Chicago City (part 38 of 57)

The side attractions, the avant couriers of the main show, were always the first to enter the town and whet the appetite for the great procession,and the boy who, after seeing these, was not stimulated to earn enough money from the show by "carrying water for the elephant, "or in some other way to enable him to penetrate the inviting but invisible scenes inside the tent, was not considered as of much account. What a change was wrought from this primitive mode of travel by the railroads ! Now entire trains, with time schedules of their own, are employed in transporting the shows of Forepaugh & Co. and the successor of Barnum; and the cars are not only used for transportation for the performers and animals, but as stables and hotels to feed and rest both men and beasts.

Next to the wonder-working, curiosity-exciting circus, (may the shade of the great Barnum never grow less) came the equally popular indoor attraction furnished by the negro minstrel troupes, the first of which to appear in Chicago, was known as " Chris7 ty's Minstrels," who performed at Rice's theatre, July ?2, 1847. Other troupes in these early days were " Prater's Genuine Virginia Minstrels," "The Kentucky Minstrels," " Campbell's," and later "Bryant's" and "Arlington's."

These minstrels, many of them being educated musicians with excellent voices, as well as comic actors, filled the land with song. Their sweet melodies caught the public ear, and were sung in every town and city, in country villages and farm houses, and many of them were adapted to sacred hymns in prayer and church meetings. For forty years such songs as " Dearest May," " Nellie Ely," "Under the Willows," " The Old Folks at Home," "Nelly Was A Lady," " Ben Bolt," and " My Old Kentucky Home," charmed the ear and filled the heart of an appreciative and admiring people. These " burnt cork " performers still, indeed, " hold the boards," but the days of their greatest popularity have passed away. The inspiration of their folk-lore songs no longer exists, or has been succeeded by a different, if not higher, taste ; and although other attractions have been added, they no longer draw as in the days of their primitive glory.

become a city, in October, 1837. The name of the pioneer firm which essayed the venture was Isherwood & McKenzie, and the only place to be procured for the performance was the "Saugenash" hotel, which had been vacated. The main room was fitted up to hold an audience of 300; the seats were plain: the scenery of the rudest sortjthe lights, oil lamps ami tallow candles. The old hotel whose walls had for many years rung to the music of Mark Jk'aubien's celebrated fiddle, was now the medium through which a display of dramatic art was first gives tt> the citizens of Chicago. " The Stranger," yith its thrilling scenes, admirably portrayet^ by Mrs. Ingersoll, the " Capture of Kouen," and the " Idiot Witness," were among the plays given. The principal actors were II. Liecester, leading men T. Sankey, and J. S. Wright; Henry Isherwood was scenic artist and Mr. Mc- Kenzie manager; Mrs. Ingersoll, Mrs. McKenzie, Miss Analine, danseuse, and Martin Burk were also popular favorites. The price of admission was seventy-five cents, and the patronage was such as to justify a stay of six weeks, when, to use the expression of Mr.Isherwood, " the company took to the prairie and visited most of the towns in the interior."

The same company returned to the city in the spring of 1838 (April), and petitioned the city council for a license "to strut and fret upon the stage" for one year, in a building on the west side of Dearborn street, eight numbers south of Water, to be fitted up by them and called the "Rialto." It was a fairly good structure, thirty by eighty feet, erected by John Bates in 1833, and had been used as an auction room.

To this second effort of Messrs. Sherwood and McKenzie there was a strong opposition in the nascent city. A protest was filed with the common council against the proposed theatre on the ground that the danger from fire and cost of insurance would be increased in that vicinity, against which the signers "solemnly protested." The well known J. Young Scammon headed the list of the thirty-five protestors, and among others were found such well remembered names as E. G. Eyan, Henry Brown, Walter Kimball, A. Follausbee, E. S. Kingsbury, Wm. H.

The protest was referred to a special committee of the council consisting of Henry L. Rucker, Eli B. Williams and Grant Goodrich, which was divided in opinion, the minority member, Mr. Goodrich, being opposed to the license, not only on the ground of the unfitness of the building, but because "the tendencies of the performances of modern theatres were grossly demoralizing and destructive of principle, and that such places were the nurseries of crime." The majority could not say much in favor of the proposed locality, but as to the moral question involved, "as the world had long been divided upon the morality of the drama in general," and as the committee had no doubt that such performances were approved by a large majority of the citizens, they recommended that the license be granted.

