Springfield weekly Republican. [volume], October 21, 1915, Page 6, Image 6

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

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6
; MUSIC AND MUSICIANS
OUR MUSICAL "FUTURE
VIEWED BY AN OPTIMIST
- STRANSKYS FRANK CRITICISM
Hew York Philharmonic Conductor
Says. However. That Americans
Must Take Their Music More
Seriously
Josef Stransky. the conductor of the
Philharmonic orchestra at New York is
► highly optimistic of the future of musical
art in America, but he is convinced that
at the present time real appreciation of
good music is suffering from a desire
J characteristic of Americans generally to
attain swiftly a superficial interest in
many kinds of amusement. To regard
music as an amusement at all. he believes,
is wrong. He insists that musical art will
not develop in any country unless it is
really desired and taken seriously. How
a sounder basis for the right enjoyment of
real music in America may be established
is the subject of an interesting interview
with this famous conductor which appears
in the October number of the Craftsman.
He makes a strong plea for the more thor
ough musical education of *he young.
“The way to love music, to increase its
-*■ production,’’ says Mr Stransky. ”is to
know it when you are young—young indi
vidually and young as a nation. It is
much more difficult to prepare people to
enjoy music after they are grown up and
their minds have become crowded with
various interests in life. The American
nation should not let its youth slip by
without filling the souls of the children
with music. There is no reason why you
should not have many great composers
here, many creators of wonderful sound,
new kinds of music fresh out of the heart
of a new kind of civilization. Nature has
a sound for every emotion, so that in a
world filled with new emotion the music
of the people should be full of extraordi
nary new sounds and harmonies.
“But this will never come about until
children are taught music in the schools
and taught music in the homes just as
they are in the continental families. Chil
dren. all children, love music if it is pre
sented to them with enthusiasm and sim
plicity. They clamor for it if the oppor
tunity is given to them. Your schools
should be full of the opportunity for chil
dren to have and to express themselves
in musical notes. In fact if the schools
began this movement it would be forced
into the families, because the children
would take it there: the children would
demand musical environment once the
schools opened up their hearts to it”
Music Needed in the Home
Mr Stransky admits that his experiences
with Americans show that they take a
very light view of artistic matters. He
notices also that conversation about mu
sic is not as general as it should be in so
cial life here.
“Yon are bound.” he says, “to talk about
the thing you love, and talking about it
widens your understanding. But what do
you suppose the average young people
• ask me when I meet them of an evening or
at an afternoon tea? I am always pre
pared to have them say. 'What music do
you most enjoy conducting, what sculp
ture seems mo6t significant to you, that of
V France or of the north of Europe, are
you interested in modern painting, or do
*" you prefer the older school?’ But that is
not "what happens to me at all. I am
often asked if T dance the hesitation
‘ waltz, do I like it better than the tango,
is the tango as popular in Germany as in
America, do I find the one-step interest
ing. and so on? These are thought to be
musical questions: but truly they are not
x the questions that music lovers .isk each
other or talk about or think significant.
So much of what you call entertainment
in America is merely an ’opportunity for
flirting.’ Even music drowns soft conver
sation or affords opportunity for interest
ing dancine. It is ‘the music of the flirt’
that I find everywhere very popular.
“And this is not for a moment because
the American women and young people
who love music are not capable of the
- highest development. Many of them
have already achieved it. X find a steady
progress in musical interest, musical en
thusiasm and artistic culture: but as yet
-the young people here do not hare their
minds directed definitely enough in musi
-• cal channels. Ido not see groups of chil
dren standing about a piano in the twi
light and singing to a mother’s accom
paniment. I do not see the boys of a
neighborhood forming a small orrhititra
Md playing really fine music as thev do in
France and Germany. And mo"st ex- :
traordinary of all I find so often that peo- I
pie., and especially young people, are sat
isfied with only once hearing a beautiful
piece of music.”
How Mothers Con Gnlde Children
- Having described the musical influences
which are thrown around young children
in Europe, and the aid it has given their
. emotional expression, the conductor makes
some suggestions to mothers as follows:—
“A child should be taught to read mu
sic as he is taught to read books for hia
own individual delight, for his develop
ment and increased spirituality. What
you can do for others with your music is
not important, unless you are a great
musician: it is what music can do for you
that If through an understanding
of the music of the world and enjoyment
1 of it you dosire to create, then it is worth
while for you to think of what you can
accomplish for others. So I urge Ameri
can mothers to do all in their power to
stimulate their children's interest in mu
sic. never to terrify them with the idea
that they must play for people, never to
suggest that their music has anything to 1
do with the outside world, beyond the fact
that it enables them better to understand
and love what the great masters have pro
duced. and to seek for themselves man?
hours of delight as they experience through
' the musical instrument they eelect, the
’ emotions of the musicians of all the
world."
