El Paso daily herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1881-1901, 1897-10-05
A Protest.

| To the Editor of the Ell Paso Daily
HERALD:-Sir: A note giving the
titles of some of the selections to be
, discoursed by the McGinty band on
Sunday afternoon next, which appear
ed in Saturdays issue OF the HERALD
| set me to thinking. The Boston Tea
| Party" 1.-The Polish Dances" the
Hunting Scene" ''Manana Gillian
Dance ''other popular compositions,
| including "Mster johnson, Turn Me
| Loosen' What dish to set before a
king! What savoy meal to hold out
| to the hungry hundreds who will pour
| into the park from all parts of the Town
| men and women glad of the addition
al opportunity for q little excitement,
| lit lie children eager for the privileges
| of frOlicking upon the green grass, 20
scarce hereabouts! A detachable feast.
an elevauing L baton truly. And this
a request prOgram'-an entertain
| ment made up OF pieces selected by the
| citizens themselves.
OF course we all realize that to the
naturally arts ic ear of some, and the
trained mus cal ear of others, there is a
great deal of the Heavenly mu7e'' in
| mister johnson, Turn Me Loosa )" for
instance. But, sir, can it be POSSIBLE
at there is no merit whatever in the
productions Of Handel, Hadyn, Mozart,
M" nde lssohn, SpOhr, GounOd? l do
not pretend 10 have more than Ordinary
knowledge of these things, but it does
seem TO me that L have heard of these
names, and that they are thought
pretty well of in some places some
refined towns for instance.
Well, perhaps [ am wrong. Perhaps
that class of production known as
sacred does lack the true soul of
music. 1t may be, too, that it is best
| to cater to the lighter nature of the
popu lace on Sunday as on Friday, that
the last lingering thought of religion
should be driven out of the minds of
the people on that day by inspiring
selections from the saloon and dance
hall repertoire. 1t may be for the good
of community dreaming of growth
and pro perity, that the chains which
bind it to the wild and woody west"
should be reforged again and again by
| adhering to the heather practices of
by-gone days 1t may be, perhaps, tn at
it Is right and proper, and even ex-
pedient for the we'll being of the city,
that the day held sacred in some
Christian countries should be desc GRAFT
ed and degraded here. There are ap-
paren,ly some who think so-nay, is it
not the prevailing opinion?
But, sir, there are others who think
otherwise, ;heyg are, of course, in
opinion is of no great value. Still
there are those even in Ell Paso who
have in sacred mpositions-such, for
instance, as ''The Messiah,'' THE
Creation" ''Stabat Mater''-found
gems even more lustrous than mister
johnson, Turn Me Looser' who. believ-
ing the true mission of music to he the
elevation of human thought, think that
a Sunday afternoon concert might be
made an agent for good Instead of
harm; who are of the opinion that it is
detrimental to the general interest of
a gro wing city to have such small re-
gard for the one sacred day of the
week, and that if men and women are
Indifferent to their own morals, the
morals of the little children who are
growing up to take their places in a
life that is 5al and earnest ought to
be considere and surrounded with
good rather than evil influences.
Sir, TO include, in the opinion of
the writer, who is fond lover of
music, it is disgrace to the
town TO allow such program as
proposed to be publicly discoursed on
a Sunday. Yours truly,
E, II. J. ANDREWS