Wilmington daily commercial. [volume] (Wilmington, Del.) 1866-1877, 1872-04-20
PHILADELPHIA.
OUR SATURDAY LETTER.


Nilsson in 0pera-Etc Etc
Especial CorreP 5ondence OF The Commercially
PHILADELPmA, April 10.
At last it seems If the everlasting squabble
about the new Public Buildings was settled. 1t
is not enough to say that everybody was getting
out of patience about it. for that point was
reached long ago. An apathy had set strongly
in and we were beginning to feel that we did not
care rush how the matter ended or even wheth-
er we should have to put up with the State House
Row for another generation. This rule of the
people il an lnconyenent thing sometimes. II
the people want twenty things all at once. how
are they to be satisfied ? and il they do not know
what they want, the case is, il anything, still
worse. Iu this matter majority Of the people
undoubtedly did want the City Hall at Broad and
Market but there remained considerable minor
ity who wanted it somewhere else, and who have
kept up most vexatious campaign, involving
great delay and expense. However, the Building
Commission has finally put its foot firmly down,
has accepted the architects plan for single
building at the intersection of Broad and Market
streets, and it is presumed will now go to work
| to make up for lost time.
| The abandonment of the scheme for the erec-
| tion Of four district buildings upon the Penn
| Squares. gives Il think am warrantedin saying)
II not entire, yet very general satisfaction. With
| the single exception of the Bulletin, the public
Journals all endorse the intersection plan and the
sentiment among citizens il about in the same
/ proportion. The blocking up " of the streets is
seen by this time to be mere bug-a-boo, and
either for convenience, greatly less cost of con-
| struction, or vastly superior opportunity for
architectural display, our building is almost
universally pronounced preferable to four sepa-
rate edifces. / have indistinot recollection of
demonstr- ting these factsto your patient readers
| several ages ago. So long has this City Hall
nightmare lasted in fact that one may readily
| find himself wrapped round and about by his
| own words, as TO be unable to say anything that
| he has not said before. II the opinions given In
these letters favoring Intersection wore worth
remembering, they doubtless are remembered,
30 / refrain The subject itself is a noble and
| important one Cities have no more essential
concerns than the care OF their property, and the
housing of their courts and records. Such pile
| as the new City Hall can be, and should be, made
thing Of note, like the great buildings of Paris
or Washington. All the world was familiar with
| the hotel de Vile that the communists destroyed
| last summer, and there is no reason why the
Philadelphia Hotel de Vile should not have an
equal reputation We have the site, and the
sight Of money required to build it will be forth
coming.
There is yet another prospect in the imme-
diate future,-the hope OF cheap car, fares.
That human nature is wretcbedly weak has been
again proved in this demand for low fares.
The railroad men were deaf TO argument; they
turned placdly away when confronted with facts
as they are in other places. But now it is seen
that it may be policy to change, and how quickly
| the sensitive thermometer under the Presi-
| dents wastcoat gives evidence of the transfor-
nation The particulars of the quarrel between
| the Union and Market Street lines you are al
ready familiar with The Market Street Com
pany finding itself swnded by unjust Legisla-
| tion, by means of which the - Gridiron" road
which already stretches nearly all over the CITY,
was empowered to run its cars over good por-
tiOn Of Market street, Threatens to get even with
| the usurpers in the only way that lies in its
| power. The Union" has always refused to ex-
| change with other lines, inasmuch as its own
branches take passengers in every direction, and
| the design OF the Market Street line is now to
sell exchange tickets for seven cents and packa-
ges of trip tickets 25 for a dollar, charging 6ve
cents for single fare. II this is done the Arch,
| Chestnut and other East and West roads must
follow suit, nor can the Union remain behind
The "Gridiron" will to be sure retain its compar-
atiVe advantage as 1t can still refuse to sell eX-
change tickets, but the main object, the reduction
of the price or single fares will be accomplished,
and this is the only matter in which the public
Is greatly concerned, the exchange business
| being a consideration between the companies
simply. 1t is thought by some people that the
| business is only shrewd game on the part OF
| President Norton Of Market street. to frighten
| President Itidgway from laying his new and very
| obnoxious branch. but IL it should prove So the
/
| poration has demonstrated the fact that five
| cent fares can be established and will not let
the companies forget it. The claim has been
| until now that seven cents was the very least
| that the roads could run for to make any money.
Looking at the business in other cities, nobody
| has believed this and now we have the testi-
| mony of railway men on the subject. 1t il the
| entering wedge in much needed reform.
| We have d Nilsson, and she has won all
hearts. Never was there a completer, more
unreserved success. We have had great singers
| here who could not act, such as Parepa Rosa,
and great actresses who were imperfect vocal
| lists, like Gazzaniga. but never have we had such
! a perfect union of the singer and the actress.
l went to hear her, expecting, of course, to find
| an artist, as person who had won the applause
OF all the great capitals could not fail to be, but
prepared to discount the praise of which had
| read TO my surfeit ] came away declaring that
no one had ever said anything half good enough
about her, and holding her at a premium.
reached the Academy rather late; the audience
was all seated and the lobhies very quiet. As
| entered the empty corridors there reached me
from far within the divinest voice ever heard.
think shall never forget the effect that voice
| produced upon me-so pure so sweet, it thrilled
through every nerve. At the same time soar
ing, an imperial voice -
'Deep as loye-de as nrst love,
And wild with all regret"
That saddest of all poems, and those lines
especially, came into my mind as l listened.
FIR Nilsson does not affect one az other great
singers do. There il none of that fullness of
vigor, that rioh glow Of life that make Parepas
notes like a draught of rare old wine (this is a
supposition,-I never drink myself here on the
contrary ia spirituality, the soul, the inner life.
1t is qui 10 impossible to describe the exquisite
purity OF her voice. There il dsingenuousness
pathos an angelic simplicity in it that melts
the heart. To one who has not heard Nilsson,
say let him subdue his soul to the spirit Of the
song have referred to:
"Tears, idle tears,
know not what they mean "
and he can justly imagine her. Nilsson does not
exhilarate the person who rightly understands
her. For my own part came from the Opera
, happy, indeed but with mortal sadness, DC
YOU know what / mean? The unconscious in
! noeenoe Of chdhood-is there no pain in that
childhood frolicing with it's toys with death over
3 head, and every misery under the sun within a
few yards Of its playground Another poet mo-
Y as great as Tennyson, but who might have heeI
3 il he had lived, John A. norgan, has made thu
matter clear to very few
: "From all this beauty,
which is grief to thy keen nse,
: Oh, heavy heart"
! That is it, as near as can tell you
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