Springfield weekly Republican. [volume], February 06, 1913, Page 6, Image 6

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

Image provided by: Boston Public Library

                
6
OF MUSIC AND MUSICIANS.
NEWS, CRITICISMS. NOTIONS.
ENGLAND AS A MUSICAL NATION.
A National School of Composition
Coming Into Existence—The Blight
of Foreign Imitation.
The London Morning Post, reviewing
England's progress in music during the
past year, says: While it is in no way ue
sirable to give a catalog of the various mu
sical events of the year that is now closed,
there are certain features of the muse
making of the past 12 months that call lor
comment. Chief of them is the undoubted
advance in British music. On every side
there is to be found evidence that the dawn
of another day of British music is at baud.
The night has lasted long. Kings have
conic and gone; time has rolled on. The
passage of 300 years finds Great Britain
again iu a position to take her place at
the fore among nations who create music.
It is in the direction of production that she
is likely to excel. In the past, in the
glorious era when she stood foremost
among the musical peoples of Europe, she
did so in a dual capacity: she was noted
as a composer and as an executant. In
the present dav of well-nigh universal mu
sical efficiency, Britain is morg likely to
excel as a creative nation. The material
on the executive side is remarkable: its
development still leaves a great deal to be
desired.
But our supremacy, so well defined in the
Elizabethan era that other nations were
content to learn from us, left us for a
imriod that lasted down to the beginning
of the present century. The loss was our
own fault. Having set an example to other
nations, and having actually initiated niu
sicnl forms which they adopted, an
live period set iu. and for more thau 3W
years British composers contented them
selves with copying the popular mode.
Very little British music subsequent to the
days of Purcell and Boyce is of any value,
for the simple reason that it was for the
most part a feeble imitation of foreign
style. Individuality was crushed and
sacrificed iu order to conform to the model
of foreign origin. Many a good man has
lost himself along that path; many a good
artist has failed for a kindred reason.
More good might have resulted if we had
carried our flattery of continental methods
a little further. We only allowed it to in
tiuence our creative output. Had conti
nental methods been introduced into our
systems of training, it would have been a
great deal better for us. Onr remaining
weakness in the art of music at the present
dav is in the direction of a plan developing
executive ability. The present is hap
hazard, illogical and above all inefficient.
But while there is much to be done in
the matter of training, the fact that is so
gratifying is that on the creative side we
are at last founding, or rather resounding,
a national school of composition. It has
not been evolved by way of the conti
nent; it has come about as a process of
natural development, due to the two qual
ities of gift and determination. It owes
nothing to the schools of music. Neither
will it do so until those schools have com
pletely changed their methods. The fact
that our music contains characteristics
that are its own is due to-day. as it was
at the date of its former glory, to the
genius of one man. He has mapped out
his path and has kept to it in face of all
discouragement. To-day he has many fol
lowers—not blind slaves chained to his
principles—but men. who, finding the way
open, have taken advantage to make their
own footprints along it. Nothing is more
gratifying in reviewing the past year than
to record recognition of the self-evident
fact that the British composer is -at last
beginning to speak in his own voice, to use
the bluff, hearty phrase of the northerner,
and to reproduce in musical terms the char
acteristics of bis own country and char
acter. We enter upon the third year of
rhe second decade of the 20th century with
feelings of the strongest hope. The day
of the British composer has come. In
due course that of the British executant
will come also—it would be to-morrow if a
better plan for its development could be se
cured.
There is still much to be done. The popu
lar use of the highest of art forms is still
wanting. Opera is still unknown to the
general musical public of the nation's
greatest city—London. There is full ap
preciation of all other art-forms: opera
alone is neglected save in its most luxuri
ant form. In other respects the position
is strong and good. Of choral music, or
< hestral music and chamber music, there
is a good supply of the best kind. In the
notable department of chamber music, rep
resented by the string combinations, the
past year has witnessed the pre-eminence
of native undertaking. But opera remains
unrepresented in the metropolis. Educa
tion in the matter—the root of the whole
?uestion— is neglected. The provinces are
ar better off. London remains without
opera for the majority, although, as a curi
ous fact, such permanent operatic represen.
tations as are given are without question
the finest in Europe. Yet there is the
anomalous position that the general music
lover, the constant patron of orchestral and
vocal music, is without an opportunity of
either cultivating or gratifying a taste for
the highest of all forms of art. At a time
when we take stock of the situation, it is
borne in upon us that it is a matter that
calls for remedy.
THE BIG ORGAN FUND CONCERT.
Committee of 100 Pledges SIO,OOO io
Start With—Plans for the Ticket
Sale—Mme Sembrieh's Art.
With this week the committee in charge
of the plans for the big concert with
which the municipal auditorium will be
opened on the 18th begin real
work. The auction sale of the
seats will be held at Touraine
ball On Friday afternoon of this
week at 4 o'clock, it having been found im
possible to have the sale in the new audi
torium on ing to i . coni - oi .
tlie furniture and other work now being
done. An added advantage in keeping the
auditorium closed until the opening night
is that it will then he seen for the first
time in the beauty of its completeness.
Realizing that the general public will
take its cue from the committee having
charge of the concert, and govern its giv
ing by the generosity of the workers, the
committee have agreed among themselves
to inform the chairman what may be ex
pected in the way of support from each
member. The committee of 100. appoint
ed by Mayor Latlpop, has practically
pledged itself to give SIO,OOO before the
publie is naked to subscribe. Of this
amount about S7OOO has already been
promised and it is believed that before
the auction sale Friday the members of
the committee will stand ready to sub
scribe more than the figure set. With
this excellent otart. expressing in dollars
and cents the belief of the committee in
its own enterprise, it is felt that there will
be the keenest rivalry tn the bidding for
the boxes and the separate seats.
• The various committees having in charge
the various social features are now busy
perfecting their plans. Springfield societj
ha« not had such an opportunity ns thi
i-oncert will afford since the old City hall
burned and it is felt that they will wel-
come the dhanee to make this the most
brilliant social event Springfield lias under
taken. The formal reception in the salon
will give a touch of novelty to the affair
nud will afford an excellent opportunity
to view this superb room, considered by
many the most beautiful architectural
feature of the entire group. The reception
will be held at 8 o'clock, the concert not
beginning until S- o'clock, with an inter
mission about 10 o’clock.