Mr Stransky is skeptical of any project
to form etock companies of singers in
r American cities or permanent choruses.
He doe* not believe that people emploved
in other ways, and to whom singing is a
side issue, or who are busy in home life
and are able to give only a few hours a
day to singing and study, could form a
satisfactory opera chorus.
“But.” he adds. “ I do not say that it is
not possible with a growing interest in
music to have in America what we have
throughout Germany and Austria that
• ia. in all towns large enough to support
.* such an undertaking, an established op
era house, with a stock company, got to
gether by music loTers in the town, sup
ported by the town, famishing oppartuni
' ty for the development of music in the
town.
“I am sure that much valuable talent
would come to life in this way and that
an enormous increase in mimical interest
would float through the country. If once
a chain of opera house* was estohliabed
throughout America, we would be aston
ished not only at the greater desire for
Wgfc s£ ™.id £%& tolheemtta*
of a national musical style. Large ex
pense would not be involved, not more
than is given to the opera in many towns
abroad, and it would soon become a part
of the native development of the people
to study and work for musical achieve
ment in their neighborhood.”
MELBA HEBE NOVEMBER 9
Ticket Sale tor Auditorium Concert
Will Begin on November 2
Springfield will be one of the first cities
in America to hear Mme Melba on her
coming tour. She will sing in the Audi
torium. Tuesday evening, November 9,
under the direction of C. A. Ellis of Bos
ton. manager of the Boston Symphony or
chestra. Mme Melba will be heard in
only a limited number of engagements
and it was her express wish that Spring
field be included early in her tour. She
was keenly disappointed in being obliged
to cancel last year, after she was assured
of the record house of the season On
this tour Mme Melba is assisted by Bea
trice Harrison, ’cellist; Robert Parker,
baritone, and Frank St Ledger, pianist.
The general sale of reserved seats will
open at Otto Baah's piano house. 21 Elm
street, Tuesday. November 2. and mail
orders accompanied by check will be filled
in the order of their receipt.
In view of Mme Melba's coming ap
pearance. it is interesting to look back
and see what some of the ablest critics
have said of her and her art in the past.
It is a fair statement that few judgment*
carry more weight with musicians and
music lovers in general than that of Philip
Hale of Boston. His experience has cov
ered a third of a century, and he is nota
ble for fairness and justice. Some years
ago he wrote of Mme Melba as follows:—
“There is still no voice like unto that
of Mme Melba, and no one of her sisters
on the operatic or concert stage uses
voice with the like spontaneity and ease.
Thirteen years have gone by since she
first gave delight to this city, but charmed
and applauding time has constantly en
riched her. When she first visited us.
her reputation was that of a brilliant col
oratura singer, with a voice of unsur
passable beauty. Impersonating Mimi
eight years ago. she showed that she was
more than a singer of dazzling bravura
Her tones had a warmth, a sensuous qual
ity. that some had denied her. Those who
were so fortunate as to hear her mem
orable performance of Marguerite's music
in “The Damnation of Faust’ gt a Cecilia
concert, a few years ago were struck by
the richness of her middle and lower tones,
which were in themselves expressions of
womanly and tender emotions,
‘To-day this voice is still brilliant in
florid passages: it still has the freshness,
the ’girlish quality,’ that has always char
acterized it. and set It apart from those
of other singing women: hut it now has
a fulness, a richness, and a sumptuous
ness that are incomparably beautiful. The
voice of Mme Melhn would work a won
drous spell even if the artistry of the
singer were not uncommon, thrice ad
mirable.”
