agent of Mr. Josef Lhevinne 
speaking of the birth of a son to Mr. 
Lhevinne’s wife— she is also a musician— 

ommented on the “fact” that children 
are seldom, if ever, born from a union of 
distinguished musicians, and he made 
the astonishing statement that Robert 
and Clara Schumann were childless. 
Thus did his passionate pen contradict 
all statements of biographers and also 
the birth certificates of Robert and 
Clara's little ones. The press agent also 
said that De Beriot and his wife, Marie 
Malibran, were childless. H-m-m. Pleas- 
ant news for their son, Charles Wilfrled 
de Beriot, born at Paris in 1833, and still 
known there as a piano teacher and com- 
poser, unless he died recently. 

This reminds us that Raff's symphony, 
“In the Forest," was performed recent- 
ly at the Greek Theatre, Berkeley, Cal , 
and gave much pleasure to the' corre- 
spondent of a New York music iournal 
who wrote: “It demonstrated that Raft 
also can write in modern style, with 
surprising changes of key and unusual 
orchestration.” Raff was called roman- 
tically modern before he died ”4 years 
ago. It is a pleasure to learn that'he is 
still modern in another world, and that 
much may reasonably be expected of 
him. 

'f ut > 

THOSE NORWEGIANS. 

The Norwegians are, indeed, a strange 
folk. In Christiania they are mortified 
by the conduct of Mr. Paul O. Stens- 
Inud, and not merely because he ran 
mvaj. They hope that the incident will 



tell her how you would like to give her 
this or that. That will be sufficient for 
the average good-bad woman.” Thus 
does she encourage bluff. One word of 
caution to young wooers : Do not try 
this bluff in a restaurant. Neither the 
adored one nor the waiter will listen to 
it patiently. Denied her broiled live 
lobster, she will leave you for a 
“lobster” who will supply her «eanni- 
balistieally. She may accept an oyster 
stew and a glass of beer if you order 
firmly and without apology. If you say : 
“I wish I could give you a bird and a 
| bottle,” you will lose her. 



“COLD PIZEN.” 

It seems that in Italy, where there 
are many suicides, there is a change in 
the methods. Twenty-one years ago the 
favorite ways of passing through the 
door, which Epictetus described as al- 
ways open to anyone, were by firearms, 
dropping from a height and carbonic 
acid gas. Now an Italian contributor 
to the Lancet shows that shooting and 
hanging are out of fashion. Poison has 
taken their place, and is equally in 
favor with both sexes. There is a reason 
for the change ; the greater ease with 
which corrosive sublimate and other 
forms of mercury may be procured. So 
not injure the character of Norwegian- Gemma, as well as Dinah, in the Eng- 
Americans in the eyes of the world. In Hsh cockney ballad, ends her woe with 
a. western state they are opposed to the a “cup of cold pizen.” 
re-election of two legislators who advo- The preventative would seem to be a 
cated a bill to put to death men that poisonous diet administered to children 
have passed a certain age on the ground from their earliest years, as Mithridates 
that they are useless citizens. These was nourished, as the maiden in Haw- 
N’orwegians are shocked at this lack of thorne’s story breathed with impunity 
respect shown toward the aged. Thus, the odors of the poisonous flowers. 
At home, they do not seem able to recog- There was at Constantinople a century 
nize “smartness” in business operations, ago a highly respected person, “Soly- 
nnd in the United States they are not man, the eater of corrosive sublimate,” 



of London; to gallop a horse on it is 
(three shillings and fourpence forfeit. 
(The conversation in this town is as 
polite as in most of the cities and 
towns of England: many of their 

merchants having traded in Europe, 
and those that stay at home having 
the advantage of society with trav- 
ellers; so that a gentleman from Lon-' 
don would think himself at home in 
Boston, when he observes the number 
of people, their furniture, their tables, 
their dress and conversation, which 
perhaps is as splendid and showy as 
that of the most considerable trades- 
men in London.” 

But to the words used by beggars 
and now respectable “Bamboozle” 
may be looked on askew today by the 
genteel, but it is in common use. “To 
best” any one was then a low phrase, 
as was “to blow in” — we give them 
to show their age. Another now fa- 
miliar phrase in England was “It’s 
the cheese” — the correct, the proper 
thing. A knowing person was “fly” 
and a showy one “flash.” “To hike" 
meant “to run away,” and a child was 
a “kid." Flashy, showy dress was 
“loud." “To put the kibosh on any 
one" was to slander, run him down, 
degrade him. “To queer” anything 
was to spoil it. “To get the sack” 
had the meaning it has today, and so 
had “seedy” and “stunning.” Clothes 
were “togs,” and “to tip” was to give 
or lend. “Welcher” was in use among 
the low, and it is now in the mouths 
of lo.rds on race tracks. But why was 
"bandore” in use among beggars and 
rogues both as musical instrument 
and “widow’s mourning-peak”? The 
name of the lute-like instrument was 
probably brought from Spain by 






fcgrypsles. They. Introduced many words j 
into the English dictionary, as “jock- 
ey,” for we are not of the opinion that j 
“jockey” is a variant of "jacky,” di- j 
minutive of "jack,” as -some insist. 

pS? U.J /ty**' f & £ - 



AFTER MANY YEARS. 

A man in Maine, after chewing to- 
bacco for eighty-one years, resolved 
Oil his 95th birthday to abandon the 
habit, nor will he smoke,, snuff or 
dip. “Much ceremony attended the 
declaration,” and now his fellow- 
townsmen are betting on how long 
he^will keep his pledge. But why 
should he give up so late in life a 
habit that must have given him 
much pleasure? Surely not because 
he will thus be more agreeable to 
women. Not because it is injurious 
to his health. Will he take a suc- 
ceda, neum, flagroot, slippery elm, 
(ibvage, gum? Let us hope so; oth- 
erwise there is something pathetic 
( in the thought of those quiet jaws 
after years of constant activity. 
Those jaws suggest a song, a ballad 
of the heart and home modelled on 
Grandfather's Clock.” Meanwhile, j 
he is undoubtedly watched night and 
day by his sportive fellow-townsmen. 

DIVORCE COURT SKETCHES. 

The president of the divorce court in 
London has announced that newspaper 
Artists are henceforth forbidden to 
make sketches in court, “as the prac- 
tice is embarrassing and prejudices wit- 
nesses, and because it is not in the pub- 
lic interest to draw attention pictorially 
to divorce cases.” The news of a like 
prohibition in courts of this country 
would bring grief to many who are 
unable to attend the trials. We all 
know the remarks that follow the in- 
j speetion of these pictures : 

I Mrs. Johnson : “He looks like a bfute, 
and I am not surprised that no decent 
woman would livp with him. She can- 
“not be a very refined person.” 

Mr. .Johnson: “Well, I don’t know, 

Eustacia ; she is rather an attractive 
woman, I should say.!’ 

Mrs. Johnson : “Humph. Have you 

read the testimony about her? Yon 
men have such unaccountable tastes.” 

Mr. Johnson: “But just see the mug 

of the chief witness against her. I 
wouldn’t believe him under oath, and, 
remember, he was paid tq discover evi- 
dence. It’s a jail-bird face.” 

And are such aids to reflection and 
conversation to be tabooed? Perish the 
thought ! 



LOST JOYS. 

The state board of health of Indi- 
ana is determined to do away with 
, ail the perquisites and joys of ehild- 
i flood. \\ e do not refer especially to the | 
first rule that will be put on tfie DuIIetin 1 
hoards when the schools open : “Do 

not kiss any one on the mouth or 
Allow any one to do so to you,” for 
kissing will undoubtedly have a finer 
flavor some years, hence. But it is 
the purpose of the state board to 
keep happy children from swopping 
•apple cores and Jackson balls, from 
■’f litting their fingers in their mouths, 
^from wetting the fingers so as to 
turn over book leaves, from licking 
out a sum on a slate, etc., etc. The 
t;me will come, no doubt, when the 
children will be forbidden to runout 
the tongue when they are writing in 
copybooks. “Peel fruit or wash it 
before eating.” This is a hard rule 
even for many grown persons. I No 
.apple cut with a knife is so sweet as 
the one bitten into. To many the 
true pleasure of apple eating is in 
“chankings” — some prefer the 
variant “chaunkings.” And what 
affectionate little girl would think of 
refusing to eat the red apple that 
came straight from the pocket of lit- 
tle Johnny, or first /, putting it under 
the pump. “Learn to love fresh air.” | 

, To do this in most schools the boys and I 
j girls must play hooky. 

ENGLISH FRUIT MARKETS. 

Tne Herald referred a few days 
-ago to the first exportation of apples 
this season from- Boston. The quesl 
tion may be asked whether England 
nas not enough fruit of its own We 
have before us statistics of the Eng- 



-• foreign fruit trade for last year 
and they are .surprising. In August, 
!!)(>•>, plums were imported into Eng- 
land to the sum of £315,545, pears 
to the value of £154,542 and grapes 
'tb the value of £ 112.312. Vegetables, 
'.too, are imported in great quantities.' 
In one week last September the Eng- 
lish received from abroad 310,168 1 
bushels of onions and 10.1J3 orates of 
tomatoes. There are Englishmen who 
say this state of things is their own 
fault; that British grown fruit has 
been driven out of the market by 
“superior packing and the system of 
grading.” Furthermore, the Northern 
Railway Company of France does 

much to help French fruit growers. 
SWb special fast trains from the south 
of France reach Calais so that the 
consignments arrivp in time for the I 
English markets the next day. But 
some of (hese lamenting Englishmen 
forget that for many years England 
did not produce many fruits or vege- 
tables. Even in the fifteenth century 
the general produce of the kitchen 
gardens was ridiculously meagre when 
compared with those of the Nether- 
lands, Italy and France, and the few 
vegetables grown were all boiled 
with meat, though some Englishmen 
began timidly to know t lie virtue of a 
salad. As for importations of fruit, 
they were known in the thirteenth 
century. Pears came from Rochelle, 
pomegranates, citrons, oranges, figs, 
grapes from Spain. The time may 
come when native apples will be more 
expensive in America than grape fruit. 

j t s~ /jot 5 

KISS ALBUMS. 

: Some may remember the mental 

photograph album craze which caused 
suffering to many amiably disposed. 
"Who is your favorite poet?” “What 
‘virtue do you admire most in wo- 
man?” “Who would you prefer to be 
if you were not yourself?” etc. These 
albums have passed away, but a more 
dangerous if not more foolish one is 
now in England, the “kiss album.” 

It is passed to you, if you are looked 
on with favor, and you are expected 
to kiss a carmine-tinted pad. “What- 
ever the stuff is, it comes off on your 
lips. Then you kiss a page of the 
album and the stuff, coming off again, 
leaves a lasting record. Each kiss is 
said to be a marvellous exhibition of 
individuality. A London sociologist 
of a flippant nature asks what kind 
of kiss should be given : “the sort 

that one would administer to one’s 
wife, or to one's grandmother, or to 
a sticky infant, or to a police court 
testament? Probably the right way 
is to endeavor to confuse the book 
with its owner.” No consumptives, of 
course, need apply. But what a nasty 
album, even when the kissers are 
guaranteed as sound and kind! What 
a waste of raw material! 



the young woman thus described, all 
.steel springs and ginger, high in the 
good graces of the captain, irritat- 
ing by the exuberance of her vitality, 
With a razor-like voice. Remember- 
ing her, we like to think of Mrs. 
Longworth quiet, reading an improv- 
ing book. 



HOMEWARD BOUND. 

It appears that some of their fel- 
low passengers complained that Mr. 
and Mrs. Longworth were not in- 
clined to be sociable on the home- 
ward voyage. Mr. and Mrs. Long- 
worth did not "notice” anybody on 
deck or below. Carefully watched\ 
they were not "seen or heard to ad- 
dress one word to each other” for 
three days. They sat, "each with a 
book.” But what did the fellow pas- 
sengers expect? That Mr. Long- 
worth should be the hero of the smok- 
ing cabin, slapping everybody on the 
back, calling this one “Old Sport” 
and that one “Say” ? That Mrs. 
Longworth should tell the women all 
about her adventures? Mr. and Mrs. 
Longworth must have been thorough- 
ly sick of the whole thing, monarchs 
and queens and jukes, dinners and 
suppers, chatter, games, theatres. 
M hat wonder that they were quiet, 
almost morose. It would not have 
been surprising had they sought the 
seclusion that the cabin grants. Even 
the strongest nerved cannot be on 
parade the whole time. Was it rea- 
sonable to expect Mrs. Longworth to 
be “the life of the whole ship”? Some 
of us have, no doubt, crossed with 



DISTURBING NEIGHBORS. 

The tenants in a New York apart- 
ment house complained of the sing- 
ing in the next house on account of 
its vigor and long continuance. Work 
as there lightened by song, and joy 
'found in robust bravura its full and 
free expression. The proprietor of 
the house inhabited by those who 
had no music in their sojuls put up a 
'spite fence” of corrugated iron 
seventy-two feet high, and now the 
neighbors relieve the strain on their 
voftal chords by hammering lustily 
on the iron work. Neighbors in en- 
forced proximity are often fussy. We 
■remember a case in a suburb of Lon- 
don where the owner and occupiers 
of one house attempted to restrain a 
woman from committing a breach of 
a covenant by which the owners of 
the estate agreed among themselves 
that the purchasers of lots should 
not carry on any business or trade 
except that of doctor or apothecary. 
The woman against whom the com- 
plaint was brought was charged with 
lodging "persons of weak intellect.” 
One of these lodgers found pleasure 
in sitting in the sun combing her 
hair, like, the Lorelei; another would 
go to the side of the garden, fix her 
eyes on a hedge and stand there 
staring at it. All this prevented the 
ladies next door, they swore, from 
.having tea on the terrace. Why 
'■Should it have prevented them? 
P here was something more to see, 
something more to talk about, and 
the woman's hair might have been 
beautiful. Furthermore, has not a 
woman a right to comb her hair in 
any part of her lodgings or to stare 



“GENERALLY I NTELLIGENT.” 

Your cheeks would flush if anyone 
were to deny that you are a “generally 
intelligent” person, and vet how nanny 
of us could answer offhand many of the 
questions in “General Intelligence Pa- 
pers,” by Mr. Gerald Blunt, M. A., F. 
R- G. S., headmaster of S. Salvator's 
school, St. Andrews, etc.? The British 
army qualifying board determined “to 
test the general intelligence of expres- 
sion” among candidates for a commis- 
sion, and the “service crammers” 
adopted as a standard manual iu their 
coaching establishments Mr. Bluut's 
handbook. 

W hat would you say, for instance, to 
this: “Discuss the truth of the follow- 
ing housemaid’s theories: (a) That the 
sun streaming on a grate puts the tire 
out; (b) that a poker thrust into a 
dying fire revives it; (c) that a poker 
placed vertically over a (ire draws it 
up." Wc have read of an English 
youtji — the story was told by Mr. Basil 
Tozer — who thinking to gain expert 
testimony consulted a housemaid, who 
answered that “she hadn’t never heard 
no such stuff and nonsense, and would 
trouble him to keep his sauciness to 
himself.” Perhaps she was suffering 
from housemaid’s knee and was there- 
fore irritable. 

Here is an apparently easy one. 
“What is meant in botany by fruit? Ex- 
plain with examples the fruits known 
as achene, capsule, drupe and berry.” Is 
the watermelon a berry? The tomato is 
thus classed. How do you account for 
the limits of the frigid zones? “Explain, 
with diagram, the mechanism of (a) a 
meat jack; (b) an aneroid barometer; 
and (c) an Otto’s gas engine.” IIow 
would you explain these terms: Ecliptic, 
isobar, perihelion, llanos, selvas, pam- 
pas, brave west winds, “roaring 
forties”? The applicant is expected to 
create as well as define. “Write an essay- 
on : “American Sensitiveness,” or “Some 
English Verses on Apple Blossoms." 
Why “American sensitiveness?” After 
the essay and the verses are written you 
will please name the planets in their 



at a hedge? “Persons of weak in 
tellect,” Any.citizen might -bring] or< ^ er ^ rom the sun > and state the period 

| this charge against his neighbors. If 



the persons next door sing continu- 
ally, buy' a mechanical piano, a 
gramophone, or hire a pile driver for 
backyard practice in rhythm, 

THE VOYNICH COLLECTION. 

Mr. W. M. Voynich, for some time 
known in England chiefly as the hus- 
band of his wife, the author of “The 
Gadfly," “Jack Raymond" and a few 
other works, began to attract atten- 
tion as a collector and seller of rare 
books. He had suffered cruelly as a 
patriot from Russian persecution, and 
know-n the horrors of prison and the j 
excitement of escape. Safe in Lon- i 
don he and his wife for a time also , 
knew bitter poverty. Four years ago 1 
he exhibited a collection of 160 vol- 
umes consisting exclusively of un- 
known or lost books. This exhibition 
Is said to have been the first of its 
kind, and although an elaborate cat- 
alogue was published, no second copy 
of any one of the books has been re- 
ported. Mr. Voynich found the books 
in various European countries, and it 
may here he said that many of the 
books sold by him came from Italian 
monasteries. The monks part with 
them, fearing confiscation at the 
hands of the government. The exhi- 
bition was opened four y'ears ago, but 
the library, the most unique one in 
the world, was not sold until recently, 
when it was secured for a public in- 
stitution in London. The delay-, which 
seems surprising, is thus accounted 
for: the variety of the collection was 
its w-eakness, for collectors are no 
longer omniverous. The collection j 
covered many subjects, from early 
books on acrostics to Fathers of the , 
Church; from Icelandic printing to 
medicine. Mr. Voynich insisted that 
the collection should be sold as a 
whole. We remember the catalogue 
and that in the whole list of those un- 
known books only one or two would 
have been of interest to the general 
reader or the average collector. Per- 
haps the books were deservedly- un- 
known or lost, and it will be interest- 
ing to know if they will be disturbed 
in their new dormitory-. 



occupied by each in revolving round the 
sun, if you wish to be considered rea- 
sonably intelligent, and if you are not 
willing to be thought an incorrigible 
dullard you will explain and derive this 
list of words : Amorphous, hydrosphere, 
pliocene, physiography, nitrogen, palaeo- 
zoic, terrigenous, agonic, anemometer, 
eocene, pterodactyl, ethnology, crypto- 
gram, thermometer, pelagic, ozone. 

“Enough is as good as a feast.” The 
compiler of the book quotes this saw 
and asks the reader : “What does this 
seem to presuppose?” How would the 
-generally intelligent” person answer 
this? Would it not be easier for him to 
explain by means of a diagram the meat 
jack's mechanism? 

“JOHN OLIVER IIOBBES.” ! 

The death of Mrs. Craigie will be 
heard with deep regret by all those 
who knew her as “John Oliver Hobbes,” 
the author of several striking and un- 
usually entertaining novels. It is true 
that one or two of her books shocked 
genteel and the prudish into a reali- 
zation of life as it is; but Mrs. Craigie 
did not write simply to shock, nor was 
her view of society hopelessly cynical. 
She was sincere when she was most 
epigrammatic and paradoxical. She was 
not “smart” merely for the sake of be- 
ing thought “clever.” She was au un- 
usually- brilliant woman and she was 
womanly in her brilliance. To say that 
she wrote like a man would belittle her, 
nor does her reputation as a writer need 
such patronage. A man could not have 
written her stories from the very fact 
that he was a man. Mrs. Craigie 
knew the world and its phantasms, 
and she also knew the lord of 
creation with all his weaknesses. 
She had the great gift of being 
able to stand apart from the pass- 
ing show in which she found amuse- 
ment and food for the incisive and 
wholesome moralization that her artistic 
sense suggested to the reader, for she 
was never platitudinous or didactic. 

MR. PUTNEY’S CLAY. 

Mr. “Hen" Putney, the New Hamp- 
shire editor, is "addicted to a well 
seasoned clay pipe.” It is nrobabli 



a T. D., and there is none better, or, 
as the poet of Lone Jack sang for all 
time: 

Or 6eek no farther; 

Better can’t be found. 

The clay pipe lends itself to all 
emotions and mental phases of the 
smoker. It Is dignified; it suggests 
the deep thinker; it is the friend of 
labor; short and black, it is easily 
furious or cocky. There is a certain 
affectation In a thinker's use of a 
meerschaum or even a briar, and 
there are so many deceptive briars 
today-! Coleridge once classed devo- 
tees of circulating libraries with 
others who attempt to reconcile in- 
dulgence of sloth with hatred of va- 
cancy — who swing on gates, spit over 
a bridge, con word by word all the 
advertisements of a daily newspaper 
on a rainy day-, quarrel tete-a-tete 
after dinner with the wife, smokers, 
gamesters; but the smoker of a clay 
is not a species of this genus. He 
does not attempt to blow rings. Nev- 
ertheless a fantastic pipe represent- 
ing a death’s-head would be singu- 
larly appropriate in the mouth of a 
New Hampshire editor today-. 



PEGASUS IN BOOTS. 

Mr. Joaquin, otherwise known as 
“Whackin’” Miller, the poet of Walk- 
er, the filibuster, and the Sierras, is 
now at Saratoga and it is a pleasure 
to learn that he still wears the leg 
boots which made him famous and 
proved the substantiality of his 
poetic gifts in the hot and stifling 
drawing-rooms of London. Not the 
identical boots, hut boots of the same 
historic species. At Saratoga he 
tucks his trousers into them during 
the day, .but at night he wears the 
trousers o'txliide. This shows that he 
has aged and his fiery poetic spirit 
is in a measure tamed. In London, 
when he first went there and was 
hailed as the great poet of a great 
continent, he tucked his trousers into 
his boots by day and by night, and it 
is not unlikely that he slept In them. 
Both noble dames and distinguished 
literary men of London — among them 
Mr. Swinburne — looked at the boots 
and wondered. Here was a new and 
true art. A friend asked Mr. Miller 
at Saratoga to go to the races. Mr. 
Miller answered, “piano, piano,” 
meaning "softly, softly.” Pray Just 
what did the poet mean? “Not on 
your life?” “I'm too old?” And what 
would he have meant, had he said: 
“forte” or "mezzo piano”? How could 
even a poet go “piano” in those boots? 



PERFERVID RHETORIC. 

There are clergymen in this coun- 
try- who, following the example of 
ihe distinguished London priest, give 
vent to fervidly rhetorical denuncia- 
tion of the “rich and the fashionable.” 
They attack women who belong to 
bridge whist clubs and “Wall street 
millionaires” who own ratehorses 
and play poker. There Is much ex- 
aggeration in their diatribes. A 
London journalist, discussing Fr. 
Vaughan’s attacks, hinted that he 
was Inclined to take the “penny nov- 
elette view,” which, however thrill- 
ing it may- be, leads to misapprehen- 
sion. A nobleman is not always a 
reckless libertine; a millionaire is 
not always a fit subject for a dun- 
geon cell. There are excellent wives 
snd mothers who understand the 
rules of bridge. There are good men 
who enjoy a friendly game of poker. 
The “rich and the fashionable” have 
their uses. Many of them support 
churches and are tolerant as well as 
benevolent, so that they contribute 
largely to the salary- of the clergy- 
men who denounce them; they occa- 
sionally invite them to dinner, after 
they have hidden the faro or roulette 
apparatus, which, of course, is in the 
house of every "rich and fashiona- 
ble” person along with stewed meats 
and clarets. 



A NEW HEART. 

Mr. John D. Rockefeller’s change 
of heart is beyond doubt and perad- 
\enture. Only a Diogenes with leaky- 
tub and shattered lantern would now- 
refuse to believe it. Mr. Rockefel- 
ler is positively boyish in his kindly 
Joy. He slapped a reporter on the 
back in Cleveland, and we are in- 



Ined to give cretfiTT to the report 
iat he called him "Oirf Sport." “Do 
u know, I find newspaper men and 
ven magazine writers a charming 
class personally?" We are glad to 
see he makes a distinction by his 
masterly use of “even." “They im- 
pressed me as being a really sincere 
type of men." How he has grown in 
mental stature and in discernment 
within the last six months! “Of 
course, I had but a limited opportu- 
nity of becoming acquainted with 
them, for which I am sorry." But 
there are newspapers in Cleveland, 
Mr. Rockefeller, and the offices, no 
doubt, are open evenings. Why don’t 
you visit the boys and swop stories 
with them? After you have accus- 
tomed yourself to them you should 
become familiar with magazine writ- 
ers. They are not all .pariahs, nor 
are they all cold, haughty, unap- 
proachable. You might begin by 
calling on Miss Ida Tarbell. 

MR. BONAPARTE’S REMEDY. 

Mr. Bonaparte, recommending a 
“severe but not a public whipping" 
for Anarchists who offend in minor 
ways, said: “The lash, of all pun- 

ishments, most clearly shows the cul- 
prit that he suffers for what his fel- 
low-men hold odious and disgrace- 
ful, and -not merely for reasons of 
public policy.” Whipping Is now and 
then recommended for wife beaters, 
and there are some who would have 
this punishment for other offences, 
yet the use of the post either'ln prison 
yard or in public square would be 
a return to licensed barbarity. Un- 
fortunately there Is cruel whipping 
in American prisons today. Witness 
the recent investigation in the Mis- 
souri state penitentiary. Three cen- 
turies ago Infirm and unemployed 
persons were recklessly flogged in 
England. They were “vagrants,” and 
that was enough. The law read that 
they should be stripped 'and beaten 
through the market town or other 
place “till the body should be bloody,” 
and not till 1791 was the flagellation 
of female vagrants forbidden by Eng- 
lish statute. The descriptions of flog- 
gings inflicted in the old days are 
most revolting and the wonder is that 
human beings survived the punish- 
ment. Furthermore, flogging brutal- 
izes those that flog, nor^ would the 
floggers be contented with inflicting 
the punishment only on Anarchists. 
The strange history of flagellation 
shows that the whipper experiences 
a peculiarly horrid enjoyment in the 
performance of the task. By the way, 
what are these “offences of less grav- 
ity” that are committed by Anar- 
chists? Would Mr. Bonaparte have 
Prince Kropotkin flogged for a maga- 
zine article, if the prince were living 
in Baltimore or Boston? 

MADE IN GERMANY. 

The Germans in their own land were 
nee prfe-eminently the nation of pipe- 
bokers. When Coleridge first landed at 
lamburg he was struck by the pipes 
nd boots of the natives: “Pipes of all 
tapes and fancies — straight and 
reathed, simple and complex, long and 
tort, cane, clay, porcelain, wood, tin, 
lver and ivory.” The 1 pipe generally 
ad a silver chain and a silver bowi- 
wer. You will see marvellous pipes in 
lood's pictures to his “Up the Rhine.” 
hit for many years the cigar has driven 
at the pipe in the larger cities of Ger- 
lany. Now the American consul at 
•lauen reports that there is agitation 
■ or the harmful effects of smoking, in 
>ite of the fact that German cigars 
re “light in comparison with those of 
■her countries,” and that some factories 
re now producing cigars known as 
flee of nicotine, ’ and “poor in nico- 
ne. The latter have been made in 
iermany for many years and the former 
re not unknown to foreigners who there 
pent otherwise happy student days, 
igars made from the plant named by 
ohn Phoenix “stalkus cabbagieusis” 
ere in high favor in Berlin in the 
ighties. They were made in large 
uantities at Bremen, and were sold 
or two and a half cents apiece. Yet 
conomical Berliners thought that only 
Americans could afford such luxury. In 
hose days a curious fact was noted: 

*he higher the price until twenty-five 



cents was reached, Hie worse was the 
flavor of the cigar. The Germans are 
indeed a heroic race, if only for their 
bravery in tobacco. By marking cigar 
boxes “free from nicotine” or “poor in 
nicotine," they are now showing a truth- 
fulness in business that would be reck- 
less did it not disarm invidious eom- 
| ment. 

CONCERT FOYER 

Glance at the Summer Park 
Concerts in View of the 
Complaints Heard. 



ORCHESTRAS, MUSICIANS 
HERE AND IN EUROPE 

There is seldom agreement as to the 
precise nature of music that is “desir- 
Jable for^ either summer or Sunday con- 
certs. We note complaints made about 
summer music both in London and in 
Kansas City. 

j Alderman Bulger of the 5th ward of 
the latter town offered a few days ago 
f resolut >on that was adopted by the 

1 The a Kan a ^ ea ^^ U ^ l ^ n ^ el ^^' lc P^rks 6 
lmfoif £ ty ,J° urna -l finds the reso- 
man Bulwr Sh «”° y unequivocal.” Alder- 
n Bulger is not a euDhuist "Ha 

» in e fhfs the ! a . me ntable decadence 
or nn H- munlclpulity -' He stands 

?iL , ? n this unmistakable assertion 
that art is on the bum in this town ’ ' 



m-cbr 0 ,°^<! h T, d ° "S? ^'hhlnc-to form 

thin?, ?? or 50 Players, and seek 
the conti acts that now are obtained by 

elgner ” GSS accompllshe d imported for- 

What would Mr. Glover and others 
say if they were to examine the person- 
nel of the leading orchestras In the 
United StateB? How many native Amer- 
icans would they find In the Symphony 
orchestras of Boston, New York,' Chi- 
cago, Philadelphia, Pittsburg, Cincin- 

?nU ? , Wh ® n Mr - Vincent d’lndy came 
Ito Boston last season to conduct a series 

rLl°, nCe \ t3 given by the Symphony or- 
chestra, he regretted before the first re- 
flu ™ S h , l u t he dld not s P ea k English 
fluentl.v . He was astonished when he 
learned how few Americans were mem- 
bers of the orchestra. 

<JuL^2 lerI , ci } n by birth and musically 
educated solely In this country conducts 
a series of Symphony concerts in any 
one of the cities .lust named. 



It appears that the band which was 
awarded the contract by the park board 
was the lowest bidder, and the Musi- 
cians’ Union made a protest at the time. 
The band is not composed wholly of pro- 
fessional musicians. Many of us know 
what happens when a cornet is in the 
hands of a passionate amateur. 

The Journal maintains that Kansas 

g a y de S ” a T t f P tiC n ed V Cation is on the "up! 
graae. The people are paying a good 
puce, and they should have good rmisic 
In the parks, “the best that local talon? 

Jourr?aT? ide , Wi , th its nmft t atfl°on1 I ’' ta The ' 
Journal concludes: "It is certainly Tin 

is 'almost th3t in i the be ^ innln S of what 
?n,? n 1 a - renaissance there should be 
apy Provocation for jl members of the 
the” “?rea C t° UnCi1, presuma bly representing 
officially th a C t°™T? peopIe ’’ t0 declarl 
° a ? L ia . i i art s on the bum.' ” 

But does Alderman Bulger comDlain of 
out i n?i s t" ttousor'of the performance? The 

“onRhR m° U ! d S n y th u at art cannot be 
on the bum when there is any com- 

rinrnsi aS f nst , Unfortunately, the 
deflate i? ? eS i1 }, its ed ‘torial article no 
£?£ U V# ormatl °n concerning the char- 

tre'atmnnV 1 ? that is chosen for mal- 

treatment in the park. We are forced to 

a° n ?,° r , two ^ray References 
that the band itself is of the variety 
known as the “sheet iron.” This species 
is common in villages. p es 

care °f the members after the 
establishment of the organization is to 
secure showy uniforms on credit. They 
then try to agree on the hour of weekly 
practice. Sheet Iron bands play music 
fOrRh^ 8 t 2- hav f been written expressly 
for them. You do not hear the pieces 
played by other bands or by theatre or- 
chestras. You never hear them in an 

m? nSC !!I ent for P lano °r gramaphone. 
the music is obtained is a mys- 
B ^ -sounds alike and is a com- 
mon repertory for all bands of this class. 
oityAM be the i pl i sic hear d in Kansas 
™ ay be . Pardoned 



There are music schools in all these 
cities, but the great majority of the pu- 
pils study the piano and singing. There 
are violin students and a few And their 
way at last into these orchestras, but 
pupils in wind-instrument classes’ are 
| comparatively few, and they seldom 
reach a high state of proficiency. The 
reason for this is not hard to see. The 
student argues that there will be com- 
paratively little for him to do, that he 
will earn only a scanty living, and there- 
fore he chooses the piano, violin or or- 
gan. 

It is not true that the conductor of 
these large orchestras are all preju- 
aj c ed against players of American 
birth. Any conductor would welcome a 
virtuoso whether he were born in Ber- 
gamo, Eisleben. Barcelona of Terre 
] 1 au ^,’ ™, he great question is: “Can he 
play / Then comes tne question: “How 
much experience has he had?” 



thought i wo voices were worth twenty 
of It He heard In the same place a 
new instrument, “the arched vlall,” but 
lie was “quite out of love’’ with it. At 
Jl 1 ® 2JmL bouse be listened to “Mr. Pell- 
win by Promise, Walling- 

ton and Plgott, the former whereof, bc- 
n ve ,‘T bttle fellow, did sing a most 
«R < l < u! ent ba f?’ a *jd yet a poor fellow, a 
working goldsmith, that goes without 
gloves to his hands." This reminds u» 
li' ternM , Ward's astonishment at 
meeting out West a remarkable per- 
former on the bass drum, who <lld not 
have a tooth in his head 
It appears that about 20 years ago 
there was some sort of attempt made to 
provide vocal music in London park 
concerts, but the experiment failed, lias 
^ e S P T ment eve , r been ma fle serious- 
ly in Boston at parkconcerts in summer? 



Mr. Frank Richardson contributed 
this story to the Pall Mall Gazette: 

The band on the pier at Toad-in-the- 
Hole- super- Mare was grinding out a tune 
that suggested a motor car suffering from 
indigestion. 

■ T. he ybol® affair worried the kindly 
visitor fr#w Waybackville, Wls. Said he 
•A h< L. conduc . to1 '- after he bad got through 
with his trouble: 

Say, what’s that ... toon ... any- 
way?" * 

"It’s called ‘The Death of Nelson.’” an- 
swered the baton-hrandisher, not without a 
touch of improper pride. 

“Jee! What a death!" replied the Amer- 
ican, sadly, as he turned away, toying with 
the shaving brush that grew upon his chin. 



A large orchestra must have a busi- 
ness head and it must be managed as a 
business, otherwise there will be no op- 
portunity for the display of art. The 
conductor must not only be a man of 
ability and force, he must draw audi- 
ences unto him. If there were any 
American conductors who had pro- 
nounced skill, large experience and also 
the personal qualities that excite men 
and women to gather themselves to- 
gether to see and hear, no matter how 
high the price they pay for the privilege 
managers would at once besiege him 
and implore him to listen to their suit. 

the manager of an orchestra cannot 
afford to give a young man of promise 
a n opportunity for development. This 
is the epoch of virtuoso conductors, and 
mand virtuos ° 3 are foreigners and in de- 

London, it is true, has its Henry Wood 
Mr. Wood may or may not be, as 
some say, merely an imitation of Mr 
Nlkirsch. This is certain: the English 
believe in him and have made possible 
Ins indisputable success. At the same 
time, it is a significant fact that conduc- 
tors of foreign birth and training are 
often invited to conduct English music 
festivals for Mr. Richter, though he 
now lives in Manchester, cannot be 
called an Englishman— and men like 
Messrs Richter and Weingartner are 
then advertised as an attraction. 

In London there has been talk of 
vocal music in the parks, and the 
parks and open spaces committee of 
the London county council has the 
parent body's approval for a recoip- 



t ha t S art"? " r0lr ? . 1 he dep t h of h i s despair 
tiiat art Is on the bum. 



The complaint in London comes from 
theatre conductors and musicians. The 
London professional orchestral player 
was in the habit of looking forward to 
a summer engagement at some popular 
seaside resort. Now, it appears there is 
a habit, encouraged by the municipal 
authorities in these resorts, to import a 
foreign orchestra, or to accept “a cut- 
down price from agents who exploit Ser- 
vice bands for profit.” 

A Service band employs 30 to 40 musi- 
cians. These “famous” bands are hired 
I out in sections of 10, 12 and 15 players, 
and announced as ”H. M. Coldstream 
band," or “H. M. Royal Marine band,” 
at p’’,.^ h f e ^® as ea ?h is only an "instal- 
ment of these military bodies. Or Lon- 
ZR^ ntS , e ? nsult a “farming band- 
??rt S ? cr ’ who lm P° r ts foreign musicians 
every season. Unable to speak English, 
V sported cannot join the regular or- 

the len S c ’m bUt i ll l ey are gIad to Play at 
arm sa , as .'d e during the holiday season, 
them th r?‘" r °, Ut - ,ne knowledge prevents 
{ lom being troublesome to the 
enon? : f t< rr' {q three months they learn 
enough Engiish to enable them to stay 
S£d later, as Mr. J. M. Glover of the 
Rf ary Lan e Theatre puts it, “the or- 
nui?, tras kondon are flooded with 
a ,"® n au srmentation which is to the det- 
cian ° f the Brltisb rate P ayin g musi- 
t, n Ap d f eo, with t i lis “ Un fai r ” competi- 
nn n Lr,eR e BrItlsh orchestral player has 
ahov?? “ agement and does not rise 
thplLr a i/nP» ctable mediocrity with 
average pay” " SS a Week which is his 
stJt h emZ e ( . leSraph - . commenting on this 
mou e s m ^R^ ays: , Considering the enor- 
ex°er?itn*+ mbei ' ■ °, f Professionally-trained 
s£L n ii musicians in the metropolitan 
lools alone, it is strange indeed that 



i mendation that application be made to 
the next session of Parliament for 
authority "to arrange for vocal mu- 
sic to be provided as an extension of 
the music now provided under its 
existing powers relative to the pro- 
vision of bands, ard to make charges 
for programmes and for the use of 
seats and chairs at band perform- 
ances.” The Daily Telegraph dis- 
cusses this proposition, but, we ara 
sorrv to say, it makes no appeal in 
favor of^.free programmes and free 
seats. Park concerts are for the peo- 
ple, and all should he served alike, 
ihe price asked for a programme may 
be small, but it is a nuisance. A 
scat should be for any one w r ho is 
able to secure it. First come, first 
served, is the dam.ocra.tic rule. 

The Telegraph says that if vocal 
music is introduced it cannot be op- 
eratic or partfike of the nature of the 
entertainments provided in the 
Champs Elysees at the cafes concerts. 
Nor, on the other hand, can It be 
merely music hall.’ ” The Telegraph 
also thinks that solos, “especially fe- 
male solos," are practically impossi- 
ble. But why can there not be op- 
eratic music as well as glees and 
madrigals, wdiich are suggested by 
the Telegraph? Sirbply because the 
concerts would be given as a rule on 
ounday : I s it more in keeping with 

the proper observance of the Lord’s 
day to ask money for a programme? 

1 would seem that the remark 
of the Telegraph refers to open-air 
operatic vocal music on any day. The 
idea of any vocal music at these con- 
certs was not original with the com- 
mittee. Various suburban choral so- 
cieties approached the council with 
reference to glees and madrigals to 
be sung Id- male voices. If the Lon- 
doner must hear "Glorious Apollo.” 
Comrades at Arms" and "The Three 
Chafers, why should he not also be 
allowed to hear choruses, operatic 
ones, for mixed voices, or a quartet 
or even a calliope of a German so- 
prano or a foghorn English contralto 
moaning of "Daddy” and his bereave- 
ment.' The open air would not injure 
such solo voices. 



There are allusions to vocal music and 
open air singing in Pepy’s Diary. He 
preferred the vocal to the instrumental 
music of his day. Thus he described a 
concert in the General Postoffice: “Me- 



So Mme! Guilbert and Mr. Chevalier 
will give entertainments together in this 
country next season. Or is the state- 
ment a rumor? When Mme. Guilbert 
was last in London the Pall Mall Ga- 
zette hinted that it preferred her in 
French songs. "Our English songs are 
so exhaustive, and leave so little to the 
imagination, that the suggestive artist 
finds in them much less scope than in 
the delicate chansons which say so little 
and know so much; merely hinting at 
things on which the singer may put his 
or her own construction, and, having 
done so, take the audience into his or 
her confidence. There is no one else 
who can. convey all that Mme. Guilbert 
conveys with the most elusive materials 
and by the most elusive means. The 
wonderful subtlety of her voice, which 
seems to have a complete language of 
its own in no way dependent on words, 
is, of course, a great help. With' noth- 
ing in the way of make-up she sits 
down on a chair, and it is not necessary 
to know a word of French to see be- 
fore you a very old lady thinking fondlv 
and tenderly of her youth. Even a deaf 
man could be under no misapprehension 
on that point; it comes out in some sim- 
pie and apparently unconscious move- 
ment of the hand or of the body; It is 
.mi t( ^ see even when she is silent and 
still. fehe rises from her chair and 
walks to the pianist to learn what she 
l f to Jo next. You can mark her sudden 
transformation on the way.” 

L They do not care for “L’Arlesienne” 
e\en with Bizet s music in London 
Listen to this: "Frederi, the alleged 

hero, beg-ms talking of suicide very 
early in the day, and the only question 
is how long he is going to take about 
w 18 a °t a very pleasant 

play. This might be said of “Hamlet.” 

t Hans Richter will conduct the forth- 
oming Birmingham (Eng.) festival, 
[pie. Blanche Marchesi sang as Le- 
onora and Santuzza in operatic per- 
formances given in English by the 
Moody Manners Company last month 
ni die Lyric Theatre, London. Mme 
Clementine De Vere-Sapio and that Tx? 
cellent tenoi Joseph O’Mara were also 
jof the company. The Pall Mall Ga- 
zette asks why a conductor of London 
promenade concerts should hunt for 
works by Fibich, Enna, Henriquez and 
neglect "hard working English musicians 
gitted with a serious outlook upon music 
and with talents that are more than or- 
dinary. seeing that these concerts are 
g’lv eri in England, and, naturally, ,to a 
certair^ extent, for the sake of English 
music As The Herald stated Hast 
Thursday, six of the 23 unfamiliar works 
announced for performance at these 

M? F “I 6 R y Br , itish corn P°sers. 

Mi- E. A. Baughan wrote of Caruso 
as Don Ottavio in “Don Giovanni” that 
an “evident attempt to re- 
strain his exuberance, he sang in too 

triclc r of a intrnd a " d emp,oye d the Italian 
i„fk of introducing aspirates and un- 

tioLl ?ffect n ” f ° r Ul ® Sake of em °- 



/ y / y <= 

i for the toilet. 

