Springfield weekly Republican. [volume], February 29, 1912, Page 6, Image 6

About Springfield weekly Republican. [volume] (Springfield, Mass.) 1851-1946

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OF MUSIC AND MUSICIANS.
TETRAZZINI'S GIFT OF SONG.
PRIMA DONNA WHO IS NOT “CHIC."
A ..Di.qu-imc.tJon" Which »»«"“*
Prevent Her From Hankins. "•<
the Greatest.
Tetrazzini’s career and her qualities as
a singer were made the subject of an in
structive article some weeks.smec by P*
Sanborn in the New Turk Globe. Mr
Sanborn said in part: The true histor of
; “dir. " could it ever be wntteu. nouid
make curious and engrossing reading. B
-diva” we do not mean any woman t
has distinguished herself as a singer, but
those goddesses of song who have been
a easte apart since the days when h aus
tina and Cuzzoni made life miserable or
the great Handel in London, borne, like
Catahmi, have been marvelous singing
machines: others, like Pasta, have tri
umphed over a defective voice, thrown
intelligence, dramatic genius, art.
Malibran doubled a temperament with a
flaming temper. Sontag embodied the
domestic virtues. Malibran. CruvelU,
Gerster flashed comet-like Through t ie v °
eal firmament. Lehmann has stood there
a fixed star for upward of 40 years, the
incomparable Tatii for upward of aO.
Some have scarcely l>een able to write
their own names. Pauline Viardot was a
learned woman, the inspiration of Mey
erbeer. the Egeria of Turgenieff. rhe
“divas- are fewer than they used to be,
the art of song has fallen on evil da .
but one we have now. and d °"“*
whether any of the . glonons ;me is moie
mysterious than Luisa Tetrazzini.
A mystery Mme Tetrazzini is. and she
will probably remain such. Nevertheless,
a good deal has been written about her m
this country, a good deal which has ig
nored even the’facts that are obtainable,
and much of it not without the suspicion
of more or less prejudice. Mme letraz
zini is not "chic." she is not a fashionable
nrima donna. Whether she is an intelligent
and reflective artist, or whether she is
just an imbecile singing bv the grace or
God alone, or what she is. those that write
most about her are not in a position to
know positively, for she is an Italian, and
operatic Italians, with rare exceptions,
are about as available for purposes ot
wvchological observation a? a skjlark
singing in high heaven. It has been nee
pssurr to study her art across the foot
lights'. New York is still musically a Ger
man city, scarcely more alive to the spirit
of Italian music than of French.
Luisa Tetrazzini has been quoted as
saying that she taught herself to sing.
Her voice and her trill she had from God.
and she listened to her eldest sister. Eva
• now Mrs Cleofonte Campanini). A few
months of repertory (and her repertory is
not the 10 or the dozen parts she has sung
in New York and London, but some 30 or
40). completed her preliminary studies.
Such trainins is a contrast to the seven
laborious years of the great tradition,
and might account for the crudities in her
singing, which were most evident the first
night she sang here, and which have been
harped on ever since, but does it account
for her perfect attack, her wonderful con
trol of breath, her clean execution of or
naments. her exquisite portamento, her
’ nroficiencv in *”stained singing, especially
her ability to phrase with the roundness
and incomparable grace of the pure old
Italian style? Who shall ever know this-
One is forced to conclude from some
things that Mme Tetrazzini has done dur
ing her present engagement at the Metro
politan. that there are still times when
affected by nervousness or indisposition she
allows some of the old crudities to crop
out in her singing. By seizing on such
moments and ruthlessly applying the mi
eroscope one can concoct a veritable Jere
miad about her. Yet nine times out of
10 her singing is tot only flawless, hut
so transporting in its warmth and beauty,
ihnt you forget the art of it in sheer de
light. Her proficiency in coloratura is
generally recognized, the largeness and
purity of her high staccato, her extraor
dinary command of the trill, her wonderful
chromatic runs, her knowledge of tradi
tion and taste in ornamentation.
But she is no less great as a singer of
sustained song. “It was not her colora
tura that I admired the most, - ’ said Vic
tor Maurel after he heard her first, “but
her singing of some of the andantes."
Perfectly placed tones, the Italian round
ness and grace of phrase (which she shares
with Sembrich in contradistinction to
Melba), a warm, vital, spontaneous deliv
ery give her cantilena its magic. She has
been charged with a tremolo. If she
is guilty, we fear Sembrich must be held
guilty too. and what shall be said of
Gadski. Bond, Clement, Amato, not to
mention Renaud and Elena Gerhardt?
Some dear people are shocked to death
because her costuming is a thing sul
generis. Often her inspirations in that
respect are more amusing than the “chic"’
creations of a Paquin. You don't see every
singer with the semblance of a peacock
stretched from her throat to the tip of her
train, or arrayed in the fauna and flora
of the vasty deep. Many a woman, irre
proachably gowned, who sings like a pea
cock. might look to the clam and be wise.
Tetrazzini has tripped out on the stage
dispensing smiles and kisses like an over
grown soubret, and then she has begun
to sing: a dignity has insensibly molded
her features, suffused her whole being, as
if the god of song were finding utterance
through her.
Nor is it any part of the listener's en
joyment whether her singing is the result
of ( he painful labor of years or whether
she happened upon it like Keats on his
poetry. Schubert on his music. Only Sem
brich and Melba in our dav have been
wort-hy to 1.. mpam] v ith her. and in
some respects she is a greater singer than
Sembrich. in some not, but in all, save
sheer voice, a greater than Melba. One
can afford to forget the quibbles ami just
be thankful that the Metropolitan stage
in days when real singing is all too seldom
, heard, boasts, if but for a few perform
ances. one woman still in the prime of her
voice who can sing like a vicar of song
on earth.
Munir in Public Kd neat ion.
