The Morristown gazette. [volume] (Morristown, Tenn.) 1867-1920, 1883-05-30
THE MAY FBSTTVAk
KSOKVLEE's GREAT. ENTER
TALRNENT DISCUSSED.

70 the Editor q The Morristown Gazette:
was once requested 10 write MP a lo-
al interest. / wrote that letter.
Ieund IL was n failure. tried 10 write
, fair statement. / was expected to /
Iapun." That was my last invitation,
and as M II likely 10 be lever thus, L
arsp YOU a few lines on my own hook |
/ am at Knoxville ard have been fer /
a week. Knoxville is growing. and IN |
many respects the growth Is substantial. /
1t in its gosling stage, passing from the
town TO the city. Many Of the priFaIe
residences. wholesale and retail houses.
are qual 10 those Of many other cities.
Her courthouse aud many Of the streets
are interior to those of many towns.
Towns and counties are often unable
10 have good court-houses and streets.
Knox county and Knoxville's failure, IN
this regard, is not the want OF means out
publlc spirit aud enterprise. The sys-
tenn Of public schools is COED andln the
main the schools are a decided success
IrefeT here to the city schools i am
led 10 believe that the University>is not
what II should be Too many fossils,
l fear, will be It's epitaph. However.
confess this may be error, as my examl-
nation has been hasty and imitedi put
of this we are convinced, that an lnsti-
tuition with its endowment, ought 10
have more students. and would nave il
rightly managed. The newspapers are
not what they might be, aud, in our
o.inion- should be. Their tendency
seems To be to exalt and magnify. All
visitors TO Knoxville a.e leading.
doctors, divines, farmers, etc the adj
dresses are exceedingly fine, or All
that could be wished" the legal argu-
ments are seldom equaledi" the hOspl-
tality was ''princely," in short, the
reader is often inclined to suspect that
ten cents a line" or send me -
copies" have more TO do with the no
tice than merit. Now, this may be sus-
picion merely, but il it Is not, then
there are a great many leading aud aOle
men, and many other great and good
things in East Tennessee, and the COM
mon are all dead. or at least never APP
pear in these parts. This tendency 10
extrayagant commentator, was appar-
ent, TO the observing, In the various
comments on the Festival Of the weeS'
lis true, that amateurs are not expect
Ell to meet or receive criticism Ike pro-
fessionals, but if they go upon the
boards, suffer themselves to be adver-
tised and The managers 10 charge more
for seats than professionals would dare,
they should not receive extravagant
COMMUNICATION, unless meTited. Ac-
cOrding 10 the papers, the Festival was
a grand success This Is SO, In a modl-
fed sense. Financially, IL was com
plete success. that is, il supported itseiI
and more. IL was success as q Wholc
| in afTOrding a large per cent. OF amuse-
ment and pleasure The success In get
ting visitors to ROCKVILLE was not rs
great as was expected, and probably,
msrited. It would require too much OF
your space to enter into detail, but 20
/ be brief There were four performances
/ at the Opera House Monday night was
l by Cincinnati artists, and was, IN our
4 opinion, almost a failure. One song,
I The Laughing Trio was good aud
well rendered. Also a solo by MT.
Sullivan. The balance, a failure. Tues
] day night, The Elixir of Lsve" was on
the boards, and a fair success Wed
nesday night was "The Bells of Corne-
vile, and, in our opinion, the greatest
/ success of The four. 1t may be tina. less
skill was required than others, but be
this as IL may. we thought that the par
Elephants understood and entered more
into the spirit of the characters they at
tempted 10 represent than in either oil
the Others. Acting in opera is almost
/ IL not quite, a essential 70 success a.
the singing, aud in our opinion aided
! in The Bells of Corneville." One
thing oppressed the purely disinterestec
in this as well as the others. It wa!
[ evident that the encores were run, II
the main, by the machine and the re
I suit was, they were sometimes ill-Rdvis
ed and inOppOrune. Again impaTtiali
~ is an excellent trait and worthy o.
commentator, but il will sometimes
bore in an opera house. Thursday
night was THE Pirates of PenZance.
had heard and read much of this anC
its performance by the troupe who were
10 present il, and my expectations wer'
high. / was disappointed. in all OF tht
parts, unless IL was that of Ruth. W.
had been led to expect much of Mis-
Barnard as Mabel. She is lsrge anC
handsome, and at sight makes a gOoC
impression, but her singing was only
fair and her acting poor. She seemeS
to have no conception of the characte
and TO be more interested In finding on
the names of the cards attached 10 DO
quets handed up TO her than in he
character. Mr.. Humes did not do him
| self Justice, as he seemed to be embaT
raised ia his dancing attendance on thl
Drina donna while she read her card
aud in then removing the offerings OF
the stage to a safe place. Now, i an
not posted as to the etiquette of pre-
senting offerings during the progress o
an opera, but il strikes me that il would
be more appropriate 10 wait q closing
scene rather than to break in on a SOM
and have the audience wait on the side
show. Mr.. Deaderick has fine voice
but too little energy, or too indifferent
4 70 make a good majOr-general. IL is
perhaps, proper to say, that Ruth wa
represented by Miss Ingersoll, and tina
she did il we'll Some of the chOrusse
at all the nights were good, but 1 can
enter into details. 4 did not see TIA
Tournament Friday. / never could Sc
any fun in pOking sticks at rings, so
did not 20 out Friday night was til
ball. The coronation was TO have beer
at o o'clock, and was not until 10i
reckon Il Is fashionable 10 keep peopl
waiting, IS we could see no other ex
cuse for not being punctual. You
humble servant paid fifty cents for tn
privilege Of seeing the bail from gallerl
and enjoyed IL. The music was good
the ladies COED looking, the dancing
good, the Costumes handsome, and al
seemed In be in a coed humor. III
art exhibition, az Mozart Hall, wa
the only thing connected with the Fes
tival without price and free TO all, and
IN our opinion, the best. There wer
macy fine pictures. paintings, curiosi
ties, etc, aud shows that Knoxville ha
culture aud refinement. The musi
Unfinished by Williams's Orchestra a
this exhibition vas not only free, bu
excellent, and the best that heard dur
ing the week. The Fiddlers' contest
now progressing and will no doubt fur
nish amusement TO all that attend. Th'
farmers met aud said and did some goo'
things, but have said enough and pos
sibly TOO much, and besides / fear
trespass on your time and space.
/ BID