NO HOSTILITIES IN MUSIC
To Bar Operas of Any Belligerent
Country Would Be Bank Foolishness
An editorial in the New Music Keview
speaks with much sanity on the question
of allowing the hostilities of war to in
fluence the attitude of a nation or Indi
vidual toward the music of a belligerent
nation. It says: The more opera the bet
ter for those who really believe that opera
is the highest form of musical art. French
opera should, of course, be cultivated
There is no room for chauvinism in this
country. To bar German opera at the
Metropolitan would be foolish. For Ger
mans to stav away from performance* of
operas by Frenchmen or Italians would
be equally foolish. But what is to be
*aid of the extraordainry contribution of
M Vincent d’lndy to the album that ex
pressed the gratitude of France toward
the United States? He wrote, if he is cor
rectly reported and the translation is ac
curate:—
"The day that the United States rids
its orchestras and schools of German
musicians. I am firmly convinced that
then will arise for liberated musical Amer
ica the dawn of a new art. which will
spread itself over the world in works
truly beautiful and original.”
M d’lndy is to be respected as man
and musician. His artistic aims are pure
and noble. As a musician he is. indeed,
a master, although his compositions may
have a certain austerity displeasing to
the great majority. But his prophecy
that includes a wish is foolish.
What would become of our orchestras
if all the Germans were to be dismissed?
Why should they be dismissed? Did M
d’Tady. visiting this country, find that his
music played by the Boston symphony
orchestra sounded the worse because many
members of that organization were Ger
mans? Did he then complain to Maj Hig
ginson, the public, or the press?
This country owes a great debt to Ger
mans for its musical development. Theo
dore Thomas did missionary work of in
calculable value He taught the country
what an orchestra should be; he acquaint
ed it with the best compositions of all
schools and all countries, for his taste was
catholic. Ho was the great educator. Nor
should C’arl Bergmann. Leopold DamrPseh.
Carl Zerrnhn he forgotten. Did Messrs
Gericke, Nikis-h, Paur “delay the dawn
of a new art"? Is Dr Muck attempting,
as one ir, the secret service of the Em
peror William, plotting to postpone this
dawning? An American composer* ham
pered by the thought that their works may
be played Ur Germans? Is their fancy
thereby chilled, their imagination stifled?
Let us dissociate politics and music. The
great republic of art knows no boundaries.
KBEISLER WORKS ON SCORE
Violinist Will Remain Another Season
In United States. Probably at »2000
a Concert
Fritz, Kreisler. who is to remain in this
country for another sc ason, is not going
to trust exclusively to his receipts as a
player in concert for all his profits. He i»
hard at work on the score of an operetta
which will soon lie ready for the publish
ers. 'Who has accepted the new composi
tion has not yet been announced, although
! there.has already been a lively demand for
the rights. Kreisler is said to have writ
ten the work in the vein of the lightest
Viennese music.
None of the other musicians who have
been in this country during the last season
has profited by the war to the extent that
the Austrian violinist has. His fee has
now increased to S2O<V) for a single ap
pearance. which is unprecedented in the
case of a violinist. This advance was al
together due to the phenomenal success of
his concerts, which last season met with
a degree of financial appreciation alto
gether unprecedented. Whether or not
this popularity will continue with the
wound in his font altogether healed and
his war experiences gradually fading into
the perspective of history, remains to be
aeen.
But with his comic opera a aueces* he
may afford to regard hit concert* a* of
secondary importance. Another musician
who is interested in the fate of a comtc
opera is Otto Gorits of the Metropolitan
opera house. He is at Schroon lake put
ting the finishing touche* to the libretto
whieh he composed several years ago. lie
was then too little confident of his knowl
edge of English to attempt a translation
of the work into the vernaenlar. But the
English text is now ready for production.
Thomna A. Edison well deserve* the
honors which San Francisco and the Pan
ama-Pacific exposition authorities have
prepared for him. He ia a great, citizen of
THE SPRINGFIELD WEEKLY REPUBLICAN: THURSDAY, OCTOBER 21, 1915
AS THE CURTAINS RISE
AN3PACHER SCOREB AGAIN
BROADHURST PLAY OPENS, TOO
Sherlock Holmes is Revived at the
Empire Theater, New York, by
William Gillette—Morosco to
Be Independent
The vicinity of Graustark, a country
which is quite a* real for most of us a*
Ukraine, Volybinia and the Pripet marshes,
has been singled out by George Broadhurst
as the scene of his latest play, "What
Money Can’t Buy,” which was produced
early last week at the Forty-Eighth Street
theater, New York. The title of the piece
is more or less misleading, for instead of
being a problem play or exposition of the
■
'
COLONY CLUB HOUSE FROM THE WEST
Although Taken Before the Colony Club Acquired the Wesson Home, This Picture Shows the House Almost As
It Looks to-day. The Only Noticeable Change Is the Glassing In of the West Porch for a Palm Room
why and wherefore of the perfect life.