We all know now that gray hair — 
‘‘hirsute pallor” is the description pre- 
ferred by scientific enthusiasts for an 
everyday phenomenon — can be deferred 
or changed by the diligent use of a very 
hot flatiron. The ironing discourages 
microbes which like a colored life and 
seek it in human hair. Whether the hair 
may not fail out after faithful ironings 
is another question. Has any deep 
thinker pondered the possible effect of 
eating green' corn on the cob with salt 
and butter ou whiskerage? Does the 
combination of corn and butter with a 
trifle of salt act as an encourager to 
shy and retiring whiskers? Does it 
promote a luxuriant growth of mustache, 
beard, siders, In fact, whiskerage — we 
believe Mr. George Meredith invented 
the word — and give a desirably glossy 
appearance? Is it at once a fertilizer 
and a precious ointment? And to fur- 
ther the good work should the cob be 
moved gently across the mouth or 



passionately, as in delirium of enjoy- 
ment? The corn season is not always 
with us. Deep thinkers should think at 
once. Let them defer to winter and the 
return of ice the inquiry into the con- 
dition of compositors in Europe before 
the discovery of the printer’s art. 



“DECIDED.” 

It has been held by poets, anthropolo- 
gists and sociologists that the blonde is 
saccharine in summer, while the 
brunette is acrid; that the blonde 
is good natured and indolent, the 
brunette lively, agile, brusque in 
manner and rather sharp in speech. 
There is confirming, reassuring evi- 
dence. We refer to an interesting 
episode in life at Riverhead, L. I., Miss 
Adelaide Corwin, 16 years of age, a 
blonde, was walking in Griffing avenue, 
when Miss Margaret Schaeffer, only a 
year older, bashed her on the mouth and 
slapped her twice with a newspapet. 
Miss Schaeffer told the magistrate that 
Miss Corwin made a remark in passing 
that “caused her blood to boil. Theie 
was an apology and, although all are 
bursting in ignorance. Miss Schaeffer 
will not repeat the heating remark. But 
here is the true point. Miss Schaeffer 
is a brunette. The New York Sun 
adds, “a decided brunette.” Her 
decision was unmistakably shoA-n. 
Had she been a blonde, weak, vague, 
vacillating, lazily charming, she would 
merely have said: ‘‘You're another, 
or “Go bag yourself,’ or some other 
ineffectual phrase in repartee. 

A NEW YORK HUMORIST. 

I Households have been divided and 
j lovers separated on account of the 
1 manner in which an egg should be 
boiled and the precise number of 
minutes that insures perfection. 
Some insist that the water should be 
piping hot before the egg is put into 
it; some are inclined to think the egg 
itself should be submitted to a cer- 
tain preparatory temperature— but 
why renew the discussion that arose 
with the first combination of egg and 
hot water? All will agree to this: A 
husband w r ho throws around soft- 
boiled eggs so that the walls of the 
dining room are disfigured is waste- 
ful. His esthetic taste is deplorable. 
He is not a restful person. Mrs. 
Butler of New York is therefore 
suing for a separation. She alleges 
that Mr. Butler occasionally ran after 
her with a carving knife or dragged 
her about by her hair, threatening to 
shoot her, but she did not mind se- 
riously these household calisthenics 
and vocal exercises. The eggs that 
stained the walls broke her heart. 
We are inclined to the opinion that 
Mr. Butler is a humorist of an un- 
common order. Witness his taste in 
mural decoration. Furthermore, he 
hung a notice on the dining-room gas 
fixture to the effect that his daugh- 
ters should pay *7 a month each for 
their rooms, and that his son should 
pay $6. There was a postscript: “No 
meals to be served or washing done 
in my house. Have your meals 
when and where you please.” When 
friends called on the daughters, Mr. 
Butler conceived the happy idea of 
going into the parlor “scantily at-, 
tired" and with appropriate remarks. 
If the visitors did not laugh heartily 
and spontaneously, he would turn 
off the gas and put out the furnace 
fire. But humorists are often uncom- 
fortable persons to dwell with and 
they are often misunderstood. Hence 
this suit. 



rising in the distance. Today the west- 
ern statesman wears a thick frock coat. 
It will be remembered that Mr. Bryan s 
excited the scorn of London tailors, 
who, we are assured by one of Mr. 
Bryan’s most intimate friends and sup- 1 
porters, were jealous. Is Mr. Bryan s 
massive brow bared to the elements or 
does he wear a statesman’s stovepipe? 
In an account of Lincoln’s first jour- 
ney as President from Springfield, 111., 
to Washington, Artemus Ward de- 
scribed him as eating gingerbread at 
a way station. This gingerbread he 
had put into his hat with "true 
statesmanlike precaution" before 
leaving home. Let us hope that Mr. 
Bryan is not depicted as reading a 
speech. Better the sight of arms in 
a semaphoric gesture and eyes and 
mouth in heroic frenzy! 






& 



STATESMA XLIKE. 

The Bryan reception committee bas 
eceived from Mr. Bryan a photograph 
f himself taken recently. “It shows 
Jryan standing in a statesmanlike atti- 
ude. This will be the Bryan official 
licture in the coming campaign and will 
ie on all the stationery of the Commer- 
ial Traveller’s Anti-Trust League.' A 
latcsmanlike attitude ! Years ago the 
American statesman was portrayed as 
itanding, solemn, portentous, one hand 
;rasping a roll, the other pointing to the 
:enith. A purple curtain was at one 
side of him and a thunder storm was 



MR. TUTT’S ISLAND, 

An island in the Pacific off the 
coast of Washington has disappeared. 
Mr. Tutt bought it and purposed to 
make there his summer home, but, 
cruising up and down and across, he 
cannot find even one of the alleged 
ten acres. The man who sold the 
island says: “Lor - ! How singular!” 
and tells Mr. Tutt it must have gone 
down in the sea at the time of the 
San Francisco earthquake. Sad as 
is Mr. Tutt’s plight, it is not so sorry 
as the mysterious loss of a room in 
New' York, as described by Fitz 
James O'Brien, the room for which 
the lodger gambled with strange and 
riotous invaders and lost forever. 
We like to think of any man owning 
an island and thus realizing a dream 
of youth, even though as a trust-bug 
he is not tempted to engage in 
piracy with a plank in good working 
order and the Jolly Roger flaunting 
in the breeze. On his island a man 
need not fear neighbors. He can 
walk undisturbed by motor cars. 
No bore will say to him with a hor- 
rid laugh: “Your veranda looked 

lonely, so I thought I’d drop in, ha- 
ha!” It is something for an Ameri- 
can to be monach of all he surveys, 
and for this reason the island should 
be well out at sea. Let us hope that 
Mr. Tutt’s discouraging informant is 
seismically in error. 

FEMALE PEDLERS. 

The New York Pedlers’ Benevolent 
Association has passed the law' that 
no woman shall be allowed to peddle 
unless she be a widow, and no ped- 
ler shall send his wife out with a 
pushcart. If this be gallantry, theye 
are women who would prefer rude- 
ness. How about a divorced woman 
or one abandoned by her husband? 
Suppose the husband is incapaci- 
tated? There are men w'ho will buy 
from a woman w'hen they heed not 
man’s importunity. Like the un- 
fortunate Inca of Peru, they cannot 
say* “no” to any woman. Thirty 
years or more ago households in New 
England feared the approach of 
lightning-rod men, sewing machine 
agents and book agents. There was 
then a fond belief in lightning-rods, in 
spite of Herman Melville’s fantastic 
diatribe; sewing machines were at a 
high price before the lawsuit against 
the combination, and subscription 
books were as thick as blackberries. 
Suddenly appeared the female book 
agent, and the first in the field made 
much money. They did not waste 
time at dwelling houses. They 
sought the merchant in his store, the 
| banker in the bank. They were al- 
most always physically attractive, 
pleasingly attired, and with a soft 
and persuasive voice. They were 
pedlers, but they encouraged a taste 
for literature and earned a living. 
Why should not women be allowed 
to peddle in a New York street? The 
calling is old and honorable. The 
goods are often needed. They are 
thus brought to the homes of the 
poor, who cannot afford the time to 
haunt shops, and the housekeeper 
bas more confidence in the recom- 
mendation of one of her own sex. 
Furthermore, the female pedler 
makes a drab or mean street more 
picturesque. 



GUEST-ROOMS. 

A newspaper recently published liints 
to a housekeeper on the disposition and 
care of a guest room ; how she should 
sleep from time to time in the bed to 
test it ; how the room should be aired 
daily when not in use; how there should 
be a good light near the head of the bed 
for reading, etc. The article was sensi- 
ble, although the description naturailj 
fell below that of the ideal guest room 
in Ueade’s “Woman Hater.” If any 
guest should find the like in an Ameri- 
can house, he might not be blamed for 
following the example of the Chevaliet 
Ned Strong, who, invited for a night, 
stayed three or four years. But a house- 
keeper famous for her hospitality in 
city and in country assured us yesterday 
chat if she should build another summer 
“cottage,” it would be small and with- 
out any guest room. The summer, she 
argued, is the time to recuperate, to 
summon up strength and courage for 
the pleasures of the winter. The most I 
thoughtful guest distracts and disturbs. | 
The mere process of selection in guests 
is burdensome. If you have no guest 
room, no one will feel slighted. You 
and your servants will have a chance to 
enjoy life. You can live iu great meas- 
ure as you please. You have no feeling 
of responsibility. If J’ ou have guest 
rooms and they are not filled, their 
emptiness reproaches you for selfishness, 
egoism, meanness. You think of those 
that would be thankful for a change and 
rest, and you are driven to invite them 
at your own loss of peace. 



(UNCERTAIN RESULTS 
j h AND CERTAIN DANGERS 

Amusing Foreign Comment 
4 . Concerning Dr. Muck’s 
4k Engagement. 



Some Sundays ago The Herald dis- 
jtussed the question of librettos for opera 
fend spoke of the tendency to turn plays 
and books into lyric tragedies or come- 
idies. D'Annunzio, for instance, writes j 
ia play, and Franchetti at once deter- | 
Imines to set music to it. The two are j 
(photographed together in the composer’s j 
'study, and each one conceals Imperfect- j 
ly the knowledge of his own artistic j 
(superiority. 

Look over the announcements of forth- 
Koming operas. Goldmark is at work on 
la version of Shakespeare s Winter s 
Rrale.” De Musset’s “Chandelier” will be 
, arranged and Messager will set the mu- 
laic to it. The libretto of a new opera. 
t“Marcelle,” by Giordano, is derived from 
fa play by Sardou. Puccini is endeavor- 
ling to win Rostand’s consent to an 
iop'era based on “Cyrano de Bergerac." 
Maeterlinck’s “Monna Vanna” will be 
produced in Brussels next season with 
music by a young French composer, 
Fevrier. Rostand is reluctant to h av ® 
Cyrano turned into an operatic baritone 
or tenor, and Maeterlinck has no liking 
for any music. Yet the latter s Ariane et 
■Rarhp Bleue ” with music by Patii 
Dukas, will be put in rehearsal at the 
Opera Comique next December. 

Det us look for a moment at the lbreUos 
of three operas produced r f£® bt F' k *12 
first need not detain us. The book of 
“D’ \nniversaire” is by Jean Ferval, and 
the music by Adalbert Mercler, a pupil of 
Gabriel Faure and Xavier Deroux. The 
opera was produced at Bordeaux. 

The wife of Matjteo, a farmer of Dom- 
bardy, was untrue to him, and, dying, 
confessed her fault. He endeavors, but 
in vain, to learn the name of her lover. 
It Is Sandro, the son of his old servant, 
Severina. The villagers celebrate the 
festival of All Souls, and, as the na fa® s 
of the dead for whom they gray are Pro- 
nounced, Matteo, naming his * lfe - ™ 
■marks the confusion of Sandro, bus 
pec ting him, he questions and recel vcs 
answer. There is a duel witn 
knives! Sandro is killed. Thus l is vlr ue 
respected and due honor .P* ld 
stage to the sanctity of the marriage 

Here is a plot in direct line with many 
other short shockers from Cavalleria 

Rusticana.” SomemiglUsayofthese 

^vamnipfi of the “Verismo school mac 
they remind one of Hobbe’s 

human life: “Short, br “ t ^' 1 f v'Lhet^are 

hut these operas are not nasty, t^y are 
too often dull. The operagoer in modern 
Italy sups full of horrors. 

De Lara’s “Sanga.” 

Mr. de Lara, whose friendship with 
ithe Princess of Monaco, a New Orleans 
girl, secured his admission to the opera 
house instead of his ejection from the 
husband’s territory, has composed three 
or four operas that have been praised 
highly by a few of the London critics. 
His “Mess £d itae,” It may be remembered, 
frightened certain music lovers in Bos- 
ton who remembered J uv ® aal the onera 
tion of the noble dame, and the opera 
was not performed here, rnuch to the 
a t m c. pnirp. who acted the 



part of the heroine in New XorK wi.u 
much intensity, it was said. The state- 
ment was recently made that “Messa- 
!lino" has been performed over 300 times. 
We doubt it. , 

They take Mr. de Lara seriously in 
'London, and much attention . was paid 
'to the production of “Sanga at Nice 
‘last spring. The opera will he produced 
In Fiance, Belgium and Germany next 
season, and the score for voice and 
piano is already published. Lancelot 
of the Referee was moved to commend 
the progress made by the composer 
“since the days when, in a rich baritone 
voice, he sang 'The Garden of Sleep 
and other amorous songs of passionate 
Intensity to devoted admirers at Steinway 
Hall. Such progress not only indicates 
talent, but a brain that can assimilate 
new ideas and remould them into fresh 
shapes." Unkind persons, who remem- 
ber that Mr. de Lara's real name is 
Gohn, say that he is a passionate assim- 
ilator of other musicians' ideas. 

Messrs Eugene Morand and Paul de 
Choudens are the authors of the 
“Sanga” libretto, which is "untainted 
by the languorous spirit of the bou- 
doir" Sanga is one of Farmer Vi- 
gord’s servants. The farmer is a 
close-fisted, hard-hearted old man 
■who insists that his only son Jean 
shall marry Lena, Jean’s cousin. But 
Jean and Sanga love each other, and 
they sing about a night spent in the 
mountains. “It would have been eas- 
ier to have counted the stars than 
the number of our kisses,” says 
Sanga, who perhaps had read the fam- 
ous lines of Catullus. Jean is more 
modest: “We were alone.” “No,” says 
Sanga, "the mountain was our wit- , 
ness,” and she makes him swear by it j 
that he will be true to her. Old VI- 
gord enters, tells Jean he must marry 
Lena, calls Lena in, and gives her 
flowers, saying lean gathered them 
for her. These flowers were given to 
Jean by Sanga as a pledge, and when 
Lena goes out wearing them Sanga 
snatches them from her. The young 
women squabble and Vigord tells 
Sanga to leave the farm. Jean says 
if she goes, he will go with her, but 
Vigord retains him by informing him 
that his mother is dead in her room. 
“Ma mere!” Of course Jean does not 
go. but Sanga does, and curses the 
farmhouse and ail within and about it 
• — a comprehensive curse that might 
have pleased Dr. Slop. 

Sanga climbs the mountain and 
calls on the snow and rocks to fall 
and crush the house from which she 
i has been ejected. A storm starts an 
avalanche. The curtain rises and vi- 
gord, Jean and Dena are seen cling- 
I fng to the roof of the house. The 
! waters increase in force and fury. The 
i farmer goes mad. The others pray. 
Sanga puts out to them in a boat, 
hut she will take only Jean. The 
! house collapses and Sanga saves lilm. 
When Jean has recovered conscious- 
ness he reproaches her for not having 
i rescued the old man and Dena. He 
sees the ghost of the farmer pointmg 
at Sanga, who is not unwilling to 
die. Jean begins to demolish the 
boat with a hatchet. The curtain 
falls as he curses love as the “snare 
of man,” while Sanga in a fine burst 
blesses love as the “eternal master. 

Here we have straight, old fash- 
ioned melodrama, with chorus of 
happv villagers, prayers, jealousy, as- 
sorted curses, madness, the dark and 
revengeful woman opposed to the 
soubrette in a straw hat, the young 
man that does not know his mind, 
and opportunities for the stage car- 
penter, machinist, and scene painter. 

A Pastoral. 



On the other hand how simple and 
truly rural is the story of "De Clos,” an 
opera produced last June at the end of 
the season at the Opera-Comique. 
Micael Carre based his story on a 
novel by Amedee Achard, hut the novel 
was published long ago, and as It is now 
unknown or at least forgotten, the 
librettist cannot be accused of trusting 
In the popularity of a familiar romance. 
“Percival" of the Referee says that Mr. 
Carre ‘‘might have put George Sand’s 
name on the programme as well as his 
own.forifyou will pardon my brutalway 
of putting it, the book suggested ‘Da 
Petite Fadette’ in a state of perspira- 
tion.” "Percival” says nothing of 
Achard's romance, and some will find 
little of George Sand’s in the libretto, 
although these words from her preface 
might serve as motto: “Direct allusions 
to present misfortunes, an appeal to 
fermenting passions— here is not the 
path of safety; better a gentle song, the 
sound of a rustic pipe, a tale to put 
, little children to sleep without frighten- 
ing them or giving them pain than the 
spectacle of real evils strengthened and 
, made still darker by a fictitious color- 
1 Ing.” 

Genevieve is the daughter of the old 
village constable. She loves her play- 
1 mate Simon, and is loved by him, al- 
though she is very poop. The rich man 
of the neighborhood «s the grasping 
Hennebaut, and his son Pierre, passion- 
ately in love with Genevieve, at last 
eusec’d® In obtaining his father's con- 

I sent, although he has forgotten to - go 
through the formality of asking Gene- 
' vieve. He thereupon goes about the vil- 
lage telling of his good fortune and, of 
course, like a true hero of opera 
comique, invites everybody to drink witn 
him, and to his betrothed. The con- 
stable does not like this fresh behavior^ 
and he gives the hand of his daughter 
to Simon whereupon all those who had 
drank with Pierre now laugh 
But the constable owes old Hen: pLrre 
money, and the angry father of Pierre 
proceeds to sell the close, the ®Jd dwell 
fng house and its simple furnhu . 
Simon cannot endure the th ,?p§ rcl ' va i® 
sacrifices himself, or j o 

writes* “Jean Simon is as good as 

young men set to tnusic always are^So 

he goes away with a gulp f^ndkerchief. 
loid collar packed in a red handkercmei. 

^ly»l^Lf^|gSthan 

is quite necessary, and her nen 

Is lealous." „. n ., otter Pierre 

Simon goes to be a sailor at rjenevleve 
has sworn that he will make Gene\ ie^ e 
happy. The old constable cues mm 




(OPERA LIBRETTOS BASED ON 

NOVELS AND OF FREE INVENTION 



Genevieve, In the third and last act, 
has mourned him for a year. She is 
now a devoted daughter-in-law and a 
cool, calm, respectful wife. Pierre fears 
the return of Simon, who does come 
back. The neighbors speak of having 
seen him, and Genevieve wishes to look 
again on her old home. What if the 
former lovers should meet there? Pierre 
takes his gun and hides in the old house 
of the constable. Genevieve and Simon 
meet in the orchard, “'you are not hap- 
py,” exclaims Simon; “they have told 
me so and I see it is true. Pierre has 
not kept 'his oath; I am no longer bound; 

I shall take you away with me.” There 
is the report of a gun. "Pierre was 
there,” cries Genevieve, “and in despair 
he has killed himself. No, we have 
killed him!” She bids Simon leave her 
for ever and she endeavors to break 
into the house. She weeps and is be- 
side herself. The door is opened and 
Pierre stands smiling. He had thus 
proved her; he clasps her in his arms 
and swears that now. sure of her love, 
he will make her truly happy. She de- 
clares to him that for the first time 
she knows the meaning of love. 

Novels and Librettos. 

Mr. Henri de Curzon, noting the fact 
that this ending made the audience at 
the Opera-Comlque smile, says that 
there was reason for laughter at this 
sudden and apparently illogical conclu - 1 
sion. He adds that librettos based on 
romances seldom give satisfactory ex- 
planations. As for the composer, how- 
ever he may struggle to follow situa- 
tions and to characterize in music the 
puppets, he does not save them unless 
he transforms them, and if he does this, 
he makes them all the more false. “It 
is not enough," adds Mr. de Curzon, 
“for a novel to present a dramatic sit- 
uation to make it therefore effective on 
I the operatic stage, and I am now the 
more convinced that such situations 
i should remain in a novel and not be 
transferred to the theatre. A situation 
that is dramatic by reason of the study 
of certain characters and their evolu- 
tion rather than by dramatic strokes 
always loses immeasurably when it is 
found In the midst of the rapid and 
summary action that suits the stage.” 

And here is the danger in basing a 
libretto on a novel in which there is any 
study of character, In which the interest 
is largely psychological. Mr. George 
Parsons Lathrop wrote the libretto of 
“The. Scarlet Letter” so that Mr. Walter 
Damrosch might set music to it. As a 
piece of literary work the libretto was 
worthy of praise, but it was Impossible 
to reproduce in opera the mental strug- 
gles of the clergyman, the wife, the grim 
avenger of his wrongs. What could pos- 
sibly have been made, if the librettist 
had dared, of the minister’s awful vigil ? 

Or what becomes nf ffarHv’c 



CHARLES SILVER, 
Composer. 



ESTER FERRABINI, 
Mezzo Soprano. 



Or what becomes of Hardy’s “Tess 
when H., is turned into an opera? An 
Italian librettist and composer have cho- 
sen this subject, and Mr. Schenck has 
set music to a libretto in English. To 
turn a novel into a play was bad enough 

sible Pera n tf T SpIrlt ° f Har<J y is Im Pos : 
Tschaikowsky s “Eugene Oneghin” 
was performed again in London some 
weeks ago, and one of the leading critics 
pronounced It a dull work. “The storv 
1 self though full of blood, love, and 
thunder, is quite good and lends itself 
to many dramatic situations; but it 
^°"L d , as , though Tschaikowsky 

aared f ° r a dramatic setting of the 
nnoX a symphonic commentary 

• S ut the °harm of the storv it- 
self is in the study of character. 'The 
S , not distinctively one of blood 
and thunder. Tatiana is not an ordinary 
heroine of melodrama. No composer 
however alive to the requirements of the 
stage, could reveal by music, vocal or 
Aaracter 0 ’ 16r Strange and fascinating 
Excellent critics have insisted that 
a is founded on a novel, this 
novel should not exist for critics or aud- 
ience The play's the thing. There 
shou d be no thought of comparison 

^Ist h, P ? yVrlght follow ‘he nov- i 
-list step by step or wander far from 
lim is a matter of no importance. The- ■ 
iretically this attitude Is right. TInfor- 1 
unately it is practically impossible. If 
'oil see Don Quixote or Tess on the 
tage, you cannot escape from tlieknight 
u from toe woman of the book Vn, 
udge the character and theactor °or 
hy your own conception of the 
lovehst s description and endeavor In 

■v e en° P r r etter e fn iSk - ° f disappointment is 
^ csi eater, for in opera there can Ha 
leither rapidity of action nor psycholog- 
cal reflation. The moment the ehar- 
'J; j er .,hegms to sing, absurdity enters 
nd if the character be already a f™ 
lmr one. the absurd conventionalism™* 
lot at once accepted. ls 

When Mr. Blackburn says of T=chai 
-owsky s opera, “it is all very melod?an ' I 
Lc, very ordinary, and. we must add' I 
lull he unconsciously attacks 

f urn ' n £ romances into operas 
ushkm s romance is not very melodrain 
tic; it has uncommon distinction -it in' 
Tosses the attention. ° ' 1 en ' 

Dr. Muck in Boston. 

The Pall Mall Gazette published this 
uriously misinforming paragraph- “Bos 
on is forever doing Its best to make its 
eputation for culture, and for the en 
ouragement of art, more and more' 
ecure. We all know how well the 
owers that be have worked in that 
otable city to advance the cause of 
rt and of real originality in thought 
t is, therefore, one thinks, something 
f a pity that Nikisch cannot be lured 
ack to the city of American culture 
nd that his refusal has now been defini 



itely published. Nevertheless, the name 
of Carl Muck, who is the Hof-Kapell- 
meister at Berlin, is in future to be as- 
sociated with the Boston Symphony Con- 
certs- ® os t on has a somewhat eccentric 
method of doing its business, and Dr. 
Muck s engagement, so one hears, is at 
the present moment for one year only. 
One of the most humorous points, how- 
ever. is the fact that if he gives satis- 
faction his engagement will last for 10 
years. Of course, we have nothing what- 
ever to do with the sense of dignity as 
compared to the desire for work which 
i naturally should attach to so great a 
conductor as Dr. Muck; but we are fain 
to confess that his attitude is something 
lacking in dignity. Nevertheless, it is 
much in favor of Dr. Muck’s record that 
he has conducted at Zurich, Salzburg 
land Prague. The remaining details as 
to whether he will or will not go to 
Boston seem now to be finally settled, 
and we trust that he will make a great 
success. 

Is not this a delightful instance of the 
foreignor s condescension that moved 
Lowell to write his famous essay. 

How has Boston shown eccentricity In 
its method of doing business? 

The statement that if Dr. Muck gives 
satisfaction, “his engagement will last 
for 10 years” is, indeed, humorous. The 
humor lies in the misstatement. 

And why is it "much In favor” of Dr. 
Muck s record that he has conducted at 
Zurich, Salzburg and Prague? Would 
Mr Blackburn feel surer of the con- 
ductor s ability If he had exercised his 
s Eisleben, Chemnitz, Manchester 

and Glasgow? 

., It „ i ?- reassurin & to Enow that the Pall 
Mall Gazette at last, though with a cau- 
tious seem,” admits the engagement 
ot Dr. Muck in Boston. Not long ago 
the Pall Mall Gazette discovered that 
Tschaikowsky had written an opera 
Pique Dame”— It was produced over 15 
years ago— and that the composed Boro- 
d In was a distinguished chemist. 

Musical America publishes a rumor 
from Berhn that should Dr. Muok "prove 
satisfactory” in Boston, “he will obtain 
a cancellation of his contract with the 
Imperial Opera, of course with the 
sanction of Emperor William." We 
suppose the reference is to the “Royal" 
opera. 

Dr. Muck has been engaged to con- 
duot the Boston Symphony Orchestra 
for the season of 1906-07, and for that 
season only. He has signed a contract 
to conduct after this engagement at the 
Royal Opera for a term of years. Con- 
tracts with royalty are solemn Clings, 
as singers who have broken them have 
found out to their cost. 

It may also be remarked that doubt- 
ful things are “mighty onsartin.” 



The London Choral Society has 
been Increased to 300 voices and these 
works will be produced next season. 

The Kingdom,” the completing third 
part of Elgar’s "Apostles,” Bossi's 
’ Paradise Lost.” Dalhousie Young’s 

Blessed Damozel,” Saint-Saens’ 

Samson and Delilah,” and Brahm’s 

Requiem.” 

The San Carlo Opera Company will 
open the fall season at Covent Gar- 
den. Oct. 4. Among the operas to be 
performed are Giordani’s “Fedora,” 
Catalanl’s "Lorelei,” "Andrea Chenier,” 
tcur of Puccini’s operas, “Mefisto- 
rele,’ “Aida” and "Don Giovanni.” Mine. 
Melba will sing. There will be six 
(Classes of reserved seats between 12s 
6d and 4 s. 

T,T Th Sv Referee (London) states that 
Mr. Hammerstein will pay Mme. Mel- 
ba J2000 a night and that he offered 
Jean de Reszke $3000 a night, but the 
tenor refused the engagement. 

Van Dyck, the tenor, has engaged 
Covent Garden for January and Feb- 
ruary 1907. He will provide for a 
Wagner season. 

There is talk in Munich of a theatre 
to be built for the purpose of per- 
,°P eras -comiques exclusively. 

The University of Goettingen has put 
one orchestra at the disposition of its 
teachers of musical history and aes- 
thetics so that works studied may be 
performed by way of illustration. 

Miss Elizabeth Parkina has been 
engaged as leading soprano for the 
Worcester (Mass.) Festival, which will 
take place the first week in October. 



MUSIC NOTES. 

The Herald publishes today portraits 
of Charles Silver, the composer of 
“Le Clos” to which reference is made 
in the feuilleton; of Marie Thiery, the 
soprano, who created the part of Gen- 
evieve in this opera, and of Ester Fer- 
rabim, who will be the mezzo soprano 
of Leoncavallo’s company in this coun- 
try next season under the manage- 
ment of Mr. Aronson. 

ir, C iafis le w Sil y e I- T as born at Paris 

in 1868. He studied at the Paris Con- 
servatory under Dubois and Masse- 
a “d . took the prix de Rome in 
1891. His opera “La Belle au Bois 
£ 0I imt nt produced at Marseilles 

in 1902 and it has been performed at 
Brussels. He has written the orchestral 

valesque ” reniC6 ” and “ Poem Carna- 

, Fer rablni of Milan studied 
with Toledano. She made her debut 
we are informer, as Marla in Monte- 
mezzl s Giovanni Gallurese” at Milan, 
and afterward at Brescia in the 
same part, was warmly praised for 
quality of voice, technical skill and 
dramatic temperament. 



^ ZO 

REPEALED? 

Correspondents from summer re- 
sorts write that the women from 
certain states, even when young and 
in natural bloom, “make up a little” 
by day as well as by night; that a 
dab of powder, a suspicion of rouge, 
a skilful use of the pencil are too 
much in evidence, although the artist 
has known only a season or two. 
An act of Parliament was passed in 
li (0. That all women of whatever 
age, rank, profession or degree, 
whether virgins, maids or widows, 
that shall from and after such act 
impose upon, seduce or betray into 
matrimony any of his majesty’s male 
subjects by the scents, paints, cos- 
metic washes, artificial teeth, false 
J hair, Spanish wool, iron stays, hoops, 
high-heeled shoes, etc., shall incur 
' the Penalty of the law now in force 
against witchcraft and like misde- 
meanors, and that the marriage upon 
conviction shall stand null and void.’’ 
Was this act ever repealed? Was 
there one like it in the colonies? We 
doubt whether Mr. Roosevelt, with 
his fondness for a parental govern- 
ment, would approve such legislation. 

MR. GIBSON’S RESOLVE. 

The discouragement of Mr. Charles 
R. Gibson has not received due atten- 
tion. It will be remembered that Mr. 
Gibson some time ago renounced black 
and white, and the pictorial type of girl 
imagined by him and named after him. 
He announced that he would henceforth 



MARIE THIERY, 

Soprano. 

paint in oil. He would not be a land- 
scapist or a seascapist, but lie would be 
another Velasquez, Rembrandt, Titian. 
His friends and admirers immediately 
ranked him with the masters, and at the 
end of a few weeks wondered at his in- 
activity. It seems that Mr. Gibson has 
been making an “extended tour” of great 
art galleries in Europe, and his eyes 
have been opened. He now thinks that 
it will take him “a year or two” to be- 
gin at the bottom and work up, and he 
saw no reason why he could not thus 
labor in New York, but his friends per- 
suaded him that an “artistic atmos- 
phere” would be of great value to him. 
Now Mr. Gibson intends to sojourn in 
Paris, where he can keep “bis eye true 
and his ideas high.” He undoubtedly 
lias talent, and inasmuch as he at last 
realizes the nature of the task before 
him, may he succeed! If he fails, let 
him remember the saying that even the 
ludest tavern signs show that a 
Titian once lived. 



MISS OR MRS. 

The Portland Oregonian informs us 
(hat, whereas women registering in 
hotels usually wrote their names until a 
few years ago with the prefix of Mrs. 
or Miss, they now when travelling alone 
put their names on the register without 
tne prefix, and also without spelling out 
the first name. But there is a still 
more confusing and objectionable habit 
among women, that of writing to a 
stranger and signing the name as though 
il were a maiden name, and without 
distinguishing Mrs. or Miss. Thus Mr. 
Johnson receives a letter asking for in- 
formation and without an inclosed and 
propitiatory postage stamp. The writer 
sends her “thanks in advance” — a vile 
phrase — and signs herself, say : “Jennie 
Maud St. Clair.” Is Jennie the wife of 
some George or Ezra St. Clair? How is 
Mr. Johnson to address her in reply if 
he be foolishly good-natured? It has been 
suggested recently in France that women 
ever SO should be called “Madame” 
whether they be married or single. If 
a woman of 35 or 40 is not “Mme.” she 
should be. Ingenious reasoning! But 
Jennie gives no hint as to her age, and 
Mr. Johnson is helpless. He does not 
know hut she may he an “ex-Mrs.” 



THE MARTIANS. 

Mr. Percival Lowell, who has spent 
time, money and scientific enthusi- 
asm in making us better acquainted 
with Mars, should at once enter into 
consultation with Miss Pauline Corri 
and Mr. Sackville G. Leyson. The 
former received a visit six years ago 
in London from an inhabitant of that 
planet. He was a “shadowy, gigan- 



figure covered with hair.” He 
had one eye, and that was in the I 
centre of his forehead. Miss Corri 
does not say how he came into the 
room — perhaps he found the chim- 
ney convenient— but her flesh crept | 
and she heard a voice: “He is a spirit 
from the planet Mars.” He vanished 
without offering any explanation of 
the much discussed canals. Mr. 
Leyson, president of the Society for 
Psychical Research in Syracuse, N. 

Y.,‘ sent his spirit,- or astral body— 
there is a difference — to the planet a 

few days ago. He saw two kinds of 
men, very large and dwarfs, all 
hairy. The giants had only one eye 
and breathed crosswise. The dwarfs 
had two eyes, no nose.^and, web- 
footed, they walked gayly up perpen- 
dicular walls. The trees were all of 
rubber. What an opportunity for a 
trust! On the other hand, Mr. H. G 
Wells, in his romance, describes the 
Martian as a sort of terrestrial devil- 
fish. Leave Mr. Wells out, for he 
would not look you in the eye and 
swear that he wrote from personal 
knowledge. But Mr. Lowell should 
.submit Miss Corri and Mr. Leyson to 
an examination, so that there will be 
full agreement in description of the 
one-eyed species. Did Miss Corri no- 
,ice a "crosswise expansion of her 

visitor’s lungs? 

QUICK OH ROTARY? 

Mr. Frank Coombs, the head of the 
Cleveland health department, has 
"made a study” of the quick lunch 
and quick lunchers, and come to the 
conclusion that no girl should marry 
a confirmed quick luncher, for her 
life would surely be unhappy. The 
quick lunch habit engenders irri- 
tability. f leads to divorce and a 
wrecked home. The victims often 
lead shocking lives and “plunge 
razors and carving-knives into their 
gizzards.” Yet only a few days ago 
we read’that Gov. Harris of Ohio sits 
at a counter and “rubs elbows with 
men covered with grime.” Let him 
heed the warning before it is too late, 
before consequent irritability induces 
him to veto recklessly all bills. What 
does Mr. Coombs think of the rotary 
lunch in Paris? You and yc/ur friends 
sit at a table laid in the car of the 
Big Wheel. At a given word the 
wheel begins to turn and you eat the 
hors d’oeuvres that look so appetiz- 
ing until you settle the bill. The 
wheel has made one revolution. Tur- j 
bot is served with chablis, and the 
wheel goes round again. A revolu- 
tion for each course. You eat with 
the wheel. What will be the effect 
on the domestic relations, provided 
that no luncher Is with his own wife? i 



StruweTpeter. especially in the story of 

i he had boy Frederick. 

He caught the ^ ^ringf' 

And then tore nil tneir . the cha | rs . 

H AJd U threw e thl kitten down the stairs. 

Now listen to the learned Heller: 
••Hie barbarity of Frederick, who in <ti 
,. xin respects embodies the type of moral 
'insanity is not calculated to inspire in 
ous weak-minded children feehngs 
o abhorrence, but is likely rather to I 
„ iw rise to that perverted form of mind 
which causes morally deficient persons 
to enjoy written descriptions or 
representations of crimes and evil do 
!'" • But Prudy and Dottle Dimple 
3d not have played with Frederick^ 






"Z / / f 






“SOPHIE MAY.” 

Many who found delight in the 
“Prudy Rooks” when they were little 
girls — and there were also boys that 
read them — did not know whether the 
author wore alive or dead until they 
were reminded of her and their debt of 
gratitude by the obituary notices. These 
volumes were to girls what the “Rollo 
Rooks” were to boys of an earlier gen- 
eration, and though there was no im- 
mortal Jonas in them they were truly 
healthful and less priggish. Before 
“Sophie May” wrote, young girls whose 
parents were prejudiced against fairy 
tales were obliged to read stories that 
were, for the most part, dry as a covered 
r.rldge or didactically mawkish. To- 
day there Is not so great care exer- 
cised in the selection of books for 
children, and even the Sunday school 
libraries would have raised the hair 
of the superintendent and teachers 
of the sixties. On the other hand. 
There are parents still found who 
look skew-eyed at fairy and folk 
tales, just as George Cruikshank de- 
plored the immoral tendency of Puss 
in Roots.” which, as he thought, taught i 
the benefits to be derived from lying, ol | 
"Hop o' My Thumb,” and of other 
stories, so that he rewrote “Cinderella 
and ’‘Jack and the Reanstalk" as tem- 
perance tracts. And only recent !\ a 

,'P German thinker, Dr. '1 hcodorc 

lleller, discussed in an elephantine way 
"the potentialities for evil in the 



"TYPICALLY AMERICAN.” 

A “charming American” who looks 
on London as the omphalos of the world 
and would not be persuaded by gold and 
precious stones to live in her native 
land is “typically American,” the Eng- 
lish think, “in her cool nerve.” Taking 
the wrong train not long ago, she dis- 
covered her mistake, pplled the bell rope, 
stopped the train, jumped off and 
walked back on the track to the sta- 
tion. thus impudently violated two 

reasonable and just rules. Let us as- 
sure our English friends that this be- 
havior is not “typically American. 
Some time ago a young wom^n on the 
North Shore flagged an express train 
by waving a red petticoat, but she was 
taken to task for the offence. As a 
rule the American travelling in his own 
country obeys all regulations and puts 
up with inconveniences and wrongs that 
would provoke scenes and “letters to the 
Times” and lawsuits in England. The 
American has the reputation of being 
"good natured.” He is often foolishly, 
fatally gbod-natured and submits him- 
self to all sorts of petty but none the 
less tyrannical oppression. 

GOETTINGEN. 

Is it possible that two violent earth 
shocks disturbed the composure of 
Goettingen? What a pity that Heine 
is not alive to read of Nature’s im- 
pertinence! Heine had three bitter 
enemies, he said, and the fate 
of the third was the most ter- 
rible; he still remained professor at 
(he University of Goettingen. And 
how the poet-satirist described the sleep- 
iness of the town for all time, as he 
thought, not expecting earthquakes. 
Then there is the famous song written 
by Canning to which Coleridge con- 
tributed a verse, the song of Rogers, 
who fell in love with Matilda Pottingen, 
the only daughter of his tutor at the 
university. And now an earthquake 
shakes in the night this peaceful town, 
and Nature shows again her love ot 
ironv. Earthquakes that excite a gay 
or bustling city given up to pleasure or 
trade are. not incongruous, but Goettin- 
gen has long been famous for deep and 
quiet, some say sluggish thought. I er- 
haps the seismic shock may accelera e 
or even change the course of think- 
ing, so that Heine’s gibes may seem to 
be without foundation. 



entered Maginn’s word in his neolog- 
ies! dictionary ot English: "Clvila- 

» Ion, by ellipsis, or more properly by 
syncope, or. rigorously speaking, by 
hiccup, from ‘civilization. 

ON HIS FEET. 

That Mr. Rudyard Kipling, who Is 
a good (Teal of a ”bounder" in litera- 
ture and what he is pleased to cay 
politics, had stage fright at the mere 
thought of making a speech at a dis- 
tribution of prizes Is not surprising. 
The boldest men in print are in pi i- 
vate life often painfully shy and con- 
strained, just as the lion tamer, ac- 
cording to popular belief, is usually 
henpecked. Mr. John Morley, expe- 
rienced as he is. says he never rises 
to address the House of Commons 
without fear and trembling, and he 
is not at ease till he has been stand- 
ing for some time. Whiteside, who 
had a great parliamentary reputa- 
tion and was chief justice of Ireland, 
confessed that he always felt faint 
when he beard the speaker pro- 
nounce his name. More than one 
man has failed in legislative bodies 
from sheer bashfulness. In these! 
instances the crippling emotion was 
not concealed from the fellow-mem- 
bers by the show of audacity and the 
reckless volubility that aid some suf- 
ferers in private life. "Mr. Kipling 
cannot be persuaded to speak a 
short notice.” Would that he had not 
been persuaded more than once to 
write at short notice, as though his 
gun were always loaded for the hair- 
trigger. 



A SHORTENED WORD. 

Timidly are some of the recom- 
mendations for the shortening of cer- 
tain English words being adopted by 
journals, magazines and book pub- 
lishers. "Thru” for "through” may 
be phonetically delightful, but the 
gain is slight. That no one of the 
earnest reformers has taken a hint 
from Dr. Maginn Is unaccountable. 
The word “civilization" Is much usad. 
What is the portion of the word that 
has significance? "Civil," of course. 
The rest of it has no true meaning. 
Now, we are prepared to follow Ma- 
ginn. According to his paradox no 
man reaches the apex of civilization 
until he Is drunk. Previous to this 
the man may be a promising subject, 
but "otherwise than in posse it must 
be premature.” Maginn, haxing 
teached this apex, was anxious to 
proclaim the sincerity of his conver- 
sion; but after 10 P. M. he abridged 
“civilization,” to which he constantly 
referred, into "civilation,” as the for- 
mer form is “distressing to a gentle- 
man taking his ease of an evening.” 
Thereupon De Quincey, a lover of 
words and a master builder of state- 
v.. ffinwinp- nnri sonorous sentences. 



AT FRIEDRlCHSHOF. 

