The courier., 1896-08-01

Mr. Richard Mansfield is known to be
a man wholly averse to publicity, and
his arrest for riding a bicycle in front
of the Casino, in the Central Park, and
declining to get of his wheel when
warned by the particularly good
natured and benevolent policeman with
a white beard who rules that district
and is loved by all the children who
play there, must be deeply painful to
Mr.. Hansfield's sweet and sensitive
nature The officer seems to have been
impressed by the fact that the dis
tinguished lecturer told him that Is
was his-the policeman's-duty to get
down on his knees when he spoke to
him-lecturec Mansfield. But, in Mr..
Mansfield's opinion, this attitude Of
genuflection Is one which all the world.
assume when venturing to approach
him. Surely, even under our system
Of democratic-republican self-gOvern-
ment, genius ought to be allowed to
enjoy certain privileges and immun-
tiles; and IL anybody doubts that Mr..
Mansfield is a genius, just ask him.
/ think, too, that the captain or SER
geant at the arsenal ought to have in
Quired il Mr.. Mansfield's wheels did
not move unconsciously. irresistibly. in
spite of itself or themselves or himself.
Besides. 1t should be remembered that,
in addition to bing a native Of England,
an illustrOus lecturer actor, and Ad-
miral Crichton, Mr. Mansfield used to
be a dry-gOods clerk in Boston, and
therefore has a double extra right to
be double extra naughty.
wish to make an appeal to Mr..
Reginald De KOven. not as a musician
and a composer. but as a man and a
friend Of man. 1t appears that he has
completed, and Is prepared to rehearse,
his new opera, 'The Mandarin"
work surcharged with Chinese noises
and full of all the tumult Of Pekin and
Pell street. 1t is creditable to Mr.. De
Koven that he should still pursue. even
IL he never catches up with, the study
of music. He has saturated his mind
with the study of European composers.
He has produced popular and success
full works. and has won a right. by the
eminence which he has attained as a
joiner and composer and decOmposer
of sound. to that high critical station
which he occupies upon the largest
Yiddish paper in New York. Honors
and dollars pour upon him in full
streams. His fame is great in the
world of music and fashion; he is loved
alike by st. Cecilia and Mrs. Grundy;
his cravats are the wonder and the
despair of artists. Having, at a COM
paratively early age, made so much
noise in the world-having rOamed like
a troubadour with notebook and
score through Europe and America,
culling their choicest flowers-it is nat
ural enough that he should look for
new worlds to conquer, and should
wish to ransack the riches of the gor-
geous east. But this year the country
has much to suffer. The populists.
of Chicago or st. Louis, have
a hundred thousand voices apiece, and
use them remorselessly twenty-four
hours a day. Think of all those voices
and Of all the banging Of drums and
footing of flies and clangor OF innum-
cradle bands, Is this a year for Mr..
De Koven to spring a battery of Chi
nese gongs upo ma public that has
made him rich and famous? AS he is
great, he should be merciful. If he
must produce a Chinese opera, why
can't he go to the treaty ports, or into
the heart of China, and make the
gentlemen who wear their eyes tilted
up happy by the familiar sounds OF
their own music? Dedicate the thing
to Ii Hung Chang. He is not feeling
very well.
Thousands of persons who are in the
habit of going to bed early made ex-
ceptions last night. They waited with
sleepless and eager eyes for the hour
when
The deep dense plumes Of night are
thinned
Surely with glimmering of the win
moving wind
Whose feet are fiedged with morning.
When the printer takes to his but
ter-cakes or his Raines rejection and
the elevated cars are laden with news
papers instead of passengers. All over
the United States as well as here. there
was a flame of excitement, fever Of
At the Court theatre.
London. last night. Mr.. Robert Hilliard
produced his immortal dramatization
Df one of Mr.. Richard Harding Davis
immortal stories. and appeared himself
as Van Bibber. Never before were so