This first theatre of Chicago, called the " Rialto," had a seating capacity for an audience of four hundred, and was fitted up with boxes, gallery and pit. Mr. McKenzie acquitted himself to the satisfaction of his public, and, as a recognition of his worth and ability, fifty-four leading citizens extended him a benefit on October 13, 1838. In their letter to him on the occasion they availed themselves of the opportunity to give their own opinion regarding the propriety of attending theatrical performances, and spoke of them "as a combination of amusement and instruction," and as contributing to " the pleasure and amusement of the public." The letter bore the signatures of such familiar names as H. L. Rucker, J. M. Strode, R. J. Hamilton, E. D. Taylor, Mark Skinner, Julius Wadsworth, James Curtis, Augustus Garrett, John Callioun, Thomas Hoyne, N. B. Judd, II. 0. Stone and H. G. Loomis.

The company was the same as before with the addition of Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Jefferson and Messrs. Buck & Watts. The play selected for the benefit was the " Lady of

Lyons," and for the first time in this city, where he has been a favorite actor for well on to half a century, appeared Joseph Jefferson, Jr., then a youth of only nine years. His part, which came in between the main play and the farce, was to sing a song which on that occasion was "Lord Lovel and Lady Nancy."

The curtain in those days rose at seven o'clock "precisely," and as it was always customary to follow the comedy or tragedy with a farce, it was generally along toward the "wee srna' hours" of midnight when it was rung down for the last time.

At the return of the company in 3839, the firm name of the proprietors had been changed to McKenzie & Jefferson. New talent was added to the list of performers, and the season was a successful one, notwithstanding the fact that some of the leading citizens had withheld their support. On this point the American, alluding to the fact, remarked : " If the ladies are waiting for fashionable precedents, we would inform them that at Springfield, in this State, the theatre was attended generally by the beauty and fashion of the fair sex, and by the gentlemen of the place of all official dignities from judges of the Supreme court down. The theatre at Springfield did not present a tithe of the inducements for attendance of the Chicago theatre. There the seats were of rough boards, without backs to them, and there were no divisions in the boxes, but still the theatre was nightly crowded. Here is an example set by the capital of the State." While such comments by the press were not without their effect, Chicago was far from having yet obtained that eminence which she has so long held of being "the best showtown" in the country.

In 1841 there is no record of the opening of the theatre, and in 1842 there was only a short engagement of Mrs. Mary C. Porter in March, who was followed by H. B. Nelson, and he by the celebrated Dan Marble in August of that year, who failed to draw, to any considerable extent, notwithstanding his admitted superiority as a comic actor.

In the fall of this year (1842) a theatre was opened in the Chapman building, on the corner of Wells and Randolph streets, which appears to have done a fair business.

Short seasons were played at the Rialto in 1843 and 1844-5-G by different companies, with varied success, but it was not until 1847, when Chicago had grown to be a city of 17,- 000 inhabitants, that the stage was placed on a permanent and successful basis.

In that year, John B. Rice, with his wife, formerly Miss Warren, who had distinguished themselves on the stage, came to Chicago from Buffalo and erected his first theatre in this city. It was a frame building, forty by eighty feet, located on the south side of Randolph, a few doors east of Dearborn street. It was opened June 18th, and " was crowded with a delighted audience," Mrs. Hurst (afterwards Mrs. John Drew, still living) and Mrs. Rice, with her husband, being the principal attractions. Here, for three years, the drama was presented to the people of Chicago in a legitimate and worthy manner by the leading professionals of the day, the list of performers including Dan Marble, James E. Murdoch, the celebrated Julia Dean, who made her first appearance October 5th, Edwin Forrest (in 1848), Junius Brutus Booth, Mr. and Mrp. Barney Williams, and the now veteran survivor of this brilliant constellation of gifted men and women, James H. McVicker, who made his bow to a Chicago audience on the evening of May 2, 1848, in the farce of " My Neighbor's Wife."

This first home of the drama in this city, so well remembered by the "old settlers," after a varied career of three years, was burned to the ground on the night of June 30, 1850. It was on the occasion of Chicago's first attempt at opera in the presentation of " La Somnambula," which thus came to a disastrous finale after the first act.

Tremont Hall, in theTremont house, was then fitted up for theatrical and other public entertainments, where the Bateman children and other troupes and shows appeared during this and the following year, when the indefatigable Eice, though a heavy loser by the fire, had succeeded in erecting his second theatre. This was a two story brick building) eighty by one hundred feet in size, located on Dearborn street, between Randolph and Washington, and cost $11,000. It was opened to the public February 2, 1851. "The Star Spangled Banner" was sung and Mr. Rice delivered an address, amid great applause from a delighted audience.

