Omaha Daily Bee Newspaper, January 8, 1888, Page 11

UONEER CHURCH DAYS, BSome Reminiscences of Omaha's First Episcopal Pastor. INCIDENTS OF THE FRONTIER. Sur- eriod - Under vivorsof the Old Settler’ Preaching the Gosy Difticulties, [Written for the Sunday Bee)) A smooth shuven and benevolent-faced leman with snow-white hair ightly stooping form , the other evening in the parlor of the Eb- bitt house at Washington. His dress of clerical bluck proclaimed his profe sion, The name on the register, *Rev G. W. Watson Sweedesborough, N. J. recalled to a Nebraskan present, thatof the earliest settled pastor of Trinity chureh in Omaba, and investigation verified the suggestion. In an ani- mated conversation of over an hour in length, Mr. Watson went over his periences of the early duys in Omaha, and his conversation is reproduced in very: feeble form, for the benefit of many of the older readers of the Bek, who remember, with warm feclings of affection, the first Episcopal pastor in your city, and the pioneerof Episcopacy in your state. **1 shall never forget Omaha,” said Mr. Watson. “*Muany of the tenderest recollectionsof my early ministry el avound the city. Thirty years have pissed since T first made it my home, mingled with its people. and was a part of the frontier life. The old names come back to me now with a thrill of plensur the old scenes are indelibly stamped on my memory. It is grateful to recall them after the lapse of years and to hear of those whom once L loved and of whom I am still fond,” Nebraska, when T was moned to make it a residence, was a very small place in everything but ter- ritory. Early in the winter of 1855-6 T was preaching in o small town in cust- ern lowa. when [ recoived a letter from Bishop sstrongly urging me to take churge of a recently organized church in Omaha. *Youmust resign your charge at once,” wrote the bishop, ‘and go (underscoring the go). You are younr, unmarried and have no burdens,” T had been Bishop Lee’s assistant in New York state and was deeply attached to him. Without hesitation [ accepted the sharge. It was Janus and in the middle of a very severe winter when I started on the journey from lown ity The snow was waist deep and the ther mometer 802 below zero. An open sleigh on runners was the conveyance and the fare $20 gold piece, which 1 parted with reluctantly, Two buffalo worn out by hard service and with in them large enough to ren ones arms through were our main protection fromt the cold. The passengers sat on their trunks and shivered for exercise. Two nights out we lost the roud and finally found a cabin with a single room and bed, both well occupied by belated lers. We slept on the floor and fought for the e. The next we sighted the and crossed it first sum- s aveely defined by the few straggling stores and houses which ran from the viver to the foot of the steep hill. Be- vond that wi vie. There we Saloons in plenty, seversl hotels soma cabing which passed for p revidences, but which would to-day probably not be envied by the poovest of your mechanies. I remember well the room of Senator Hitcheock, then a young and unmarried man,with its bare walls and seanty furniture. T have often enjoyed its hospitable floors with its warm buffalo rebe bed. Mr. Woolworth, a bright, keen and interesting young man, was not housed in a palatial ves dence. Comfortable as it was, I recall a dinner when the table was set between the doors of two rooms in order to commodate the guests. “There were no church buildings and the beginnings of few church orginiz tions. Bishop Kemper had organized an Ediscopal church which was home- less and without & pastor. ‘Among its vestry, as [ recall it, was C. W. Hamil- lon, A. J. Poppleton, J. M. Woolworth, T. B. Cuming and John M'Conihe. It was hard work to find a place for wor ship. The legislature ghen in session occupied Pioncer hell’{located where Goodman now has his drug store) and the Claim clab and other benevolent so- cieties shared its convenienc My first sermon was preached there. Dur- ing its delivery a man walked up to the improvised pulpit and handed me o note. It read: Preache man, i “I cut short several heads of my di course and gave up the room. Subsc- quently we were often hard pushed for ameeting room. We gravitated be- tween Pieneer block and over stores. I vividly benches and settees with Tom P the room over his furniture store in preparation for Sunday services. Later, esse Lowe offored a free lease of his lot on the corner of Farnam and Niuth street if wo would build. The chureh was built, now a saloon Tam told, after hard work. Mr. Lowe gencrously painted it, put a fence around the lot guaranteed to keep in repair for ten years. “Many of my old pari friends yet remain with you. vestry, with the exception of Cuming and John McConihe. are, I be- lieve, still there In addition L recall Mayor Paddock with his lovely young wife, Senator Paddock whom I married in the little church on Niuth and Fav- nam, O. D. Richardson, A. J. Hunscom, Willinm N. Byers, R. €. Jordan, A. U. Wyman, William Wyman, J. M. Clarke and his two daughte and Mr. Van Nostrand. They were o strong set of men, were your early settlers, promi- nent then and prominent now, *An amusing incident wh never forget occured in th Farnam street. We were to huve a Christmas exhibition, acd as part of the programme, 1 was set down 10 ey ne the children in their catechism, The first question is not adifficultone. *What is your name?’ aud I looked over the litlle group to select the smallest one to snswer the easiest of the catechestical blems. A wee little tot of perhaps our years met my eye and amid a deep uillnenlhul the vuestion, ‘What is your name?’ The answer came in a shrill but triumphant trebly childish voico: . ‘Mary Bowman—born in a waggin’, “The examination could uot go or for saveral minutes. Mary's advent was 50 typical of that of numbers of pionecr children that it broughtdown the house, and pastor and congregation joined in the merriment. My pastorate took in Council Bluffs well as Omaha. Many o Sunday I . bave walked across the frozeu river, “earrying u pole in case of uccidents,and We toners and The old vernor h T can church on tramping through snow nearly waist deep to keep my appointments. The Bluffs was then a lively town. Judge Douglas learning that the board at t hotels was about equal to my salary, of- fered temporarily on very' reasonable terms the hospitality of his table. The temporary accommodation spr itself gver two years, I recolleet yosterdny stately, as vividly Judge Conkling, tall, slim, snlm'!\liuuu for all the provr ties, and one of the ablest lawyers which New York has ever produced. He had given up his federal judgeship for western district of New York,under mises of political preferment, diplomatic services in M to Omaha, much against the of his family, to build up a new practice_on the fronti He was a stickler for correct English, and the slang of the frontier was his abomina- tion. Knowing this the never 1o rigid in theiruse of lang used to expand their vocabular quently to call out remarks from the judg I remember one day in his office Mr. Woolworth, with o quizzical look, broke out in true frontier style for the judge’s ben- fit. Ishall never forget the tone of stately rebuke with which the judge said *Mr. Woolworth, it is astonishing to me that a young man of your hreed- ing and liberal education should use such atrocious English.’ “Wm. N. Byers was then in Omaha, activ vigorous and prosperous! It wis o great day in the town when he started for Denver with his printing press loaded in his wagon. Half of the inhabitants were in the street to sce him off and bid him God speed. *Christinas was not our only festival. I !l the first Thanksgiving as well as if it were yasterday. Wm. D, Rich- ardson was then governor and John M. Conihe was in his oftice. Mr. McConihe ppened as [ remember it, to be treas- urch. I dropped in one day 1o see him, probably about my sal- Quite n erowd sitting around good naturally chafti i in the inter- change of remarks some one called out JOVErno| ‘Dick, all the other stutes and territories are going to have Thanksgivings and you'll have to issue a proclamatiol FAlL righ,” called back Richardson. Who can write \v;nu ¥ I don’t remember whether A nihe volunteered ornot, but it wa carried unanimously that raska,not to be behind the states should have a Thanksgiving and that Richardson should issue the proclammation. Then began an animated. discussion as to the day to be set. ‘Let’s have it on day so that we ean sober up on Sund: wits suggested. The suggestion met with general approval and Saturday was the day set for the first Thanksgiving while 'was in the tervitory. “Trecall an incident that oceurred in I think. of 1858, T was in Le S5 county, anxious to ride ov country to i parishion stage, Inquiry in the town brought out the information that a land-hunter was in the same fix and that wecould proba- bly arrange to hive arig together. [ hunte i and found him. H a cur ing specimen, H and arms were of unusoal cased in ns linen, which looked as'if they from & second-hand stre. They were splashed from head to foot with mud. Rough. conrse boots, filled by large. flat bony feet, were 1hed with the friendly soil of Tows But he proved a del ful companion. He pouved anecdote after ancedote in my cars, illustrating almost every topic under the sun west, the republican party, the territories and the political outlook. It was Abraham Lincoln. I recall his saying, ‘If the people of the territories honestly want admission with slavery. want it on a fair expression of opinion of the majority, I am in favor of bowing to their will. But I think,” he added with a guecr look, ‘that they would be darned fools, **Mr. Lincoln was cither then securing the quarter section which he owned in Towa or investigating its ue. He spoke a day er in”'Council Blufts, Among the erowd dressed in their best he stood in his linen suit, the mud spots still there in spite of the brushing and the hoots by no means en regle for an orator. But what a specch. Ie was the greatest stump speaker I ever he The andience was electrlicd and was swayed at will by the power of his ovatory. It has beeu many years since T have seen Omaha. The occasional m which I get from old friends grow more and move infrequent. Located in a lit- tle town in New Jerscy,in a church built more than a huudred years ago, [ oam not in the direct line of news from my western friends. But news from Omaha is always pleasant, alw: come and always grateful. The close association of the ontier times small and stirring conunity made strong attachments amd warm” fri ships. The people were remarkable among the people of a remarkab tion for their strength of cha their wurm hospitality and their gen- erous souls. Some will doubtless re- member me, perhaps not as vividly as [ do them --heecause the vestless life and high pressure existence of such a phe- nomenally growing city crowds the old out of place for the ever clamoring pres- ent. If they veeall me and the days when 1 lod with them with any- ad come min thing like the ploasure which I now do them [ shall have no reason to com- plain.