The Portland daily press., 1869-06-25

from Rowing Correspondent
.r BOSTON. June %. 1860

~ BosroN, June 20, 1869.
To the Editor or the Press: sri rl f..f
The long, though blissful agony is over;
Boston breathes again the Great Jubilee has
come to an end. The vast chorus has melt
ed away. The big drums and the horns ;sthe
violin, hute and bassoon"; the hundred anyils
that rung, the guns that roared, the laQs that
waved have vanished like the baseIess fabric
of vision. The various side shows, too, the
Baby Fair, with its two or three hundred
weeping, laughing, growing and kicking in.
fants; the wonderful two-headed girl-'sthe
most remarkable human being ever born to
live'-and al. the attendant wonders have
folded thin tents like the Arabs, and not
quite so silently stolen away. The booths
where red lemonade and aJabilee nectar"
were sold, and the Pop Corn Emporium
these, too, have departed. The big booth of
an-the awkward wooden palace, which with
true American magniloquence they call the
sColseum"-stands lonely and deserted in
the midst Of its dust and sand The great
tide Of strangers that poured into the city
from all parts Of the country has rolled out
again. Now hotel keepers and newspaper re-
porters take breath. Now s.,r -,
fs2 "Silence, like poultice. comes M sds
- a. To heal the blows Of sound" E4f1
The tired citizen of the Hub, as he wipes
his perspiring forehead, and heaves sigh of
relief that the thing is well over, feels in his
secret soul the conviction that not only could
no other city have conceived and executed so
grand an enterprise, but that no other could
ever have lived through it!siai re- Hsl 81 llss.
And am inclined to think he is right. 1t
was thing which required more than Ma
poleonic, real Yankee pluck to carry
through, and its success has surprised even its
projectors. Now that 1t is over, cool criticism
comes in to point out some errors, and to
show what should have been different; bu. at
the time few could SO far resist the infectious
enthusiasm of the occasion as to note defici-
encies. Despite all the claptrap, the adver-
tising and the inevitable sensationalism, the
heart must have been cold indeed which did
not share the thrill that ran. through all that
vast crowd while the air above and the very
earth beneath were throbbing and pulsating
with the swelling notes Of that mighty pecan
of joy anii praise-which did feel through it
all some faint, imperfect echo of the glad
and holy song, "Peace on earth, good will to
men"
But enough Of the Jubilee. You know all
about it, for has not your indefatigable and
enthusiastic s'Own Correspondent" described
all its wonders? For me / am but an idle
cleaner in well reaped field, gathering the
few straws left behind here and there, a mere
''snapper-up of upconsidered trifes," as old
Will hath it.
Boston is emptying fast. Last weeks flood
tide of strangers has ebbed away, and great
numbers of the citizens, who had only waited
to see the last of the Peace Jubilee before
betaking themselves to the country, swell the
refuent wave. As consequence the city is
more than usually pleasant to those who re-
main. The Common wears the green crown
of summer, and the public Garden is gorgeous
with flowers. The theatres are all open and
the picture galleries present many attractions.
At Child's the admirers of female beauty can
feast their eyes on Fagnani's muses. which
are the sensation of the day. The heads are
all portraits, nine living American besuties'
most Of them well known to the hant ton Of
Boston aud New York, here appear with the
appropriate garb and emblems Of the sacred
Grecian nine. This circumstance, having
been well advertised, Of course gives the
paintings popularity to which, artistically
considered, they are hardly entitled. Those
who like startling effects throng to the gallery
Of De vries, where Bierstadt's Eruption o.
Vesuyius" glares from I don't know how
many square feet of canvas. As a picture 1t
is eminently loud. I would not wish to be
understood as limiting anything depreciatory
of Bierstadt, who paints the biggest pictures
and gets the biggest prices too--of any
American artist, but it must be allowed that
he produces his effects by means somewhat
similar to those Of Mr.. Gilmore. The I'VE