The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, February 23, 1902, Page 22

THE SAN FRANCISCO CALL, SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 29 23, 1942, 3 [ anve ciis swouienr s LML aaely SRR IEN T L I e aiioie GokRaih | } GO ABR OA D JOHN l{‘i:- tCKEL >, Proprietor kdcress Communications to W. s LEAKE, Manager SUCCESS ’s ‘ l TO STUDY MUSIC. SUNDAY ...FEBRUARY 23, mof SURE TO FOLLOW. ‘w o B Publication Office ./ 2l it g btion e LRGeS S A I e SR Market and Third, S. F —— + SR s e A -— s -+ - T has been my {ll-fortune, up to the | present writing, not to have been able to hear Mme. Nordica sing this week. But I have had the other pleasure of hearing our greatest American singer talk about her art and I'm sure I do not know which I prefer. Mme. Nordica talks as well as she sings, with the same brilliant intelligence and distinction, and has that to say in almost every sentence that is of the first im- portance to the student of singing. I found the singer in a very becoming | lounging robe, taking things easily after her Wednesday night concert, not in her famous private traveling car, but for quietness sake at the Palace Hotel. She was trying to rest away some of the effects of her recent accident and had | to sing in the evening in Oakland, so I determined to be brief in my questionings | and modest in my infringement on the quiet the tired artist so evidently needed But. unfortunately for my good inten- tions and Nordica’s peace, the talk drifted | to a subject than which none is nearer | to the heart of the singer—the American | ent abroad—and soon the famous covered her and throwing back ves from her strong as if she would gather to | Valkyr breast every poor little exile | from America, ay, and do royal battle with hundred Wotans for her sake. also, 1 forgot the time, as her eyes flashing with a gener- ous sorrow and indignation, condemned in wholesale terms the practice of sending away the young American girl, alone, to st in Europe. | To begin with,” she said, “it is wholly | unnecessary, as well as being almost al- | ways 2 heart-breaking experience. The | girl can get everything here in America that she can get in Europe, without leav- ing the shelter of her own home, among her own kind and with her own friends. It is a dangerous and cruel experiment to throw the inexperienced girl into a so- clety where she is regarded as the legitl- mate prey of every charlatan with a solemn shingle at his door and a lively itch for the American dollar in his hand. And worse. It is almost impossible for | the European intellect to take in the fact that these are nice, good girls, from our | best homes, that American parents are sending over in their unprotected thou- | sands to the Old World art centers. The European parent would not dream or| sending his daughter here under such con- ditions, and he is right, and the American | girl abroad suffers in his estimation ex- | actly in proportion to his ignorance of | our customs—which is commonlv of the | phenomenal kind. She is in constant dan- ger of being misunderstood and taken for | that which she is not, and it cannot but be so in a soclety in which the good young girl, unattended, is almost unknown.” “And it is all #o unnecessary,” repeated Mme. Nordica. “You can get everything | here. To be personal, I studied in Boston. | I lived with my parents and began to learn how to sing when I was 14, though | I had sung all my life, of course. After | three years' steady work I tried my wings in a little church position—the natural thing. Then came, at 17, a chance to sing with the Handel and Haydn So-| clety, when I sang for the first time my | ‘Messiah.’ Gilmore of the famous Eng- | lish band then gave me the opportunity | to sing in Eumpe.mdn)filunglnsti‘ ms FOR GRIP »e-"77" PREVENTS PNEUMONIA. It seems so simple for any one to risk having the Grip or Pneumonia, with per- baps 2 weakened constitution forever | efter, when they can positively be avoid- e and prevented by the use of “SEV- ENTY-SEVEN" (“77"), Dr. Humphrey's Precious Specific for the cure of Grip and Cclds. The best results are obtained by | keeping “77” handy (it fits the vest pocket), and taking a dose at the first chill or shiver. Taken early, it cuts it #hort promptly. Taken during its preva- lence, preoccuples the system and pre- wvents its invasion. Taker while suffering, relief is speedily realized, which is con- tinued to an entire cure: At Druggists’, 2c, or mailed. Sumpbreys' Med. Co., 61 John st., New York. | singer quaintly said, “no one here knew | cal apparatus is becoming less and not | gues a lack of brains .