Kings have their perquisites, ameni- 
ties and duties. When they meet and 
farewell each other they kiss, and with 
especial fervor when the onlookers are 
many. Do they reckon this osculation 
among the perquisites or duties i Kiss- 
ing was once as common among men as 
' it "is now between men and women, and 
ir. certain European nations the kiss is 
now no more than an ordinary hand- 
shake. It should be remembered that 
King Edward is not a stolid Englishman 
by birth, an\l the Germans are a race 
of kissers. There was an English mon- 
arch, however, I without German blood 
who was an inveterate kisser— James I., 
“our cousin of Scotland. Many re- 
member, undoubtedly, the description of 
him in Dickens’ “Child’s History of 
England,” one of many striking poi- 
traitures. and' they remember how he 
used “to loll on the necks of his favorite 
courtiers, and slobber their faces, and 
kiss and pinch their cheeks.” Kings 
kiss each other today in public to re- 
assure the crowd, and the crowd ap- 
plauds as it would at any- show, though 
some may recall an oriental episode: 

“And Joab said to Amasa, ‘Art thou in 
health, my brother?* And Joab took 
Amasa by the beard with the right hand 
to kiss him. Rut’ Amasa took no heed to 
! the sword that was in Joab’s hand; so 
he smote him therewith in the fifth rib. 
There could be no suspicion of treachery 
at Friedrichshof, for Edward is a loyal 
man and William is a swashbuckler, not 
mediaevally diplomatic. 1 he latter, it 
seems from his conversation with a isit- 
ing Americans, burns with longing to 
meet Mr. Roosevelt. Will there then be 
rapt embracing? We like to think of 
them slapping each other on the back 
and simultaneously exclaiming: “Ion re 
a wonder!” A stimulating scene for our 
old friend the Historical Painter, wno 
- already preparing a brilliant palette. 

- > Uvoe 2 3 / o * 



hieroglyphics! The boy that had read 
this quaint blue book declaimed, “I am 
monarch of all I survey” with superior 
knowledge and a greater gusto. Eater 
he was told by Herman Melville of the 
courage of Juan Fernnndez in boldly 
venturing the experiment of standing 
broad out from land, whereas before 
him Spanish ships from Peru to Chili 
kept close to land, fearing lest the trade 
wind would bear them to limitless 
waters from which they would not re- 
turn, and so a. vessel starting on a 
voyage of ten days, beating against a 
continuous head wind, or becalmed, 
would spend four months at sea and 
then be cast away. Nor did Robinson 
Crusoe wholly drive out the memory of 
Selkirk. Still we see the latter’s head- 
dress and goat, as we still remember 
joyfully the costume of Lydia Thompson 
as Robinson. 

CONCERT FOYER 



Why They Persist in Giving j 
of “Faust” — Study of 
Performances. 

DEBUSSY’S REMARKS 

ON GOUNOD’S GENIUS 

The London Times said recently 
apropos of the performance of Gounod’s 
“Faust” in English at the Lyric theatre 
— Mme. Clementine de Vere was the 
Marguerite-that it must have been wel- 
come “for those wno are not too blase 
to enjoy the melodies and not so supe- 
rior that they can dismiss the whole 
thing as a ‘pot-boiler.’ ” The Times 
spoke of the excellent chorus and added: 
“It must, indeed, be hard to keep up the 
pretense that the Soldiers’ chorus is ’pot- 
boiling.’ ” Such was the joy of the au- 
dience that this chorus was repeated. 

It is the fashion for many to sneer at 
Gounod's “Faust.” They say that it has 
not the "Spirit of Goethe’s poem”; that 
the love intrigue is conventional and 
characterless; that the hero has noth- 
ing to do; that the music is for the most 
part sugary and not dramatic and 
that the melodies built on a phrase le- 
peated in successively higher positions 
are constructed tunes rather than true 
and native melodies. It is easy to say 
these things, and they are saio in Ger- 
many, England, the United States and 
even in France. ... ,. 

Yet “Faust,” no matter how poorly it 
he performed, still draws the crowd 
and gives delight. 



7 

A FAMOUS ISLE. 

It would be a pity if the isle of Juan 
Fernandez were to be henceforth on ,\ 
a name, like the kingdom of Ys or the 
island of Atlantis. The boys of forty 
years ago were as familiar with it as 
though they had summered and win- 
tered on it with Alexander Selkirk. Me 
well : remember the book that containe 
the record of his adventures. It was 
and - square, and* bound in blue 
boards. There were curious pictures, 
wood cuts, and we see now Alexander s 
strange headdress and the expression of 
a faithful goat. Would that we had the 
volume now, with the s ", n 

Rook,” and a copy of Mother Goose in 



Not long ago the dramatic critic of 
the Pall Mall Gazette, sojourning in the 
heart of Sussex, saw a placard announc- 
ing that in the Theatre Royal in Mr. 

‘s meadow “the immortal tragedy of 

‘Faust’ would be enacted by a selected 
London company.” The “Theatre Roy- 
al” was a canvas cert lit by oil lamps, 
the reserved seats were wooden kitchen 
chairs, a pianist seivcd as an orchestra, 
and the price of a reserved seat was 
sixpense. The performance was a stir- 
ring one. “The company was the most 
polypseudony mous we have ever seen, 
one gentleman under three names play- 
ing as many parts, and most of the 
others under two, essaying a couple. 
Pottle was the Mephistoplieles, in total 
red and very robust, and his scene with 
Martha in the garden was a glorious 
triumph of busy farce. Siebel was a 
stout dark gentleman who. all too 
obviously, had not shaved for two or 
three days, and when Margaret said to 
him ‘I love 'Enry and him only,’ his fa- 
cial expression of sorrow was the most 
side-splitting piece of silent acting we 
have seen since Penlgy in ‘Charley’s 
Aunt.’ The Martha wore her wig care- 
lessly, another joyful matter to the un- 
reserved crowd, who howled aloud when 
perspiration and indifferent spirit-gum 
caused it to slip conspicuously from its 
centre, and the Valentin had a strong 
pink tights stitched here and there with 
purple cotton, we recognized the orches- 
tra suddenly promoted, and the verdict 
of the crowd on his erformance was that 
it was ‘martal fine.' ” 

The professional critic did not scoff. 
He, too, thought the whole thing "mar- 
tal fine.” and remembered that Ed- 
mund Kean emerged from some such 
company. The mummers were "honest 
people earning honest money.” He 
learned that they had been together 
for several years, that they did fairly on 
the whole and that every month they 
sent a couple of pounds or so to a priest 
in a poor parish, who had confirmed 
some of them and befriended them all. 

This performance by strollers could 
not kill the play. Nor is Gounod's 
opera dead in <pite of many mediocre 
and many wretched performances, some 
of which have been loudly applauded by 
“cultivated" and "representative” audi- 
ences. 

We have seen performances in Ameri- 
can cities— it was -25 or 30 years ago—; 
when the garden was represented by a 
flower pot. over which Miss Litta and 
Mr. Lazzarini vowed their love, and Mr. 
Castlemary as Mephistopheles put the 
jewel box on a kitchen_chair in front 




of Marguerite's uoor. we nave se-. 
pterrormances with a chorus of eight or 
W, and with an orchestra of two fiddles, 
double bass, piano, cornet, trombone; 
posibly there was also a flute. We have 
(seen performances with whole scenes cut 
out, and Incredible as the statement may 
seem, with the 'Soldiers' Chorus’ omlt- 
| ted. And yet, never did the music Itself, 
poorly sung, distorted, tortured, fail to 
make an emotional effect. 

Cast season at Covent Garden Mr. 
Marcoux appeared as Mephlstopheles for 
the first time In London. His imperson- 
ation was described as "strangely origi- 
nal.” Mr. Blackburn of the Pall Mall 
Gazette said: "To our mind, he real- 
ized the subtlety and the grimness of 
the character much more nearly than 
do those otherwise artistic exponents 
of the part, who are a little inclined, 
perhaps, to make It rather clownish. 
There was something, particularly in 
the garden scene, of a quiet grimness 
and of a hidden cruelty, which brought 
the true and elemental meaning of the 
story out with remarkable effect.” 

It Is a pity that Mr. Marcoux does not 
come to Araerka. Of late years we have 
seen few Mcphlstopeles of any marked 
dramatic distinction. Mr. Edouard da 
Reszke plays the part as he plays that 
of Leporello, or almost all other parts, 
without finesse, heavily, undramatfcallv. 
He Imposes by sheer bulk. He is fatally 
good-natured and inclined to be farcical. 
The spectator expects to see him amuse 
the villagers in "Faust” by other tricks 
than that with the wine cask, by giv- 
ing an imitation of a bumble-bee o'r of a 
man with the asthma sawing wood, and 
then producing a live rabbit out of Sie- 
bel’s doublet. Never for a moment is 
there a suggestion of the fiend’s mock. 
Never a thought of the fact that the 
Prince of Darkness is a gentleman. 



Mr. Plancon is a singularly accom- 
plished singer, and he makes Mr. Ed- 
ouard de Reszke’s vocal rough places 
smooth. He is not an actor of spon- 
taneous force; he has not naturally a 
dramatic temperament; but he has been 
well schooled, and he carries himself 
well. As a singer he is most excellent 
in whatever he undertakes, and in a few 
parts that are inherently suited to him, 
as the fanatical father of Valentin in 
'The Huguenots,” the Spanish General 
in "La Navarraise,” the Friar in “Ro- 
meo and Juliet,” he is dramatically im- 
pressive. It is said that his Menhis- 
topheles in Boito's opera is singularly 
fine. His Mephistopheles in Gounod's 
opera is familiar to us all. It is a pol- 
ished. courtly impersonation relieved by 
certain melodramatic touches, c 

But a singer doe; not portray 
Mephistopheles simply by biting his 
swerd in the kermess scene or by one 
or two harsh, grating Ha-Has. When 
M-- Plancon appears suddenly before 
the old Faust in the study the spec- 
tator after looking at him is tempted 
to cry out: “What a fine figure of a 

man!” There is no thought of , the 
supernatural. No current from an- 
other world sweeps across the stage 
and chills the audience. And through 
th opera the sympathy of men and 
women is with Mephistopheles — a 
good man gone wrong. 

Now it is not necessary for a dra- 
matic singer to follow the example of 
Mr. Schaliapine, the Russian, who 
made a sensation at Monte Carlo as 
Mephistopheles in Boito's opera by 
covering the skin above the waist 
with a .‘‘phosphorescent paint,” and 
then exposing it to the audience. Un- 
les there be something, back of the 
skin, the artifice is in vain. Several 
years ago the Mephistopheles at the 
Castle Square moved and stood and 
sang and laughed to an electrical ac- 
companiment. Never was there such 
a lavish use of the mysterious nu,d 
in an operatic performance. Tet the 
more snapping and crackling and 
whizzing there were, the clearer was 
the fact revealed that a low comedian 
was endeavoring to play a subtly 
tragic part. 

Castlemary was .the last Mephis- 
j topheles in this country who was 
onen sinister. He had seen Faure. 
Some of The Herald readers may re- 
member Jamet. whose impersonation 
was truly subtle and 
constantly effective! 



At first only the soldiers’ chorus was 
honestly enjoyed. The scene of the first 
meeting the choral (so called), much of 
the garden music, the profoundly tragic 
episode in the cathedral, the death of 
V'alentlne— these supreme pages in the 
work were then thought "too scientific.” 
The music was not sufficiently "melo- 
dious,” just as today there arc persons 
who are unable to find melody in the 
music of Claude Debussy. Poor Gounod 
had made his sacrifices to the mob. 
There was a waltz of happy villagers; 
there was the jewel song for lovers of 
vocal virtuosity; there was a Walpurgls 
Night ballet for the Jockey Club; and 
when ''Faust” was taken to London the 
composer added "Even bravest heart” 
for Santley and a ballad tune for the 
Slebel. But the music was "too scien- 
tific.” 

Mr. Debussy recently wrote a short 
I article in answer to the question put by 
! many in France, and not musicians, 

; “Why do they persist in giving 'Faust' 
at the Opera?” His answer is, "Be- 
cause the art of Gounod represents a 
moment of French sentiment or feel- 
ing.” "Let us further add,” he says, 
"that there are many reasons why 
things are preserved in the memory of 
men, and it is not always necessary that 
these reasons should be of great weight. 
To move a majority of one's contem- 
poraries is one of the best mefins.” If 
Gounod was unfaithful to Goethe’s 
thought, so was the German Wagner 
to the old German legend of Tann- 
haeuser. There are some in France 
who "understand” music and boast of 
being "musical.” They never compose, 
but they encourage others. They have 
much to do with founding a “school,” 
and as Gounod was not of any school, 
they will not listen to even his name. 
The "lovers of music” in society beat 
the drum for this or that one, cheer the 
name of the celebrated or the author- 
ized-all this passes as the shape of a 
hat. The crowd persits in liking 
"Faust” and the Opera gives perform- 
ances of it. 

Modern French music has suffered by 
imitation of Wagnerian formulas. "If 
Gounod did not describe the harmonious 
curve we wished, he should be praised 
for having known how to escape the 
imperious genius of Wagner, whose 
wholly German concept does not justify 
itself clearly in the fusion of arts as 
he wished it.” Gounod with his faults, 
whatever they may be, is necessary. 
He was a cultivated musician, who 
knew both Palestrina and Bach. “He 
recommended Mozart rather than Gluck 
to the young— a proof of his disinterest- 
edness, for he never sought his inspira- 
tion in Mozart’s music. His relations 
with Mendelssohn were more trans- 
parent, for to him he owed his manner 
of developing melody after the manner 
of a set of shelves, a method that is 
very convenient when a composer is not 
in the mood ” Gounod allowed Bizet to 
pass him. The latter died all too soon, 
and although he left behind him a 
masterpiece, the destiny of French mu- 
sic is still questionable. “Behold it now, 
like unto a pretty widow, who having 
near her no one strong enough to guide 
her, allows herself to fall into the arms 
of strangers who bruise and maim her.” 
The whole article by Mr. Debussy— 
and it is not a long one— was published 
in Musica of last July, and it is worth 
reading. 



manner. This shipw 
all conventional, t’nf 



eek scene Is not at 
irtunately, the lim- 



itations of the stage in the Osterville 
bull prevented any adeq-^te representa- 
tion of this scene, whf^ will tax the 
ingenuity of the stage ca >enter and the 
electrician. Even wlthoil the engross- 
ing picture to the eye aud the conse- 
quent thrill, this act is of great novelty 
and interest, for It presents a careful 
study of life saving service, with due 
attention to t he correct representation 
of uniforms, the regulations, routine and 
discipline. 

The piay is much more than a series 
of episodes strung together. The plot, 
though simple and in a way conven- 
tional. is well constructed, continuous, 
logical, reasonable, interesting, and the 
conventionalism is that of the life In a 
coast village, and Indispensable to the 
realism of the life presented. There may 
lie conventionalism in the portrayel of 
stirring adventure, and whoever is fa- 
miliar with village life knows that there 
is sentiment, pathos, tragedy In the 
routine that strikes the occasional or 
superficial visitor as conventional and 
drab. 

Some Quaint Characters. 

There are the sea captains, Cy, a true 
philosopher; Bill, once a coastwise mar- 
iner, now given up to "shrimpin’ and 
quahaugin’; Eli, "master mariner and 
proprietor of the Ne Plus Ultra Ice 
Cream Parlors. Clambakes managed, 
also embalming and undertaking. Music 
supplied for all occasions." 

There Is "Cy's” wife, who “entertains 
summer boarders casually and perma- 



receivod.” Then there is a new gramo- 
phone with a generous repertory, from 
Caruso’s tune in "The Elixer of Love” 
to “,/aspar.” At least two kinds of 
health foods are served at breakfast and 
fruit is liberally provided. IIo for Bal- 
maoaan ! Though some may prefer to 
(Stay at the Marshall Field’s. Young 
Marshall has just bought an army of 
British toy soldiers, and he has a tutor 
who “speaks five languages fluently” — 
including English, Cockney and York- 
shire, no doubt. 



-2. V 



SEES THE LIGHT 

[Special Dispatch to the Boston Herald. 1 
OSTERVILLE, Aug. 23, 1906. A new 
and original comedy drama in four 
was truly subtie and consistently and ac ts. “Down on the Cape, ’ by R. A. 

Barnet and R. M. Baker of Boston, 
was produced here this evening for 
the first time, for copyright purposes 
and for, the benefit of the Village Im- 
provement Society. Mr. Barnet was 



It might be said that the character 
of a performance of Gounod’s “Faust" 
is pitched by the treatment of the 

scenes between Mephistopheles and „ . „ T TT A „ 

Martha. As played by Mr. de Reszkel^ 6 * ta f manae:er and Mr - N - H - A1Ien 



and Mme % Bauermeister these scenes 
were farcical, fit only for the ground- 
lings. Martha is a foolish woman to 
be sure, and of kin to Sir Pandarus 
of Troy, but she is not a farce corn- 
ed;, freak, and the introduction of 
rank burlesque ruins the harmonious 
beauty of the Garden Scene. When 
Mme. Bauermeister first played the 
part in this country she was proper- 
ly subordinated or she was one of an 
ensemble. Mr. de Reszke, a good- 
natured soul, by his low comedy in 
this scene stimulated his associate to 
rivalry, until Mme. Bauermeister, who 
he been hitherto known as a useful 
and versatile substitute or filler-in, 
■willing and conscientious, suddenly 
began to take herself seriously in 
bread farce. We regret to sav that 
audiences encouraged Mme. Bauer- 
meister and toward the end laughed 
with pleasurable anticipation as soon 
ai she appeared. Now any woman 
who essays the part is disappointed 
if the newspapers do not say with 
reference to her Martha that she ‘‘ex- 
cited much merriment.” But “Faust” 
is not a serio-comic opera. 

It is to be regretted that it is the 
fashion in certain quarters to cry 
down the music of Gounod. This com- 
poser had first of all the great merit 
of individuality. There is no mistak- 
ing his music. It is not that of an- 
other; it was not suggested by ad- 
miration of another. Compare 
! "Faust” with other works of its per- 
iod, read the criticisms called forth 
when it was produced, and you will 
see that Gounod was then a man of 
the future. The pages that were 
then misunderstood, unappreciated or 
scouted as “German,” or “too scien- 
tific” are the pages that are fresh- 
est today. 



the business manager. 

The performance, with scenery, cos- 
tumes and light effects, was in Union 
Hall. The players were dwellers in 
Osterville, with the exception of Mr. 
Barnet, and he has a summer cottage 
in the pleasant village. The public 
was admitted to a dress rehearsal last 
night and the hall was crowded with 
a deeply interested audience. 

The hall was also crowded this 
evening, and the verdict of cottagers 
and summer guests from all parts of 
the country was as decisive and favor- 
able as that of the villagers, who were 
perhaps better able to appreciate the 
realism of the scenes and the truth and 
the force of the dialogue. 

There will be a third performance 
on Saturday night for the benefit of 
Mr. Barnet, a tribute of appreciation 
from his associates in the perform- 
ance. 

The events in three acts are sup- 
posedl to occur at Squetague corner, 
Cussonhlsset Point, Cape Cod. They 
might occur in any coast village on 
the cape, and any one acquainted with 
the life from Buzzard's Bay to Prov- 
ineetown who may see this play per- 
formed by professionals — for there is 
to be an elaborate professional pro- 
duction— will be at once persuaded 
that the playwrights found their ma- 
terial in 



nently," as her sign gives notice. There 
are ''Cy's'’ sons, Martin, the hero and 
keeper of the life saving station, and 
redeems .his vicious years by saving his 
brothers life at the loss of his own. 
his vicious years by saving Ills brother's 
life at the loss of his own. 

There are the woman who keeps the 
smallware and candy store, the girl 
who "hires out" in summer and ''tag's'' 
in winter, “Cy's” daughter, the young 
heroine, summer guests, a shipwrecked 
Londoner, the avenging brother of the 
wronged girl, who is not seen on the 
stage, the men at the life saving station, 
and the gifted female novelist, who vis- 
its Squeteague and questions and pokes 
about in search of “atmosphere” and 
copy. 

The dialogue Is unusually good. It is 
spontaneous and natural. The quaint- 
ness is not caricature, and in the humor 
there Is no suggestion of farce-comedy. 
There is true wit in the drollery, and 
there is humor in the Elizabethan sense 
and as it is understood today. The part 
of Captain ''Cy,” a true, fresh and most 
sympathetic part, played tonight with 
much appreciation and sincerity, might 
well tempt any accomplished and au- 
thoritative actor, and while “Down on 
the Cape” is by no means a one-part 
drama, this character would be enough 
to make a far Inferior comedy a suc- 
cess. 

Play Well Performed. 

The performance throughout was con- 
spicuous for the naturalness, the sin- 
cerity and the harmony of the ensem- 
ble. Great credit must be awarded Mr. 
Barnet for his training in rehearsal and 
for his stage management. The per- 
formance was convincing by reason of 
the desire of each one of the players to 
contribute to the general effect, and 
also by the fact that for the most part 
the players have lived the life they por- 
trayed or it has been known to them 
from childhood. 

Mr. Barnet's skill In rehearsal and 
his knowledge of stage effects prevented 
In great measure the exhibition of the 
extreme naturalness which is paradoxi- 
cally Ineffective, for there must be in 
all dramatic performances a certain de- 
gree of artificiality. 

The cast was as follows: Capt. "Cv” 
Hadley, G W. Hallett; Capt. Bill Her- 
sey, R. A. Barnet, Capt. "Ell" 
bprlnger, H. L. Tallman; Rebecca My- 
rlck, Mrs. H S. Parker; Judas Good- 
win, Maurice G. Crocker; Charles 
Dabney, Azor D. Hall; Hannah Had- 
ley, J. M. Leonard; Sally Jones. Miss 
ley, J. M. Leonard; Salley Jones, Miss 
Genevieve Leonard; Myrtle Hadley, 
Miss Marcia M. Hallett; Dr. Lambert. 
Robert M. Daniel; "Mat" Hadley, Wal- 
ter I. Fuller; ''Willie," Miss Annie L. 
Crosby; E valine Knight, Miss Mary 
H- u Bea » r / e A Arabella Perkins, Mrs. 
Robert M. Daniel; Arthur Brooke, Har- 
” ld T? r £?. b A ; Dlck Armstrong, Ernest 
w DeWitt; men at the station, Dex- 
ter Pattlson, J. W. Tallman, Jr„ Owen 
B. Lewis, W. E. Jones, Jack Driscoll, 
Mr. Lewis Introduced a song of his 
composition, “Mr. Howe,” and Mr 
Barnet also sang a ditty. 

IN SOCIETY. 

A New York newspaper publishes en- 
tertaining gossip about titled and un- 
titled members of the American aristoc- 
racy now living j u England. \Ye were 
especially pleased with the news about 
Mrs. Bradley Martin. Not because the 
peasantry welcomed her at Balmacaan 
with processions, flags and music, but 
because she threw new pennies out of a 
bag on her triumphal way. We should 
prefer to think of her as scattering 
guineas or at least half crowns, but the 
pennies were bright and shining, and so 
the children cheered “the good lady and 
the golden pennies,” and there was much 
excitement, the festivities were pro- 
longed at her expense for two days after 
her arrival, there was much ale, aud no 



the village which he hap- 
pens to know best. For the atmos- 
phere is not merely parochial, and doubt an ox was roasted whole. We are 

also informed that Mrs. Martin has left 



Cod manner. 

Thrilling Rescue Scene. 



nothing undone for the comfort of her 
guests. A professional golfer has been 



The scenes of the third act are at the engaged to give lessons to those who 
“Monotaumet life saving station," and wish to boast with greater reason. Let 
the act ends with a rescue in a highly U s hope that he is placarded: “No fees 
original and thrillingly melodramatic 



INEVITABLE. 

The meek lover of nature sighs at 
the thought of trolley cars to Paul 
Smith’s in the Adirondacks. The 
time no doubt will come when there 
will be a line from Keene Flats to 
the bowlder that marks John 
Brown's grave in North Elba; when 
Adirondack Village, the deserted 
iron works, will be a station on the 
way to Beede’s; when the Ausable 
ponds will be connected and the 
Gothic mountains assume still more 
fantastical shapes in horror at the 
invasion; when the conductor's bell 
will be heard in the Indian pass. 
Places that were wild thirty and 
forty years ago are now smoothly 
combed and brushed. Gone are 
many of the simple, unpretending 
inns, often little more than huts, 
with the delicious trout and johnny- 
cake and the saleratus bread which 
was dear to the natives from J_,ake 
Placid to Lake Colden. The time 
will come when true solitude will be 
sought in unfrequented city streets 
or on the tops of sky-kissing build- 
ings after business hours. 

“I DARE YER!” 

Me had thought that the willingness 
to do some foolish deed in answer to “I 
dare you” or “you dassent” went with 
other childish things, yet an athletic 
young woman met her death a few days 
ago by diving because she had been 
“dared.” It is true that she had just 
eaten a hearty dinner, had then rowed 
violently, and the lake water was very 
cold. Any kind of a bath after eating 
was forbidden by the ancients, especial- 
ly for one who had consumed much 
peacock. Prudent timidity is a blessing 
of middle age when apathy is more con- 
genial thanflamboyantspectacular ac- 
tivity. On the other hand a young 
widow was married last month at Den- 
ver “on short notice.” A “mine magnate 
and clubman” — for a wonder he was not 
a “prominent clubman” nor was he “a 
member of exclusive clubs,” but only 
a “clubman” — said to the widow; “I 
dare you to marry me,” and she 
Answered: “I never took a dare in my 
life, and I won’t now.” An hour later 
they were married. So there may be 
danger in not “taking a dare,” for mar- 
riage may be a sea rather than a lake of 
trouble. “Prepared for either fortune” 
is a fine old rule, “but it is better not to 
dive after a hearty meal and to marry 
one whom you have known for at least 
a week, even though there be a jeering 
“dare” or “stump.” 

THE STRONGER SEX. 

Prof. W. I. Thomas of the Univer- 
sity of Chicago holds that life at the 
beginning was female; that for 
countless ages woman was the supe- 
rior and ruled man; that she is more 
active in courtship than man. But 
these views are not original or start- 
ling; they are known to every an 
i thropologist and sociologist. Woman 
is still the stronger. This is proved 
by her endurance and fortitude in 
housekeeping, in shopping and 
her pursuit of social pleasures. Last 
June Mr. Glenn of Port Richmond 
47 years old, went shopping with his 
wife. They went from counter to 
counter. After it was all over he 
fell unconscious in the street and 
died of heart disease. AVhat man of 
you could go through the daily rou- 
tine of an ordinary housekeeper or 
that of a professional society woman 
and be able to exert mental or 
physical force at the end of the 
third day and night? Neither Mr. 
Thomas nor Mr. G. B. Shaw was 
the first to show that woman was 
the more active in courtship. A 
supreme artist, she conceals her art. 
Thackeray said that a woman can 



ORIGIN 



READ'S THEORY OF THE 
wv OF “NEGRO FOLK SONGS 



marry any man she wishes to marry, 
and his remark is only a faint echo 
of past statements. On July 10 Miss 
Khoda Emily Crosby of Mahanoy 
City, Pa., started for Loudis. Cal., to 
marry a man she had never seen. 
The headline summed up the mat- 
ter: ‘'Determined to wed a man she 
never saw." It is true that the man, 
a fruit grower, sent her a railway 
ticket and money for incidental ex- 
penses, but had he not thus aided 
her in her purpose she would have 
got there just the same. The won- 
der is that any bachelor or widower 
escapes. 1 

AX INTIMATE JOURNAL. 

A dishonest Prussian major kept a 
diary “in which he entered most of his 
shady transactions and his doubts and 
fears as to their entire honesty." He 
analyzed his character ; he entered vows 
for reformation; he expressed his de- 
spair at his inability to reform. This 
diary might truly be called a human 
document. IIow many in Boston en- 
gaged in business, or in a profession, or 
idle and weary of "leading the life of 
a gentleman,” would have the courage 
to enter in a journal all the transactions 
and thoughts of the day ; and if such 
a journal were kept honestly for a 
month, who would be found to publish 
it? A Belgian once said that there was 
a little pig in the mind of every one. 
The art of life is to keep the pig little, 
to keep its squeals from other ears, and 
not to listen sympathetically to these 
squeals, however restless or hungry the 
animal may be. Even those justly reck- 
oned good might shrink from confessing 
everything to a journal. No one acts 
from a single motive, and in the sweet- 
est, kindest deeds one of the motives, 
If examined closely, might well bring 
uneasiness and even shame. It is doubt- 
ful whether the frankest and most un- 
blushing narrators of their lives, as 
Casanova and Cellini, did not shrink 
from recording certain acts and finally 
refuse to preserve the memory of them 
in writing. 

I A GUEST THAI r viu.n. 





















■m 



wm 



ADELINA BADET, DANCER. 



MARY GARDEN IN “APHRODITE.” 



major and u'lm accepted by 

ine oi Lite muiivco) nor.” Thi3 is ^ ^ t e ly for Mr. Head 3 

■jEZtfSSi INVESTIGATION BY FOLK 

LORISTS IN ENGLAND sttyBBttg r» — 



[America Has No True Folk 



Songs — Plans for the 
' L Worcester Festival, 

A queer story comes from a Penn- [a 



onfy°in Scottish ‘folk 'tunes. 

An Old Quarrel. 

It may be noted in connection with Mr 
It may Lo uis La loy, in a 

Head s article that ..The Mu- 

... 

S' ® L c„.» * 

Mr. Angelo M. Read contributed to American, and for 



A queci otui j 

y , •as** 1 p”m,, rjas « e 

„ ,he would hm visit <t t" t»» „„d I BBL 'SSa^tWKSSjItt.'SE 



oon visit her in the TTigbtenment does it not seem ?a y 'what ha^been^of^n .said Folk^Mu- 

untry. She did not keep her prom- Btrange that there are people, that" the I Scf” 

The Greens claimed $2 dam- them lecturers, who claim that tlve Africans, of th areasers that have 

es for their disappointment, but American Negro melody is purely A - the^Creo^ 

...... Uouov nf Kpmmertown decid- rican . scribed as Arne „ r jein “arc not 



try. qrc vi * * * 

The Greens claimed $2 dam- 
res for their disappointment, but 
mire Haney of Kemmertown decid- 
t against them. The tale Is a pa- 
etic one to the true sentimentalist, 
ever mind the practical side of it. 
aw Mrs. Green probably set her 
ouse in wondrous order, filled her 
,-dcr to bursting, killed and cooked, 



rican 

Mr. Read argues that for genera- 
tions the negro, a slave, and in contact 
with the “enlightened" white race 
changed in nature so that he e\entua 
became AmeRcan hi life. ^nguageand 
song- v ^settlers were largely 

o^Scottlsh descend 6 The J'egro ln^ihose 



i£ser^;ilne\c^ejF'F- 

songs, d vTateveT their ongin not 

American folk a naif-breed, then 

be a negro, a creole or a haii folk 

&\y r birth or descent none otthew 



use in wondrous oraer. ,\ p par i y settlers were mege** songs is oi juul as akm to 

dcr to bursting, killed and cooked, »v?o e «» n m« 

ought out fine llnen-thls is meta- parts « ok or na ^ r d aU ii^ r ." These melo- ™nt ur y. There , is no comparison^ a 

— ’ - Prefer d& Wo«~ of nefro I 

tunes. , . , ... „wr,,„nriate this music and Jong-knoaji^I ^ ^,j ie American has 



lorical, for possibly they prefer 
,tton sheets in Jackson township— 
id prepared herself and Josiah for 
,e arrival. There were the nelgh- 
,rs who had been told of the com- 
ig visit. They were agog, and some 
- them secretly envious. So are the Jj ye Africa for a ^° re s J™o<mded C by“a 
ther country families disposed when encan^ p ^ his own. 

king honors one by his acceptance and associated with ^the^wmte^ ^ gu _ 

f hospitality. Mrs. Green was “set 
p.” She had talked of Mrs. Gedrich, 
er charm of manner, fine taste, 

,’ealth, position. The appointed day 
rrlved and with it the stage, or per- 
iaps the Greens drove over to the 
rarest railway station. No Mrs. 

Jedrich! Surely there was some ac- 
cent. A telegram or a letter would 
•xplain. But the days went by, and 
10 Mrs. Gedrich appeared. The I j g moreoV cr, "^^rTls'n'thesuT- 
icighbors began to whisper, then to |cotch 

,-huckle. "Thought you said >our catch or snap, fwtnd ^in both, the^ gag 



mmSM 

tour entirely and bee me it The negro 

to creature (?) nei e c a han t” of bis na- 

threw over the simple c ‘ a er esslve Am 
tiye Afnoa for a "o^prog^ by : 

ire super! 

and associated w.tn me «--- h r sll 

p^im-s ed in ra education during his earlier 
*Wr. Read 1 adds: “If wetrace the source 
of these sla^ e-songs ^ of the maj- 

tonic scale is u ? ed alp with a minor 
or, and the minor sc minor songs, 
seventh for many °* H\ e y ’"learly, the 

This substantiates pretty was im - 

assumption that 4 a ® tch music, which 
pressed by the * S ted upon these 
fatter is also c ° n however, many of 
scales. There are -. l l lt _ ls and Shouts 
the finest Negro Sp cltua^ ana ^ ru _ 

constructed “PP 11 , in fi U ences. There 

•suit no doubt of Joe* tl which lends 

is moreover, another jn t b e su d- 

force to the argumen ■ wordSi Scotch 

den syncopation, m other^o the Scotch 

o — » > c atcli or snap, f This may have sug- 

v friend was cornin’ down to visit anrl 8 called rag-time, attr !^“ 
And the Greens asked only ^ed to the Negro which o ^ecentIy 
as balm for the disappointment! reacb^so mne^c g a fallacy 
th Clive in India, they might well prQn mlgated b . 5 ' T^^Negr? m usic the 
nder at their moderation. Sarm* i?* t ,^at*n.^o5 

the music is pot National t enlisht- 

ened 'colored ^people a and they chiefly 
local.” 



A pentatonic scale is a five-tone scale, 
which . av : : -^- se Plli 0, ILvpnth degrees in 



and long-known American has 
the Russian PeeP' n 3t . approach to it 
' no folk song. I he nea^st api , , phen 
are the more tunes 

C. Foster, a bora a merican qualities 
reflect truly certain nie me iodies were 

|^tn m orlgln of the true folk 
60 ?L 1S e O arly 0r s|tlers of ^ 1 . counWlJf 

the north sang psam^n^ t j le church. 

with W 7 *rds even without ki lhe 
We hav 9 heard a ^o^^cpp Mv TI tie 
cradle t» hen I E aa land ( F r express- 
dear” and a *" s “‘ 0 ing to work 

lug morning joi.Wfore^o g^ a 

by shouting ■, • The words 

Stretch thy Winga ag did 

of those hi mu® . common and 
the Bible. into t do i e f U 1 tune 

tamiliar speech- r - a uetatlv at funerals 
• China' heard frequently Qr Mar . 

was often whistled v . , 1,0 chores, 

conus. While be was iJ°^ E t0 U ^hee°' is 
Today Nearer MV men and 

sung by children r o^ straw ride . 
maidens, on P lC fi‘ cs f gon gs in the 
But these are not folic 
true meaning of the TT rd B ead that the 
Wc ‘ 1 ‘r’L 'cLl ed Negro f oik songs 
majority of . so ' cal i e ? he tunes sung by 
are perversions of t e t“J r or heard 
the mistress in her p Negroes 

at camp-meeting. -'rude chants" 

brought few ,f J p n v fr ican coast, for 
with them from he Airman t of 

those natives were not * , nBtru . 

was^Fe’drtim ajavorite by rea- 
son of noise and rh5 t ' • na turally mi- 

The negro and t 0 sa y with 

metic. It 1 s not n e ■ • { mimicry 

Coleridge, that the talent m p human 

peemS ic degraded; that the poor 



very lowest stamp alone satirize bj 
copying.” 

Songs of Somerset. 

Compare for a moment the folk- 
songs of England with the alleged 
tolk-songs of America. The Eng ish 
for centuries were given to singing, 
at their work, in the street, in the r 
rriflkine in their drinking. It is 
a pi tv That more of their folk-songs 
a Viftfurd in our own concert i 

balls The storehouse is vast, and 
many of the songs in all conceivable 
moods are not only quaint but beauti- 

<u k n e of these songs, and an exce 
lent example of quaintness cyn 
■ r»aa anno- here last season ) 
« Yvette GTilbert-''The Keys 
Heaven.” Mr. Plunket Greene sang 
in Boston several years ago. It w 
be remembered that the woman w 
« not won by promises of a coa.ch- 
or by jewels, finally melted 
when the wmoer offered her the keys 
nf his heart. There is another ver- 
sion n which the last sentimental verse 
does not apear. The heroine was per- 
dlded by the gift of a "broidered silken 

g0 Mr d Cecll Sharp, an enthusiastic col- 
0 f old Somerset folk-songs, 
cave a concert lecture in London 
foward the close of last season. He 
paid in the course of his remarks that 
fhp punposedly dull-pated yokel was 
a mer^y fetlow at heart and a brisk 
lover - some of the songs are charged 
wiVh ’the spirit of adventure, the love 
r/ V roving open-air life, witness 
“Th<f Wraggle-Taggle Gipsies." There 
Ik no false sentiment in them, no 
tfngoism, no ‘mother-klss-me-in-my- 
d ream s’ sort of a thing— remember 
l ow Foster's maidens are as a rule 
cither sleeping beneath the willow or 
fn the last stages of consumption. 

tones may be plaintive, as in 
“Lord Rend™” and "The Unquiet 
Grave” but they are not mawkish 
K are often cynical, and remind 
one of the Somerset farmer's conten- 
tion that "women are like kippers, 
when they’re bad they're terribly bad, 
end when they're good they're only 

m The 'folk-song in Somerset is Pass- 
ing away, and Mr. Sharp believes that 
pone will be heard there after the next 

10 years. The average age of the 
singers who contributed to his colie 
tion was about SO. He told ofa 
tenarian in an infirmary who was co 
fined to his bed and thought his next 
neighbor— "that young fellow (|etat 
SO) could help with a verse or a t ui , 
"the while he himself, having Sung 
ills verse, nulled the sheet over 
head and, lost to view, pondered on 
another verse.” An old woman 
sang of Nelson admitted that she 
knew nothing about his deeds, but 
suppose he "wur a tumble great war 
rior man." An old dame OVer -'O l < 
old sans on a workhouse bed to mr. 
Sharp ft ditty shortly before she died 

The title was "I'm Seventeen Come 

Sunday," and the story ls of a hoi 
ersetshire lad who went out on a MM 
morning at sunrise and met a ra 
maid. 






Her shoes were bright, her sfoehlngs white, 
Her buckles shone like silver, 

She had a black and rolling eye, 

And her hair hung down her shoulder. 
With my rue dum duy. fol the diddle dcd 
Fol the dol. tho diddle dum the day. 

How old are you, my fair pretty maid, 

How old are you, my honey? 

She answered me, quite cheerfully. 

I'm seventeen come Sunday. 

With my rue dum day. fol tho, diddle dol, 

Fol the dol. the diddle dum the day. 

Then there is the stirring song of 
Henry Martin, the gentleman who 
“turned a robber” "for to maintain my 
two brothers and me.” 

Mr. Shay described the English folk- 
song as originally "in a state of flux, 
never fixed; belonging roughly to the 
last strong man who sang it; evolved, 
not composed as we know composition; 
communal not individual; full, as a rule, 
of merriment and jollity.” 

From Other Counties. 

A collection of songs from seven Eng- 
lish counties, among them Sussex, York- 
shire and Kent, was published in the 
eighth journal of the Folk-Song Society. 
The collector is Dr. R. Vaughan Will- 
iams. A Middlesex song was heard by 
Dr. Williams sung by a trio of ballad 
singers in a London street. It tells of 
William and Phyllis. The girl is some- 
what emancipated and when her father 
refuses William, a sailor lad, as her 
lover, she determines to go to sea. 
William is no egotist. He tries to dis- 
suade her. 

It will hurt your constitution; anl your 
lingers are so small, 

So stay at home, and do not roam our cable 
ropes to haul. 

But Phyllis answers: "I have clothing 
for the sea, .So we will go together to 
America.” The voyage was a stormy 
one, and the lovers were obliged to trust 
themselves to a small boat. Then they 
suffered, for “their drink it was salt 
water, and that alone was sweet; they 
tore their clothing from their backs, for 
they had nought to eat." At last "they 
met with kind assistance” and prospered 
in Ameri-kee. The tune is said to be a 
version of “On the Banks of Sweet Dun- 
dee.” 

“In Oxford City” has a darker color. 

A lover, jealous, finds his sweetheart 
"dancing with some other.” He hands 
her a glass of poisoned wine, and says 
to her: “I have drinked of the same, my 
jewel; I soon shall die as well as thee.” 
“A sailor in the North Countree" is , 
melodramatic with a happy ending. A 
“noble captain” longs, for the wife of 
one of his sailors and sends him off to 
the West Indies. The sailor goes cheer- 
fully, for “little did he dream the Cap- 
tain’s heart was so inflamed." Then the 
“noble captain” attempts to “seize the 
poor sailor's wife.” She remembers her 
husband far away and shames the 
“noble captain" with these words: 

The King shall lose his crown — before my feet 
you shall lie down. 

Or before I will be at your command. 

The subject of “The Devil and the 
Ploughman” Is old and to be found in 
more than one country. It is a whistling 
song: 

The devil he came to an old man at plough 
(whistle) * * • saying 

One of your family I must have now, to my 
fol-de-ral- little- law -day, 

It is not you nor yet your son, 

But your bad scolding wife that you have 
got at home. 

To my fol-de-ral-lit tie-law -day. 

*But when the wife had been in hell 
for a short time, the fiends found 
their torment hotter and they sent 
her back. 

Dr. Williams is an enthusiastic col- 
lector, but some of these “folk-songs" 
seem to be broadsides of the Cafcnach 
variety. A hundred years from now 
broadsides and music hall ditties mav 
be confounded with folk-songs and 
See there she goes, my own Sophia, 

Swinging, by Jove, on the daring slack wire, 

a fl d , “T.JVr,£? u soes r in&ing for Sarah,” 
with Vlllikins and His Dinah,” and 
the ballet of the Palmers may excite 
the respectful attention of folk-lor- 
ists. . 

In France. 



