The weekly democratic statesman. [volume] (Austin, Tex.) 1871-1883, 1879-04-24

Y Y
i, Bonn. Professor Stremme also csm,
! q man strongly reserved, but Of gres
learning, upon whom wss conferre
title of nobility by the Gar Of Ru
, sis for his profound scholarship
Men of gentle blood We're also there
who had csu5ht the libers
spirit OF the age abd cam
among US to strive, on the plane OF
} common humanity, u aid in promot
ing the general welfare. Among ther
was Baron Melsbach, who Was after
|, wards State Senator. In 1859, Will
district judge, administered al Ne,
Braunsfels, the osth Of allegiance /.
three gentlemen of German birth VIII
could only become American CITIZEN
oy renouncing the titles OF nobility
which they bore.
THE FORTY STUDENTS.
The early colonists who cam,
with Prince Solms-Braupfels and
his associates, were reinforced al
q later day by baud of forty German
students, scholars aud professions
men. These forty assembled and or
ganized at Darmstsdt; all were accom-
pllshed scholars and most of them
graduates of the university Of Geisep,
Among them were Gustsve S,hleicher.
DIR. Herf. D.. Raester, Kuechler, Leo
pold Schultz and others whose names
have become household words among
all our people. Their efforts in the
cause of progress, liberty snd humanl-
ty have illustrated their virtues and
benefited mankind. Ii Is safe to affirm
that never before or since their arrival
has there come to this continent q
company OF like number which con-
tanned so many men remarkable for
intellect, learning and self-reliance as
did that small band of German stu
dents who emigrated with Gustsve
Schleicher 10 this State.
Many of them survive, but he who
IN craftsmanship as in stature lowered
above them all, whose voice was heard
IN the halls of Congress for justice to
his section, for protection and an hon.
est currency, has passed away. He
came to us in 1919, poor, but young
and hopeful; speaking to Texans in q
strange tongue, but rich with great
intellect and an lndomitable will. His
mortal remains came again in 1879 to
that Texas which he loved 80 we'll,
mourned by nation, and with Ameri-
can Senators as guard of honor for
his pail bearers.
INCnEAsE OF GERMAN POPULATION.
Such was the origin of German set
tisment in Texas, such the men whose
minds directed and assured its success.
Behold the result Lees than four
thousand in 1916 have increased to two
hundred thousand men, women and
children of German birth and parent
age, who people our towns and make
glad the wilderness and the prairie
with their thrift and enterprise. No
king or kaiser dogs your footsteps
with his spy to mark your words and
repay them with dungeon, but free
speech and a free press give assurance
of higher progress and still higher
destiny.
You, the few survivors OF the early
coloDists and their descendants, have
come from the mountain and the prai-
rie, from the clear waters of the Comal
and Guadalupe and from all our coast
to renew here at the capital the ties
which have united you and gladden.
your reunion with festivity and song.
The remembrance of the hardships
and privations through which you and
your fathers passed to attain the pros-
perity which now distinguishes every
German settlement in Texas can only
knit closer the ties which unite you
and give higher zsst to this festive
hour.
l have now, my friends, briefly
told you the origin and progress of
that German element in Texas, which
music and its tendencies anu traco
origin, the purpose and philosophy OF
the Saengerfest.
ANTIQUITY OF MUSIC.
Mans fondness for music and his
habit of comforting pleasure by the
union of sweet sounds ls almost coeval
with his creatinn-for we are told by
Moses that Jubal, who was only
seventh In descent from Adam, was
s'the father of all such as handle
the harp and organ. Laban, six hun
dred years afterwards, in his repToach
of Jacob, shows that vocal and lnstru-
mental music combined in that day TO
heighten the delights of hospitality.
At still later period, David, the sweet
singer Of Israel, illustrated the power
of music when with it he exercised the
evil spirit of Saul; he mingled 1t with
his devotions, for he appointed great
corps of singers and musicians to cele-
brate religious ceremonies with songs
and musical instruments. When his
son Solomon became king, he found
that four thousand was the number
"who praised the Lord with instru-
ments" "a religious Sengerfest 80
large, that even this vast sssemblage
would stand sbashed in its presence.
MUSIC IN EGYPT.
Among the arts and sciences which
fiourished In Egypt five hundred years
before the birth of Christ, and before
| its subiugation by Cambyses, music
was prominent. We are informed by
Atbe ueus that at feast of Bacchus
given by Ptolemy Philadelphus, there
were over six hundred singers and mu.
sicians, and the same writer assures III
that in the reign of the Seventh Ptole-
my there was not peasant or laboreI
in the neighborhood of Alexandria
who did not play on the flute or Tyre.
Tracing the progress Of music through
4 the lapse Of ages in mans history, We
1 find that the triumphs of art are sC
mingled with the fables OF mythology,
that we are sometimes confounded il
our efforts to distinguish between fac
and fiction, and yet the very extrava
gance of fiction folcibly illustrates thu
high esteem in which the cultivation
OF music was held by the aDcients
Music IN GREECE.
Music was introduced into Greece b.
Oadmus and the PheneciAns. Har
mouiA, the wife Csdmus. was so skill
ed in the art that the Greeks gave he
name to it from which is derived on
English word, harmony.
i A Greek writer, il describing th
nuphals Of Harmonis, assures US tha
the gods themselves came IS guests
Mercury and Apollo brought thei
Tyres, while Minerva and the muse
who we've the daughters OF Jupiter
asslsted with their flutes. The musi
cal daughters Of Jupiter, Mneme, Me
lete and AR 1e-memory, reflection an
: song. with their sisters, fingered sroun
Helicon and Parnassus under the Pc
ronage of Apollo, engaged IN perpetui
!, song and dance, or inspired with Bsr
chus and Pan the harmonious efforts
? their deyotees. The delivery Of oracle
. a. Delphi by the priestess Of Apollo,
the sound Of the fiut~; the charming