The N. Y. Musical Courier in a recent paragraph cautions David Bispham, the new baritone who has made such a hit at the Metropolitan Opera-House this season, to restrain his artistic temperament, or he will draw down upon his head the wrath of Jean de Reszké, and thus forfeit reengagement next season, for the latter is said to be the power behind the throne at the Metropolitan and will not brook the slightest possibility of infringement upon his artistic claims.

About a year ago President Eliot, of Harvard, forbade intercollegiate contests, and, as a consequence, was criticised severely. The Minneapolis Journal, taking the incident as a text, says. 64 Athletics at college? Of course, is the universal verdict. Health from muscular exercise, breathing the free air of heaven in exchange for the atmosphere of study, relaxation from mental strain, etc.—the advantages are obvious. But the public is ignorant that at least ninety percentage of the pupils get none of the athletic exercise and muscular training about which all the noise is made. It is the few men who happen to row well, who play baseball well, who are unable to withstand the shock of football-in all, it is less than ten percentage of the pupils who do anything but yell like Indians when a few trained athletes of their school win a victory. College athletics means nothing to nine in ten of the students. Because they do not go in voluntarily for athletics; they lack the development, the physique, and sportive spirit to be chosen for the games, and are at best but mere onlookers. All the struggle with college faculties for consent to athletics, all the glowing tributes to the art of physical development at the colleges, simply means professional training for one in ten of the young fellows at the school. There is nothing compulsory, no rules that force the text-book lad to go into the gymnasium or to exert himself in the field. The college doctor does not cal! the boys up for examination, and order them into muscular labor. Hence, it seems rather absurd to talk so much about the enormous benefits of college athletics."

It is said that Walter Damrosch, inspired by witnessing a performance of Brian Boru," will try his hand at light

opera.

By the will of Henry L. Pierce, exmayor of Boston, Thomas Bailey Aldrich, the poet, fell heir to $300,000. For some years Mr. Aldrich was associate editor of the N. Y. Home Journal, from which he resigned to become editor of the short-lived Every Saturday, of Boston. His fame be

gan with "The Ballad of Babie Bell," published in a New York newspaper when its author was in his teens. The Home Journal, on learning of his legacy, thus voices its sentiments of him personally: "Aldrich is proud, high-strung, independent in spirit, and easily offended if offence is meant; but he is a man of high honor, gentle, generous, and a genial, jolly companion, altogether a very lovable man. These traits were shown in his youth, and are distinctly remembered by one who occupied a desk near that of the dainty poet for several years. No one who knows Aldrich will begrudge him his good fortune; he has earned it, and he deserves it."

* *

*

Of the singers that Walter Damrosch has engaged for his third season of opera, chief interest centres around Lilli Lehmann-Kalisch, who returns to America after five years' absence, and around Frau Cecilia Mohor-Ravenstein, Klafsky's successor. In the latter Mr. Damrosch believes that he has a treasure trove. She has not sung in opera for nearly two years, as her husband, a wealthy Frankfort architect, preferred that she retire from the stage. Before that she was leading soprano at the Mannheim Opera-House for six yearsfirst under Emil Paur, now director of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, and later under Felix Weingartner, who pronounced her the greatest of Brunhildes. She is also said to be very successful as Isolde. Mme. Lehmann is well remembered from her last visit. Illness compelled her to give up operatic work for a short time, but her success at Baireuth last summer evidenced the restoration of her health and vigor. Alvary's place is taken by Ernst Krauss, who will be heard as Lohengrin, Siegfried, Tännhäuser, Faust, Raoul, and Don Jose. He is handsome and over six feet in height. His career was begun in Weisbaden and in Mannheim. Paul Kalisch did not launch out as an intepreter of Wagnerian roles until after his marriage, although his reputation in French and Italian opera was considerable. Critics, however, say that he is now one of the best German, heroic tenors, his singing and acting being equally praiseworthy. Frau Johanna Gadski, who enters upon her third season with Mr. Damrosch, is popular here. She will sing Hester in "The Scarlet Letter,"-a role that she created, Brunhilde in "Siegfried," Senta in "The Flying Dutchman," and Michaela in 'Carmen." Other artists in the company

Mr.

are Augusta Vollmar and Alma Powell, soprano; Riza Eibenschutz and Marie Matfield, mezzo-soprano; Carl Somer and Gerhard Stehmann, baritones; Fritz Ernst and Paul Lange, tenors; Heinrich Hobbing, Fritz Derschuck, and Emil Fischer, basses. Damrosch has also arranged with Abbey and Grau for an interchange of artists, which will enable the former to give French and Italian operas in addition to the German performances. Melba, Eames, Calvé, Plançon, Edouard de Reszké, and Bispham, are some that will sing.

