Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-04-28

to the 'sVic." The good done in so short q
space Of time, however, has opened the. eyes
Of these short-sighted ecclesiastics, and now
they and the police join in praise of the ale
tered state of the streets as regards both
drunkenness and immortality. "Since the
Surrey became the Vic" say the latter,
there has not been one charge arising di-
rectly out of it; before that there was never
a night without one or two, and at the holl-
day season there were as many as 30 and 40,
and even 90 charges at one time" The
general charges of the neighborhood have
decreased, on an average, from 40 to 4.
Looking at these results, and at the COM
paratively short time it has taken to pro-
duce them, who shall say that something
very like the traditional 'royal roads" has
not been found to the hearts OF the people.
The success of the Victoria Hall is all the
more phenomenal, from the fact that it is
open every evening. The entertainments
are varied: concerts, popular lectures, vari-
ETY. entertainments and the magic lantern
are the chief attractions; and that admira-
BILE and most energetic lady, Miss Cons,
who was recently elected to the new County
Council, the Secretary of the "Vic," is all
ways on the lookout for anything which
will interest or amuse her audience. That
such an institution should be able to hold
its own against the many other places of
amusement always ready to pander to the
lowest tastes of an uneducated class is not
only most encouraging fact for those who
believe in the soundness of human nature
when it is given fair chance to raise itself,
but also proves the immense talent for Or
ganization possessed by Miss Cons.
Once or twice week the ''Vic" is about
as full as it can hold. which, as it can seat
nearly 5000 persons, is not bad criterion
of its popularity. On these occasions bal
lad concert is generally given, aud if any
well-known singer or popular favorite is
announced on the bills outside there will be
hardly standing room in the great theater.
Though the taste for good music has
greatly increased during the last years in
the poor quarters of London, ballad music
remains secure at the top of the list in popu-
lar estimation. The people like certain ora
torios, such as the messiah" and "Eli-
jah;" they also appreciate instrumental mu-
sic greatly; but the true warmth of their en-
thusiasm and their applause is reserved for
the ballad that tells them a story and goes
direct to their hearts.
LOVERS OF GOOD MUSIC.
do not think stranger would recognize
the traditional phlegmatic English nature,
were he to go down to a concert, say at
Shoreditch or Bermondsey, and listen to the
applause which follows the singing of some
well-known ballad. The whole audience
seems suddenly to become one huge throat
and pair of hands, and the uproar is
enough, to use the vernacular expression,
''to lift the roof off," Not that these out.
bursts by any means greet every item of the
programme, for, if an East End audience is
capable of enthusiasm, it is also capable of
discernment; and the dead silence which
occasionally follows a performance seems,
by the force of contrast, to be almost a
greater condemnation than actual kissing.
There is also another way in which the
societies aid in developing love of music
among the masses. Singing classes have
been instituted at several of the musical
centers and have met with unvarying sue
cess. A choral class at Clerkenwell was
started in the spring of 1882. During the
first term 86 students Joined, "a during the
second. The following year, encouraged BY
the success of the Clerkenwell classes, a
teaching center was established in Ber-
mondsey; orchestral classes for teaching
string, wind and reed instruments were
added to the choral classes, and competitive
examinations in harmony and sight singing
were held at both centers. The third wear
was even still more successful, fer the num-
Der OF entries of students rose from GAO to
1 ,260, and II new classes were formed.
These facts speak for themselves
Music" said Martin Luther, sis the
fairest and most glorious gift of God. 1t is
a discipline, it is an instructress, it makes
people milder and gentler, more moral and
more reasonable" These words might have
been taken as the keynote of the work done
by the various societies who set themselves
the task of bringing this "fairest and most
glorious gift Of God" to the masses of toll
ers and workers who throng our great city,
and to whom the grimy, colorless side of life
is so terribly real. And that they have sue
ceeded in carrying out Luther's words in
making people more moral and more rea-
sonable by the aid of music is proved be-
yond doubt and question by the altered
state of the New Cut and similar metropol-
itan thoroughfares.