| the prices are popular to begin with, be | time a cumran well, including g & FAMOUS SINGER WHO WILL H APPEAR IN THIS CITY NEXT | MONTH. i - Petersburg before the Czar, in opera, and “ he presented me with a gift with his own | hands, “Buyt T did not have my picture in all | the American papers, therefore,” the anything about it. “But that is the best way, vinced, for a girl to study,” Nordica re-| sumed. “The voice is only her quarry, so | to speak, and it is a far ery from there | to the cathedral. Let her find out among her own folks whether with & voice she | has musical feeling, a gift for languages, | courage, long patience, industry and | brains above all, and when she has proved her possession of these things, then, if ever, is the time for foreign study, but always under proper protection.” “How is a student to defend herself from the charlatan at home?” I asked, “for he is abroad in the land here as elsewhere.” “By her own intelligence,” Mme. Nor- dica tersely replied, and it is easy to see | that her ethical doctrine holds a large element of personal responsiblity. “If a sirl finds that her voice thins or muffles, that the throat is tired with the work given to her by her teacher, that the vo- I am con- more flexible to her desire, surely it ar- to continue to study under such misguided inspiration. The trouble is that the student usually has a blind confidence in her teacher, for- | getting that here more than in any other | form of study it is essential that she shall know for herself exactly what she is doing. When the good teacher is found, of course, the confidence cannot be too implicit, but even then the intelligent pupil can help the master to an under- standing of her peculiar needs. This lazi- ness of intellect ie the commonest vice among students; the next, the desire to sin; an aria before a scale can be sung properly. Let a pupll think for herself, watch herself in every minutest effort that she makes and be content to build patiently, ever patiently, the solfeggi be- fore the aria, the foundation .before the | roof and she cannot go very far wrong. But, remember, that America s the best place for her always, it is the best coun- try anywhere.” s R The chief event of the current musical week will of course be the concerts of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, to take place at the Metropolitan Temple on the evenings of Wednesday, Friday and Sat- urday, ard Saturday afternoon. It seems that Mr. Steindorff and the directors of the San Francisco Symphony Society have deemed it wiser to postpone the local symphony concert, whose date fell on Friday next, to the Friday following, in view of the embarrassment of riches in symphonic fare, and perhaps five sym- phony concerts in four days would have been rather much of a good thing. Following an admirable custom that ex- ists in most of the cities where symphony concerts are regularly established there will be a special rate given by the Chi- cago Orchestra management to schools and colleges where music is taught, and it sald. The programmes are good, a happy mixture of the purely classical and best popular numbers, including among the works new here the “I812" dverture of Tschalkowsky; “‘Carmen Suite,” Bizet; Volkmann ’cello concerto (A minor): Wagner-Wilhelmj paraphrase on ‘‘Parsi- fal” and an aria from 8. Coleridge Tay- lor's “Hiawatha's Wedding Feast.” The symphonies to be given are Mendeis- sohn’s “Seotch” Syrnshony. Tschaikow- sky’'s “Pathetique” Symphony, Beetho- ven's Seventh Bymphony and the “Le- nore” Bymphony of Raff, the Beethoven and Tschalkowsky symphonies having been heard here but once before, ‘The orchestra will be assisted by Mme. Ragna Linne, the well-known Swedish soprano; Jan Van Oordt, violinist; Franz ‘Wagner, "cellist, and E. C. Towne, tenor. Adolph Rosenbecker conducts and his band numbers fifty-five men. ». Vet The Emma Nevada concert is dated for the 3d of March, and will take place at Metropolitan Temple. Mme. evada's work is too well known here to need comment, but she brings with her this thatgl‘bmlles unusually 'ablo Casals, court 'cellist to the Queen of Spain; Moreau, a French Hfllnmn and composer ‘of distinetion, and aquarre, a flautist, who for the last two years has been the sololst of the Lamou- reux and Colonne orchestras in Parls: and Heath Gregory. an American singer of repute. A highly interesting and ex- ceptional Yem'"mme will be given by m‘t‘h ‘x:oub te&?ce;et totrg:nm( o c{:‘n. alto- ge one of the best fese far shores. i g VERY man with a profession should either follow and practice it, or cease assuming its character to give him force and standing in interference in affair§ outside. When a lawyer abandons the practice of that profession, and, without visible means of support, intrudes upon the life, the affairs and the business of others, justi- fying his position by continually declaring, “I am a lawyer. T am under the oath and obligation of an officer of the courts judicial, and as such I am here in pursuance of my duty to tell you ‘thus saith the law,’ ” he is not entitled to credence nor to the position claimed by virtue of pro- fessional character. He becomes a pernicious parasite upon the community, leading it astray by counsel that professes to originate in his sense of professional responsibility and his knowledge of the law. In times of popular upheaval and feeling, when the power of the majority is appealed to by such men and its use is invoked for the abridgment of rights inherent, great harm may come, and has come, by the.misleading appeals which rest upon the false statement that the law warrants, permits and grants an abuse of power. Under such leadership the view of right and wrong