Mr. and Mrs. John B. Rice, who had adorned their profession for so many years, retired from the stage in 1852. His theatre was leased to Manager William McFarland, N. P. Harris becoming the treasurer, and continued to be a popular resort for amusement loving citizens several years. In 18(il it was converted into a business block by Mr. Rice, who had then become a successful dealer in real estate. In 1865 he was elected mayor of the city, and re-elected in 1867, filling the office with distinguished ability. In 1868 he was elected to congress on the Republican ticket, but did not live to serve out his term.

The need for a larger and more suitable public hall, where concerts,lectures and public meetings might be more conveniently held, was met in 1851 by the erection of Metropolitan hall. It was built by Jason Gurley, on the northwest corner of Randolph and La Salle streets and had a seating capacity for ;m audience of over three thousand. Here Frank Lumbard's Empire minstrels scored a popular run, concerts were given by the Philharmonic and other societies, and Root's cantata of the "Haymakers" had its first presentation. It was also a favorite place for holding political meetings.

In 1855, Levi J. .North and Harry Turner added to the number oi' amusement resorts by the erection of "North's National Amphitheatre." It was a wooden structure, two stories high, located on Monroe street, between Clark and Fifth avenue. It had a seating capacity of three thousand and sixtytwo persons. It was originally intended for equestrian performances, but was subsequently also used as a theatre. Here "Uncle Tom's Cabin" was first brought out in 1857, and achieved a great success. Wm. E. Burton, Maggie Mitchell and others subsequently filled successful engagements at this place; but after 1859 its popularity began to wane, and it was finally sold and converted to other purposes. Mr. McVicker, who had become a successful star actor and manager, and had been favorably received in England, decided in 1857 to make Chicago his home and build a theatre. He selected the well known site of the present play-house bearing his name and of which he is a principal owner. Work was begun on the new edifice early in the year, and it was completed at the then large cost of $85,000. It was the most expensive, commodious and convenient structure of the kind in the West. The stage was eighty by fifty feet, and the auditorum seated over two thousand persons. The scenery and properties of the building were all first-class, and Chicago at last had a theatre of which the patrons of the drama had every reason to feel proud.

The opening pieces were the "Honeymoon" and the "Rough Diamond," in the latter of which Mr. McVicker appeared- The house, remarks the Tribune, "was filled to its utmost capacity" long before the curtains rose. After the overture by the orchestra,Miss Alice Mann pronounced the opening address written by Mr. B. F. Taylor. She was warmly welcomed and heartily applauded. Following this, as was customary on such occasions, the "Star Spangled Banner" was sung with fine effect, and Mr. Mc- Vicker, in response to " the vociferous demands" of the audience, came forward and delivered a happily conceived address, which was received with rousing cheers.

The drama, being now so well housed, entered upon a new and most prosperous career in Chicago, which was uninterrupted until the breaking out of the civil war.

able and distinguished light in his profession Edwin Booth, whose wife Miss Mary subsequently became. Here also appeared such attractive stars as the famous Adah Isaacs Menken, Jane Coombs, E. A. So them James E. Murdoch, Caroline Kitchiugs, J. H. Hackett, Ben DeBar, Lawrence P. Barrett and Collins, the Irish comedian, who had a superb voice and sang "Eory O'Moore" and "The Bold Soldier Boy" with fine effect.

Bryan Hall, erected in 1860, on Clark street, between Washington and Randolph, the site of the present Grand Opera House, was fitted up with stage, parquette and dress circle and gallery and seated an audience of eleven hundred.

It was dedicated to music and the drama September 17th of that year by a grand concert, and soon became a popular place of amusement. The hall was also adapted to the holding of fairs and social entertainments, and was frequently used for public meetings. In 1870 it became the property of that well known and favorite manager, R. M. Hooley, who rejuvenated it and christened it "Hooley's theatre."

