The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1876-04-13
Letter from Washington.
Correspondence Of the Journal.
WASHINGTON. April Sth, Is


merged and sailed down i'll four or five feet of
the crystalline whiteness, which, however beau
tifu it may be in poetry, j. quite different
affair in reality. Whilst here we are having
prevalence Of that soft family hazy, warmly
sunshiny, delicously listless atmosphere 50
common and 50 peculiar to Washington, with
the streets as bare and dry aud clean AS in mid
summertime same elements that contrived to
bury you all under such il weight of woe, send
ing to u most ptilcss, gullying, ransacking
rain, that swept everything before it, and
washed and rinscd and cleaned AS thoroughly
as good housewife in spring timc-then, for
want of further work | suppose, Sobbng itself
into silence, leaving us in possession of city
as spick and span new in appearance even
the household gods of the Neneerings. Why,
can you realize it "a few evenings since,
party Of ladies and gentlemen, tempted by the
smiling face of the Queen of Heaven, and the
warm, balmy air, actually Sauntered forth to
the enjoyment OF Il moonlight walk, the ultimate
point of their WanderingS being the National
Capitol, and glimpse at the busy legislat ors
hard at work in night session. "Thiuk of that
Master Brooke" - a moonlight r4mble, whilst
you are ioundering around in your five feet
snowbanks. Then to help along the summary
illusion as much rs possible, and at the same
time tempt your souls into the greatest possible
state Of dissatisfaction, and over the very TIRES
hold Of the sin Of coyetousness, let me tell YOU
that we are not alone revealing in this tlelecta-
Bile climate, but also luXuriatng On Strawberries
green peas, spring chickens, new bects and
aylJ Ea,.
don't all pack your carpet-baos and come 10
Congress, because, BECAUSE = Well, really,
can't think of an good reason why YOU should
not all come To Congress il YOU want to; but
the truth will out, as to the strawberries and
green peas. You see they are not very numer-
Gus rs yet, and somewhat favored with coin
and its barely possible they might not hold out
to go round unless miracuIousy renewed like
the widows cruise of oil, or subdiy ided as many
| times as the pie i'll genteel city boarding house
Do you think it would be too great Il strain
upon aesthetic tastes, too much Of an afront to
| deeply sympathetic souls to slip from this ga
| Worry bill of fare to the opera and Norma Here
we have been waiting for 10, these many
| dreary weeks for the divine fitiens to smile
| upon Us, and to think the Druilal Priestess
should ut last dawn upon our benighed visions
| in such Il slzeabe, enguiing rain storm. But
| notwithstanding the inclcmency of the wealth
| er AS the Broadway swell would say, all the
world pulled on their best pair of Kid gloves
| provided themselves with oppra-gtsSe, and
brettoes and sailed forth I'm the Silly night
picking their way amidst the fast patterinq rain
| drops and the ripping brooks that eursed in
tlp III,
| where emerging from wraps and waterproois
| they bloomed out as transformed and bewitch-
! ing ~ Cinderella and the knights of Old, and
gaylv and brightly filling up the spacious audi
| forum, from the orchestra up to the very re-
hottest corners of the unsanctitied peanut GAL
| lery. What richly arrayed, eagerly expect
ant audience it was, waiting patiently through
| all the wierd overture until the curtain rolled
slowly up, revealing the peerless Casta Diva
| the woman whose genius has bowed both con-
tinents at her feet, and rung out their voices in
| tumultuous applause. With slow and solemn
air she came upon the stage, as betitted the
| stately priestess of the Druids, whose oracle
| she was, to meet such an ovation AS only the
great, gifted ones of earth can ever hope to win
and then with the grandeur and witcherv of her
voice swept all that vast throng into utter for
getfuness of the tempest raging without, of the
present, its cares and its duties back through
the long lapse of years, to Briton, the invasion
Of the Romans, and the strange solemn rites
| of Druid worship; and with wonderful, pas
sionate power showed them how when man
woos and betrays, a woman can first isten
| and love and Yield, then hate and rage. and tor
give and die.
Mdlle Theresa liicns il Il German liz birth
and early gave evidence of the magic voice and
mastering genius that has since brought her
both fortune and fame, appearing in opera
when no more than ten Years of age, and max
ing her debut in leading parts whilst still in
her teens Her first notable triumph was in
her native city OF Berlin, in the grand, queenly
! character OF Semramls-who. You remember,
was daughter Of the gods. so diyintlv and re-
gally beautiful as to control all who approached
her After triumphant and successful tour
of the continent, she crossed to London, where
she has lived for years, the acknowledged ia
vorite of royalty and the English nobility. Ru-
NOR dlsposes Of her as the wife Of MApleson,
the great London musical director, hut the best
informed authority says she is single and lives
in simple quetness with her mother and other
members of her family in the suburbs Of Lon
don. The same authority also delights to dwell
on the hard, patient labor, the indomitable will |
the untirng perseverance that has made This
woman, with the assistance of her great nat
urai talents, the very first of lyric and dramatic
artists-corroborating in this part Of her story
the oft-repeated tale OF how little genius really
amounts to unless assisted by prolonged and
arduous toll. She il a splendid queenly look !
ing woman Of apparently about forty years Of
age, inclining now rather too much TO tleshi- |
ness, perhaps, for grace, and yet grand, mNies-
tic and noble looking for all that OF brunette |
complexion, with thick, long, lustrous black |
hair, deep, soe black ewes, thick, long, black |
lashes, strong but line features, nnd sweet |
gracious expression of the countenmce, with |
an easy, winning manner, all combined help to |
win for her the favorable cOmmcndation OF all |
behoiders. Her dressing is elegance and sim |
plicity itself. Her singing is more grand aud |
passionate and strangely thrilling than win |
ningly sweet, the deep, heavy, vibrating tones |
of the lower registers Of her voice being pecu- |
liary adapted To the stormy scenes and music |
Of Norma to its elements OF rage and scorn and |
jealous fury, whilst the prayer or Casta Diva
gives an opportunity Of hearing the eXqu>itely |
modulated sweetness of her voice. 1t il alone
in the upper notes that the great prma donna
gives signs of the llnmistakable touches OF time
and decay, showing that the days of her tri-
umphs are numbered and fast disappearing.
How sad it seems to think that the capricious
public will ever turn from the worn, broken
voice of this glorious, gifted creature to newer
and younger fuyoritcs. Better, it seems to me,
to die like Parepa, whilst the sweet, brd-like
notes are longed for and regretted.
Mdlle. Titiens bids adieu to New York on
Monday next and to Boston on Wednesday,
starting for England on Saturday, the fifteenth.
And at the same time she is returning home
from her succession of splendid triumphs in