The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1870-07-06

rom Our Otrn Correspondent
New YORK, July 6, 1870.
Terrace Garder


ment that had taken place there during the past
three years, and particularly during the last
year. Terrace Garden is such a remarkable
contrast, both in point of respectability and in
the character of the performances, as to deserve
a separate letter all to itself.
Terrace Garden is the name given to summer
garden situated at the intersection of Third
avenue and Fifty eighth street. 1t is so called
because the grounds included in the enclosure
rise in succession of terraces. 1t is reached
through the agonizing process of ride in the
Third avenue cars. This is painful and dis
gusting trial of ones patience and good taste at
the very best. The Third avenue cars are the
dirtiest, the most crowded, the most foul smell
ing cars in the city, and are patronized by the
toughest and most repugnantly perfumed pas
sengers to be found in the metropolis. They
are overladen morning, noon, and night I'm
less you get in at terminus it is next to i'm
possible to obtain seat. In summer you
are lucky If you escape insectivorous
contagion. At midnight you are never
certain that you will get off without your pocket
being picked or your head being broken. Some
decent people, of course, are forced to take to
them for the simple reason that a more exclu-
sive conveyance is more expensive. But the
mass of the passengers are rough, and large
proportion of them are vicious of nature and
vile in appearance. How refined women could
ride up in them to attend such a pretentieus
failure the Rink concerts, l don't under
stand. Still they are crowded nightly now
even during the sweltering nights of last week.
with men aud women mad after the lager and
weiss bier, the open air, and the opera boufe of
Terrace Garden.
The entrance to the garden is on Fifty-eghth
street. a little to the west of Third avenue. You
go up short, narrow flight of steps, and find
yourself in large oblong enclosure which upon
three sides of you rises in triple terraces. Some
of these terraces are laid with sod and planted
with trees and lamp-posts, both of which are
apparently at an early stage of their existence,
since the trees are sparing of foliage and the
lamps are sparing of light. The shades Of even
ing and the demi-semi-radiance melting together
make sort of artificial twilight not altogether
disagreeable. Upon the topmost terrace, on one
side, are accommodations for q small Or
chestra. On the other, chairs and tables are
arranged. 1t is yet early. The attendance has
not increased to crowd. The ghastly remains
of sunset struggle with the sick glimmerings of
the early gaslight. There is larger sprinkling
of women and children than of men. These are
seated at the tables, eating strawberry ice-cream
with pewter spoons, and varying the pink fri
gidity with sips of the inevitable lager. The
orchestra is tuning its instruments A bevy of
early corners besets the entrance to the summer
theatre, small, square one-story wooden theatre
hastily thrown up this summer for the accommo-
dation of German opera bouffe. 1t will scat an
audience of five hundred. When half-past
eight shall have arrived the opera will COM
mence.
lLet us take glimpse atsummer-g garden German
opera bouffo and atsummer-ga garden German opera
IL
The mall hall is nearly full. The evening is
relentlessly hot so much so that the persplra-
tion flows in liberal streams down the faces of
the embarrassed ushers, and bedews the floor
like drops from waterng-pot. 1t would be no
figure of speech to say that the lager runs from
them in rills. Owing to an awkward way of
numbering the seats, the ushers experience
good deal Of confusion In finding the numbers
corresponding to those called for on the cou-
pons presented by ticket-holders. For instance,
there are about twenty rows of chairs, and
each row will seat twenty-five people. The
coupons are numbered both with the number of
the row and with the number of the seat on that
row-thus row l, seat 16; row Z, seat Is. In the
hurry of completion, however the person
having charge of that department has omitted to
attach to every row label indicating its num-
Der, so that when an usher has to seat an indi-
vidual according to the figures on the coupon he
has to count the number of rows from the stage
back, until he "spots" the one which the coupon
calls for 1t frequently happens that, in the
confusion Of waiting upon crowd, he makes
miscalculation, and then what a scene takes
place when the mistake is discovered, and the
right party finds some one else in his place!
Sometimes, also, voluble woman, with two or
three young Ones seeing upon the backs of the
seats before her the numbers called for by the
coupon she holds, forgets that the numbers on
the backs of seats represent those of the row
Immediately behind, and insists upon climbing
over and taking possession of chairs she ina
gines to be hers. In this way once saw
German woman and her family climb over
dozen rows, chattering in the most absurd man
ner the while, and bearing the indignant glances
of the house with as much calmness as though
they were doing the most natural thing in the
world.
The Germans do not know how to give opera
boute, and the summer season at Terrace Garden
proves that they do not know how. Hitherto
Canissa has taken the part of "BOuotte" and
Habelmann that of "Barbe Bleue." Now Habel-
mann is nice tenor and Canissa is plump
little "Hongroise," who, if her voice was only
as melting and tender as her em6OnpOint, would
draw excellent houses, not only in Chicago,
where she is said to have made a success as
"Boulotte," but pretty nearly everywhere. AS
it is, her voice is thin and seems to come from
the head, not the heart, and she makes the mis-
take of singing with all her body instead of with
all her soul. You feel sorry tor both tenor and
prima donna, that they should have thought it
expedient to sing in such place and before
such an audience. The orchestra is the most
remarkablespecim of the ingenuity with which