**

"Join a society and talk," is the practical advice of Chicago Men. "It does not matter so much what you talk about, whether it is the constitution of the society or the speeches of Demosthenes, but talk; get on your feet, think on your feet, get over the horrible self-consciousness and witless stampede of every idea. Learn to express yourself, and then take up subjects that have a practical application to the life of the world we live in. The glittering generalities of the pseudo-orator are going a-glimmering. Talk sound sense just as soon as you find your tongue and can manage it -but begin anywhere."

*

** The eighteenth national sängerfest will be held in Philadelphia, Pa., June 2124, inclusive. A mammoth auditorium 400 feet long by 200 feet wide, with a seating capacity of 16,000, will be erected for the occasion on Fotterall Square. The first sängerfest was held in Philadelphia in 1850. The meetings since that time have been held at Baltimore, Md., in 1851, 1859, 1869, 1888; at New York in 1852, 1855, 1865, 1871, 1894; at Philadelphia in 1853, 1857 1867, 1882; at Brooklyn, N. Y., in 1885; and at Newark, N. J., in 1891.

Τ

HE article on "Physical Culture in the Public Schools of Brooklyn, New York, and Washington," will do much good. It presents the systems, of Brooklyn and of Washington justly and well. Teachers everywhere, except in New York, owe sincere thanks to that article for the enthusiastic commendation there bestowed upon the teachers in Brooklyn and in Washington, for its able presentation of their methods of physical training in their public schools. However, as Miss Thayer herself confesses that she was undoubtedly unfortunate in her choice of schools wherein to witness New York methods of physical training, a just, truthful account of what is done in the schools with which I am acquainted may not be out of place. I hope Miss Thayer will pardon me if I suggest that she was hardly fair in her account of the work directed by Dr. J. Gardiner Smith, who, until September, 1896, directed the work of five, not thirteen, city schools. Dr. Smith began work in the public schools in 1892. He is a practicing physician, director of the Harlem Y. M. C. A., and medical examiner to the Civil Service Boards. He has studied physical training according to the Swedish, Delsarte, Turner, and Y. M. C. A. methods, and has gone over each exercise, carefully testing it from the standpoint of his anatomical knowl

edge, and after rejecting those that were injurious in each system, he began his work in the public schools.

In Grammar School No. 90, he devoted two hours and a half weekly to instructing scholars in the presence of class-teachers, who were then expected to train the classes in the exercise until his next visit, when a new exercise was presented. He evolved a course of apparatus work which is admirably adapted to the needs of our public school children, and modified the setting-up drill of the United States army for "free-hand movements without apparatus," which is practiced daily in the classrooms. Thus, he provided for the needs of schools without a gymna sium. His method of getting the classes in position is particularly adapted to getting the classes on and off the gymnasium floor without loss of time. Fifteen minutes were all he could give each class in Grammar School No. 90; there are twenty four classes in the grammar grades, and about as many more in the primary grades.

For a better account of his methods, I must refer my readers to his book now in course of publication. We teachers found him affable, courteous, and ever ready to listen to our suggestions. If our ideas were good they were adopted; if they were not, he courteously explained wherein they were

unsuited to the needs of our pupils. Nor was the reward of his faithful work wanting. At the convention of the American Association for the Advancement of Physical Education, held in the Twenty second Regiment Armory, April 26, 1895, Dr. Smith's public school children were awarded the palm, in competition with the best classes trained by military drill, by Turners, and in Y. M. C. A.'s. I hope Miss Thayer will admit the competency of the judges assembled there from all parts of the country.

I append a report I then prepared for daily and for teachers' journals.

EXHIBIT OF PHYSICAL TRAINING METHODS.

