Please wait. Contacting image service... loading
Hide article pages Show article pages
  1. Page 43
    Page 43 thumbnail
  2. Page 44
    Page 44 thumbnail

Article text

On this Page 43
A WOMAN'S MELBOURNE LETTER.
i
-
Melbourne, Aug. 13. 1913.
Wattle Day promises to be a big -thing
here this year. The appeal ie to be made
on Monday next, and the proceeds will be
fiven to the charities closely connected with
he care of children. The Governor-Oeneral
ie giving a prize, which he will present per-
sonally, to the lady who collects the most
during the very strenuous day. Other
prises will also serve-as incentives-if any
are needed!-to exchange the golden blos-
som of the land for the golden coin of the
realm. For the past week extensive arrange-
ments have been made to meet the demands
of the coming day, and these were no sine-
cure, ag-over a thousand boxes will be rat-
tled under the noses of our citizens on Mon-
day by maidens dressed to make picturesque
though practical appeal. The task of count-
ing the «poil» has been cheerfully under-
taken by the cashiers of the Collins-street
National Bank. Each box will be counted
separately, «o no confusion will marr the
fair collectors' individual prospect of clairn
iug tho coveted prîtes. It is amusing to
hear the various opinions of outsiders re-
garding the movement. Some, in the heat
of anger, declare that it wül make the
national flower abhorred for ever in the eyes
of its erstwhile lovers ; and other« again put
forward " its. really serious side, in that a
great many people sent out to father the
blossom do so, without a thought of the
yearg to come, and strip the shrubs in a
truly ruthless manner, leaving only bleeding
stumps to thc district that once revelled in
their original «ylvan beauty. If Wattle
Day were also celebrated by planting a pre-
scribed number of the beautiful trees every
year, there would be "no .reason to bc ap-
prehensive es to the future. Or if, again,
artificial wattle were made, 86 artificial
roses are jn England for Alexandra Day, a
dual purpose would be served, for air-indus-
try profitable to woman would be raised,
and the natural ^splendour of the '. wattle
groves would be preserved.- The wattle
has been extraordinarily fine 'already .this
year and it is as well, for a great quantity
will "be required to supply the demand. Pro-
bably the protests sent in after last "Wattle
Day" from districts where the wattle was
ruthlessly torn, and ruined, will teach those
responsible for the cutting to, take reason-
able care. For horticulturists affirm that if
the wattle is carefully and properly clipped,
the trees actually benefit in the process. It
is to be hoped, therefore, 'every attention
will be paid to their natural requirements
and all vandalism will be suppressed, «o that
'we people _of Australia will not, by-our .very
enthusiasm, destroy and finally, make prac-
tically extinct, the fragrant flower we love
best.
Since Nordica arrived in Melbourne there
has been considerable speculation as to her
actual birthplace, for some declared she was
foreign, and from her speaking voice one
could almost imagine they were right. But
Nordica is purely American and Farming-
ton (Maine) claims the honour of being her
native town. Her maiden name was Lil-
lian Norton, and it was her illustrious mas-
ter, San Giovanni (Milan) who gave her
the name by which she is famous to-day,
and which certainly suggests Swedish ori-
gin. Truly Wagner's centenary has been
fittingly observed in Melbourne; for never
before have the compositions of that fam-
ous musician been rendered so excellently ;
and what with Nordica and the Quinlan
Opera Company (which opens in Wagnerian
opera on Saturday), the lovers of classical
music and Grand Opera are enjoying a rare
treat. Nordica, at the invitation of Frau
Cosmia Wagner -- for Wagner's near rela-
tions still have the management of the
theatre at Bayreuth -- created the role of
Elsa in "Lohengrin," at Bayreuth, and she
was also the first to be heard as "Isolde,"
and "Elsa," at the Prinz-Regenten Theatre
in Munich.
The advent of the Quinlan Opera Com-
pany will provide the first opportunity for
Australians to witness the four consecutive
parts of Wagner's great musical drama,
"The Ring of the Nibelung." "The Cycle,*»
as it is also called, is divided into four
parts, "The Rhine-gold," "The Walkyrie,"
"Siegfried," and "The Twilight of the Gods."
Of course, at times different portions of the
drama have been played here, but the in-
terest has, to an extent been marred by the
greater proportion of the audience not un-
erstanding what comes before or after the
portion presented. It is very like a person
being expected to enjoy a single act of one
of Shakespeare's plays without having an
idea of its connection with the whole tra-
