minstrel business in this country."

The "Chicago Post,"--

"The company merits all the praise which has been bestowed
upon them."

I need only further mention, in conclusion, that several members of
this troupe possess musical and histrionic abilities of an order so
high as to fit them to grace stages of a more elevated character than
the one upon which they now perform. Indeed, one formerly attached to
it is now a valuable member of the "Hyers Opera Company." On the
minstrel boards his talents as a singer and actor were developed. It
is to be hoped (and here I crave the pardon of Mr. Callender, their
gentlemanly director, who is requested to try to appreciate the good
_motive_, at least, that prompts a suggestion which seems to aim at
the disintegration of his famous company) that others of the
"Georgias" will follow his example. Their motto should constantly be,
"Excelsior!"

I have been informed that in the city of Boston, at a certain time,
not many years ago, the then directors of the three principal theatre
orchestras were persons who had previously been members of minstrel
troupes. It is also known that several of the finest operatic singers
in this country learned their first lessons at this same school,--the
minstrel stage. In their new, higher, and of course far more
desirable positions, these persons have achieved artistic results
which reflect upon them the highest credit, and which show also that
the minstrel profession has some beneficial, elevating uses,
notwithstanding all that may be truly said against it.

PART SECOND.

OTHER REMARKABLE MUSICIANS,

AND

THE MUSIC-LOVING SPIRIT OF VARIOUS LOCALITIES.

I.

"They are the abstracts and brief chronicles of the time."

SHAKSPEARE.

On the following pages I shall make mention in collective form, and
somewhat briefly, of a number of artists whose histories, although not
less important than those by which they are preceded, could not, owing
to various causes, be placed in the first part of this book.

The true value of musical proficiency does not consist alone in the
power it gives one to win the applause of great audiences, and thereby
to attain to celebrity: it consists also in its being a source of
refinement and pleasure to the possessor himself, and by which he may
add to the tranquillity, the joys, of his own and the home life of his
neighbors and friends. And here will be found, therefore, a bri