190 
with them acertain kind of imperative patrons, who want, 
in addition to popular prices, popular plays. Twenty years 
ago anyone could have marked out this now ‘“‘equivocal 
line.” The time was when something patriotic was abso- 
lutely necessary; when the American flag was a regular 
star and had to be unfurled, not only over a man of war, 
but overa country wedding. This feature has passed 
away. Now what is tobe a popular play? If ‘“‘Round the 
Clock” is a success, then we are going from bad to worse. 
With the ‘“New Magdalen” served up to the exclusives at 
the Fifth Avenue, and portrayals of the lowest city life on 
Eighth avenue to the populace, certainly our theaters, at 
least many of them, are not setting moral lessons before 
either the refined or the commonplace of our population. 
Our idea is that dramatic exhibitions have, as a rule, be- 
come so entirely without any real standard, so thoroughly 
addressed to the eye and to the sensational emotions, that 
a new generation must be trained and brought back to ad- 
mire what is admirable in the mimic life on the stage. 
Again on the subject of theatres, with | low prices, have 
we among us a community or population that agrees in 
sentiment sufficient to afford steady patronage to a theatre 
that addresses itself to popular taste? We know of none. 
New York with its 800,000 inhabitants, has thousands of 
different communities, still distinct, and will remain so, 
for two or three generations at least. The influence ot 
naturalized citizens has brought all the peculiarities of 
European civilization, and though this polyglot people 
are within one corporation, it is a unit in nothing save in 
being robbed by high taxes, and oppressed by an extrava- 
gant and heartless municipal government. In dramatic 
taste certainly there is no contiguity. 
We have no good natured working classes composed of 
prosperous young mechanics and jolly apprentices. Thirty 
years ago the ‘‘fire boys” and their companions ruled, but 
they did not possess any characteristics of cruelty and ruf- 
fianism that now distinguishes our impecunious young 
men. In their way they were chivalrous, and respected help: 
lessness, and had a code of fair play in their dealings with 
each other. From among them came many of our best 
citizens, some grew rich and all had the chivalrous idea 
of loving the old city. In this useful class of this popula- 
tion, Mitchell found his warmest patrons of the Olympic, 
and before his day, they supported the old Bowery, when 
it was really a school of good acting—giving the elder 
Booth his most glorious benefits—and worshipped Forest, 
not only because he was their favorite actor, but also be- 
cause he was one of the ‘‘bhoys.” 
We can see no material to steadily patronize a popular 
play-house with popular prices. The very suggestion will 
drive away hundreds of good people who can afford to pay 
a little more and have a select audience. We shall there- 
fore look upon the experiment with interest. If it ends in 
keeping such monstrous productions as ‘‘Round the Clock” 
before the footlights, then it were better to have our great 
dramatic buildings turned into concert saloons, giving the 
visitors good music, and let them from conversation and 
their own. resources furnish intellectual excitement. 
London has poured upon us almost its entire force of 
novelists, readers, lecturers, and ‘‘bohemians;” in fact, this 
sort of material comes to our hospitable shores in quanti- 
ties only less in volume than the flood of immigrants that 
daily land at Castle Garden. The result is, that the mod- 
ern Babylon is now enjoying a sort of healthy literary re- 
action—that comes to an overtaxed stomach when relieved 
of its surplus and pernicious food. Taking the men who 
have come among us in this strange exodus as a body, or 
in single specimens, we do not think them, with one 
or two exceptions, remarkable for any extraordinary tal- 
ents, their chief availibility for drawing audiences being 
in the popular taste for novelties. Not one of them now 
holding forth from the rostrum or lecture hall could main- 
tain himself for two consecutive years if a permanent resi- 
dent. We therefore suggest to our American lecturers, 
thrown out of work by these importations, that they im- 
mediately commence a general removal of themselves to 
Great Britain to fill up the aching void which is really felt 
to be arelief in London, yet not wholly appreciated, be- 
cause the literary appetite is vitiated and requires a con- 
stant supply of stimulants of some kind—good, if possi- 
ble, bad, if nothing else is at hand. 
Dickens was a success, his novels made him a real lion. 
To see the author was worth the ‘‘ price of admission,” for 
in his person centered the recollection of so many simple 
and kind-hearted characters, the recalling of which sheds a 
bright light-over benighted human nature. But Dickens 
was as an actor only second to his great genius as an author, 
and hence we had a combination of the most rare qualities 
that ever centered in one person. 
