THE COURIER
A HUMBUG SESSION.
LEGISLATURES are always frauds and delusionsparticular
ly in Nebraska. And the present session, to speak plainly
will probably be a greater humbug than any that have pre
ceded it.
In the first place the republicans aro ovorwhehningly in the
majority, ami it is a noticeable and historic fact that when Ihe
republicans are in control indisrerence becomes a prominent legis.
latire characteristic.
To much success is just as harmful to republicans as to democrats.
The present legislature is what the. daily newspapers call a "repre
sentative body of men." It is composed, in large measure, of active,
young or middle aged men, lawyers, farmers, merchants, politicians,
etc. The majority of the republican members are actively identified
with the party organization, and "the boys" aro largely represented.
There is a deep undercurrent of sentiment that follows Pope's
lines, "Whatever is, is right." There is no strong sentiment in favor
of genuine reform. There is no evidence of a determined etlbrt to
restrict corporate oppression. There is no disposition to enforce a
strict economy in legislative expenses and in general appropriations.
But there is no end of professions.
Members are making a great show of in traducing bills which they
never expect to have passed.
There are innumerable bills already introduced or to be intro
duce! to regulate stock yards charges, to restrict telephone and tele
graph companies and reduce the charges for service, to establish
maximum railway rates for freight, to regulate street railway com
panies, etc.. etc.
These measure arc introduced seriously and in the early stages at
least, aro pushed forward with some degree of earnestness.
But there is no intention to enact any of these radical measures
into laws.
The railroads and Hie telephone and telegraph companies and the
stock yards company, hnd the rest of 'em are not going to be harmed
any by this legislature, nothwithstanding the fact that there may
bo a great deal of noise at intervals during the session.
What will the legislature do?
Beyond electing Mr. Thurston senator it will do very littK
It has already demonstrated its indifference to the public demand
for economy by hiring scores of uselessemployes. It bids fair tobas
extravagant in this rospect as any of its predecessors. Many thous
ands of dollars will be literally thrown away during the session in
carrying supernumeraries on the pay roll.
The legislature will waste a good deal of time, and at tho eleventh
hour may possibly do something practical in the way of affording
relief to tho drouth sufferers.
There will be no end of talk about irrigation, but few people
expect to see anything of importance accomplished.
Several hundred laws will be passed mostly amendments to ex
isting laws; but to 99 citizens out of 109 they will have no applica
tion. In the matter of appropriations the public may expect to hear a
great deal 6aid about economy, and when all is said and done the
total amount of public money appropriated will undoubtedly exceed
that of last session.
It is going to be a humbug session. If you don't believe it, observe
the loud reform protestations, and then, at the end of the session,
sum up what has been accomplished for the good of the state.
DAMROSGH'b NEW OPERA.
Last week in Carnegie hall, New York, excerpts were heard for
the first time from Walter Damrosch's three act opera. "Tho Scarlet
Letter." There was ncthing to distract attention from the music,
none of the charm of personality which surrounds a favorite artist
;n a sympathetic role, no ingenious or charming scenery, no interest
ing stage action. Yet the new work scored an undoubted success
The poem has bees written upon the subject of Hawthorne's
Scarlet Letter by Mr. George Parsons Lathrop, the great novelist's
son in-law. Some slight changes have been effected in the story.
Little Pearl is supposed to have died shortly after her birth, and in
the last act, when the pastor falls down upon the scaffold, rlestcr
Prynnt. drinks a vial of poison. These changes are manifest im
provements from a dramatic point of view. The libretto is written
in plastic verse, that follows tho changing situations and sentiments
of the various characters with admirable freedom and ease. It is
principally in rhyme, though tho poet has used tho utmost license
in this respect too much license, in fact, for the last lino of the
second quatrain in the following quo'ation from Hester's great
scene grates harshly on the ear:
Oh ! Father in heaven. If still to call Thee Father I dare,
Grant me to do Thy will, my burden is too hard to bear.
Unto my heart restore sweet faith again and last.
That humbly I once more may trust my soul to Thy care.
The work opens with a long chorus of Puritans. Tho populace
are clamoring for tho death of Hester Prynne, who is in tho prison.
Tho prison door opens. Tho soldiers form a lino through the crowd
and Hester appears, wains down the passage thus made for her and
ascendst he pillory. In all essential features tho ensuing sceno fol
lows the lines laid down in the novel and the curtain falls on the
tirst act as Chillingsworth, Hester's husband, discovers that her part
ner in guilt is Diminesdale. through the anxiety the woman displays
when tho pastor faints.
The second act takes place in a forest near Hester's cottage. She
sits beside a rivulet and sings a long song, in which she compares
her own unrest to the never ceasing agitation of the brook and final
ly falls ukjii her knees in prayer. She is interrupted by a body of
Puritans journeying farther inland and lightening tho toilsome
march with a madrigal. The scrap of melody accompanying the
graceful couplets wis refreshing in tho arid wilderness of notes
where it sprang up fresh and blooming as a revivifying shower after
a sultry day.
In the third act the pastor falls dead after an address ot the
"people of New England." Hester drinks the poison Chillingsworth
had distilled and given to Arthur and which she had taken out of
the pastor's hand, and then dies upon the body of her wretched
lover.
Mr. Damrosch's music, making large allowances for tho disadvan
tage under which its performance labored, impressed one as the
work of a man whose training had been of the best. He writes for
the orchestra with remarkablo skill and ease even if there is noth
ing particularly, or strikingly original in tho tcoring. But the result
is without a spark of life. It is a study in color, not a picture.
There is a restless striving after dramatic effect that is absolutely
fruitless, for there is not a touch of genuine passion in its composi
tion. It is fluent enough, garrulous even, but it does not tell its
story. Not that there wero ro good points in the work on the con
trary it was a happy thought that prompted the introduction of the
Old Hundred." whose dignified grandeur stood out in mas
sive contrast with tho agitated duel between Hester and her hus
band, but Mr Damrosch did not comjoso the "Old Hundred."' The
madrigal was a charming touch, but it owed its effect to the quaint
suggestion it carried with it of scores of similar works by Wilbye
and the masters of the madrigallan school with its delightful "fa la
la" burden. The prelude to the second act with its beautiful theme
given out by the 'cello beneath the sustained chords with arpegi
from the harp and leading up to a powerful climax with the entrance
on the violins suggested vaguely Wagner's "Albumblatt,'' but it was
one of the most enjoyable details of tho work. Hester's scene in
the forest was also effective almost throughout and it was a stroke
of artistic inspiration that prompted the little ascending and de
scending figure in the muted "cello.
Mine. Nordica sang the music of Hester with a far more convinc
ing dramatic instinct than was in the music itself. The scene in
the Torest was well given and the large style that the singer dis
playpd in the prayer was admissible. Sig. Campanary sang Chil
lingsworth's role like a musician ard an artist. Mr. Conreid Beh
rens and Mr. Ericson F. Bushnell wero heard in the music of the
governor and Wilson respectively, and Mr. W. H. Reiger sang
Arthur's music effectively, but it was no kindness toeithpr the aud
ience or singer to entrust even so minor a part as that of Brackett
to Mr. Thompson. New York correspondence.
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