Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1899-06-10
Why Big Crowds Go to the Marine
Band Concerts.
THEY ARE ALWAYS WELL REPAID
Some of the Familiar Figures in
Saturday Gathering.
APPRECIATIVE AUDIENCES

zen of nation of eighty millions of people
| sits on his back porch, cools his face with
| a palm-leaf fan, and listens to the music
| of band. Some few thousands of the
| chief magistrates fellowmen and women
| not his "subjects'-stroll around the grassy
| knobs and mounds, casting only occasional
| glances at the Veranda wherein the ma
TONS chief man sits tanning himself There
| is no saaaming. There is no pageantry
| There is no hurrahing, no shouting for the
| good and great. The President is permit
| ted to take his music as he takes his
| breakfast, in privacy. This is democracy
1t is also good manners. There is less fub-
dub in Washington than in any of the
| worlds capitals.
| These White Lot concerts on summer
| Saturday evenings are delightful features
| of the hot weather period in Washington
! In great European capitals the bands play
! on plaZas, and the open-air concerts are
| brushes, rendered more or less noisy by
| the steady assimilation of beer by the null
| ttudes. Carriages rattle to and fro and
| the gable of the crowds on parade browns
| the music. To listen to the music seems to
be among the very least of the purposes
of the plaza throngs. The White Lot
| throng seems to assemble on Saturday
! evenings primarily for the purpose of lis
| tening to the music of one of the really
| fine bands of the world, and then between
| whites and after, to get cool, to enjoy the
| scene and the delight of treading upon
| springy turf to walk under the overhang-
| ing arches formed by the far-shooting
| branches of great trees to watch the foun-
| tain jets plash upon the darting fish; even
| to roll upon the grass.
An Orderly Gathering.
| The White Lot concert brings forth a dis
| t1nctly Washingtonesque assemblage,
which is equivalent to saying that it is
l
and that, in general. quiet and good order
prevail. 1t is a curious thing to mark the
| repose and Individual self-control of sew
| eral thousand people fetched together in
| an out-of-doors throng. Washington is
! really one OF the few cities where the open
| air crowds seem always to be quite within
themselves. During the concert last Sat
| urday evening the calm of the stationary
| or slowly moving and circling assemblage
was shattered few times by aural mani
| festations from the threats % first u baby,
and, afterwards, q dog.
The baby gurgled within the arms of a
| pretty woman, who, with a nurse, stood
| close to the band plat form. The infant
maintained its good humor or its solemn
| gravity until the band started to play one
| of Leader Santemann's realistic descriptive
| pieces concerning the routine of a military
day aboard Il troop ship The first notes
of that composition make up the reveille
of the trumpets-tbat call of the gray dawn,
hated and obeyed by all men who wear
uniforms, j can't get 'em up l can't get
EN- up, can't get EN- up this morning"
This reveille business offended the baby
from the very first note thereof and an
army officer who stood near remarked TO
his companion that the young ones father
must have seen service. The baby bawled
in an ascending creSoendo until all the
soldiers were supposed to be out of their
hunks and to be engaged in making up
the same, and it only subsidized into the
gaspng aftermath period of the infantile
when the trOOU 81
sounded mess call. The call to mess APP
peared to remind the baby of sonnet hing,
the something was a bottle; the baby
sounded a little mess call of It's own com
position, the bottle was produced and calm
again settled in that vicinage.
Dog Knew Good Music.
The dog gamboled upon the green and
was happy and Hght-hearted until the
strains of the intermeZzo from "Caval-
leria" began to softly pierce the twilight
with what Stevenson calls the ''silence of
flutes" Then the dog pinned back his
ears shifted the air and began to edge
toward the band platform sdewise. 1t
could be seen that, in the midst of his
joyousness, that dog was overcome by
rush of memory. He was hopelessly ordi-
nary in appearance, and all dog, but that
he had within him something very like
soul he plainly showed when he raised his
shaggy head and let out succession of
gulping means that seemed to issue from
the very center of his nature Then he was
chased.
"Eyen the dogs compliment Mascagni for
that wonderful bit of melody said Leader
Santelmann, smiling, when the piece was
concluded.
The diversity OF musical taste is a matter
to be studied at the White Lot concert. At
ter the "Cavaleria' a large, heavy man
with a square jaw and an aggrieved eX
preston, as of a man who isn't getting his
moneys worth, ,urned to his friend, who
looked quite satisfied, and inquired:
Various Tastes.
Il wonder when they're going to play a
tune?"
'What do you call the thing they've just
finished playing?" asked his companion.
"A lot O noise. followed by a hymn tune
replied the heavy man.
Maybe they'll perform Hello, Ma Baby
and The Georgia Camp Meeting for you
later on" suggested his friend in a tone of
sarcasm.
For an encore the band did strike up a
rag-timc tune The heavy mans head rock
ed from side to side and a grin of enjoy
ment overspread his features. A young
woman with spectacles standing near shud-
dered when the first movement of the rag
time tune was begun.
The dim-lit cathedral melody of the in
termeZZo, and then the horror of 'mu-
sicap cake walk she muttered to her COM
panion. "Mush after pie-corned beef after
terrapin!" And she strolled down to the
iouhihiil, out OF nearing, 10 get the rag
time out of her ears.
Wanted Tannhnedser.
There was nothing of Wagner on the pro-
gram. A stout German citizen-a promi-
nent figure in one of the local singing So
cieties-felt the affront., He moved up to
the stand and spoke to Leader Santelmann
''Tannhaeuser?' he said.
But L haven't the music replied the
leader
The German walked away, obviously sad
at heart. a.
Desc cake walks" he said Desc black
The black brethren and sisters were
there. close around the stand. They sway
ed with all of the music. The black man
IS the chief of cosmopolitans when 1t Jones
TO matter of music. All muac is music
unto his ears. He will sway to the recita-
i've OF Wagner, bend to the melody of
Verdi shuttle TO the cIatter of the ragtime.
me colored men are the best listeners at
the White Lot concert.
The Volunteer Critic.
The critical youth who knows all about
Ha tn nra1ly