gedy. Wagner was as great a poet as a
musician, and his high aim was to combine
all the arts into one perfect whole. So in
"The Ring of the Nibelung" the scenery,
the acting, the singing, and the orchestra
all work together inseparably in each
of the four parts. Before Wag-
ner's day the librettos of most of
the operas were in direct opposition
to the facts they were intended to express.
But with Wagner everything works in per-
fect harmony. A certain air -- or motif --
will always accompany the one character
all throughout the whole drama. At Bay-
reuth no artist is paid. It is honour
enough to perform, and only those of the
highest order are allowed to do so. Lud-
wig II. -- the mad King, as he was called --
of Bavaria, was most anxious to erect a
National Theatre, especially planned for the
representation of "The Ring of the Nibe-
lung," but the scheme didn't find univer-
sal favour, and it was abandoned, to be
finally adopted, and carried out, at the
little town of Bayreuth, where, in 1876, the
whole drama was performed for the first
time.
The small-pox scare bas lulled in Mel-
bourne. But still a certain section jbf the
community try to drive the multitude to
thc comparative safety provided by vaccina-
tion. The means adopted to th& end- are
" varied. Exposed, recently, in a prominent
position in an Elisabeth-street shop was the
gruesome picture of a boy suffering from,
and showing all the horrors of thc disease
in its most loathsome form. Crowds of
people gazed at it with fascinated and mor-
bid interest. For the first time their -throb-
bing left arm gave them comfort, and the
pain seemed less acute with the realisation
of the colossal misery they were-escaping
thereby. Vaccination provides another
source of comfort not to bc despised.
Should small-pox break out in thc home, or
its vicinity, the happy possessor of a suc
fessful vaccination certificate is not sent to
the quarantine .station. The cries of woe
from that dreary, isolated, and withal ex-
pensive spot, have been given utterance to
in the papers, and certainly no one wants
to spend a compulsory vacation at the sta-
tion if it can be avoSted. It's a wretched
spot, though, after all when small-pox
reigns one spot is hardly more wretched
than another. - Local doctors have been
very keen upon their patients lining up and
presenting arms. And thousands buoyed
' with the courage-or fear ?-which such ac-
tion ever demands, have, done so. One doc-
tor in a Northern suburb innoculated over
two thousand within a week. Meals were
held up by the traffic. The dining room
table was laid ia vain, and dinner was wait-
ing in the kitchen stove up . to eleven
o'clock. One small child, sent into thc din-
ing room "to dry," guilcssly remarked to
his mother, who was chatting with the doe
tor's wife, "Supper's a long time coming in
at this party, isn't MumP"
. Scores of visitor* are daily enjoying Miss
J. Cumbrae Stewart's exhibition of. oils,
water colours, pastels, and pen and ink
sketches now oh view at the Athenaeum.
Melbourne is particularly proud of Miss
Stewart, as she has lived and moved, and
had her being here, during the compara-
tively few years ' which have made , up ber
life. Miss Stewart's treatment of pastels
ls particularly good. The* soft colours are so
lightly brushed in, and so tenderly blended,
that the-subject treated takes on a pecu-
liarly life-like tone. Altogether thc -pastels
are excellent, the most prominently so be-
ing a delightful expression of girlhood, en-
titled, "A Dutch "Bonnet," which is thought
by eenie lo bear * ô^deâ-resemblance to
the fair artist.bereen*. Other examples ia
this class of art, which compel the cotice
of even the casual visitor, are "Hoon of My
Delight," "Penelope," "'The Debutante," and
"Spring Street in June." It is not «nïy"
? amongst the pastels that Miss Stewarts
work holds out so much promise for Jaar
future career. Her oils also may be vatted
upon to eventually fulfil all her hopes ano
ambitions. All her pictures reflect ibo
happy outlook which the combined blessings
of youth, talent, sincerity, and enthusiasm ...
endow their fortúnate possessor. There an
several fine scenic paintings-all pert»inbw
to Australian life; some which deal with
country industries, euch, for* instance, aa

"Wool-Scouriug,** and others purely civic.
Indeed, these latter arc especially happy,
and iu her exposition of "Market Street on
a Hot Day," Miss Stewart seems to have
snatched at, and transferred to canvas, in
all its naturalness of animation, that spéci-
fie portion of our familiar highways with a
fidelity quite surprising. "Bringing in the
Wets," and "The Brown Ploughed Land,"

were two of the most appealing water col- ;
our«, while the whole exhibition is of such
a high order as to warrant a public interest

in all Miss Stewart's future efforts. j

$