Iu the interest over the financial and
social features of the concert the im
portance of the affair from a musical
i standpoint should not be lost sight of. The
i concert will be probably the most hrii
| liant single concert ever given in Spi'ing
field. In the Philadelphia orchestra, with
: Mme Sembricb and Signor Amato as solo
ists. the committee has wisely and happily
j chosen the very best talent available in
America, and aside from the worthiness
I of the cause and the importance of the
' affair as a social function, this concert
should prove an apo< h-making event. That
Mme Senibrieh has lost none of her mar
velous power or matchless charms since
she retired from the opera stage one
■ readily gathers from the extravagant
' praise lavished upon her by the New York
i press on the occasion of her song recitals
' in that city this season, upon her return
I from one year's stay abroad.
Rhythmic Gymnastics.
The School Music Review (London) gave
the following account of the exhibition of
rhythmic gymnastics given in London by
the pupils of M Jaques-Daleroze:—
At first quite elementary exercises in
beating with the hand, and walking and
running time were done. M Dalcrose ex
temporized on the pianoforte, and as he is
an accomplished musician real musical in-
WOKS
iSrSH K.
rELIX WEINGARTNER.
[One of the world’s most noted conductors,
now filling au engagement at the Boston
opera house. His marriage to Lucille Mar
cel, an American-born prima donna, took
place In New York during the past week.]
terest was imparted, and the girls with
amazing rapidity adapted their movements
to the varying measures and tempi of his
playing. It was not merely that the
rhythm was shown by movement, but
everything done was so spontaneous and
graceful. Then followed far more remark
able exercises, that were performed with
such ease that probably many of the au
dience failed to realize their significance
and normal difficulty. Thus syncopation
was shown with perfect accent and free
dom. and one arm would beat three against
four of the other arm. and one arm would
follow the other in "canon t ” both beating
four. But the climax of this power of dif
ferentiating muscles and of mental realiza
tion of contradictory accent was the pulsa
tion of the head in twos, one arm in threes,
thf other arm in fours, with the feet
marching in fives all simultaneously. In
this case the rate of all the pulses was
the same. Then the two arms freely and
quite accurately beat three against four
and three against two—that is each group
occupying the same period of time. There
were other exercises in compounding
rhythm. M Dalcrozo improvized music in
which the right and left hands played
totally different measures (say one in four-,
and the other in three-time). The rhythms
thus invented were maintained in the play
ing, and presently the children picked out
one rhythm with the hands and the other
with the feet. Another interesting ex
ample of accurate observation and perfect
control was running in canon.
A rhythmic theme was played on the
pianoforte, and after one bar the children
stepped the foregoing bar and continued
this idea, having thus to realize the rhythm
of the bar being played whilst they were
executing the previous bar. Crescendo and
diminuendo were illustrated by apt move
ments: a pair of “horses”—now high step
ping. now pawing—with the driver doing
another “step,” was a further and fascinat
ing performance of contrasted rhythmic
pulsation. What became obvious as the
work proceeded was that M. Dalcroze did
not merely play on the pianoforte—he
played upon the children. An attractive
and cleverly-devised performance was that
associated with the playing of Bach's C
minor Fugue (No 2of the "48"). Three
pairs of children each took a "voice" of
the Fugue, and ingeniously acted its
rhythms. The final uniting cadence was
almost touching in its expressiveness of
bodily grace. Then each child in turn took
a baton and conducted the other children
through a known song, using all the wiles
of rubato. ralletando, etc., and mimicking
—no doubt quite unconsciously—the airs of
the conventional grown-up conductor.
Observations on the System.
The following observations on the poten
tialities of the system in its application to
general musical culture are also quoted
from the School Music Review:—
It is not easy at once to estimate the
value of the extraordinary plasticity of
mind and muscular adjustment exhibited,
or to see how it can be applied generally.
The somewhat natural impression of a
listener for the first time is, that, while all
that is shown is admirable and surprising,
the results are of the hot-house order, and
not likely to be cultivatable in the common
garden of the school. Again, it is easy to
be so obsessed with the glamor, the fas
cination of what is presented, that one
takes it in as a charming entertainment.
We do not watch Maud Allan or Genee in
order to learn how to reproduce their saln
tory evolutions and poses in the school.
Even to more thoughtful observers on the
lookout for something they can add to
their equipment as teachers, there is apt
to he a feeling that the ideas expounded,
splendidly as they are illustrated, cannot
be adapted to fit average circumstances.
This attitude assumes that attempts at
progress must necessarily fit existing con
ditions. But there is the other view—that
it is more rational, if the new ideas are
proved to be gobd. that the conditions
should be molded to receive them. For
our own part, we see visions of things in
the Dalcroze system, as well ax in other
similar appeals founded upon rhythmic
mental and bodily development, that will
soon be mpre closely associated with the
word "education” than they are at pres
ent. and be recognized as one of its su
premely-important objectives. M. Dsl
croze may not yet have taught ns what he
can do with millions of children, but his
demonstrations have indicated a path it is
impossible to ignore.
Those who desire to know more of the
ideas that have inspired M Dalcroze should
read the admirably-written book, “The
Eurythmics of Jaquea-Daicroze.” published
bv Constable A Co, London. The price of
the book in England is but a shilling.
“Don Giovanni” In Boston.
Mozart's "Don Giovanni,” an, opera
which rctaiua it» place among the world's
. iff >■ •
THE SPRINGFIELD WEEKLY REPUBLICAN: THURSDAY, FEBRUARY. 6. 1913.