"What Money Can’t Buy” is a trivial ro
mance revolving about the American mill
ionaire who builds railroads and his dash
ing son who win? the hand of a princess.
The adventures of this pair in a land bor
dering Graustark are worked up to a tech
nically admirable climax in which the
father, up to his ears ib- the task of bor
rowing a paltry $¥0,000,000 With which to
build his road, is subjected to a night of
extreme suspense while waiting word of the
son. who. he knows, is fighting a duel with
some dapper nobleman of the country.
"What Money Can't Buy” decidedly is aot
up to the work of which Mr Broadsurst is
capable. But the cast, headed by George
Fawcett, play for all they are worth, and
the ending sets the bird of freedom to giving
raucous tongue. Ann Meredith plays the
princess, and William Tlevereux. Calvin
Thomas, William B. Mack and others are
included in the cast.
Louis K. Enspacher, undaunted by the
chilliness with which his skilful comedy
drama. “Our Children. l ' had recently been
received, now submits to the patrons of
drama a play called “The L'nchnstened
Woman.” which had its premiere a week
ago last night at the Thirty-Ninth Street
theater. The plot unfolds the character of
a Mrs Knolys. the “unehaetencd woman,”
selfish, rebellious, a wisher of good to no
one. She returns from playing with fire
in Italy, and learns that another woman
has entered her husband's life. Later,
meeting a man who is to marry this wom
an. she discloses what she knows, but is
disbelieved and forced to sign a retraction
through the power of evidence her husband
has of the Italian escapades. At the same
time she seeks to bring misery to still an
other couple by telling of a young archi
tect’s infatuation for her and the insistence
with which he wooed her on the journey
abroad. The whole is cleverly drawn out
to show the untempered nature of the cen
tral figure, and Mr Anspacher has laid it
on with a heavy brush, showing the un
chastened woman unrelieved by anything
hut a barely retained chastity, and an en
tirely reasonable pique at her husband’*
fall from grace.
An admirable performance in "The T'n
chasteaed Woman” is that of Emily Ste
vens as Mrs Knolys, while H Reeves Smith
as b*r husband and Christine Norman and
R. Hassgrd Short, a* one of the couples
she has sought to estrange, also do excel
lently. The most important feature of the
new play seems to be its affirmation of Mr
Ansparher's ability, which was rather vig
orously suggested by "Our Children.” He
will probably continue to provide nourish
ing dramatic food for the none too groaning
table of our theater.
Sherlock Holmes with patient noncha
lance. has again infested the being of Will
iam Gillette, who has brushed off the smok
ing jacket, ordered Watson to polish the
needle, and reappeared tu the famous de
tective play at the Empire theater. It is
the same Sherlock Holmes Ss of old, and
the audiences seem to be no less appreci
ative than formerly. An interesting inno
vation is the device of darkening and il
luminating the stage at the close of each
act. instead of raising and lowering the
curtain for the curtain calls. It is a
scheme which well may be copied elsewhere
with interesting effect and a saving of both
time and bother.
An Interesting announcement of the
week was Oliver Morotco'a statement that
his agreement to produce hia New York
plays at Shuhert theaters had expired.
He will hereafter be an independent man
ager, booking with both the Bhuberts nad
Klnw & Erlangcr, unless the former re
fuse his future plays. Mr Morosce is
producer of “The In chastened Woman”
just considered. He intends on Novemoer
S to produce another play at the Gaiety,
which is eontroled by Klaw & Erlanger, and
if the Anspacher drama is still running
at that time there will result the unusual
spectacle of plujs owned by the same
man .-unning simultaneously tit Shubert
and “K. & E.” bounce. Mr Morosco has
decided on independence that he may
have greater freedom in the seven pro
ductions he plans for New York this sea
son.
A notable "out-of-town” production of
the past week was Otis Skinner's opening
at the New National theater, Washington
l). C„ in Henry Arthun Jones's new com
edy, “Cock o’ the Walk " The comedy' is
a playful satire on the titled actor-man
agers who dominate the British stage of
the present generation At Washington
high opinions were expressed both of the
play and the acting of Mr Skinner and his
company.