"At the armory of the Twenty-second regiment the American Association for the Advancement of Physical Education was able to gather and to compare the different methods of physical training now in use at the Teachers' College, New York, in the public schools of New York City and of Brooklyn, in the schools of the New Yorker Turnvereinen, and in the Y. M. C. A. branches.

44

The First Battalion American Guard of Mr. Boyer's school appeared in an exhibition drill which was received with applause, though the physical directors present declared that as a system of physical training the military drill, as furnished by its oldest corps, was valueless. Even the marching was excelled by the different organizations later in the evening. Next appeared a delegation from the Teachers' College, which, under the direction of their teacher, went through a graceful drill in which they used two rubber balls. They were followed by boys from certain Brooklyn schools, who showed their classroom exercises and whistled Old Kentucky Home,' and other tunes with their exercises.

“Then appeared pupils of two New York City public schools, viz., No, 23, primary, and grammar department, No go, under the di rection of Dr. J. Gardiner Smith. For fifteen minutes classes representing all grades of Primary School No. 23, went through the exercises devised for their classroom drill, with and without apparatus, the grammar school representatives, meanwhile, kneeling in a hollow square outside. The little tots, some of them apparently hardly able to march the length of the armory hall, marched to their places unattended by their teachers, and went through the exercises with a precision that was astonishing. It was a pretty sight to see the earnestness and the grace with which they completed their work. They received rounds of applause as they filed off. The grammar scholars then rose from their knees and took the floor; and for the next fifteen minutes gave simultaneously an idea of the physical training in their grades. The work was well done, a class of club swinging, girls and boys of the first grade, or last school1-year, doing especially well. Competent critics of the Staatszeitung pronounced the exercises of the public school children perfectly done, though the envy of certain Turners caused them to say that it was only

parade-drill and the result of special training by selected scholars.' Two remarks that are thoroughly unjust, for the exercises are performed better in the classrooms every school-day in the year. The only selection made was of scholars who could obtain their parents' permission to go that night. The only preparation was to drill the scholars of the primary once in the armory, and to drill the grammar scholars so that they could simultaneously show the work of the different grades and march on and off the floor without losing a second of the thirty minutes allotted for the public schools' exhibit.

The public schools of New York City were the only division to march on the floor, go through their exercises, and march off without a leader to go through the exercises for them. The self reliance and the intelligence they showed, from the six-year-old primary scholar to the sixteen-year-old firstgrade scholar, spoke volumes for the efficiency of the discipline and the power of self-help developed by the course of study and their physical training. This self-reliance was in marked contrast to the only defect in the work of the Turners. (Children's classes were directed to their places by their teacher and in some cases younger children were moved to them bodily.) The promptitude of the public school children was also in marked contrast to the irresolution the Turners showed in taking their places. Besides, the Turners' classes of children kept their eyes fixed on their leader as they went through their free-hand movements. This, however, was only a slight defect, for it must be said that, once started, the Turning classes went through their exercises with vigor, strength, and endurance. A class went through pretty evolutions, waving American flags and singing patriotic songs. Another

class of girls performed a Lorelei dance' to the accompaniment of a brass band, which aided all the Turners. The older classes exhibited their drills with dumb-bells, wands, clubs, etc., and revealed the source of most of the exercises exhibited that evening.

"The Turners showed marvelous precision and accuracy in their evolutions, and it is a pity that the delays in getting the divisions on the floor and off marred an otherwise-perfect exhibition of a system of physical training that has been the mother of all subsequent systems.

"The Y. M. C. A.'s were well and numerously represented by splendid classes of young men in the vigor of perfectly-developed health and strength. They were followed by the Turners and others and took part in exhibits of apparatus work, which were well done; the juggling, tumbling, vaulting, high jumping, etc., being simultaneously exhibited on the floor.

"The vast audience dispersed, well pleased with the exhibit of what our physical directors and trainers are trying to accomplish in the way of securing for our young men and women the sound body that should accompany the sound mind. Judging from the exhibit, the different associations represented are producing a rising generation that will almost realize the Greek

ideal of a perfect union of mental and bodily vigor.

