The daily crescent. [volume] ([New Orleans, La.]) 1848-1851, 1849-07-20
from the N. Y. Literary Wotld.l
NEGRO MINsTRELsY.

Progress of the age" is nova days the topic in
enabling editors oratOrs, sairiss, and schOOlbOys,
TO drown various ideas in ink and spread them upon
paper to dry From steam down TO the sewing
machine motto pass railroads or the magnetic
telegraph in a sighting manner) all the novelties
and phases Of the age are put into rhetorical har-
ness In this connection and galloped through the
land. We don't know whether Negro Minstresy
be entitled TO 60 down 10 posterity notice under
favor Of the Catalogue ofprpRress yet are we dis
posed to book it for shori lournsy.
There are yet living many Of the members of the
old Park pit, whose mouth muscles (our medical
glossary is stolen since the cholera set n) conVul-
sively witch at remembrance of the electric effect
produced upon them on a benefit night by the
volunteer appearances of Jim Crow Rice, who
turned about and wheeled about in so hOrTid q
that the respectable bass-yio Of the respec
table orchestra broke all its strings (boodvesse to
all intents and purpOsesl in an attempt 10 gFOan
double G. Men had three or four times bsfore this,
perhaps oteneF blackened their faces, and grlnned
and sung negro songs upon theatrical boards at
sundry places in and about the St. Giles Of Gotham,
and dignity had got wind of the thing through
the medium Of handbills and placards; but here
was the thing itself. and on the Park boards
One would have thought that
Jim Crow was monster of such hideOus miea
As to be dreaded needed only to be seen
yet in accordance with some such curious fancy
as would make the lovely DesdemOna in the Dus-
seldorf Exhibition enamOred Of the cOton- planting
negro before her called Othelo. the peOple began
dy - and Negro Mnstrelsy soon rallied about it.
self large and thriving family. Zip Coon and
Jim along Jpsey were strong boys, but died early.
They were not missed The void their untmely
decease occasoned was supplied by hundreds Of
others who sprang from the print shops and music
counters of the land like ths armed men of old and
in the same manner very often materially inter
fersd with each others peaeeable existence.
Negro minstrelsy was soon studied as an art.
Its professors made trade of it, and formed part
nerships. They serenaded on Irish principles he
sersnadees coming and going for their dose instead
Of the serenadeTs bringing it to them. II even
vOyaged to England, and made the Queen clap her
delicate hands in appreciation OF the melody Of
s. De ole jaw bone, or weep in commisseration Of
the sufferings Of " Lucy Neal," and the hungry
trials Of the venerable Daniel Tucker" Il did
what the census-takers never could have accom-
plished, in furnishing the available quantity of
banjo players and bOne-crackers in this sovereign
republic. 1t founded Odd Fellow lodge of
melody throughout the land. The whistle of
few bars in Coin Uber de moUntain,' was
Masonic password to the western emigrant. The
Portland boy who, Of a week night, had learned
from Dumbotons band in the meeting house, near
his homestead did not feel as among strangers
when traversing Western prairie, a forl0rn emf
grant, he halted by lOg-huts and heard negro melo-
dies quavered by the tongue Of woodchOpper.
Negro minstrelsy, very soon after its birth, be-
came humorous in prosaics. It formed press-gangs
10 force into service all the cOnundrums latent in
the head of scratching youth, or floating through
an atmosphere already heavy with truant jokes of
Brother Jonathan. From press-gang tyTant it
became a generous merchant, and rewarded fun
with varieties of silver gobleis after most honora-
BILE public proposals. Il stopped not at originality
Il did not dssiain parody. Il became dramatic.
From being great tourist it settled down into
residence. Il invaded hail which had been sol
EMMY set apart for purposes of education and
has lived there for more than year. Il under
mined the New York Society Library. Il alterna-
ted at the Tabernacle with the enuueDce Of divines
| and the potential baton of NJ. Mare'zek. It drove
/ Macready by the magic wave Of legal agreement
from the lecture room of the StuyvesaHt Institute.
Il settled Under the classic draperies of the Apollo
Saloon, place so long dear TO Goihamites as being
sacred to Terpsichore and St Cecilia, Il struck
| down the angry wave Of fashions wand and laid
itself TO slumber upon grand pianos in luxurious
drawing rooms
The worshippers of Van Weber, Rossini Auber,
Bellini, and DOnizett, became nervous Musical
| doctors trembled like Noah Webster when he first
heard of Photography. Negro minstrelsy was
spelling the public ear; vitiating the public taste
| If you asked
What was this great commOtOn
| The country thToughl