becomes distorted and men are moved by courage to do things from which they would shrink if left to their own instincts and to the promptings of conscience. So, when a cleric, whe makes no outward and visible sign beyond his frock that he is or- dained, and who has no pulpit nor parish, nor visible means of support in his profession nor out- side of.it, maintains an attitude of adviser of the people from the standpoint ‘of his sacred call- ing which he does not follow, the morals of his followers become strabismatic, and an ordained ranter takes on the character of a parasite. ! Especially is harm sure to follow when such a man in every discussion abandons the language of philosophy and the method fitied to a spiritual adviser, and habitually expresses himself coarsely, and often in terms so vulgar that they would not be listened to if used by a lay- man. When such conduct in such a man hecomes common, when misrepresentation, exaggera- tion and falsehood are used with a recklessness which a self-respecting lavman would avoid, the onlooking people come to associate their use with the clerical character in which the offender masquerades, and the communion to which he avows allegiance suffers, and the whole clerical character in that, and in all religious associations, comes to be degraded in public esteem to" the ditch in which he delights to wallow. Harshness and misjudgment, the assignment of a wrong motive. for a right action, the habit of evil speaking, the bearing of false witness against a neighbor, are not within the proper equipment of any man who persistently claims the position and holds the attitude of/a spiritual counselor and leader. When they come to be his permanent weaponry and are displayed on all occasions and their use is resorted to in the discussion of every subject, such a man becomes a pernicious parasite, harmful to the community, a promoter of disorder and an enemy of his com- munion. By all éxcept such as follow him blindly, deceived by his frock, he is recognized as a politician of the baser sort, of the brawling, coarse-minded and low variety, who sees in politics not its virtue and philosophy, nor its relation to civics, but its seamy side, its opportunities for vengeance and its parasitic possibilities. . All thoughtful laymen accept gladly the appearance of a cleric in public activities, if he come to refine and not to brutalize them. When he avoids offensive reference to the religious dogmatics in which he has been trained, but appears in the gentle spirit that is greater than dog- matism and is the universal atmosphere of religion, as necessary to man's rightness of life as the air which it resembles jn its all enveloping office, his presence is welcome. In such character he comes to allay passion, not to promote it; to speak not as the whirlwind and the tethpest which had not the divine spirit, but as the still, small voice which touches the heart to a nobler charity, to a greater tolerance and to that love which goes in sympathy to the neighbor and the stranger. Such a clerical character reflects a kindly light upon the communion it represents and raises the sacred profession in the esteem of the people. The members of the trimty of learned professions, law, physic and divinity, owe it to their calling to rever forget its dignity and its nobility. Of them all, divinity requires the most scrupu- lous refinement and greatest excellence of character. Men look upon the holy office as a means of perfecting him who holds it, in charity, prudence, self-restraint and a patience that never fails. But when they find in him ungovernable passion, vulgar speech, brutal swagger, and the habit of lying and misrepresentation, the, good mourn, for they know that the bad take license from him and the safeguards of society lose their force. : Long tolerance of such a man finally destroys the sense of right and wrong in his followers and undermines human society as far as his influence extends. Such a condition came to be of old when the true prophet, cried out: “The prophets have prophesied falsely, the priests bear rule thereby, and the people love to have it so.” Of such parasites it was said of old: “And they bend their tongues like their bow for lies; but they are not valiant for truth upon the earth; for they d from evil u; i th v o proceed from evil unto evil, and they know not me THE ROCKEFELLER ROSHE. R. JOHN D. ROCKEFELLER [R. delivered an address a few days ago to the students of Brown University, in the course of which he discussed the trust question and con? tributed to it, if not new information, at least a new similg, and ' raised it from the : dreary depths of the dismal science of political economy to the blooming tablelands of poetry. Mr. Rockefeller compared the trust to the American Beauty rose, which he said “can be produced in the splendor and fragrance which bring cheer to the beholders only by sacrificing the early buds which grow up around it.” The crushing out of the smaller industries: of the country for the purpose of producing a huge trust Mr. Rockefeller declared to be cqually as wise as the sacrificing of many buds to the preduction of a prize-winning