I masterpieces, will be the notable addition
! to the repertory of the Boston opera com
; pany during the present week. Felix
i Weingartner will superintend the final re
। hearyals and direct the performai.ee on
Friday night. In fact, the cast will be an
! interesting one. with Mme Emmy Destinn
। as Donna Anna and Miss Alice Nielsen as
; Zerlina. the latter singing in opera in Bos-
I ton for the first time in two years. As
' Donna Elvira, Miss Elizabeth Amsden
I will complete the trio of women. The
; titje role has been assigned to Vanni Mar
j eoux. John McCormack will be Don Ot
■ tavio, the commendatore will be that ex;
> cellent basso. Jose Mardones. and Luigi
I Tavecchia will have the buffo part of Ma
i setto. On Monday evening Verdi's
: "Otello” will be sung for the first time
I there under Mr Weingai tner’s baton. As
Desdemona. Mme Lucille Marcel, an
: American born soprano, will make her
- re-entry. L will be her first appearance
‘ io the role in America. Mr Zenatello will
; sing Otello and the lago will again be Mr
Scotti, associated with the others in last
Wednesday's east. Wednesday night Mr
Weingartner will conduct "11 TrovatOre"
and as Azucana. Mme Schiimunn-Heink
will sing for the second time. The Leo
nora will be Miss Amsden and the Man
rise. Riccardo Martin, the favorite Met
ropolitan tenor. Mr Polose again will ap
pear as the count. For the Saturday mat
inee. beginning at 1.80. "Tristan und
Isolde" is announced, with last week's
cast save in one notable instance. The
Isolde will be Mme Minnie Saltzmann-
Stevens. an American singer. Mme Gay
and MM Burrian. Goritz and I.ankow will
be the other principals. Again Mr Wein
gartner will conduct. On Saturday even
ing the first popular priced presentation
of "Mme Butterfly" will be given, with
Mme Carmen-Melis as Cio-Cio-San, Miss
I evoroni as Suzuki, Mr Gaifdenzi as
Pinkerton and Mr Blanehart as Sharploss.
Mr Moranzoni will direct. At the Sun
day afternoon concert on the 9th. Mr
Weingartner will assume charge of the
orchestra, in a program to be announced
later. Mme Marcel will be the soloist.
The 781st concert of the Handel and
Haydn society of Boston will be given in
Symphony hall. Ruston, next Sunday night,
beginning at 7-30 o\lo<k. The program ,
consists of Gounod's "Gallia." Rossini's ;
"Stabal Mater" and George W. Chad
wick’s Phoenix Expirans." which was ;
first performed at a music festival in this 1
city. The soloists will he Mme Sehiimann-
Heink. alto: Sirs Caroline Hudson Alex
ander. soprano; Paul Althouse, tenor, and
Frederic Martin, bass.
DRAMA AND SOCIAL UNREST.
Observations of Mr McGuire—Commer
cialism and the Lohs of Theatric
Illusion.
Present-day statesmen are commenting a
great deal upon the spirit of unrest which
seems to exist throughout the entire world,
says William Anthony McGuire, author of
“The Divorce'’ and- other serious plays.
Students of economics are exhausting their
tireless energies in an effort to discover the
exact cause of our universal uneasiness
Some attribute it to our high cost of liv
ing, and others, penetrating even deeper,
attribute it to our modern segregated man
ner of existence. If I should strive to
analyze this condition I could first base my
observation upon the geographical changes
wrought by the progress of the last cen- '
tnry. Heretofore whenever a crisis arose
in the politics of a nation there was always
a new frontier ta be established, n new
country to be discovered. Thus it was that
one nation was born of another, one conti
nent created by another. Now in the 20th
century humanity faces a new and differ
ent epoch. The entire inhabitable world
now lies within the grasp of humanity,
there are no new frontier lines to be dis
covered —we can cirdp eour world, and
we have reached the northern and south
ern extremities. . . .
Surely the plays of to-day reflect this
real spirit of unrest. Modern dramatists
seem to laek all sense of ethical responsi
bility, and we can scarcely find them in
error when humanity itself is not firmly
settled upon either its ethical or moral
requirements. We cannot condemn play
wrights for idylizing a thief or criminal
when some of the world’s most important
personages are established culprits. We
cannot complain of the immorality of our
stage when some of the world's most pop
ular citizens have ignored moral laws.
Surely we should not expect great plays
wherein right is right mid wrong is wrong
and poetic justice sustained until the pres
ent spirit of social unrest gives way to a
more united humanity.
Has this social unrest anything to do
with the refusal of the present-day public
to patronize the theater as in former
years? is a question I hare been asked
of Into. I don't think so, I believe this
condition is due to the unscrupulous com
mercializing of managing producers. In
the endeavor ta reap golden harvests from
their productions they Iwve stopped at
nothing to obtain the end in sight. Sacred
precedents have been swept aside, firmly
established ideals have been distorted, abd.
far more serious then either of these, all
sense of a recognized code of morals and
ethics have been destroyed. The one am
bition permeating the efforts of these man
agers is to create something sensational,
something to attract the popular fancy
of an entertaiuriient-seeking public. In
this their energies have been successful
enongh to bring our stage within danger
of that undeserved official—a censor.
One of the first and most beautiful at
tributes of drama to suffer from our finan
cial managers is what is known as stage
illusions. Plays are living stories, appeal
ing to us because of their vitality, through
them we see into the lives of others and
our very selves. We long to laugh at the
peculiar situations that can occur in life,
and we attend the comedies to- satisfy
their particular requirement of our na
tures. Wc like to weep at another's sor
row, and we go to witness tragedy to ap
pease this subtle but human desire, There
ou the stage we see a little world apart
from ours—the footlights separate us from
the intricacies behind the effects we crave
as successfully as the Atlantic ocean. It
is that above all else that has made the
theater so attractive, it is because we could
not fathom the practical causes that made
the effect so picturesque and attractive—
but wlint of our stage to-dny? Have they
not robbed it of every vestige of mystery:
have those whose artistic aspirations reach
no further than the box office nor stolen
every illusion, leaving the theater nothing
but a barren hall, with every part of the
stage as well understood by the audience
as by the most expert director?
PEACE MEDAL FORTAFT.
President Will Speak at les»s» Dia>
ner In New York Fehr nary 22.