™ w. L. - THE INDIAN PROBLEM. Strong and Sensible Advice From One Acquainted With the Red M The following is an extract from Gen- erul Jumes 8. Brisbin’s recently lished addvess to the New people The conttst hety burburism and and civilization has been o long one. 1t is now over two hundred years old, and all this time we have ‘been groping blindly for policy to be use toward the Indiaus. and at | a found it. A few devoted and iticing men and women hive been mak- pub- England f-suc- Missouri for yeavs, teying to edu- nad civilize them. They have had but little encouragement but have done WO q hest of all, have pointed the vight voad for the nution to pu Most of these men and womeh are own brave, self-sac ing New landers. As civilixation f’mw from old England to New England, so it has proce ded from New England west- ward to the Pacifie const, We ot the west all owe a debt to New England we can pever the unseen but strongly felt influence of a better and more intelligent eivi tion than is to be attained by merve force. And now that even the western man has ceased to believe that “there are no good In- dians except the dead ones,” let us ail talic courage and unite to see what we can do to elevate and save the remnant of this poor race to whom we have for ov 200 years been an exumple of wrong instead of right, and of evil in- stead of good, Men and women of New England, come to the front and with your brains and your money, your states- men and scholars, help to educate and save the remnant of the race of red men i our country. And this is what we must do—¢ivilize and educate every one of them, Our Indian commissioner, in his last preport (onty a few days old), uppe I} says: ““T'he whole number of Indian children in our country, between the. ages of six and sixteen, is 39,821, of whom 14,932 attended school some portion of the year,” ~four thousand eight hundred and eighty-nine (24,889)—write 1t in big letters—little Indians without any schools in our coun- tryy groveling in ignorance, gropin blindly for light; ignorant of God and the ior of mankind: bowing down to idols of wood and stone: aund all this is in our own country under the stars and stripes of freedom, under the very shad- ows of the cross of Christ, and almost within the sound of church bells in the west. Shame upon our civilization, shame upon our justice and shame upon our Christiauity. Those good people of Boston, New Yor and Philadelphia and other cities who are anxious about the heathen of other lands b better ook to the heathen of theiv own land. Every one of these 24,889 Indian child- ren of a schoolable age should be in school and we should provide schools for them. The government will not do it; it is too mean and will only pilfer and rob the Indian of his land. We should have a dozen such ools s Carlisle, Hampton, and Forest Grove. They do good But they do not wholly meet the wants of the Indian. The children should be educated at home, as far as possible, that we may have the influence of the children upon their purents. Look at the example of our oreign population: in the last eleven years over 4552000 immigrants from every country in the world have landed on our shores and assimilated with our people. Kvery year move foreigners come than the whole Indian population in our country amounts to and they dis- appear in the great mass of our people and assimilate th them—and why? Beeause they enter our schools as soon as they come and begin _studying our language, manners and customs. [ would have every Indian educated in our language and not his own; stop the Indian jargon and teach them to speak English. Then we can civilize and christianize them and point them the ¢ . All tribal relations should be severed as soon as possible, and the Indians seat- tered and put on farms. When they be come farmers they wiil cease to be war- riors, and all ds r from them be atan end. The government should help them liberally, giving them seed tosow and farmers to show them how to plant. Cattle, horses, implements and wagons should be given them. They should be encouraged to work, but not” compelled. The trath is we can do but little with the old fellows, but the young ones are us blank sheets of white paper upon which we can make an id of an 1m- pression we pl older one will soon pass away and the young ones take their plac and then will come the real civilization, education and refinement of the Indian race in our country. It may take two or three generation to p fect the work, but it ean be done i w are pi and firm, and the Indian can he L. civilized, refined and assimilated with our laws, people and veligion. While the Indians are dependent on the government for support I would not allow any parent his rations of beef, flour or anything unless he kept his children in school. This would conquer the most sullen and unruly tribes’ and compel them to educate their children. But there is little trouble in g dian purents to send th schooly all that 1 have seen arve glad to do it. and seem 1o understand as well as white people the importance of educa- tion. “The white man’s rond.” as they eall it, is a favorite road for them, and the children will go to school willingly if they are kindly treated; and if they don’t go willingly their parents will make them go. This question of Indinn education, civilization and christianization is one thatappealsstrongly tothe whole natio but it is a matter New Kngland more to do with that anybody else, for New gland leads the always in all good enterprises and where she leads, the uation speedily follows. Hence I make this appeal to the England peoy RELI Archdeabon Denison,of England, is eighty two years of age. nd Hebrew societ , of Chicago, zed its name to the mma [ S urches of New York city about v for the singie item of wmusic. 