W. Scott of Baltimore, well-known in
western Massachusetts through his former
connection with the public schools in the
capacity of a special agent of the state
board of education, in a letter to the Balti
more American sets forth his ideas of the
place of music in public school education:—
The ordinary school work absorbs the 1
time and strength of the pupil and crowds
out the study of music or makes it an
extra or out-of-school study. The result
is detrimental to musical study on the one
hand and to the public schools on the
other, because the latter fail to recognize
and to Credit music as one of the great
subjects of study, and in so far hold an
indefensible position.
"A high school music course (elective)”
was mapped out iu 1904 by a representa
tive committee from the »w England edu
cation league, the Music teachers' national
association, the National education associa
tion tinusic section). On the committee
Harvard university. Tufts college. Welles
let college, the Now England conservatory
of music n’nd others had n place. Ten
thousand copies of this report were pub
lished in pamphlets. and it was also pub
lisltbd in other forms. A course covering
the elementary and grammar school peri
ods was Inter elaborated. Still later the
subject of ‘music was added to the list of
college preparatory subjects by the college
entrance examination board of the New
England and middle states. Thus a satis
factory course in music was worked out
loading to the advanced courses in colleges
and conservatories and introduced in a
number of cities.
Two things have been claimed by teach
ers of music and other educational people
in this connection.
First, that music, as one of the great
subjects, should have as much time al
lotted to it aS other great subjects, as,
for example. Latin, mathematics, etc., and
that it> the elective system such an al
lotment is possible. The argument for
music as one of the great subjects is briefly
stated in the report named where the phy
sical. mental, moral and social values of
music are set forth.
Second, it is urged that if adequate mu
sic instruction at public cost is not prac
ticable. a credit system be arranged where
by a youth may pursue such study at a
private music school or under private
teachers with proper supervision by the
public school authorities. Thus some re
lief would be secured from the over-press
ure of studies resulting from carrying the
public school course and in addition a
proper music course. This side of the
issue has also been met by “a -plan for
crediting outside music study under pri
vate teacher." which is in operation in
various places.
There seems no adequate reason, since
all necessary preliminary and experimen
tal work has been carefully done, why
any citv or town should longer fail to rec
ognize the value of music as a serious
study, or to allow suitable credit for the
same. Such action on the part of school
administrators would give needed relief to
students of music who wish also to have
the advantage of a liberal course of study.
It would also contribute to the improve
ment of educational opportunity at a point
where the present condition is open to just
criticism.
Other Vote and Comment.
The Minneapolis symphony orchestra
wilt play in New York in March. The
orchestra will leave Minneapolis on March
s for a two-weeks’ trip, engagements hav
ing been made to play in Chicago. Cleve
land. Cincinnati. Buffalo, Pittsburg. Wash
ington and New York. The directors, in
their announcement, say that the Min
neapolis symphony orchestra, like every
other great orchestra in America, was
directly inspired by that first and greatest
of all musical pioneers in the United
States. Theodore Thomas. From a mod
est beginning nine years ago. with an an
nual guarantee fund of SIO,OOO. it has
grown to a complete symphony orchestra
of more than SO high-grade men gathered
from the leading orchestras of the world,
backed by an annual guarantee fund of
$65,000. The conductor. Emil Oberhoffer,
has lived in Minneapolis for more than 20
years, and has been the conductor of the
orchestra from its beginning.
“I believe that Buffalo is the only city
in the world in which free public recitals
are given that are paid for out of direct
taxation.” says Simon Fleischmann of
that city. “It is a credit to Buffalo that
never a word of criticism has been passed
from the taxpayers. The concerts take
the place of the band concerts in the
summer and many of the foremost organ
ists of Europe and America have played
here. They have been a conspicuous suc
cess. It is the best investment that the
city makes in giving something that is
wholesome, that makes a feeling of con
tentment among the citizens.”
It is said that Oscar Hammerstein has
once more overcome the difficulties that
confronted him of opera at his London
opera house is assured. Many boxes
have been taken by prominent persons,
and $60,000 has thus been raised. Sixteen
were subscribed by Lord Howard de Wal
den. whose new opera may be one of the
works in English to be heard. The season
will last from April 20 to June 13.
“Cendrillon," a fairy tale in four acts
and six tableaux, the book by Henri Cain
and the music by Jules Massenet, was per
formed by the Philadelphia-Chicago opera
company, under the direction of Andreas
Dippel, at the Metropolitan opera house
last week for the first time in New-
York. Mary Garden sang the roie of the
prince with success.
The national society for the promotion
of grand opera in English held an enthu
siastic meeting on the 11th at the Century
theater in New York.
“THE MIND-THE-PAINT GIRL.”
Sir Arthur Pinero's Brilliant Vrv
Play Satirises the Musical Comedy
Star.
The latest object of Sir Arthur Pinero's
drastic satire is the musical comedy idol —
the type of young woman who plays the
heroine's parts in the modern musical com
edy. That these pampered young women,
pursued by wooers and worshipped senti
mentally by the publie, lead lives that offer
no end of material to the satirist must
be apparent to anybody who has given the
matter a moment’s thought; at all events,
'it was made sufficiently clear some years
ago in a farce of C. M. 8. McClellan's
“Glittering Gloria,” who chose, however,
only to indicate the possibilities, not to
develop them.
That has been left to be accomplished by
the masterly Sir Arthur, most like Swift
of present-day English writers, a satirist
whose pen is steeped in gall, yet remark
ably clever and diverting, and “The Mind
the-Paint Girl,” is the result. Produced
in London a week ago last night the play
is the talk of the town, and is strongly
denounced by- some theatrical people who
regard it as a bitter onslaught on the
profession.
As the London papers of Monday are not
yet at hand, the impressions of the critics
can only be indicated by a few of the
cabled characterizations. E. A. Baughn.
the excellent reviewer of the Daily News,
calls the play “a bitter, scathing indict
ment of musical comedy life and the most
brilliant play Pinero has written for many
a day. As sheer stagecraft it is a triumph.”
