New-York tribune., 1908-01-26
IG0THAM GIRL AT
A BOSTON CONCERT.
MISSES NOISY APPLAUSE
OF THE HONE GALLERY.
Rush Line Formed at Symphony
Hall Contains Much Pathetic
Local Color.

s1,,o.t e,-erz, Friday the occupants the Boston
streetcars in Huntington crane their necks
as they come Symphony Han ana shlcAe'
audiby at the crowd they are sure to see assem-
/ bled on the steps Of the building
There they are" Been standing there ever
l since breakfast 'Durred fools, some Of the
remarks one hears guffawed all over the car Ihe
conductor g-ins and jokes with the nearest passeh
gers and tells tales OF the marvellous endurance OF
the musical cranks who are waiting for the hall to
l be opened. And yet in his voice and in the back
ward craning faces of the passengers. in spite OF
their gibes there is of pride in and patronlz-
ing affection for of the customs OF the queer
l old Hub Of ''culchah'-the custom Of going rush
TO the Boston Symphony concerts.
It is 10 the great credit OF Boston and 10 the
directors Of the concerts that one the best or
chestras in America can be heard for the sum of
25 cents-if you love music enough 10 stand in the
| cold and wait for il. II was when the new SYM
I1ony Hall was erected few years ago. that the
l idea was started. There so many students and
inpecunious intellectuals in Boston for whom the
price Of 81 50 seat is impossible that the man
l agelnent hit upon the plan Of throwing open, on
rehearsal day. the second balcony, which holds FIVE
hundred people, for the uniform price Of . cents
seat There are no tickets, reserved seats hence
the multitude that gathers to wait for the opening
Of the big front doors and chance Of pouncing on
the best places They all good seats however for
the balcony, though the top gallery, is not peanut
gallery. Il is II nearly all respects as rich and
elegant as the rest or tne mouse LOT dt tle IeSA,
performance on Saturday night these seats cost
| s. So And the rehearsal is in reality first per
| Torrance which is attended full earnestly and
| crushingIy the Saturday night concert
A TOUCHING EXPERIENCE.
Not to have gone rush" to a Symphony re-
hearsal is to have missed experience at once
! humorous and touching.
! The rehearsal begins at p As early as IL
O'Clock. and even earlier days when a famous
| soIoist takes part in the afternoon programme.
| tenuous schoonarms and pasty, dark haired music
masters begin 80 arrive Close OF their heels press
| girls from the West, who come to Boston stuffed
| with dreams Of fame and music These giggle in
| frfos behave in manner more solitary and in
| tense And then the Harvard students-not the
'rah: 'rah. boys but the real students-seedy, shy
| and taciturn real students generally are The
! foreigner, male female. who gives German les
| sons, or tunes pianos, lives 4 little il
! come and expectations. may be seen in numbers.
These always noticeable for their queer clothes
Of rubbed velvet fur that has died hard, made
| IN way that was jaunty in Vienna perhaps if
teen years ago More prosperous elements OF the
crowd the stout determined matrons who at
tend the Lowell lectures and their husbands-the
school superintendents ministers talkative fussy
and good
These men generally carry book of i'm
proving essays 10 read while they in line
spend most OF the time greeting arrivals
| why Mrs. Corten. you're here late to-day. Did
you enjoy the talk on Plato last night? Most stTn
uating. ] thought Yes this afternoon its Beetho-
ven. Is the line moving?"
! Two or three Of the doorkeepers Of the hall are
paid to regulate the and that all is done
with neatness ana without wrangling The build
ing has Doric front. with a flight OF broad steps
across the whole face of it First stand 0
the top step and the end OF that the line turns
and winds along the second ster. the third and so
| forth. This makes a compact. tidy regiment, which
VIXEN the doors are opened moves with the decorum
! Of marching Sunday school
WAITING NOT DULL.
| The waiting is not dull Conversation tRitters
nnerrily, for Boston crowd has not the deep sus-
pcion for another OF New Workers. Indeed.
why should these innocent and anamc souls have
anything to fear from one another? II is ike some
peoples idea Of heaven Everything is gentle and
| chattv and musical The only drawback is that
. the pure cold ether or Boston blows rather
searchingy. II makes the raise their little
. old ruffs irnploringy against the cold and turns
the Harvard student biUe- How some of the girls
ever live come TO another concert after sitting
| for three hours or icy granite step as they
sometimes do when unable TO stand up any longer,
I is a miracle which only William James the
Christian Scientists explain. For they do
again. The gatekeepers say il is almost the same
| CT ovid every week
The occasional newcomer feels much ashamed
before the and calm Of the regular rush
ers. In the first place he cannot find the end of
this queer lire that doubles back and forth like
tTQmoone Aftel ne HdS iln up anu uoHn tne
length OF the block several times pursued by
amused filters, he is scornfuily thrust into
place by the commanding doorkeeper- Then he be-
gins 10 notice that every carries quar-
ter of dollar clutched in his her fist He learns
thar this is the rule for when the doors opened
and The rush begins a hoggish human might block
the whole line for half hour while he counts the
change for a so bill
The newcomer who has lose his place in the
line and march to the corner drug store TO
buy some iujubes and get quarter makes fun for
the waiting line. So do the pedestrians who strug
gle b,- the advertisements which enterprising
sa ndxich man tfrHsts everybody as he stands
there helpless. and do the organ grinders who
seek 10 cheer the lire.
.Ah-h-h-h-h! j have sighed 10 r-e-e-e-est me-"
gan while the assistant vasabond clasps his hands
his sunny heart. rolls his eyes and flashes his
teeth the frostbitten audience before him.
DOORS OPEN AT LAST.
At last the doors opened sort Of sacred
silence fails broken only by the shuttle OF moving
fee. and the chink of silver quarters. No tickets.
no delay You throw your quarter at the gateman
and scurry through the big white marble vestibue
and up white marble stairs fast you can.
When five hundred have entered the doors are shut
again and the overflow. which sometimes amounts
hundred is left yammering.
the Symphony Hall is beautiful, chaste,
cold edsfce-sust what would naturally for
in Boston The colors white and gray and |
green-e1 cool, very cool-especially January |