President Taft "in ■ recognition of bis
notable efforts in behalf of universal
peace," will be presented frith a gold
medal at a peace testimonial reception and
dinner to be held in bls honor In New
York on February 22 by the American
pence and arbitration league. Thirty-three
pence and civic organizations throughout
the country will join in honoring the presi
dent upon what may be his last public
appearance before his retirement on March
4. Joseph H. Chonte. former embassador
io Great Britain, will present the medal
on behalf of the national institute of so
cial sciences.
It was at n dinner given in Iris honor
by the American peae* and arbitration
league on March 22, 1010. that the presi
dent mnde his first speech advocating ter
। bitriitiou of all justiciable questions of
I dispute among nations. At. the dinner on
: Washington’s birthday the president is ex
peeted "to review the international peace
problems of the’past and present, and also
to forecast a distinct policy for the fu
ture," according to announcement made
last week by the committee in charge.
! OUR BOSTON LITERARY LETTER.
LITERATURE IN LEITERS.
The Comherlaad Correspondence—Ra
i aland In the iSih Centnry—The
' Two Ends Of That Cenlurx— Letters
Ancient and Modern.
• From Our Special Corresponiieni.
Bostox. " nes-day. January 28.
i Pope informed the world that
; Hear n first sent Letters to some Wretch's
f aid.
i Same banished Lover or some captive Maid:
j bqt I suspect he was misinformed: the
oldest letters we have are not of that
imagined sort at all. They are found at
Tel-cl Amarfia, or- in some other recep
tacle of curious but useless antiquities, and
relate either to government or to mer
cantile business. Lovers bad to depend on
I personal presence or distant glimpses or
' signs. But that what we call literature
grew out of epistles is much more likely.
In the first place, the etymology implies
il; then, much that survives existed first
in that form; and we may imagine that
much of the rest grew out of letters that
have been turned into other literary
forms. Journalism, for example, was
j hatched from the egg of news-letters. —
| actual epistles that went from mao to
j man, and in comparatively recent aS*-’.
The word "journal." of course, implied
I at tirat something done or said daily; from
‘ "dies" came "diurnn"; from that the
French "jour” and the Italian "giorno.
and hence the English word journal. Diary
and journal are the same in origin, ann
daybook is but a clumsy synonym for
either. The poetical part of literature
originated in songs and ballads, recited
or sung to some musical instrument,—a
single and simple one: not as now. at
operas and concerts, to a hundred accord
ant but arjnihilating sounds, which prevent
the ear from catching the meaning of
the words that are accompanied to death,
like great criminals escorted by regiments
to the scaffold.
A Well edited corresluudence about the
; most ordinary or everyday matters, pro
! t ided there is vn'rioty enough of incident
| to keep il from uonoiony. long holds its
own in literature, as we see by the let
i »rs of Greek sag s. genuine or fabneated:
by ;he letters o: Ciceio and Pliny, of
Paul. Srnesius. St Jerome, the Paston
family. Sir H. XVutton. the French letter
writers. Chesterfield. Horace Walpole.
Gray, Byron and Shelley.-—the two last
being, on the whole, better at epistles
than poems. And here ccm*s an English
woman, not much known otherwise. Clem
entina Black, who iuu made an entertain
ing. nay even mi instructive book out of
the fraternal interchange of letters on the
most trivial mar’ers—iuiy ng oysters and
rum. chasing hares or trotting about in
the rain on horseback, or meeting at coun
try inns and chaffering about curacies and
sermons, by two voung Englishmen of the
Cumberland kindred, related io dramatists
and bishops: Rev Richliii Denison and
irreverent George Cnnjberland, horn about
the same time with Count Rumford, and a
few years later than Goethe, but with
no worldly career to mak : him remembered
in two continents, as those men were. The
letters begin in 1771 and in this volume
end in 1784 : but later samples are prom
ised. for both brothers lived well into the
10th century, as Goethe did.
The dramatist. Richard Cumberland, was
the son of a bishop and the grandson of
Dr Bentley, the great scholar; hut these
brothers, though related to the dramatist,
had no connection with Bentley, and very
few distinguished persons for correspond
ents. so far as thia velum”. "The Cumber
land Letters." shows us. Richard wag a
student at Cambridge ard a curate -and
vicar in small parishes; George was a
clerk in an assurnupp office at London and
had a turn for urt and for doing ef
rands for everybody: but he was a better
writer than the clerical brother. Both
were oharacteristic Er.gliahmen: kindly,
honorable, good-natured, attentive to shill
ings and pence, end. ag Emerson says, be
lieving in a God ."who does not treat
with levity a pound sterling.” George to
bis brother jests thus:—
(January 10. I'TS.i Alas, you people in the
eouhtry (who are said to want bread) know
not what difficulty we encounter here in
London. Why. man. thereg hardly any pos
"Ibfllty of going to the playhouses: not a
soul at court on the queen's birthday; naif s
morsel of celery or endive to be procured
with our roast veal: we eat salt fish without
parsnips, and mutton without turnips; And
then oiir butterl hardly nny fresh to be had.
These are our hardships: and for amuse
ments—ls it were not for the plentiful ac
cOßiit we have of poor otd women hurled
alive, wagons overset near Ixmdon. ships ran
from their anchors, etc.,—we should certain
ly become the dullest creatures alive. ' But,
seriously, are you in Gloucestershire so bad
ly off as is described?—roads stopped, no
passage for a horse, inns full of passengers
ami nothing to give them, hattie for mutton
chop*, efc. Here 'tls cold enough, but I have
not yet put «n a greatcoat; and a fellow is
gt this moment winding n cursed elarinet
under my office window,—which Is a proof a
man may move his fingers,—though possibly
ire p*ays in gloves.
AH this nonsense is about a great snow
storm and cold weather in parts of En
gland. about which the English were thep,
as now. very fussy, not being so used to
such things ns we are hr New England.
And, speaking of that, here are a few let
ters from Boston, and by a man named
Gooch, who is a friend of Gopley, the
pgtnter, is married to “Sally Wearer.”
and has been a soldier and wounded in
Washington's army, as be writes in 1783.