The Morning Post, whose dramatic criti
risims hardly have the brilliancy of its
literary articles, cannot believf rhe play
will rival in success some of Pinero’s ear
lier Works, and says it “leaves a nasty
taste in the mouth.” The Daily Tele
graph's critic thinks the play unlikely to
add much to Pinero's fame. Mr Walkley
in the Times says: “We are willing to sup
pose that ‘The Mind-the-Paint Girl’ faith
fully represents an idol of the modern
musical comedy public, but the fact re
mains that her story is mere sentimental
ism.”
A cable dispatch to the New York Times
tells the story as follows: For six years
Lily Parradell. whose parents kept n fried
fish shop on the Surrey side of the Thames
and who has become the star of the Pan
dora theater, has had a satellite in ('apt
Nicholas Jeyes, whose career has been
ruined by his consequent neglect of his
profession, and who has become a wastrel
[ and a drone. Young Lord Farucombe ap
pears, falls in love with Lily, and offers
her his name and fortune in the early
morning after a ball under circumstances
which fire ('apt Jeyes to jealousy. Lily
and Jeyes exchange some homely truths
in the presence of Lord Fnrncombe. who
hears things which would have induced a
wiser man to take his departure, but
eventually, of course, the foolish youth is
unable to escape from what Lily calls
her'“net.” and the Pandora theater star
becomes Lady Farncombe.
The part of the musical comedy star is
played by Marie Loehr, a favorite young
dramatic etar.
THE SPRINGFIELD WEEKLY REPUBLICAN: THURSDAY. FEBRUARY 29, 1912.
GHOSTS OF VENICE IN REVIEW.
FLICOUS NATIVES AND VISITORS.
Thilo Gold ini, the Genial Dramatist
of the ISth <'entnr>\
I Written by Edith Hkvkk foi‘ The Ke
publican. ]
Even to-day Venice is a grand spectacu«
lav show for the ordinary tourist, but she
becomes a living reality for those happy
mortals who are lucky enough to linger
there for months. In the glorious autumn
days she is a golden city paved with
sparkling emerald and lapis lazuli. Goethe
^iid: “Venice can only be compared with
herself.” Sometimes fortune gives to some
mortals stage boxes from which to view
the tragedies and comedies, from which
• J v IKjpr | jf i
CARLO GOLDONI.
[Statue in the Campo San Bartolomeo,
Venice.]
to watch the ever-varying crowds of hu
man beings, and certainly in the history
of Venice one sees how thrilling the acts
of those plays were, as the centuries bore
her on to be queen of the sea. The thrill
ing acts, which succeeded each other, were
hissed or applauded as the case might
warrant.
Standing, one morniug. in front of the
theater Malibran. I raised my eyes to the
little tablet over the doorway, and learned
that this was the house of that famous
traveler. Marco Polo, who died, after all
sorts of adventures, about 1323. The
Venetians have never forgotten that voy
ager and the city fathers caused the little
tablet to be placed there in 1881. Having
had the good fortune to visit Venice many
times I feel as if I knew her like an old,
well tried friend, who eagerly shares
with me all her treasures and charms.
Turn where you may in Venice you feel
her power and beauty enthral your soul,
and, the ghosts of all the departed, great
and humble, who have felt her charm,
seem to press about you and clamor to
be heard singing her praises in verse, prose
and color.
One day. when a prisoner on my bed. I
conjured up some of that past host to ma
terialize before my mental eyes. They
came not in chronological order, but push
ing and hustling one another, like an ex
cited modern crowd. Boccaccio came af
fectionately, leaning on Petrarch's arm,
and they vanished into one of the houses
on the Riva degli Schiavoni, where Pe
trarch lived during his various visits to
Venice. We have his own word for his
having been here in 1353, 1354, and it is
also known that he settled here in 1362.
one of the great cholera years, and left
in 1368. I am quite sure that Boccaccio
fed the beautiful pigeons of San Marco
with grains of corn, as everyone still does. ,
The pigeons of Piazza San Marco, tradi
tion says, are the direct descendants of
those carrier pigeons, which brought to
Admiral Dandolo news, of the spies in the
island of Candia. which resulted in the
capture of that island.
Then tame Othello, standing in the coun
cil chamber of the splendid doge's palace,
defending himself right eloquently, and
then Desdomona seemed to be leaning out
of the balcony of the exquisite little Pa
lazzo Contarini Fasan. built in the 14th
century, gazing up and down’ the grand
canal. Modern archeologists declare that
there is not the slightest foundation for
calling this building “Desdemona's house.”
but all the same one likes to fancy the
fair lady in that charmed setting.
Desdemona vanished, and I saw leaning
on the same balcony, in the same absorbed
attitude, Elenora Duse.—with ail the sad
ness of the ages in her wonderful eyes,
and her beautiful hand, already made fa
mous by her sometime lover, the poet
Gabriel d'Annuuzio, seemed like a bit of
exquisite marble, as it toyed with a blood
red rose of passion. The waves lapped
restlessly against the little palace, singing
of life, tragedies and comedies, contiual
ly enacted in the hearts of men.
Goethe from his room on the “Ramo dei
Fuseri” showed me what he had written:
“My window looks out on a small canal,
between tall houses, directly under me is
an arched bridge, and opposite a densely
populated alley. So live 1 and so I shall
for some time, until my pocket is ready
for Germany, and until I have had a sur
feit of the pictures of the city. I now
enjoy the loneliness which I have sighed
for with such passionate longing. I per
haps know only one man in Venice, and
I aqi not likely to meet him in some time.”
Ruskin lived on Le Zattere. where the
Calcina hotel stands to-day, and John Ad
dington Symonds lived but a stone's throw
distant. .lames Fenimore Cooper smiled
at me from the 1838 group, ami Dickens
waved his hand from the days of 1844 and
again from 1853, and Walter Scott's big
brow loomed up out of the 1832 crowd.
James Russell Lowell was thankful to
have eaten his Thanksgiving dinuer in Ven
ice in 187”. Helen Hunt gave me as she
passed a smile out of 1869. and Samuel
Rogers looked content and happy listening
to the lapping waves.
Again I looked over |hc crowd, and I
saw Paolo Sarpi, the scholar, priest, sci
entist. philosopher, statesman, author and
martyr. Gibbon calls Sarpi -‘the incom
parable hutorian of the council of Trent.”