Wilkie Collins, on the contrary, brings us a literary re- 
past, that is only peculiar for the intricacy of its plots; no 
remarkable literary ability, no humanity, cold, rude, but 
ever fascinating, as polished steel machinery is fascinat- 
ing. His manners are consistent with the developments of 
his mind. He is stiff, has no faculty for story telling, and 
no dramatic power as an elocutionist. So stand by contrast 
these extremes of modern English writers of fiction. Lon- 
don has yet to furnish us with a truly great lecturer—we 
have men by the dozens who are his superiors in this line— 
he is a fine example of what can be done by judicious ad- 
vertising—a voice that is of the canting order, and mental 
training, that enables him at every desired moment to 
assume the ‘‘ ministerial tones” which make Gough so 
invincible before suburban audiences. In viewing the field, 
we have reason to congratulate ourselves, nationally and in- 
telleetually on our home talent. It “scatters” terribly, 

FOREST AND STREAM. 
but our magazines are evidentl y fullof ammunition. Upto 
date, this exodus of foreign literary laborers, Dickens ex- 
cepted, has not by comparison belittled our own achieve- 
ments, or by contrast, in the slightest degree caused the 
Suspicion in the public mind, that the people of this 
country are not very wonderful, especially in paying out 
their money for second-hand foreign wares. 
“Mrs. Burnham,” a correspondent of a western paper 
has heard Mr. Beecher ‘hold forth” at Plymouth Church, 
She seems to be very much struck with his ‘‘ worldy suc- 
cess” and his talents as an actor. Among other things she 
Says: ‘‘On Friday night I saw an audience of sixty-three 
in the Broadway Theatre. Saturday night twenty-three 
persons occupied the lower part of the Grand Opera House, 
but Sunday night 3,000 people waited the rise of the curtain 
at Plymouth Academy.” She then goes on and repeats the 
story of the Prodigal Son as told by Mr. Beecher as follows: 
“Td rather of the two boys have been the prodigal. The 
other son was a miserable creature. There was a good deal 
to admire in the prodigal. He went off to havea good 
time, and he had it and got through with it. He reached 
the ground and made a rebound. He did not say when in 
his trouble, ‘I'll go to my father and state the cireum- 
stances.’ He called his performances sins, and he went 
and confessed ’em and was joyfully forgiven.” 
Referring to the other brother, he described him as_hear- 
ing the singing and dancing and refusing to go inside,. being 
“too stingy to get drunk; too cautious, too cold, too un- 
sympathetic to sin lasciviously. He was mean, stiff, and 
proper, and was going to Heaven as a mummy,” and Mr. 
Beecher made himself as much like a mummy and walked 
as stiff as a ramrod across the stage on his road to Heaven, 
in the style of the prodigal’s brother. The assembled three 
thousand roared. 
For drawing an audience, detailing a story with most 
thrilling action, Mr. Beecher has no superior on the dram- 
tic stage. : 


TAHITIAN Hosprraurry. — Half-way to Kuloa we 
stopped at a native hut. The men were absent and were 
working in the fields. A woman of fully forty, immensely 
stout, as are all native women at that age, welcomed us. 
She made us sit down while our servant unloaded our tired 
horses. After the customary questions of whence we came 
from and whither we were going, she asked if we were 
not hungry. On our replying that we were almost famish- 
ed, she called for her husband, who was in sight. He came 
very quickly. He wasa magnificent specimen of humanity 
and elegantly proportioned. In a. little out-house attached 
“o the hut was a canoe made of palm wood. He picked it 
up as ifit was a feather, and carried it to his fish pond, 
which was within a stone’s throw. The canoe was launched, 
a stroke or two of the paddle carried him into the middle 
of his pond, and throwing in his net he caught a dozen mul- 
lets. He selected two, the largest weighing three pounds 
fully, and threw back into the water the smaller fry. His 
wife then took the fish, wrapped them up nicely in the 
leaves of the Ti (Dracena terminatis) placed them in a hole 
in the ground lined with grass and herbs, and then baked 
them over red hot stones. A quarter of an hour afterwards 
the most delicious aroma exhaled from her extem porized 
oven. We did not fancy poi, but eat the boiled taro, and 
with the fish made a delicious meal. We wanted to pay 
the good woman, but she refused to take our money. At- 
ter saying good-by, we went on our journey, delighted 
with the kind hospitality we had received from these good 
people.—M. (. de Varigny, Tour du Monde. 
dlew Publications. 