This John Gooch first appears as men
tioned in 1770 or 1771. and that by infer
enre from a letter of January, 1772. He
seems to Ixave been an Englishman who
Lad married n first cousin of the two
vopng Cumberlands, ami conic to Boston
with her aunt. Mrs Marriot. He had
heard from the Cumberlands in August.
1773. and writes rather complaining of not.
getting later news in April. '74; then
adds:—
All Is tumult and confusion hi Boston,
and the Mob seem to bare taken the reins
of government-,-n most miserable chnriotaer,
-and I rear order will not be restored with
out. bloodshed They are tn general iMith
gentle and simple, teeming the art military,
so that it i< now grown impolite not to have
that soldierly ncrompilatiment. In all nrob
ability we mall soon be sfyled the nation of
soMlers.
Thia looks as if the December tea party
and the riots preceding and following,
which the iniquitous Boston port bill was
meant to punish, still found Mr Gooch
an Englishman and a tory. as the Cum
berlands were; but five weeks later (May
13. ’74), the wind is changing. Mr Gooch
wrote;—
The ineasurez taken lur tha ministry hsve
thrown all into confusion.- The shutting up
nt the ports is n procedure equally pernicious
to both pnrtjles. As the Colonies are united
In the common cause, every port will be
shut Up on the Continent: so that fleets and
armies can nroduce no otber effect than the
serumulntiug Charges iMennlpg the Increas
ing nntionai debt.) The spirit of resentment
rises so high, through all denominations, that
th»y ridicule the measures adopted to re
duce them and spam as the threatened
storm Md though the measures are btg
•rith the ruin of thouMnds. yet the gloomy
I prospect serves but to sharpsn their resent
ment. They never will submit to terms -they
think unjnat. unless .reduced by conquest.—
tile consequence of which must be mntun'
rain. Great Britain knows hut little of
America; and should they proceed to hostili
ties, I’m very doubtful whether they would
tie aide tn «sy with the Roman Tyrant.
"Vent, Mil. vies."
We hear little more from Mr Gooch,
extept a letter to his wife in Boston
<1779<, "by a Mr Copley, well known to
Mr Gooeh,”—our first good puinter. then
In London, to whom in April. 1783, Mr
U sends "My respectful compliments, ami
to his hrothei. Mr Jona. Clarke if you
are acquainted with theip. Probably
there is somewhere a portrait in pastel of
Mr and Mrs Gooch by Coplcx, and P«»-
Mhb the Mrs Marriot, the relative of
botfi Mra Gooch and the GBmhmiands.
may have bean aHS ah mcwfrtw of
Joseph Marryott. wlm marrie<l in Boston
aod was the father of the sea miVelwt.
I But now hear Mr Gooch's war record in
j ’88:-
tn such n war no man of spirit could re
main nn idle spectator; he must he active
on one side or the i-tlier. I naturally, anil
from n principle of duty I wns emiSctous of
io my ronntry. Joined the American standard.
■ -and although I have suffered greatly from
I the wounds T have received In several severe
I conflir.is. I have still been happy in reaping
i some small harvest of honor; and ever met
• the approbation r.nd fnror of our amiable
comaiar.der-in-chief: whose name, by the
i faithful historian will adorn the most shin
Ing pages of history, and be transmitted to
latest posterity with ihe most brilliant char
-1 acte;-. To know blm Is to love liini: the i-nuse
mid nffnet are inseparable. iA fine tribute to ।
G. Washington, notwithstanding his military
errors, so carefully pointed out by a north- ।
era eulogist of Gen Lee.) My health has ;
been greatly Impaired by wounds and the
fatigues of a camp. The wounds are not :
yet ail well, and I suppose my face will be
much disfigured: but that can give me no ।
great pain, as it never was an handsome one. I
Bravo. John Gooch! like the first John ।
■ Thoreuu iu Boston, yon fought against
j the churlish mother-country, while your >
i wife's relations were fighting ou the other :
j side. To match this story, let me quote j
another on the other side of the war and
the ocean. Writing horn his parsonage at
Driffield in Gloucestershire, Parson Rich
ard tells George this:—
(April 7. JTSO.t Before 1 was up this morn
ing. Alice Howel) called to tell us of a
strange visit they bad yesterday from a
young num. a brother of Dyer's, who was
c-orate here; they knew not what to make of
him. nor how to act by him. He was dressed
in a kind of Hrery, very dirty; wanted to
get to bis friends, but bad no money in his
pocket. They lind heard Mr Dyer sny he had
been extravagant, and were afraid to trust
j him with money, but thought it would be as
j well to give him a trifle and send him away.
I 1 Und ii^rer heard of Dyer's having a
1 brother: so bld her send him to me to break
fast. and tell him I should be glad to see
him. We came.—aud instead of the strange
figure I expected to see. there appears a
young naval officer, la a full suit of regi
mentals. rather the worse for wear: and ex
cept being a little shorter and thicker, so
like his brother I wanted no other certificate.
Entering into conversation. 1 learnt thnt he
was master's mate of the Eagle: was taken
prisoner at Fort Montgomery two years ago,
and had just made his escape from the
rebels, nud got hack in n prize ship to Bris
tol. There he was set on shore last week,
nml not knowing his brother had quitted
Ciceter (Cirencester) and had traveled there
on foot, but could get no intelligence. He
then remembered having been with his
brother to dine at Howell's, which Induced
Idm to go there. Having got directions to
his brother near Southampton, must en
deavor to get there as well ns be could.
All this time be snid nothing of his dis
tress for money, and would have taken
leove. I desired him to stay n little longer,
and. turning (be conversation to his method
of traveling. Inquired how he was provided?
