The Portland daily press., 1866-12-28

L
o",l"ay An'usements-the Christmas holidays
busaness-Lateroture- Impeachment of
| the President
BOSTON, Dec. 26, 1866.
have been in the habit for a year or two
past, of spending Christmas week in Boston
1t is really remarkably fine village. There
is no discount on that statement. Like our
blessed baby, too-yours and mine, candid
reader-it is alive and growing; not to add-it
is kicking. But, after all, why not add it? 1t
is kicking kicking hard, too; kicking with
vigor; kicking itself out of the traces of Pu-
ritan traditions. Here are few of the marks
of its latest kicks.
! Amusements are no longer under the ban.
Boston, which once suppressed theatres, (fol-
lowing the lead of Dr. Beecller) has now six
OF them in full blast-crowded every fair night
and making piles of money. Operas are gem
erously encouraged. Sunday svening'concerts
| are all the go. At these concerts the person
| age with the ox-like feet and the forked tail is
chastised around the trunk of a tree with re-
markable adroitness. I use Reporters Eng
| lish"--as Lowell, who ought to know (because
he uses it), terms roundabout phraseology-
| lest should offend the high culture which has
| adopted Faust instead of the Ancient Enemy
| as the modern representative of the Evil
Principle] The selections are nominally from
| religious operas. Hence-and because of the
day-they are termed Oratorios. Scraps from
aRobert lie Dable" (it's we'll enough to say it
in French) h)-quotations from ''La Solnnambu-
la'-samples from "L'Etoile du Nordp and
other very worldly operas, are served up as
oratorios. II Walt Whitman's idea-that eve-
rything is equally sacred--be the correct one
these concerts are sacred; but with our old
notions of things 81 don't see it in that light"
They look just trifle profane. t
Another mark is Sunday Evening Dramatic
Readings Davenport introduced this feature
of Boston fashionable life. 1t "took" They
will soon become regular institution"
An attempt was made to open the City Lii
brary on Sunday. 1t failed because the Alder
men were afraid to put themselves con the
record" Meanwhile, the Reading Room of
the Athennum is quietly opened. IA
Christmas, which was. a stencil in the nos
trils of the Puritans, is now regular holiday
and rivals the old and devout Thanksgiving
Ten years since, it was observed by individuals
and isolated societies only. 1t has been legal
holiday for about six years. Everybody OBJ
serves it now The shops were all shut yester-
day, excepting during the forenoon, when
few Of the jewellers and retailers of gifts kept
open. Services were held in all the Episcopal.
Catholic, Unitarian, Universalist and Sweden
borgian churches. The other religious socie-
ties, with hardly an exception, had juvenile or
other gatherings, at which the young folks
were made happy by presents from Santa
Claus. 1t is estimated that million If dollars
were spent in gifts in this and neighboring
towns. So heard reporter say. don't
know the basis of the calculation, but the
stores would seem to confirm it. The city for
several days before Christmas was Irregular
jam" The sidewalks were crowded; the shops
were crowded. 1t was hard work to walk a
few blocks. A friend of mine counted seven
ty horse-cars in one continuous line the day
before Christmas, reaching along Washington
street. up Cornhill, to fremont. The drivers
say that they lost two hours of the regular
time, in consequence of the constant stoppages
at stores. .F+
Boston has added largely to its population
during the year. Its industries have increas-
ed in a still greater ratio. The city, however,
nSOoS hAoAO anu octbcI OutlStS. III IS Destlr-
ring itself to open communications with the
West and to establish lines of European
steamers. Much remains to be done in this di-
rection. Trade begins to show signs of 'fslaek-
ening." After the surrender of Lee there was
an unhealthy activity in manufacturing pro-
ductions Prices kept up under this stimulus
They must come down still lower yet Whole
salers have already made reductions, which are
not felt in the retail stores. However there is
no danger of a "crash." There will be individ-
ual failures; but trade was never on q more
| stable basis. The war knocked Southern
credit on the head and introduced the cash
| system largely. The imitation of the currency
made it easy to pay ones debts Hence, there
| is no general indebtedness
There is nothing very important in the lit
erary way. The fall trade has been quite dull.
The old established magazines and publishers
hold their own; and the newspapers are max
| ing money, believe, though the natural mod
| esty of the craft conceals the fact Edmund
Kirke and Mrs Howe have just issued week
| ly magazine, handsomely printed and profuse-
| ly illustrated-the "Northern Lights 1t is
| quite bright and brilliant AFFAIR." sort OF
weekly Atlantic, with more sparkle and the
| owl left out Nasby is engaged exclusively for
it, and then there is Miles o Reilly, Orpheus G..
Kerr, and the inimitable Congdon, formerly Of
the Tribune, whom Wendell Phillips once
| called the prince of humorsts. Miss Alcott,
| Miss Rose Terry, Miss Austin, ssE. Foxton'
| and Miss Hale-alI A. No. among our femal,
| story-tellers; Shelton, Newell, Oliver Optic
| Stedman and others equally we'll known are
| on the staff of this new periodical. Its success
| is already assured.
Art? Well, there is nothing very important
to say about art, either There is beautiful
and masterly model of monument to Abra-
ham Lincoln on exhibition at the Athenseum
| 1t is the chef douUre of Harriet Hosmer. Not
Boston paper has deigned to notice it. Was
there ever a closer corporation? A magni1-
cent monument to the soldiers was to have
been erected on the Common. 100000 were
appropriated for it by the Council 1t was
found that it would cost $4,000 more A dead
| lock set in. That is the present situation. -
| A monument to Washington-equestrian and
| OF colossal size-and monumental figure oi
Everett viii probably be erected next year.
saw three noted men to-day, and heard
their opinion of impeachment. Butler brusque.
| ly said that every other remedy was powerless
unless the President was impeached, because
| he could nullify every possible act of legisa-
ton by Executive influence. Wendell Phil
lips said that it was the duty of the hour, but
he had little faith in CONGRESS. When one
| leading Republican Senator-whom he named
had 81 blood relations in public office, there
was no danger that he would move on tho
Pre- sident's works. Frederick Douglass sait
| that there was no more danger of the Presi
dent being impeached than of Davis being
hanged. Public opinion here is rather indiffer
ent to the subject, although Douglass and Phil
lips are often applauded when they say that the
President ought to be iInpeached.