St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1884-04-03
Music, Flowers, and Emerson.

Oakland, Cal, March 10.
Music, Flowers, and Emerson.
at is Iare luck to have so good 4
chance of giving education and com
fort to others, and to know that all
are, or may be, reached by it. 1t is a
great piece of work for a man, busy
all day with his own work, to carry
out thoroughly and honestly, and if it
goes lamely at times, | can only hope
tor patience and fOrbearaDce from Il
public which has proved itself so kind"
| cannot refrain from copying these
words i'll private note from Mr.. II.
l.. Higginson, the man who has made
the Boston Symphony Orchestra" a
weekly delight to thousands. Secur-
ing Mr.. Henschel for leader at the
roya! salary of $4,000 for the season,
the purse was kept open so as almost
to control the time of about seventy
skilled musicians wrought into the
best orchestra Boston has ever had,
and then poor and rich were invited
to the feast, at the merely nominal
price of twenty-five cents for the re-
hearsals and fifty cents for the concerts.
Music Hall has been thrOnged every
Friday afternoon and Saturday even
ing. One is tempted to recall the null
tiphed pleasures of the twenty four
weeks the admirable presentation of
favorite works, such as the Beethoven
symphonies, the new compositions by
DvOrak, Svendsen and others, the So
lOists, vocal or instrumental, who have
added charm and variety. Then there
was the Wagner concert following that
masters death, and the Luther night,
closed by the whole audience rising
and singing the Elm feste Burg with
grand effect. But who can put these
hours of joy unalloyed into few cold
lines. Pen and ink cannot convey the
thrill of multitudinOus strings, the So
norOus richness of brass and wood, or
the magic of the conductors wand as
it touched, inspired, concentrated the
musicians to move to single will.
Next year Mr.. Henschel is to be absent
with Mrs. Henschel, on an extended
musical tour. He has secured Mr.. w.
Gericke of Vienna to take his place,
and if he fills it he will be indeed a
master.
With the jubilant notes of the Ode
to JOY in the Ninth symphony yet in our
ears, we turn to the spring exhibition
of the Horticultural society. A sea of
spendor, billows of azalea, ripples of
roses, spray of daffodil and cyclamen,
still pools of wide-eyed pansies, with
strange, sparkling jets of orchid
what sight was that! We can as lit
tie forget as describe the intoxicatiOn
of the hyacinths. Here stand more
than hundred varieties of narcissus,
bowing their pure, stately heads to
yOur approach. and surrounded by
groups of the mild, dainty flowers of
our common woods. Here, too, are
ruddy dozens of apples and pears,
most of them as fresh as their brothers
at the autumn display. Music is not
wanting either, for the bird show is
twittering and trilliug in the lower
hall. Last time it was the eats that
occupied the neither regions.
Shall we pass by the art galleries
Scott Leighton's spirited horses, Ross
Turner's luminous water colOrs, with
the collection of George Fuller, who
has dropped the palette forever, six
years of appreciation after thirty five
years unrecOgnized toll. Dreamy faces
and scenes these last, with effects Gu
riously produced by thick layers OF
paint stippled with thrusts of the
wooden point of his brush.
But we must save space for glimpse
of Mr.. Joseph Cooks reception. On
the crest of Beacon hill, IA double par
lor, like a spy-glass drawn out with
glass at either end, it is yet hardly a
common place spot. Every picture and
ornament and book means something
not least, this striking bust of Marcus
Aurelins, before which the host pauses
to point out the weary brow and strong
| mouth x-nrifa hla
and vouched for by w. j. Stillman
1t is worth something to see Mr.. Cook
DIR. n. G. Clark and another son o
Anak standing together, a group o
giants worth much to mark the face
and hear the voices of men and womeI
known in the literary world. After
social half-hOur, the special favor O
the evening begins. DR.. Bartol read
keen, brilliant, loving essay on "Mat
thew Arnold's Criticisms of Emerson.
How could it have been bettered Th
clear, gentle voice of the reader, til
fine face with it's halo of silvery hail
the unique endowment of fifty yeaI
of friendship with the dead poet an
philOsopher-can you think of thu
; unworldly spirit as dead 7-certainl
f the champions of the criticized and I'll
r critics of the critic could not ask
= cOmpleter treatment of the subie'
. than it received from this ''most En-
= ersonian of Emersonians." After q
t hours reading, one and another of Il