He then told me be had set out from Bristol
with only eight shillings: that he had been
obliged to sell a clean shirt he had in bls
pocket, aud changed his last sixpence at
CDeter. i asked him If a guinea would be
sufficient? A guinea! he replied.—it was
more than he wished or hoped for. r part,
one Into hia hand: he seemed overjoyed, and
told me from being the most miserable man
in the- world T had made him the happiest:
the first use be would make of it he would
buy a pair of shoes. “No." said I. that
would out too deep.—l have a pair will fit
you.” On, trying them on. I perceived his
stockings were wet through tn coming only
from Howell's. He received them thankfully,
and I added an old but clean shirt, stock and
handkerchief, to appear among his friends at
Winchaster. which is above dO miles from
hence, oroas the country: and if he had not
niat with this relief, he was setting out with
hut twopence ha'penny In his pocket, scarce
anv shoos to his feet, and not a spare rag
he could sell. T gave Ulm » letter to his
brother, and he took leave with a very dif
ferent eonnter.anee from that he entered
with. Before be left the place he went to
Howell's and magnified the civilities he had
met with. Thcv tell me he seemed greatly
distressed nil the time lie was there: could
neither eat nor sleep, and. though he said he
wished 1 e knew the clergyman, would have
left them early in the morning without call
ing. if I had not sent for him: he was
ashamed to appear in so dirty a dress. . . .
He wonld have been mortified to have begged
ilia wav tbroiurK Wiltshire,—a mast dirty, in
liospitahle country
In America he had been quartered on s
farmer up the country, and escaped with
two sons of the fanner'*, who wished to
leave the Provincial service and get Into
ours. Tllev teak a Nack wrvant to carry
provisions.‘ami traveled many miles through
the woods, without daring to go near houses:
and. had he been taken, would have been
hanged immediately for carrying away the
natives.
Is not this like a scent from Goldsmith?
The broken soldier, kindlv bade to stay.
S»t by the fire and talked the night away.
It is paralleled, by that- incident of St
John de Creretocur in Normandy, meeting
the five navnl officers escaped from an
English prison in the same period, and
landed on tlm French coast; taking them
to his father's chateau, and sending them
home to Massachusetts, by the aid of Dr
Franklin: apd nfterwnrd dining with them
at the, house of the kindly Gustavus Fel
lows in Boston, who had brought the
abandoned children of St John from their
refuge in Westchester, N. Y.. and was
bringing them up in his own family, until
their father, returned from France, could
take them to his new home at New York
in 1784.
This volume begins with an account of
au English admiral, Sir John Balchen, the
grandfather of these Cumberlands, who,
a; the beginning of the 18th century, and
earlier was about his duty in the British
nary, and behaved himself honorably on
all oceasionii. At the end of the century
Admirals Kenpel and Nelson did their duty
ill the same honest manner, as Sir George
Trevelyan has related in the latest volume
of his life of Charles Fox. which is the
continuation of'his “History of the Amer
ican Revolution." This whole work has
been censured for its evident prepossession
in favor of'tlie American side in the dis
pute: mid an American critic finds Sir
George ignorant or indifferent to the hypo
thetic conclusions of English imperialists
and German theorists. He says, for in
stance. that certain Englishmen "regard
the struggle in America as the result of
an effort to organize the British empire.”
Dr Franklin, whose view of things in his
own time is more to be considered than
those (if historical guessers of to-day, re
garded it rather as an effort to disorganize
the inchoate empire which Pitt had called
into existence, and which his ministerial
succcessors. under the spur of the king,
brought to the verge of ruin. Pitt knew
how to enlarge nnd govern an empire of
freemen: George 111 was an honest man
who could not govern a parish wisely, nor
regrtlate his own family. In this respect
he much prefigured the- last three repub
lican administrations in our country, which
have brought it into national weakness and
international suspicion by breaking faith,
intermeddling everywhere, and establishing
a frontier 10.00 ft or 15.000 miles away:
which we cmild never defend, nnd which
tjie democrats, in spite of the New York
capitalist newspapers, the Bun and Times,
propose to remove some thousands of miles
nearer Washington. The Americans in
the Philippines have been repeating in
several wavs t^e blunders of the English
in the colonies during the Revolution: and
the iprompetent ministers of George TH
have been noisily followed hv our squan
derers of money nt Washington, tinny a
republican congressmnn. and Senator
Lodge most of all. might sfty now. as a
tory member of Parliament wrote in De
eembur. 1777.—“1 fee! with remorse nnd
sorrow ihnt I have given many mistaken
votes throughout this unhappy business. I
thought the war both just and practicable.
I think it is impractical tie now, whatever
I it, might hare been if properly conducted.
I know not what others mean to do. but
I shall “top short. Not. one drop more of
human blood or English trenanre ivijl I
vote<«wny for ends which I now believe
to be unattainable.” This is cited oy Tre
ytfyan in hi* new volutpe.
I HEADS NEW YORK SCHOOL BOARD.
i T>emas W, Ckarchlll la Okarafe of
Hdaeatloo-of *OO,OOO Cblldrrn.
I Thqmas W. ChurchillL leader of the so
called progressive element of the New York
hoard of education, whs unanimously elect
ed pfesldettt of the board last week. Me
Churchill i» a graduate of the New York
pttblic schools, and of the college of the
city of New York. He is about 48 years
old. His election places him m native com
maud of the education of 800,000 children.
COUNTY LEAGUE DIRECTORS MEET.
Apiiuiutment nt Committees to Dlreei
Improvement Matters.
The directors of the Hampden county
improvement league held their first regu
lar meeting Saturday at the board of trade
rooms in this city. There are 23 direc
tors, one to represent each town in Hamp
den county, and of these 18 were pres
ent, besides other interested men. The
general situation was carefully gone over
and Prof W. D. Hurd of the Massachu
setts agricultural college elaborated on
the talk which be gave a week ago at
Cooley's hotel, describing his idea of the
way iu which the venture should be pul
through. Oue of the most important
things done during the afternoon was
the establishment of an executive commit
tee of which Horace A. Moses of Russell
and Springfield was appointed chairman.
The other members of the executive com
mittee are T. W. Leete of Longmeadow.
E. E. Chapman of Ludlow, A. H. Smith
of West Springtfield and H. L. Miller of
Southwick.