/^Although an attempt was made to establish a museum in the city as early as 1844, this form of entertainment was not succesfully inaugurated until 1863, when the St. Louis museum, which was the largest in the West, was purchased and removed to this city, occupying rooms at 115, 117 Randolph street. It comprised a collection of fossil and other relics, curios and paintings. A hall for exhibitions and concerts was fitted up in the rear, and the exhibition opened with a panorama of London, August 17, 1863. Col. J. H. Wood succeeded to the management early in 1864, and to the department of natural history added a sea-lion from Barnum's New York museum, besides making arrangements for dramatic performances. Kingsbury's Hall, at the rear, was fitted up with three tiers of seats and four boxes, with a stage 60x30 feet. It was opened by a stock company under the management of A. D. Bradley, March 22, 1864. This continued to

In 1863 a minstrel hall was fitted up on the south side of Washington street, between Clark and Dearborn, holding an audience of about one thousand and designated as the Academy of Music. It was opened by the Arlington and Kelly troupe, and was subsequently engaged for Campbell & Castle's English Opera company, which. had a successful run.

Another hall which soon became an attractive and popular place for musical and other entertainments was that of Smith & Nixon, on the southwest corner of Washington and Clark streets, where the Chicago Opera House now stands. The auditorium was in the centre of the building, a novel feature of which was the absence of acute angles in ceiling and stage, all interior lines being curves, and the stage set in an arched alcove- The ground floor was used for stores and the floors above for offices. It was opened December 12, 1864, by a series of concerts conducted by L. M. Gottschalk.

In 1864 Mr. Uranus II. Crosby, who had become wealthy by Chicago trading during the war and had a high estimate of the demands of the rapidly growing city for a more spacious and splendid building for operatic art and dramatic exhibitions, entered upon the task of erecting such an edifice. It was located on the north side of Washington street, near State. The designs, drawn after Mr. Crosby had visited eastern cities, were carefully prepared, on a scale of magnificence and beauty hitherto unapproached in this country, by architect W. W. Boyingtou. It was four stories in height and contained a hall arranged for concerts and lectures and also a gallery devoted to the fine arts. An audience of over three thousand was accommodated in the auditorium. The cost of the structure when completed, in the spring of 1865, was estimated at $600,000.*

*The building of this opera bouse financially wrecked the owner,who, to recoup his fortune, conceived the plan of disposing of it by lottery. It was drawn by A. II. Lee, of Prairie du Booker, and vris transferred by him back to the owner fora consideration of $-'00,000.

Amusements, Art, Clubs And Homes

It was determined to dedicate the building by inaugurating a season of grand opera under the direction of the then famous impressario J. (iron, on the evening of April 17th, but on account of the assassination of President Lincoln on April 14th the date was postponed to the 20th. On that evening an audience in every respect worthy of the occasion filled the elegant and spacious house. The opera of " II Trovatore " was presented to the entire satisfaction of the admiring patrons. This was followed by " Lucia di Lammermoor," " II Poliuto," "Martha," "Norma," "Faust," "La Somnambula," "II Puritani," " Lucretia Borgia," " Ernani," and " Fra Diavolo."

In 1867 the building on Dearborn street (numbers 115, 117), which had been used as a variety theatre since 1803, was re-fitted, and renovated by Frank E. Aiken and became known as " Aiken's Theatre." In July, 1869, upon the retiring of Mr. Aiken from the management, it was rechristened the "Dearborn Theatre."

In 1869 the German population, then large and influential, determined to have a place of amusement of their own, and a German syndicate purchased the property on Desplauies street between Madison and Washington, formerly owned by the Tabernacle Baptist church, and fitted it up as a theatre. It was successfully used for that purpose until it was burned down in 1870. The "Globe" theatre was erected on the site, but was closed after only a short-lived existence.

Another feature of popular amusements, not heretofore mentioned, and which in its original form held undisputed sway over the public heart for many years, was that of the concert, and among the pioneer troupes which are pleasantly remembered may be mentioned the " Columbians," the " Alleghanians," the " Hutchinsons" and the "Peaks." Coming from the more cultivated East, they gave the people new and advanced ideas of " the concord of sweet sounds " in trained combinations. They not only discoursed delightful music, but wove into the text of their songs elevated sentiments and patriotic thoughts on the subjects of freedom and " the rights of man." Many of these songs are still fondly recalled for their pleasing melody and tender sentiment. Among these are "The Old Cabin Home," "The Old Oaken Bucket," " Kosalie, the Prairie Flower," "Hazel Dell," "Hard Times Come Again No More" and " Nellie Gray."

These family troupes awakened an interest in the cultivation of music as an art and prepared the way for the organization of home societies and the development of local talent.