"Chin Chin,” the phenomena! success of
Montgomery & Stone at the Globe theater
is still running on through its "last few
years” as the advertisements so cleverly
say. Fred .Stone hss offered SIOO in re
turn for the 1,000,000 th ticket sold at the
tmx office, and someone will soon have a
bit ofluek for the total has already passed
915,000.
THE STORY OF ADELAIDE
Play Which Blspham 1* Doing De
picts Episode In Idle of Beethoven
The one-act play “Adelaide” in which
SB Beethoven, David Bispham will appear
at the Court Square theater on Wednes
day, the 27th, depicts a romantic episode
in the life of the great composer, and was
written by Hugo Muller about 1862, 35
years after the death of the master
musician. The story is founded upon a
fact briefly told in writing to a friend,
by Beethoven himself, though poetic li-
cense has been taken by the author in
elaborating his play, which shows Beet
hoven in his lodeings in Vienna about 100
years ago.
The composer is annoyed by his laun
dress and his garrulous landlady, whose
young daughter Clara soothes him. She is
the only one who-' knows of his sudden
deafness, and she becomes his confidante.
After she has confessed her seemingly
hopeless lore for Ffarrz his amanuensis,
Beethoven promises to write a symphony,
the proceeds of which will be her dot so
that she may marry and be happy, as he
never was. for his noble sweetneart vu*
torn from him and given to another; but
all his music since has been written with
her in mind.
The master after telling Clara his se
cret. leaves the room, and Franz enters
with the exquisite song "Adelaide.’’ which
Beethoven had composed upon the name
of the countess whom he had not seen
for many years. While the lovers are
playing und singing it, Adelaide herself
enters unobserved, and, hearing the song
written to her, realizes that Beethoven
remembers her still. She makes known
the object of her visit and demands to see
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MAIN STAIRWAY IN COLONY CLUB HOUSE
Only Minor Changeg of Arrangement Were Necessary in the Magnificent Central Hall of the Former Wesson
Mansion
Beethoven. Little Clara calls the mas
ter, who enters, greatly annoyed at fur
ther interruption. He cannot see the
lady's face through her veil: he thinks she
t* an admirer hegging for an autograph
or a lock of his hair, and is about to leave
the room when she raises her veil as he
passes. Beethoven detains her and con
fesses that he Is deaf.
A poignant scene follow*. When ah* is
gone Beethoven goes to hi* piano, and,
before the curtain slowly descends, ex
temporizes upon what the world knows
as the "Moonlight” sonata. Supporting
Mr Bispham in "Adelaide”-and who will
also appear in tha miscellaneous concert
called "The Rehearsal,” which will pre
cede the presentation of the Beethoven
£lay, are. Mme Marie Narelle. mezzo,
lisa Kathleen Coman. piano. Mias Tdelle
Patterson, soprano. Henri Barron, tenor,
aßd Graham Harris, violinist.
Every American hoy for several genera
tions has been understood to be a possible
president, hut it has remained for Senator
.lames Hamilton Lewi* of Illinois to Be
introduced as "u born vice-president,”
COLONY CLUB OPENING
AT D. B. WESSON MANSION
TO INSPECT BEAUTIFUL HOME
OVER 1500 GUESTS INVITED
One of the Most Costly Residences in
America to House Club Admitting
Women as Well as Men—Rare
Equipment Now Complete—Re
ply of a Woman Over 80
This week saw the opening of the former
D. B. Wesson mansion on Maple street in
this city as the completely furnished home
of Springfield's new Colony club. This
clnb. which promises if for no other rea
son than its remarkable house, to be
unique among social dubs of the country,
threw open the doors of its new Pome
for inspection by its men and women mem
bers and invited guests on Tuesday even
ing. More than l.VM'r invitations were
sent” out to members of the club’s broth
er and sister organizations in Springfield,
the list including the Xayasset club, the
Country dub, the Women's elnb. the Win
throp club, The Club, etc. The inspection
had more than local scope, for guests -were
invited from Holyoke, Greenfield. North
ampton, and even from New York and
Boston.
Those familiar with the exterior of the
Wesson mansion, acknowledged to be one
of the finest residences in the country,
will notice only minor alterations under
the new owners, and those only on the
rear or western side of the house where
a piazza has been glassed in to form the
palm room, or main dining room, con
nected with the grill. Most of the changes
have been confined to the interior hut
even here the house as it came into the
hands of the club was astonishingly well
adapted to the purposes of a clubhouse
such aa the members had in view. An
other valuable aaset only realized when
the slight alterations were being com
pleted i* that at very slight expense addi
tions can he made for enlarging the house
and making it more commodious.
