Fayette County herald. [volume] (Washington [Washington Court House], Fayette County, O. [Ohio]) 1860-1???, 1870-10-20

IS hard TO say whether mere
enjoyment is to be found in town
or country. When | am Under
the Trees" ! think will never live
in the city again, and when | get
into the work and ways Of the city
once more, | wonder that I was cy
er content while out ut grass. In
either, one can be useful, and in use.
fulness any sensible person may be
happy. SO it matters little where
we are, if we live for doing good
in the world. And what else is
worth living for at all? l do not
know.
Just as we came back from the
seashore, the Swedish songstress,
Christine Nilsson, came from be
yond the sea-a Northern bird, a
dove TO look at, pure, sweet,
bright, joyous creature, with a
voice to charm the ear and SOUL
| remember the enthusiasm with
which we greet Jenny Lind, who
came here twenty years ago. from
the same Northern cline, with the
same fair fame, and for months she
scared above us, filing the air with
melodies that still dwell on my ear,
with more delight than any other
songs of earth Wonderful was
her voice! In the swell Of the
loudest orchestra and a full chorus
Of hundred voices, here rose cas-
ily above them all, and seemed to
float on the waves Of song, like
foam on the ocean billOw. Old
men sat as in a trance while she
sang. Now tears told Of the pow
er OF her subluing voice-and then
thousands stood up in rapture, and
shouted aloud for joy, as she rous-
cd them to ecstacy by the magic Of
eloquent song. There have been
but a few great orators in the hu-
man family. Few, | mean, in the
first class. There was only one in
Greece while Greece lived. Rome
never begat more than one in the
same rank with Cicero. England
has one or two, like Burke and
Chatam. France none Germany
none. | say nothing Of America;
we are all SO given to sp0uting,th
it would be dangerous to say we
have not produced two or three
I hundred thousand fsst-class ora
tors. 1t is great country, this;
and l shall not deny its special
! greatness in the oritorical line
But the proposition holds good
that only here and there in human
history has a frst,clas orator 1t
is the highest endowment that ma
ture bestows on man-the power to
move others by the voice. The
orator is king He rules while
another may have the name of rul-
ing. There is power almost equal
to that oratory in the gift of song.
Jenny Lind was eloquent. We had
a singer some time ago among us
named Catharine Hayes, who
would sing The Harp that once in
Tara's Halls" with such eloqucnce
as to sway an assembly as Demos
themes moved his multitules in the
Agora of Athens. But the gift of
song is manly gift for pleasure,
to please, to make the hearer happy,
to crafty one Of the purest and
highest tastes with which the hu-
man soul is endowed by its Crea-
tor.
How glorious, dear friend, it
would be to have an eXhaustless
mine of gold, or pearls, or dia-
monds, to scatter broadcast among
the poor sons aud daughters of
poverty and want; to have power
in our hands to make the children
Of sorrow rejoice and he glad in
the gifts of wealth and all the good
things wealth can buy: to cause
widows heart to sing for JOY by
pouling into her lap the riches that
make rough places smooth and
springs of water to rise in the des-
ert. How like to this is the gift
of song. Such a bright opirtT as
Christine Nilsson lights upon this
planet and begins to sing. The
world hears her and is glad. The
world claps its hands,and she sings
again and again. Her voice goes
across the waters, and other ma
tions hear. She goes from laud to
land, like a bird who lives to sing,
was born to sing, and must sing,
and wherever she goes, the hearts
of men are made to rejoice
Crowds sit at her feet and drink in
her melodies as refreshing draughts.
They hear again, and are never sat !
isfied with hearing, for they are
rapidly educated under the influ-
ence of such songs to appreciate
the higher range OF art which is re-
quired to develop nature and illus
trate the near approach to perfec-
ton which educated nature can at
tain. Miss Nilsson is such an ar
tist. -ArS deiare artem, the art
that conceals art, and simply shows
what the human voice in a slight
female frame can be and do, when
refined and stimulated and render |
ed with the souls loftiest aspira-
tions after excellence, that is what
the singing of such an artist as Miss
Nilsson is. Since those glorious
days Of the Lind, when the old Cas-
tie on the Battery was turned into
hall of song-would to God that all
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