Born was he in Venice in 1552, and
stabbed on 11 Ponte dei Pugni in 1607,
and died in 1623.
Then the genial, good-natured Goldoni
came sauntering down that beautiful old
Gothic stairway in the Palazzo Ceutani.
near the Fondamente San Toma. Goldoni
occupies nn imiiortant place in the literary
history of the 18th century. He is called
by his compatriots the Moliere of Italy.
Voltaire called him a painter ami a child
of Nature. Notwithstanding bis name is
universally known to-day, his plays are
seldom read out of Italy. They have in
trinsic merit,and documentary value cou
ceruing the manners and customs of the
18th century. Goldoni is stamped with the
imprint of his race, and times. Perhaps he
is too Venetian to become universal. He
loved Venice and the Venetians. His was
the cordial good humor of a fine nature.
His well-known features testify to his
geniality ami goodness of heart. Goldoni
was ironical .without being hitter. He was
born in Venice-In. 1707, His father was
n decadent philosopher, and it was Goldo
ni's fate to belong to the decadent school,
which most always follows in the wake of
Ihe classic. Goldoni made all Ills charac
ter studies directly from Nature, and any
one from his plays can draw his own
moral conehuiiona of the motley crowd.
in Goldoni’s day Venice had began to
forget her glorious' m hierementa. and gave
hersell up to pleasure, and living on the
fortunes made by those who bad fought in
that great struggle for life. Carnivals
ami fetes, masquerade balls and gorgeous
precessions were the “vital" diversions of
daily life. Venice has been called “the
carnival city and home of pantaloni." In
the golden age of her existence she was
the most splendidly triumphant city in
Europe! Even to this day some of the
descendants of those men. who made her
splendors possible, live on in their ances
tral palaces rising from the labyrinths of
canals, such as the Vendramin. Grimani,
Moueenigs, Moreceni. Giustiniani, etc. The
rest have been sold to the modern hotel
keepers. Goldoni panned in words what Can
aletto and Longhi aud Guardi painted in
colors.
In Goldoni's day Piazza San Marco, as
to-day. was the grand rendezvous of Ve
netian society—gay cavaliers, bepowdered
ladies in brocades’. patches, masques and
big hoop skirts met aud gossiped over
clotlies, jewels, pictures and politics. In
trigues were the order of the day. Old
and young, rich and poor all went forth
in dominoes, the head covered with the
"banta.” The convents were salons of
dubious fame. There was but little differ
ence between utms and courtesans. The
courtesans were beautiful, and n tax was
put on their profession, which went to- j
ward the shipbuilding at the great arsenal, i
In Goldoni’s time the churches were great I
places of rendezvous. Gambling was the I
rage. All of these human weaknesses
Goldoni has written about. The music
was sensual, and poetry and literature
followed on these deeadant lines. Venice
in the 18th century became the center of
insignificant ideas and pleasures, frivoli
ties and scandals. She fell into a sort of
second childhood. All sorts of adventures
happened.
Goldoni’s father was a physician, who
never Troubled about his profession, kill
ing or curing the people of Chioggia as it
chanced. Goldoni picked up his knowledge
as best he could at Perugia. Rniniai. Pa
via. etc. He was passionately fond of
acting iu plays. He read Platus. Aristo
phanes. Terence and Maehiaveli. After
taking his' degree lie led a gay life of ad
venture, going from city to city, writing
comedies and artending to law eases. At
about the age of 40 he finished sowing his
wild oats aud then married. France gave
him a hearty welcome and he became the '■
Italian master of Louis XV's daughters. I
The terrible days of the revolution saw |
Goldoni die. ।
Goldoni as a lawyer knew the world, and !
particularly dedicated himself to the thea
ter. He thought out his plays while saun- |
tering in the Piazza San Marco, or at the
cases. He was not a mystic or a psycholo
gist. He was a surface observer of life,
gay and simple in manner, with an infinite
capacity to enjoy pleasure. He was as
good as the men of his day. and a busy
worker. He accepted the indolent state of
Venetian society. His aim was to give
Italy a regenerate comic theater. His
first play came out in 1733—“Belisarius."
He loved the muse Thalia and was en
dowed with a keen sense of the ridiculous.
The stage was in a low down condition
when Goldoni attempted its reform. He
wrote popular comedies and farces and in
troduced his Pantaloni. a merchant of
Venice, the doctor, the lawyer from Bo
logna and the two Bergamesque domestics.
Arleqtiino and Brighelfa. as well as a host
of other characters, each representing the
peculiarities of some Italian province or
city. Pantaloni was Venetian. All these
characters spoke in their own dialects.
The actors carried masques with which
they covered their faces. Goldoni pushed
the comic element to its furtherest limits.
His women can be classed as ingenuous,
coquettish, etc. His comedies were soon
the rage, and held their own till the end
“f the 18th century. He reflects the life
of the Venetians, touching on all its weak
nesses and sores. Most of his comedies
are in three acts, .in prose, and with a
moral interest of reform. Hypocrisy was
stormed as the capital vice of the day.
Everyone attended mass in the morning
and gambled in the afternoon and made
lore in the evening. For 30 years Gol
doni worked away incessantly. He strove
to ridicule the low state of manners of his
time. He had set himself a difficult task,
but at leqgth his own fellpw townsmen
flocked about him and his plays became
the fashion.
As the crowd of ghosts which haunt
Venice passed on in procession I saw Gol
doni in the Piazza Goldoni gazing up self
satisfied at his statue there, at his alter
ego, leaning on his cn”- with a placid ex
pression. looking down on that animated,
incessant crowd of Venetians, whom he
loved so well, and whom he loved to
picture in his plays. Goldoni seemed to
smile at the familiar pigeons as they
perched on his bronze head, shoulder or
hand, or nestled down close on his breast
—seeming to chirp to him all that was go
ing on among his compatriots of the 20th
century.