AREA PE oe 
[Publications sent to this office, treating upon subjects that come within 
the scope of the paper, will receive special attention. The receipt of all 
books delivered at our Editorial Rooms will be promptly acknowledged 
in the newt issue. Publishers will confer a favor by bromptly advising 
us of any omission in this resnect. Prices of books inserted when 
desired.) 
ILLUSTRATED LIBRARY OF FAvorrtTE Sonas: Edited by Dr. 
Holland. Boston: George M. Smith & Co. 
As this rare book can only be had of agents, our friends should send 
their orders at once. These songs are of such a character as to recom- 
meud them to all readers, old us well as young. In this work may be 
found songs of home, of the heart, of life, of nature, by the wayside. 
These are no longer waifs on an uncertain sea, and liable to be lost or 
lost sight of, but are presented for future preservation and reference, in 
aform more worthy of their real merit. Many of our first American 
poets speak through these pages, and their effusions are finely illus- 
strated by our best American artists. Published by Scribner, Armstrong 
& Co., N.Y. 
Romatn Karis. Phila: Porter & Coates. 
This is an interesting story of rather a nautical style, often suggestive 
of Captain Marryatt, whom the author could have copied in a still closer 
manner with good effect. It is rather a free translation. intended for the 
special perusal of our American readers, and Mrs. Wright has made it 
quite a readable work. The adventures of Romian upon the coast of 
France, by sea and land, make the subject of this pleasing story. There 
is simplicity and naturalness about the narrative that much enhance its 
claims to our kind consideration. Porter & Coates deserve much credit 
for the beautiful styie in which it is printed, the fine illustrations making 
it doubly attractive. 
<0 
ANNOUNCEMENTS. 
————_+—_____. 
ILLUSTRATED Liprary or Favorite Sone. Boston: G. M. 
Smith &Co. Tobe sold by subscription. A spiendid book and will 
find a ready sale. 
Work. By L. M. Alcott. 
We have received from the New England News Company this interest- 
ing work. Also, several others which will hereafter receive attention. 
Lapy GREEN Satry, and her Maid Rosette. From the 
French of the Baroness BE. Martineau des Chesney. Porter & Coates. 
——____ 
The beautiful engravings of birds in Avilnude cost hundreds of dollars 
and the fine and instructive descriptions many weeks of labor. Every 
family ought to have it. For sale y all booksellers and toy dealers, or 
sent post paid on receipt of seventy-five cents, by West & Lee, Wor- 
cester, Mass. 
“An excellent addition to our home amusements,’’— Christan Union 



Forest and Stream. 
ee 
OPINIONS OF THE PRESS. 
—_—>—___. 
The first number is a model of typographical neatness, and its contents 
are sufficiently varied and interesting to secure for the paper a cordial 
reception from that class of the public to whose taste it caters.—[New 
York Times. 
Itisa handsome sheet of sixteen large pages, and is filled with a va- 
riety of very interesting reading.—[New York Sun. 
There is need for a new advocate to make the American people more in 
love with outdoor life, and Forrst AnD STREAM promises to do the work 
admirably. The varions departments are edited with knowledge and 
skill.—[New York Journal of Commerce. 
The publication of a new sporting journal, Forest AND STREAM, is 
another evidence of the increasing love of our people for the sports of 
the field and athletic exercise. There is every evidence that good fortune 
awaits the new-comer. That this should be so is a source of congratula- 
tion.—[New York Express. 
The first number promises well, and its preposessing appearance is no 
slight confirmation of its claim to a high and manly tone inits conduct. 
—(Home Journal. 
It is tastefully arranged and handsomely printed, and seems to be wel 
adapted to persons of cultivated tastes.—[New York Tribune. 
Mr. Hallock is an enthusiastic sportsman, a good writer, and compe- 
tent to make a “sporting paper” fit for household reading.—[New York 
Commercial Advertiser. 
We commend with special earnestness the claims of Forest AND 
STREAM to favorable attention.—[The South. 
We may safely predict its success.—[New Orleans Home Journal. 
It is neat as to typography and varied and interesting as to contents. 
—[Hartford Times. 
The matter of the sample number is both appropriate and interesting. 
—[Brooklyn (E.D.) Times. 
It is a necessary publication, and we welcome its birth with open arms. 
It occupies its own position, intruding upon no pre-occupied ground, but 
it is an elevated position. To sportsmen of the gun and fishing-rod it wtll 
be invaluable.—[Brooklyn Review. 
Got up ina handsome} manner, both as to presswork and arrangement 
of contents.—[Philadelphia Ledger. 
