AMUSEMENTS.

Press, Volume XIX, Issue 2809, 3 May 1872, Page 2

AMUSEMENTS.

POPULAR r .AMUSEMENT <& ; jpENTER- \ • JAINMENT ASSOCIATION. j The inaugural entertainment of the present season- l took • place ' \a.ai evem'rigat the new Oddfellows' Hall, which 1 was crowded in eivery-pari. His Honor presided,- but before he ! delivered the opening" address, Mr Joha Ollivier niade-a -shortspeech, which; was myare especially addressed ; t)3 the juvenile portion -of the audience,... and We 'deprecated : & a ! good hu-| ioured manner .the. obnoxious , practice* which, was very prevalent-the last, seasonof tfee'.wmter. entertainments, of. testifying,, appreciation '6f T .whistling,', and other objectionalbte noises ; at the' same l time suggesting , that the ojd-fashioried habit oif hand-clapping was more appropriate, and djecidedly more tojthe, ; tastp of i the.iyocalists ,HiSy, remarks were} received With laughter and-applause.; , : y'•:.a:■.:i jT ! His Honor, the Judge thenssaid: Ladies and gentlemen,—l have, been requested to take the chair arid cieiive'r the opening addressjat_| thiS~thefifstl)f the"popular"enteftafninents of" : the year. I hope, that,-;in complying with the wish of the coifimittee,' I shall' not be thoughs to be doing anything unbefitting the proverbial gravity of the judicial office. I must admit that my usual public addresses are not particularly entertaining. It may be tbjat the committee has provided you'with siich an ample.supply ofTarausement during the'last Winter, that it has been thought adfvisable on the present ffecasion to try the effect of a little dulness by way of variety. Whether or not this . conjecture , be well founded, it will, I am sure, be admitted by you all that no exertions has teen spared on 'the. part of the committee "to make these meetings as entertaining; aa possible, and that they have fully succeeded is am ply .proved by the numbers" who have constantly attended them. For myself, I confess that I sympathise very heartily with the objects of the association in the, desire to provide rational and innocent. recreation after, the toils of the day.' I need scarcely remind you that work of every kind—and which of us does not work with either head or hands ought to be succeeded by intervals, not merely of rest, but of recreation suitable to each man's capacity. Happily in.this city, there aTe very few who cannot have access, if they choose, to books and mnsic, and other means of spending their leisure honre innocently and not unprofitably. It is very gratifying to observe that the taste for recreations of this character is spreading, and that already considerable exertions are being made, even in the villages and small centres of population, to establish readingrooms and book clubs. The more this taste is indulged the greater will be the enjoyment and the keener the capacity for enjoyment. There are many persons here who are necessarily cut off from home ties, and to them every opportunity of rational amusement must be not only welcome, ■ but especially valuable as preserving them from the danger of giving way, from loneliness to mere sensual indulgence. There , ie something- so sympathetic in our nature that oar emotions either of pleasure or pain, are intensified in a remarkable degree by being shared, with, others. It is doubtless! from this'cause" that you have derived so much more pleasure-from the readings at tiheie eptertainments than you would have felt had you read them by yourselves, Jn.

dependency of the pleasure you derive from listening to good readiug, you profit also by the intelligence of those who make these selections with so much care, and, generally speaking, with excellent judgment. No one who has not tried can know how difficult it is to make a selection, which is perfectly free from objection, of a suitable length, and, at the same time, sufficiently interesting to fix the attention. In the anxiety to provide entertaining readings there mhy be a danger of choosing only such as are calculated to excite laughter. I hope I shall not be misunderstood. There is no one who" enjoys a good laugh more than I do. It seems to mc that one can generally form a fair estimate of a man's character from his laugh. There is the unrestrained honest which _comes. direct from the heart, 'which seems to indicate that the cares of the world have not dried up the springs of en■jovtiient which are among nature's best gifts. There is the conventional laugh, which is little better than a faint attempt.at a smile, such as you all know in Dickens? representation of" CaTker." Again, there is the loud meaningless laugh, which seems intended to conceal by its noise the absence of real mirth; and, lastly, there is the merry ringing laugh of. childhood, the truest expression ofj innocent mirth, which' springs naturally as water from, a fountain. But I must not allow my' appreciation of good honest laughter to carry mc away froui tny subject. 1 was about to say that, I think we shall lose part of the ad,V£ttitage of these popular, readings, if we fallow the merely comic element to predominate. Happily wo have ample material for interesting readings in every department of literature.. I am old fashioned enough to think with regret that %ha sensational literature now so abundant tends to corrupt the taste of the rising' generation,' and. to spoil the enjoyment which Vihey would otherwise derive from many worksi which were read, with the deepest interest' by the. younger men of my day. I cannot but think that much enjoyment is missed: by neglecting the old standard works, for books: which offend equally good taste aiid sound! principle. Jt seems to mc that we shall be' takings narrpw view of the good 7 results; which may be expected from these readings.; if we regard "amusoment for the passiDg , . hour as their.only aim: We may reasonably! hope thac those who have made a partial, acquaintance with the best Authors' by linearis! of the extracts read at these.entertainments will be induced to read for themselves. Happily there are few amongst us. /who cannot avail themselves of the valuable collection of books in the library of the Literary Institute. One of the. elements of the success of the association isth'e music which has been provided, and which has bo agreeably bailed the- programme. There is.little danger--6f running to excess in our enjoyment of this part of our entertainment. The pleasure derived' from music, like that afforded f by beautiful scenery, is' always f resTi.' I must nut detain you longer from .the amusements of the evening, for I cannot natter myself that the entertainment has yet begun. -I ought, perhaps, to apologise for having taken advantage of the opportunity which you kindly, afforded mc of stating my views about these entertainments.' . >.!..<,