[and the works to be' performed. Tin 

| t0 be , performed are Handel’s 

Israel in Egypt,” Wednesday night, 
\ e C? ! 3 .“Requiem" and Brahms’ 
Destiny” on Thursday night, 
tlsts , nl ElH" on Friday. Tho 
hony con cert will be on 
y ^ aftern 5 on - and d Friday af- 
w/n'rm? , ,M nT' 0, k a Samoroff, pianist, 
", p >! ay ;,r ahe conductors of the festival 
be Messrs. Wallace Goodrich and 
rw.‘V Z , Kllei 5 eI .’ The Boston Symphony 

The le nrth!i = f ti° me F lias been engaged, 
ine artists thus far engaged include 

OrnWthv Parkina . Miss Louise 
iPnhbm ?°P raI 2° s ;.and Mrs. Margaret C. 

belPe Rnolnf' Lodls e Homer. Mme. Isa- 
oeiie Bouton and Miss Grace Munson 

Bedd r ni t0 r s: Pau ' p ofault and Daniei 
Beddoe, tenors; Emilio De Gogorza and 

Befl Gnu - Mart iV basses. Miss Bessie 
UsI.s’Mght/ V10 ” niSt ’ WiU play 011 Ar? 

be*for£ n 1 olr," S ? ng ' of Des tiny'' has never 
mi™ e , b ? e ? 5 ven at the music festival 
dnL SO ir ls S o 01 ’ the “Requiem” will in- 

Mr Martin T? by ’ , Mme ’ Bouton and 
iyi-. Martin. The tenor will be an. 

raei n in d Effvnt” T1 ,‘, e 0,0 sin &ers in “Is- 

Mr Dehuh Mta D be o rs ’ Rabold and 
c! ’ Mlss Parkina, Mr. Homer 
rn a,.?' G ,°Sr?rza and Beddoe will sing 
ni8h , t ’ The Annual Bulletin 

nszr&jn* « tsrziT, 



. t a new opera, 

i arm altrul, which will be performed 
at Venice. 

There is talk of publishing a catalogue 
‘hree volumes of all the musical 
manuscripts in the British Museum. 

1 1 "c first volume is ready for the press, 
and it gives the titles of the vocal 
sacred music. The music catalogue of 
the Boston Public Library is now in 
course of preparation for the printer, 
it will be an unusually elaborate one 
• An opera, “Zierpuppen,” based on Mo. 
here s “Frecieuses Ridicules,” with mu- 
sic by Goetz, will be performed at tlm 
Opera Comique, Berlin, this next sea- 

Rossinl’s “Barber of Seville” has put 
Paisiello s opera of the same name in 
the shade, but the latter was performed 
at Turin recently and found to be still 
lively, fresh and graceful." 

At the new theatre in Cairo an Italian 
company gave performances of 20 differ 
ent grand operas in 26 days. 



✓f 1 7 / ^ 0 (y 



We had intended to write somewhat 
at length about Mr. Maurice Lefevre, 
who has talked about and produced 
with singers Frencli folk-songs at thd 
Figaro Five O clocks ' and in various 
halls in Paris. According to him, the 

tunes of the earliest of these songs 

and here he follows Tiersot, Wekerlin 
and other writers on the French folk- 
songs— were inspired by the music of 
the church. The peasant at work 
the week in the field or among! 
the hills remembered the music of' 
Sunday, or the feast day. N ot till 
17th century was there a change 1 for 
greater melodic freedom. B IOr 

But the wealth of French folk-song 
is known to all students of music, and 
the subject has been treated often 
both gravely and in an entertaining 
manner. The songs are historical 
satirical, military, emotional ama 
tory, pastoral— for all moods and feel 
ings. eel 

In one of the quasi-historical songs 
Mr. Lefevre finds fancifully the “dawn 
of the Entente Codiale.” % lr e! yoZg 
English drummers pass gaily bv the 
window of the King of France 7 in 
the window s its his maiden daughte. 
One of the drummer boys offers f o he r 
the rose he carries in his mouth if she 
will give him her heart. “You are? 
poor drummer boy.” He answers 4 
have ships and I am a King’s son ’• 
The father hastens to sav: “You shall 
wed my daughter.” “Thank you, sire 
but there are girls in my country as 
pretty a s she.” y as 

How far are these songs, English 
and French, both in text and in me £ 

ody, from the negro "spirituals” and 
the Indian chants, which some insist 
noisily are “American folk-songs.” 

WORCESTER FESTIVAL. 

Details for the Worcester music festi- 
val which takes place Oct., 2, 3, 4, and 5 
in Mechanics’ Hall, Worcester, are suf- 
ficiently completed to authorize an an- 
nouncement of tho chief artists engaged 



MUSIC NOTES. 

„ f Th , e . Herald Publishes today portraits 
of Mary Garden, as the heroine in 
Camille Erlanger’s opera, “Aphrodite,” 
founded on Pierre Louys’ romance, and 
of Adelina Badet, the Parisian dancer, 
whose success was chronicled some time 
ago in this journal. 

Miss Blanche Fox of Roslindale, who 
as Biamca Voipe. sang with much sue 

m .-,? pera las t season £ Italian’ 
cities, will sail for Europe tile 20fii 
a 5’ear s absence to increase her renei- 
& and accept engagers Miss Fox 
£ as a 5 11 ,®? 20 s °Prano voic® of good qual- 
lty.and liberal compass She has studied 
industriously and intelligently and ^she 
^ now acquiring experience , ^ifch is of 
much more value than theorizing about 
tone production after a singer i™ 

re The e Refere t e ail ?r Sta f e ° f P roficd ency. 
,, lne Referee (London) stated that 

froni‘M^ e w a iS t0 rece * ve $2000 a night 
from Mi. Hammerstein, and The Herald 

sunf Is $4000. ay C ° Pied the 6tat ™e,U. The 

Mr. Sterling MacKinlay, the son nf 

Um hfe 6 of thl e i!, i t nS 'W PUrp ° ses 

fi r . e of the late Manuel Garcia Mr 
Ernest Newman, one of the leading 
music critics in Europe, has resfgnel 
his position as critic of the Manchester 

haT&a 0 ! 301 " the Staff of 

Felix Mottl of Munich and Dr. Viotta 
?en£' 1 «,^? rdam wiP conduct during the 
four-weeks season of opera at Covent 
Garden beginning Jan. 14 under the di- 
In addiBnn E t neSt Van Dyck, the tenor, 
delin ”-ne, t0 °P e r a s by Wagner, “Fi- 
tann’e «qPit --^eischuetz” and Sme- 
tana s Sold Bride will be performed. 

nbnn?r rCbes j ra w111 be the London Sym- 
phony, and our old friend, Mr Carl 
Armbruster will be chorus director. 

o£er? S ■^ t ]i el -M Smyth ’ S new and third 
opera, Les Nauprageurs,” will proba- 

Mme 6 ^ r ,? du< r ed ft Prague in November. 
rPTfi -o’ P a , ni .i". 111 glve 30 concerts in 
o P. rit: ir n t lls faIb sbe wil1 be sup- 
ers 1 tuJ Mme Ada Crossley and oth- 
eis. The Carl Rosa Opera Co. will in- 
S e J” lts repertory this fall Verdi’s 
Pthello and Nicolai s "Merry Wives 
V mdsor. H. E. Haines is compos- 
ing thy music for Seymour Hicks’ 
new musical piece, “Everyone’s Dar- 
ling. C. M. S. McLellan is writing a 
new piece for Edna May, “Nelly Neal,” 
■noth music by Ivan Caryll. It will be 
produced m London next October. Leon- 
I S °r celebrated his 50th birthday 
Aug. 15, at his home in Brisago, Switz- 
j erland. Among his presents was a 
bronze statue of Zaza. The music dic- 
ii?o anes say be was born on March 8, 

loDo. 

The London Times said of a recent 
performance of Tannhaeuser" at the 
Lyric Theatre: “We take the world 

nowadays less romantically than we did 
60 years ago; we are not so stirred as 
we used to be by the medieval legend 
of the young man who could not de- 
cide whether he was more bored by the 
monotonous respectability of German 
court life or by the monotonous naugh- 
tiness of the inhabitants of the Venus- 
berg. The moral upshot of the case, 
too, leaves us cool enough; we do pot 
really care whether the j’oung man 
eventually succumbs to Venus or the 
Vatican. No— Tannhaeuser is surviv- 
ing at the present day not because of 
its romanticism but because of its 
beauty; ‘the age of chivalry is gone’ 
and the moments that come back to us 1 
are those in which Wagner forgot that 
he had to be romantic and merely wrote 
beautiful music because he could not 
help it. We forget the Pope as we for- 
get Walther von der Vogelwelde; we 
cannot help remembering the sextet in 
the first act, the finale of the second, 
and such a thing as Wolfram's song in 
the third, which is so beautiful, not be- 
cause of the romantic situation, but 
simply . owing to the loveliness of the 
music.” It is a pleasure to learn that 
the Bacchantes in this performance 
were "conscientiously skittish.” 

The New York Symphony Orchestra 
will give eight concerts in Carnegie Hall 
next season. Mr. Walter Damrosch will 
conduct. They will be on Saturday 
evenings and will be followed i n each 
instance by a concert on the Sunday 
after. Among the soloists will be Mmes 
Gadski and Schumann-Heink, Messrs'' 
Lhevinne,, Rosenthal, Schulz and Ysaye’ 

It is said that Miss Mouromtseff, the 
daughter of the president of the’ late 
Douma. will ' be a professional singer 
She purposes to sing Russian folk songs 
in Paris next winter. 

Another opera founded on the pecu- 
liar marriage ceremonies at Gretna 
Green with music by Edmond Wau- 
campt, a military bandmaster, is an- 
nounced for performance in Brussels 
It is entitled “Gretna Green.” Orefice' 
who wrote an opera, “Chopin,” with 
the themes taken from that composer’s 



A NEW CHAPTER. 

Mr. Herkimer Johnson is now col- 
lecting material for a chapter on ice 
cream to be published in the eighth 
volume of his colossal work “Man as a 
Social and Political Beast.” He hopes 
to show the origin of ice cream, the dis- 
tribution of the habit of eating it, its 
present influence on manners and health. 
Iheie will be a wealth of illustrative 
anecdote. Mr. Johnson informs us that 
he has ascertained the earliest appear- 
ance in Boston of the Sunday dinner of 
turkey and ice cream, a dinner that is 
now held out as a lure to prospective 
boarders. There will be a portrait of 
the mayor of Piano, III., who recently 
journeyed to Chicago and pleaded with 
the ice trust to supply the little town ; 
for in consequence of t&e ice famine, the 
ice ci cam saloons were closed, and young 
women, therefore, could not be properly 
courted, all to the detriment of the race 
and the growth of Piano, Mr. Johnson 
is endeavoring to find out why ice cream 
became, in a way, a guarantee of true 
love. When Miss Annie Lang of Jersey 
City suggested to Mr. Samuel Beldner, 
her betrothed, that they should celebrate 
thejr reconciliation by eating ice cream, 
he replied .* Nothin’ doin'. I won’t spend 
my money on such stuff.” Miss Lang 
foiled to recognize the admirable quality 
of thrift, and also the prudence that 
fears ptomaine jjoisoning. Tcxlay they 
meet as strangers. She eats ice cream 
alone. 



AN APPLICANT. 

So Mr. Marcel Prevost wishes to be a 
member of the French Academy and is 
willing to make the humiliating visits. 
He is best known by a novel “Les 
Demi-Vierges,” which is demi-Iiterature, 
and his “Lettres de Femmes,” an amus- 
ing volume for elderly persons. He has 
written more sedate books and even a 
volume of good advice for the “jeune 
fille,” but the two just mentioued made 
his reputation. Mr. Prevost wishes the 
seat vacated by the late Albert Sorel, a 
master of historical writing, yet Mr. 
Prevost has described a phase of Paris- 
ian life, and in a way he, too, is a his- 
torian. It was said at the time of 
Theophile Gautier’s rejection that the 
academy named his “Mile, de Maupin” 
as the cause. The times have changed. 
Mr. Prevost’s earlier volumes may not 
be an offence in academician nostrils. If 
Mr. Prevost be rejected, he will be in 
good company ; he will be with Balzac, 
Gautier, the eider Dumas, Baudelaire, 
Flaubert, the de Goncourts, Daudet, I 
Verlaine, Zola. 

& / f & (j 



“URGED.” 

Mr. Frank S. Buttenvorth of New 
Haven and of football fame remarked 
to a reporter: "Don't say that my 

friends have urged me to accept the 
nomination. I have always been am- 
bitious for a public career and will 
seek the nomination.” How refresh- 
ing it is to find a man who is not 
ashamed of proclaiming his wants! 
We read that “Mr. Leander Ferguson 
has accepted a position,” etc. As a 
matter of fact, Mr. Ferguson moved 
heaven and earth to get the position. 
He bored his friends and even com- 
parative strangers for letters of 
recommendation. He pulled all wires 
that were already stretched and he 
rigged new ones. He haunted the 
office and was on the doorstep be- 
fore breakfast. Yet after the pro- 
prietor, or the manufacturer, or the 
banker, wearied by Ferguson's im- 
portunity, gave him the job, Fergu- 
son declares that he was "urged,” 



“persuaded” or “prevailed upon," and 
! after “much doubting and long con- 
sideration," he "accepts.” There are 
Fergusons even in politics. 






6 



A CEREAL TRAGEDY., 

Mrs. Buttner of Alleghany sued for 
divorce on the ground of “cruel and 
barbarous treatment.” Her story Is, 
Indeed, a sad one. Her husband, a 
dentist by profession, became a slave 
of the breakfast food habit. He tried 
one preparation after another, from 
the kinds that are baked, boiled, 
stewed, roasted, fried, singed, to 
, those that are eaten , ; in their cold, 

[ naked deformity; from the kind that 
looks like stale chicken feed to that 
cast in the form of a pocketbook. 
He insisted that the wife of his bosom 
should join him in his cereal de- 
bauches. She was willing to humor 
him in a measure, but though she 
sighed for beefsteak, a chop, sausages, 
a bit of liver, eggs, hot cakes, he de- 
creed them taboo. Yet he loved her 
in his wild way, and that she might 
digest the breakfast foods, he forced 
her to ride a bicycle immediately 
arter eating, and, we regret to say, he 
swore at her violently when she was 
unable to keep up with him — for, like 
Jehu, the son of NJmshi, he driveth 
furiously. The commissioner did not I 
regard these facts as evidence of cruel 
and barbarous treatment, although 
Mrs. Buttner showed him that her 
clothing no longer fits her. Is it pos- 
sible that he was biased, that he, too, 
is a victim of breakfast foods and 
abstains from sausages and buck- 
wheat cakes on the same plate and 
with plenty of maple syrup? 

THE MILIEU, 

A whimsical sociologist of London 
who signs his articles “W. F. W.” 
saw a well dressed man at dinner. 
We regret to say that he also de- 
scribed him as “well groomed,” a 
term that suggests the work of a 
valet with a currycomb and the pe- 
culiar hissing sound that accompa- 
nies the operation. The observed 
one misused his knife and had no 
idea of the misuse till he was about 
to misuse it again. “Then he re- 
membered that this was not the old 
‘milieu,’ where a knife blade may 
chase and dispose of the elusive pea 
and no susceptibilities be thereby 
ruffled; where the purist who should 
preach the use of forks would stand 
at once convicted of a solecism.” “W. 

F. W.” then argues ingeniously. Thus 
a sweet and low voice is raised and 
becomes more strident when the 
street is filled with the women from 
the shop dr the factory; the repose 
of Miss Vere de Vere in a “milieu” 
rot naturally hers suggests an in- 
quiry concerning her health. We do 
net think it unreasonable to say that 
tiny man of refinement and educa- 
tion forced to live in certain villages 
or rough towns would, after a few 
months, become careless as to gram- 
matical niceties, nor would he be dis- 
quieted by grease spots on coat and 
waistcoat. Coleridge, arguing against 
Wordsworth’s theory that rustic life 
supplies necessarily the truest poetic 
thought and expression, insisted that 
not every man is likely to be Im- 
proved by a country Jife or by coun- 
try labors. It Is a question whether 
rigid preference for a fork in a house 
where the knife is recklessly used is 
not a gross breach of courtesy, an 
insult to human fellowship. 



3 & > / & (a 

“fore”- words. 

It is a pity that Mr. Booseveit bv 
ukase has not settled the spelling 
fore -words. Should not the spelli 
ot the prefix show the derivation of t 
word? Should not the final “ e ” 
“fore” be used only when the pre 
gives the sense of anteriority of pla 
or time? The dictionaries give “foi 
close,” but tlie word is from the 0 
French “forclos”— and so it is wi 
“forejudge.” Is the rule a sound oi 
that where for ’ corresponds with tl 
German “ver,” as in “forlorn,” the 
should be no final “e”? There shou 



be no final “e" in “forgather.” On the 
other hand, “forebear," an ancestor, 
should have the “e.” Why “forward"? 
By reason of its connection with the 
German “vorwaerts”? Some time ago 
Mr. Marshall Steele exclaimed, and not 
without heat: “In these days of democ- 
racy it is needless to complain about 
things democratic ; yet despite its utter 
futility one voice is ever raised in ve- 
hement protest against that abomina- 
tion of these latter days, democratic 
spelling, or ‘speling,’ as the shameless 
authors and practisers of it would write 
the word.” But Mr. Steele, a conserva- 
tive Englishman, admitted that the base 
iconoclasts "gather strength and fresh 
excuses for their vandalism from the di- 
visions of their stanchest opponents,' 
and Mr. Steele, by the way, spells 
stanch with a “u.” 

CONCERT FOYER 

Fenn’s New Libretto Dwells 
on Reverence in Which the 
Egyptians Held Cats. 

MISS YAW IS TO LEAVE 
CALIFORNIAN PARADISE 



As is well known to Macaulay's school- 
boy. the Egyptians reverenced the cat. 
Woe to him that killed one even by 
accident! The cats had superb tombs 
at Bubastis, of which no doubt Baude- 
laire and Gautier and Champfleury, all 
cat lovers, often dreamed. 

The librettist of "Amasts, or the Egyp- 
tian Princess,” Mr. Frederick Fenn, has 
used this Egyptian affection and worship 
In constructing his plot, and if the critic 
“Carados” of the Referee may be be- 
lieved. Mr. Fenn has written a “witty 
and deliciously satirical book.” Indeed, 
some of the London critics go far in 
praise and say that this operetta libret- 
to is of an unusually high order. I be 
operetta was produced Aug. 9 at toe 

N f>?,n T e h e el ^nho^o?' Memphis writing 
a poem in honor of his mistress, 
disturbed by the yowling and ,. ta V;i\r 
wauhnl of a sacred cat. extraordinarily 

sacred b^cause Its body .er,closcd th« 

’ al f "of °a ^brick'^^at hefand Killed 

Sne C Ptolemy. the emba ™ a.W-mnd 

crocodiles, was a stern '°f*^ tes H \ v eJe 



^r.Hturn, was piquant and captlvaflfig- 

The wives of the -Memphis mercha. s 
are df - crlbed as pretty and bewitch!, 
••particularly when haying been de- 
prived of some of their clothing bv 
jealous husbands, they In .chorus sang 
to curious man. you mustn t look. 

Tlie music of this operetta was com- 
posed bv Mr. Philip Michael Faraday. 

It is said on the whole to be admir- 
able.” Having said this, the critics af- 
ter the manner of their tribe proceed to 
show why it is not admirable. The 
composer has not always set his text 
truly. In some Instances the words 
stumble so awkwardly over the rhythm 
adopted as to suggest that they were 
written to the music. Instead of hemg 
its inspiration. The melodies aye not 
always as bold and decisive in character 
as they should be. but this, in a meas- 
ure, is atoned for by their P I i evai ’ a ' g 
refinement • * * The purely comic 

songs show less originality than ac- 
quaintance with what has been accepted 
before the time of Amasis the Ninth. 

Is not Miss Ellen Beach Yaw, once 
widely known as a sky-rocket soprano, 
coming to Boston next season? The Los 
Angeles Sunday Times tells us how she 
spends her leisure hours on an orange 
ranch, and there are pictures of her: 
Miss Yaw among the roses; Miss Yaw 
calling her flock of chickens; Miss A aw 
sitting with an old spinning-wheel and 
playing that she Is Marguerite. . 

Kor her home life is ideally simpi 
and Ideally American. Perhaps there is 
not another singer of note In the world 
who has been less affected by cosmo- 
politan training and earth-wide expei i- 
ence." They apparently never touched 

" This gifted soprano speaks French 
‘•like a Parisian," but thereporter lf sl ie 
ens to assure the great public that she 
has made Frenchiness conspic ouslj ab- 
sent from her home. To clinch this, 
the reporter adds: ''She goes about the 

farm vard In a sun-bonnet and a Sing- 
ham gown”— not in a low-cut dress of 
Parisian make, not even in tights 
ing the chickens, entering into debates 
on orange cultivation, discussing late- 
fertilizer?, and even talking oyer the 
fall plowing." She can also spread the 
tablecloth and set the table. 

there is her maid Andrea, a 
silent tawny-skinned, yvory-toothed 
maid ” And Andrea, too. ^should come 
to Boston with her ivory teeth. Force- 
lain-toothed women are not uncommon 
i® New England. Mr. Stlwson m his 
"Jethro Bacon.’’ says that down on the 
Cape a porcelain *et Is always numbered 

among the W9dding a°Span- 

women are rare. Andrea has a bpan 
Tsh name hut her sober countenance 
and unspeaking lips testify to the pure 
tn dlan blood which flows In her veins 
She Is a graduate of the Sherman Insti 

tU Miss Yaw loves her home! “The broad 
^hieldin 0 ’ orchards that surround it, the 
mallstlf blue mountains that rise in the 
background, the soft peaceful w inc { 
blows in every day from the far-distant 
sea-these are the furnishings of her 
naradise.” Yet we are assured by man- 
agers and press agents that Miss Yaw 
may be persuaded to leave this paradise 
—for a consideration. 



Marie Tempest will sing four songs 
for a limited number of nights at tne 
Palace Conceit Hall, London, next 
month, and at the end of the engage- 
ment appear elsewhere in a new play. 
She is "tempted to sing in a music 
hall by an offer of a reco rd salary. 
Well, she is worth it. Vi hat a pity It 
is that she ever left comic opera! No 
one has taken her place. Miss Ruth 
Vincent is a wholesome woman — in a 
milk-maid manner, a pleasure for the 
eyes, and she sings much better than 
many of her colleagues. Mme. Tem- 
pest Is unique. She is subtlest when 
she is apparently frank. "A dainty 
rogue in porcelain” described her even 
when she appeared as Carmen. 



Mr. Edward A. Baughan, the music 
critic of the London Daily News, is the 
author of a volume of essays, "Music 
and Musicians,” published by John Lane 
of London and New York. Mr. Baughan 
was described by Mr. Blackstone as one 
belonging to "that modern school of 
criticism which for good or for ill, but, 
surely, chiefly for good ignores to a 
large extent the technicalities of musi- 
cal expression, and. by means of a 
cultured and expressive style delivers 
his views in a manner naturally under- 
standed of "he people/ " The Herald has 
often quoted from the reviews of Mr. 
Baughan and its readers are already ac- 
quainted with the soimdoess and teu- 
crocodlles. was a stern ‘"|*‘ c 7“tes"w.ere ery of his opinions and the force of his 
gued that he andh-s a-’ some - expression 

S„K/,nie.s Now the prince has h 



Mr. Paderewski will play here with 
the Boston Symphony orchestra on 
Jan. 4-5. 

The London World says of Puccini's 
manuscript scores: “Puccini’s scores 

are the study of a lifetime, and there 
is only one man in Messrs. Ricordi s 
office in Milan who has mastered the 
art of deciphering them. Sometimes 
the page looks as if a fly had crawled 
over it. sometimes as if an elephant 
with Inky feet had trampled on it. and 
everywhere are weird flourishes and 
thumbnail sketches and notes, seem- 
ingly superfluous, which have over- 
flowed into the margin, and blots in- 
numerable. It is easy to understand 
that if such is the case with scores 
written in the- ordinary way, that of 
•Mme. Butterfly’ was a still greater 
puzzle to the reader. A fac-simlle has 
been published of it, which makes 
one wonder how the composer himself 
could And his way through it. An- 
other specimen of his caligraphy. 
taken from the end of 'La Boheme, 
shows a page covered with illegible 
notes, and in one corner a large draw- 
ing of a skull and crossbones, under- 
neath which is written In large let- 
ters, 'Mimi.' ” . 

Mme. Melba’s son, George Arm- 
strong, Is betrothed to Miss Ruby Ot- 
way, the daughter of an English 
colonel. _ _ . . i 

Alexander Georges of Paris is at 
work on four operas. The subjects 
of two of them, “Cleopatra (text b> 
Jean Richepln) and "Aucassln and 
Nicolett” have tempted several com- 
posers, but without conspicuous suc- 

Ce A* London daily journal sensibly 
remarks: “The story that while -in 

Ireland Mischa Elman attended 20 Irish 
Fels Ceoil. and there obtained Irish 
traditional tunes, which he intends to„ 
Incorporate into a composition already 
far advanced, will All with anguish 
the heart of the unhappy programme 
writer to whose lot shall fall the 
analysis of the work. For him it is 
enough when the orthodox number 
of themes Is used. The sympathy. of 
all will go out to him who has to 
analyze a composition which, vttien 
far advanced, suddenly has a score 
more of tunes superimposed upon 
those which form the original basis 
of the work. Are’20th century com- 
posers in the habit of working In the 
manner implied by the introduction of 
something new and strange into a 
work already far advanced. 

“Lancelot” of the Referee suggests 
that abridged versions of old °ra- 
torios be performed with effective 
fflhleaux ’’ He mentions Samson, 
“Esther” and “Jephtha.” Costa’s 
“Naaman” and "Eli would afford op 
portunities for gorgeous spectacles. | 
No doubt; but the spectator could not 
escape some of Costa's music. 

Mr. Max Heinrich and Mr. H. Whit- 
nev Tew propose to make Boston their 
headquarters during the coming sea- 
son. 



X He has his own view as to that which 
t critic should be. “He should have 
leep musical knowledge, both practical 
and theoretical, and, in addition to this 
knowledge, he should possess a sensitive 
and poetic temperament, balanced by 
keen judgment, and above all, a fine, 

" M r° B S 1 ackbu rn , S o bserv I ng‘ t ha t t h e past 

foVVhe declared l that n and ‘h^“ 

SFSJSSK mounted ^,,5 

served e fo? a hcro^andswore J^e^kined InU^ mann^ quesUon is depend ent 
the cat. Amasis was n chelro 

ed Amnerls. She eou embalmer’s t on a matter of moods. It is he who 

serve as materal ar. old l en 'tcrs into the absolute mood of the 

skill, so she too ^ d n led - forth to die composer who. If he b e articulate In la^.- 

I Sieved if there passed by a guage^ makes^the heUer^crlt.c^ 



accused. #<helro head over heels 

A .^ un ^,h C amasis could not see her 



3/ 



serve advantage ot ar. um enters into 

skill, so she too Jed forth to die composer who, ii ne ;ie " -~ 

law: That any if there passed by a guage, makes the better cidtlC. 

I M Wished she “ ■ 

w^ n »sfe &K 

I ter'knew "things 'whhflv he had not told 
| her but he had to , give * ay. w erc 

! "rSb 

| tried "o embaljn the body^by^a patent^in- 



Aloys Hadrviger of Graz, a new 
Parsifal at Bayreuth, is said to have 
a "fine and expressive voice/’ and to 
make “awkward gestures.” In other 
words, his gestures are of the modern 
Bayreuth school, all xs and > s. -there 
is Mr. Burgstaller, fo* example, who 
_ i „ . . f AT vn n I 1 ftoi TYI IL W 



I IV?; 1 , ^e^^p^ocets" 0 Perhaps ‘he was ^^- he B “ r p 8 p U a, <5? r M^. CosYmT’Wag- 
I not familiar with It ^ perhaps someUvlng ner’s eye before hc consented^to^slng 
converted into ^Mr. Conrljd. P Only 



twinkling of an eye 
a royal mummy. ■ 

Unfortunately for the judgment of the 
critics, they give extracts from the 
dialogue. Here is one. “bebak s off 
cial report concerning tbe crocodiles 
was the cause of genc-rai merriment 
•Twenty-five of your Majesty s suWecU 

vv^'- n° "^8^ M ^ u'g 'i'll' ss 

,V° U a topical song for 

Ptolemy ^who slngd of . ^e Poplar 



u O JJ1 VUUVW.v... . - 

sifal ” Like “Leftenant Carter's Only 
Ion ” he was naturally a likely and a 
comely youth, but how he uvisted 
himself into double-bow knots when 
he wished to be dramatically intense! 
He broke his cross-bow and threw it 
a wav as though he were about to 
make a long distance jump from a 
springboard, and saw the ladles rain 
ing sweet Influence in the gallery. If 
Mr Hadrviger were not awkward he 
would not be a promising Wagnerian 
tenor of the later Bayreuth. , 

Mr. Albert Spalding, a young Amer- 
ican violinist, will give f ° ur ~ ®?.Tr 
phonv concerts” In London in October, 
November and December. Mr. Landon 
Ronald, a brother of Henry Russell, 
singing teacher and impresario, w-ui 
conduct, and the programme will in- 
clude new works by British compos- 
ers. Mme Clara Butt is well again, 
and will give her "annual concert 
with her husband, Mr. Rumford, Oct. 
13. 



IX DEFENCE. 

The Herald has several times com- 
mented on the abuse of the toothpick, 
not as an article for the privacy of the 
toilet, but as a mouth decoration, or as 
a substitute for gum, lovage or tobacco. 
Now comes one "Medicus,” who lives in 
AraityviUe and insists t ha t the preju- 
dice against the use of a toothpick in 
public as unrefined and as an evidence 
of bad breeding is not founded on a 
reasonable basis. He talks of a “false 
standard of politeness,” says that the 
teeth should be picked immediately after 
eating, and asks why the use of the 
toothpick at table is any more disgust- 
ing than that of a fingerbovvl. He omits 
1 to say whether he prefers a quill, a 
wooden toothpick, an ivory one worn as 
a , watch charm, a jacknife, or a table 
fork. Poes he insist on tooth-picking af- 
ter each "gnaw” of corn on the cob audj 
after each, forkful of corued beef? Or 
why should not a diner brush bis teeth 
at the table as German officers brush 
hair and mustache as soon as the soup 
is served? There are pretty tooth 
brush guards of silver, and they might 
be utilized for pocket purposes. A wom- 
an could wear hers pinned to her cor- 
sage, as some wear a w r atch. Perhaps 
the best time for simultaneous action at 
a formal dinner would be just befoie 
the Roman punch is brought in. 

OYER AYEIGHT. 

The Herald has received a pathetic 
letter from a correspondent living in 
European towns according to Ins 
caprice. There is a fly in his jam 
pot. Some of his friends in Boston 
oo not realize the fact that foreign 
postage is five cents per half an 



ounce, and the rule In foreign coun- 
tries is that double rates are collected 
on delivery of unpaid or short paid 
letters. “On one occasion I received 
a letter weighing over an ounce and 
a half and stamped with a two-cent 
stamp; as the prepayment ought to 
have been twenty cents, I had to pay 
thirty-six cents for its delivery! But 
this was an extreme case.” It ap- 
pears from what he says that busi- 
ness men and important commercial 
houses are as remiss. “The regular 
office paper and envelopes are calcu- 
lated on the whole ounce basis; the 
paper is handsome and two sheets of 
it and an envelope together weigh 
over half an ounce. The letters, when 
written, are given to the office boy 
to stamp: many of them are doubtless 
domestic, but some are foreign, and 
the boy does not take the trouble to 
read the addresses, but puts two-cent 
stamps on all. Thus the foreign ones 
are eight cents short paid and the 
recipients must all pay sixteen cents 
for their delivery. You ask, can such 
things be? I answer that they can 
and are, and that frequently. The 

manager of a branch of an imP° rtat ^ 
firm in Jamaica- AV. I., told me a few 
years ago that their business cor t® 
spondence with one house m the 
United States cost them, on an av 
rage, T80 a year for short paid letters 
received. Many of the letters were 
double or treble, and all were prepaid 
with two-cent stamps. No expostu- 
lations seemed of any avail.” We ad- 
mit that there should be a reform but 
at present we are more interested In 
a lack of 'domestic postage, where 
some one writes, asking for informa- 
tion with “thanks In advance, and 
neglects to inclose a two-cent stamp 
or a properly, stamped envelope. 

Je/j* / 

“SIIOOTIN’ CRAPS ” 

Mr. Norman Lucian Parker, a negro 
of 7° years, was reproved by a New 
York" magistrate for “shooting craps.” 
Asked whether he were “too big for 
the sport, he answered memorably : 
“Why no cullud gemrnan am evah too 
big to shoot craps. I jes’ had foh saints, 
iedge. and I piled dat into oue buck and 
two hits in lais dan half an howah. 
Hat am easier dan totin’ bananas oft 
dat fruit boat whah I wuk, jedge. Pie 
court interpreter hastened to explain to 
the magistrate that a “buck” is a dollar 
and two hits are twenty-five cents. The 
game of “craps” is an old one and, like 
K olf, appropriate to the wisdom of ma- 
ture yr>ars. Is the word itself a corrup- 
tion of the French “creps,” a favorite, 
-mme in the gambling halls of the Pal- 
ais Royal in the 18th century? Bes- 
cherelle says it was a game played with 
dice and of English origin; that the 
name was sometimes written “krabs ’ 
and the word was spoken when one suc- 
ceeded in throwing 2, 3, 11 or 12 at the 
first cast. English dictionaries shed 
little light on the subject and we do not 
remember any allusion to the game in 
novels or plays of the 18th century. 
The New York magistrate should not 
have, been surprised at Air. Parker s 
interest in tlie game. The mania of 
gambling is not cooled by the advancing 
years and the civilized and the savage, 
the cultured and the primitive, are vic- 
tims alike. 



STILL UPWARD. 

The inmates of the Isle of W ight 
workhouse live, it is said, on nine 
cents a day. They have three square 
meals “A visitor recently saw them 
enjoying a meal of pork, new pota- 
toes, green peas and rhubarb pie. 
The choice of pie material after pork 
was peculiarly felicitous: otherwise 

we should have expected bilberry 
pie, which Mr. Sims in the ^latest in- 
staiment of his “Mustard and CresA” 
or “Custard and Mess." assures us 
half a dozen times, and in the em- 
phasis of separate paragraphs, is de- 
licious. Here, then, perhaps, is the 
one spot where the price of living is 
not much higher. We read only a 
few days ago that the prices of meat, 
fish vegetables, groceries, milk— al- 
most everything edible and potable 
—have gone up. in Vienna, and are 
still rising, so that the “Mensa Aca- 
demics,” the cheap restaurant for 
university students, may be forced 




FORGOTTEN OR NOW UNKNOWN T 
,,„ t FORMER FAVORITES IN OPERA 

1 tfO 4> : 



> close. Nearly 1600 students dine 
nd sup at this restaurant in term 
me. The' meals are simple, there 
re no tablecloths — a blessing in a 
heap restaurant — and there are not 
o many waiters. The dishes are 
larked at a price that just covers 
re cost of the raw material, and the 
?nt, wages and all expenses of man- 
gement, a total of about $7500, are 
rovlded by subvention from the uni- 
erslty and by donations. Now it is 
npossible to raise the prices; it is 
Iso Impossible to serve smaller por- 
ons and satisfy the natural hunger, 
nd the reserve fund is nearly ex- 
austed. It is not only in the United 
fates that the cost of living has in- 
reased out of proportion with any s 
dvance in wages. Wherever you go 
Europe you hear the same story, 
nd travellers find higher prices 
harged for food even in the less fre- 
uented and humbler villages in, 
witzerland. Ask our distinguished 
"iend and eminent sociologist, Mr. 
lerkimer Johnson, what the result 
ill be, and he shakes his head after 
he manner of Burleigh in Sheridan’s 
lay. "It’s the same in Clamport” 

; his only verbal answer, ‘‘whether 
ou Jive on nuts, fruits, meat, fish, 
ggs or yoots and herbs.” 



AIDS TO CONCENTRATION. 

A new theatre will be opened in Berlin 
his fall. It will contain ‘‘only’ 232 1 
uxurious seats, and is to be dedicated 
tv the production of those modern plays 
or which the authors wish the utmost 
oncentration of attention.’’ This proves 
gain that the Germans at large, in spite 
f Jean Paul Itichter and the famous 
ilunich comic paper, have no sense of 
itimor. The German fears above all 
hings ventilation at home, atHhe office 
mid iu the theatre. The Combination of 
classic German play, say Lessing’s 
‘Nathan the Wise,” and the foul air in 
German theatre will overcome the 
nost earnest student of the drama. 
There is no reason to hope for improved 
eutilation in the new theatre; therefore, 
f playwrights wish the audience to con- 
entrate attention the seats should not 
je luxurious, they should be like kitchen 
■hairs, or the settees found in country 
own halls and 'chapels. Lessing and 
Schiller are dead, and are probably not 
much concerned with the behavior of 
audiences, but the living pant for pres- 
ent recognition. They are the ones to in- 
sist on hard and straight seats, with a 
cross bar that hits the spectator in the 
small of the back. Put a German, full 
of Zungenblutwurst, Sauerbraten mit 
jvartoffel-KIoesse, Berlin Roilmops or 
Geduenstete Hammelkeule mit AVeisse 
Bphneh and beer, and he needs aids to 
concentration. An exposed noil in the 
seat or the Back of the chair might help 
some. 

^ '? a 6 

RIVALRY OF THE 

NEW YORK MANAGERS 



•Igar’s New Oratorio and His 
Partisans- - Cambodian 
Music in Paris, 



Some one once said: "When I hear 
auch talk about a new book I read an 
Id one again.” The Herald publishes 
oday portraits of four singers from 
'holographs taken when Mmes. Clara 
■rouise Kellogg, Annie Louise Cary, 
’elda Seguin and Paola-Marle were ap- 
ilauded and eagerly discussed. 

How many of the younger generation 
mow whether Mrs. Kellogg-Strakosch 
s alive or dead? If they have any 
bought of her, they associate her 
vaguely with wandering English opera 
roupes, not knowing her triumphs in 
his country and in England In the early 
sixties. They have no idea of the 
purity of her song or the extent of her 
repertory. 

Some of the younger generation have 
aeard of Mrs. Oary-Uaymond; they 
jeiieve she came from Maine, was an 
ittractive Amneris and Siebel, and now 



TAOLA 



lives in JNew Vork. This they have 
heard from friends. 

Mention the charming Zelda Seguin to 
them and they will shake their heads. 
They know nothing of the historic fam- 
ilv. 

And who, pray, was or is Paola-Marie? 
There was a Galli-Marie who died a 
year or two ago. Let’s see — didn’t she 
create the part of Carmen? A singer 
in Paris had three daughters. The most 
famous of them was the creator of 
Carmen. There was Irma-Marie, an 
opera-bouffe singer, who came to the 
United States the season after Tostee in- 
troduced operettas by Offenbach into 
this country. Then there was Paola- 
Marie, who visited us much later. 
Capoul was a member of her company. 
As a singer, pure and simple, Mme. 
Paola-Marie had a cafe-chantant qual-| 
ity of voice, considerable vocal skill and 
genuine dramatic ability. AVe remember 
her specially as Mlgnon and as the hero- 
ine of "La Mascotte.” Before her com- 
ing, operetta singers in this country had 
turned Bettlna into a dainty soubrette. 
Paola-Marie showed us a true peasants 
girl, foolish, sly, malicious, good-na-' 
tured clownish, and withal eminently 
desirable. How admirable her entrance!! 
Yet the realism of her impersonation 
disquieted some of the genteel who were 
not appeased by her grace and woman- 
liness in the last act. An excellent 
artist In her way! 

Is it, or is it not a pleasure to recall 
the singers of former years? To re- 
member Kellogg's Marguerite. Susan- 
na, Catarina, Seguln’s Cherubino and 
the boy In "Maritana," Cary’s Am- 
neris and the Bettina of Paola-Marie? 
Tostee did not spoil us for Aimee or 
Paola-Marie or even Alice Oates? But 
where are the successors to Mezieres 
and Duplan In operettas by Offenbach 
and Audran and Lecocq? Are there 
operetta tenors now in English to be 
ranked with Drew in the Oates com- 
pany as singer and actor? AVho has re- 
placed John Howson? What became of 
Jones, wonderful as the spy in "The 
Daughter of Mme. Angot”? 

We know of nothing drearier than 
a revival of an Offenbach operetta 
with "a grand cast,” "a sumptuous 
production”— witness the revival of 
"The Grand Duchess” and "La Peri- 
chole” with Lillian Russell as the star. 
Yes, there may be one thing drearier, 
a revival of one of Gilbert and Sulli- 
van's operettas without knowledge of 
the Savoy traditions and with come- 
dians who, not sure of Gilbert’s lines 
and not fully appreciating them, ven- 
ture to introduce their own cheap wit. 

The Rival Houses. 

Reading of unknown singers engaged 
by Messrs. Conried and Hammerstein, 
singers as pawns matched against each 
other in the operatic war, observing 
the laborious efforts of the press agents 
to excite Interest n Signor Spaghettinl 
and Signora Rtpicchiata, Herr Hunde- 
bett and Frau Turner-Hammelkeule, 
glories of parochial opera houses, we 
think of former days when useful sec- 
ond tenors as Lazzarinl and superb 
basses as NannettI had no advance 
trumpeters with brazen lips and cheeks. 

Does Mr. Conreid announce a tenor 
from Dresden or a soprano from Ham- 
burg, Mr. Hammerstein promptly 
counters by the engagement of some 
“Sembrich of Italy.” It may be said 
truly that renowned singers have been 
engaged for the two opera houses; 
but why this fury in rivalry over the 
second and third rate who will fill out 
the respective companies? 

Then there is the strife over Puccini 
and his operas. Mr. Conried has en- 
gaged the composer to come to New 
York to superintend the first per- 
formances in Italian of “Mme. But- 
terfly,” which will be sung in Janu- 
ary by Mmes. Farrar and Homer and 
Messrs. Caruso and Scotti. Mr. Puc- 
cini is not a conductor, so he will be 
able only to advise, threaten and 
storm at rehearsals. He will also give 
his ideas about the performance of 
"La Boheme.” “Tosca” and “Manon 
Lescaut.” For this he will receive, it 
Is said $8000. 

Naturally the idea of Mr. Savage’s 
earlier production of "Mme. Butter- 
fly” in English is not palatable to 
Mr. Conried, who has endeavored with 
the assistance of the composer and 



TOES . a£,&uiK. 



CL ATS. A LOCtl-SE. VCE/bLOGCy. 

his publisher to dissuade or prevent 
Mr. Savage from carrying out his fell 
purpose, but Mr. Savage is not a man 
easily to be dissuaded or prevented. 

Meanwhile Mr. Hammerstein is left 
out in the cold, as far as the produc- 
tion of operas by Puccini is con- 
cerned, and the New York Sun is 
moved to deplore editorially the pure- 
ly commercial nature of the operatic 
war. If managers would only contend 
for a lofty artistic purpose! 

