East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current, 1905-06-23
NEW YORK LETTER

New York, June 23.-Two noted
singers, Etelka Gerster and George
Henschel, have been engaged by DR..
Frank Damrosch to teach in the
school Of musical art which was re-
Gently founded by James Loeb with a
gift of $500, 900, known as the Betty
Loeb endowment DR.. Damrosch is
now in Europe engaging instructors,
and he has cabled that he has made
contracts with the singers named.
Both Madame Gerster and Mr.
Henschel are well known as singers
and teachers of the voice Nine. Gers
ter. in her time. was one of the most
noted of operate colorature singers.
She came to this country in 1878.
1888 and 1887. Her first two Ameri-
can tours were highly successful, and
she was acclaimed as one of the most
remarkable operate sopranos of the
century. In 1895 she opened school
for singing in Berlin, where she now
lives.
Mr.. Henschel is a baritone singer,
who has been prominent on the con-
cert stage n this country for 25 years.
He spent part of last winter in New
York, engaged in lecturing.
Worry and Shock Kill Them.
In commenting upon the great in
crease in the number of deaths here
from heart disease, DR.. Thomas Darl-
ington, president of the board OF
health, declares that worry and ex-
citement, together with many nerve
shocks which come to all New York
ers in their daily life, are the princi-
pal causes which snap the heart |
strings and make living so uncertain
The strain of business and cares at |
tendant on fierce competition in the |
| financial center of the city and the |
worry attendant on anxiety to gain |
wealth are given as an explanation
| by physicians of the conditions which |
| exist in the metropolis today. Many
young men now succumb to the COM
plant, where so years ago case was
rare when a person under 80 years
unless bothered by a hereditary COM
plant, died from heart disease.
Three Roads Order $500 Cars.
The fact that $500 freight cars were
ordered recently by only three rail-
roads gives an idea of what our coun-
try can do when it is let alone by
strike organizations, rate disturbers-
personal profit politicians and the
like. Two thousand of these freight
cars were ordered by the Burlington,
besides 500 box cars. Fifteen hundred
are freight cars for the Chicago and
| Northwestern, in addition to the 1900
ordered by the same company in May.
The other 1900 are ventilated cars
for the Atlantic Coast line.
1t may be noted that in 1904 only
13 roads of an aggregate rlileage
of 524. were sold under foreclosure;
while in 1896 no less than 5S roads,
of an aggregate mileage of 1920,
suffered that fate. This comparison
is the more striking in view of the
the fact that 80, 900 miles of new road
have been added since 1896.
New Bowery Mission.
Efforts are being made by the
board of managers of the famous old
Bowery Mission to raise a fund to
purchase new site and erect thereon
new building, the present quarters
at SO Bowery being inadequate for
the needs of the mission. New York
ers who are interested in social bet
terment work are subscribing literally
to the fund, as it is recognized that
few institutions have accomplished
more in aiding stumbling men than
the Bowery Mission.
Since its beginning in 1879, the
work of the mission has been carried
on near its present site without in
terruption. On Thursday nights
throughout the year, for the last IL
years. Mrs. Sarah ]. Bird the mother
of the Bowery'' as she is called, has
regularly held services in the mission.
She also conducts a Sunday morning
meeting there and it is estimated that
more than 10000 men yearly attend
these meetings
At the close of each of these meet
ings Mrs. Bird serves luncheon and
always at Thanksgiving and Christ
mas the poor downtown families are
supplied with large. well-filled bas-
kets During the last winter break
fast was given to 129,000 homeless
men and boys, and the mission has
yearly supplied not less than 100000
meals and from 5000 to 10000 lodg-
ings.
1t has been through the Bowery
Mission that men who fill honorable
positions in the world today have been
reclaimed. For the most part the sad
stories heard at the Bowery Mission
are not told by native New Workers.,
but are related by men who come
from homes of comfort and refine
ment to take up the wage-earning
battle here, eager in their belief of the
fortune which awaits effort in New
York.
-
Expect Big Corn Crop.