The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1874-06-06
Our Summer "Opening Day."

disappointment and despair.
Our Summer "Opening Day."
The trusty chronicler of weather news gives
token OF goodly day for the races From
our reports in another column the display at
jerome Park viii surpass any meeting ever
before known on the American turf. We call
the opening at the Park our American Derby
from the tendency to compare every event in
America with corresponding circumstance
abroad We select our adjectives in spirit of
emulation, for the Jerome opening is an
event more attractive in itself than any foreign
festival Of the same character. Necessarily, q
meeting OF this kind must be peculiarly Amer
lean IN spirit. The great races in
England and on the Continent are interna-
tional French horses have won the Derby
and English horses have won the Grand Prix.
There is scarcely meeting at Longchamps
or on the EPSON Downs which does not fiy
the colors of English and French turfmen.
Our Derby is almost absolutely contest be-
tween American horses. It Is interesting to
note, also, as an illustration of what we have
succeeded in doing with our turf that the
American horse has become as distinctive an
animal for speed, endurance and the highest
qualities Of blood as the famous steeds
of Europe, and there is every reason to hope
that with the present spirit of progress and
the extraordinary interest taken by our people
in the improvement Of the horse, we may have
animals SURPRISING in the highest qualities
even those of Andalusia and Arabia.
The meeting at Jerome Park is an interest
ing event in another sense. 1t is the opening
of that season of outdoor life the development
of which is becoming so marked feature
of our American character. During the win
ter we hibernate. Our social life is not
unlike the seclusion of those birds and beasts
who hide from the cold and snow. We en-
crust ourselves in society and lie hidden and
baked away under the protection Of the opera
and banquets, the close ballroom and the
crowded lecture hall We shrink from the
winter, which Northern nations welcome,
and find ur comforts under the gaslights and
before the blazing fire. But with spring
our whole life opens, and we become
fields and streams the mountain air and the
sweet sunshine as soon as the days begin to
lengthen. Who is it that says We are sad, tired,
solemn heavy-eyed people, with no laughter
or merriment or boyishness in our nature?
Here is our Derby Day, to which so many
of our men and women have been look
ing forward with anticipation, which will pre-
SENT if all auguries do not fail us, as brillianta
spectacle in the way of fashion, dress, variety,
beauty and splendor, as ever the Academy on
the gala nights when Nilsson sank in
tenderness and love on the bosom Of
her devoted but exacting Lohengrin.
Almost before the applauding echoes die
away from the Westchester hills we shall have
our beautiful bay burdened with snowy
winged crafts, as airy and gentle as woman
hood itself, and impatient for the sea. After
this regatta we shall have the college
regattas-about which our young men are
so excited that they find no poetry in Horace
and no comfort in the exact sciences
The base bali clubs are polishing their
bats and planning their willowy campaigns,
which will scarcely end until, like Napoleon's
army in Russia, they are defeated by the
elements and all over the country we have
evidences Of the opening summer life.
Here, for instance, is the meeting of the
National Rifle Association at Creedmoor. We
have some Of the best shots in the world in
America, especially in the new open countries,
where the pioneer family consists of his rife,
his axe and his horse, and good gun has the
first place in manly affections. If some way
could be found to bring these expert gentlemen
together we should have better scores than
were ever seen at Wimbledon. We have never
ranked our Rocky Mountain statesmen as
authorities on finance and imitation, but when
it comes to the rifle, at long range or short
range, they could give our resumptionists
points and beat them in the game. In Eng
land and on the Continent these rifle meetings
have become national institutions, and, as the
skies are generally burdened with warlike
omens, the utmost interest is taken in the sue
cess Of the various meetings We may be
thankful that no such purpose inspires us;
that, so far as we can read our Skies there will
be no rifle shooting in angry, bloody war for
our generation. But it is well to know how to
shoot, and as we never can be sure about to-
morrow, it is wise not only to have our pow
der dry but to know how to use it. So that
we trust our Oreedmoor friends will have good
shooting during their meeting, and that when
the 'Irish team" comes to dispute honors with
our Yankee marksmen its members will carry
nothing back bat remembrances of courtesy
and good feeling.
The Jerome opening is really the Commence
ment Day of our summer life. The tides
OF humanity that sweep along our thread
ing boulevards from Manhattan to West