But opera has been for years merely 
a plaything of fashion and shrewd 
managers have used the gilded youth 
and glittering dames to line their 
pockets. If certain women, wives of 
the suddenly rich, cannot gain access 
to the show boxes of the Metropoli- 
tan, what more natural than that 
they should beseech or command their 
husband" to support Mr. Hammer- 
stein. AVe have every reason to be- 
lieve that Mr. Hammerstein is sin- 
cere in hfs purpose to give excellent 
performances of opera. Nor should it 
be forgotten that he is musical. Did 
he not compose on a wager the music 
for a one-act opera or operetta in an 
incredibly short time? Did he not do 
it in a few hours— or was It half an 
hour? The fact remains that he has 
a strong company and he has an- 
nounced the production of interest- 
ing novelties, among them Gluck’s 
"Armide." 

Certain Novelties. 

AVhy should Mr. Conried revive 
“L’Afrlcaine” at this late day? A re- 
vival of "Robert the Devil,” "Dinorah” 
or "The Star of the North” would be 
more to the purpose, if It is necessary 
to search Meyerbeer’s baggage. Or 
why should "The Damnation of 
Faust” be produced as an opera at 
cither house? The great epic — as Mr. 
d’lndy calls it — is a series of gigan- 
tic sketches, and there Is no contin- 
uous dramatic action. 

Mr. Conried is wise in engaging a 
French conductor to lead French op- 
eras. AVhen he had Messrs. Mottl, 
Hertz and Vigna in his employ no 
one of them was the man for "Car- 
men.'’ 

The "great event” will be the produc- 
tion of Richard Strauss’ “Salome” at 
the Metropolitan. The heroine will be 
impersonated by Mme. Olive Fremstad, 
a high contralto by nature, who is anx- 
l lous lo sing music written for sopranos. 
Richard Strauss cannot leave the Berlin 
Opera House, therefore Mr. von Schuch 
of Dresden, an admirable conductor, 
who led the first performance, will come 
over. 

AVill there be protests against the pro- 
duction of "Salome" on account of the 
Introduction of John the Baptist and the 
scenes suggested by the meagre account 
of the dance and consequent murder in 
the New Testament? When Massenet’s 
“Jongleur de Notre Dame" was an- 
nounced for performance in London the 
Pall Mall Gazette said: "An interesting 
little point, however, to note will be 
precisely how the British public will ac- 
cept a miracle play which obviously be- 
longs to a time before the development 
the English church out of the various 



teachings of the Middle Ages. The sub- 
ject, indeed, is treated reverentially 
enough, but It will be a moot point as to 
whether an ordinary audience will be 
inclined to treat with reverence a sub- 
ject which to many an average English- 
man and Englishwoman is scarcely 
sympathetic. As we ourselves have at- 
tended the dress rehearsal, and as our 
notice coincides with the appearance of 
this column, we may for our own part 
say that the story is a very beautiful one, 
and that only people deeply colored by 
religious prejudices would object to so 
sweet a legend so sweetly told. We 
make no comment here; but. as we have 
said, we shall be curious to note pre- 
cisely what kind of effect a play deal- 
ing with a statue of the Virgin, a mon- 
astic— presumably Cistercian— order, and 
a conclusive miracle worked on the 
stage will have upon so mixed an audi- 
ence as that which forgathers night by 
night at Covent Garden. On these par- 
ticular grounds many a religious play 
has before now come to grief. In the 
face of this somewhat audacious mount- 
ing of the opera, one wonders precisely 
what people would have thought con- 
cerning Wagner's 'Chrlstus' if he had 
ever lived to complete the work, even 
for so sacrosanct a place as Bayreuth.” 
But Massanet’s opera was pro- 
duced in London without social com- 
motion or any perturbation of na- 
ture. Mr. Blackburn was encouraged 
to ask when "Salome” would be pro- 
duced? There is nothing that can 
really suppress a work of art.” The 
great success of the performance at 
Gratz led him to write: "It only 

show that the geniuses of the world 
are bound in the end to win their 
way, despite all the prejudices, all 
the disfavor, all the opposition of those 
narrow cliques which think that, be- 
cause they belong to an earlier per- 
iod of art, art, therefore, should come 
come to a standstill when they them- 
selves have finished practically with 
art. It is so absurd to think that 
new things and new ideas can 
never be produced upon the face 
of the earth, that history, which, 
despite the old dictum, never re- 
peats itself, should, at all events, 
show that every development ip nov- 
elty, when set before the world by a 
real genius, is bound to take its 
place in the long line of those who 
have suffered and worked and died 
for art, and who, despite all opposi- 
tion, will continue so to do, in defiance 
of the fear or the favor of man.” 
Elgar’s New Work. 

Sir Edward Elgar’s new work, “The 
Kingdorp,” will be produced, as The 
Herald has already stated, at the Bir- 
mingham (Eng.) Festival, next month. 
The solo music Is written for the Blessed 
Virgin, Mary Magdalene, John and 
Peter. There is an orchestral introduc- 
tion. The first scene, “In the Upper 
Room,” is at Jerusalem. The subject is 
the inauguration of the ministry by the 
disciples. The second division, "At the 
Beautiful Gate,” is concerned with the 
morning of Pentecost and the three 
Holy A\ r omen. The third division, “Pen- 
tecost,” contains two scenes: "In the 
Upper Room." with the descent of the 
Holy Ghost; "In Solomon’s Porch,” the 
beginning of the ministry of Peter and 
John. The fifth division, "In the Upper 
Room,” contains three sub-divisions: “In 
Fellowship,” "The Breaking of Bread,” 
"The Prayers.” The composer will con- 
duct. "The Kingdom” will complete 
“The Apostles,” and the latter work 
will be performed at Birmingham, Oct. 
2, the evening before the production of 
the new one. 

Mr. Blackburn’s adoration of Elgar is 
well known by this time to the readers 
of The Herald. It grows more and more 
hysterical. Not long ago he asked in the 
Pall Mall Gazette, “When, we should 
like to know, is the triumph of .Sir Ed- 
ward Elgar to cease?” He felt a cer- 
tain hesitation because Elgar's "magnifi- 
cent work” and "magnificent genius” 
have been so quickly accepted and un- 
derstood the whole world over; at least 
Mr. Blackburn insisted that this is the 
case. Elgar, he said, is essentially Eng- 
lish in his thoughts and ideas of music 
and in His “solid and splendid feeling 
for the scoring of music.” He has “in- 
herited the mantle of Purcell”; lie has 






restored to England the proud name or 
being in the van of music. Only one 
countrv has yet to bo conquered, France. 

And then Mr. Blackburn blew a fanfare 
for his own land: "When all is said and 
done, we In England have most as- 
suredly done more toward the advance- 
ment and progress of musical art than 
any other country in western Europe. . 

It is all very well for people to talk 
about us as an unmusical nation as of 
a race of men who do not consider the 
fineness and the sweetness of the high- 
est art. Nevertheless, wnen you come 
to look at the history of things, it will 
b found that no country save England 
has done so much for the advancement 
of musical art and for the encourage- 
ment of musical genius. And why this 
blare of trumpets In England s honor . 
Because, forsooth, "we have welcomed 
Richard Strauss, we have applauded 
him, we have understood his genius 
from the outset, and to us he is indeed a 
hero.” 

Elgar in France. 

' As our readers know, Elgar s "Dream 
of Genontius” was at last performed in 
France at the Trocadero under the pa- 
tronage of the Dowager Countess Gref- 
fulhe. The performance was in May 
(the 25th), and The Herald at that time 
stated that the audience and the ma- 
jority of the critics were bored, just as 
the oratorio bored nine-tenths of the 
hearers when it was produced in Boston. 

Even one of the more well-disposed of 
the Parisian critics, Mr. Jules Guillemot, 
was forced to admit that the phrase was 
too eftor. lest in vagueness, and he 
likened'the musical painting to flat tints. 

But Mr Blackburn was profoundly 
grieved by the "very narrow point or 
view" taken by Mr. Alfred Bruneau, who 
honestly said that "The Dream of Ge- 
rontius” never moved him. All we can 
sav in this connection, exclaims Mr. 
Blackburn mournfully, “is that we have 
iust the smallest respect for Mr. Bru- 
neau's opinion in this matter. Of course, 
it is a law between critic and critic that 
one should not advance a theory against 
another in any sort of heat of tempera- 
ment; but that a man like M. Bruneau 
should find The Dream of Gerontius 
heavy, without character or tenderness, 
seems to us so extraordlnarv that it is 
perfectly clear that litis fine Frenct 
critic has not yet begun to understand 
the meaning of Elgar's work.” 

He quoted against poor Mr. Bruneat, 

"Mr Villars. one of the finest rrn cs 01 
our time.” who found the chorus of de- 
mons to be real devilish and the chorus 
of angels "quite angelic. He then dis- 
missed all the incompetent, the mis- 
guided and the invincibly Ignorant with 
these words: "The matter need not be 

discussed farther, because as a matter 
of fact one cannot mind what word; 
anybody may write In depreciation 01 
Elgar’s masterpiece any more than ono 
can mind an attack upon Beethoven s 
Ninth Svniohony or Bach s Matthew 
Passion. Nevertheless, just at that mo- 
ment one does feel a slight tendency 
toward annoyance when one finds that 
a man of really competent judgment at- 
tacks a work which has now been ac- 
cepted through the whole of Europe as 
an immensely great production of the 
human brain. It is true that Elgar is 
now a musician of European reputation, 

but we should like to know why it nar- 
pens that in France alone that re, Po- 
tion is not yet taken for granted. El- 
gar, Bach and Beethoven! 

But did not Mr. George Moore sav 
that Elgar's music reminded him or 
holv water in a German beer barrel . 
Win' does not Mr. Blackburn tilt at 
him? Mr Moore dearly loves a shin- 
dy Of course America does not 
count in Mr. Blackburn s eyes, vt e 
are not on his musical map. 

Mr. Newman Disappoints. 

Even Mr. Newman by his contribu- : 
tion on Sir Edward to John Lane’s ser- 
ies "The Music of the Masters” has 
disappointed Mr. Blackburn. Mr. 
Newman Is always inclined to deal, 
not so much with the esthetic side of 
anv musician, but rather with that 
descriptive element in his work which 
is a little dry in the reading, al- 
though it is doubtless very learned 
In the construction.” Mr. Blackburn 
does not wish to hear that the libret- 
to of "KlngOlaf” is very defective, but 
he would like to know how far Elgar 
nad advanced In his art before ne 
wrote the music of "King Olaf. ^ r * 

I Newman, it seems, is ‘‘too hyper- 
! critical from a literary point of view, 
in his discussion of "Caractacus. Mr. 
Newman actually dares to describe 
Elgar’s music as lacking in dignitj , 
he does worse, he blasphemes bj 
speaking of a"pleasant orchestral pre- 
I lude," followed by a chorus which Is 
not a success.” He is fhppant, for t 
him that "famous melody Land ot 
Hope and Glory” is dressed in clothes 
that seem "several sizes too ’^ gR .J,°p 
it” "He does not appreciate The 
Apostles’ so keenly as he does 1 he 
Dream of Gerontius;’ this Is quite in- 
telligible. but we are sure he hill 
1 change his mind in the long run. So 
there is a chance for Mr. Newman to 
’epent anl raise himself in repent- 
ing to the height from which Mr. 
Blackburn surveys in wonder, love 
and praise the complete works ot 
Elg&r. 

The question Is. how does Sir Ed- 
ward stand this nauseating flattery . 
From remarks made by him in lec- 
tures since the production of The 
Dream of Gerontius we are inclined 
to believe that he welcomes it. Me 
l hear him saying to Mr. Blackburn. 

I -put it on thick. Vernon, my good 
fellow. Why don’t you use a trowel 
Put it on thick. I say. I like it. 

And although Mr. Blackburn hardly 
recognizes the musical existence of 
the United States, he should hold this 
country in deep affection. U was at 
New Haven. Ct.. that President Had- 
ley of Yale University solemnly pro- 
claimed in the sight and hearing of 
the people that Sir Edward riehlv de- 
served an honorary degree, because he 
was the greatest living composer. 



Cambodian Music. 

We have heard much about the cos- 
fumes and the dances of the ballet 
that accompanied His Majesty Slsso- 
wath to France; how the choregraphic 
evolutions tell a story and point a 
moral' how only after years of labor 
is a dancer a true Cambodian artist; 
how some who really are proficient 
copy the movements of the elephant, 
and are yet graceful in agility; how 
others are trained in the real !' rench 
minuet; for when Siamese ambassa- 
dors visited Versailles in 16S6 to pay 
homage to Louis XIV. they were fas- 
cinated by the elegance of the dances 
at the court, and, returning to Lang- 
kok. they carried with them the state- 
ly minuet. We were also told not long 
ago how Rodin, the great scu ptor, 
spent hours drawing out "the simple 
natures of tlu-se dancers” and sketch- 
ing "their supple movements, graceful 
poses and all the strange symbolism 
of their religious dances.' He accom- 
panied the dancers to Marseilles and 
would fain have gone witn t.iem to 
to Indo-China. He admired the per- 
tection of their forms. He admired 
other things; "there Is a rhythmic 
shudder that passes along them from 
the tip of the right-hand finger to the 
tip of the left-hand finger, undulating 
through the shoulders, (hat is a 
veritable joy, an undreamed joy to the 
artist.” The nurest marble would not 
do justice to these forms I think of 
the - noble, severe simplicity of the 

E But t 'httlf r has t6 been said about the 
Cambodian music or instruments. 

The orchestra and the chorus is sub- 
sidiary whether the dance be panto- 
mime y or mimodrama. Mr. Juhen 
Tiersot who has made careful stuules 
of exotic music, describes the instru- 
ments, almost wholly of a pulsatile 
nature "like the Javanese gamelang, 
but of a more acute and less vague 
sonority ” Nor is the accompaniment 
apparently an improvisation. "Certain 
pieces that gave the rhythm to the 
dance seemed to be true symphonies, 
with a well designed contour, with 
movements that changed and were re- 
newed to suit the dramatic action. 
There were developments almost as 
regular as those in our classic com- 
positions.” Mr. Tiersot found occasion- 
ally a use of ternary rhythm— chiefly 
lo.g— which he had before this observed 
rarely in preceding performances of 
music of the Far East. Furthermore 
he was amazed to find in this ancient 
music harmonies which existed when 
in European countries there were only 
“melopees” or songs in uinson. He re- 
gretted that the difficulty of notation 
by dictation would be great, especially 
since the Cambodian music is complex, 
and he would ike to see phonographic 
rolls that have received these “subtil 
modulations” by the side of the chief 
works of Palestrina, Rameau, Beeth- 
oven, preserved In libraries. 

Slssowath’s Orchestra. 

The orchestra was described in detail 
by a Parisian correspondent as a very 
strange medley of instruments. There 
are boat-shaped and formidable xylo- 
phones with keyboards of bamboo. 
There are instruments like a rectangu- 
lar box mounted on wheels and with 



S*/*r V 

7 CONCERNING THE CZAR. 

Russia, as well as Spain, is a coun- 
try o£ proverbs, and some of those in | 
winch the “Little Father” is mentioned j 
are of peculiar significance today. The i 
proverbs are old for the most part, but i 
even in the middle ages some were as 
ironical as fulsome. "A Tsar, if he were a j 
leper, would be cousidred clean : "One 
must bow even before a blind Tsar ; 
"The Tsar's crown does not protect him 
from a headache"; "Even the Tsar’s 
hack would bleed if it were knouted.” 
And here is one apparently made for 
these times: “The Tsar's ukase is worth- 
less unless God says ‘Amen'” For "God 
i he ultra-co nservatists would substitute 
the names of the Grand Dukes. 

AT GOLDFIELD. 

The men of Goldfield, Nev., decided 
that it was right for women to sec the 
prize fight, and that there was no need 

of masking veils. 

With store of ladles. whose bright eyes 

Rain influence, and judge the prize. 

The miners decreed that “any one 
who had any objections had better say 
inAhing.” If any effeminate or genteel 
man of the East be shocked by the in- 
terest shown by ladies of Goldfield 
and the neighborhood in Messrs. Gans 
and Nelson, we refer him to a wish of 
John Keats. The poet saw the famous 
mill between Messrs. Randall, the non- 
pareil. and Turner in 1818. Describing 
the fight to Cowdeu Clarke,, he tapped 
his fingers on the window pane to give 
an idea of the Nonpareil's blows, and, 
rhapsodizing over the splendor of the 
si°-ht, he exclaimed: “Had there been 
a proportionate mixture of women in the 
immense ring formed by the crowd, it 
would have been a very brilliant spec- 
tacle ” At the same time we cannot 
side with those who desire the presence 
of ladies at a mill solely for their 
“humanizing” influence. We remember 
the behavior of the Vestal Virgins, swell 
women in their day, when they were 
excited by the gladiators. 



daughter came in to help. Today 
there are few, If any. New England 
girls of huirfble origin and life who 
are willing to be called servants. 
Tlicy prefer to work in ft factory or 
to stand behind a shop counter. How 
hard It is In any large city to find a 
"general housewotk girl” who is com - 
petent. even when the family is small, 
and how many girls of American ori- 
gin are to be met in an intelligence 
office in Boston? Suppose the daugh- 
ter of a New England household Is i 
suddenly forced to earn her living. 
She tries to give piano lessons, for | 
which she is not competent; she will 
do anything but "serve.” even as ai 
nurserymaid. Have the Englishwomen 
less false pride, or are they at last 
forced to serve or to starve? 

CONCERT FOYER 

Opinions of French Singers on 
the Present Condition of 
the Art of Song. 



MISS LUCIENNE BREVAL 
COMES TO THE RESCUE 



S *i[)t 






■notes” of metal plates or scales. There 
is a carillon with a chime of copper 
bells “All the musicians are armed 

beat with a baton. His duties as ^ 

srA'rfKw “S™* sre 1 

P A universal virtuoso, he plaj s any .. 

1 strument when he is commanded by his 

^Rodin’s description .of the music^too 
vague for pedagpo mU sic is od- 

le t ve Rie"n^mhl? could accompany this 
SHES,?; act HOW shall I tell in words 



vaTue for“ C red»c;use and “yet it 
leaves an impression. Thi 
mirable; no other could • 
religious act. How shah - f ~ bat ' ?inse r 
of the emotional P rontinuously on 
the 0S same "tone .^unb r oke m^u a a 

dull “ra' beats the unchanging 

measure!” mmbodian rhapsody by 

Last s< *ason , a Camboamn ^ 

Bourgau U-DucoudW w club. The 

Boston by the -jf t K tl 3 bee n said, witn 
piece was written it the m in- 

a political view, at a tlme^ interest tha 
lstry m P o w „ If ' S q* h e composer, who 
nation in Gambod.a .^ purposes of mu- 
had visited the east ic -mbodian themes 
si cal res> arch appropriate 

^r 0nJ From e the ton. ^"forman^m 

the S 1 rh ap s ody ' served to bring the two | 
nations closer to gether ^ 

SYMPHONY concerts. 

The interest which has been excited 
1 „ thp natrons of the symphonj 

among the p . t-ipw con - 

7s?s. , zrg£2&? ; , 

the date of the auction sale of seats^ 
The sale will take place, as usual, in 
The sa October, Monday and 

the first week of _ Octone d belng 

Tuesday, the first an fQr the re _ 

given to the L a ' R ° da | a nd Friday, the 

liearsals. and Tliursaay o£ seats f0 r 

fourth and fifth, to tnc rehe arsal and 
the voncerts. Tlie ii ^ Frlday after- 
concert will be g e day evening. 

if his kind ln d)nar y strong list 

preparing an exuao Q > g th em will 

°f solo artists, cmi [b thelr only 
he Paderewski and Aieum^ r; Ro _ 
appearances In Bosto sc hnikoff and 

senthal Gabnlowltsch, PeWcnnu frQm 

Cesar Thomson Dr. muck ^ bpen 
Bremen on Sept, to- , n Bavreuth. 
spending h>s the conductors of 

where he was one oi th j s month 

ar sSo.».»~- •< 

the opera in Berlin. 



“■WELCOME!” 

It is said that the national char- 
acter of the Germans has altered in 
wi.nm th. i«t « ^ 
From art illustration with text -n a 
German periodical we infer - 
nation is still sentimental in ^ 
display. It is still the custom to 
hang garlands and green wreaths 
with the legend “Willlcommen^ to 
greet the homecomers from vaca 
tion. the annual “Sommerfrlsohe. 

K the house or flat has been closed 
the scrub woman decorates the front 
door with a framework of greenery 
and the friendly word in huge let- 
ters The American husband’s greet- 
ing is usually “Why didn’t you stay 
longer?” and then he rushes to the 
telephone to break, with apologies, 
an engagement for the eve ” ” 
which he had thought his own. Does 
the janitor of the a P artm « nt .^°^ a 
see to it that garlands and legends 
welcome those coming home this 
To use the language of Arte- 
mus Ward: “O no; I guess he 

doesn’t he.” The Americans have 
been called the most sentimental na- 
tion on earth; but that was years 
ago. 

WITHOUT WAGES. 

Read any English “ladles’ journal” 
and you will find advertisements like 
these: “Quiet home offered in return 
for practical domestic help.” “Gentle- 
woman wishes another who, in return 
for home, would do work of house.” 
••Wanted, young ladies for domestio 
duties; no servant.” In plain words, 
young women of the “middle class 
are willing to act as domestic ser- 
vants for their bed and food. Mr. G. R. 
Sims Is not extravagant when he says, 
commenting on these advertisements: 1 
“It is a sign of the times, and by no 
means a cheering one. Behind it lies 
a great problem for the only possible 
solution of which western civilization 
will shrink for many a year to come.” 
Forty years or more ago young women 
in New England towns, women in 
families of some means and much re- 
finement, were not ashamed to do 
chamber work and prepare the meals. 
Tf they had guests, a neighbor si 



The intellectual exercises of certain 
newspapers during the Silly Season ex- 
cite the scorn and ridicule of the super- 
ficial and put a song into the mouth of 
the drunkard in the street. The Silly 
Season, unlike Indian Summer, is not 
peculiarly American. There is a Silly 
Season the world over wherever news- 
papers are published, news Is scarce, 
and men and women are Inventive if 
not imaginative. Mr. Frank Richard- 
son in London suggested recently cer- 
tain subjects for discussion: Does Bald- 
ness Denote Brains? Can Curates Wear 
Kilts? Does Radium Benefit the Work- 
ing Man? Are Oysters Good Fathers? 
Can Homicidal Tendencies be Cured by 
Homoeopathy? Are Actors Vainer than 
A.c tresses? 

Grave periodicals, weeklies, monthlies 
have their silly season. Look for in- 
stance at the music journals in European 
countries. One Is publish ng a series of 
depressing articles on The .^ a . 1 ’ rnon ^ iT ? ir 
Richard Wagner." Another is ‘fussing 
the amatory relations of Robert anil 
Clara Schumann. Another fievof® 3 music 
space to a consideration of Aiab mus.o 

ln Musicaf published in Paris, has opened 
an inquiry into the present condition of 
the art of song with questions concern- 
ing the influences of W agner on singWi, 
whether there will be a revival o£ 
canto ” whether modern composers write 
?nt n elligently for the voice, what cm be 

?°on e s are by® no means new but. put to 
men and women of knowledge and v> 1 . 
they may easily furnish material for 
entertaining arti cles. 

The questioners for Musica are 
Messrs. Georges Pioch and Henri de 
Curzon, and they go about button- 
holing and no doubt at times ejacu- 
lating the French equivalent o£ 
"How?” They consulted Mine. Pau- 
line Viardot. the sister of Malibran, 
and of the Garcia who died recently 
over 101 years old. Mme. Viardot, 
once a famous singer, for manV 
., a wtineuished teacher, the triend of 
a truly remarkable wom- 
an, is now in her S6th Year, but 
I is not a driveller, she is not slow 

•She admits that there is a ' ooa > 
revolution. Some rnlBll ‘i„.?m e .ffi r on ; n 
word "evolution,” for a revolution in 
music, as De La Lawrencie 
pointed out. is an evolution that is 
suddenly perceptible. I he pr ogress 

of evolution is underground and 
silent; it leaves contemporaries indif- 
ferent. But allow Mme. Viardot ner 
word: She admits that this vocal 

revolution, from a strictly musical 
point of view, is a step forward, from 

a purely vocal point of view it is a 
question mark. Singers who shine as 
Wagnerian singers are, with very fe 
exceptions, good for nothing in Ital ‘an 
operas. They are poor colorists, and 
they do not have the versatility and 
the suppleness which come fiom a 
classical vocal education, and 
manded imperatively by the °P®’' as 
this classic school. ’ It is certain that 
if Wagner limits the technical and 
vocal domain of the singer, he A®’ 
velops his musical nature and artistic 
intelligence.” The Wagnerian singer 
I should he as much of a musician as 

! V Mme! t- Viardot doubts whether there 
will he a revival of the old Italian arj 
of singing. "How can there be one that 
Is Independent of a renaissance of works 
to give the old style of singing value. 
For a long time singers have refused 
to devote their time to the studj of the 
old principles for the many years de- 
manded. And yet is "hel. canto am 
thing else but the art of singing " ? ' 

To know how to sing well, to have 
trained the voice by assiduous practice 
in the old Italian school, is still the 
best preparation for singing Wagflers 
music (witness the .example of Mr. Jean 



ill' Reszke). 'me Italian sonooi is the 
best for Utc mastery Over t he breath, 
and the Lord knows that you must be 
able to manage your breath f£ you sing 
Wager's music. I!' there were a return 
to "be) canto” would It bo possible for 
capable singers, as Rubinl, Tamburini, 
Lablache (and even Mario), Glula Grisl, 
Pisaronl, and later Alboni. to sing on 
an established stage and in successive 
performances In the style of these cele- 
brated men and women In "Norma,” 
"Don Pasquale," or "The Elixir of 
Love"? Composers should know how 
to sing before they write for the voice. 
Those who do not sing usually write 
badly for it, and this should be a shame 
to them as if they were ignorant of the 
orchestral instrumets with their resour- 
ces. As for tiie betterment of the art of 
song, all Hint can be said Is "Learn to 
sing,” "Learn to sing.” These are the 
eminently sane opinions of the great 
singers eulogized for all time by Hector 
Berlioz. 

Many of our readers remember Miss 
Lucienne Breval, the French dramatic 
soprano, who is not a French woman, 
but a German, or Swiss-German, born 
at Berlin and afterward educated at the 
Paris Conservatory. She is a well- 
trained lyric tragedian of classic author- 
ity. Mr. Pioch introduces her in his 
article with a great flourish of trum- 
pets. "Her emotional genius dwells in 
a body of surpassingly proud beauty." 
l es, inded. Miss Breval is a line figure 
of a woman. She is like unto an Orien- 
tal caught young and reared by Aspasia. 
The contrast between her sultry tem- 
perament and her classic pose and car- 
riage makes her eminently desirable in 
the eyes of the connoisseur. But listen 
to Mr. Pioch. 

"There is not, and there probably 
never was, a more full and rounded 
mistress of song. She is the incarnate 
cantatrice. An adept in occultism could 
Prove to us in a learned and irrefragable 
manner that Miss Breval could here 
below in obedience to mysterious forces 
be only a prima donna.” He adds that 
there are singers, some of them accom- 
plished. who might also have shone at 
a cashier's desk, behind a counter, in 
the kitchen. Miss Breval as Bruennhilde 
or Armide "does not accomplish a task, 
she fulfils a destiny.” And all this 
about a poor singing woman, as Messrs. 
Pope and Arbuthnot once described the 
peerless Faustina. 

Now as a matter of fact Miss Breval 
unfortunately cracked her voice some 
years ago in Paris, and when she visited 
America there were holes in it t Never- 
theless she made a deep impression on 
some of us by the sombre richness of 
many of her tones, the grace and dig- 
nity of her stage bearing, the finish of 
her act as revealed especially in man- 
agement of the phrase and in general 
diction. Furthermore her beauty was 
as a devouring flame. But even the most 
ardent of her admirers never suspected 
her of being a deep thinker or. a bril- 
liant essayist. 

According to her the Wagnerian move- 
ment could not be an error, for it is sig- 
nificant of musical evolution. Lucienne, 
Lucienne, who told you this? Wagner 
continues the tradition of dramatic 
truth taught by Gluck, Rameau and 
Weber. "I have therefore never un- 
derstood that it is necessary for a singer 1 
to adopt a special style to sing Wagner's 
music." Only those who are capable of i 
interpreting other classic masters are ! 
able to sing Wagner's music as it should 
bo sung. 

Miss Breval is the sworn foe of all 
useless ornamentation in dramatic song. 
Only that which is vocally emotional 
appeals to her. She demands the logical 
force of musical drama. Applause is 
disagreeable to her when she is on the 
stage, though it may be permitted at the 
end of an act. "If you mean by ’bel 
canto,’ the melodic phrase, sustained, 
bound together firmly, and truly ex- 
pressive, let me tell you that this 'bel 
canto’ is of all countries and of all 
I styles; it need not be born again, for it 
lias never died.” There are purely vocal 
passages, roulades, that may be used 
to express laughter or anguish. 

Tnese when they are in the logical 
construction of the drama cannot be too 
carefully sung, or too heartily enjoyed 
by the audience. Miss Breval might 
have given as an excellent example the 
ornamentation of Marguerite’s song in 
the prison scene of Boito's "Mephisto- 
pheles," where the wildness of the vocal 
runs is in direct keeping with the girl's 
madness and remorse. It is possible, 
says Miss Breval, that composers write 
badly for the voice; but since the music 
of the future is that in which the song 
fits exactly the text, rest assured that 

composers will not write too distant 
intervals and passages that ruin the 
voice. If a composer makes a singer 
smg above or below her voice, lie has 
already compromised the truth. She, 
too, says the only advice to one anxious 
to Smg is: "Learn to sing.” 



but unless they have submitted the 
larynx to exercises in vocalization— long 
and difficult exercises -their career will 
be short. Many teachers make their 
pupils study airs of Gluck which are 
apparently easy. This is a serious mis- 
take. To interpret these airs artistically, 
the singers should have first studied 
diligently the works of the Italian mas- 
ters, who wrote specially for the voice 
and 'bel canto.’ ” 

Mr. Timotliee Adamowski will he 
the solo violinist at the Worcester mu- 
sic festival which will be held the first 
week in October. 

"Les Merveilleuses," a new musical 
comedy, founded on a play by Sardou, 
witli music by Hugo Felix, will be 
produced at Daly’s, London, the mid- 
dle of this month. “Aladdin.” with text 
by J. T. Tanner and music by Ivan 
Caryll and Lionel Monckton, will soon 
be produced at the Gaiety, London. 
“Tlie Forty Thieves” in a new version 
will follow this production. 

Mme. Kirkby Lunn has been engaged 
as one of the contraltos at the Metro- 
politan Opera House next season. She 
will take Miss Edyth Walker’s place, 
but she will not fill it. Miss Walker, it 
is said, has been unwilling to accept Mr. 

. Conried’s terms. Like Mme. Olive Frem- 
stad, she yearns to sing music written 
for dramatic sopranos only. She in- 
sisted that she should appear as Bruenn- 
hilde, Elisabeth and other soprano hero- 
ines. Mme. Fremstad is equally dis- 
contented with the vocal range that 
nature gave her; but she will sing at 
the Metropolitan and be the Salome in 
the first performance in this country of 
Richard Strauss' opera. Mme. Kirkby 
Lunn, who is known in Boston, both in 
concert and in opera, has been singing 
recently at Covent Garden. She will 
appear as Kundr.v at the Metropolitan, 
where she sang a few times under the 
reign of Mr. Grau. 

Richard Strauss, they say, is at 
work on a new opera, "the details of 
which he is trying to keep a profound 
secret.” But these details, ascertained 
or guessed at. are already published. 
Strauss has selected “a subject from 
Homer, and— Electra will be the leading 
character!” The opera will be "saturated 
with the Greek spirit, and it will con- 
tain some features as startlingly novel 
as does ‘Salome.’ ” "Fabulous sums 
are to 'be spent on decorations, dresses, 
Greek and Olympic deitifes." Surely 
Aphrodite's costume need not be a 
costly one if Mr. Comstock could be 
prevailed on to keep quiet. By the 
way, how are “Greek” and “Olympic” 
deities to be distinguished easily? 

Geraldine Farrar, they say, was em- 
inently successful as Elisabeth at Mu- 
nich. Even the heart of the widow 
Cosima was touched. 



An English music periodical discussed 
'the subject of national anthems. This 
led the Pall Mall Gazette to observe 
that the English national anthem was 
"made in Germany." Was there an 
English anthem before the Hanoverian 
succession? “Neither the Tudors, nor 
the Stuarts, nor the Dutch (as repre- 
sented by William of Orange) seem to 
have left any record of a universal song 
of nationality. Battle cries there were 
many— witness the cries of 'So-ho' in 
the Monmouth rebellion and on the 
field of Sedgmoor; but there was no 
martial tune to rouse the heart and 
stimulate the brain." Correspondents to 
this periodical mentioned by the Pall 
Mall Gazette found the Russian anthem 
the most musical. "It has sweetness, 
and it is singularly beautiful, and with 
none of the barbarism of the great 
phalanx of modern Russian composers. 
Next we should rank, for classic dig- 
nity and refinement, the Austrian hymn, 
composed by Haydn, and appealing to 
one by reason of its quiet depth of feel- 
ing which is at times even more appeal- 
ing than the splendid barbarism of the 
'Marseillaise.’ Here we have a composi- 
tion of brilliance and swing, which 
its way, is unsurpassed. But is it fitted 
for a national anthem? We shall not, 
for our own part, answer the question; 
nevertheless, we may give it as our opin- 
ion that such an anthem should be the 
musical expression of a nation from 
generation to generation, and not a mo- 
mentary cry. Splendid as is the ‘Mar- 
seillaise,’ it is something of a moment- 
ary cry.” Was it Goethe who described 
the “Marseillaise” as the song of the 
canaille? 



■fi/i/y /ft'iS 



Mr. Thomas Salignac, w^ll known to 
us all as an earnest tenor with a voice 
too light naturally for his dramatic 
ambition, a throaty, nasal, quavering 
tenor, has much to say about the ap- 
proaching decadence of vocal art. He 
curses the thick and heavy modern in- 
strumentation which obliges a singer 
to force tones that he may be heard. 
It ne gains In force he loses in color 
and in other qualities that charm. 
Fi ?™ p ? + se , rs w /. lte so . badly for the voice 
that it is often difficult to say in a 
l>ric drama whether the singer is 
naturally a tenor, baritone, or bass 
Thus does Mr. Salignac by observa! 

by n ,° me 5 ns devoid of truth of- 
fer an apology for his artistic life. 

Mr. Gailhard, the director of the Paris 
Opera House, was once a singer and his 
Leporello and his Mephistopheles once 
excited remark. He complains of the 
neglect shown the old Italian masters. 
From them only is pure vocal art to be 
A ® a proof of this, he says 
that when there is talk of reviving an 
old classic at the Opera there are no 
adequate interpreters to be found. "To 
smg in modern works, certain artists 
can make an effect by means of a 
sonorous voice and good enunciation. 



•‘MISUNDERSTOOD.” 

In a recent divorce case in England 
Mr. Justice Deane discoursed on the 
ethics of friendship between women 
and men. He had never heard that 
a married man was not to have an 
affection for any woman but his wife. 
"If it were an innocent affection, not 
diminishing his love for the wife her- 
self, it could not be classed as ‘cruel- 
ty’ in a suit for divorce." This is a 
high and philosophic view; but, as a 
reporter of the case remarked: “There 
are certainly wives who cannot rise 
to its impartial note.” It was an 
English wojnan who wrote: "If a man 
cannot have the woman, he can put 
in a very excellent and enjoyable time 
with a woman, especially if she is 
pretty and bright and the woman is 
for the time forgotten. If a woman 
cannot have the man, she feels all the 
time she is with a man how lovely it 
would be. if only it were some one 
else!" The writer noted the fact that 
the man has his business, sports, club, 
many interests which ejaim and di- 
vide his attention, whereas the wom- 
ans’ centre is her one particular man. 
“And then there is the one often ig- 



nored but^all-powerfui faefoi-' that 
should never be forgotten— that man 
is by nature the lover of many and 
woman the lover of but one— at a 
time." When the husband is delighted 
with another woman and has an Inno- 
cent affection for her, he is often an 
egoist, vain, selfish, who has come to 
the conclusion that his wife does not 
appreciate or understand him. In 
other words, ..she has forgotten to 
swing thick incense under his nose or 
is tired of acting as thurifer. 

GRADUATED SCALES. 

| Some may smile at the thought of 
a “Darktown 400" and a “negro blue 
book" in Chicago. The graduated 
scale of barbers, “boa'din’-house 
keepers,” waiters, porters, shoe blacks 
and others, may also furnish amuse- 
ment for a moment. But to the intel- 
ligent inhabitants of the air the de- 
grees of precedence at court or at 
dinner and court almanacs, social' 
registers, books of the peerage, are 
equally absurd and incomprehensible. 
Wherever men and women in a primi- 
tive state do congregate some will at 
once declare themselves superior to 
others — not in strength, or in brains, 
or in goodness, but for wholly imag- 
inary qualities— and the most sur- 
prising thing is that some will take 
these pretensions seriously, and ac- 
quiesce, admire, support. Some snobs 
are born, others are made. It mat- 
ters not what is the color of the skin. 

If there were a race of blue-faced 
men, all of indigo, some would insist 
that their blood was bluer than that) 

of the rest. As for the distinction 
between barbers, waiters and the 
others is there not a difference 
recognized' in society between the 
wholesaler and the retailer? And we 
know that in England the brewer is 
far more highly esteemed than the 
drysalter, the manufacturer of chairs, 
the linen draper. A vat fits into a 
eoat-of-^rms more neatly than does 
yardstick or mortar and pestle. 

SOME PREFACES. 

Some of the volumes jn that excel- 
lent series of reprints, Everyman’s 
Library — it is said that the series will 
include a thousand volumes — con- 
tain a preface by a more or less dis- 
tinguished writer. There are pref- 
aces that are justly famous, as Gau- 
tier’s to the collected edition of Bau- 
delaire’s works, de Maupassant’s to 
the Letters of Flaubert to George 
Sand, Emerson’s to the “Excursions” 
of Thoreau, but too often they are 
fulsome “appreciations” or irritating 
depreciations in which the writer 
wonders at the fame of the book that 
follows. In this new series Mr. 
Watts-Dunton has a great deal to 
say about himself and his views in 
the preface to Borrow’s "Wild Wales,” 
and the reader begins to think that it 
would be foolish to read the book 
that follows. Mr. Watts-Dunton fur- 
thermore insists that Borrow in “Wild 
Wales” did not make “excursions into 
the realms of fancy” and ignored the 
gypsies in Wales because, forsooth, 
his wife and stepdaughter accompan- 
ied him! But would Borrow have 
been restrained by the presence even 
of Mrs. Boffin? Sixteen pages of 
preface, and the final word is a hur- 
rah for the prowess of the Welsh in 
football! An inquiry into the present 
condition of ale in Wales .would be 
much more to the purpose, for Bor- 
row’s book smells of ale, from the 
first scene in Chester where he spir- 
ited it out of the window as "not 
lap for a dog, far less drink for a 
man.” 

Mr. Arthur Symons writes only five 
pages to introduce Coleridge’s “Bio- 
graphia Literaria,” but how thought- 
fully considered, how illuminative 
they are! Criticism, he says, is a 
valuation of forces, and it is indiffer- 
ent to their direction. “The aim of 
criticism is to distinguish what is 
essential in the work of a writer; and 
in order to do this, its first business 
must be to find out where he is differ- 
ent from all other writers.” He then 
discusses in a few words some of the 
great critics and praises Coleridge 
for nearly reaching in criticism the 
unknown point where creation begins. 

’ I 



If the "Biographla Literaria” is ‘‘the 
greatest book of criticism in English," 
It is also “one of the most annoying 
books in any language,” for the 
reader must pursue Coleridge’s 
thought across stones, ditches and 
morasses.” These few prefatory pages 
tempt quotation at every line. “To 
the true critic a living insignificance 
is already dead.” “No perfect thing 
Is too small for eternal recollection.” 
Another admirable preface in this 
series is that of Mr. Belloc to Car- 
lyle’s “French Revolution.” It would 
not be rash to say that this introduc- 
tion of eleven pages is the fairest and I 
also most truly appreciative view of ; 
Carlyle's dithyramb. Mr. Belloc as 
the author of works on Robespierre 
and Danton, is intimately acquainted 
with the historical material; a knowl- 
edge of French character was his 
birthright. Carlyle was imperfectly 
acquainted with the French language 
and had little or no acquaintance 
with French character: he understood 
the mob but not the gentlemen in the 
tragic play. His pictures of Louis 
XVI. and Robespierre — the sea-green 
Robespierre as he constantly and er- 
roneously calls him — are failures. 

His “sheer creative force enabled him 
to project upon his screen the actual- 
ities of which he had read.” As a 
rhetorician lie often forced the note. 
“His art is spoiled by a perpetual 
tautening of the bow.” Mr. Belloc 
himself is no mean rhetorician, as 
when, quoting the passage ending 
“The very witnesses summoned are 
tike ghosts * * * they them- 

selves are all hovering over death and 
doom,” he writes “It falls and ends 
like a gong sounding the word 
‘Doom.’ ” And mark the final sen- 
tence of this rarely critical preface: 
The Revolution filled him as he pro- 
ceeded, and was, in a sense, co-au- 
thor with him of the shock, the flames 
and the roar, the innumerable feet, 
and the songs which together build 
up what we read achieved in these 
volumes.” 

a /* f / £ S f C> £ 

CURED HICCOUGHS. 

A woman in New Haven, Ct., hic- 
coughed steadily for a year. A few 
bights ago she took a walk. Some ond 
told her that her house had caught firej 
find that ten persons had been burned 
to death. Fright stopped her hic- 
coughs. Men and women have died of 
the hircoughs .even when they spelled 
the word "hiccups.” The word itself is 
not derived ; it is imitative ; and to us 
the imitation is closer with ‘‘cups.” A 
physician tells us that nine cases out 
of ten come from stomachic causes and 
are cured. The hiccoughs that lead tt> 
death come from an unknown cause. He j 
advises as a remedy two teaspoonsful 
of vinegar to be swallowed fearlessly. 
Early in the nineteenth century there 
tvas a kind of sherry which was sup- 
posed to be a cure for the gout. It was 
railed in the trade "Specialite.” A 
basket of it was sent to Lord Derby in 
hope of eliciting a letter of approval 
from him. The letter came : "Dear sir, 

I have tried your sherry and prefer the 
gout.” There are old wives’ remedies 
for the hiccoughs as there are for rheu- 
matism. We have heard of a rheumatic 
woman who was cured by a stroke of 
lightning as she stood near an open 
window. We hasten to add, she was not 
killed. Fright cures some ailments, but 
it often substitutes others for those 
which, perhaps, had no existence save 
In the imagination. 