I looked again at the vast crowd of
"have-beens,” the famous painters, archi
tects. doges, admirals and at the humble
toilers that made the fairy dream of the
city of the sea a reality, and I murmured:
"Laus Deo." the ghosts of those beautiful
dreams may they never vanish from the
Venetian horizon. Amen.”
GOVERNMENT GIVING FREE NEWS,
Magdalene Islands Will Receive Wire
less Dispatches io Be Read in
Churches.
The 4000 inhabitants of the Magdalene
islands, in the gulf of St Lawrence, who
are shut off from communication with the
mainland for six months of the year, are
to receive the news of the world by wire
less at the expense of the Canadian gov
ernment. Arrangements have been com
pleted by the postmaster-general to have
1000 words of the best news of the week
sent each week-end to the islands. The
service will begin immediately. The week
ly messages will be delivered to the Prot
estant ministers and Catholic priests to
be read to their respective congregations
at the close of the, Sunday services. It is
expected that this move will increase
church attendance.
THE SEN’S NEW PROPRIETOR.
[“Memolre of To-day" in the Metropolitan
Magazine]
William C. Reick, the new owner of the
New York Sun. whoge personality as such
is exciting interest all over the United
States just at present, was born and bred
in Philadelphia, although no one would ever
believe it upon catching a glimpse of the
quick, jerky way in which he moves
about. He is here, there and everywhere;
at one time discussing marconigrams with
King Victor Emmanuel at the Quirlhal. at
another in some box of the parterre row
at the Metropolitan opera; sometimes, but
not very often. I am sorry ot say, at
church—he is au Episcopalian- and occa
sionally toward dusk taking a hand in a
game of cards at the Metropolitan club.
No owner of a New York newspaper,
actively engaged in its editorship and
management, is in closer touch with soci
ety. in the smartest sense of the. word;
and while one afternoon he will be calling
on Mrs Ogden Mills, on the next lie will
be entertaining Mrs Cornelius Vanderbilt
and Mrs M. Orme Wilson and a party of
women and men of light and leading at
Sherry’s, to meet some foreigner of note,
i such as the antarctic explorer. Sir Ernest
, Shackleton. He is equally in touch with
Wall street, and counts many of the so
called captains of finance and industry
among his wannest friends.
There is no truth, however, in the sto
nes so widely circulated, to the effect
that in his purchase of the Sun lie has
merely acted as the representative of Clar
ence Mackay, of James Stillman, or of
the Standard oil syndicate, who are'alloged
to be the real proprietors of the newspa
per. I happen to know of a certainty that
Keick, who by m-ans of judicious invest
ments has a massed a fortune amounting
; to nearly $2,000,000, has bought the Sun
ns its sole proprietor. Investing the great*
• ex portion of his property in the venture,
OUR ROSTON LITERARY LETTER.
HISTORIANS, HISTORY. BIOGRAPHY
Garibaldi and Cavour —Their Reuent
Live* In England and America —
Hereditary Historian,— Biography
the Elder Brother of History.
From Our Special Correspondent.
Boston, Tuesday, February 21.
It has been .disputed whether poetry or
history was the first born of literature; hut
perhaps the question can be solved by the
discovery that the earliest poetry is some
form of chronicle iu verse, or the biog
raphy or drama of a legendary person.
There is not much history in the book of
Job. for example: but a deal of biography
or drama. The Iliad has more the aspect
of history; but is a series of biographical
sketches expressed in faultless verse,
which Montaigne was one of thousands of
good critics to extol. Dr Johnson's list
of impossible qualifications for the poet, in
Rasselas. may equally be demanded for
the historian: and Homer will serve as the
illustration for both characters. Biogra
phy is the elder and favored brother of
history. The book of Genesis begins with
a topographical recital, but at once turns
to the beginning of Adam’s Memoirs,
which, unfortunately, is but a fragment.
Noah as a shipbuilder, master of an emi
grant vessel, and colonist, is soon de
scribed; and numberless biographies fol
low. which all (he. ingenuity of editors can
not piece together into continuous history.
Historical events get strangely twisted in
tile co-ordination of Joseph and Moses,
Joshua and Gideon, Samson, Esther. Boaz,
Solomon and Nebuchadnezzar, under one
framework or cadre of chronicles. The
heroes of history kick each other out of
bed, as Montaigne or Defoe might say;
and it is the hardest task of Thucydides,
Herodotus, Plutarch and Tacitus, with all
their talent, to restore them to their snowy
couch, and hold them from playing all the
pranks of mutable personality.
Pictures of the Past and mirages of the
Future are what mankind liavfe always
insisted on: and the history of events is
indispensable to the vaticination of unfen
tured futurity. Our Earth, impersonated
by a Boston poet, begins to sing, with the
spontaneity of Mme Maeterlinck, or of
a Roosevelt delegate to a Chicago parlor
caucus:—
My highway Is unfeaturert air.
My consorts are the sleepless stars;
and off the good old lady rolls, uttering
wise counsels as she perambulates the
sun's swift orbit, in which Earth is for
ever “making cartwheels” and throwing
somersaults,—winding up her hymn thus: —
No leaf may fall, no pebble roll.
No drop of water lose the road;
The Issues of the general soul
Are mirrored In Its round abode.
To bring human history into this sphericity
and give the due praise and blame to the
marionets of the era in review is a very
dainty operation. Snd few historians there
be who are equal to the task.
The surging and resurging formative
ireriod of the modern kingdom of Italy is
a tempting subject for recent biographers
and historians, and two English-speaking
authors have lately been trying their hands
at describing “The Making of Italy,"—a
flashy phrase, but perhaps descriptive
enough. Italy was there before Louis Na
poleon. and will be there after the last
of that name has ceased to meddle and
muddle in Italian affairs, whether Bona
parte or Malaport. The making of the
existent kingdom has been the marring
of the papacy, which is no longer what it
was when the first Napoleon imprisoned
the pope: and the Italian house divided
against itself may fall into further di
visions. as the 20th century moves for
ward, leading the republic of China in
its youthful hand. It is the commotion
over the Vatican which continually at
tracts notice in the contests in which Gari
baldi and Lonis Napoleon thrust them
selves forward between 1848 and 1882,
when both these restless ones had sunk to
sleep. Neither W. R. Thayer, the biogra
pher of Cavour (in two volumes) nor G. M.