There was appointed also a finance com
mittee, composed of J. L. Brooks of this
city, L. A. Allen of Westfield, F, D. How
ard of Chicopee and Frederick McLane
of Holyoke. It was decided to have a
committee ou membership with a chair
man-at-large and three members from
each town, each town delegation to in
clude the local director. E. W. Oatley
of this eity was elected ehairman-at-large
and the other members will soon be
ehoseu. Besides the membership commit
tee, it was decided to have a publicity
committee of one member from each town
and a ehairman-at-large. Wilbur F.
Young of this city was chosen as chair
man of that committee. The remainder
of the meeting was devoted to a general
consideration of the matter in hand.
SOME RURAL SKEPTICISM
That Ist Set Forth iu Lively- Fashion.
To the Editor of The RepaMicon.
I wonder if you can tel! me where the
"joker" or the "dark gentleman in the
fence” is in the rural uplift movement
born in your city yesterday? Are the
country people not bringing enough dollars
to the city? Has the doctrine of "broth
erly love" blossomed all at once to throw
a protecting shield about every benighted
dweller or the backwoods? Why are
the urbanites so solicitous about the dwell
er in the open spaces? Has the country
people's condition degenerated so greatly
that they need the help of the already
overburdened city people to make their
lot happier and more bearable?
Who makes a pot of money iu the city,
and then ru'shes to the country to buy
one of those delicious old colonial conn
try homes, with many-paned windows,
and big chimneys, to enjoy the ruddy
blaze of the open wood fire—and the
shade of the old. trees—and the breath of
the clean and untainted air of the woods
and fields?
O! Temporal O! Mores! the city boy is
sent to the country to give him health
ful associations and weau him from the
wicked ways of the eity—and the coun
try boy goes to the city, to make his for
tune. and is solemnly warned to spurn
and avoid the vicious allurements of city
life. Ye gods! what funny things we do!
Life is a grave matter. It is very ques
tionable as to whether all our advanced
civilization and scientific attainments,
gained at the expense of the every day
comfort of personal life, has been of any
very great material benefit to the majori
ty of the people. If any one wants to
take that statement as a challenge, I am
willing to argue it with him.
The social atmosphere of the country
is much better than that of the city, pop
ulation and opportunity considered. Eco
nomic conditions are not so good, because
there is neither so much co-operation nor
competition—but if any of these city up
lifters think the Massachusetts farmer
is just a piece of protoplasm, or a jelly
fish. he is mistaken. You strip the city
man's life of the nonessentiais and then
compare his lot with that of the average
farmer, and the farmer shows up as get
ting much more real living out of life
than the city man does. The slogan: "Back
to the soil!” shows the city man's crav
ings.
The "submerged tenth” of the country
Is a good deal like the receivers of the
“unearnedincrement" of capital. Not many
in either class. Remember the beam in
thine own eye before you go after the
mote in thy brother's eye Rural uplift
ers! Name it something else.
Tell them yon want more of their mon
ey. Tell them you are going to try to
show them how they can make more so
that they will be able to spend more with
you. Tell them trtfly that it's only a
business proposition—nnd they will bite
better, perhaps, than if you sugar-coat
the pill and try to make tfieni think you
ask out of pity for the awful and woful
condition they are in nnd because of the
benighted lives they live. Say. the first
missionaries to the heathen went from
the country before the cities had the
courage to send my.
No. they do not always look dressed
up, their whiskers are not always trimmed
in the latest style, their hair is some
times long—and their hands horny and
hard—but their hearts are in the right
place—they are intensely human and most
always their doors are open for the city
cousin who needs a rest and good things
to eat. Whoop it up to help the country,
but take off the mask. Veritas,
Brimfiedl. ■January 26, 1913.
FOB PATIENTS AT RUTLAND.
An Appeal to Provide Them With
Needed Facilities for Recreation.
To the Editor of The Republican:—
Will you allow me through your columns
to call the attention of the public to a
project which should appeal to every tnan
and woman who is interested in the great
fight against tuberculosis. I refer to the
work of the so-called private sanatorium
association ot Rutland, Mass. This asso
ciation is composed both of the physicians
in charge of private sanatoria there, of
those ot the state sanatorium, and peo
ple living in the town, who are deeply
interested in the welfare of the ever-in
creasing number of tuberculosis patients
who are slowly but surely making Rutland
their Mecca in Massachusetts. Saranac
Lake, New York, has biready become such
for patients from every part of our country
and even from abroad, and we need such
places in our own state. Those who coni
। pose this association, doctors and laymen,
are unselfishly working heart nnd soul to
better the condition of those who are af
flicted with the disease.
It is of vital importance thnt proper
means of-recreation and judicious exercise
should be offered to patients. No one who
lias had anything to do with the care of
those afflicted with this disease can full to
। know the. Importance of making the neces
sarily long exile from home and friends ns
bvithf and cheerful as possible under per
culiarly depressing circumstances. This
association proposes to raise the sum of
82000 as h nucleus, and to begin the work
by purchasing a suitable piece of land upon
; Which they hope to erec t a budding for a
I recreation ball and library, with surround
[ ing opportOnitles of outdoor amusements
! for winter and summer use, in elose prox
! imity to the small sanatoria and boarding
i houses noh' devoted to the treatment of
! tiihereulosis.
; Having-watched the growth of this plan
! since its incipieney and knowing the char
. aeter of those who began it, it gives me the
greatest possible pleasure to give my tes
. timony as to the crying need of aueh work
and to urge a generous support by the
public of those who are devoting tile '
time, money and energies in behalf of their
fellOw-numan beings. Contributions of over
the smallest amounts wiU be gratefully re
ceired by the Rutland sanatorium associa
tion, Rutland, Mass.
ViNCExr Y. Bowditch.
Boston. January 31, 1913.
A HELI’FI L SUGGESTION.
Reading: Matter for Consumptive
Patients.
To the Editor of The Republican.:—
The state sanatoriums for consumptives
at Rutland and Westfield are filled with
patients the majority of whom have
strength, time and inclination to read. The
libraries provided are small and financial
provision for new books is meager; there
fore, many of the patients long for read
ing matter which would bring cheer and
self-forgetfulness. It has occurred to the
writer that in the homes of Springfield
and vicinity there are hundreds of vol
umes of fiction no longer of use and in
numerable magazines which would relieve
many a weary hour and bring cheer to
those who have naught to do but lie and
think of their own physical ills.