A SWAMI AT HOME. 

A Swami — way down upon the 
Swami river, or in the town, or high 
up on the hijls, or on the plain, or 
wherever he may be. In the air or in 
the bowels of the earth — is always 
saying something. "Let ’em fade," 
said Artemus Ward of roses, “it’s 
their biz.” So it is the business of a I 
Swami to talk. There is Swami 1 
Abhedananda. Returning from a 
Hindu mission in benighted America, 
he spoke at Madras and compared the 
Hindu religion with the other re- 
ligions of the world. In European 
and American countries the people 
put on Sunday clothes and go td 
meeting houses of various kinds for 
various purposes. “For instance,” 



said the Swami, "doctors go to church 
on Sunday to secure patients, lawyers 
to get clients, maids to find hus- 
bands, bachelors to select wives, and 
people in general to keep up appear- 
ances. In India the people live on 
religion, eat religion, sleep religion 
and walk religion." Now this does 
not sound like the speech of a real 
Swam!. The Hindus are a most 
courteous folk and never more cour- 
teous than wljen speaking of the 
religion of another nation. From his 
remarks about physicians, we infer 
that the Swamt Abhedananda has 
been reading "Pickwick" and gener- 
alizes from the well known case of 
Mr. Bob Sawyer. 



taken suffering from blood pois u- 

ing; "he playfully bit my cheek. He 
bit harder than he intended and 
caused the wound.” Then there is 
the famous instance of hard lips in 
the poem: 

Th» monkey married the baboon'’ slst'-r. 
Smacked hla lips and then ho kissed her. 
Kissed her so hard he raised a blister. 

She set up a yell. 



BLINDED JUSTICE. 

The Herald recently alluded to a 
sort of Dreyfus case in Italy. We 
are now told of a singular miscar- 
riage of justice in a criminal case in 
France. About forty years ago a 
hard drinker, one Allegrain. return- 
ing a foggy night from the village 
tavern, fell into a pond. He shouted 
for help. Gremotn and his wife, in 
a cottage near by, heard him, and 
Gremoin left his bed and went to the 
rescue. He was too late. Allegrain 
was pulled out dead, with his lantern 
in his hand. His wife and his two 
stepchildren, then 16 and 17 years 
tld, were arrested, for they had often 
iiuar relied with him, and they i^ere 
accused of throwing him Into the 
pond. Gremoin, called as a witness, 
swore he heard Allegrain shout “Je 
me nole!" (I’m drowning). The 
judge remarked that the words must 
have been “On me noie!” (They’re 
drowning me), and the humble Gre- 
moin did not contradict him. The 
girl was released, but the wife and 
her son. Gautier, were sent to jail for 
life. The woman died. The young 
man served 10 years and was then 
released on ticket-of-leave.ji He is 
now trying to clear his reputation. 
He urges that Mrs. Gremoin. who 
was prepared to swear she heard 
the words, “Je me noie!" was not 
called as a witness, and that the plan 
shown to the jury was incorrect, for 
it represented Gremoin’s cottage to 
be so far from the pond that they 
could not hear the shout. There was 
recently an investigation at Domont, 
the scene of the accident The evi- 
dence of Mrs. Gremoin was taken, 

and the investigators convinced them- 
selves that a shout from the pond 
could be heard inside the cottage. 
The judge Is dead, so is Gautier s de- 
fender. By the law' Gautier cannot 
be cleared unless he produce a 
new fact, and Mrs. Gremoin is not 
reckoned legally a new one. But he 
was at the investigation, and Is de- 
scribed as following the proceedings 
with a resigned interest. "Time has 
I ripened his view of the case to an 
indulgent philosophy. It is so easy 
to make mistakes, he says.” Thus is 
j lie more philosophical than lawyers 
j and Judges in criminal cases. Will 
the President pardon him for the 
1 Krime he did not commit? 

A DOUBTFUL OBJECTION. 

An English physician has advanced 
the theory that motoring hardens tho 
lips, and is, therefore, Inimical to 
kissing. The layman would argue 
that hardened lips might be, there- 
fore, less microbie. The opinions of 
play-actresses have been published. 
Miss Marie Studholme, an enthusias- 
tic automobillst, bravely says that 
motoring will go out of fashion be- 
fore kissing will. Motoring may be 
ephemeral. Kissing is eternal. A 
basic, glorious thought! Miss Ga- 
brielle Ray "doesn't go in for kiss- 
ing.” but "thinks it a pity to dis- 
courage those who like it, because 
they seem to be so pleased with It.' 
Sly Miss Ray! Miss Kitty Mason 
states another proposition: Motoring 
causes wrinkles rather than hard 
lips; people screw up their eyes; 
“you cannot kiss with screwed-up 
eyes.” The testimony of one expert 
is hardly sufficient. In South Car- 
olina a few days ago a devoted lover 
showed his sweetheart proofs of his 
affection. “Theo kissed me,” she 
id in the hospital where she was 



NONE IN ENGLAND? 

Mr. Frank Richardson of London, 
talking with a Frenchman outside a 
Parisian cafe, assured him that the 
"angular spinster with projecting 
teeth, so often depicted in the French 
papers,” does not exist in England. ; 
The Frenchman smiled and told him 
to keep his eyes open. Within a few 
minutes at least twenty of Mr. Rich- 
ardsonfs non-existent countrywomen 
passed by, to his amazement and 
horror. “They wore teeth projecting 
like inverted tombstones over their 
under lips. They were human squl— 
rels.” Mr. Richardson swears that 
creatures like this are not to be found 
in England. He asks where .they hide 
their teeth when they regain their 
native land. “Do they wear respi- 
rators to conceal their snappers? I 
doubt It. I think the solution must be 
that some enterprising dentist sup- 
plies these mature maidens with a j 
special line of ‘Artificial Teeth for 
Foreign Travel,’ or ‘Damsels’ Dent- 
ures for External Wear.' ” Women 
thus toothed are to be found in every 
land, Mr. Richardson, even In Ken- 
tucky, among the Circassians, along 
the Hudson River, wherever women 
famed for their beauty are also to be 
found. Nature delights in these an- 
titheses. The woman with teeth pro- 
jecting like a reef has passed into 
folk-song: 



was nothing to b e done. liowevcr. sat [ 
to let him go his own gait. He won 
after two unsuccessful attempts, the 

r 'n was in°lS4'i that he arrived In Rome, 
which seemed to him a "country town, 
vulgar, drab, iind dirty. He was home 
sick. His melancholy was cured only 
by work. His well-known songs The 
Valley” and ‘Evening, were then com 
posed. Little by little he saw Rome with 
a more favorable eye. He was at first 
| disappointed when he hea rt P^tetdna^s 
sic. 



For she used to live In Shinbone Alley 
And the boys they called hei Snag- 
toothed Sally.'* 



St * 7 ifoL 



The Herald has more than once re- 
ferred to the excellent series of biog- 
raphies, “Les Maitres de la Musique,” 
edited by Mr. Jean Chantavoine and 
published by Felix Alcan, Paris. Mr. 
d’lndy's life of Cesar Franck was the 
second volume of this series. 

Henry Laurens of Paris is publishing 
a series of biographies, "Les Musiciens 
Celebres.” The purpose is to acquaint 
the general public with the lives of 
famous composers: "Collection d en- 

seignement et de vulgarisation In 
other words, the series is intended to be 
“popular." We may apply to one of the 
volumes, at least, the .remark of the 
newsboy whom Richard Grant \\ bite 
saw eating pie: I don t think tnis 

P wl ar refer’ to the life of Gounod by 
p -L. Hillemacher, a volu ™.?. VT? 
nages Paul and Lucien Hillemacher 
arf two brothers who were horn^n 
-p or (c Paul in 1852, Lucien in 1860. 1 ne> 

both studied at the R ari ®, a ^n’ 
and each was a prix de Rome may- 
They compose together and sign 
names to operas, cantatas, orchestral 
works songs and piano pieces. Perhaps 
They dress 5 alike and smoke the same 
brand of cigarettes No doubt they are 
alwavs • photographed together, 
nobfle fratrum! Unfortunately, none of 
their music has distinction, in spite of 
their fraternal ambition, neither Paul s 
nor Lucien’s nor that of the two to 

S There has been no adequate biography 



uisappomiea ivneu 

music. He found it strange and disagree 
able. Not long afterward he P. ut .£"S* 
trina by the side of Michael Angelo. 

He himself wrote a mass which was 
performed in a Homan church in honor 
of Louis Philippe's birthday. 

Fanny Hensel. Mendelssohn a sister, 
knew him in these Roman days and de 
scribed him as extravagantly Pos-Jon- 
ate and romantic : perhaps only In 

comparison with the prim and pr-ggish 
Mendelssohn. Gounod at the end of tne 
appointed time visited Vienna where a 
requiem by him was performed success- 
fully; Berlin and Leipsic, where Men- 
delssohn paid him the compliment of 
. ailing together the Gewandhaus or- 
chestra out of season and letting him 
hear the symphony in A minor, tne 
•'Scottish” symphony 
On his return to Paris Gounod became 
e church organist on the condition that 
lieVshould have undisputed charge ot the 
music. "I shall be the cure of music. 

His religious exaltation became mysti- 
cism. He enrolled himiseilf in the asso- 
ciation of John the Evangelist, which 
was composed of young ar J lst ,* 
hoped through art to regenerate human- 
ity He studied theology at the semi- 
nary of St. Sulpice; his spare moments 
were filled with metaphysical and re- 
ligious questions. He sigend an essay 
nn logic. “Abbe Charles Gounod. 

He did not become a priest. He wrote 
“Faifet” and “Romeo and Juliet, and 
for a long time, to his cost, he was un- 
der the spell of Mistress Georgina W el- 

d '?n old friend of Pauline Viardot. he 
wrote inspired by her. his opera 
“Sapho” (1851), which obtained only a 
success of esteem. though Berlioz 
praised the music. HP wrote music for 
Pnnsflrd's tragedy Trlysee (18o-), ana 
in 185" he married. His opera, "La Norme 
Sanglante,” based on Lewis once fa- 
mous novel. “The Monk.” and produced 
In was a complete and deserved 

failure, although Gounod had much . t .° 
sav about the machinations of the di- 
rector of the Opera. As though dis- 
gusted with the pomp and vanity of the 
citaere he composed an oratorio. Tobie, 
amf his ' St. Cecilia mass The stage 
called to him and he wrote his 1 aust. 

A Note on “Faust.” 

In his Italian student days Gounod 
passed a summer at Capri, and there, 
reading Goethe's poem, he dreamed of 
music for “Walpurgis Night.” Seven- 
teen years later he made the acquain- 
tance of Carre and Barbier librettists, 
and he spoke to them of a "Faust. 
They all went to work, and Carvalho, 
the director of the Theatre Lyrlque, en- 
couraged them. Suddenly a melodrama 
with Faust as the hero was announced 
for production at the Porte Saint-Mai- 
tin. Carvalho. disturbed. begged 
Gounod to put aside bis "Faust and set 
music to a comedy of Moliere. Gounod, 
then, composed his “Medecin malgre 
lui ” which is ranked by some among 
the very best and most distinguished of 
his works, although it has never been a 
favorite with .the Public. The melo- 
drama "Faust failed dlsmalb. Ine 
opera was produced March 13, 1850. 

The part of Marguerite, created by 
jlme. Carvalho, was written for Mme 



or stedy of Gounod, man and musician. 
Mr. Louis Pagnerre’s V c jl ar K s L a°“tore- 
hou V se If documents f 

one > who e has n Uie' patience to search. 
The book is without order or ■ Plan. 
Much space is given to that ,u’ hl Hille 
unimportant. The volume by the Hi lie 
msrhers is at least orderly' and coher- 
ent and there is some discrimination 
shown in the critical remarks. 

Before “Faust.” 

The authors naturally make a free 
use of Gounod's Memoirs, which stop 
brusquely at the time he became famous. 
They also rely on documents furnished 
by the family and on the reminiscences 
of some of the composer’s friends. While 
it is not our purpose to retell what may 
he found in any dictionary of ™osteU 
may not be amiss to recall a few tacts 
and to state some that are ge ner<uu 

UI Qounod's mother was the daughter of 

from the full accomplishment or ms 
... s'), PS. lie died when Charles was abou J 
five years old. She supported her. 
and two sons by engraving and by 
giving piano lessons. Charles ■was 
born musician, but his mother no ^ 

^illian^student, tend 

and she would fain ha '‘®. 0 r‘h\gh 

m Sl the U 'churr '. r0 ^H? 0 wa^ r subjected *to 

many sever- tests In t the h W« t.. ■« Jus 
passion ter umslc might be cooiea. iner- 



ax me. cai vamy, -■ 

Ugalde who wished a dramatic rather 
than a bravura part, and It was taken 
away from her in a rather brutal man- 

Tt is often said that. "Faust" at the 
beginning was a failure. The HiUe- 
machers dispute this statement. They 
say that the first audience was com- 
posed ill equal numbers of convinced 
partisans and excited detractors. Tlw 

lattter insisted that the garden scene 

should be cut out. There was unani 
mous applause only ter the chorus of 
old men and for the soldiers chorus. 
The Hillemachers themselves say: 

“The success of the first night was ex- 
tremely lukewarm.” Why. then. do 
they speak afterward of the legend of 
the initial failure"? (The Soldiers 
Chorus, by the way, was originally a 
Cossack chorus ter the opera Ivan 

le Terrible,” which was never per- 
formed.) The Hillemachers quote 
favorable and unfavorable contempor- 
aneous reviews. The McncStpel in May, 
]fe9, spoke of the increasing interest in 
the opera, and described it as nothing 
less than a masterpiece. Gounod sold 
ail his rights for France and Belgium 
in "Faust” for about $13-10 to < houqens, 
who did not like the work, and when 
his children were naughty threatened to 
take them to the Theatre Lyrique to see 
it. Gounod in 1878 sold bis Polyeuete, 
a monotonous and boresome opera, 



the operatic director. “Romeo et Jul- 
iette” ( 1 867) was composed in lSiib 
at St. Raphael on the Mediterranean. 

Its success was immediate. Even now 
there is a dispute as to whethei 
"Romeo et Juliette” or “Faust is the 
greater work. The Hillemachers find 
the great merit of the two is the dis- 
tinct physiognomy: "the youthful pas- 
sion of Romeo has borrowed nothing 
from the persuasive seductiveness of 
Faust: the naivete of Juliet Is .tat 

different from the ignorance of M a r - 
guerite and although love leads both 
f 0 U tragic catastrophes, each expresses 
passions in very different accents of 
sublimity." There are scenes in 
"Romeo" of a higher intensity and 
elevation; but thero^are elements of 
the picturesque in "Faust which ate 
sought for vainly in the rival work. 

After Gounod's return from 
in England. "Polyeuete” was produced 
(1878) and failed. The year before 
"Cinq-Mars.” in which dialogue alter 
nates with music, obtained only an 
ephemeral success. Le Trlbut de 
Zamofia" (1881) was a lamentable fail- 
ure. We have forgotten to mention a 
little opera, “La Colombe, which 
quickly disappeared. 

Random Notes. 

The Hillemachers have much to say 
about Gounod's adventures in England, 
the place of refuge sought by him In 
1870; about the' strange story of his 
intimacy with the Weldons and tljo 
farcical-tragic ending of this intimacy. 
The story has often been told, and 
Georgina Weldon’s books on the sub- 
ject now command a high price- Cer- 
tainly her friendship with Counod was 
lucrative for a time. She exploited him 
to her own advantage as a ®m|er, sh 
made him write pot-boileis, sne 

kept him from accepting the director- 
ship of the Paris Conservatory in 18il, 
she became ids private secretar: y. AT- 
ter he rvas carried away fiom her by 
members of ills family m lSG she 
raged. She tried to keep his mam 
scripts. Tlie ambassador of France in 
London endeavored '' ainl - v 
them. There were articles in the Pails 
Journals. The Figaro stated t ‘ ia 

Gounod was cracked, and thus ex 
plained his conduct. 11 f is „ 
but it is the madness of a man or 
genius." Georgina sued the composer 
for £30,000. A court reduced the sum to 
£10,000, and Gounod did not dare to 
step foot on English soil. He had 

only one faint consolation: When the 

sentence was pronounced against him. 
Georgina was serving a sentence of 
six months in jail for libelling an or- 
chestral conductor. And all this trouble 
and anxiety and bother because Georgina 
was a woman of singular beauty. i he 
head of a young girl crowned with 
luxuriant chestnut hair was set on the 
body of an imposing woman Her eyes 
were large, gentle and Intelligent, hei 
mouth was small and perfectly bowed, 
her hand, white and aristocratic, was 
that of a chljK. And in her womanly 
and charming aspect there was yet 
something passionate and vindictive. 

A 'sain GSa’ens' 0 expresses the opinion in 

Gouftod’s^'operas 1 are 'orf "dusty ‘shelves in 
libraries and known only to antiquari- 
ans. his “Cecilia" mass. Redemption 
and "Mors et Vita” will remain to tell 
future generations of the great French 
musician of the 13th century. But balnt- 
Saens delights to make astonlslnn-, 

bt Tlfe n ' Hillemachers are not of Sairit- 
Saens' opinion! Gounod worshipped Mo- 
zart. yet lie condemned the w .°rlciline^ 
of tiie Requiem. "He speaks to God as 
he does to us. These are phrases which 
have more than the hat on the head 
and one should not enter the church in 
fhis manner " The Hillemachers com- 
nlatn that Gounod in his "Redemption 
So- ^‘address the Lord reverently 



though the composer preferred it Hysteri- 
cally to all all his other compositions, to 
L'emoine for $20,000. 

The Herald recently, in a I hursday 
evening music article, commented on 
inquiries into the reasonableness of 
tlie popularity of “Faust” and quoted 
from Claude Debussy’s curious and 
cynical article. Let us pass on to 
later works. 

Later Operas. 

The Hillemachers characterize 
“Philemon et Baucis” as an “amiable" 
work that too often shows a lack of 
invention. "La Relne de Saba’ (1862) 
called for descriptive music, and Gou- 
nod’s genius was not for description. 
The Hillemachers might have told the 
story about Bizet’s Willingness to 
fight a duel in defence Df this opera, 
or more likely in defence of the 
superb Balkis, one of the most fas- 
cinating women in history or legend 
—and history and legend a.re seldom 
to be distinguished. ’Mirellle (1861), 
which contains charming music, was 
mangled and ruined at the start by 



even though- he holds his hat in his 
hand The music of his chief sacred 
works is theatrical; it is for effect, 
there is too much anxiety for the suc- 
cess of the singers and the orchestra. 

There are a few pleasant jiages about 
Gounod, the amiable man, the charming 
conversationalist, happiest when talk- 
ing about art or with women or Pay- 
ing music of Bach on his house organ. 

According to the Hillemachers. the 
uihuenoe of Gounod on French music, 
though it is weak today, has been con- 
- id orable and they are inclined to be- 
hove beneficent! for it incited a reaction 
xg-iinst music (hat was only of a super- 
fiffai charm. They cite Bizet, even the 
Rizet of “L' Arlesienne, as influenced 
1 st' onglv bv Gounod. The latter's songs 
were heard in all the concert halls. His 
“Faust" was in the repertory of every 

''put Gopnod did not grow in musical 
stature as Beethoven. Verdi, Wagner, 
gi-'w He was never obliged to struggle 
m covert v. Ho was not a revolutionary, 
he w it not a born wrestler. His char- 
acter was distinctively feminine. He 
was much of a sentimentalist. He was 
both mystical and erotic. 8et. though 
his music is feminine rather than mascu- 
cui'.ie sentimentally orotic ratliei th an 
passionate, his individuality was pro- 
nounced. There is no mistaking a phrase 
hv Gounod, even when we hear it in ar 
onera by an ultra-modern Italian com- 
pose- To move a majority of one's con- 
temporaries. as Mr. Debussy remarks, is 
indeed a reason for tlie preservation of 

n The™ H'llemachers might have en- 
largedSon the subject of Gounods in- 
dividuality. They preferred te sum up 
a;; follows: "After more than 1200 per- 

formances at tlie opera, docs not 
■Faust.' always attracting the same en- 
i h xsiastic crowd, continue to make the 
handsomest receipts a thrifty manager 
could reasonably expect? ..... 

There are a dozen illustrations of httie 
value. Tlie photograph of Mme. Car- 
valho was taken in 1891 on the occasion 
of the 1000th performance of Faust. 

A portrait of her in 1859 would be more 
to the purpose. 

At Bayreuth. 

A eorrespondent of the Pall Mall 
Gazette wrote from Bayreuth that 
Walter Boomer of Leipsic, the Kur- 
venal, is the "coming man.” 

His voice is described as deep and 




EIFE 0 

THE HILLEMACHER BROTHERS 



A BIOGRAPHY FOR ' I 
THE PEOPLE AT LARGE 



Discrimination in Eulogy — 
Londoner at Bayreuth — 
Music Notes, 

rich, sweet and resonant; furthermore, 
h<-»*s an excellent actor. Marie Wlt- 
tich was a very fine Isolde; "Her voice 
has grown fuller and she feels the 
part.’ Yon Bar y was unsatisfactory as 
Tristan. 

‘Burgstaller is not here. An artist 
who has sung in New York gets about 
the same reception here that Tannhaou- 
ser did when returning to the Wart- 
burg. But a new Parsifal appeared, 
Alois Hadwiger, a striking-looking 
youth, trained in the Wagner school, 
under the eye of Mme. Wagner, but 
yet with an individuality of his own. 
His young, unworn voice is a true ten- 
or, and he declaims well. Naturally, 
his appearance and slight athletic 
form were in his favor. The Kundry, 
Mme. Leffler-Burchard, played well to 
urn, and her voice is very beautiful. 
Herr Rudolf Berger, of Berlin, filled 
the unpleasing part of Amfortas, and 
our old friend Paul Knuepfer was a 
Jelightful prosy old Gurnemanz.” 

But why is the part of Amfortas 
unpleasing”?. We have always under- 
stood that the ladies sympathized with 
the romantic invalid. At Bayreuth in 
1882 they were all in a flutter every 
time Reichmann was brought on the 
stage, nor did his false intonation 
iispel the charm. We confess that 
ye like Amfortas; we like to hear him 
•oar. 

In the "Ring’’ Bertram was “a su- 
>erb Wotan. to the surprise of many, 
vho scarcely expected even to hear 
iim. as it was known he underwent 
in operation on one ear three days 
>efore.” There are many other Ger- 
nan singers who might be benefited 
>y this operation. Mr. Cornelius, a 
Jane, was the Siegmund. "He had 
nuch to contend with, being a Dane 
md singing for the first time in the 
Jerman language. He had also but 
me piano rehearsal with Dr. Richter, 
et h e was perfect in his part. His 
oice is mo'st sweet, pure and power- 
ul, and he is a novice to the Bay- 



A 



MISS EMMY DESTINN, 
Soprano. 



euth tricks. Long may he remain 
o !” 

The performance of "Seigfried” is 
escribed as "thrilling.” Our old 
riend Kraus was the hero, "an ideal 
uegfried. He must have reduced 
is weight. After the forge scene the 
udience ‘ rose and roared.” “This 
ras wrong (undoubtedly), and there 
ras trouble after that. One wishes 
here was as much reproof for the 
ew ladies who dare to keep their 
ats on when ’strictly forbidden to 
nter with them,’ as there is for the 
utburst of pent-up enthusiasm. it 
> worse to enter the Festspielhaus 
nth vour hat on than for a woman 
® a- church without one. In the 

econd act Kraus was tired, and the 
ird made too much noise without 
weetness. One yearned "for the 

r,f te /v, del i ne * SS a- an<:| the musical 
ones of the lost Siegmund, destroyed 
y W otan’s will and the craft of 

.The dragon was also a 
raud,, a helpless, impotent dragon 
ut in the last act Siegfried was 
lmselt again, all powerful, magnifi- 

en . *:• Tl1 ® awakening of Bruennhilde 

0 life and love was very forcible, and 

1 e long duet with Bruennhilde (the 
fo V l e ’li t0 " be ^ -surpassed Gulbranson) 
'as the realization of an art dream.” 

MUSIC NOTES. 

The Herald publishes today a por- 
fait from a recent photograph of Mme. 
hila Plaichinger, a dramatio soprano 
f Berlin, who will sing at the Metro- 
olitan Opera House next season; also a 
ortrait of Miss Emmy Destinn of Ber- 
n, who sang last season at Covent 
arden with great success, especially in 
Mme. Butterfly”; and a portrait of 
tiss von Mildenburg, a dramatic so- 
rano of Vienna, who fang last season 
>r ^he first time in London and won 
oth praise and blame as Isolde. 

We are .told by a passionate admirer 
t Mme. Plaich.nger that while she is 
not beautiful off the stage, she makes 
most effective appearance amid 
neratic environment” and that “con- 
uous of her unattractiveness in private 

fe. she invariably refuses to see a 
lanager before he has seen her in cos- 
fme on the stage.” All this must be 
teasant for her husband, Mr. Carl 
rledrichs; a singing teacher in Berlin 
■erhaps, looking at her within the 
omestic walls, he sighs and savs to her 
ke the man in the story: "Get up dear' 
nd sing. Yet Mme. Plaichinger, who 

about 30 years old, is not so plain as 
le press agent insists, if the p'noto- 
raph does not flatter her beyond due 
leasure. 

It is not generally known, even in 
oston, that Dr. Muck was considered as 
te conductor of the Symphony Orches- I 
’u ld , In the sPcbig of 1S93, I 

hen Mr. Nikisch left so suddenly 
egotiations were begun with Hans 
.ichter with a result that a contract 
•as signed by him whereby lie was to 
>nie to Boston for five years. At the 
:st moment he begged off, pleading that 
e was afraid to cross the Atlantic, al- 
lougli, as a matter of fact the very 
msiderable inducements offered him in 



Vienna to stay there were more likely 
the reason of his not coming. In the 
correspondence which followed he ur- 
gently recommended young Muck of 
Berlin, as one of the coming men of 
Germany. It was learned, however, 
that Dr. Muck would not at that time 
consider an offer from America. He had 
been in Berlin but two years and had 
extraordinary success there. So it was 
that the final choice settled on Emil 
Paur, who had succeeded Nikisch in 
Leipsic. This is all the more interesting 
in that Muck is classified by European 
critics as belonging to the . school of 
which Richter has been the chief ex- 



MISS VON MILDENBURG, 
Soprano. 

TT? stla)1 contradict him? Mani I 
ffst’y not the critics, for the spectacle of 
(adagio, please) critics critically criti- 
' set the criticised 



ponent rather than to that of which 
Nikisch is so brilliant an ornament. 

Alderman Bulger of the 6th ward in 
Kansas City, deploring the cheap grade 
of music played in the public parks of 
that city, lifted up his voice and de- 
clared that “art is on the bum.” The 
question was discussed not long ago in 
one of The Herald Thursday evening 
music articles. It is a. pleasure to an- 
nounce that art is no longer "on the 
bum” in Kansas City, for a committee 
of five has been appointed with full ju- 
risdiction over "paintings, mural decora- 
tions, stained glass, statues, bas-relief.” 

We quote from the Kansas City Jour- 
nal: 

“Pay?” asks some one from the rear seat 
of Kansas City’s 350,000 population theatre, 
i “No, Manure dear, they serve for nothing, 
for glory, for Kansas City, for culchaiv, tor 
the sake of keeping 'Kansas Citv’s art from 
being on the bum,” answers the ordinance. 

Mrs. Jules Roberts, president and mu- 
sical director of the St. Cecilia Choral 
Society of Dallas, Tex., "agrees with 
Juan Almagia” that the Lambardi opera 
company, now in Mexico and about to 
invade the southwestern and western 
states, “presents grand opera much 
better than the Metropolitan company,” 
except in the matter of costumes. Mrs. 

Roberts says that Miss Adaberto, the 
prima donna, has a voice “far superior 
to Emma Eames,” but she was pained, 
to see her as Aida, “wearing long silk' 
gloves in place of bare, stained arms, 
and high-heeled shoes instead of san- 

I (.1 SL 1 s * * 

Dr. Otto Neitzel, in a late number of -Astor that she never set bridge whist 
the Signale, praised warmly Dr. Muck’s tables after her dinners; she relied 
conducting of "Parsifal” at Bayreuth. ., .. 

He praised the leader’s fine sense of on the conversation of her guests for 
rhythm, the freedom given the singers, entertainment. How distrustful of 
the prevailing elasticity, the intimate ... .. . 

knowledge and the appreciation <51 the their own conversational ability and 
score. “The Old World has long valued that of their guests are the great 
him and the New World will soon value 

him." Dr. Neitzel spoke pleasantly of Mr. majority of dinner givers even In 
Allen C. Hinkley’s impersonation of Boston, where there is supposed to 
Hagen. l 

Vincent d'lndy is writing the music of To Food talk,” as Dr. Johnson pu,t 
a new opera, "Phedre et Hippolyte,” with it! Last season it was the fashion 
text by Jules Bois. . ... 

Eugen Gura, baritone, who died re- her& t0 hire a singer or a pianist or 
cently, was born in 1S42 in a Bohemian chamber music players, who began 

village. After studying at the Polytech- ,, .. . , , s , 

nicum and the Academy in Vienna and at operations of voice or hands al- 
Munich both art and song, he made his |most immediately after dinner, so 

first appearance in opera at the Munich ... , , , ,, 

Court Theatre in Lortzing’s "Waffen- *bat the men had hardly time for a 

schmled” in 1835. He was afterward en- fleeting cigarette, and a full and 
gaged at Breslau, Leipsic, Hamburg- and „ . , . 

again at Munich, and he won a great comforting cigar was out of the ques- 
reputation both as an opera and a tion. The guest, stuffed, was assailed 
concert singer. He formally withdrew . _,. 

from the stage in 1898 at Munich, when " music. There was no oppor- 
he sang Leporello to his son Hermann’s tunity for talk with man or woman 
Don Giovanni. He wrote a volume of , , . 

reminiscences which was published at ^ le s * n F er warbled emotions in all 



AFTER DINNER. 

It has been said of Mrs. William 



Leipsic last year. 

Conrad Ansorge has gone to Buenos 
Ayres to give a series of piano recitals. 

"Lancelot” of the Referee, gives his 
colleague, Mr. Baughan, a pretty shot 
apropos of the latter's volume “Music 
and Musicians.” The precise nature of 
Mr. Baughan’s opinions atmthe present 
moment might be difficult to state, but 
his passing impressions are firmly given, 
and one of them is, or was, that England 
does not possess an ideal musical critic. 
Since this assertion obviously, includes 



languages but English, her own; the 
pianist avenged himself on those who 
had eaten more sumptuously than 
'he; the chamber players rehearsed 
for their next concert. Bridge whist 
is to be preferred to this form of en- 
tertainment, for there is at least a 
sense of general interest and a com- 
mon desire for gain. Is conversa- 
tion a lost art? Are host and guest 



MME. THILA PLAICHINGER, 
■ouejdos 



too tired or too lazy to talk? Are I 
they mentally below the level of the | 
walrus and the carpenter? 

J i /> r // / j o 6> 

JACKETS ON. 

In these days of dietary anxiety and 
precaution the potato is both attacked 
and defended. Suppose you have passed 
the roaring forties and are now aware 
of your liver and kidneys. One special- 
ist will say to you : “And above all, eat 
no potatoes.” He is as firm and honest 
in this opinion as was Cobbett when he 
exclaimed at his tria.1 that he would 
see laborers hanged and be hanged with 
them rather than see them live upon 
potatoes — and how Cobbett abused the 
tuber in his "Northern Tour” ! Another 
specialist will smile when you ask the 
question, and he will say: “Yes, I am 
aware there is a prejudice against pota- 
toes. I recommend them to you, but 
not fried!” We read a few days ago in 
the medical advice which is given al- 
most daily by certain newspapers that 
we should all eat potatoes with the 
jackets; that the jacket or skin con- 
tains the good of the tuber. The skins 
of little baked potatoes are good eating, 
either with salt and cream, or with 
liver, or with sausage. In happy child- 
hood days we mashed skins with- that 
which was inclosed, just as we broke 
up doughnuts and put them into coffee. 
Should we all now return to the prac- 
tice? There is an out. Potato skins are 
used in cleaning the insides of water 
bottles, and therefore must have violent I 
properties. 



THE REASON WHY. 

The captain of the Harvard crew 
gave the true explanation of his de- 
feat: The Cambridge crew rOwec 

faster. Nevertheless there are many 
who are not contented with that 
which is obvious. They endeavor tc 
display their own ingenuity by as- 
signing remote causes. We call their 
attention to the following passage 
from the works of Artemus Ward, a 
passage that appeared originally in 
one of his contributions to Punch: 
"Whenever any enterprisln country- 
man of mine cums over here to scoop 
up a Briton in the prize ring I’m 
alius excessively tickled when he gets 
scooped hisself, which it is a sad 




faek has thus far been the case — my 
only sorrer bein’ that t’other feller 
wasn’t scooped likewise. It’s differ- 
ently with scullin boats, which is a 
manly sport, and I can only explain 
Mr. Hamil's resunt defeat in this 
country on the grounds that he wasn't 
used to British water. I hope this 
explanation will be entirely satis- 
fact’ry to all.” 

PROPER PRIDE. 

Our friend, the Earnest Student of 
Sociology, is busy from sunrise till mid- 
I night in the clipping of material for his 
■ gigantic work, "Man as a Political and 
Social Beast.” Mr. Johnson informs us 
that he has not time to sort the clip- 
pings that come from newspapers all 
over the world. He showed us an item 
which suggests to him several pages. A 
young lady in Wyoming shot the fore- 
*ntan of a ranch tw’ice and thus bored 
through his hip. And why ? I* or she is 
a young lady of liberal education and 
high breediug. "To impress upon him 
that he coidd not talk to her as though 
she were one of the servants. Mr. 
Johnson mused, and then remarked : It 

I is a singular fact that there are wives 
who knag their husbands by saying ‘I 
wish, George, that you would show me 
the consideration you show that girl 
out in the kitchen. I notice that you 
have a solicitous tone when you speak 
to her ; that you are afraid she has too 
much to do, or does not have enough to 
eat. I heard you asking her if the 
kitchen wasn’t too hot for her. Now 
don’t be ridiculous and ask me if I am 
Jealous. Oh, you are anxious for my 
sake. You are afraid she will leave. 
That’s it, is it? You left a magazine 
out there, aud I was not through with 
|it. Perhaps you think her mind needs 
I cultivation. I wonder if all men are 
like you.” 

St pt /V i‘(OL) 

CONC ERT F OYER 

Note on Mr. Dunning’s Report 
on the American Vocal 
Students in Italy. 



the fa. ts agree to the proposition that 
the Milan Conservatory of Music Is 
•by all neans the best place for the 
American student. It may b £.A h n 
i.nqt fur the student in 

but th^re fire other cities and othe 
teachers. Milan is an Important town 
In this respect: it ta the home of OP ^ 
atlc managers, and it Is in JU11 

report 

is In the advice and the ^formation 
concerning the details of stn^ent 
In Milan rather than in his estnctic 

° P If possible, learn the names of Ital- 
ian families who will take boarders^ 
Be able to talk a little m Italian be 
fore you sail. It is possible to get 
good board and lodging in Milan xor 
n or ft a day. and even tor t.* one 
can find a clean and respectable place, 
but there Is more comfort and better 
food In America for §L a „ d * y 0 ' n in 
possible to live on f135 ’ n .\, the 

an upper story, if one remains In tne 

house a long time and is willing to 

live humbly. Butter i« ^ x tra. as a 
r 1 1 1 The water is safe, paiaiauu. 
Look out for the wines. Meats are 
coarse and bad, and in The 

with less than rue b- 11 

would f not Infrequently be embar- 

ra There are only a few good teachers 
out of the large number. '‘The consulate 
never recommends one teacher as again, 
anv other." Thus the consulate is wise 
in its dav and generation and fears not 
poison or the stiletto. What is said of 
the teachers in Milan might be said 
with equal truth of those in Pans. .Ber- 
lin, London. Boston, New York. There 
are few good teachers. 



CONRIED’S COMPANY IN 
NORTHWESTERN CITIES 



The American consul at Milan. Mr 
J. E. Dunning, has made a report 
concerning the dangers that beset 
young women who go to tlmt city o 
study singing In hope of an operatic 
career. This report was published 
In The Herald last Monday. To quote 
from the preface In "Dally Consular 
and Trade Reports” of Sept. 7, the 
consul "presents the difficulties in 
darit colors, and warns his country- 
women against going to Italy unless 
guided by their own teachers and with 
a full belief that their career, cannot 
La nphifived in any other wftj • . 

Mr. Dunning's report should be read 
thoughtfully by any young *' n h f e > " 
knows that she will some day be a “ 
tlneuished Aida, Bruennhilde 01 Mar 

guerlto If she only has the opportun- 
ity for foreign study. Certain thing, 
that he says by way of 
discouragement might be sald or 
musical life in anv leading European 
citv An article was published m **‘e 
New York Sun last May in which 
singing girls were warned against 
Paris. "Six hundred 3 tri\ lng lor tn 
success only a few attain The high 
strung American temperament suffers 
under the climate and the 
Teachers no better ,? t h0 “i c 

These were alarming headlines. i oc 
wrfter of the article warned the young 
singers against the for* ‘six 

ihe short, dark days and ram for six 
months of the year. May be the cli 
math- conditions are In a great meas 
ure responsible for the failure of girls 
who undertake operatic careers with 
natural gifts n their fa\or. The 
American girl Is lacking in temper 

•iment call It explosiveness, passion, 

emoUon. tf vou will. She is ambitious 
but that ambition may reach such a 
pU.naele that It absolutely ceases to 
Ka a virtue In other words, the 
American girl ( g e n f r a 1 1 z i n g ) »c or ns 
to do the drudgery work of the pro 
fession and would reach the t p 
the ladder In a single day. In e' ery 

case where a singer has arrived sh. 
has done so through her own effort 
altogether unaided by the lnH . uo i " cc n o t 
a teacher." This statement is not 

true. 

To go back to Mr. Dunning s arti- 
cle. ms statement that Milan is still 
"the centre of vocal music Instruction 
In Europe’’ might well be disputed. 
Nor will all who are acquainted with 



What Mr. Dunning sqys about the 
trials and tribulations of a young singer 
endeavoring to appear in opera In Italy 
is of general application as "The whole 
attitude of the foreign music field 

American singed wtotave. won repu- 
tation in European cities were as a 
rule, unaccompanied by a miner- ,! 
sten or putative. A father may be a 
serious injury to his singing daughter 
hv trumpeting her acquirements andac- 
comphXenfs, by haunting the offices , 
of managers and newspapers. , 

If Mr. Dunning's report dissuades any 
voung woman, whose voice is only; an or. ; 
ainaryorgan, whose will is not indomi- 
table whose health Is not firmly estab- 
lished, from going to an Italian city 'to | 
fit herself for the operatic stage, it -has 
not been written in vain. The young 
woman, who from any sound or foolish 
reason is convinced that she will be 
ereat will pay no attention to Mr.. 
Dunning's warnings; she will make notes 
of the prices named; she will then en- 
gage passage as soon as she has a 
reasonable sum of money according to 
her own view and she will embark gaily 
with or without papa. 

The girl who is bound to have a ca- 
reer will not listen to any argument 
against her purpose. She is willing to 
undergo hardships, to submit to annoy- 
ances and temptations. If she has the 
true stuff in her, her experiences and 
adventures will shape and color her 
emotional song in the after years. If 
she becomes merely an Inconspicuous, 
poor singer she need not regret the 
wasted time: she can teach, and as a 
rule she finds admiring, devoted pupils. 
"You kow madam studied many years 
in Italy, but the operatic . life was dis- 
tasteful to her— it was so immoral She 
thought she could do more good by 
teaching.” 



Here 'Is a curious distinction made by 

the Pall Mall Gazette between the bore- 
dom of "Lucia” and that of "The 
Huguenots.” The latter, with a libretto 
bv Scribe Is a more compact bit of 
drama, "set to music rather than the 
bunch of mellifluous melodies tied to- 
gether with a thread of drama. Al- 
though In principle far more modern 
than Donizetti. 'The Huguenots' Is out 
of date, while 'Lucia' Is old-fashioned— . 
an apparent paradox wherein there Is a | 
world of difference.” 

Mr. Conrled lost so much by the San 
Francisco earthquake that he vowed he 
would never make a long tour with Ills 
company. It is a pleasure to note in 
connection with this vow that his com- 
pany will give in the course of the sea- 
son performances in Northwestern 
cities, even as far away as Seattle, Spo- 
kane, Portland, but only the Italian 
contingent will go beyond St. Paul and 
Minneapolis. 

Ysaye will not visit the United States 
this season. This is Mr. Johnston s 
latest statement. "He comes— lie will 
not come — he comes — he comes not. 
Now there Is talk of 1907-0S. Meanwhile 
we note the fact that Mr. lluga Goer- 
litz, late manager of Mr. Jan Kubelik, 
has sued the young violinist for breach 
of contract to the tune of $ 15 , 00 n dam- 
ages. Mr. Goerlitz says: "Kubelik failed 
utterly In society." In other words he 
has few parlor tricks and behaves him- 
self in a dignified manner. Mr. Goerlitz 
also says: '"the terms we had were Im- 
possible, and so It Is with every great 
artist. Their exorbitant ideas of the 
greatness of self and contempt for the 
labilities of the manager will sooner or 
later land the manager In the poor- 
house.” , .9 

Mme. Clara Butt will give concerts In 
I Australia next season. Albert baleza, 

| the tenor, will sing in February and 
March at Monte Carlo and at the Opel a 
Coinique, Paris, at Marseilles and Ly-1 
ons for the rest of the season. He lias 
vthollv recovered his health. Emilio ae] 
March!, the tenor, is singing -n Mexico. 

Two lives of Bach have been pub- 
lished recently': one by Plrro in Pari-, 
the other by Philipp YVolfrum. conduc- 
tor and organist at Heidelberg. The lat 
ter shows that Bach was obliged to 
spend his life "amid persistent annoy- 
ance, envy and persecution." 

