The daily morning journal and courier., 1903-07-23
MUSIC AT MEALS.

In budget of nonsense which Punch prints purporting to be consensus of
 musical opinion as to whether meals should be eaten with an accompani-
 ment of music, an extract from an
 alleged letter from MT. Henry Bird shines conspicuous for practical wisdom. MT. Bird is said to have written: You
 ask Should there be music during
 meals?" But what of the converse ?---
 should there be meals during music?
 It seems to me that to offer music at a
 restaurant is confession of failure on
 the part of the cheff' .~.. k
 To get satisfactory dinner outside of ones own house without an accompani-
 ment os alleged music is becoming in 5ereasingly difficult, Sometimes the
 music is better than the food, and some times the food is bettenstllan the'music. But never are they iii a sympathetic relation. Music may very well assist ir
 the enjoyment and assimilation of a
 meal if one be dining alone with nothing pleasant or profitable to occupy his
 thoughts, especially if the music be not
 blatent in quality, and neither superla-
 lively good nor distressingly bad. If
 srperlatively good, ,11t might cause an
 appreciative listener to hold his fork
 suspended midway between plate and
 mouth while his food cold, and his wine
 warm. If distressingly bad it would prompt him to hurry through his meal
 regardless of certain Indigestion, that he
 might the sooner get away and seek the blessings of peace and quietness. If too
 faint it would serve no good purpose, since the piano and pianissimo passages
 would be unintelligible: too loud 1t
 would interfere with the conversation,
 which unconsciously accommodates it.
 self to it's modulatiorfs,, ranging from
 whisper to roar, as may be necessary. F As to the kind of music tu be played
 at meal times there never can be any
 possible agreement between the leader
 of the restaurant and the man at the table. The aim of the leader appears to
 be to strike an impossible average-im-
 possible because there is no average
 strikable. He does this by an arrange
 ment of selectins ,,as incongrous as
 would be a menu in which sorbet, fish, peanuts, soup confections, game coffee
 roast, pudding, pickles crem de fnenthe, and french mustard succeed one an- other in the order given, The adiner
 who is interested in selections from
 ''Tannhauser" .shudders when "Under tha Bamboo Tree" jiggles itself into his reluctant consciousness, and experi- ences something of a shock when the
 three instruments which have strug- gled bravely, and it may, be commend ably, with the overture to "Mignpn."
 tumble over themselves in 'gThe Honeysuckle and the. Bee,'' or some other popular coon melody of the rag time variety. The average is failure, Of the value of music to the business of & restaurant is probable that opinions differ widely. Our own judg- ment of the matter would be that out of hundred persons made up of habi- tual and casual frequenters, fifty are indifferent to the music and scarcely know whether it is provided or not, twenty-five go some distance to find a chance to dine comfortably in silence if alone or in agreeable conversation if ac- companied by a friend, and twenty-five would be apt to say they like it adds so." A great advantage would result l.f..
 from making it optional. Instead of hiring an orchestra to make perfunctory music for those who want it and for those who do not, the proprietor of the popular restaurat might provide pho- nographs just as he does foot stools for those who need them. If music is de- sired, the waiter would bring an instru- ment, hook it to the back of ones chair, adjust the ear pieces and leave the cus- tomer to absorb much or little of it, as he might desire. Not many would be needed, we imagine, but for those who habitually enjoy the kind of music which is discoursed by restaurant or chestras the photograph would be just las sa satisfactory.-New York Times.
 More boys are born every year than