The first piano in Chicago was purchased and brought here by John B. Beaubien in 1834 ; the first musical organization was that of the " Chicago Harmonic Society," formed in 1835; and the first home concert was given by this society at the Presbyterian church, December 11, of that year.*

Other societies were subsequently organized, and in 1849 began the era of musical conventions, which further contributed to the cultivation of the art.

A leading organization, embracing the most advanced home talent, was the Philharmonic society, formed in 1850, under the direction of Julius Dyhrenfurth, which held a favorite place in public estimation for several years.

An extraordinary impetus was given to the musical world and the concert business by the enterprising Barnum, who went to Europe in 1850 and engaged Jenny Lind, the "Swedish nightingale," for a concert tour in this country, giving her what was regarded as the extravagant sum of one thousand dollars per night for her services. He realized over $700,000 out of his bargain, and Miss Lind $176,000. She subsequently conducted a

Tne way thus successfully pointed out was soon followed by some of the best musical talent of the old world. The Madam Kose Jacques company, which came in 1852, was succeeded by Catharine Hayes, Monsieur and Madame Millon, Mrs. Emma G. Bostwick> Signorina Balbino and Amelia Patti Strakosch,with the boy violinst, Julien,in 1852-3. Later on came other talented companies, headed by Anna Bishop, Madam Paradi, Miss Kellogg, Christine Nilsson, Miss Cary and many others of eminence in their profession.

The most successful of these visiting artists were those whose troupes combined instrumental with vocal music; and of these the justly celebrated violinist Ole Bull, who was accompanied by that queen of song, Adelina Patti, then a young girl, created the greatest furor. They appeared in Chicago April 1, 1853, and returned again the following year. And then came the great pianists, Walkberg, Strakosch, Rubinstein, Von Bulow, Teresa Careno, Julie Rive-King and Gottschalk.

Among those in this city who was foremost in promoting a love for and knowledge of music for the thirty years following 1852, was that genial companion, and splendid singer, Frank Lumbard. He was active in aiding the establishment of early musical societies,in organizing church choirs, and in generally giving direction to all musical enterprises. He was at the head of several minstrel troupes.and was the first to bring out the musical talent of the city in home concerts. He took an active part in favor of the election of President Lincoln, appearing at public meetings, where his rich, strong voice interpreted the issues of the day in song more effectively than was done by the most eloquent speakers ; and when the civil war broke out that same voice was heard throughout the country, and by many a camp fire, singing those war songs which stirred the blood of every patriot and nerved the arm of the " brave boys in blue " to heroic deeds.

It was in Chicago that the most popular of these war songs, which exercised so important an influence during the rebellion, had their birth. The first of these, inspired by an undying patriotism, " The Battle Cry of Freedom," was the composition of George F. Root, of Chicago, who was also the author of " Tramp, Trarnp, Tramp, the Boys are Marching" and of " Just before the Battle, Mother."

To Henry C. Work, also of Chicago, belongs the honor of giving to his country those famous songs, " Marching Through Georgia," " Brave Boys are They," and " Kingdom Coming."

The population of Chicago, which was 29,- 903 in 1850, doubled itself in three years (being 59,133 in 1853) and rose to 80,000 in five years (1855), and the local field for all kinds of amusements grew accordingly.

The enjoyment of the "Grand Opera" was regarded as costing too much, even for the liberal citizens of Chicago, before 1850, and the first attempt at its representation, on a very limited scale, was frustrated by the burning of Rice's theatre, as before related. It was not until 1853 that another effort was made, when the opera of " Lucia di Lammermoor"was given at Rice's theatre. The prima donna was Signorina de Vries, assisted by Pozzolina, Taffenelli and others, and the performance was favorably received. The same company again appeared in 1854.

Short seasons, lasting a week, were held regularly each succeeding year by different companies, the first season of English opera occurring in 1858, with Rosalie Durand as the soprano. Brignoli, Amodeo and Cora Wilhorst appeared here for the first time in 1859. The Holmati Opera troupe gave four performances of the " Bohemian Girl " at Wood's Museum in 1863. After the completion of Crosby's Opera House two and sometimes three seasons were sustained each year, and the people were given their choice of Italian, German or English opera.

amusement offered to the public in Chicago enjoyed a veritable " boom." The city, then filled with returning soldiers and citizens rejoicing over the final triumph of the Union and the permanence of its free institutions, took on a gala-day appearance, and theatres and concert halls were nightly packed, and no attraction, however insignificant, was neglected. The opera, especially, was well patronized.