Trevelyan, who relates the adventures
and achievements of Garibaldi (in three
volumes), is very lender of the reputation
of Pius IX or his cardinals; thev pay
rather more regard to Napoleon the Little,
as Victor Hugo styled the old pope’s in
effectual patron, in discussing his incon
sistencies toward Rome and Italy. Mr
Trevelyan’s volumes are issued by Long
mans, and those of Mr Thaver by Hough
ton
Though these two historians have much
the same field of action and intrigue in
view, and the same actors,—Louis Napol
eon, Palmerston, Garibaldi, Cavour, Lord
John Russell. Victor Emmanuel, Pius IX,
the kings of Naples, dukes of Tuscany,
Italian and French cabinet ministers.
Mazzini. Gladstone, Antonelli, etc., and
take the same general view of most of
them,—and though they praise each oth
er's work. Trevelyan reviewing Thayer
in the Atlantic, and Thayer reviewing
Trevelyan in the Nation.—yet there are
essential distinctions between the two
writers which may he mentioned. Both
write with industry, method and research;
both cover a period of much European
importance, alike for what took place in
the period itself, and for what has since
resulted from it. The restoration of Italv
to a place among united nations, after a
period of disjecta membra, or political
fragments, hurtling against each other for
1500 years, could not fail to be an event
of deep consequence, however brought
about. But when accomplished through
the labors and the genius of three such
Italians ns Garibaldi. Mazzini and Ca
your.—each indispensable, and each work
ing in a field of his wn, into which the
others could only enter as by miracle, and
for brief periods of co-operation, it called
for a broad view of these three persons,
appreciating their joint and several work,
hut not insisting to ennui on the points of
conflict among them. In this breadth of
view the Englishman shows himself more
good-natured than the American. Trev
elyan's hero is Garibaldi, who was, in
sooth, the one consistent hero of the lot,
and the one most at home in the “cur
rent of a heady fight.” Toward Gari
baldi. Trevelyan is generous and admir
ing. as he ought to be. for such are rare.
So is Thayer now and then; but be often
appears a harsh and insistent censor. Real
heroes, like Garibaldi, are too rare to
make it proper to treat them rudely. They
suffer, in any case, from that very human
trait which Pericles mentioned in his fu
neral oration for the Athenians who died
in the Samian war. and from which few
modern historians arc free. “It is only
human,” said Pericles.—and Lincoln might
have recalled the same fact, from which
he and John Brown equally suffered,—
“for men not to bear praise of others be
yond the |s>int at which they still feel that
they can rival their exploits. Transgress
that boundary, and they are jealous and
distrustful.”
Gratitude for heroism, when not over
come by jealousy and vanity, will over
look such offenses as Garibaldi committed
in the excitement of his grief at the sale
of Nice and Savoy to Napoleon the Little.
He had learned by long experience that
Cavour, with all his sagacity, carried the
diplomatist's privilege of lying beyond the
boundary of necessity; was it unnatural
to suppose that he was still trying to de
ceive somebody? George Herbert was
never an embassador, as his fighting broth
er Edward was occasionally: and probably
his ethical maxim will not always apply:—
Darc to be true. Nothing can need a lie;
A fault which needs It most, grows two
thereby.
Trevelyan does not come in detail to
that painful scene in the first Italian Par
liament. where in return for many tactless
insults to himself and his volunteers, Gar
ibaldi himself insulted his real and hist
imagined foes, of whom Cavour, though
given to falsificntion. was not one. Tre
velyan does anticipate, however, to char
acterize the hero's speech as “a misdirected
and malicious attack on the statesman who
bad been his guardian angel throughout the
year of wonders." But it was not the
Garibiildiaus cloue, or chiefly, who circu
lated lies. Iu his letter of reproof and
insult to Garibaldi, Gen Cialdini charged
the hero with "placing yourself above
usage, preseuline yourself to the Chamber
iu a very outlandish costume.” which hap
pened to be dress in which lie had a hun
dred times exposed himself to death on
the field of battle. Then Cialdini added:—
I know the orders given by you. or by
yours, to Co| Tripoli to receive us in the
Abiuzzl with musket volleys. ... I pene
trate the lutliunte thoughts of your party:
it wishes to get control of the country and
of (he army, threatening It otherwise with
civil war. . . . The army does not fear
your (brents, it fears only your government.
The foe of every tyranny', whether It be
clothed In black or in red. I will combat
even yours to the end.
To these lies and impertinences. Gari
baldi replied, and there is no reason to
guess they are not his own words:—
As to the style of my dress. I shall wear
it until I am informed that I am no longer
in a free country, where everyone wears
what h< pleases. The message to Col Trlnotl
I learn for the first time. I know no other
otilet than that given by me.—to receive the
Italian army of the north as brothers, al
though we were told that army was coming
to combat the revolution personified In Cart
baldl.
The story about orders to Tripoli was
a lie. as Mr Thayer admits; but why
should not Garibaldi have been the last
person to hear of it? It was flung at him
now by an officer of the army where it
originated. Mr Thayer would be niudh
offended if others questioned his veracity
as offensively as he questions that of oth
ers. His tone toward Garibaldi is that of
a fancied superior,—a rank he has never
been elected to hold. The warrior wlio
has set his country, or its provinces, free,
is not to be scolded by the student who
describes inadequately his heroism. Mr
Trevelyan understands better the duty of
a historian. He is a historian by descent,
as it were.—from Macaulay to Sir George,
aud from father to son. With prejudice
and error enough, certainly, these three
generations have written history for men,
—not merely for old women and college
professoiw.
Alfred Zimmern. formerly rather a re
calcitrant Oxford fellow of New College.
