Cleveland morning leader. [volume] (Cleveland [Ohio]) 1854-1865, 1864-03-02

Few associations are more romantic than
those connected with the graceful old Gus
tom Of salutiDg beauty and virtue with the
dulcet strains Of music, in the clear OBJ
scure Of some climate in which large stars
! and Derfumed breezes form portion Of the
Hproperties' Of the average summer night.
Il was by the passionate lovers Of South
ers Europe that the serenade was first de-
Yised, as vehicle for the conveyance Of
compliments to their mistresses after the
latter were supposed to hsVe let down their
back hair and retired fer the night. The
usage is one redolent Of much that is de-
lightful. It is linked insepsrsbly with
lustrous eyes, orange bowers, gondolss,
guitars, Tom MOereish msidens, the Crisp
lesved myrtle, and that erotic bird which
seems to have been providentislly created
for the poet, ss rhyme to it. The sere-
made, as its name denotes, can take rank
as an institution under serene skies only
As general thing, indeed, music does not
seem TO flourish among the northern rscep.
EOlisn hsrps came by nature, but the Bo-
real variety Of that combination Of wind
and string has yet to be discovered. Refer
10 that small but nimble savage, the Esqui-
maux, and you viii find that the nearest
approach TO musical instrument possess
sed by him Is the high strung snoW-shoe,
on which he performs marches indeed, but
neither serensdes nor any other sort Of
"a lsscivious pleasing" The Russian has
his own idea Of music as he has Of meat,
and there is q flavor Of caviare in his csva-
tinas. His greatest musical triumph, per-
haps, was the production Of that renown
ed Homeland Of twenty-four fsbby serfs
who uRed to provoke csllioesn blsres from
twenty-four straight brass trumpets vary
ing in length fron tWenty-four inches 10
tTenty-four feet. These musical mujiks
Of the Car, however, were no exponents
Of the serenade. Their strains were rsth-
er Of the fsveills character, and better adapt
ed as an accompaniment 10 the "shrill
clarion" Of the village rooster than ss
hushaby to fringed eyelids closing like
lesVes of belladonna over orbs that are
courting bslmy sleep. For this, among
other things, the northern races are to be
piied, for there is aPWealth Of poetry in
the serensde.
In this country, whose inhabitants are
mot necessarily Ofnorthern race, and where
everything seems to take root, just as eve
body seems to take bitters, the serensde
has become plant Of the soil. Like the
Italian orgsn-grinder, however, it has
come to be SO greatly Americsnized IS to
require tobacco juice to stimulate its &C.
ton. 1t is popularity Of sll our great
cities that they are provided with excel
lent bands-a fact which may or may not
be owing to the German element that is
sown broadcast among US. The foreign
visitor to our shores, particularly if bis
coming is from sunny Italy or olivescent
Spain, will pause and "take the music"
as Mr. Lincoln says, when he hears the
pensive csdences Of one Of these bands
vibrating in the soft air of the summer
night. They remind him involuntsrily Of
the orange bowers, Tom Mooreish msidens,
ct eetsTd, enumerated in the foregoing par
sgrapb, and his thoughts revert to the we'll
hedged cupid Of his own country, as he
lights q fresh cigsr. he marks the mel
low horns Of ihe Sax pattern pourning out
the music Of Don Pssqusle" to brown.
stone front, and 8 pardonsble curiosity
prompts him 10 watch the balcony for the
wave Of . gossamer handkerchief or the
Ally-like Whisk of yard or 80 Of liberia
ted back hair.