It is decidedly the most recherche thing of the kind ever issued in this 
country, and so far as we know is the peer of anything similar in Eng- 
land. All its departments show a practical and intellectual filling up 
which challenges general favor.—[Germantown Telegraph. 
Judging by the number before us we can unhesitatingly recommend the 
Forrest AND STREAM to all who take an interest in out-door recreation 
and physical culture. It will no doubt merit the patronage of our sport- 
ing gentlemen.—[Hyery Evening, (Wilmington, Delaware). 
The terms are very reasonable for such a large and necessarily expen- 
sive paper. We commend it to our Sportsmen friends most heartily. We 
like the ring of its editorials, evidently written by the true lover of nature 
in its multiplied and beautiful forms.—[Niagara Falls Gazette. 
There is a standard of excellence and usefulness not yet attaimed by 
any sporting paper in the country, and ForEst anp STREAM will find its 
Success at the top of the ladder.—[New York Graphic. 
It covers ground not occupied by any other journal.—[Waterloo (New 
York) Observer. 
Sincerely hope it will live long and prosper, 
success.—Springfleid (Mass.) Union. 
It certainly deserves 
Health, longevity, and happiness largely depend upon such open air 
pursuits, and a journal like this is the best means to effect the object.— 
Portland (Me.) Argus. : 
eto 
WHAT THE PEOPLE SAY. 
——__ 4 
I hope you will meet with entire success in your project. My days of 
active life in the field and forest have gone by, but I recall my experience 
with pleasure, and I feel that I owe my health in a good degree to early 
habits of free exercise in the open air in forests and along our streams. 
—[Horatio Seymour. 
There isa demand for just such a paper as this. It will give me very 
great pleasure, indeed, to do allIcan to help your journal.—[Professor 
S. F. Baird, Smithsonian Institute. 
Thave no doubt that Forest snp STREAM will have a large circulation. 
Consider me a subscriber.—[George tAg Boardman, Naturalist, 
Such a journal, conducted upon the principles and with the spirit which 
you announce, will certainly find warm support.—[Rey. J. Clement 
French. 
Thave no doubt you will make it a marked success.—[Hon.J. D. Caton. 
I wish you the best sort of success in your effort to make a journal of 
out-door sports such as a gentleman can read and write in.—[Charles D. 
Warner. 
I doubt not it will be a great success. It is wanted, and must be called 
for.—[Major John H. King, U.S.A. 
Thave long wished just such a journal to receive into my family, that 
my boys may learn from a better teacher than myself the best way in 
which to follow the sports that in years past have given me so much plea- 
sure.—[Henry W. Abbott, Boston. 
Under your management it ought to be a success.—[W. H. Venning, 
Inspector Marine and Fisheries, Canada. 
You shall have all the aid and comfort I can give you inyour enter- 
prise.—[Com. L. A. Beardslee, Washington Navy Yard. 
I must congratulate you on the very attractive appearance of your 
paper. Keep it up to the standard you have marked out for it, and it will 
become an assured Success.—[Rev. Charles F. Deems. 
Nothing but the exigencies of my roving life have prevented me from 
starting, or trying to start, just sucha journal as yours. You shall have 
my hearty co-operation.—[Professor Elliott Coues, Smithsonian Institute. 
Your paper is just what we have long wanted, and will take well in the 
Southern States.—[Dr. R. P. Myers, Savannah, Ga. 
The editorial matter, the contributions, and the make-up and general 
appearance of the paper are just such as Fishrod and Nimrod admire. 
—[Genio C. Scott. 
Jam glad to hear of your literary enterprise. It will give me pleasure 
to put you, or any one else representing the Forest anp STREAM, in the 
way of getting information for your paper.—[Andrew H. Green, Comp- 
troller, and Central Park Com’r. 
“T take the heartiest interest in ForEst anp Strevm. I have always 
thought that an Americyn “Land jand Water” was needed, and that 
many valuable observations are yearly lost, through the want of some 
such medium of communication between field-naturalists. "—Prof. G: 
Browne Goode, Middletown Unviersity. 
T wish the Forest anp STREAM every success, and will be most happy 
tolend any assistance in my power to make it so.—Hon. Robert B 
Roosevelt, 
——_._______, 
SSeS Eee ee 
Don’t let your children spend their money for trash, but let them get a 
game of Avilude. If the pictures and descriptions comprising this game 
were in book form they would cost many times the price o e ga 
Sent post paid on receipt of seventy-five cents, by West & i ron 
“Must haye a large sale, and deserves it, too,”"—Harper’s Weekly. 
