Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1871-05-31
NEWYORK.
The ChvFohss-Tbs Services and Sermons
-Fsshlsn and F0lly
The Tbsalsrs aHd the OpsFs-0Bly 0ns
Negro Appreciates the Latter.
The Beauty Of New YSrk-The Park
Winnie Ream's Studio,


to hate gossip, something L suppose
as the devil is said to hate holy water.
/ have frequently thought, since my
brief sojourn here, that if had Du-
Pres spetacles / might see something,
and withal if I had his Imagination /
might telIit. The truth, is everything
here looks dull and prosy to me, and
so in prose ] can do no better than
send you prOsy letters. 1 have serious
doubts whether "things are as they
used to was" Take for instance the
church and theater (Which in my
view ought to combine for good NOR
als) and you will see an entire change,
after g Rip Van Winkle nap, such as
1 have taken since 1 saw this village
with rolling waters. The old Springs
and Dwights and Beechers used to
fling hot shot and give me "the cal
Onel first and bark atterWard." That
is to say they used TO thunder and
tighten and strike right and left and
give me hell and be damned to you,
as if they really believed that men
were all on the brink Of endless perdi-
tion and the gulf Of FIRE; which, if
Abraham and Lazarus could talk over,
none at least could cross. But now
the Cheevers, the FrOthinghams and
the young Beecher's have taken their
places. the talk is all rhetoric, philOs-
ophy and flowers, all bark and no cal
omel, as if the teaching Of religion and
morals was without any particular
sanction, and taken up as a profession
for a salary and a hvlng-lt Is all
'tsmOOIh things" now with the clergy.
Broadway, and Fifth, and Madison
and other principal streets and ava
nues are crowded on Sundays with
fine carriages, fine feathers and fine
musting and silks, and the churches
with silk stockings, jewels, diamonds
aud flowers. Henry Ward decOrates
his rOstrum with bouquets big enough
TO consume a whole Southern garden,
and ne talks well TO suit the Vanity
Fair which cOngregates around him.
So do they all. If q murder occurs,
or political change, or a new subject
y
pitch in like any common lecturer, and
- for the Gospel, which is left be-
hind. the devil take the hindmOst.
This is progress" the "march of
mind.U the accomplished fact"
which would make old Beecher, and
old Webster and old Jackson, too,
turn in their graves and groan. One
WOuld think that things were getting
4. hot Q
is going on. Perhaps 1t may be all
well enough, on the principle that
"WhateveT is is right" But 1t Is GER
fainly true that Old-fashiOned ideas
are out of vogue now, and that hell
fire has become quite too unpopular
with ears polite to be mentioned any
more in this quarter as a matter
having any religious significance or
connection. The church buildings are
lust as gorgeous as the theateTs, and
lust as good places for showing of
dnery, and in this respect if for moth
ing e-se, they have become rivals. I
do not wish 10 be understood as saying
that religion is not taught in the
churches, and good morals too. 1t is
fashionable everywhere you know to
talk about duties and what ought and
ought not to be, and then 90 and do
Is you please. All 1 would remark as
TO the change is, that if anybody
should get to heaven from this quarter
he will be compelled TO travel through
the fiOwery way to get there, and viii
beentirely free from all Bunyan's ugly
valleys. giants, castles, and gOblins on
the route he must travel Perhaps, as
the doctors are quitting calOmel, IL
may be right for the preachers to do
SO too, as their bread and butter de
peuds on being all things TO all men
and pleasing the people, and the men
of the feminine gender might decline
70 knit their stockings any more when
they ceased to please and twinkle as
diamond stars in the religious horizon.
Go TO Booths, or the Fifth Avenue,
or the Academy of Music, and you
will see much the same thing-bril-
liant or sickly stars which the snObs
uyorsbip. The 4" Winter Evenings
Tale" or Jack Shepard" " or " Don
Giovanni" " viii charm you with gOr-
Reous scenery and common place act
Ing, buacOmbe tragedy OF comedy and
Blind Mans Buff simplitied into silli-
ness, OF Kellogg, Niardi, and Himela
will charm you with melody almost
divine. That is to say, artistic
excellence will be as perfect rs posi-
ble with the soul out. This may be
harmless enough and obedience to the
fashion god. before whom more men
DOW than bow before the Almighty.
But somehow I am only satisfied with
that Emusic which hath charms"
u .Eich makes the pulses beat, and
fbr,'ls through the frame like an
sIactr1,7 shock, and makes each par
ficuIar hair stand up and speak for
itself once iL a while. To my
taste tine theater, like the churches,
is getting rather commonplace and
yVisbv-washy. But then you know
we Southern heathen5 have partiC-
uIarIv "rObustiOus" way Of thinking
~ oIir own. and may not be quite up
~ New York snuff. In the Academy
of Music last night, crowded with
perhaps two thousand people, was
struck with the fact that but one
aman and brother" was present. lie
was g nice fellow, and wore tights
and opera glass, and seemed TO be
chiefly engaged in scanning the beau
monde. BE may have been only one
N the cases Of "a Chiel amang We
taking notes" To me he looked Ike
a dressed up pig performer IN a parlor.
L doubt whether horses monkeys or
a'niggersU are much at home at the
opeTa. As to the beauty there, it may
be a well I should not say much.
was something in the condition Of the
Yankee who couldn't see the town,
tbeve was 50 many houses. 1 thought
/ saw a butterfly OF two that would
pass. But It was difficult TO distin-
guish the house from the store show
windows by gaslight, except that fans
aud ewes both moved and sparkled
somewhat, probably on account OF the
heat. 1t is now real June weather Tor
Memphis. Ninety-nine out Of a hum |
dred faces / saw were about rs ugly |
and twice as natural as the rude set |
tees and chairs now in vogue for the |
Central Park. There Is no law against /
uglv folks getting rich that / know OF. /
or starching up a little when they do,
which can only be afforded by the /
Oentrvised plebeians, the price Of the /
laundry being a shilling apiece, which /
fs rather heavy on dirty poor folks.
n is ss il YOU should call cut the |
coons for a couple Of hundred miles |
= round Memphis, and having con-
-s,,trafed them there, dress them up
ToT soecial exhibition, mixing them
vgitb fbe present Memphis population,
81 ss "a make up q million and half
1shout tbe population Of this city)i
S-on would have near the proportions
"a beaufv which i have been able to
80 with nv spectacles. Before clos
5nS. mo I must tel you that / am quite
fefen. overcome and smitten with
: visit to the studio OF Miss
Winnie Ream, No. 700 Broadway,
f-I odvisa Southern traY-