On the termination of the address which was loudly applauded, the : band/ consisting of Herr Bunz'l(tst violin), and' Messrs B,' f Parker (pianoforte), Button (2nd violin), Thompson (doublebass), performed the 'overture to " L'ltaliana in Algieri " in style ; Mr Poore, whose name had been advertised, unfortunately being absent from indisposition. ■ :; • ■' ■' ■ ■ • The first vocal item on the programme in 4 troducedjhe Rev, E. A y Lingard. tieman"selected a pretty ballad, " The blind man's pride," which suited voice very well, and was sang with pleasing expression and much taste. Miss Lavihia Taylor nlxt performed a solo on the concertina on selected from Lucia di Lammerm'uir; it was; one of the gems of the evening, and , was vociferously encored, the applause being prolonged until his ;Hbnor stated that the Committee had decided not to allow en-

cores, as they impeded the progress of':ftp and were : unfair to the per*iformerß;!.ii i.' x - ■'■• ■;•-■'' ■>'■■■'■ ■■■'■' v : : ' J, :: ;' ; ''""j ! .?Mr&rDigby then sang "Kathleen Maronr*< jneen " .veiy aweetly, ;the beautiful' melody-i levojtitjg loud applause.. ~' '<-'■ '•' - ••' ; I KMs-Gi-Gt'Bowe.a jsubjecfs, in which past and present;-the ; efiains of "soctety'in the last and present century, cottage architecture, and the theory and practice ol* gardening, the of deciduous and evergreen trees, 'with practical suggestions and hints for our social and moral were pleasantly andliilradrously mingled V but as. through the kindness of- Mr Bowen, we in a, fntnre issue placie fhe paper before btuT readers, we : refrain from further commentnponit.- '■•■' ! . : '- ■' '■■ ••■'" ' ;::, ■' '• j Miss A.: S.. Taylor then i sarig a pTetty, bailadi , ? Geve," but we regret to say was 80 obviously suffering from indisposition (an apology baying made, fox her by the chairman), that her efforts evoked only sympathetic'plaudits. : the second song that hail been set down for Tier in the prbgra'mme being of necessity 1 omitted. The orchestra then followed ■ with operatic selections, and on their termination trie . Rev. C. Fraser read

a somewhat lengthy, and ' compels us to say, rather ■ SrearyV extract 'from one of Mr Kingsley's books; ; The reading was listened to- -attetitiveTy, ' Taut; ; was scarcely adapted to a miscellaneous audience which included; so many cbildreH, Mr Appleby then sang ."Madeline, , . , and \vae ■ followed 'by.', another solo: .on, the concertina by 'Miss L:'Tayl6r, ,r.apturyuslj!:,appTaiided. Another instrumental selection "by'the orThe- Merry /•Wives'-'of TWfndsor? , ■■' well played, was -Succeeded -i>j the ballad, "The days- rthat-.are■ no;more," sang, by the Rev. E. A.Lingard. .:,.,■.: ; |dfs liigby, iea,ng> a.pretty .little' ballad " Tapping.at the Wjndow," with ;spirit re--1 ceiving apjilause for her efforte, and the pro.gramme, proper, terminated with a grand niarGh spiritedly playecLby. the band* : . "" His. Horipr then Jee)ing}y,ap,d regretfully alluded Miss Taylorjs.indisposition, with also a few in which he apologised for" the- comparative brevity .of ; the programme, observing that it.was at least, if, a fault, one on the.iright.side, annonrided that the National Antheiri would terminate the pefortnaince, the solo, being taken by Mrs Digby ;.thuß conclading a. most successful ?and enjoyable inauguration of this season's -series of ,wintex .entertainments. ;. , : i We understand that the takings at the door amounted to"£ls. ; /,',;- •-. ■'\ '■<.