Seeking to introduce more newness into
all the colleges, has now become nn eco
nomic lecturer in the London school of
practical science, and in that capacity is
sues a learned work on "The Greek Com
monwealth,” which is not exactly history,
nor even guess-work history; but is largely
speculative, and is based on the ancient
authors and excavated inscriptions, newly
interpreted, one by another. It is one of
the few recent efforts to consolidate and
classify the sort of documentation, so as
to revise history and biography by it. For
this task Mr Zimmern is competent; but
perhaps a little too much tempted to be
new and startling, and to make smart
translations of the Greek texts and frag
ments. It is handsomely printed (of
course) at ths Clarendon press in Oxford,
and is very suggestive where not directly
instructive. My quotation from Thucydi
des-Pericles is taken from Zimmern's own
translation. He is familiar with Ameri
can authors and newspapers. \
TRYING TO SAVE THE GAME.
LIVELY LEGISLATIVE HEARING.
Many Testify to the Danger of Exter
mination—‘‘Tagging System” Advo
cated—“ Poor of the Cape” Heard
From.
To the Editor of The Republican:—
The hearing on Mohday before the com
mittee on fisheries and game on stopping
the sale of wild game, developed consid
erable unanimity among sportsmen, natu
ralists and scientists as to unsatisfactory
conditions in life and the need pf
great restrictions. President Charles of the
Massachusetts fish and game protective
association explained that the committee
appointed by a convention of December
14. called by his association, had not
drawn up a proper bill, but rather ope
which “opened the door still wider.” As
the bill was not referred back to the con
vention. the legislative committee of the
association and its affiliated clubs were
unanimous in preferring two other bills.
House 1161 and Senate 263. These two
hills were not perfect, and there was no
reason, Mr Charles said, why all should
not get together and draft a perfect bill.
The convention of December 14 had 70
representatives of probably 20.000 or 25,-
000 sportsmen. They want all wild game
shot in this country forbidden the markets
of the state, and only tagged birds, raised
on game farms in this state, or from
abroad, admitted.
“We have seen our game become ex
tinct,” said he. "An ugly question is com
ing before this committee, 'Are you going
to sit here and allow the remnant to go?’
If you <lo you will make Massachusetts
the laughing stock of every state. I am
soon to appear asking for power for our
association to take land for propagating
game. Will you allow us to raise game
here to go into the South to be shot and
returned to Boston markets? We have
letters saying. ‘Appear for us,’ 'Game is
shipped out of Massachusetts to be sold in
other states,’ etc. The commission is doing
all it can to enforce the law. Without au
army ot detectives, no one could tell
whether game which came from other
states was legally shot there. Wild game
should not be sold here, else the law can
not be enforced.”
John B. Burnham of New York is agent
of the national society for protecting and
propagating game, which expends ‘ $25,000
yearly, contributed by the dealers in arms
and ammunition. This was offered a year
ago to the Audubon association, hut as it
had to be declined, Mr Bin'nliam takes up
the work effectively. He said that the 30
paid game wardens of the state could not
execute the game laws unless the laws
were so framed that the people believe in
them and will aid in enforcing them. One
game warden to every 150,000 people is
not much compared with one policeman to
every 500 or 600 people in cities. "The
New York Baynes law. prohibiting all sale
of wild game, works like a charm. The
tagging system was at first questioned,
but after one year's trial it was found to
be the most valuable feature ever intro
duced into legislation. It is a great encour
agement to farmers to go into the business
of propagating game. It is a monOy-mak
ing business, and almost without except
tion successful for any who have any natu
ral aptitude for it. The foreign game sale
w'ill soon be cut out. Soon we can supply
our own markets, and eventually all game
sold in the state will be raised in the state.
In New York the tagging has yielded a
revenue of $30,000 to the state the past
year. The marketmeu favor the system,
and there is no effort to repeal the Baynes
law. which was finally passed last year,
with only one opposing vote in the Assem
bly and five in the Senate. In this state
this law would not be an innovation, as
yon already prohibit the sale of nearly all
upland game. A few hundred pot hunters
who sell, ought not to monopolize the recre
ation of thousands.”
william I’. WhSrton of Groton spoke for
his lull. House 1161. which is preferred
to the one drafted by the convention of
December 14 (House 940). He said he
failed to see how House 1)40 in any way
added any protection. It would encourage
illegal killing, and. worse still, it extends
the open season On wild fowl two months.
It only encourages the forces of destruc
tion.
Mr Bigelow of Concord introduced a
list of 20 states which bare stopped the
sale of wild game.
Frederick D. Lewis represented the Bos
ton society of natural history, composed of
500 scientists in the United States, mostly
about Boston, and some in Europe, distin
guished for scientific attainments, The so
‘'iety believes in doing everything possible
to stop the killing of game, and they note
that for centuries birds like the quail have
survived the rigors of the winters and other
conditions, and it is the hand of man that
is responsible for decrease ami extinction
of game.
Ilie Audubon association was represent
ed by Junms A Lowell of Newton, ami
Ji^^B' oisetts. s|ate grange was repre
.mteil by the chairman aud the secretary
ot the bird committee.
Aden E. Briggs appeared for House bill
940. and one introduced by a Mr Sea
graves, as they thought these bills sale
[lid sane, and he and R. Preston Clark
’epresent the fruit and produce exchange.
1 lie latter also made an extended written
I !! l T' e ^; ,n deinoc ’™ , 'J'. «”<l told a Lincoln
. m ? ven,ent , 10 M °l’ thc work of
pothunteis who supply our markets with
game was represented as undemocratic
and nnti-Lincoln, as it were. These men
would accept the tagging system “if it
necessary to protect your game, al
trade ' IS Sn a ^ ed b” l ' de n to the
oan 1 ' wh ? helped draft House hill
,HO. was the only other one to speak for
bili aS “ ?o ° d ’ cou,te<,us ' democratic
The usual number' of Giffords represent
the poor ot the Cape” this year. One of
them was “opposed to any abridgment of
personal liberty. The state had a perfect ’
right to stop the sale of birds which the
state propagated, but not of wild fowl
Unit is an abridgment of liberty, and is
not done with any intention of protecting
them. ' The other Mr Gifford, who repre
sents to miles ot seacoast, represented
the poor of the Cape" less seriously ami
more hunibrously titan his relative. He
said that "those who reside iu that section
Imvc been brmiglit up to believe that the
xvild fowl belong to us." Plenty of “the
poor" couhj have been found to come to
(he hearing, but the “courtesy” which he
as their representative, "would have ex
tended to them would have I more than
he could stand." . J'o illustrate how much
it meant to the people to get $5 for 10
ducks, he said that but little money was
needed, and in getting his wood ciit, he
found the more he paid the less he got cut,
as they got enough money the sooner.