1t is said that the pope has absolutely re- fused to interfere further in the relations be- tween the Irish clergy and people The Awmericans in the y of Rome are building a Protestant church which it is said will be a model of architectural beauty. The golden jubilee of his holidess, Pope Leo XIIL, was fittingly observed in all_the Roman Catholic churches of New York city. The Pundi tianity, sec tian. Four members of a certain colored church in Atlanta, Ga., voted against prohibition in the ent electien, They have been tried for this and expelled. Herr Anton Schott, the tenor, has devoted the money he ¢ d during his American en- gagement to building a protistant church at Abenburg, Germany. The Presbaterians of New York city ure ising o fund of 1,000,000 for mimsterial relief, and it is desired to have the amount pledged before the centennial of Presbyserianism in 1858, Archbishop Williams of Bosson, Mass. candidate for the i ip of the A cun Roman Catholic church, was the ent of a Chistmas box in the shape of a cer- tified check for $7,000, the gift of the clergy of his diocese. The sixty students at the university of Edinbuagh, at a recent meeting presided over by Professor Calderwood of the chair of moral phiiosophy, decided to form a - ¢hrist ian association. ‘The object is to check the agnostic tendency An Egyptian papyrus, for containing all the chapters of the “Book of the Dead,” has been uurolled at library, in New Brunswicl presented by Rev. Dr. Lansing, mi in Egypt, Bxperts believe it to have been written 3,000 years ago. The most singular looking church to be found in New England is located In Lanc: ter, Muss he edifice is fifty-two feet long by thirty wide. The walls are nalf of rough stone and half of wood, each five feet in height, mekiug it ten feet from the ground to the eaves. The roof is of the common kind, without a tower, steeple or belfry. The en- tronce isat one corner of a highly orna- weated porch and vestibule surmounted by a gable of beautifug design. This is a Sweden- borgian church. A cathiedral tower in Cordova, Spain, has quired fresh notoriety. Dr. Middleton, a ysician of Sensborough, England, had 1 the tower, having a gypsy for his guide. Shots were heard and the doctor de- scended aione. He said that he had shot the gypsy, who attempted to rob him. It is believed that the guide is & bad character who murdered an Englishman a few years ago and flung him from the tower, reporting that his vietim had committed sucide. . e It is said that scales for weighing dia- mondsare brought nearly to the delicacy of balance which would enable dealers to deteet flaws in the stones by minute variations in weight. They weigh ac- curately the 640th part of a carat. —— A old stone mill that was built_more than a century ago by General Wash- ington is standing in good condition near I’errono\lu, in Fayette county Pa. The mill is a primitive structure, but it is still in operation. Ramabar, converted to chris- declines to ally herself with any preferring to call herself simply a chris- two feet long, SOUTH OMAHA! Is the Best Investment on Earth! Next year will see still greater Develo oments there than ever yet witnessed. Did we ever predict for SOUTH OMAHA anything but what has more than come to pass. COME AND EXAMINE OUR LIST OF 1,000 LOTS, AND GET THE LATEST MAP OF SOUTH OMAHA. M. A. UPTON & CO., 309 South 16th-st. Opposite Chamber of Commerce. Telephone 854. FASHION'S FADS AND FELINES. | The Lonely Life of Widowhood Re- lioved by Cats and Cartwheels. WHISKERED PETS AND PUGS, The Freaks of the Dollar Crowd in New York—Balls and Parties— Glimpses of German Opera— Clara Belle's Letter. New York, Jan. torrespondence of the Bee.|—*"A cat may look at a queen if it doesn't meow So miuch for proverbal theo The fact feline, and more interest- ing, is that a cat looked at the resplendent ball given this week ut Delmonico’s, by the self-asserted aristocracy of New York. She was the Maltesen pet of Mrs, George N. Brackett, and a celebrated brate in his own coterie: for cats have become immensely fash- ionable of late, jostling the pug dogs and crowning the terriers in the parlors of the grand. Mrs. Brackett is naturally interest ing as a widow at forty, and additionally so as the possessor of a fortune sufficient to back any eccentricity which she chooses to indulge in. Her cat is her pride, her insep- arable compaunion, and therefore was taken to the ball, in a toilet consisting of an em- broidered and gemmed ribbon encircling his neck. He tagged his mistress like a page and was a considerable feature of the ocea. gion. He deserved the mention which he didn't get in the newspaper reports next morning. A segnd overlooked thing in print, though a consequential factor of the ball, was a real English butler to loudly