The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-06-20

.aF. 4
a W. ny music which was contributed by
6 ~ payer who sat on a seat near they
n; S95dI 10 weave all sorts of fanciful steps
,r ILiltS ana measure to the melody
men the ball was taken nv T6a leader
girls same ana thrown 10 one OF The
1 M VINO caught it while she was dane
of the posslnle' while her feet were botn
dune sIouhd, and almost Immediately
ddinns u TO another who received IL and
6n 11'S'{Ghea II IN similar manner This
Douuuihg and throwing communicated or
aspect of the most airy lightnesS ~ ~ r.
S SsIIIS' equaled only, We imagine. by that
V VGbliliiio o spectacle of the modern ballet
ViousIy e pdacfr whose belt has been pre-
aioS, at(ached to wire is caught IN
go go as II she were flying. The same
mf i1iis o. Oh airy grace must have been com
the 5irjS 20 20 me Greek spectators when
he he slIls We're at the ball dance-boundinR
esit ~ ~ me air, catching the living nan
a. II Muttered through the sky. and never
momep77 - 5, rGuch , earth, except but for
Toner describes the same thus in the
INA 10y anu according 20 his account
me az. oHn was sometimes flung so high in
NY w AR mat IL was almost lost 70 Sieb,
49, IN IL appeared as a speck from cl0ud-
-otio, tile player whose turn il uyas IN
tslSino seemed to rise to meet it, and.
Lt@hAhS IL tossed the bail once more 10 the
iGaNeHs; so that it scared about like a
DtLu' Alternately with this the nlavers
~ i ~ cioSer flung the ball from one
S ~ tiie Qther win such lightning-like RAJ
DlnIy that it made them dizzy 70 ioolt
+rio w i!eu We consider that during these In
-, ~ movements and complicated fig
uiSs tlere was constant stream of MI
SIC swelling on and never stonning ano
fldt every step taken in the game was 10
coz, fl lieiS sure OF a musical bar, we must
S otiIesS now much enhanced must have
pSeh inc beauty OF the game to the ava-
OF 0hlookers, and how marvelousIv smo6tb
P tian symmetrical must have been the ac
LIONS OF every one that PLAYED il s'Sonne
tiIhes, says a Greek author sthe1y Unnid
IhroW the ball from one to the other AZ
99hoiiL Instances. And then they must use
tIiSn hahds alone. But at longer dis
tahces they might use their arms IN 6ine-
II WIN, standing easily but firmly in one
SPOT ana arching their bodies in a tbon
inp M h sHidSeluI neXons to catch the bounc-
INSausicaa, one of the heroines of the
0{uyssey' danced the ball dance on the Sea
fetILu. The shore was yellow, and the
pIl9nt blue sea, like a sheet of sapphire
surrounded it. Nausicaa was kings
ro;dan bs ana The played the game with
SOluen pan. Those who played with her.
were her nandmaids and attendants She
was was a tai girl. exceedingly them all in
ras 81 a,ia 40 beauty and majesty And her
ISseS In the ball dance We're like those of
~! Dldha herself as she treads the nights Of
ftaysstus, hunting the boars and swift
footed stays.
The Paneratium.
If we pass now from the games of girls
70 the festival Of the Olympic games
where men commended for the prize Of
victory we shall find that even here the
1aVorite pastime of the musical game''
iehslnuated Itself, and that the athletes per
formed one most popular exercise of this
character which was in very great favor
with all the spectators. This was the Pan
cfatlum, as 1t was called, which was a
mixture of boxing and wrestling every
blow being delivered in time to a musical
melody and every grip or throw in the
wrestling being responsive to a musical
The blase sightseers of London have
most Of them looked with interest on
what is called the musical ride of the
military tournament Infinitely more mll-
seal, because the countless gestures of
the human body followed the meter, not
merely the evolution of a few horses was
the Paneratium of the Olympic games.
w hen 1t began, We read, the spectators
leaving all other attractions, crowded
round to see this and could never be
torn away, with their applause and their
fascinated gaze, until the contest was
over.
Lucian describes the game thus: "When
they have locked hand in hand" he SAYS
and give blows ana take them the fight
floats off into a dance" They menace
each other as deadly enemies, yet there
can be no hostility in their threats for
their feet are perDetually beating the
rhythms, and their ears are open to catch
the slightest variation of the music, that
they may express the melody of their mo-
tons.
Another musical game, and the last we
need al4ude to among the Greeks, was the
flower game, which was played very much
are performed. The girls arranged them
selves on one side in a long line the
youths and men on the other The for
mer held fowerS-principally roses and w
olets-in their hands, and, thus equipped
the two lines of players danced up to one
another in time of the music. The youths
and men on coming close to the line of
their fair Vis-a-vis, sang:
Where are my roses? And where are my
And where is my beautiful parsley. toe?
In connection with the intrusion of the
parsley-most unromantic of herbs in our
oncepuoni-among the poetical Violets
and roses, we must eeXplain that parsley
was with the Greeks a very different
plant-or perhaps we should say plant
held in very different esteem-frOm what
it is with us. 1t formed the crown OF
the conquerors at many of the national
games, such as the Olympic and Isthmian
And the young men, in asking the girls
for parsley, were in fact requesting them
to wreathe crowns of conquest or of favor
and place them upon their heads
Such were the words, then, with which
one side of the players, so TO speak chal-
lenged the Others. And it was left to the
girls TO reply
Here are your roses, and here are your
And here is your beautiful parsley too.
One of the maidens here handed flow
er or parsley wreath TO her lover, with
which, well contented, he and the other
men retired with dancing steps 10 the
time of the music, while she, overwhelmed
with confusion, retired with the maidens.
This approach and retreat were again
repeated as often as a girl had anything
to give, or as long as a girl was left whose |
faVors, typifed by the flowers, We're as
yet unbestowed on a lover What shy
ness what bashfulness! what timid re-
lucIance, al times poisoning iato the
most, desperate courage did this game not
suggest and evoked The musical meas
ures of the melody were meanwhile of a |
most intricate and elaborate nature, so |
that the most ardent lover, the most timid |
and bashful maiden, must not forget the |
steps for all his ardor or her timidily. and |
must ever remember that this pretence of |
woong and making love was not an act |
uality but only a musical game.
Cardinal in the Cathedral.
Musical games of still more extraordi- |
nary description meet us somewhat later |
in history-that is 10 say, passing t!e |
time of the Greeks and coming TO the |
early middle ages. A most gTotesque form |
of The ball dance-utterly ludicrous and |
with not the vestige of a pretence to any
thing artisCic--WaS commonly practced in |
the cathedrals @ of The early mediaecal !
times. On easter day, after the long aus
I h.. D. -