"

I re

Miss Bancroft and her methods were also represented there by classes from Brooklyn schools, and so far is Miss Bancroft from sharing Miss Thayer's opinion of Dr. Smith, that she wrote to him the next day, acknowledging the superiority of his methods and asking for information, which the Doctor with his usual kindness gave her. gret exceedingly the flippant tone Miss Thayer adopted in that part of her article devoted to New York methods and that her enthusiasm for the good work done by her sex as represented by the directors in Washington and in Brooklyn caused her to do Dr. Smith such injustice. Dr. Smith was asked to accept the position of supervisor of physical training, but was forced to decline because of the insufficient salary offered.

It was then tendered to Miss Bancroft, whose salary was raised in order to retain her in Brooklyn. Two ladies were then engaged to undertake the work not because they can direct it better, but because the salary insufficient for one mar was sufficient for two women. I am a thorough believer in the doctrine of " equal pay for equal work," but I venture to state that, in this instance, the city will suffer by allowing Dr. Smith to resign, unless the ladies appointed follow the methods he has laid down and which resulted in New York public schools winning honors before the Association for the Advancement of Physical Education. Nor has the work there exhibited grown worse. It is even better for the extra year's training, as any fair but competent critic can see by a visit to Grammar School No. 90.

YB.

A

LFRED SMITHERS, who was young,

loved. He had loved before, but never so creditably. Ernestine Gilbert appealed as well to the better side of his nature. It was an appeal whose merits he made haste to recognize. Until Smithers met her he had thought of marriage as a speculation, in which his friends seemed to have made absurd failures, and as a handy ending to plays which should close dramatically at or about 10:30. Smithers was -is, for that matter-a dramatic critic.

When "The Fulness of Life" was produced at the Empire, his criticism of the performance was so pleasing to the management that they put it first on the list upon the poster which was placed conspicuously in many parts of the town. There was a personal reason for this special laudation, which Smithers himself hardly suspected at the moment. He had seen his ideal in the flesh for the first time.

There is in the most calculating of men a spirit of chivalry which appears unexpectedly. A pretty girl in whatever distress wrings the heart of any man not responsible for the distress. Smithers was sensitive to dramatic injustice, and his ideal practically was an extra." His prerogative, within certain limits, was to discover unrecognized genius and to deprecate the recognized.

The Fulness of Life" dealt with the social problems of the day. The leading woman, an ample blond of æsthetic proportions, played the role of an adventuress of the modern type-a woman corrupt in mind and in manner, but keeping her place in society and outwitting many of the good people in a discouraging fashion.

The action of the piece called for the appearance of a dressmaker's assistant. The wicked society woman is made by the dramatist to scold the girl soundly for a delay and to slap her in the face. The girl has but a single line to speak, but it is appropriate. It struck Smithers on the opening night of the piece that, although the contrast of good little seamstress and bad, big mondaine is an old one, he had never seen vice and virtue more effectively compared. The young seamstress was pretty,

well formed, as virtuous as women should be to make their position convincing, and she had just that modest way of using her eyes, that gentle manner of speaking, which Smithers, in his mood, liked. He was much attracted to the little seamstress. If he had seen her the week before, she might have impressed him less, indeed not at all. But his personal affairs suddenly had taken such a turn that he questioned the veracity of all women and rather hoped that he might die or have a serious illness.

So it came about that he hungered to know such a woman as he felt Ernestine Gilbert to be. That she was but a beginner on the ladder of fame rather added to his interest and piqued his vanity. He believed she had talent, and it would be his proud privilege to help her develop it.

He wrote of the production good humoredly, even enthusiastically, as a piece which should be seen by all who are interested in the vital questions of the day. He omitted to speak in terms of praise of the performance of the leading woman, the ample blond, and this piqued`her. If Smithers honestly had explained this omission to himself, he would have said that he was annoyed because his seamstress, with her undoubted womanliness and talent, was forced to play so inconsequential a part, while the leading lady, who might or might not be qualified, had matters her own way.

Others guessed that Miss Gilbert was poor, lived in a hall bedroom, had a hard time to get along, and that she knew few men. She would be much gratified to find that a person of his standing took an interest in her. He resolved to call. The stage-doorkeeper gave him her address. Next day he went. It was an unusual proceeding, but Smithers argued that it would be less embarassing for him to see her at her home than to send his card to her at the theatre. Theatrical people are so jealous of one another. They would put base motives upon his attentions.

Miss Gilbert was in, and she pleased him. Ingenuously she confided to him her enthusiasm, and he was charmed. His call did not seem to surprise her, but Smithers