cry out the nawmes of the guests, You must understand that the balls given by ‘‘society people’ at Delmon- ico's are by no means public. It 1s true that seven hundred persons were gathe time, but the semblances of aprivate man- sion were cm'c!uiL\ maintained. The smalier rooms were furpished like parlors, and the docorations of the entire big building (from which ordinary customers were excluded at midnight, even the bar-room being sacred to the night's gecupaney), were such as might reasonably have been seen ina Vanderbilt oran Astorresidence. Three heavy dealer in costly furnishings provided the articies on hire, and did it 90 well that many sales we there effecteds - gornelius Vanderbilt fancied one of the Gobelin tapestries huns on a wall nd bought it for 00, Well, as I said, rything was done with a domestic luxuri- nee of taste, and in the British fashion. 'wo monkeyish pages in livery met you at. the portal und conducted you to the dressing. room. Then, after you had laid aside your wraps, & third midget flunkey showed you the way to an ante-room, into the presence of a being before whom you instinctively felt like bowing down in humble reverence. He was six feet high by about three feet wide, and his coverings were many hues of velvet and silk. This was the genume London but- ler. Nothing so fine had ever been brought to town since Anglomania began. The page took you up close enough to his awful form o permit you to realize what a pigmy you were, physically, to and as to mental ry, his majestic bearing and bass voice suficient evidence. What is the name?" he asked. “Mury Jane Smith,” you replied, trying to hide your fright. Then he escorted you to the furtleer end of the room, where stood three dignified ma- trons. Mrs. Adrian Iselin, Mrs. W. Bayard Cutting, and Mrs. B. R. Stevens. These re the acting hostesses, in furtherance of home idea of the ball. i e Smith and Mr. roared the butler. You and your companion bowed to the three-in-a-row matrons, who returned your salutation you were “received." fou were mem- bers or pted as such at this beautiful ball. That is to say, you w accredited as one of the tiptop seven hun- »d New Yorkers who are immeasurably above and beyond the traditional “ten tho sand.” Ha-ha! Butit isn't alaughable mat- ter to some of the participants. Many a “scheming mamma and ambitious danghter have spent anxious days and nights working themsclves into this section of society—for of course, there is a ragged edge, almost lit- erally, to it tions of wealthy famil- ies are often squeezed in by a slight * stre of favor, and success sometimes means o rich, fashionable husband for girl who, otherwise, might have to accept mere true love without endowment. Admission to one of the howlingly swell Delmonico balls means the very highest social endorsement known to New York, to be extravagantly prized by those who desire it, no matter how much it may be despised by those who don There were about a dozen exceptions to the last assertion in that paragraph, and they were the reporters from the important daily journals. They wore as careful evening toilets as anybody: they mingled with the rest of the assemblage; they danced if they pleased; they partook of the supper and they were indistinguishable from the other gen- tlemen, except when engaged in a small room apart writing their accounts. How, then, did they fail to get the brand of quint- essent social approval? 1 will tell you. For these balls a number of very fashionable men, in this case a hundred, named each seven persons to be in . Not only were harged to ot proper iwdividu- als, but the lists were scanned closely by a speciul and expert commit Now, this “'hest society” of ours is always desirous of itself pleasantly published. Of course, it wouldn't do to lssue regular invitations in blank. On the other hand, the city editors of papers refused—when the question was raised several years ago—to send reporters to hang about. the doors and peep through the keyholes. That might be done for the sake of important news, but not for any ball. Mrs. William Astor happened to be the con- trolling spirit in the test instance. She set- tled it by appointing & press committee of two beaux, who; personally conveyed to the editors the information that one reporter from each journal would be received on pre- senting his credentials, and the perfect free- dom of the ball would be given to huim, That example settled the usage. Chosen report- ers ure honored guests at the most exclusive Delmonico occasions. This time there was pointed out to me a reporter dancing with the heiress expectant to three millions, and to whom he had been introduced by his former college chum, the son of a Crasus. Two nights later the great avoual chacity l John ball occurred. Hitherto for several years the swells have bought tickets liberally enough, but have used them only for the purpose of sitting in the boxes of the Metropolitan opera house, where the affair is held, and loftily looking down on the commoner dancers —for admission is sold 1o all reputable applicant But the really benevolent managercsses did not mean that the institution should go into valuclessness, as it surely would in that way This year they went around with . paner whicll bound the signers to dance at least once. It was generally signed by the nobs, and 80, onee aguin as_of yore, the ball com’ mingled the very rich with ' the merely re ! spectable. The perfume peneil was used considerably on both these occasions. You never heard of it? Neither did any of the girls who used it, untilafter the device had boen_ brought to their attention. This was done by a dapper peddler, possibly the inventor, for they are not known to the stores. The black lead was combined with strong scents, so that, when he wrote on a card, a_curiously delicate and pleasant odor was given out. There isu't much use in any manufacturer catehing up the idea and stocking the market, for the dis. closure of the trick destroys its desirability. “If you write with it,” explained the seller, and illustrated it on the spot, “especially if you do it reasonably close to ' the nose of an uninformed person, he ov she is delightfully and mysteriously assailed with a faint per. fume.’ The society cils at a $1 for this w s bought the perfume pen- piece and got them just in time K's two balls, When a possessor was asked to submit her dancing card to a candidate for waltzing or quadrille partner- ship, she let him write on it the ordinary fashion, Then she stood with her face as nearto him as the difference in their height and the proprieties of the place admitted, searchied out his writing on the card and, with her magic peneil, drew a line under his name as though to distinguish it. The mark was not good, clear jet and it had a gicasy consistency, but it instantly sent forth the promised perfume so delicately, so sweetly that it seemed to be the breath of the fair fraud herself. Four times a week there is a great assemb- of fashion at the opera. No one has d in print the truth about the famous com ¢ at whose feet the social coteries, the sters of 200,000,000 assemble at the Metro. politan opera house. Tt is the most awkward and unprepossessing troupe of men and_wo- men that ever trod the boards of any New York theat Of Mrs. Lillie Lehmann, the prima donna, a lady said: “Well, T have s her two dozen times, but 1 nes W heels any less than three feet apart.” ne the movements of any-one of whom this 15 true, espocially when you know that Frau Lehm: short and broad, and seems to be made up,below her head, of three protuberances of giant proportions, Her taste has not heen improved by long residence his country, and she continues in ecach new opera to uppear in dresses cut 8o as to bring her waist below the top of her hips, and with such new costume draped so as to havéa bag in front reaching below her knees. She indulges in the most vigorous dramatic action, but it consists in only two movements. One of these is to cross her left arm over the top of her bodi where enormous as her arm 1s, it rests as precisely us if 1t was laid on a shelf. The other is to hold her right arm straight in the air, a la Bartholdi’s statue of liberty. With her arm in this lightning rod position she will stand and sing ten minutes at a time, until you,who are watching her, get so tired in one, and,out of pure sympathy, that you begiu to uche be- fore she puts it down. = On grand occasions she and Fraulein Brandt, the second female singer in the troupe, both raise one hand in this way, and stand like two bronze lamp- bearers on either side of a staircase reaching straight up into the air and singing for sev- eral minutes. Miss Brandt is as thin as Mrs. Lehmann is stout, and Miss Brandt makes no pretentions to either youth or beauty Of the men, neither my love of the op my respect for the stronger sex, nor all th gorgeousness and glitter of their costumes, can bring me to any more than that one of the principal six is what is _called good look- i Herr Alvary, one of the tenors, is handsome young German, erect, shapely, graceful, genial and youthful. The rest nt all degrees of absence of beauty, om one of the bussos who looks like Gus- tave Dore's woebegene picture of Sancho Panza, to another great singer who seems to have been for lifting s in a brew in the day time and draining mugs at night. All the men perform what I tlippantly ecall the Goddess-of-Liberty-act with thy ight hands, just as the women do, And they all either roll around the stage like fat sailors, or stalk about like stage hosts. There is a wonderful ballet, numbe something like eighty or ninety prettiest, most g generation ever su ng women, the ful and best trained this But it is made funny, to say the least, by having to follow the 1ead of apersonified butter keg, for it would not be easy better to describe Mlle. Gellert, than by this simile. Her Limbs are like columns of butter, and her torso has the shape of the contents of a short barrel of butter from which the s s and hoops have b knocked aw. Consequently her dancing is peculiar. And yet, in the face of these peculiarities, it is the most successful opera troupe we ever saw. It is the candle around which the gilded moths of fashion flutter as they nev: did uround any other. And for a good rea- son. It gives us really the first grand oper we ever heard. Laugh as we please at the manners and looks of the men and women, they can sing like the scraphirs: like angels individually, like a celestial choir collec tively. ‘They appear in the heaviest of and in such, it must be remembered, even so great a vocalist as Patti could not sing at all. It takes physique, lung power, bulk wnd strength to take 4 part in o Wagner opera, and though grace is alw welcome, no great amount of elegance, beauty, or refine- ment of action is needed for those music dramas laid iu rudest times. Who ever h; heard Lehmann and Brandt fill that fivi galleried theater, the biggest on the ¢ tinent, as if it werea pa the purest, most liquid ody, no longer finds inclination to criticise the gowns of the ladies or their stage manners. And just so to hear Niemann, Robinsou, Emblad and Al- vary is to hear the best male voices e lis- tened to in New York. Every night the house is packed, and e y night these wen wnd women are brought before the curtain again and again. 