Perhaps the ablest concert troupe which ever appeared in the city was that composed of the gifted artists - Christine Nilsson, Anna Louise Cary, Brignoli, Verger, and that great master of the violin, Veuxtemps.

In the summer of 1871 Mr. Crosby expended $80,000 in improving and embellishing his opera house, and great preparations were made to open the season with a series of ten grand symphony and popular concerts by Theodore Thomas and his organization of sixty performers on the evening of October 9th, but when that time came the heart of Chicago laid in smouldering coals and ashes, and there was neither opera house or other place of amusement left, except the Globe theatre on Desplaines street. This was opened by Colonel Wood thirteen days after the fire, and a play, with the very significant title of "Who's Who, " was given. This had never been a popular show place> and after a couple of years precarious existence it ceased to be used as such and passed into the hands of the Workingmen's Association.

The first theatre erected after the fire was a brick building on Ilalsted street near Madison, which was constructed in thirty days and opened for business, on January 10, 1872.

The second theatre to supply the want created by the fire was located on the northwest corner of Wabash avenue and Congress street, and erected by Frank Aiken. It cost 180,000 and was opened by the Theodore

Thomas orchestra, October 7, 1872. It was subsequently leased by Leonard Groves, and converted into a variety theatre, under the name of the Adelphi. It was re-opened February 3, 1874, and destroyed by the second great fire of July 14, 1874.

The first theater erected on any former site was McVicker's, which was enlarged and greatly improved. The opening, on the night of August 9, 1872, with the play entitled " Time Works Wonders," was an event, remarks the Tribune, "in the rebuilding of the city to be marked with a white stone. It was the dedication to its appropriate uses of the first public building erected within the limits devastated by the great conflagration." The house was filled to its utmost capacity, and this time-honored place of amusement once more entered upon its legitimate and prosperous career.

In 1885 this theatre was entirely remodeled and redecorated, but in August, 1890, all that portion of the building occupied as a theatre was again destroyed by fire. It was rebuilt and remodeled, with a steel structure for the auditorium, and two additional stories added for offices. This was done at a cost of $170,000, and Chicago could now boast of one of the most elegant and commodious theatres devoted to the legitimate drama in the country. It was reopened March 31, 1891.

The second down-town theatre to be thrown open to the public was Hooley's, on Randolph street, October 17, 1872. Just before the fire Mr. Hooley had leased his theatre on Clark street for five years, and had retired on an income of $31,000 per annum. His loss by the fire was $180,- 000. He exchanged his Clark street site for one on Randolph, and erected the building which he called "Hooley's Parlor Home of Comedy." The opening was a popular recognition in testimony of his enterprise and worth. He was a successful manager, and from that time he gave his Chicago patrons the best that was going of star performances up to the time of his death in 1893 .

The Adelphi theatre, afterwards Haverley's, was built on the northwest corner of Dearborn and Monroe streets, the site of the present First National Bank, in 1874. It was opened to the public January 11, 1875. It was reconstructed and re-decorated in July, 1878, and reropened August 4th, with the Coville Folly company in the " Babes in the Woods." Mr. Haverly's lease expired in 1882, when the property was re-leased by the First National Bank.

In 1882, in co-operation with John B. Carson, Col. Haverly secured the location on the south side of Monroe street, just west of Dearborn, whereon he erected the Columbia theatre, which was first called Haverly's. The building covers one hundred and ninety by seventy feet in area, is six stories in height, and has a seating capacity of about two thousand. It was opened September 12, 1882, by Robson & Crane in Shakespeare's " Twelfth Night." In 1884 the building was re-arranged and re-decorated, and is now one of the most handsome theatres in the city. Its present name was given to it by Ellen Terry, leading lady with Irving's company.

The Grand Opera House lot, which was the original site of Bryan's Hall and Hooley's first theatre, was purchased bv J. A. and L. B. Hamlin in 1872, and upon it, in 1874, they erected a billiard hall, which was subsequently converted, first into an amusement garden and then into a theatre. The place became the property of William Borden in 1880, who reconstructed and added to the theatre, which was opened in September of that year under the name of the " Grand Opera House."

The first regular theatre erected on the west side was designated the Standard, located at the intersection of Halsted and Jasksou streets. It was built by C. J. Whitney in 1883 and was handsomely fitted up. It was thrown open to the public December 31, by the Fay Templeton troupe.