rose. By way of showing that his political economy is not only poetic but moral, he said: “We might say that a man often succeeds in business by closing up smaller firms. Oftentimes we cannot reconcile this fact. It seems to us contrary to the golden rule. Nevertheless, it is true that the corporation forces the weaker rival to go out of business with the result, however, that through ecoromy and the reduced cost of production, when the principle really works, the decreased consumiption price becomes a great benefit to all. It is, therefore, the greatest good to the greatest number.” Thus,it will be seen that in the Rockefeller code the trust is not only as sweet as the rose but precious as the golden rule. It happens, however, that the golden rule says nothing at all about the greatest good to the greatest number, hut, on the contrary, implies that the biggest of major- ities have no right to crush the weakest of small numbers. In that part of his address, therefore, Mr. Rockefeller was manifestly weak. His strength lies in his similes and his poetic diction, and now that in an academic discourse he has given to the Standard Oil Company the title of the American Beauty rode perhaps it will smell sweeter and be miore lovely in the eyes of men. It is stated that Buenos Ayres has in J. C. P. Paz the most enterprising journalist in the world. He furnishes his subscribers not only with a newspaper, La Prensa, but with a free doc- tor, a free lawyer, a free library, a free museum and a free forum; and moreover he maintains a flee hotel for distinguished visitors. The showing is good, but we note with surprise the omis- sion of a free vaudeville and a colored supplement: Kansas has a new trouble. A Mrs. Nancy Irwine has offered a reward of business man having an income of as much as $10,000 who could say truthful and honest in his business for a period of thirty days; either to accept an unpleasant notoriety by that they can’t make the right showing. $1000 to .any he had been absolutely and now rich business men have bidding for the reward or else submit to suspicion i - Andrew Camcgie’ says he thinks of having placed upon his tombstone this inseription: “Here lies a,man who knew how to éet around him a great many men who were much cleverer than he was himself.” To that inscription there should be added “and he knew how to get around those clever men and work them for all they were worth.” The _popular.ity of the “high ball” as a beverage is said to be declining in éhe East because of the superior merits of a new drink called the “golf ball.” Concerning the novelty no informa- tion has been forthcoming, but it may be assumed it has a good deal of Scotch in it. : .Thc wife of th.e new Secretary of the Treasury is reported to have already astonished Washington by greeting every visitor with a hearty Towa handshake that nearly squeezes the fingers off. It is very cordial, but it gives society a pang i 4 4 i ' o IL BLAS, in his scampish and delightful youth, set out one day to be an actor. With quaint simplicity Le Sage's | lusty adventurer tells of his disillusionment among the actor folk he thought so fine and of the manner of his coming to see .aelr imperfections. Says he: “I not only adorned my memory with the finest passages from the dramatic masterpieces, but I strove to bring my taste to perfection, and in order to ac- complish this I listened with a greedy atrention to all that the players said. If tiey praised any performance I es- teemed it, and that which met with their disapprobation was immediately despised by me. I thought they weresas skillful in plays as jewelers are in diamonds. Nev- erheless Pedro de Moya's tragedy had great. success, although they had prog- nosticated its failure. But even that could not make me suspect their judg- ment, and I chose rather to believe that thé public wanted common sense than to doubt the company's infallibility. I was assured, however, from all quarters that those new pleces of which the players had not a good epinjon were usually very much applauded, and that, on the con- trary, those which they received with ap- probatiod® were commonly hissed by the audience; . I was told that it was a maxim with them to judge badly of the works that were pregented to them, and was in- formed of a thousand instances where success belled their decisions, but all these proofs were scarcely sufficient to disabuse me. “I shall never forget one day, In the first représeptation of a new comedy, that the players had pronounced cold and tedious, and actually thought they should not be permitteq to finish performing. In these sentiments they performed the first act, which met with great applause and quite astonished them. The second act ‘was played and still better received than the first, upon which the actors were confounded. ‘How the devil sald Rosi- miro, ‘this comedy succeeds!’ At last they acted the third, which gave more pleasure than the two former. ‘I can't comprehend the meaning of this!' sald Ricardo. ‘We imagined that this plece would not please, yet every one is charmed with it!’ ‘Gentlemen,’ sald one of them then with great naivete, ‘the rea- son is there are a thousand strokes ot Wit in the performance which we had not obgerved.” " Quite of the sense of this 200-year-old wisdom is what Charles Francis Bryant, the busy stage manager of the Alcazar Theater, has to say of the average Thes- pian that comes under his ken. I had wanted to know something of the ma- chinery of the cheaper stock companies, ‘whereby, week by week, they are enabled to present plays in the very acceptable fashion in which. for example, the Al- cazar presents its never-ending pro- gramme, and went to ‘Mr. Bryant seek- ing the knowledge. But that is one of the oddments of wisdom that the stage mapager picked up during his Alcazar experiences, and is quite suggestive, ir not strictly apropos of the mechanics of stage presentations. ‘Yes, if the actors dislike their parts, dislike the play,” Mr. Bryant says, “Mr. Belasco and I generally shake hands on it, for we know we have a Success in sight. And, contrariwise.” “But you want to know something of the getting out of the weekly play, is 1t not?” he ed, for I had ferred my‘r‘o.qum for mnmb&g‘:.‘ e en e tire of the subject sooner than I, for it is a hobby with me.” “'Go ahead,” I reply gracefully. One thing that is a perpetual source of amusement to me,” Mr. Bryant begins, “is the popular notion of an actor's life, with particular uterenga to the actor @ el ek @ Ex. strong hoarhound candy. Townsend's.* Cal. glace fruit 50c per Ib at Townsend's.s —_—— Townsend's California glace anfl.AI:’“ nrmnehqt’ 1 omn:ti:::: Suarket st..'Faiace Hotel pufiing "2 ——————— Special information suppliea daily to s houses_and pul men by the pEmar el e | STAGE MANAGER OF THE ALCA- ZAR THEATER,WHO HAS A FEW TROUBLES OF HIS OWN. -+ | of the stock company. One wonders where the public imagines the time for the traditional little suppers and festivi- | ties comes in. We put on a new play al- most every week. That means, for one actor alone, sometimes a matter of a | hundred typewritten pages to learn. not to speak of all the accompanying ‘busi- ness.” We give nine performances every week, and meanwhile the rehearsals for the next play are going on almost every day. The part$ upon which I.frequently work all night on Monday. are given out on Tuesday morning and the players are expected to be letter perfect in them by Thursday morning. The rehearsals last from 10 o'¢lock to 2, 3 or 4 o’clock, with an interval for a hurried luncheon, and then for the women there is a tiresome interview with the dressmaker for the following week's costumes.” Then, final- ly, all must be back at the theater in | time for the evening’s performance. Quite | frequently the gay midnight hour is de- voted to the learning of the lines and when you come to reckon up there is very little other time for the work. It is no rare thing, also, for the whole of Sunday night until the dawning of Mon- day, to be devoted to the rehearsal of some of the more important plays, and | as there is a rehearsal and two perform- | ances on Sunday, you will understand why there is no actors’ rehearsal on Mon- day morning.” “He does seem to be kept busy,” I agree, “and what of your part in 1t?” ‘A stage manager in his time plays many parts,” plaglarizes Mr. Bryant. “I cast the plays, of course; choose them sometimes; settle their order of appear- ance; rehearse the players, and in most cases have to originate three-fourths of the ‘business.’ Then there is scenery to look after, and properties, and these, when there is not unlimited capital to go mean work and plenty of it. For es- ample, if a Gobelin tapestry room is in ) question, it is either to adapt the ever- usefulf burlap or to explore the Mission- street historical furniture stores for a substitute. Sometimes our property loft will supply our need, with the assistance of the busy paint pot, but there are times when it gives out, and then Mission street comes in. It is quite ike having to furn- ish a house once a week, besides building the house, and in every styls from Queen Anne to Louis Quinze. The furniture and scenery rehearse on Monday morning, by the way, when our electrician, stage car- eamer and scene painter @ & hand. e have a very original and clever scenic artist, quite a young fellow, by the way ~But the stock company is a very good school for the actor, though it is such hard work,” concluded Mr. it only the actor were ever bullt to be hap- gy in doing that which he finds to his and to do. I saw Ernest Hastings in Chicago lately in ‘Lovers’ Lane,’ in which he has made quite a success, and he sald he wished he were baex in stock again, for it was unspeakably tiresome playin one part for so many months. And 8o i snu, But I do not think that you will nd many harder working folk than the actor erowd.” e —— ADVERTISEMENTS. Only 4 days more of this sale, them those not sold must be stored. A new . . PIANO Exactly the same as offersd as a bargain by others for $183 we will sell you for PIANO BARGAINS, Slightly used, In all makes, including Stefn- way, Heine, Chickering, Hallet & Davis and 50 others from to $350. HIGH GRADE NEW PIANOS Krell, Hallet & Davis, Heine, Behr 3 Mason & Hamlin, Conover and 50 others -“m- n-né_ 2 35 up; 1b- CO.,