The casual visitor uninitiated in the
technic of architecture and interior deco
rating is apt to be impressed only by
the solidness of the structure, the sweep
of the main staircase, or the artistic fin
ish of some of the ceilings and walls. To
the expert, the Colony clubhouse is some
thing far different. Its intricate carv
ings and beautifully paneled woodwork
are said by good judges to compare favor
ably with the best to be found In the royal
palaces of Europe. Neither money, brains
nor skill were spared to make every detail
of the house, perfect, and the smallest
and moat obscure carvings arc executed
with the nicety and perfection accorded
the conspicuous wooden figures that orna
ment the stairway. Every piece of wood
work was selected with the utmost care
and great: pain* were taken to see that
i adjoining pieces of wood matched as close
ly as was possible. In almost every par
ticular. the house stands as a fitting me
morial to its builder, a man possessed of
a passion for precision and perfection in
the making of every article.
The house, numbering some 20 rooms,
completed in 1894, is of the French cha
teau design, constructed of New Bruns
wick pink granite, which was selected
with the greatest care. The building was
designed by Bruce. Price of New York
and is an excellent example of the Louia
XIV period. The Maple-street entrance
of the house leads through a vestibule
into the magnificent hall, with floor, wain
j scot and beamed ceiling of richly carved
l American quartered oak. From the c£n
• ter of the hall rises a stairway of grand
proportions, elaborately carved from solid
blocks of finest oak. A massive fireplace
of verde antique and Gobelin tapestry
frieze, especially woven, give this room
the finishing touch of elegance. On the
right is the women's reception room in
satinwood, delicately carved in Greek de
sign, and hung with satin damask. On
the left: south side of the main hall is the
women’s dining room, with walls of white
enameled cherry, its carvings decorated in
gold leaf. A feature of this room is a
strikingly beautiful ceiling decoration
painted by the Italian artist Tojette.
At the southwest is me men's lounge,
wainscoted in English oak with heavily
beamed ceiling and frieze of tapestry. At
the northwest is the grill, high wainscoted
in Ban Domingo mahogany, both of these
rooms opening into the spacious west porch
now inclosed with glass and overlooking
the attractive grounds. This porch is to
be used as the men's dining room. The
service room and kitchen adjoin the latter,
amply equipped for the exacting needs of
a club cuisine.
The several apartments on the second
floor are all finished in the choicest of
woods, each room being of different wood
exquisitely hand-carved. At the west the
cardroem is finished in bird’s-eye maple,
at the north the billiard room in Circas
sian walnut, the east cardroom in white
mahogany and the reading room in the
same style as the billiard room. These
rooms are all hung in the finest silk dam
ask and the floors are of quartered oak
of faultless workmanship. At the south
are two large rooms suitable for cards,
musicals, recitals, dinners, tea. etc., with
women's retiring room and coat rooms ad
joining. The apartment on the southeast
corner is finished in satinwood with man
telpiece of Mexican onyx. The south
west room has the richest display of rare
wood in the building. Its finsh is of East
India mahogany, a marvel of beautiful
markings unsurpassed even by Mexican
onyx; its mantle is of Sienna marble, ex
quisitely chiseled. On the third floor are
six sleeping rooms reserved for members
and guests. The office of the clerical force
and steward is on this floor.
In the basement are the laundry, store
rooms and other service departments. The
house is heated by an indirect hot-water
system from furnaces in an adjoining
building connected by an underground pas
sage. Here, too, is located the garage,
stable and courtyard, just north of which
is ground for tennis, and other outdoor
sports of limited requirements.