The Pall Mall Gazette found Mr. Her- 
bert Witherspoon's interpretation ol 
Wotan’s "Farewell” at a recent prome- 
nade concert in London "a little exag- 
gerated.” Nor did this journal Ike 
Zumpe's orchestral arrangement of the 
music of Siegfried and the Rhine naid- 



during the season's! ISKJl-’Jls. I 
The soloists engaged for the Philadel- 
phia Orchestra's series of 20 afternoon 
nuhlic rehearsals and 20 evening sym- 
phony concerts are Mines. Bloomfield- 
Zeisler Gadski, Samaroff fachumann- 
Helnlt and Messrs. Dubinsky, Lhevmne. 
Nason Petschnikoft. Randolph. Rich, 
Rosenthal Mines. Gadski. Schumann- 
Hefnk and Mr. Rosenthal will each ap- 
pear at four concerts. The orchestra 
will give five concerts in Vi ashington 
and also in Baltimore; four in Wilming- 
ton- tlmee in Harrisburg; two in Tren- 
ton ■ and one in Easton. 

Mr Gardner Lamson, formerly of 
Boston will make his appearance at 
Collenz where he is now engaged, as 
Wolfram in "Tannhaeuser," early in 
October. ■' Kt I 

for next summer. 

Now that the season of straw hats 
is approaching Its end,- It may be of 
interest to many to know that In 
England, where the straw hat is no 
longer looked on as an "American 
informality, but Is recognized re- 
spectfully even In the House of Com- 
mons, a new disease, the ’ straw hat 
headache,’’ has been diagnosed. The 
disease comes from the attempt of the 
wearer to keep his hat on when there 
is a wind. The muscles of the fore- 
head are then wrinkled up till they 
“bag painfully." The wearer rolls 
his eyes to see If the hat Is there 
until they show "a large white space 
under the pupils" and "glance side- 
ways, as If in fear of the police.” 
Clerks have been affected so that 
they could not add up figures, and 
therefore lost their positions. But 
there is no need of growing panama 
or plain straw Into the ash barrel, 
instead of guarding It carefully for 
next summer. Put a strip of flannel 
Inside the hat when the signal Is 
given next season and tie a hat string 
to a button hole. Then, if a Greek 
name is invented for the disease, and 
a specialist hangs out his sign, every- 
thing will be in order. 



JllUblL Ui *o 1 1_ f-> f- ivv* (.(i . , ^ 

ens at the beginning of the third act of 
"Dusk of the Gods”: “We Had a great 
admiration for Herr Zumpe, and his 
work in Munich ranks very high among 
the achievements of modern conductors. 
He had a very keen- instinct for mod- 
ern productions in these days; out it 
was an infinite nity ihat he applied his 
talent to any ‘arrangement (as the old- 
fashioned phrase goes) of a f?reat ^ara- 
matic scena from Wagner s woik, 
which, by the teaching of Wagner him- 
self, needed the inclusion of every sin- 
gle component, both ot drama and of 
mus.ic, to make for its complete suc- 
ks’ It not late in the day to protest 
against these arrangements. J\agner 
himself countenanced them so eager was 
he to have his music played in any 
manner. The programme of this Prome- 
nade concert was certaiffiy miscellane- 
ous. One of the songs was Meet Me 
by Moonlight Alone.” 

Thorel and de Grammont have turned 
Hauptmann's "Hannele” into an opera 
libretto and Camille Erlanger has set 
music to It. The opera will he produced 
at the Opera Comique. 

As The Herald has already stated, 



Mr. Frank Richardson contributed the 
following story to the Pall Mall Ga- 
zette: 

He was a very silver-glided Jontlr. on his face 
a look of anxiety as he entered a hairdressers 
shop in Bond street. Earnestly he put the 

Q 'wou n snppb- MIss St Biniie Beano ot the Gaiety I 
Theatre with powder, don't you? 

"Yes. sir.” 

"Is It nnlte harmless? 

"Absolutely. It is invaluable for the com- 
plexlon.” . 

Yet ho was not satisfied 

“But is It digestible? he Inquired. 

"Yes? S Vs'St digestible, If taken Internally?” 
The assistant opened wide eyes of astonish- 

"'• ISiit Miss Birdie Beano doesn’t take it in- 
ternally!” he exclaimed. 

"No. no, no, of course she doesu t. But I 
have to.” 

As is known to many, the story of 
"Pagliacci” is like that of Catulle Men- 
des’ tragi-barade, “Tabarin s ” if®- 
The story is older, for there is a Spanish 
play on which "Yorick s Lo\e was 

founded. Leoncavallo tells us that the ' 
chief incidents of the libretto occurred 
and were brought out in the trial ot 
Canio when Leoncavallo's lather was 
the judge of the court, but jealous 
comedians have killed woman or rival 
on the stage before and since Pagu- 
accl” was produced. 

A new version of the story, a one-act 
play. "The Mummer's Wife," by Kinsey 
Peile, was produced at the Shakespeare, 
London. Aug. 13. A booth Is set up for 
the pleasure of villagers. A strolling 
player, Raymond, a London star de- 
graded by the bottle, has for wife. Bl- 
anca. his leading lady. He hates Theo- 
dor another stroller, who nearly suc- 
ceeds in winning Blanca. Theodor came 
to the company, a fugitive from justice 
starved. Bianca pitied, fed and hid 
him. Raymond is told this by Quelch. 
a player whose advances had been re- 
jected bv Bianca. Raymond suspects 
her fidelity, and in the rehearsal of the 
play he snatches a sword from a lord 
who looks on, searches out his rival, 
who is concealed behind the curtain, 
and stabs Bianca. The spectators ap- 
plaud, but seeing Bianca’s blood, they 
leave, horror-stricken, the scene. The 
* two chief comedians were Miss Phyllis 
Relnlr and Mr. Robertshaw. I 



Mr George Edwardes’ purpose is to re 
light the sacred lamp of burlesque at 
the Gaiety and to keep It lighted. The 
receipts at that theatre from musical 
comedy were about £12,000 in ad\ ance 
of those of the previous year The 
profits were £17,196 as against £9031. The 
directors thought the shareholders 
should be contented with a lo per cent, 
dividend, and they wrote the asset 
“stage properties” ty a sum of £b_uU 
more than last year. 

At the end of the five weeks season 
of the Moody-Manners English opera 
companv in London Mr. Manners made 
a speecii in which he said that instead 
of a loss of £1000, as he had anticipated, 
there was a profit of that sum. 

Mr. Joseph O'Mara, as the chief tenor 
of the Moody-Manners English Opera 
Company in London, was highly praised 
by all the critics. The Pall Mall Gazette 

b "Too much praise cannot be given to 
Mr. O'Mara for his Immense contribu- 
tion to the enjoymen< of the present 
season. It seems strange that lie should 
be singing nearly always out of London, 
for he is far more accomplished, as 
actor and singer, than many tenors 
who Reclaim to us in any language but 
our own in Bow' street." 

Listen to Mr. Blackburn again on h s 
knees before Sir Edward Elgar. He Is 
eager to w'orshlp Sir Edw'ard s new' 
work "The Kingdom.” "There Is no 
necessity," says Mr. Blackburn, to 
make a superfluous comment upon the 
style and title which Sir Edward has 
given to his work. It is for him, not 
for us, to choose; and we shall be very 
much mistaken if it is not found that, 
in the long run, he has chosen rightly, 
with that perfection of choice which can 
only belong to the greatest artists. 

* ‘ * • Elgar’s has been a career, in 
Its way, full of change and storm as 
have ever occurred in the career of a 
great artist. He was born to scoff at 
the schools (without meaning so to 
scoff), to be. therefore, disliked by the 
schools for that very reason, to reach 
honors by sheer genius, and to be be- 
littled by many because of his genius 
All that is good. Elgar can now afford 
to laugh at pygmies.” 

Mr Blackburn remarks in the course of 
his dithyramb, "enthusiasm, of course. 
has its limits.” Not when Mr. Black- 
burn Is moved to chant the praise of 
Sir Edward. Mr. Blackburn s enthusi- 
asm is then limitless. So are his chants. 

It is said that Fritz Kr9 . , ® ,e [': I' 19 

violinist, will give concerts in the l. ni ted 



/ *7 o ft 

A NEW ENGLAND STOIC. 

A respectable and estimable elderly 
woman died of starvation in New' 
Haven, Ct., a few days ago. She had 
supported herself by doing housework 
until she became feeble — she was 73 
years old when she died— and then 
she would neither accept aid nor go 
lo the poor house. Persons passing 
by her house saw no signs of life, and 
at last the door w'as forced open. 
She sat, dead, fully dressed, in a 
I chair, and there she had sat for some 
days. The story is one of grim 
pathos. It recalls one of Morrison s 
tales of mean streets. Hawthorne's 
Hepzibah was of like stuff. There 
are women whose pride towers above 
the conviction that they are useless, 

’ superfluous. If they can no longer 
support themselves they welcome 
death and deck themselves In their 
poor best to do honor to the last 
visitor, who Is to them a kindly de- 
liverer. Perhaps they are hopeful of 
more generous treatment. They cer- 
tainly are stoical, and In New Eng- 
land towns and villages are stoics 
who put to shame Zeno and the 
ethers that talked gravely in the 
Painted Porch at Athens. 



NOT THE FIRST. 

Mr. Gelett Burgess has divided 
mankind into "bromides" and "sul- 
phites.” The bromide says things 
that are obvious and to be expected. 
It Is he that says cheerfully when the 
barge Is crowded at the railway sta- 
tion, "There's always room for one 
more." He Is almost always cour- 
teous and he is a confirmed optimist; 
therefore he Irritates, maddens. But 
Mr. Burgess was not the first to col- 
lect these familiar sayings and class 
the sayers of them, though the pe- 
culiar name he gives the class is no 
doubt his own. There was a famous 
horn player, Eugene Vivier, a great 
practical joker and a friend of Na- 
poleon III. It was Vivier who, by 
some trick, succeeded in playing 
chords on his horn. Living at Nice, 
he wrote a little book, "Un peu de 
ce qui se dit tous les jours,” to which 
Philippe Gllle contributed a preface. 
The book is a collection of phrases 
and speeches wTiich resemble those 
noted by Mr. Burgess. Thus the 
bourgeois host says to his apologizing 
guest: "Better late chan never,” "All 

these vegetables come from our own 
farm,” "I assure you there is not a 
bit of headache in this wine.” 




FENCES' OF THE LATE 



EUGEN GURA, BARITONE SINGER 



HE DESCRIBES HIS 

OPERATIC ADVENTURES 



Men and Women Whom He 
Met — Notes and Go::ip 
About Musicians, 



The Herald mentioned the death of 
Kugen Gura, the celebrated baritone, 
who died not long ago, and it also men- 
tioned the fact that a volume of his 
reminiscences was published last year 
by Breitkopf & Haertel of Leipsic and 
New York. This volume has received 
scanty, if any, attention in’ the United 
States and England, yet Gura was a man 
of mark in his day, both as an operatic 
and concert singer; he was a devout 
Wagnerite, and his Hans Sachs is said 
to have been an incomparable imperson- 
ation. 

The memoir's of a singer, popular or 
distinguished, should be interesting by 
reason of anecdote, gossip and opinion. 
We know of few more entertaining 
books than the memoirs of Charles 
Santley, and few books are more in- 
structive to a young singer who is medi- 
tating his art. The reminiscences of 
Michael Kelly — they were written by 
Iheodore Hook — are amusing. They 
throw light on the operatic and social 
life of Italian towns. Vienna and Lon- 
don, and they will always be treasured, 
if only for the view of Mozart at home, I 
playing billiards and drinking punch , 
and on the stage busied with the nro- I 
Auction of his “Marriage of Jfigaro ’’ in I 
which Kelly took part. Blangini’s book 
is also amusing, by the display of his 
vanity and his fatuous hinting at his 
success among court ladies, but Blangini 
was a singing teacher and composer 
rather than a singer. Then there are ; 
the memoirs of Emily Soldene, a book 
that is not so well known as it should 
T e ~ a book delightful in its impudence, 
rank revelations and assertions. 

The great singers, as a rule, have no 
more of a story to tell than had Can- 
ning s needy knife-grinder. A pen dis- 
concerts them, and they are lazy or dis- 
inclined to dictate memoirs of their 
stage life and anecdotes about men and 
women with whom they were associ- 
ated. Here and there one is actually too 
modest. But what would you not give 
Y°lume of memoirs by Farinelli or 
Kubini or Lablache, written with the 
good sense and shrewdness displayed by 
•Santley! Or think of memoirs of Faus- 
tina Hasse, Patti, Lucca, Melba, Calve 
written with the assurance and humor 
of Miss Emily Soldene! Who would not 
like to read Cuzzoni's recollections of 
her association with Handel? What a 
valuable book would Mr. Jean de 
Leszke s own account of his career, of 
Ids adventures among singing teachers, 
of his artistic struggles and growth, be 
to any intelligent beginner! 

Early Years. 

Gura himself declares at the end of his 
volume of 124 pages that he is not a 
writer by profession; yet there are 
pleasant pages of description in the 
book, pleasant by reason of their hon- 
esty and simplicity. These pages sel- 
dom have anything to do with music, 
and any one who expects to benefit 
himself by learning Gura’s views on 
vocal art or Operatic impersonations will 
be sadly disappointed. 

T, he r so , n of a poor school teacher in a 
little Bohemian v.ilage, Gura, in his last 
years, looked back on his boyhood with 
pleasure and described it with gusto. 

He tells of tho one room that served 
t le family as living room, parlor, music 
room, kitchen, dining room, workshop 
and bed chamber. He describes his 
lather as an excellent musician, who 
save him at an early age piano lessons 
and sat up nights copying music for his 
use-all the sonatas of Beethoven— and 
when the boy was old enough played 

nnafnc! tv- i f H v, n „ r . 1 1 _ n , • 



MISS GERHARDT, 
Soprano. 



Gura at first determined to be a paint- 
? a 5 el l ts grudgingly gave their 
consent, and he entered the Art Acad- 
emy at Vienna. In 1863 .he moved to 
Munich to enter Anschuetz’s school At 
a student s jollification, which Gura de- 
scribes with relish, he sang songs by 
Schubert and Beethoven's “Adelaide,” 
and those who knew” decided that he 
had a beautiful lyric tenor voice which 
should at once be cultivated. The 
nhi pS °/ ! he Conservatory heard him, 
objected to his use of the falsetto, made 
him sing a scale, and then exclaimed: 
Y P U ^ 4 - te v? r * You are a bass," 

-wmmv T a i felt , llke answering him: 
Which I have known for a long time." 
Pie entered the Conservatory, studied 
singing with Herger, and took up again 
piano lessons, much to the disgust of 
Hauser, the director, who thought seri- 
ous study ot the piano injurious to a 
i 5 ?-° er ' .Cura sang for Lachner, and in 
i, ^!r ade . a three years’ contract with 
the Munich Opera. The salary was 
small, but It was to be bettered yearly 
His engagement began April 1 , but it 
was not till Sept. 14 that he made his 

?A h i'<, a .?^r a £ anoe r as Liebenau in Lort- 
zing s Waffenschmied.” 



violin sonatas with him. He tells ‘of Vis 
nights in the garret, where in summer 
lie heard the music of frogs and crickets 
outside, and in winter the complaining 
and moaning of boughs or the flutter 
of bats. He went to school at Rakonitz 
and became acquainted with the piano 
scores of operas by Mozart and Weber. 
One fine day he was enchanted by 
’ T’annhaeuser, and, reading it and 
playing it, he was influenced, as he de- 
clares. tor his life work. Gura at the 
end of three years, went to the Poly- 
technic Institute at Vienna. Who pro- 
vided the money for these and other 
studies he does not say. At the age of 
18 he saw an opera for the first time, 
“"a? , Tannhaeuser,” and Gura then 
felt that he must be a singer. In 1861 he 
V ienna the famous performance 
of Lohengrin.” when Wagner h *ard 
his own work for the first time. Seeing 
the composer in the street, Gura fol- 
lowed him, as a small boy follows a 
brass band. He has much to say about 
the performance of the opera and Wag- 
ner s speech after the fall of the cur- 
tain, and he closes with this fine burst 
a ? ro P°^ of “Parsifal” in New York: 
And Wagners swan song, the last, 
sublime work, one far removed from ali 
sensationalism, shall today fall prey to 
the greed of American speculators!" 
There are other remarks that Mr. Con- 
ned would no doubt regard as highly 
opprobrious, if not libellous. ^ 



At Breslau and Leipsic. 

He was eager to sing the part of the 
Hunter in “Nachtlager,” ‘ottakar in 
“Der Freischuetz,” but Lachner kept 
putting him off; “That’s always the 
way with a beginner at our opera 
house.” Furthermore, there was an old 
fellow named Simon, who claimed tho 
parts. He finally fell sick and Gura im- 
personated Ottakar, on a night when 
there was a real waterfall in the Wolf’s 
Glen. He also sang the part of the Hun’- 
ter in Kreutzer’s opera, but this was 
taken away trom him by oid Kinder- 
mann, who wished to show how young 
?8U wi 10 v he Still was.” (This was m 
1860. \Ve heard ICindermann at Bay* 
reuth m 18SL. He was then 65 years old 
and sang dismally false with tones of- a 
bassoon in agony). At last, discouraged 
lle was kept to un ‘mportant 
parts, Gura went to Breslau, where he 
appeared first as Nevers (Oct 4 1S67) 
i He soon came to grief as Luna in “I! 

! Trovatore. He was hoarse, the orches- 
trai pitch was higher than at Muivch 
ildn the music was sung in the origmai 
keys. It took him a long time to re- 
deem himself m the eyes of the public 
and his only consolation was his mar- 
A a ” e , t0 lt S o beloved Therese.” But on 
j Aug 1, 1808. he made a sensation as 
| Gessler in ’'Tell,” and in the sceTe of 
the cioss-bow and apple, bore away the 
honors from the hero of Rossini’s opera 
(Guia quotes constantly from his diarv 
and never fails to tell how much an- 
plause there was.) The newspapers be- 
gan to stop asking why no really good 
(baritone had been engaged for the Opei e 
House. His first appearance in a Was- 
nerlan opera as Wolfram was eminent] v 
successful. Gura informs us about this 
at some length. Yet liis life at Breslau 
was not happy. He was obliged to take 
many small Vrts and to act in spoken 
drama. A erdi's music seems to have 
been his hoodoo, for when he had to im- 
personate tlie father in “La Traviata ” 
he. had a bad cold. The Franco-Pru’s- 
an war broke out. and the manager 
"°be. who lost all that he had gained in 
Jussia, disbanded the company. Th 
Breslau public was ignorant and easily, 

bored. The “best people” were seldom 
in the Opera House. There was no reg- 
ular subscription audience. Gura de- 
scribes the public bitterly. 
nr^o became a member of the Leipsic 
opera company in 1871), and made a brill- 
iant. first annearande as Wolfram (Sept 



MME. DONALDO, 
Soprano. 



5). He sang Telramund for the first 
time (Sept. 19), and Sachs (Dec. 9). The 
latter was his most famous part, anu 
Gura tells us how distinguished this 
impersonation was. He became known 
as a concert singer. He was the first 
to sing a song by Franz in the Gewand- 
haus (Feb. 22, 1872). He did missionary 
work for Laewe and his ballads, which 
had been neglected or despjsed. In 1372 
he took part in the Duesseldorf music 
festival, when Rubinstein's “Tower of 
Bah^ was produced. You should read 
Guras account of how he swept every- 
mg before him in a miscellaneous con- 
cert after Parepa-Itosa with Donna An- 
na s song had sadly disappointed ex- 
pectation. “Then I came on the stage 
and was enthusiastically received and 
flowers were thrown at me. After each 
*song by Franz there was fanatical ap- 
?his* Se ’ e * ;c ” e * c ’ There’s a page of 

Later Years. 

In 1876 Pollini of Hamburg offered 
Gura a yearly salary of 19,400 marks 
($4850) with a vacation of three 
months. Gura accepted the offer, and 
made his first appearance at Hamburg 
as Wolfram (Sept. 3, 1S76). In 1880 
he created the part of the Demon in 
Rubinstein’s opera (Nov. 3), under the 
composer’s direction. Rosa Suclier was 
the 1 Tarnara. In 1877 he had made a 
concert tour in Holland, and in 1SS2 
he went with a German opera com- 
pany to London. The company was 
composed of distinguished Wagnerian 
singers: Mmes. Sucher, Malten and 

Hermann Winkelmann were among 
them, as was Mme. Peschka-Leutner, 
who sang in Boston at a peace jubilee. 
While he was in London Gura sang in 
concert in Rothschild’s drawing room, 
and the __ aristocratic company — the 
present King of England was there — - 
chattered and made unseemly noises 
during the music. Gura also sang at 
a state concert in Buckingham Palace, 
and was amazed by the “oversumptu- 
ous costumes” and the “millions in 
diamonds displayed 011 the shoulders. 



MME. FLEISCHER-EDEL. 



arms and necks of noble dames.” 
Albani and Christine Nilsson also sang. 
The Prince of Wales politely said that 
he was delighted to hear him twice in 
a short time. Gura was the Sachs in 
the first performance in German of 
“The Mastersingers” in England (May 
30, 1882). He was much Impressed, as 
was TschaikoWsky, by the equipages 
and horsemanship in Hyde Park. 

In 1883 Gura again became a member 
of the Munich Opera company, and not 
till June 3, 1896, did he withdraw from 
the stage. He then sang Leporello to 
his son Hermann’s Don Giovanni. But 
in 1901 he appeared at the opening of 
the Prinzregenten Theatre in the third 
act of “The Mastersingers.” He had 
played the part of Sachs 114 times. After 
his retirement from the opera house he 
continued to sing in concert In 1893 he 
appeared in a court concert in Berlin 
managed by Dr. Muck, and much to his 
disgust the Emperor insisted on his 
singing Pressel’s “An der Weser” and 
Becker’.s “Trompeter an der Katzbaeh.” 

At Munich he sang many parts. Out- 
side of the Wagnerian opera he delight- 
ed especially in impersonating Lysiart 
in “Euryantlie,” Petruchio in Goetz's 
“Taming of the Shrew,” Don Giovanni, 
and the Barber in the opera of Cor- 
nelius. He detested Nessler’s ’^Trumpet- 
er of Saekkingen” and Thomas’ “Mig- 
non.” Of the former he writes: “It is 

hardly possible to believe that the same 
public which is apparently enthusiastic 
over Wagner’s ‘Mastersingers,’ ’Tann- 
haeuser’ and ‘Tristan’ will open its ears 
with the same attention to the ‘Trum- 
peter.’ ” 

Gura gives interesting information 
about private performances of “Parsi- 
fal” : at Munich. All private perform- 
ances for Ludwig as the solitary hearer 
began late and the King kept everybody 
waiting — sometimes for hours— but all 
the performers were obliged to be ready 
at 9 P. M The orchestra was ordered 
to be absolutely still. No instrument 
could then be tuned. One night when 
Titurel in his grave exclaims over the 
wonder of the illuminated grail, the man 
appointed to see to the illumination 
slept, nor could he be awakened. Gura 
as Amfortas, and all the others on the 
stage expected an outburst of royal dis- 
pleasure. Ludwig, however, sent a court 
officer to Gura to tell him: “Never has 
Mr. Reichmann sung so beautifully, so 
impressively as tonight. He has sur- 
passed even himself.” This must have 
been a sad blow to Gura’s self-esteem. 

Men and Women. 

A young man, Gura was greatly im- 
pressed by Julius Schnorr von Carols- 
feld, the creator of Tristan, and he 
marvelled at his expressive head of 
curly hair and dark brown beard. He 
saw him as Tristan in the first per- 
formance; Eric, a part which he, as did 
Niemann, raised to heroic proportions, 
and George Brown in “La Dame Blan- 
che,” in which Gura says the tenor 
showed much grace and great finesse. 

A woman whom lie admired greatly 
was Mathilde Mallinger, the soprano, 
who afterward became a glory of the 
Berlin stage, although she often sang 
false. (Gura does not mention this fact. 
No German singer is easily disconcerted 
by false intonation, whether he sings or 
listens). He praised her intelligence, 
poetic feeling, "spontaneous vocal tal- 
ent,” graceful acting. Pier voice was 
not a powerful one, but he describes it 
as even, flexible and full of color. 



.TgL^ _ i n'l n) l r% thft tenor, tlifiit 

JtS "ol.i and declares that he was 
atlll^wondi : fully impressive. (Gura was 

liil mm 

i v2f C pxDerience<' an iinheard of tiling. 

I Vnt e ionK P aeoa fellow from l.oipslc came 

^andhe s u a-S'm telling you the trui.j 
I samr-is it possil>ie?-he sans one o 
M S' 'lio vou know this man? 1 
n» „ 1S You must in- 

! Sife Wni to me, for 1 should like to 

k Gm’a h t n eiis us how highly Rubinstein 
i^M-ldorf festivah bef!“?‘ mentioned. 

I I’honish festival would pay more atn 
| Hon to living composers and less to Ut aJ 

i “There is. naturally, frequent reference 
* « w.irner wltose operas ill l>,t wete 

tells us how Wagner was present, at a 
performance of Spohr s “Jessoml.i. v ■ 
delighted by his impersonation of l ris- 
tan d’Acunha. and praised hint oi ' uy 
in a letter to a Leipsic music journal— 
the letter is in Wagner’s literary woi ks, 
he tells us how he wished to be the 
Wotan at the first Bayreuth peifotm- 
ance Of "The Ring.” and he studied the 
music, but was, at the end. ' ""tinted 
to take the part of Gunther and ot Uon- 
ner; how Wiemann. the tenor, wept w ith 
emotion when for the first time the mo- 
tive of Wotan’s farewell was sounded 
by the full orchestra; how; M f\f. ner 
scolded Mrs. Gruen for singing ii.iisa- 
beth’s prayer, as cut for Berlin use, 

1 how Wagner praised Loewe as a true 
and pure German composer; how vmi- 
helmj told a long-winded story m his 
Frankfort-Wiesbaden dialect or a pet 

d< Gura admired Rosa Sucher’s Isolde 
for its realism and tire. all saw 

Mrs. Sucher in this part in Boston, but 
slie was then gross and her voice was 
worn. A tornado of a woman, she 
sJoldod in shrieks. Milka Tern.na 
showed us another Isolde, the woman 
> of legend and romance. 

In London the baritone called on Jenny 
Ltnd, though she first called on him. 

Ho describes her as unusually ami- 
able.” He became acquainted wit" 
Alma Tatlema, also with Hubert Her- 
komer. The latter wished to paint him 
as Hans Sachs, and Gura regretted that 
i the wish was not followed by the deed. 

T There are descriptions of summer 
* places visited by Gura and cf his villa. 

He love<l nature and was happy m w rit- 
ing about it. His description of an un- 
fortunate railway journey is amusing 
by reason of the seriousness with w inch 
he relates his misadventures. Had ire 
had a keerir sense of humor, he might 
have pruned his self-laudation and 
omitted the newspaper notices let his 
egoism is after all not extraordinary . an 
opera singer, he moved in a world ot 
vanity. His notes on his art-collecting 
show a more pleasant side of his nature. 

The volume contains a portrait ot 
Gura a sketch of his birthplace, and 
; sketches made hv hitn of Landsberg am 
Lech and of scenes near his villa on 
Starnberger See. 

I BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESRA. 

[ Complete announcement concerning 
I the coming season of the Boston Spm- 
phony orchestra will he contained in the 
(papers of next Sunday, Sept. 23. This 
I will include particulars concerning the 
1 auction* sale of seats, the list of soloists 
and the programmes of the first four 

crmeertSj^s begn recc | vc< j directly from 
I Hr Muck, saying that lie is quite well 
land has never had any doubt about 
sailing for America on t lie Kaiser 
' Wilhelm der Grosse from Bremen on 
• Tuesday', Sept. 25. This should put at 
1 rest the various reports of his illness. 
The basis of the reports is unknown, but 
the facts seem to be that, immediately 
after the Bayreuth festival. Dr. Muck 
wont to a little watering place in Styrla 
to get completely rested before sailing. 

Dr. Muck will be accompanied by 
Mrs. Muck, and an apartment has been 
taken for them in a hotel within a walk- 
ing distance of Symphony Hall. 

BOSTON SYMPHONY CUARTET. 

! Since the first of the month Messrs. 
Both, Ferir and Warnke have been 
with Prof. Willy Hess at Ogunquit, Me.. 
rehearsing twice daily for the coming 
season of the Boston Symphony quar- , 
t( tte. As usual, six concerts will be | 

I given iu Boston, but this year they will 
lie given in Chickerlng Hall instead of 
in Jordan Hail. The dates are Monday 
evenings. Oct. 20. Nov, 19. Dec. 1*. Jan. 
21 Fell. 25 and Apia I 1 Prof. Hess has 
some interesting no . cities which lie will 
play in the course of Hie winter. 

WORCESTER FESTIVAL. 

I | The 49th annual festival of the Worces- 
' ter County Musical Association will be 
hold at Worcester Oct. 1 to 5 inclusive. 
Rehearsals will be held on Oct. 1 and 2 
and the mornings of 3, 4 arid 5, with • "r- 
•I ’ I certs on the evenings of Oct. 3. 4 an 1 5 
1 and tiie afternoons of Oct. 1 and 5. 
j On Tuesday afternoon at the rehearsal 
! a new feature will be inaugurated. A 
■ chorus of 300 pupils of the high schools 
1 wilDsing with thr Boston Symphony or- 
i cheslra. , 

The management has engaged ]■> 
artists the largest number ever engage! 
for a Worcester festival. They ar 
I pianos Miss HI z.ibetli Burkina. Miss 
Louise Ormsby. Mrs. Margaret L. Ka- 
boirl Mrs. Viola Waterhouse; evi- 
I traltos Mrs- Louise Homer. Mme. lsu- 
f l.elle Bouton. Miss Grace .Munson. Mrs. 
| Grace Preston Naylor; tenors. Daniel 



_ .. ■ siut Paul Dufault;" WFTt'oii hi 

K? iWogorza; basses? Frederic Mm- 
* jrn , Torn Daniel; pianist, Mme. Sam- 
t,n 3 l - d viomiists Timcitliee Adatrbwslu 

ar °. M.ss HessieVollier. The condm to: s 

Messrs. Wallace Goodrich ml 
k concert Wednesday, Ot. 3. Ua .- 

Mrs! \V ater a o u se.^M i s^Muns'mi. Messrs. 
^Thursday 3 ;*! ternoon! Oc t. 4, Symphony 

ssrSbisr iv«i' 

Saint-Saens "Introduction and LonJo 
Caprice for Violin,” Op. 28. „ c „ 

Thursday night. Oct. 4, Brahm .- 
of Destiny” Hirst time In \I orct S. 1 ’ ■ , 
Verdi s "Requiem.” Miss Louise Orrmsby ; 
Mme. Bouton, Messrs. Beddoe and Mai 

1 Friday afternoon, Oct. 5 , Symphony or- 
chestra with Mrs. Grace Preston >‘W> or 
find Mine Samaroff. soloists. .M me. 
Samaroff will play Rubinstein’s ooiicerto 
for piano, No. 4. in D minor. The or 
chestra will play (for the first time m 
Worcester) Mac Dowell s The Beautiful 
Alda” and "The Saracens fiom tlu. 

''^ridaf n?ght Ph Oc?: 5. artists' night. 

Miss Parkina, Mrs. Homer, Messrs Bod- 
doe and DeGogorza. Miss Collier will 

P The ^ticket sale will take p la=s in 
Washburn Hall at 10 o clock A. M . 
Tuesday Sept 25 With the exception 
of about 250 seats in the middle °f tha 

floor, which will be held i^W'^lhere- 
full course, the price will be $o. as neie 
tofore, exclusive of premium. 



NEW WORKS. 

Joseph Holbrooke's "Bells” (after Poe), 
to be produced at the Birmingham Fes- 
tival next month, opens with an orches- 
tral prelude of some length, which is an 
epitome of the work. The choral part 
consists of four numbers. “Sledge Bells,” 
"Wedding- Bells,” "Alarm Bells,” "Iron 
Bells.” The chief theme is given out 
by a horn in the prelude and is used 
throughout. The “Alarm Bell” section 
! is in eight vocal parts. (Jullien's “Fire- 
man's Quadrille" might be introduced 
here with thrilling effect.) "The instru- 
ments include every kind of b^l and a 
concertina, the latter used to secure a 
rapid ringing crescendo. Mr. Holbrooke 
conducted at Ostend on Aug. -3 a con- 
cert of British music, and his new 
"Dreamland Suite.” composed tor the 
forthcoming Hereford Festival was UH-n 
ilayed for the lirst time Mr. Black 



nlaved for the lirst time. Mr. BlacK- 
Sum wrote recently; "We have often 
referred to the really exquisite talent of 
Mr. Holbrooke, and there is no "fed to 
emphasize the fact that among Tn d ?x 
English composers he takes an ex 
.tremely high place. Whatever may, be 
the opinion of the academic writers o 
music — and we know that opinion only 
by U hearsay— we, for our own Dart place 
him very high in that new school of 
English music which Purcell came to 
found, which Handel destroyed, anc 
which a very few modern English corn- 
nosers have restored again to us. 

It will be interesting to mark, at 
the forthcoming Birmingham festival, 
how far Mr. Granville Bantock has 
caught the genuine spirit of Omar 
Khayyam in Ins application of it to 
modern music. Eight hundred years 
or so have passed by since the dust 
of the mystic sensualist, the Philo- 
sophic dreamer, was gathered b ^‘ c ' e 
the rose trees of which he sang, 
where he himself prophesied that his 
last long rest should be. Mr. Ban- 
tock is clever; he has originality, and 
he has considerable command of in- 
strumentation; but he is not very 
dramatic. This, however, is perhaps 
not a very great drawback in any 
setting of the Rubaiyat. What eve 
want here is emotion, thoughts in 
music that . are primeval in Hmir tre- 
mendous simplicity. Will Mr. Ban 
tock give us this? Or will lie over- 
load his theme with superfluous 
ornament? There was one musician 
who could have composed the requi- 
site music for such an ideal as that 
which the Persian poet puts before 
^s-the creator of “Cosi fan tutte,” 
Inf HI Seraglio.” of "Die Zauberfloete 
I —the unique, incomparable Mozart.— 
Pall Mall Gazette. , . _ 

\n orchestral suite formed from Bu- 
! soni's incidental music to Gozzi s drama 
' “Turandot” was played for tlie first time 
in England at a promenade concert In 
T ondon Aug. 21. (The suite was pro- 
duced in Berlin last winter.) Turandot. 
a Chinese princess, has many suitors, 
and, averse to matrimony, she insists 
that she will marry only the. successful 
euesser of three riddles. The unsuccess- 
ful are beheaded. Prince Kalaf guesses 
I correctly, and Turandot is so \exed that 
she threatens to kill herself rather than 
marry him. He proposes that she shall 
-ness one of his riddles. If she solves it 
he will kill himself: if she falls she must' 
wed him He presents himself in dis- 
guise, add the riddle is ills identity, fhe 
princess gains the necessary Informa- 
tion ’ the prince makes his arrangements 
for suicide, then Turandot first knows 
that she loves Kalaf. and the two are 
made one. The suite is supposed to have 
“Chinese atmosphere." One of the move- 
ments is named after 1 rufaldino. the 
chief of the eunuchs in the i play- T here 
is a grotesque march, and there Is a | 
"nocturnal valse.” in which the waltz | 
tin me “steals in on muted \iolms with 
In derie effect which is maintained to. 
In extent that suggests a valse of ghosts 
dith shadows for partners.” The finale 
s i combination of a funeral march and 
a Turkish quickstep, which is described 
as a "tootling tune." The thematic In- 
vention is said to be poor as far as the 
I whole work is concerned. 

MUSIC NOTES. 

The Herald publishes today portraits 
from recent photographs of Mme. Kath- 
erine Fleischer - Edel, Mme. Pauline 
Donalda— the two ’will be members of 
the Metropolitan Opera House company 
this season-and of Miss Elena Ger- 
' hardt. a mezzo-soprano of LUpsie, 
whose song recital in London last June 
' «■.„ praised extraordinarily. Mme. 
| rieischer-EOol of Hamburg was the 



BrhngaenifT af Bayreuth this year, 

though the music is not suited to her 

\ nice. She also appeared as Sieglinde. 
Mme. Donalda. born I.ightstone. is now 
the wife of Sevoilhac, who will also 
be of the Metropolitan company. 

Air. Hcnrv Russell, director of the 
"San Carlo" opera company, which 
will give performances this coming sea- 
son in the United States from coast to 
coast, says “To hear Nordica in one 
of the classics at S3 for the best seat 
in the house should satisfy anybody.” 

Mr. Russell is a sanguine' person. 

Saint-Saens has written to Musical 
America (N. Y.) concerning his alleged 
habit of disappearing. He insists that 
iiis residence is always known. "Twice 
I have been in South America to give 
I concerts. This is not a good way to dis- i 
appear. Both times 1 returned directly 
to Paris, the first time via Cherbourg, 
the second time l»y way of Lisbon. I 
have never been in the United States.” 
Adelina Patti will end her profession- 1 
al career by giving a ''tarcweli vo.. 
cert in Albert Hall, London, Dec. 1. At- 
ter that date her farewell c01 jcert will 

be a biennial and not , a " h ani lp a J pAin" 
Lady Halle, one of the few living 
violinists that have the grand style, 
win give concerts in London and a 
number of provincial cities this season. 

She is now in her 68th year. 

The New York Evening Post says, 
apropos of the recent Mozart * esti- 
val at Salzburg; "The great event 
was a performance of the ninth 
phony of — Bruckner! It was to have 

been conducted by PVti^hard’ Strauss 
?o°i l k d his 1 "place’. a ^e Ri s C u h c^ d edfr U fo! 
cite Richard Wallaschek. after a i 
single rehearsal, in g lymg a a £ t ® 
fnrmuncf of Individual character. 
What we heard was not m ® r jHy a 
repetition of the Viennese Produc- 
tion but everything was fiesher, 

concert audiences In Boston, and .this 

pe^ P y ni here S ^? P fk® y o^ bSes ^f^ e '^ n a| P 

Mr Gericke Mr. Finck exclaims pas- 

!S : for‘' S L iel fcw B y?’'ars? gfe S 
fSer and 

pass round the D hat ^ aHen^ among 

believe that Bruckner’s music has 
b °Mmf C Yv d c r ue e Gu,lbcrt will appear 

Ss^^p as; 

Mr Victor Maurel, in his lecture on 
”’rhe question of Distance. teaches 
fhirtnetrine that a new method of 

Ssis 52 k 

Pl'%’ 

oughly t-lie knowledge 

^ e ^? e carr7ng powe°r of the voice It 
of the carry nig i s j n g e r, however 

iS St ea f r rom on point of view,, can 

S’ n g °c o lit r a ft c> a a t S t h e ^s't a d t Theatre in 
Hamburg. 

/if i 'J < 9^^- 

A NEW DISH. 



t> • 

Sr, 



One of the distinctions between a 
gourmand and a gourmet is that the 
former is very seldom a wit. He has 
but one thought, one care in life, the 
distention of his stomach. The gour- 
met may be a comparatively light 
eater. His mind must be kept clear 
for nice appreciation. Run over ie 
list of famous gourmets and you \\ i 
name many wits, as the elder Dumas 
and Rossini. The following story is 
to the point: A gourmet at | 

last summer, was so well known and 
highly esteemed for his gastronomic 
! skill that he was allowed to explain 
to a head cook the latest secret fo 
cooking a peach-fed ham in cham- 
pagne and stout, Plus his ow _ secre^ 
the one thing that makes the d.sh 

memorable. Kindness'versonified. he 

even confided to the cook the name of 
the dish. The next night there ap- 
peared on (he bill of fare of the table 
C note dinner; Jan.oon a lLpion 
Sinclair.” 



Srpi / % ' 7 ^ 



LETTER BOX TRT ( iv - 

’ Under a truly paternal government 
all stuffers of letter boxes would be , 
arrested and fined. "W e re er ' 
conscientious and indefatigable < 1- 

tributers of circulars— invitations to 

attend religious meetings cards o£ 
old clo’ men, provision 

tradesmen and repairers of aUkind^. 

It is the impulse of eyery P 



locking his box and finding a mass 

of waste paper to throw the stuff an- 
grily on the steps or the sidewalk. 

The steps or the doorways of apa: t- 
ment houses are often thus disfig- 
ured. The. unlocker is on the way 
to his office or he is returning home. 

What is he to do with all this paper? 

Cram it into his pockets? Take it 
tenderly upstairs ana then put it in a 
yvaste basket? 

THE MORAL OF IT. 

Two cats, 1 'inkey and Blaokie. living 
in Wilkesbarre, i'a., had a life interest 
in the income of .$40,000 set aside in the 
will of their master, the late Benjamin 
P. Dillcy, or Diley. for informants 
differ as to the spelling of the testa- 
lOr’s name. Requests of this nature 
have not been uncommon. The curious 
will find instances in Gabriel I’eignot’s 
book on singular wills. The two cats 1 
were cared for luxuriously by a nurse. 

They had soft beds and daily baths. 

They exercised their claws on rosewood 
and mahogany, and no doubt were 
visited by a manicure. Holes had been 
cut in all the doors that they might 
prowl or frolie at will. I’inkey had “a 
tumor in her throat” and up and died. 

In all probability her death was the re- 
sult of a life of foolish luxury, and 
Blackie will follow her example. A cat. 
to reach the highest physical, mental 
and spiritual development, must know 
anxiety, suffering, remorse. Whether 
male or female, it must experience the 
joys, sorrows and excitements of the 
area and the back fence. Like the hero 
in the old song, the cat must be able to 
say: “I know what it is to be lacking 
a meal.” As it is with men and yvomen, 
sc it is with cats. The heights are 
reached only by climbing through 
prickly bushes and over stony places. 
Only the tempest tossed know the 
supreme value of serenity and ease. 

rURER DRAMA. 

