DIVA WORSHIP.

Thames Star, Volume III, Issue 1665, 1 May 1874, Page 2

DIVA WORSHIP.

(new tobk tablet.) The blind pagans among their many deities, worshipped the great god Pan. The conception of Pan had at least much that was ideal and beautiful in it. We are told how the Fauns and Satyrs stole out of the groves timidly to hear him as he played; how as "he played the more, the trees bowed their heads and nodded, until the whol^ groves rose up and followed him down to the sea shore, where the sea came to meet him; how wild beasts forgot their instincts and followed, and all nature was moved to harmony by the music of his pipings. It was a pagan idea; but, so far, at least, a very beautiful and harmless one, and was a wonderful expression, of the power of music. It contrasts very favorably with modern worship of the same. We know to-day that the great god Pan was, at best; a beautiful ideal; - We have thrown him aside with many other myths. .But, we still worship Pan's gifts. We prefer the real to : the ideal, especially! when the real comes to us in the form of a beautiful woman. Then there is room for worship, and we testify our adoration sometimes in a form that might well make pagans wonder. - , > *

A Diva, as our readers know, is '?theleadinglady "of an opera troupe. She is called Diva because she-is divine ;i that is to say, because she can trill out the longest and the loudest and the, sweetest note, and te quiver and quaver and shake more deftly than her less divine sisters. - If her person happen to correspond with hergifts, she is a goddess—until the wrinkles come, and the.floating hair falls off", and" the limbs lose "their roundness, and the eyes their brightness; until, in fact, that horrible realisf, Time, the sad old truthteller, will show through the thickest of patches and paint. Then bur Diva ig , ■< flung aside; and the piece of painted flesh that drew emperors, and kings, and merchant princes, and all the "great ones " of this world in her train, may rot, for all her quondam worshippers cared— for they have found a new Diva. % ; If the reigning Diva happened to havesprung from the gutter, if she had walked; the streets barefoot, and sung in low con* cert saloons for the pennies dropped bydrunken revellers into her palm-so much the better j and it is right that the world that found her in the gutter, and would have left her there, had not an accident revealed that a voice lay somewhere concealed in the wretched little body, should afterwards bow down and adore. Our readers may wonder what all this preface is coming to. It results from an interview a Herald reporter held with Madame Rouzand, better known as Miss Christene Nilsson, "the Swedish Nightingale," in which she gave some of the particulars of her recent visit to Russia. They contain a fine satire. Of Madame Nilsson herself we know, nothing beyond the ordinary knowledge gathered from the newspapers. She is. according to all accounts, a very amiable and estimable lady,. who richly merits whatever honors and rewards her care-fully-cultivated powers have commanded; and her name is only used as typical of a class. We speak not of Madame Nilsson, but of the charming Diva. It seems that " the 4 Swedish Nightin-. gale" has been carolling to the Russian bear, and that animal has comported himself in a manner worthy of his reputation. In St. Petersburg, that used to be known as the Paris of the North, the lady assures us that her benefit night was something to be borne in sensitiveremembrance by her to the latest day of her life. Naturally so,' one would imagine, from the following account:— ] " The popr students came pouring out in scores; they surrounded the doors of her hotel, and when she was about to enter her carriage several of them seized jher, and, inspired by an enthusiasm which, in spite bf its violence, never even lost a respect that seemed to border on reverence, took her in their arms and ibore her 'in- triumph to the theatre, the others, each |*ith a lighted flambeau in his hand, forming a procession. The .whole city was alive with these frantic worshippers, and finally the police turned out in full force, holding themselves in readiness in the event of fire. During the performance at this theatre she was re-called forty-five times,- and the. stage was absolutely imbedded with flowers, upon which it was necessary for her to walk several yards before reaching the footlights. Finally, in answer to the general acclamations, the artist was compelled to seat herself at a piano, which was conveniently near, and sing one or two of the Russian national songs, the' 'audience meanwhile standing, and the royal family uniting,' up to the last moment, in the popular enthusiasm. l As the opera had been ' Mignon,' and'as the heroine had her hair streaming over her shoulders, the effect was extremely unique and picturesque." ~ , i Surely that was enough adoration for feminine flesh and blood; but that is not all. When man really begins to worship it is hard to tell where he will stop :— I "On more than one occasion some tif •the students, in company with not a few officers of dignified rank, prostrated themselves on the ground, and welded themselves into a, floor upon . which Madame Nilsson was obliged to walk in iorder to reach her carriage. 'This.was, too much,' said the speaker, her eyes glistening at the remembrance. 'It was •really too trying to an -artist's feelings to expect her to accept it. But .there they were, and what was I to.doP At.my. j concerts the people behaved so sometimes that I was frightened.' Being requested !to mention the particulars, Madame Nilsson said that the people rushed to ■ the edge of the stage, snatched at the hem I I of her dress, and tore it. into fragments, ■ caught her and held her so that she could not move, and left,her in>a Maditian that muit tare rtsombled. tUt gf the * print

all tattered and torn.' . TKey stole "her gloves,, her fan, her handkerchief, her bouquet, and Almost the slippers from her feet." We wish, that, in the name of manhood, we could give the lie to this; but from former accounts of the manner in which other Divas have been treated in St. Petersburg, and elsewhere there is no reason for surprise at Madame Eouzand s narrative. This sort of Diva worship is not restricted to Eussia. If the whilom little Swedish peasant girl be the^woman we believe her to be, she must feel the profouridest contempt for the men who laid their manhood in the dust that the sole of her slipper might tread,; on : l.t. She must think that,-after all, mans applause is a poor thing, and, when, given, in this manner, an insult rather than a reward. Whilst she takes the, money that she has earned, and that is lavished upon her, she must shrink with horror from the touch and the sight of the pagan ddnors, rather of the wild beasts who grovel before her, and lay their souless bodies in the earth. ■ . •',■:■ W" These are the students who dp this; the young men who are filled with the advanced ideas of the age. For them io bow the knee before their God would be an action degrading to manhood; to honor the Immaculate Virgin Mother of. God a childish superstition. These are the Qomtists, the Huxleyiteg, the Milhtes, the Darwinites, the jeunesse d'oree, who in Paris worshipped Eeason in the foulest human form, who, under Falk and ±Jismark, worship the state in Germany, who in modern Oxford and the great American cities bow down before Madre Natura. After all we prefer the Diva worship of the Russians.' There is at least more of nature in it., In face of intellectual worship of this kind, how Catholic young, men must blush for being superstitions enough actually to take a train that they may reach and kue,el at such and such a special altar of their God!