As is apparent at a glance the Colony
club begins its career with an equipment
which, although secured at a figure wholly
incommensurate with its cost, is on a par
with some of the latest and best known
clubs in America. In seizing the oppor
tunity made possible by the generosity
of the heirs of the late D. B. Wesson, the
cluh did two things: It made possible a
club or society for which Springfield has
long felt the need, and it saved for the
city an almost priceless building which
will enhance Sjpringfleld’s already enviable
reputation in that line. Although the resi
dent membership is at present lim
ited to 175, such an organization
as the cluh promises to he should
have the best sort of influence in
the community; and no doubt that in
fluence will not be impaired by the unique
idea contained in the fourth section of ar
ticle 4 of the dub’s by-laws whieh says:
“Women not under 25 years of age shall
be eligible to associate membership ” Else
where the by-law* contain the following:
“Resident membership (to which men not
under 25 are eligible) also admits to the
privileges of the dub the member’s wife,
mother, sisters and daughters when re
siding in the same house with the mem
ber.” That Springfield women are avail
ing themselves of the opportunity of join
ing the club is shown by the following re
ply to the invitation written by a well
| known woman of this city:—
It may seem very inconsistent in ». woman
past four-score years to accept your very
! kind Invitation to join as associate member
n social club like the Colony club, but I am
going to do it.
Thanking you for remembering me. I am,
Cordially yours, v
The following list of the associate mem
bers who have formally joined the club
thus far will be of general Interest: Mra
George F. Barton, Mrs Alfred Birnie, Mrs
Harriet S. C. Birnie, Mrs William H.
Haile, Mr* Charles E. Stickney, .Mrs Will
iam B. Walker, Miss Amy B. Alexander,
Mies Elizabeth N. Barton, Miss Kebecca
Birnie, Miss Sophia W. Howard. It is
already indicated that this list will be
largely and rapidly increased.
BO «» SCHUBERT MALE CHORUS
Men Will Begin Rehenrsnle for Y. M.
C, A. Concert Monday
The Schubert male choir under Arthur
H. Turner's direction began winter
rehearsals Monday evening at 8 o'clock.
The choir this year will have 60 voices
instead of 80 and will appear regularly
in the Young Men’s Christian association
mass-meeting* in the Auditorium Sunday
afternoons. The first appearance will he
on the afternoon of November 7, when
the association’s winter series-starts. At
that concert Eleanora Sparks, soprano of
the Metropolitan opera house, will be the
soloist.
The male choir was created last winter
by Mr Turner and became one of the most
popular musical organizations of the city
before the end of its first season It ap
peared once in a Young Men's Christian
association concert in conjunction with
the Masonic male chorus of WaterTrary,
Ct., which is also directed by Mr Turner,
and scored a great success with about
4000 people of Springfield in the Audito
rium. This fall the announcement of the
reorganization of the Schubert choir
brought out more singers than Mr Turner
could use and a long waiting list of ten
ors. baritones and basses is at the direc
tor’s calk
BOSTON CLUB ACTIVITIES
One Clnb Dates Back to Revolutionary
Day*
From Our Special Correspondent.
Boston, Thursday, October 14
The return of October brings our fine
array of Boston dubs into activity again
both the large and the small ones, the old
and the new. There is still one, dating
Worn, fe H ev olution, which is older than
the Massachusetts historical society, now
more than 120 years old. This, though a
learned society, and the oldest of its class
'? , e world, as we believe, is in effect a
club, though it neither maintains a club
house nor gives periodical dinners nor
lunches, though semioccasional ones. It
met to-day for the first time since June 10,
and, as usual of late, had to receive notice
of another death among its hundred resi
dent members, and its 57 honorarv anil
corresponding members, of whom in the
course of nature 8 or 10 die in each yenr
and are duly commemqrated by speeches
and memoirs. Few papers were offered
to-day, but many documents of ancient or
recent interest come in every month, and
about half these get into print in the vol
umes which appear first in brochures, and
finally in octavo volumes. Few of the
active members know how rich this club is
in these accumulating documents, inval
uable to historical or political writers, who
might make more use of these archives
than they do.
Another of these dubs, the historic
genealogical society in Ashburton place,
also held its first fall meeting this week,
the chief topic being that ancient one, the
historic and literary associations of Con
cord.
Of the old political dubs much noted
formerly, several have died, the Marsh
field club, the Banks club, and virtually
the Bird club, which still has a president
nnd a few surviving members, but has
not met for nearly 10 years, in any con
siderable numbers. The Twentieth Cen
tury is now perhaps the most active of the
Boston clubs, though newer organizations
begin to vie with it. One of these, the
Economic club, founded some few years
ago by Edwin Mead, has more than ful
filled the wish of its first members to
maintain a forum where questions of the
currency, the tariff and the economic bear
ing of social issues affecting labor, unem
ployment. the pensioning of widows and
aged persons, etc- can be discussed with
out rancor, and on their various aspects.
