The Republican journal., 1869-03-18
Letter from Boston.

Correspondence of the Journal
Free Concerts and those that are too free.
Health Of School Ghildren.-COlning of
Spring.
The free concerts which have been given every
two or three weeks during the past winter at Mu-
sic Hall, have been al entire success in every re-
spect. The music has been of very excellent
character, and the same may be said of the audi
ences, which were as respectable and orderly as
enjoyment thus literally provided for them. At
one of the concerts and this speaks for all of them,
the rush was so great that the doors were obliged
to be closed half an hour before the concert was
advertised to begin, two thousand applicants for
admission being turned away. as the thirty five
hundred already present completely filled the hall.
There are seven apparently able bodied men,
who armed each with large brass instrument, 60
about our streets, making day and night hideous
by the unwelcome sounds they evoke and fondly
call music. This little band Of brothers group
themselves together in the middle of the street.
and with every instrument entirely out of tune and
independent of the others. after PLAYING strange
unknown airs which seem to be composed on the
spot, and struggling trantically with some of the
popular melodies, one of their number goes about
to all the adjacent doors, and requests small sum
in recognition OF the enjoyment they have conferred
by their rayishing strains. This seem like adding
insult to injury, like the remuneration our dental
friend demands after they have ceased to torture
You think they are crusaders sent
From some internal Cline
To pluck the eyes OF sentiment,
And dock the tail of Rhyme,
To crack the voice of Melody
And break the legs of Time
One is inclined to hand forth to these mistaken
yotaries of Apollo, sum in consideration of which
they shall pledge themselves to disappear for
ever from the neigbborhood. and at the same time
to administer little wholesome advice TO the effect
that manual labor of any kind. would at once be
more profitable to themselves, and better for pub
lie taste and enjoyment generally. But no one has
yet taken this benevolent step, and so their strains
still burst upon the ear at unexpected times, at
early morn and dewy eve, in sunshine and in
storm. They are particularly fond of playing in a
dark stormy evening, perhaps with some vague
idea that if they 9 discourse most eloquent music
then its effect and consequences may be more
startling than by the morning sunlight
A great many complaints have been made of late
by indignant parents who together with teach
ers and physicians, have complained loudly and not
without reason, in the daily papers, of the i'm
proper ventilation of the public school rooms, an
the dangerous consequences resulting therefrom,
Very few OF the school houses are properly venti-
lated, ard in each room there are from forty to six
ty pupils. 1t is question whether the risk to
health is greater to nhale the vitiated air of room
from which most OF the necessary oxygen has been
exhausted by sixty pairs of lungs, or to open the
windows over the heads Of the children and thus
create q dangerous draught. Where the latter
course has been pursued, sickness has resulted in
many cases, often Of a serious nature. The teach
ers yindicate themselves from the charge of care
lessnes which the Indignant parents lay at their
doors. By saying With perfect justice to themselves
that the fault is not theirs but that of the gentle
men Of the school committee and those to whom
the management ii the building and the original
arrangements for ventilation, are entrusted. The
appeals so earnest and heartfelt that the sub
ject will doubtless be Investigated and proper meas.
ures taken for providing the rooms with sutfl
eent and continued supply of fresh air, without
the accompanying exposure which has given rise
lu SO much anxiety.
The " 1des OF March are come, and we are en-
joying few bright days, suggestive of genial skies
and the THOUSAND accompanlments of the genuine
spring time such poets love to sing. To-day I
picked snow~drop from sunny garden In Cam
bridge, in whose streets mud reigns preemnent
but few green blades Of grass have appeared on
the southern exposures tempted by the soft air and
inviting sunshine. Aud. by the way, an alarm OF
fire caused in Salem q few evenings ago. BY
the brilhancy Of the setting sun. The engines
were run for some distance toward the cause OF
the display, but it was finally concluded that it was
a few millions of miles too far off