The Republican journal., 1869-07-01
THE MUSICAL TORNADO At BOSTON.

from tlle l4olluOH oltHuau, JUNG ~
When Lord Mctcalfc was in the Unite d
States 4 winter storm took place, and an
American asked him whether it was not q
fine fall of snow for a young country" The
Young country, like the immortal gods of old
(who are dea,D is nothing if not tremendous.
II hoast9 of it> thunder; ii is unwearying in
its calculations of illimitablc prairies which,
indeed have their limits not less than New
York il paradcs the income tax OF its news
paper and hotel proprietors it has the biggest
hips the most fearful fires, the greatest num-
Der of twin births. the most astonishing
murders and the most grotesque mlsadyen-
lures Of nature Of any nation in the world.
Yet all this fades into insigniticance III COM
puriSon with the mOnstrous tornado OF music
hich has been announced at Boston. 1t is
simply worthy of the people who speak of the
Alps as ''Slightly rising ground; - who vaunt
that they can row 4 boat over their morning
dew: who assert that their locomotives are 50
-wil1 that milesones resemble tombstones in a
churchyard, and who. from their Transatlantic
heights, look down upon the Himalayas in
pity They are going to give concert, how
ever. i'm contrast with which the shrill concord
of the 5000 children who sang last Wcdnes-
day At st. Paul's would be merely as ''the
asciyions pleasings of a Lutte" 1t is to be
called grand harmony festival. 1t is to be
held in a hall capable of containing $4,000
persons. OF these 30, 900 are to be the audi
pncc and 10000 choristers. Prayer will open
the proceedings. Then all that army of vocal
et> will burst into hymn Of peace, accom-
panied, appropriately enough, by a symptom
cite discharge Of artillery and rifles. Next q
national eong is to be roarcd forth, while
every bell in the city will add its clangor to
The tune. Afterwards | 900 iiddles, with drums,
tamborncs. cymbalS and all else which is
barbaric in brass, catgut and parchment will
ewell the angelic harmony, and although not
even vet as Il climax. "IIail Columbia will
be poured forth from all the brazen throats in
Boston And now arrives the grand final.
No other country on earth assuredly could af-
ford such a sensation. The thousands headed
orchestra and the twenty thousands headed
chorus are TO rise from such tritles as the ma
1ional anthems of Europe; from such minor
work As those of Handel, Beethoven, Haydn,
Mendclssohn, and Mozart the glorious com
pany will pass into the grand unparalleled.
unique. and overwhelming Union Pacific
Railroad Gslop, OF March of Peace, Tele-
Graphic wires on the platform will be set at
w0rl, firing every cannon, ringing every bell,
and raising every echo within decent dis
lance Of Boston. Upon hundred iron anyils
~ many hammers will beat an awful uproar,
until we should think anybody present with
ordinary nerves would gladly exchange places
with Tom Hoods old woman who was
Deaf to adverb and deaf to particle,
Aud even deaf to the definite article.
lha only object which can be served in any
notice Of This inflated cXaggeration is to point
ont that tendency exists and not in Ameri
can alone. towards Il worship of gigantic
proportions in everything Englishmen can
remember the dav when they were proud of
having the biggest national debt of Europe.
We had that monster, the Great Eastern,
which was to eclipse all creation, and now it
i glad to 90 about carrying electric telegraph
cables for anybody who can pay for the etreight.
The gigantic is the ideal. Here in Boston we
are told, or at any rate an eminent vocalist is
assured that she is to sing in the longest,
widest and loftlest concert room ever erected
that the heavens themselves will open in the
harmony around her; that She will be hon
orcd with an artillery accompaniment as her
Last note, fall they will he taken up by the
naturalization of all the cty's bells; and that
when she aScends from that little composition,
The Heavens are telling" to Hail Colum-
ha.- her glory will be so great that she ought
to accept the engagement on reduced terms.
Well, let us not envy the good folk Of Boston.
They intend to make a splendid noise. They
live under the teaching of that excellent Elijah
Pogram, who told them that England was q
minnow, while America was Il, setting sun
How the eagle will flap its wings when those
anthems Of liberty are shouted forth in the
really great and historical capital of Massa
chuscts. But after all there is something in
it. A nation which can send invitations fol
a concert to its own subjects across all the
magnificent breadth between the Atlantic anC
the Rocky Mountains has, perhaps, the righ
10 be noisy