There are also numerous college clubs for
graduates of both sexes, as well as the
university clubs, art clubs, etc. Perhaps
the oldest member of any of these clubs
ia that excellent and genial painter. Wal
ter Brackett, brother of the sculptor
Brackett, who has long survived him. and
may still be met at club dinners, though
one of the first founders of the Boston
art club in Dartmouth street.
The anti-imperialist executive committee,
of which Erring Winslow has been the
secretary from the first, may also be
styled a political dub nnd is ever ready
to remind the people, as it will this week,
of any excesses of our nation in the direc
tion of imperialism. The information
which comes to it from the Philippines is
that those islands are proeeedine quietly
under the government of Gov Harrison
nnd a Filipino Legislature, and are suffer
ing less in their commerce from the war
than most of the smaller nations do. The
commerce and industry of the islands in
creases. though not rapidly, and the visits
of republican .congressmen, endeavoring to
persuade the people to continue colonists,
have had hut little effect.
«pop goes the Weasel”
Interesting; Light on the Song From
One Who Know*
l.'oseph I. C. Clarke In the New York
Times.]
It naturally amuses one to see the per
fectly simple London song of 50 years ago
gravely written of as incomprehensible
and worthy of scholarly, if not antiquari
an, investigation. Your correspondent's
bewilderment over “Pop Goes the Weasel”
is a ease of corrupted text and lack of lo
cal knowledge. The verse runs correctly:—
l’p and down the City Road.
In and out the Eagle.
That’s the way the money goes—
Pop goes the weasel:
How well I recall all London singing it
—big boys, small boys, and all sorts of
girls in the late ’sos and early 'tiOs. It
rilled the barrel organs; it danced from
the brass of the military bands. Stanzas
were added to it by everybody who could
rhyme, and I recall how many with a
Rabelaisian turn not over respectful to the
prolific royal family and the great ones of
the world as it was then. It died the usual
death of popular comic songs—the death
of surfeit. You have noted that it was
first sung at the Grecian theater.
Well, that little place of amusement,
ruled by the Conquest theatrical family,
was a sort of appanage to the big public
house or tavern called “The Eagle. ’ It
was the home of lurid melodrama, and had
a famous Christmas pantomime. Between
the acts all hands went to the Eagle bur
and drank a pennorth of beer. It was a
democratic place, entertaining a large
neighborhood of plain working people,
much as if it were situated on avenue A
or the Bowery, for, the City road, on which
stood, and possibly still stand, the Eagle
and the Grecian, is part of a London ar
tery that connects the ancient King’s
Cross and the old quarter of Finsbury,
and is. and long has been by night, the
scene of a popular parade common to the
life of London. Hence, when the song said.
"Up and down the City road,” it pictured
that going and coming, with repetitions of
u thirst-quenching visit—"ln and out the
Eagle.” Poor wage-earners, as the joyous
ambulantg were, a few “pen'oth” of beer
exhausted their cash, and it became neces
sary to “pop” or os America would say,
“hock." often the very toolß of the work
man, figured under the housewife’s weasel
or flatiron. This cheerful aspect of resort
to the pawnshop is one of London's pe
culiarities. It is the badge of its poor
creatures, overworked and uuderfed, yet
seeking humor and stimulant at all haz-
Out of such rather sordid surroundings
the song on the wingß of its lively tune in
vaded the aristocratic West end, nnd was
hummed and strummed in the palace itself.
The tune found a London successor in our
“Dixie." at the time of the cWjl war. but
the curious thing was that there was no
idea there of its American origin, and not
the remotest suspicion that it was practi
cally the Confederate battle song. The
words of the London song were base mtisie
hallese
For the last three week* I’ve been a-dodgln'
A nice young gal what's got a lodgin'
In the Strand. In the Strand, tn the Strand,
helgho!
I wt*h I was with Nancy, helgho! helgho!
Oh the second floor for evermore
I’d live and die with Nancy.
On tay first arrival in America In 1888
1 encountered sour faces one morning at
breakfast because, as I dressed, I had sung
aloud in my room a boisterous stave or
two of “In the Strand.” Didn't I know
that no good northern man liked to hear
that song? I did not. Then they explained.
How different now. tVe nil sititt it: we nil
rise to it, and sway deliriously to it, all
eyes n-apnrklc. for Dixie means America
to-day. and it is of home we rrv;—