The Daily times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1886-1889, 1888-08-25
DECLINE OF MINSTRELsY.
The Negro of Ants-IscIium Days Conc
from tie Amusement Stage.

from tie Amusement Stage.
bow many readers remember The old
Christie Ministries. which created such =
fugore during the year succeeding the
war! III there arc many, and oi course
there IL no doubt that there are, they Viii
rcmcr Der the old plantation sconos. the
grnui.e negro Of the south. wise in
crude way. full of humdr and mirth. ana
the quintosscnce of unalloyed happiness
in spite Of his rags ard plain food. They
gave rs the dialcct of the southern pan
taticn with all the local coloring and Gus
toms They sang us tho negro songs,
which lingpr in the brain rs n delightful
rominlscence N true melody 1t IS 4 pity
that they arc no more.
The negro of the south in the ante-war
days has disappeared from tho amuse-
ment stage We have now in negro min
strolsy an entirely different kind OF burnt
cork artist lie is dressed up in garb so
fantastic as to put to shame the takers
flights Of imagination, If he ever has any.
lie talks jargou which is no more the
language of the cotton picking slave than
it IS of Greece. He acts boisterously and
his fun is OF the noisy kind: the more
noise ho can create tho better il seems TO
be. We have our ninst rcls dressed like
courtiers in the time when court cos
/ tune was carried to the extreme. We
have them dressed in apparel that seems
! & /, a cross between today end yester-
day, the present and the past. Some
| times the cork is unceremoniously left of
| and we have our negro Ministries in
| whitel
There is hardly tra>e in the present
! miustrclsy of the good, old fashioned
I negro minstrel of twenty years ago by
! q process of evolution he has come ont
being which Christie and Backus and the
/ rest If the pioneers on the minstrel stage
( would never recognize Tic is iusus M
( turn Of ninstrelsy Negro minstrels in
( those days was o study, The negro Of
! the south during the time preceding the
! var was a peculiar institution. He was
| Indigenous to the soil! lie WAS study
and there was some delight in studying
him The present relic of the minstrel Il
q purely modern invention, brought into
being 20 satisfy the everlasting desire on
! tho part Of the public for change and
! novelty. We do not critiCise the man.
ayers of the minsircley OF today for this
! radical innovation They wan, to make
moavy and they eater TO the prevailing
taste 70 get IT,
Another regret hat one feels who looks
back upon the minstrelsy OF the days Of
Christie is caused by the music. The
present minstrel is ballad singer. SO
was he minstrel of The past But now
! he silgs ballads of lot Of mushroom
composers who exist solely for the pur-
pose OF writing ballads To be sung by the
| minstrel performers. There is no indi-
yidaal.y about the music. It is senti-
! mental, sometimes sic5ly sentimental,
ard no moro. An iutuitc variety OF ten
der subjects is covered and drawn upon.
| II America ever had a class Of music
which can be strictly called American. II
is tie music that Stephen e. Foster com
posed lie WAS the author Of my Old
Kentucky Home" Ellen Bayne," Way
! Down Upon the SuWanCo River, willie,
We Have Missed iou, Hard Times. -
oh Susanna. Money TIL and hosts
Of others. Fosters melodies were an i'll
/ lustration Of slave life. They were not
only cast in the best mold Of pure melody,
but they were. with their words. full of
ra;hos and the hcalthicst kind Of senti-
| LicHl. It1ttf1 hlueic ought 70 De I'IS-
served because it is 50 distinctly Amer.
can music The tunes covered variety
of styles Some were rollicking in their
! rhythuic effects. Some were perfect
idyis Some we're love songs which never
have and never can be cyceilcd. The
charm Of simplicity and innocence hung
over them all & is pity that We have
lost this music as Il feature of our min
stsclsy Of today. -Detroit Free Press