Those interested in the “elevation” 
of the stage and the “cultivation” of 
the drama, all who deplore the ruts 
into which modern playwrights fall, 
should tatfe courage., A short piece, a 
sketch if you will, is now popular in 
the music halls of London, and the “re- 
form” of the theatre must begin in the 
hall. A Leadenhall street banker, a Mr. 
Moses, has a beautiful daughter. He 
also has a,, son, a fine fellow, and a 
caretaker of his bank, one Perkins, an 
Englishman, with whom the daughter 
falls in love. The spirited son loves 
with the most honorable intentions a 
“lady typewriter” in the bank. Nothing, 
it would 6eem, could be fairer than this. 
But Mr. Moses, hearing of his son’s 
passion, threatens to turn him out. Per- 
kins exclaims, “Then you turn me out, 
too,” and he leaves, having first helped 
himself thoughtfully to bullion in the 
bank’s strong box. Mr. Perkins is thus 
able to provide himself with Sunday 
clothes for every day, and to bedeck 
himself with diamonds. He appears in 
this disguise at Moses’ house as a man 
of enormous wealth, and a suitor of 
Miss Moses. The banker, not recogniz- 
ing him. encourages the suit. The dis- 
covery is made that the plutocrat is thfe 
I thief, but the young woman is faithful 
! to him, and the curtain goes down on a 
triumphant and highly respected Per- 
kins. The indefatigable objectors to 
problem plays and symbolical pieces 
now have an opportunity of welcoming 
the real thing, something “pure an 
wholesome and refreshing. 

~ ABBREVIATED. 

Max Beerbohm, Jack London, Bart 
Kennedy, Tom Masson! These ab- 
breviated names are employed in good 
faith by publishers and certainly the 
authors themselves make no sign of 
objection. Yet Mr. Beerbohm’s first 
name is Maximilian and Mr. Ken- 
nedy’s Bartholomew. Why not Bill 
Thackeray, Hank Fielding, Tom 
Hardy, Georgie Shaw, Lizzie Brown- 
ing. Mamie Corelli? Or to speak of 
other arts, why not Mike Angelo, 
Dicky Wagner, Joe Verdi? Mrs. 
Craigie was terse, direct, epigram- 
matic to the last. Thus In "The 
Dream and the Business" she said of 
her Lady Navenby: "Half the time 

she does the greatest violence to her 
feelings in order to be true to her 
mannerisms,” and she referred to 



e who wished 

ovidence as an English gentl 
large fortune, perfect morals, an 
xlety to frustrate the foreigner and 
wish to feed, rather than to meet, 
the poor." hut , Mrs. Craigle never 
thought, of signing her novels Jack 
Noll Hobbes. 



SMALL O’ THE BACK. 

A correspondent of the New York 

B 'Sun does not understand how Jethro 
Bass, in Mr. Winston ChurcliiH’s novel 
“Ooniston,” could sit "on the small of 
his back.” He does not know the mean- 
ing of the phrase. Is the phrase ‘‘idio- 
matic’’ or "modern”? "I perhaps do not 
know where the small of the back is 
located. I thought it was near the 
waist.” The correspondent explains his 
ignorance by signing himself “A Dull 
Reader,” and we note that he lives in 
Asbury Park, where the behavior of 
life is sternly regulated. Did he never 
see a man “sitting on the small of his 
back"? Let him go to any theatre, con- 
cert hall, churclb club. The attitude of 
this sitter is not a respectful one; it 
looks exceedingly uncomfortable ; yet 
there are many who delight in it. Just 
as putting one’s heels on veranda rail- 
ing, mantelpiece, chair, table, rests the 
heart and brain, so perhaps sitting on J 
the small of the back may comfort the 
kidneys or soothe the spine. As for the 
phrase itself, it is an old one, used free- 
long before Asbury Park was known 
to geographer or postoffiee department. 

SHERRIS. 

The King of Spain, taking sherry 
to Cowes, brought it into fashion 
again as a dinner wine, but good 
judges of wine and fashions believe 
he use will be only temporary. Pop- 
ular in the Elizabethian period, the 
ivine came into favor again about the 
ueginning of the nineteenth century, 

’or the Prince Regent professed the 
treatest admiration for it and for a 
ime drank nothing else. About the 
niddle of the Victorian era sherry 
vas again the drink of table drinks, 
is we learn from the novelists, the 
rue historians of manners and cus- 
oms. Its use was universal. Every 
ommercial traveller on the road had 
- right to a pint of sherry with his 
iinner and a decanter was placed at 
he side of each guest at the com- 
mercial ordinary in the inn. The 
lanchester Guardian says that people 
egan to say "no’’ to the question 
sherry, sir?” about 1880. Mr. G. R. 
urns says that sherry began to go out 
s a dinner wine when the boom in 
laret began. Claret and hock were 
t turn succeeded by whiskey and 
oda. Sherry is still poured in cer- 
iin American private houses as an 
arly wine when there is an absurd 
inous profusion, but it is a better 
ash ion to serve only one wine and in 
ome houses this is spelled whiskey. 

A NOVEL IN POLITICS. 

The Minneapolis Tribune has read 
r rs. Wharton’s "House of Mirth,” 
nd It can no longer dream sweet 
reams of waving and gigantic crops, 
t sounds alarm bells. It draws pict- 
res, so that the unlettered may not 
e uninformed of the “phosphores- 
ent moral corruption of commercial 
ociety” of New York. Listen to this: 
The men are mere gross animals, 
eaping up more money than they 
an spend to wallow in it like sur- 
aited swine in a trough, without ed- 
catlon, without rational intellectual 
iterest, without honor or decency in 
usiness or social life. The women 
re beautiful toys, as degraded in 
heir relations to the male market as 
he inmates of a harem, but far less 
t’tractive in their callous selfishness 
;nd unbridled appetite.” Hot stuff! 
s the New York politician remarked 
t a Buffalo convention, with a final 
Wow!” It looks as though Mrs. 
Wharton’s novel would be used as a 
olitical document in Minnesota. Her 
ren and women are supported by 
he money gained through monopo- 
es and a protective tariff. At least 
he Tribune says they are: "If ship- 
pers and minority stockholders, 
armers who pay twice as much as 
’anadians and Mexicans for the same 
gricultural implements and work- 
ngmen who cannot meet the in- 
reased cost of living with their high- 
st wages, want to know where some 
' their money goes, let them read 
ouse of Mirth.’ ’ 



ANOTHER TObMAN. 

A man who has made a fortune in a 
western city called on us yesterday. He 
is not much over 40 and he is not will- 
ing to be idle, but like Mr. Tolman in 
I rank Stockton s story, be wishes to 
carry on some business which be can 
attend to himself, one that will bring 
him into contact with people of all 
sorts — people that will interest him. 
He does not wish to work hard ; he 
wishes a “snug and comfortable” busi- 
ness. It is his purpose to open a bureau 
of general information. He will have 
reference books of all kinds, files of cer- 
tain journals, card references and in- 
dexes, etc. Suppose you wish to know 
whether Pauline Markham is still liv- 
ing, the tonnage of the first steamship 
that crossed the Atlantic, the name of 
Lohengrin’s mother, the vote cast 
against Gen. Butler when he was elected 
Governor, some of the more striking 
laws of the Medes and Persians — all you 
have to do is to go to this bureau and for 
a small fee the information will be 
given. There may be a scale of prices 
according to the difficulty of obtaining 
the accurate, guaranteed answer. For 
instance, there is much talk about 
Esperanto. Do you know who invented 
the language? Go to the bureau. After 
a few moments of consultation the in- 
former will hand you a slip : “Dr. 

Ludwig Zamenhof, born at Bialystok in 
1859. A practising oculist at Warsaw 
He is thoroughly familiar with Russian, 
Polish, German, Yiddish, English, 
French and Hebrew.” How useful this 
bureau would be to the community ! 
What a pleasant occupation! It has 
been said that a knowledge of human 
nature is best learned in the office of a 
lawyer or of a newspaper, but the 
knowledge to be gained at this bureau 
by the furnisher of information would 
he richer and more widespread. Only 
one class of searchers would not be wel- 
come, genealogists. If welcomed, they 
would take up all the informer’s time. 

II is better for them to browse and dbze 
at the State or Public Library. 



fn^r^D? a voM” IV « I of ! ••LaicSiV" and 
and the to^ ^sTo 

Mine s’lmbrleh < ! f tbe hk,cIei1 bandits! 
remember” U^scene ? *° Ura * e ’ Do you 

I a „ 8 n rvant ' ‘here’s no denying 

a figure that a not much amiss 

f M me r Sem^rioi lnSplred , Eng,ish version. 
oC will embrich ma y also take the Dart 

Mr‘ n ronri ‘!‘ T* ^ arrar aa Ka 
oii .„ von ried announces that Mme 

?rino Pre T start ls now a full -fledged so 
Prano and no longer a contralto not 

sonSte sIfome 0P n an0 ' ? lle wl " imper- 
Rlnt” • Bruennhilde in "The 

whlfii for e =o her0 , ne in "L’Afrioalne," 

C some incomprehensible rea- 
be revived and sung in Italian 

te?fly S ” Pl Manner 1 slng , 1 ,? "Mme. But- 
Juliet.” M 0n Descaut,” "Romeo and 

Mr. Conried speaks confidently of 
Kerta Morena’s appearance In spite of 
the rumors concerning her poor physi- 
cal and, as some say, mental condition- 
and he says that if Luisa Tetrazzini 
sings at all in New York it must be un- 
der his control, for the contract which he 
made and she broke has four more years 
to run. What Implicit confidence Mr. Con- 
1 rled has in Jean de Reszke’s judgment! 
Tiie eminent Polish tenor recommended 
one of his pupils, Ferdinand Soubeyran, 
land Mr. Conried engaged the youth with- 
,bUt ¥ arl , ng him. Mr. de Reszke recom- 
mended Mme. Serena to Mr. Savage last 
?lnp° n, R a ? d aI1 rem ember Mme. Se- 
W Ac M° ta c. Newman, who was a mem- 
ber of Mr. Savage s company, now calls 
herself R ta Fornia. She studied re- 
cently with Mr. de Reszke, and she. too. 
& engaged for the Metropolitan 
Then thare ls Franz Steiner, a young 

£t r 7 la ?,’ w , ho ., ls sald t0 have a re- 
markable voice, but he has never sung 
in public. Trustful Mr. Conried! Ric- 
cardo Stracclari will succeed Campanarl. 

Mr3. Rappold of Brooklyn, who made 
her first appearance last season, has 
Palls s ^ udying at Bayreuth. Munich and 

The season will open on Nov. 28 with 
Faust or "I Puritani." In the course 
of the winter a Saint-Saens concert will 
be given by the opera company and the 
composer will conduct. 



f^{- 2 D -if VC? 

CONCERT FOYER 

Announcements of the Two 
Rival Opera Houses 
in New York. 



OPERATIC WAR WILL 
BE A MERRY ONE THERE 



Mr. Conrled’s announcement -of his 
plans for the season is interesting in 
many ways. What he said or is reported 
to have said about Riohard Strauss' 
"Salome” may. serve as a text for the 
leading music article, in. The. Herald of 
next Sunday. It appears that Mr. von 
Schuck, who conducted' the first per- 
formance at, Dresden. will not cotne to 
America, but. .Alfred Hertz, who will 
conduct the performances in New York, 
bas talked about the score with Mr. 
von Schuck and also with tire’ composer, 
!? d ls . thoroughly' familiar" with all 
vl r ?. u ?. s , theories” about the music. Let 
Us hope that Mr. Hertz's memory is as 
heavv* as dds eonductorlal hands are 

A Frenchman will conduct the French 
TwjS?’ ^mcm Bovy, who comes from 
Toulouse This will, be as it should be. 

, and Vigna are not the 
' or , Fr6ac h operas and even Mr. 
wben he was here; although- he ls 
tnendly toward the French, and favored 
rrenen composers when he conducted at 
Carlsruhe, was tame, if riot inefficient, 
as a conductor of "Carmen." 
»iiiT 5 e, he . 0p , erls new t0 New York 
will, < a 8 'Adrienne Lecouvreur,” 

the famous beauty Lina Caval- 
JjSFi, a P. d Caruso: Giordano's "Fedora” 
a tenor and soprano; it is 

tba J- ] lls “Siberia" is not con- 
inot 6 DMt ai ( d " Andrea Chenier” is 

Iwao the repertory, the latter 

RnfmF er / 0rr F!? d n New York and in 
K?m^,, by ..^ a P Ieson ’ s Imperial Opera 
V TI,e Damnation of Faust” In 
0 •D form wlth Miss Farrar and 
Messrs. Rousseliere and Piancon. 

given C 'fi 1 u Mrne - Butterfly” will be 
The sanfe L by Mr '. Sav age's company. 
Tvhrnu ar ^ e coni poser s "Manon Lescaut,” 
,„„. c _ ls , ann ounced for performance, 
year. Produced in New York some 
Infnc? SR by a wandering Italian com- 
snbfif flig 6 °PS ra ls charged with a 
"Man nn ” f „ rom that of Massenet’s 

’on T \ e former ls intensely pas- 
iiMmr i d t. ragic I the music of the, 1 
raantal i .^ <5 M S ' tely graceful and setl- 
Dresden a £? Manon is a dainty bit of 
a^esden china, broken, alas, in the last 

for eI Mml S O 1 Buritani” will be revived 
HR™??- S err >brich and Caruso. This 
Mr Mo 3 great opera, but Bond is with 
iur. Hammerstein. Mme. Semhrich will 



Meanwhile Mr. Hammerstein swears 
that he will produce “La Boheme” in 
spite of Puccini, his publishers and Mr. 
Conried. He, too, will produce “The 
Damnation of Faust” as an opera with 
Edouard de Reszke as Mephistopheles. 
But why the logey Edouard, when he has 

f t J? iS r> dispo i aI the accomplished and 
subtle Kenaud, whose Mephistopheles in 
the operatic performances of Berlioz’s 
work has been most highly praised 7 
I did not mention the name of Mme 
i etrazzmi in my prospectus," says Mr 
Hammerstein. "as there is some doubt 
about her coming. . I wish to make no 
promise I cannot keep, even to tlfe 
announcement of one prima donna " 

His company is a strong one, an un- 
usually strong one. His sopranos will 
be Mmes. Melba, who will first sine In 

La Boheme"; Regina Pinkert. a Pole 
(who has a great reputation in Italy as 
|a bravura singer; Georgina Russ.' an 
Italian dramatic soprano, who is a fa- 
vofite in Russia and South America; 
Regina Arta, a dramatic soprano, said 
to be an American of European experi- 
ence; Pauline Donalda. the young so- 
prano who auickly made a great repu- 
tation at the Monnaie, Brussels, and at 
Covent Garden; and Lina Pacarv, a dis- 
tinguished French dramatic soprano 
Then there are Emma Trentini and Gina 
Severina, of whom we know little 
nothing. 

The chief mezzo-sopranos are Mmes. 
Bressier-Gianoli of the Monnaie, Brus- 
sels— she sang in New York about two 
years ago with much success— and de 
Cisneros, who, as Eleanore Broadfoot. 
was once a member of the Metropolitan ' 
Opera House company; since then she 
has made a .high reputation for herself 
in Europe. 

The list of tenors and baritones is 
even a stronger one. Messrs. Bond, 
Bassi, Altschefsky and Dalmores are 
reckoned among the leading singers of 
Europe, and the baritones are Messrs. 
Renaud, Sammarco, Ancona, Gilibert 
and Seveilhac (the husband of Pauline 
Donalda). Mr. Renaud is without doubt 
one of the chief dramatic baritones now 
living an actor of unusual finish and 
Istrength, and Mr. Sammarco stands very- 
high in the roll of Italian singers 
Messrs Ancona and Gilibert are well 
known in Boston. Among the basses are 
Messrs Ed. de Reszke,® Herman Irag 
and Vittorio. Arimondi. who at the be" 
ginning of his career visited Boston as I 
a member of the Abbey. Schoeffel and" i 
Grau company. Young as he was then. 1 

there S diaf- ri , c - h and sonorous, and 
There wm h nCtl0, l m his bearing, 
chestra b >. a eborus of 300, an or- 

dudort ? f u! 5 V a ? aIlet of 60 and the con- 
panim nvd T be , Messrs . Cleofonte Cam- 
^ r rV-,^ an( * ^ ean dro Campanari. 
anret 80 subscription perform- 

al Mt S S begin on Monday, Nov. 19. 
eraHnn a th™1 rste j n ' aner Wuoh consid- 
gokl fn.- fav- orably of red and 

house decoration of his opera 

rpil mhJ hav ? got to ?et back to 
Th ’ whatever color you start with.” 
firemen f S U sympathy with the 

tloHf n^ h flna J>y determined the ques- 
1 the en Flne-house. 

•vr or , operatic war will a merry one 

gain aS As Mr y bU \ the Publfc wfii 

e<Ain as Mr. Hammerstein said to a 
reporter of the New York Sunf "Apart 
from my own material Interests I am 

mv y oDei^a° U rt- t0 -n a Y e P ublic support for i 
my opei a. It will be a ereat thine - for 
tile artistic credit of New York if iT yvill 

prfs P e°s rt No°n?, UCh enter- 

dn it r the t ci y ln the worI d can 

New’ yIwI- 1 Id h ?, p , lne that 1 ma y help 
world. k 1 this exam Ple to the 

A new musical comedy, "The Lord of 
tlie Last," book and lyrics by Fred A. 



Ellis, music by Percival Knight and I 
Dunham Harrison, was produced at the I 
Camden Theatre, Aug. 27. “The Lord of 
tile Last.” is a retired bootmaker, who is ' 
busy in dodging the attentions of a 
mournful, middle-aged widow. The Ref- 
eree (London) says: "The piay is full of 
piore or loss ancient wheezes, mostly 
more, but the characterization of certain 
of the dramatis personae is clever, and 
the music is far better than the play, 
which needs a good deal of pulling to- 
gether.” 

Australia keeps sending singers to 
London and continental cities, and they 
are invariably described as “nlght- 
i*? g M es -'' ’Ph® last one, Miss Florence 
liallara, studied in Australia and Ger- 
many and is now engaged at the Court 
Theatre at Mecklenburg-Strelltz. She 
sang recently at a promenade concert in 
London, and is said to have a mezzo- 
soprana voice of considerable power and 
range and also to have “dramatic intui- 
tion.” 

Miss Clara Clemens, contralto, a 
daughter of Mark Twain, “will make her 
debut in this country at Norwalk, Ct„ 
Sept. 22, when she will be assisted by 
Miss Marie Nichols, violinist, of Boston. 
But did not Miss Clemens sing in public 
a few years ago? We remember a con- 
cert by her and a Portuguese baritone 
of huge bodily size was announced in 
tins city, and then postponed indefi- 
nitely. Miss Clemens made her first con- 
ce rt appearance ln Florence, Italy. 

Mr. Petschnikoff, the violinist, who 
wilj visit America professionally the sec- 
ond time, married a Chicago girl, who 
will assist him in his tour. He will play 
here at a Symphony concert. 

It is now commanded by the Emperor 
William II. that the German soldier, in 
addition to his many other duties, shall, 
while marching, lift up his voice and 
sing. With surprise and sorrow his 
majesty has found in going over the old 
time-honored marches that these had, 
for the most part, “not suitable texts,” 
and in hot haste two poets of Berlin 
and Munich, respectively, have put their 
heads together and produced a little 
'band - book of easily - remembered 
'marching songs,” with the carolling of 
which Hans, Hermann and Fritz will ln 
the future beguile their steady tramp, 
tramp, tramp. By the way, has not 
trie foreigner sometimes been puzzled as 
to why a German marching regiment 
will, on occasion, suddenly and with one 
accord start stamping? The "stamp” of 
all the rank and file follows on a sharply- 
given order to "salute” some passing 
officer, and the "salute,” when on the I 
march, is given with the feet!— Pail Mall 
Gazette. 

Mr. Charles Clark, an American 
who has lived and sung in European 
cities for some years, will sing the 
music of Judas in Elgar's "Apostles” 
at the Birmingham festival. He will 
give recitals in London. 

Mr. Ernest Sharp of this city will 
give three recitals in London Oct. 25, 
Nov. 1, 12, with programmes devoted 
to songg by Wolf, Reger and Ameri- 
can composers. 

1 Joachim quartet, assisted bv 

Muehlfeld, the clarinetist, and oth- 
j ers, will perform nearly all of 
Brahms’ chamber music in London 
between Nbv. 21 and Dec. 5. "This 
scheme is a little trying to the com- 
poser." But how about the audience? 
Gliere’s symphony ln E flat was 



xju.wv.viu i oaiu U L l L . L lit; VV O IIN IS 

strictly orthodox in design, the coun- 
terpoint is academical in correctness, 
and the Instrumentation neatly bal- 
anced.” The mu?ia of the andante 
"tries to get Impassioned toward the 
close, bdt it is as the passion of a 
pretty women who never permits 
herself to look unbecoming.” "Lance- 
lot" ends with this fine burst; "As I 
listened I could not help thinking 
that there werfe many- far more at- 
tractive works by British composers 
waiting to be heard, any one of which 
would have brought more shillings 
to the box office than this symphony 
by an unknown foreign musician.” 
The symphony was performed in Ne\v 
York last season. The composer was 
born at Kieff in 1874, and stud'ed at 
the Moscow Conservatory. 

Sorrie time ago The Herald dis- 
cussed the controversy over Lazzari’s 
opera. “La Lepreuse,” which was re- 
fused for a time by the manager of 
the Opera Comique, Paris, on account i 
of Henry Bataille's astonishing li- | 
bretto. The opera will be performed j 
at that theatre in the course of this I 
season, as will Dukas’ "Bluebeard,” 
with Maeterlinck's libretto and "The I 
Dream of an Autumn Night.” book 
by d'Annunzio and music by Torre 
d’Alflna. Mme. Georgette Leblanc, 
Maeterlinck’s wife, and Mme. Lit- 
vinne have been specially engaged 
for the operas last named. 

Miss Eve Simony, a brilliant so- 
prano. made her first appearance in 
London at a promenade concert Aug 
23. She was born at Namur. Belgium, 
and her mother was an English wom- 
an. Miss Simony is now a member 
of the Monnaie company at Brussels. 

Lilli Lehmann had a hard time of 
it as stage manager of "Don Gio- 
vanni” at the recent Mozart festival 
at Salzburg. The people on the stage 
did not obey her, and apparently did 
not try to obey her. nor could she 
have the stage for a full rehearsal till 
the day before the performance. 

Berlioz once declared that there 
were no contraltos in France. It is 
now said that tenors are scarce In 
that country. "Physicians think the 
I deficiency is due to violent exercises 
young men indulge In under the guise 
of sport, which ruins the vocal cords.” 

I H-m-m! 

LETTERS SEVEN. 

There are advertisements that disi- 
I turb the landscape and deface, nature. 
Others, as polychromic and joyous post- 
ers, signs carried by sandwich men, 
startlingly dressed shop windows, elec- 



trical displays, are for r "url*an use and 
contribute to the general esthetics of the 
rue, a subject which interested Mr. 
Gustave Kahn to the extent of a volume 
five years ago. But how wouid an ad- j 
vertisement now displayed in a shop j 
window in a western town of England 
be classed? The firm doing the adver- | 
tisement has seven letters in its name, | 
and in a window are seven rabbits. One | 
of the letters of the firm’s name is 
branded on the back of each rabbit, and 
a prize of £10 is offered to the person 
who first secs the rabbits lined up so 
as to spell the name of the firm. Such 
advertising amuses children of all ages, 
from 7 to 70, and thus contributes to the 
gayety of the street. Even if the rab- 
bits accidentally spell the name, will 
they stay put while the "first person 
rushes into the store after a corroborat- 
ing salesman, and will not the name of 
this “first person’’ be legion? 

HAPPY HOMES. 

A man in a Californian town, an old 
soldier, now 74 years of age, is willing 
to live with his wife on the condition 
that they shall not speak to each other, 
that they shall not even notice each 
other. The story is s sad one. The 
wedding was in 1902 and the quarrelling 
began in the honeymoon. Once when Mr. 
Ackerman ventured to go into the 
kitchen to ask a civil question — whether 
the pump were working satisfactorily, 
or whether she were out of kindling 
wood — his wife threw a saucer of hot 
blackberries at him. One night the wife 
went into the library and urged him to 
go to bed lest he might catch cold. En- 
raged by this encroachment on bis per- 
sonal liberty he said he had a right to 
sit up as long as he pleased, and he 
would choke her if she bothered him 
again. Furthermore he told his stepson 
to stop loafing, and he showed him a 
newspaper advertisement of a rich 
widow in want of a young man. So, too, 
in St. Louis a rich contractor has sat 
at table with his wife for six or seven 
months and not spoken a word — not even 
cursed the cookery. When he learned 
that she had brought suit for divorce, he 
i chuckled, he guffawed. In more than 
one New England village man and wife 
have lived for years in the same house 
without speaking to each other. The 
neighbors soon were used to it and, call- 
ing, chatted impartially. For a stranger 
the situation was trying. In such in- 
stances silence Is not golden, nor is this 
silence such as is praised by Maeterlinck 
in his famous essay. 



fore them that the applicant for the 
office of shochet must prove his abil- 
ity. He must know how to put a 
razoriike edge on his knife and he 
is obliged to kill three fowls in the 
presence of the court. In very small 
communities the rabbi acts as the 
shochet. 



7 1 



J O k? 



CONDUCTOR MUCK AND 

THE LIST OF SOLOISTS: 



The Twenty-Sixth Season 
Promises to Be One of 
Unusual Interest, 



St/> 



• c 

THE SHOCHET. 



gentile 



East side dealer in New York has 
been tied up through the strike of 
| his shochets or kosher chicken kill - 
I ers, and dealers have been selling as 
j kosher chickens that were not killed 
! kosher. We read not long ago an 
I interesting account of the shochet in 
London, whose death tariff is four 
cents each for turkeys and geese, and 
two cents each for pheasants, ducks, 
pigeons, quails and fowls. The 
shochet must be able to pass an ex- 
amination in Jewish law, he must be 
specially versed in the passages of 
the Law of Moses which relate to 
food, as recorded in Leviticus and 
in the unwritten law of killing, which 
has been handed down by verbal tra- 
dition from the time of Moses. It 
provides that animals shall be slain 
with the least pain possible, and it 
gives minor and curious provisions, 
as that the animal must be slain 
with an uninterrupted cut. “If a 
bullock happens to struggle under a 
knife and the blade quits its throat 
but an Instant, rendering a second 
cut necessary, the carcass may not 
be eaten by Jews.” The shochet in- 
terviewed in London said that eight 
or nine out of a score of bullocks 
slain by the shochetim are rejected 
as unfit for Jewish food and go to the 
Christian butcher. The meat is in- 
spected by a shomer, a skilled anato- 
mist, the moment it is slain. If there 
be any doubt the shochet does not 
decide; the meat is taken to the 
judges of the Beth Hamedrash, the 
“House of Learning,” and it is be- 



The 26th season of the Boston Sym- 
phony orchestra, which will open Oct. 

12. 13, promises to be one of unusual 
interest. First of all there is the en- 
gagement of a new conductor. The en- 
gagement of Dr. Karl Muck is a radical 
departure from the traditions. He is 
the first conductor of an established, 
■widely recognized reputation who has 
been engaged to conduct the concerts 
of the Symphony orchestra. The others, 
Messrs. Henschel, Gerlcke, Nikisch and 
Paur, were at the time of their assum- 
ing the leadership comparatively un- 
known men as concert conductors. Mr. 
Henschel was known only as a singer, 
pianist, composer; Mr. Gericke was one 
of the conductors of the Y lenna Court 
Opera; Mr. Nikisch was the first con- 
ductor at the Lelpsic Stadt Theatre, and ; 
Mr Paur, after serving as opera con- 
ductor in Cassel, Koenigsberg and Mann- I 
helm, succeeded Mr. Nikisch at Leipsic 
and then at Boston. Only one of these 
four conductors had had much experl - 1 
ence as a conductor of symphony con- 
certs : Mr. Paur had led the subscrip- 

tion concerts at Mannheim. No one of 
them was then ranked among the great 
virtuoso conductors. They all had their 
reputation to make, and much of their 
reputation today is founded on their , 
work with the Boston Symphony or- 
chestra. .. 

Nor should the respective service of 
each one in turn to the orchestra and to 
the community be forgotten. Mr. Hen- 
schel, as the first in order, ha.d an un- 
enviable task, but the catholicity of his 
programmes and the fine taste displayed 
in making them broadened the knowl- 
edge of the public and raised its level 
of appreciation. Mr. Gericke made the 
orchestra a virtuoso instrument, on 
which Mr. Nikisch played romantically 
and poetically. Memorable performances 
were given by Mr. Henschel's succes- 
sors: Performances of Schumann s sym- 
phony in D minor and Tschaikowsky s 
’■Romeo and Juliet” under Mr. Nikisch; 
of Tschaikowsky’s “Pathetic'' sym- 
phony. Strauss' “Thus Spake Zarathus- 
tra” and the entr'acte from Chabrier s 
“Gwendoline” under Mr. Paur; of sym- 
phonies by d'Indy, Franck and Mahler, 
i and of Strauss’ ''Don Juan" and Don 
Quixote” under Mr. Gericke— we name 
at random, for the history of the or- 
chestra is full of brilliant, glorious 

< ^ < But the connection of Dr. Muck with 
the important opera nouses of Berlin 
and Prague, with the Vienna Philhar- 
monic orchestra, with the Wagner fes- Y 
tivals at Bayreuth, and his many ap- 
pearances as a “guest” in the opera 
houses and concert halls of Europe have 
made his name familiar to all who fol- 
low the news of the musical world. 
They know him as a virtuoso conductor, 
one of the “stars” who now rival fa- 
mous prima donnas, tenors, violinists 
and pianists in exciting attention, ap- 
plause, and hot and long-continued dis- 
cussion. 

Natural Curiosity. 

No matter how greatly the departure 
of any conductor may be deplored, as 
soon as he is gone there is great curi- 
osity concerning his successor. Nor 
should the sensitive regret this attitude 
of the public, the willingness, the desire 
to welcome a new man and a new order 
of things. As soon as The Herald made 
the announcement last spring of Mr 

n a-^Uq'o ilormriiirn — ,n*»TVR thflt WRK ail- 



and will have some little' Wine to ac- 
quaint himself with his surroundings be- 
fore he begins rehearsals for the first 
concerts. 

Nature of 26th Season. 

The orchestra will be away from Bos- 
ton six weeks Instead of five in the 
course of its 20th season. The change is 
due to the placing of the western tour 
of one week in the middle of the sea- 
son instead of at the beginning, as it 
was last year. The artistic and financial 
success of the tour in the middle West 
the first week of October. 1905. was so 
great that arrangements were at once 
in the making for a repetition of an 
early October tour this year, but the 
date of the Worcester festival was 
changed to the first week of next month, 
and as the orchestra, or at least a la-rf ® 
part of it, will play in this festival, the 
western trip at this time is out of the 

question. . 

It has therefore been decided that the 
orchestra should go West in the last 
week of January. It will leave Boston 
on Sunday evening. Jan. 27. Concerts 
will be given as follows: Rochester on 

the following Monday evening. Cleveland 
on Tuesday evening. Detroit on Thurs- 
day evening. Indianapolis on Friday 
evening. Cincinnati on Saturday after- 
noon. The orchestra will return to Bos- 
ton on Sunday, Feb. 3. 

Boston will not lose by this. The -4 
public rehearsals and 24 concerts will be 
given as in past years on Friday after* 
noons and Saturday evenings respect- 
ively, but the last pair will come on 
May 3, 4 instead of on April 26, 27. 

The first public rehearsal will be g iven 
on Friday afternoon. Oct. 12. and the 
first concert on Saturday evening, Oct 
13. Until May 3 the public rehearsals 
and concerts will be given on successive 
Friday afternoons and Saturday even- 
ines except Nov. 9-10, Dec. 8-9, Jan. 11-12, 
Feb 1 - 2 , FeS. 22-23 and March 22-23. Ac- 
cording to the established custom the 
public rehearsal which would come or- 
dinarily on Friday afternoon, March 29, 
Good Friday, will be given on the after- 
noon of the preceding day, Ihursday, 
the 28th. 

Auction Sale of Seats. 

There will be an advance, but one more 
apparent than real, in the required 
prices of seats; an advance from $7.50 to 
$10 and from $12 to $18. 

The purpose of this change in the 
nominal prices of the seats is to shorten j 
and to simplify the auction sale. Sev- j 
eral years have passed since any seats, 
either for the public rehearsals or for 
the concerts, have sold for less than a 
premium of $2.50 on the $<-50 seats, and 
records show that in the past few sea- 
sons only an insignificant number of 
seats brought a premium of less than $6. 
The sale by auction of over 5000 seats is 
at its best a long and tedious process. 
By increasing the required price to a 
figure which is still most reasonable. 
.-PL — onv liP'-ht whatever, the time 



viewed in any light whatever, the time 
consumed in selling the seats should be 

m, rhe S auct?on Lsale of seats will begin 
on Monday, Oct. 1, at 10 o clock, when 
the $18 seats for the public rehearsals 
will be sold. The $10 seats for the re- 
hearsals will be sold on Tuesday mom- 
ini at 10 o’clock. The $18 seats for the 
concerts will be sold on Thursday morn- 
ing. Oct 4 at 10 o clock, and the $10 
seats for the concerts at the same hour 
on Friday morning. 

Who Dr. Muck Is. 

And now a few words about the new 
conductor, the soloists, and the pio- 
grammes. 

Dr. Muck has been described as “a 
man of medium height, of slender and 
graceful buil.d, who wears his clothes 
with distinction. His pictures show a 
well-shaped head, covered with short, 
black hair, which is brushed back from 
a high forehead, strongly limned by fine- 
'y cut features; his eyes are dark, yet 
bright. An attractive face, decidedly 
the face of a cultured gentleman, keen, 
alert and with markings of a sense of 

h ”le°cornes of good stock. His father, 
Dr J Muck, was a Bavarian councillor, 
who iived in Wuerzburg, where the son 
was born on Oct. 22, 1869. The father, a 
lawyer, and a gifted amateur musician, 
planned that his son should follow in 
his footsteps, but the latter decided at 
an early age to subordinate law to music 
tnd he finally devoted his life to 'the 
preferred art. 



Vile dUUGUUUCillYUl. *UO|, 

Gericke's departure— news that was an- 
nounced authoritatively for the first 
time by The Herald— the ouestlon was 
immediately asked even by Mr. Gericke’s 
warmest admirers: "Who will be his 

successor?” During the three months 
In which Mr. Ellis was ca-rying on his 
negotiations in Berlin, the rumor-mon- 
ger was Indefatigable. Hardly a man 
who wields a baton from Land's End 
to the Golden Horn, from the White Sea 
to the Boot of Italy escaped him. One 
after another was engaged at a salary 
Incredible even in these days of extrava- 
gant incomes. Yet the problem had been 
solved for some time so far as Dr. Muck 
and Mr Ellis were concerned. The 
question of his coming rested wholly 
with the Emperor of Germany, who was 
loath to lose his conductor at tne Royal 
Opera House. At last Dr. Muck received 
a leave of absence from his duties m 
Berlin for one year. Ic Is not too much 
to say that only the Boston Symphony 
orchestra with its reputation in Europe 
could have brought about this result. 

Even then the rumoi -monger was not 
discouraged. The contract was signed 
and sealed: Dr. Muck was at work on 
JUs programmes and making prepara- 
tions for his departure; lo. the rumor- 
monger magnified an attack of lanrn- 
gitis into a mortal sickness, long after 
the patient had recovered. 

Dr Muck will sail for New Y ork from 
Bremen the day after tomorrow on trie 
Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosae He will 
arrive in Boston at the end of 10 dajs. 



His musical education began with des- 
cons on the piano and the violin and in 
counterpoint. These lessons were gi^cn 
by his father, and they continued while 
he was in the gymnasium at \\ uerzbur„. 
His first appearance in public was at 
the age of 11. as a pianist. In the suc- 
ceeding years he played often, usually .in 
chamber music. He also played the vio- 
lin in a symphony orchestra. In lbtb 
he went to the University of Heidelberg 
where he remained a year. He then 
went to Leipsic, where ,^ or j ^ ed r .hf 1 ^ 
his degree in the umt ersity P“. 
osophy, classical philology and tlie rns 
torv of music. At the same time he 
studied In the Leipsic Cormervatory, 
under E. F. Richter and Kail Reinecke. 
In 1880 he received his degree of Ph. D. 
from the university and he 
debut in the Ge\y&ndhaus as a pianist. 

Although he was successful as a 
nianist he had long determined to be 
S' conductor.*' Ho therefore left Leipsic 

to act as chorus master of the Zurich 

.opera (1880-81). He conducted at Salz 
, ourg (1881-82), and for two years <188-.- 
84) he led the opera at Bi umn As 
opera conductor at Graz J ’ . h . . n • h c 

the first performance in Austria of d he 

KM’SSoi 

?le° n c 1 om%o?e r r UCk F^o r m , ^to^ |e led 
fkp nnpra in the German Theatr . 

mannin St^Itersbu^ and Moscow per- 

havlXd Ber!ln%vith Neumann’s com- 

"Cavalier! a Rustlcanm M eber-Mahler s 



Since 1892 he lias been conductor at the 
Berlin Royal Opera House. He has also 
led in Berlin the oratorio concerts of the 
Royal Opera chorus and concerts of tne 
Wagner Society. He has conducted the 
Silesian Music festivals since M94 . and 
in 1901, ’2, ’4, ’6, he conducted Parsifal 
in Bayreuth. x 

As a “guest” he has conducted at St. 
Petersburg and Moscow (Philharmonic 
concerts of the Imperial orchestra); at 
Bremen (1895, eight stage performances 
of Rubinstein's “Christus ). Copenhagen 
(Philharmonic concerts); Madrid (con- 
certs of the Royal court orchestra); Par- 
is (Philharmonic concerts), Budapest j 
(concerts of the Court orchestra), Lon- 1 
don (Philharmonic concerts and German 
opera). , _ 

Facts and Rumors. 

Although Dr. Muck has never visited 
America, it has not been for lack of op- 
portunity. As long, ago as 1893 he was 
considered as a possible conductor of the 
Boston Symphony orchestra. It will be 
remembered that after the sudden de- 
parture of Mr. Nikisch a contract was 
made with Dr. Hans Richter whereby he 
was to become the successor of Mr. Ni- 
kisch but Dr- Richter, for some reason 
that has not been explained, broke this 
contract. When Mr. Ellis was in Berlin 
last spring Dr. Muck showed him a let- 
ter which Richter had sent him at the 
time, in which he urged Dr. Muck to go 
to Boston as his substitute. Dr. Muck, 
who had just completed his first soason 
in Berlin with great success, would not 
listen to any proposition for hint to 
leave the city and his position. 

In the last year of Mr. Maurice Grau s 
direction of the Metropolitan Opera 
House of New York. Mr. Grau endeav- 
ored to persuade Dr. Muck to come to 
New York for the opera season, and he 
made him an offer of a salary which 
was unquestionably the largest that had 
been offered to a. conductor. Dr. Muck 
refused to consider this offer. Since that 
time at least one other attempt has been 
made, but in vain, to induce him to 
come to this country. 

One of the many absurd statements 
which have been published in this coun- 
try and in Europe since Dr. Muck’s en- 
gagement is that he will come to Boston 
“on trial.” A man of his reputation does 
not go anywhere “on trial.” His posi- 
tion in Berlin Is one of the most desira- 
ble ami the most coveted in Europe. His 
services are constantly demanded by 
leading opera houses and orchestras of 
the continent. And what counts even 
more than this in Germany— he has for 
years enjoyed the personal friendship Qf 
Emperor William. 

That Dr. Muck has engaged himself In 
Boston for only one year is due to his 
own desire. His leave of absence from 
his duties had to come directly from the 
Emperor. His first request met with a 
refusal. Only when it was pointed out 
to the Emperor that his consent to the 
engagement would be accepted in Amer- 
ica as another token of his undoubtedly 
kindlv feeling toward this country and 
that the Boston Symphony orchestra 
was wholly an artistic and not commer- 
cial enterprise did William decide to 
grant a leave of absence. 

List of Soloists. 

Aside from the first four programmes, 
which are given below, little is known ol 
Dr. Muck’s plans for the season, what 1 
his general scheme will be, what un- 
familiar compositions he will Introduce. 
All this will be learned after his arrival. 

In the mean time, an unusually strong 
list of soloists has been prepared. Sev- 
eral of the engagements have not yet 
been confirmed, pending the arrival of 
Dr. Muck, so that the following list is 
incomplete. „ . . , - 

At the head of the list of singers stand 
the names of Mmes. Melba and Frem- 
stad. Mme. Melba will come to the 
United States in January to be the lead- 
ing lyric soprano of the new Manhatt8,n 
Opera House, directed by Mr. Hammer- 
stein. She will sing in a few concerts 
while in this country. One of them will 
be in Boston with the Symphony or- 
chestra, and this will be her only ap- 
pearance in the city. Mme. Fremstad, 
one of the most talented of the younger 
singers, will return to the Metropolitan 
Opera House for this season, and sho 
will impersonate the part of Salome in 
Richard Strauss’ opera. She. too. will 
sing in a few concerts. 

In the list of pianists are, among the 
women the names of Mmes. SamaroiT, 
Szumowska. Katherine Goodson and 
Olga Radecki. Mme. Samaroff, it will 
be remembered, played with the orches- 
tra last year. She is one of the best 
liked and most admired of the younger 
pianists. Mme. Szumowska needs no 
introduction, for she has long had an 
admiring audience in the city where she 
lives Katherine Goodson, an English- 
woman, will make her first appearance 
in America with the Symphony orches- 
tra. She is highly recommended. Olga 
Radecki, once well known to Symphony 
audiences, will return after a long ab- 
scncc. , 

Messrs. Paderewski, Rosenthal and 
Gabrilowitsch are in the list of the Pian- 
ists. Mr. Paderewski will come to this 
country late in December or early in 
January for seven performances with 
the Symphony orchestra in Boston, New 
York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Wash- 
ington and Brooklyn. His new gym- 
phonv will be produced by the orchestra. 
Mr Rosenthal, one of the most distin- 
guished pianists now living, will return 
to America after an absence of several 
vears. Mr. Gabrilowitsch, an excellent 
artist, who is said to have grown great- 
ly in musical stature since he last visit- 
ed Boston, will be warmly welcomed. 

Messrs. Cesar Thomson and Alexander 
Petschnikoff are among the violinists 
announced. Mr. Thomson is reckoned 
as one of the greatest living masters of 
the violin, and Mr. Petschnikoff is said 
to have gained in artistry since he was 
in this country. , , , 

Messrs. Willy Hess, Timothee Adam- 
owski and Heinrich Warnke. ipembers 
of the orchestra, will also play as solo- 
ists Mr. Warnke has brought with him 
from Europe a new violoncello which 
is said to be an extraordinarily fine m- 

S *Other