Will you kindly call attention to this
need and advise your readers that, any
books left with the writer at Johnson's
Bookstore will be apportioned to the two
sanatoriums and forwarded.
V. M. Schenck.
Springfield. January 29, 1913.
GLEANINGS AND GOSSIP.
Mrs Woodrow Wilson will retain Mrs
Taft's housekeeper when she takes pos
session of the White House on March 4.
Mrs L. A. Jaffray, who has served the
Tafts, was asked recently by Mrs Wil
son to remain, and slic. accepted, not
withstanding that the president and Mrs
Taft had hoped to take Mrs Jaffray to
New Haven with them.
Oyster planting is being abandoned in
Virginia, according to the report of Hie
state commission on fisheries. This docs
not mean, however, a decline of the oyster
industry, which seems to be flourishing.
On the contrary, planting is rapidly dimin
ishing because of the increase of produc
tion from the natural rock, which is free
to all citizens of Virginia. As a result
"tonging." which declined when cultiva
tion was at its higiit, is again coming into
use.
The students' shoe-shine stand at Prince
ton. established by the student bureau of
self help, is not quite so democratic as il
sounds, because the actual work is to be
done by Italians, the students playing the
role of "padroni." but very likely the
“shine" will be of better quality for being
applied by a professional band. But how
about the Italians having been "specially
imported for the purpose"? Is that no)
playing hob with the contract labor law?
This detail must be taken as an orna
mental advertising flourish.
A commission appointed to select two
Tennesseans to be honored with statues
in statuary hall at Washington decided
yesterday at Nashville on John Sevier.
Indian fighter and first governor of the
state, and Andrew Jackson, hero of the
battle of New Orleans, and later presi
dent. The report will be sent to the
Legislature at Nashville. Some members
nt first favored Gen Nathan Bedford
Forest of civil war fame and former
Senator Edward W. Carmack. The final
vote, however, was unanimous.
That Russian subjects of Jewish faith
are giving Russian names to their children
commonly enough to have created an is
EUe to be met by judicial ruling, is a mat
ter of some significance in the history of
these people. It used to be the custom,
dictated by considerations of religious
faith, to give a child the name of a dead
relative; . and before government regula
jima required surnames a man was known
only as the son of his father, as the great
"Maimonides,” for instance, was Moses
ben Maimon, or Moses, the. son of Maimon.
Even Russia cannot entirely escape service
as a melting pot of the races.
The difficulty of the problem with which
Berlin has to contend in building the new
New Royal opera house may be seen from
the fact that 02 different schemes are to
be shown in a public exhibition. At one
lime it was practically decided to put the
building on the site of the venerable “new '
building bv the Tiergarten, so as to make
ti monumental square with one side open
But to this plau there has been opposition
and other sites have been proposed, uota
blv the corner of the Tiergarten near Pots
damerulatz. All the feasible solutions sug
eested are to be shown in the exposition
which will be held in the Anhalter railway
station.
An American woman, now an Italian
princess, has caused a sensation at a soci
ety function in Rome by leading a hon and
a ‘leopard chained together into the ball
room. The pleasant little incident, recalls
Edward Lear's famous limerick recited by.
President-elect Wilson on a now historic
occasion:—
There was a young lady of Niger .JQJI
Who smiled ns she rode ou a tiger.
They returned from the ride
With the lady Inside
Aud the smile on the face of the tiger.
1f beauty and the two beasts hud fared
likewise it would indeed have been a calam
ity. But it might have been worse.
A somewhat mysterious amateur student
of '‘commercialized vice,” who says he has
been assisted by 14 government paid in
vestigntors. told the Curran committee at
New York last week that there were in
that citv 20,000 white slaves held by
6100 men, many of whom enjoy more or
less police protection. The situation, is
bad enough at all events, and something
has been gained in the general readiness
to attack the problem ou its economic side.
Hqweverdeep rooted in civilization and hu
man nature the problem of vice may be,
in its "commercial" phase it is already
quite understandable, and to that extent
susceptible eventually ot' vigorous treat
ment.
It is surprising to find the proposal to
open the Olympic games to professionals
broached in England, but President Willis
of the South London harriers' club in pro
posing this change at the dubs’ annual
dinner said frankly that England was at
a disadvantage at present because the
line between amateurs and professionals
was more sharply drawn than in other
countries. Also more nndeinocratically, he
might have added; in England amateur
sport has been mainly an affair for the
gentry, and some sports like rowing have
been practically barred till quite, lately to
the less privileged classes. In the old days
the distinction between an amateur and a
professional was about as plain as the
distinction between a man and a horse,
the man being held for the nobler creature
even if not able to run so fast. But ot
late years it has not in all cases been so
easy to distinguish.
A fine project for the betterment of
London was outlined by Lord Curzon at a
recent meeting of the London society. The
north side of the river he would leave as
it is. perhaps giving it tip as hopeless, hili'
south of the Thames be would like to make
a clean sweep. In this he was seconded by
the arehitect Sir Aston Webb, who said:—
One of their dreams was the embanking of
the southern side of the Thames. They
thought thnt if that •mbuuknieut were to
extend from Westminster bridge to South
walk cathedral the Thames would be the
noblest river passing through the center of
the capital eltv of any empire. Another was
that ttiev wouM like to see n great thorough
rare from the soutlieru end of Westminster
bridge ioinlng one end of London bridge, and
they believed that that was a dream which
would prove to ire a strictly remunerative
transaction. Another dream was that the
two iron bridges ot (‘haring cross atid Can
non street should be replneed by stone ones.
Another matter in which they were con
earned was that some statutory power should
be given to some authority to lay down
deflnltelv the main roads out of London to
the snliurlis mid to other parts of England.
At present there arc. some 15 different
town-planning schemes on foot, and he
felt that it wa« fiiinlamoutal to place th”
great radial thoroughfares first, and to fit
the other projects to IheM.