1884-5. That portion devoted to theatrical representations is constructed by itself, and seats two thousand three hundred persons The building is intended to be entirely fireproof. The stage is adapted to any line of entertainment and is fitted up with every known modern appliance. The house was successfully opened August 18, 1885, and entered upon a prosperous career, which has never met with a reverse.

The churches of the city were utiliezd as places of public entertainment during the winter following the fire. The first public music hall, that of Kiugsbury,on Clark street, opposite the Sherman, was not opened until October 6, 1873.

McCormick's Hall, on the northeast corner of North Clark and Kinzie streets, was erected in 1873, and was said by the Tribune to be "not only the best hall Chicago ever had, but one of the finest in the United States." It was 120 by 100 feet in size, and could accommodate two thousand five hundred people. It was dedicated November 13, 1873, by a grand concert. It has since been remodeled and is known as "Jacob's Clark Street Theatre."

Central Music Hall, on the southeast corner of State and Randolph streets, for the erection of which (in 1874) the public is indebted to the efforts of George B. Carpenter, was for many years the most popular and comfortable lecture and concert hall in the city. It accommodates an audience of a little less than two thousand. It has a grand concart organ, and in the beautiful hall assembles every Sunday the Central church, of which Professor Swing is pastor. A portion of the building is used for offices. It is the most popular and convenient lecture hall in .the city.

With the houses mentioned above Chicago is well supplied with places of amusement, and has been visited by the most distinguished stars in the theatrical and operatic world.

were given in the city in 1873, with a chorus of one thousand voices, the striking feature of which was the anthem of peace, with anvil chorus from II Trovatore, with "real red-shirted firemen, sledges, anvils and cannon." This was followed by a second jubilee concert under the auspices of the Apollo musical club, and Theodore Thomas.

In June, 1881, the seventy-second Saengerfest of the North American Saengerbund was given under the direction of Hans Balatka, with a male chorus of eleven hundred voices, which was regarded as a great success.

Then followed the famous May musical festival of 1882, organized by Theodore Thomas, with the idea of rendering a series of the best musical productions in a mammoth hall, with inducements to attract the fashionable world, and at prices which were not beyond the reach of the common people. To this end a hall was constructed at the south end of the old exposition building, capable of seating an audience of six thousand people. A chorus of nine hundred voices had been carefully trained for over six months by that prince of leaders, who has done so much for music in Chicago, William L. Tomlins. The orchestra numbered one hundred and sixty-nine, and the soloists included such distinguished names as Anna Louise Gary, Emily Vincent, Madame Materna, Campanini and Myron W. Whitney. The organist was Clarence Eddy.

A similar May festival was given at the same place in 1884, and while neither of them proved a financial success they afforded great satisfaction to the people who nightly crowded each performance.

With the stupendous growth of the city, the demand for additional places of amusement was met by the erection of many new and costly houses. Among them may be mentioned the Haymarket theatre, on West Madison street near Halsted, with the large seating capacity of 2,475 jllavlin's theatre, on the west side of Wabash avenue near Nineteenth street, with a seating capacity of 2,000; the Alhambra, on the corner of State street and Archer avenue; the Criterion, on Sedgwick street; the Windsor, at North Clark and Division street; and the Waverly, on West Madison street, between Throop and Loomis streets. A still more elegant and costly building is the Schiller, on the north side of Randolph, near Dearborn, erected in 1891-2, where a high class of drama is presented.

But the grandest of all edifices devoted principally to music and the drama in this or any other city, and, indeed, in this or any other country is the famous Auditorium, erected in 1888-9, of which more particular mention is made in another place.

It was dedicated to the public on the evening of December 9, 1889, in the presence of the largest and most brilliant audience ever assembled on any similar occasion, among whom was President Benjamin Harrison. The following is the programme of the opening ceremonies:

Cantata, composed for the occasion by Frederick Grant Gleason , and sung by a chorus of five hundred voices under the direction of W. L. Tomlins.

A change has occurred in the amusement world during the last thirty years, no les-i striking with regard to the performers than noticeable in those to whose pleasure they minister. Theatrical stock companies have given place to the "star" combinations, through which change of system leading lights of the stage may be seen in the

Bistort Of Vhicaoo

The change in the character of the audience, especially in opera, is thus described by that able critic, George B. Armstrong (Evening Post, April 6, 1890):

"Audiences in Chicago now are not what they were in the good old days that are gone. To be sure there is more glamour and show and imposing circumstance. The crowds are much larger than they were a quarter of a century ago, but surely there is nothing to wonder about in that because the Chicago of to-day is very different from that of twenty-five years ago. The dresses worn by the women now are more elaborate than they were then, which is also surely not strange when one stops to consider the fact that during all these years and more we have not only been growing and expanding at a tremendous rate, but accumulating money with a proportionate rapidity.