100, is the stage man- ager, for not even Henry Irving ever dreamed of mounting plays with such scenery and cos- tumes as are shown here. And no wonder, No government in Europe spends so much on opera as the backers of this establishment, and no government is more indifferent to the receipts at the box ofice than they are. “Give us the best,” is all they ask, “and come to us at the end of the season for what ever is unpaid.” Crars Beuee, MUSICAL A RAMATIC. Julin Mavlowe will begin her stellar tour at Baltimore on the Coquelin, after leaving Buchavest, to Constantinople and Cairo Planquette will go he composer of “Les Cloches de Cornevil has just completed a new operetta entitled “Nectarine, “Richard Wagner,” is the title of a drama by Herr Von Zimmerman, which has just made its appearence in Germany It is gossiped that Henvy Trving will 18it this country again, despite the st he hag made a fortune here. Helen Dauy ‘s vetirement from the stag will probably not be permanent. She is to play inSan Prancisco next month fo Signor Perugini hus been engug Rosa to sing the tonor role e “Cal during his curreut opera scason in land. The greatost of all livine violin players, Josef Jouchim,has been stricken with paraly sis, and will probably never again appear in public, Manager John left leg by falling ¢ his way to the Chic day night. id that Mr. and Mrs. W. J. Flore been engaged Lo play the leading in Syduey Rosenfeld's new play of “A Possi ble Ca A new drama, “The Light on with startling scenery und w be launched shortly by Hugh Fay. Miss Grace Hawthorne's playin the Jewess, in Bartley Campbell's S has made a great sensationat the b theatre, London, The concert given by Adelina Patti at the Paris Opera comique for the benefit of the hospital in London, is said to huve netted the snug sum of 32,0001, D'Oyly Corte is making ary produce Gilbert and Sull He will present th pany made up in 1 e Mrs. General Tom Thumb_ company closed 1ts scason at Hornellsville, N. Y., lnst Monday, to pre; for a tour of New g land to begin i two weeks, A new operatta by Richard Genee, the com poser of N entitled “The Thirteen,” has just been performed with great success at the Carl theater, in Vienna. 4. L. Walton, the stellar not fact - MeCaull fractured his the slippery sidewallcon t0 opera house last'Tues- the Point,” tor effects, will incess’ ngements to n's in Russia, comedian of a IPchruary as the hero ina new pla author of **A Chip of the Old Block. "h ggarth” has not met with much success throughout the country, und Oliver Doud Byron, who owns the play, will prob- ably disband the any on January 14, Wagoner's ouly symphony, lately discov red, will have 1ts fiest hearing in this coun- ou January 213 at the New York Metropoli- tan opera house, under Herr Seidi's baton There is considerable inside professional talk about a projected meeting of managers for the purpose of adopting measures for th exclusion of tall bonuets from their theaters. A mixed delegation of Tuscarora Indians and colored folks sailed for En, id on day to aid in the realisms of the Niag: < clorama, to be shortly exhibited in Lon- n. Josef Hofmann, when in Boston, wrote a waltz for the Boston Herald, dedicated to it with the compliments of the season. It was published in fac simile of the mauuscript, last Sunda, M. Ambroise Thomas is the president of the Paris committee for the international ral exposition to be held at Bologna, vear, under the honorary presi- mor Giuseppe Verdi. impression_appears to be ground that M. Sardou's latest pla, La g is & runk Some of the cs even go 0 fur as to assert that iv the deathblow to the dramatist's sutation. Miss Von Zandt's second concert in Vienna was less successful even than the first. At Prague, however, where the pub- lic, it would seem, 'is less exacting. her per- performance of “Lakme" caused genuine en thusiasm. Manager Charles E. Locke states that the National opera company would positively complete all its engagements and wiil be seen in New York in March. Meanwhile he has discarded the bailet, which has not been profitably allied to opera. A bill was lately introduced intothe United States senate to modify the inter-state com- merce law 8o as to permit reduced rates to be accorded to parties of twen! five. This is intended for the relief of tra cling theatrical companies, A broker occupying a stall i Carthage: Spain, on Friday mitted suicide by exploding a dy ridge. The concussion extin lights,cansing & panic in the aud by over 100 persons wore inju Josef Hofmann has become quite a social lion in New York and Boston, Last Sunday the little pianist was given a veception at the house of Governor Ames, in Hoston, and on Junuary 14 he will be ¢ Cornelius Vanderbilt in New York. “Tank actors” is said (o be the latest addi tion to the slang o Sty It does not al fude to th city of its designatees, but distinguishes by ty actors from their country brethren, who rejoice, more or less, in the appellation 'of “Uncle Tomme: Thirty thousand dollars was the highest fee Giulia Grisi ever re the whole mseason, covering five months. iving just as much for grand towr in° South vhich will appear not Ly-cight times The New Engiand Conservatory of Music is @ suagnificent justitution. Built for a hotel, it lodges 400 out of an uver: students, the course being fo contains five pipe organs, nine two-n and pedal reed organs, 200 pianofortes, und a practice room seating H0. Phineas T. Barnum writes that Lis firm intends before long to establish in several of the largest cities wanent museums of “natural, artificial, mechanical and scientific curiosities.” To these wiil be added lecture rooms with stages lar; enough for the pre sentation of tableaus, panoramas, and moral dramas. Verdi’s , Otello,"" magnificently staged, but rather indiffcrently sung, has now beeu heard in Pesth. The second and the fourth acts aro said to have made u deep imprassiou, but s whole the work proved a triffe disappointing. It will be interesting to note how this opera will be received in Munich. where its pro duction is anuounced for the 224 of this month l A great deal of gossip in Paris gaining com amite cart- ruished the nee, whe: has een lish with a com- the outcome of the fact that Mrs. James Brown Potter and Swrah Bernhardt took breakfast together some months ago, 1, Strange as it o seem, that breakfast has somewhat improved Bernhardt's social posie tion in Paris—if she can be said- to possess one. This is a quecr world, and Paris is the queerest spw the ‘designer considering p Alfred Thompson, Arabian Nights,” is for the production of a spectacle whi expected to- surpass anything of the Kind v seen in America or England, ontrivaling on the famous “Babel and Bijou™ specta- sat Drary Lane, London, which was the sult of the vts of Captain Thomp- son and Dion Houcicault Friends in Pittsbury of arc authority for the statement that the play wright has entir rd his mental balanee, and that he will be able in a very short time to be with his family and friends again. The most remarkable thing about Mr. Campl recovery is that he has not only improved mentally, but has made wonderful improvement phisically. Ho looks almost as well as in his more youthful days. In the colnmns of an Ttalian music journal, the Trovatore, appear tidings = concerning the Gould-Kingdon marriage and the Van derbilt family which read thus after transla- tion *“Happy people—~if the information is thentic, Miss Stigson, a soubrette inm 'w York theatre, has married the noted millionaive Gould,” and lie Gouillon, a singer at the Bou Yaukees, has married the” millionaive V en, who has given her as o marriage portion $25,000,000 or 100,000,000 jire." of “Tha Bartley Campbe!l son’s popularity in London ousiderably this ason, and wagement there " is not ne-half of the expectation of it. ple begin to find that M, son is falling off v in her act- ing and, what is v personal ap- nce. The charm of youth seems to have ted entirvely. The' lines of the face nd disploasing, wnd, al- » personality that miade her a success tis gone, Mr. W. . Seanlon, the comedian miposed by himselt, entitled, *Remem- oy, You're Irish.” Tn conyersation ro- bout the source of his ‘séngs he snid inspiration for_that one from a ne he witnessed {wo years ago at depot in Killary Treland. 1 women were saying goodby to two young m o were evidently woing to the United States. One mother sobbed as if her heart would break while sho d her boy get on board the car; then, the train moved out of the siation, sha called Between hor sobs, “Remember, boy, you're Irish Mr. Frank Howard, poser, who is” in has sings a he got th the singer and com- Dockstader's minstrel com- pany, relates a churming little story concers ing the inspiration that caused him to write “Only a Pansy Blossom.”” He had been to reely, Ta., accompanied by hns wife, to see hout buying u farm for a homestead.” They walked through some lovely meadow land that they hiked, and inone of the windin paths through the tall grass Mrs. Howard lingered. — “What are you picking?" the singer called. “Only a pansy blossom,” was the answer. — Out of her expression grew the idea of the song, and the wyalties the composer received ulmost paid for the farm, and he now has o garden on the spot where his wife found the pansy blosson, - - r Danbury, in North Carolina, stands a log house built by -its present upant forty ago. When he first built the fire on the new hearth he vowed it should never go out, and it has not. Meantime the owner has not slept from home a single might; has never tasted food from any table but his has never used a candle or other his dwelling, yet has married ree times, been the father of fourteen children and become u grent-grands futher. e it In two London churches, actors have been invi to read the lessons for several ive Sundays lately, with great satisfaction to the audicnces. MEDICAL # SURGICAL INSTITUTE, B N N.W. Cor. I3th & Dodge 8! Chronic and Surgical Diseases BRACES, APPLIANCES FOR DEFORMITIES AND TRUSSES. Best fa \d remedies for sue- cessful t 3y foru of discase requir- ing Medic Surgical Treatment FIFTY ROOMS FOR PATIENTS. Board and attendance; best hospital accommo- dations in the west, WRITE FOR CIKCULARS on Deformities and Braces, usses, Club Feet, Curyature of the Spine, Piles, Tumors, Cancer, Catarrh, Bronchiyin, Lnhalation, iectricity, Paralyais, Epilepsy. 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