F. S. Wright represented a club of 13
workingmen who had to work at the bench
and wanted sport witfout restrictions. He
said they didn't have to read. "They didn't
have no college education." "But." lie
said, "whose authority is better than
ours?”
Mr Meany, a re|>feson(attre, said that
tile Cape people need no assistance from
anyone. He would like. Io seo the matter
referred to the people on (lio Cape. A ref
erendum would decide it. Another said a
referenduni to the people of the stale
would decide it. for tile ducks belong to all
the people, only congregating at the Cape
in winter’ for their food and drink when
the pondrnnd rivers are frozen.
Mr Forbush, the state ornithologist, said
the high price of birds is pracficallv a
bounty on destruction. No living thing
can long survive this bounty. All history
of game shows it. Mr Forbush's “History
of. Game is in the hands of the state
printer, and should have beep out before,
this, it is ah extended history of several
hundred pages, which will be sold at cost
by the secretary of the state board of agri
culture.
In the afternoon, by the same committee,
some two hoin-s was given to (he hill for
prohibiting (ho use of the automatic and
repeating guns. Mr Shields, president of
the legal American sportsmen, was the
principal speaker for the bill, and a local
attorney or two. a doctor from Chicopee,
and E. 11. Vaughn of Worcester appeared
against the bill. Mr Shields believes that
the time is coming when there will be no
game of any kind excejrt that kept in pre
serves. This is as inevitable with the in
crease in-population as the setting of the
sun. Future generatibns, say 100 years
from now, will have no wild animals ex
cept such as can bo specially preserved.
"Every man,” lie said, “wants to leave the
country better (han he found it. Instead.
20 species of borers arc eating up our
woods for lack of woodpeckers: 90 per cent
of all birds have been destroyed in the past
30 years." He thought the automatic
guns crippled three out of evejy four birds
shot.
Mr Vaughn of Worcester hailed origi
nally from Prescott. He is proud that for
40 years he lies "hunted the coons, and ho
lias the automobile and the things to hunt
with." and knows where the birds arc. and
has no use for scientists who do not go
out into the brush. He would like it if
the scenes dear to our hearts, the seelies
of our childhood, could he legislated back.
But they could not. The partridge no
longer needs you to legislate against any
gun. For the partridge can't be found,
except, one at a time.
So the division called for by the mm
mitteo showed not many votes for prohibit
ing the gun, and some votes' for it.
E. O. Marshall.
Boston, February 20. 1912.
A MATTER OF VITAL INTEREST
To Farmers, Sportsmen and the Public
Generally—Reasonable Appeal From
Judae Tenney.
To the Editor of The Republican:—
There are pending in the Legislature,
bills to prohibit the use in hunting of all
automatic, autoloading and pump shot
guns unless their firing capacity is lim
ited to two shots. Five pump gnus are
now for sale that fire five shots each in
about six seconds without removal from
the shoulder. There arc two automatic
guns that fire five shots each in five sec
onds or less by six pulls of the trigger. The
autoloading gun is reloaded and cocked
again wholly on its own recoil. About 100.-
000 of these machine guns are annually
sold in the United States. In view of the
groat scarcity of game birds these guns
are a menace to the existence of the wild
creatures that remain. They threaten not
only the supply of game, but also the in
sectiverous birds that are of inestimable
•value to the farmers, and give us the mel
ody of Song.
Every sportsman mid every farmer and
bird lover should at once write to his
senator and representatives and to the clerk
of the committee 011 fisheries and game
making the request that the proposed leg
islation prohibiting the use of these guns
he enacted. Automatic guns are prohib
ited in - Saskatchewan.' New Brunswick.
Nova Scotia. Quebec. British Columbia.
Ontario. Manitoba Alberta, Prince Ed
ward Island and iu Pennsylvania. The
national association of Audubon societies
is opposed to the manufacture, sale and
use of these firearms. There is no doubt
that the attitude of the great majority of
our citizeus is hostile to them. There is
urgent need that the friends of birds and
of conservation declare, themselves at once.
| It ts only in this way that we can hope
for success. Six species of birds have been
exterminated within the lifetime of men
now living, and 14 more species arc in
danger of extinction. For such a cause is
it. not worth while to express our views to
those who represent us in the General
Court in Boston? Sanborn G. Ten Net,
Williamufotcn. February 20. 1012.
meteorite .11 ST misses ship.
A narrow eScape from being struck by
a meteorite was experienced by the Ivy
land line steamer Bostonian, which-arrived
in Boston Monday from Manchester, Eng.
At 5 a. in. Saturday, ('apt Parry report
ed lie saw the meteorite flashing brilliant
ly. falling to the southwest of the vessel.
There was a loud hissing sound as it ap
proached the water and then with a loud
report it fell into the ocenn a few ship's
lengths from the bow of the steamer. So
great a disturbance did it cause in the sea
that water was dashed over the decks of
the steamer.
The first co-operative movement of south
ern states toward the solution of sociologi
cal problems is undertaken in the call by
Gov Benjamin IV. Hooper of Tennessee
to 16 governors to send delegates to a
"southern sociological congress to meet in
Nashville May 7." It Is hoped to Jia re
from .100 to SOO delegates present from
each state. The topics for the conference
will be comprehensive and Ni-isl include
such vital themes—vital to the whole na
tion—as the negro problem, penal servi
tude, child labor and health regulation.