"It is not these changed social conditions which make the old time opera-goer pause and scratch his head and think. The old timer better than the new understands and appreciates the altered state of onr social life. It is the unmistakable evidence of a change in the temperament of the people. Chicago is too large materially, and its influence as a centre of culture is too great to tolerate the manifestation of any extreme exuberance at public entertainments. Study a Chicago audience of the present, not an audience of the rabble but a thoroughly representative and cultivated audience - one of the kind that has appeared nightly in the Auditoriumduringthelast four weeks. These audiences are eminently proper. They are always in good form. They never let their emotions gallop off with their sense of propriety. They are unresponsive and oftimes actually congealed. If they applaud they do so in a reasonable manner. There are no changes of enthusiasm - no outbursts of undesirable emotion. The applause, like the toilets, is neat and becoming."

Of course there are a few exceptions, when the ice melts and the air becomes warmer with genuine applause, but such scenes as occurred in 1876-8 under the Max Strakosch management, when Norma or II Trovatore were rendered are seldom witnessed. The audience would sometimes break out in a frenzy of delight. The men stood on chairs and shouted and yelled, and the women waved their handerchiefs and hats and fairly split their gloves with their enthusiastic applause.

Following the Strakosch seasons came those of Col. J. H. Mapleson, with the Italian company from London in 1879, 1880, 1881-2-3, in which last year again came Adelina Patti.

In 1884 came the noted Abbey company, followed in 1885 by the Damrosch German opera company, which had a successful three weeks season at the Columbia.

Chicago musical talent has found expression in several efficient organizations, such as the Philharmonic, the Beethoven and the Oratorio societies, hut few of which now survive. The Apollo club, however, organized in 1872 at the suggestion of S. G. Pratt, who was its first director, is a splendid exception. George P. Upton, so long the able musical critic of the Tribune, and author of several musical books, was the first president of the club, and so continued until 1874. A. W. Dohn succeeded Mr. Pratt in a short time as conductor, under whose careful and arduous direction the club made satisfactory progress. He was succeeded by Carl Bergstein in 1874 - who retired in 1875, when William L. Tomlins assumed the baton, which he has retained with distinguished ability ever since. Under his direction many successful concerts have been given at some of which have been rendered the oratorios of the Messiah and the Creation. A series of these for the benefit of wage-earners, at nominal prices, has become justly popular.

Our city has not yet reached that period of age, culture and leisure which seems to be a necessary concomitant to the production of musical authorship and extraordinary

Mr. William C. E. Seeboeck, the accomplished pianist, who has been a resident of Chicago for over ten years, has proved himself a composer of rare excellence. His songs and instrumental pieces are highly prized, and his operatic works, not yet published, have received the favorable commendation of the critics.

A chief source of musical enjoyment in the city is found in the popular recitals of our leading organists, Clarence Eddy, Harrison Wild, Louis Falk, Wm. Meddleschulte and Frederick Archer ; and of our leading pianists, Messrs. Seeboeck, Emil Liebling, Wm. H. Sherwood and Mrs. Fannie Bloomfield Zeisler. These, interpreting the best works of the masters, with vocal accompaniments, are given in some of the smaller halls, such as Kimball's, Weber's, or the recital hall of the Auditorium, to delighted and appreciative audiences.

Another charming means of musical enjoyment is found in the chamber concerts given by our leading violinists and their string quartets. Among these may be mentioned those meritorious artists, Max Bendix, S.E. Jacobson, Bernard Listernann, Ludwig Marun and Theodore Spiering.

Several attempts have been made to sustain home orchestras by such competent leaders as Silas G. Pratt, Adolph Liesegang, Adolph Rosenbecker, Dr. F. Ziegfeld, and others, but although great advancement has been made under their efforts, the company of Theodore Thomas, which has frequently visited the city for the past twenty years, so overshadows the best they can yet achieve as to have a discouraging effect. Better results

"The leading musical institutions of the city are: The Chicago College of Vocal and Instrumental Music; the Chicago Conservatory; Chicago Musical College; Chicago National College of Music; and Balatka's Academy of. Musical Art.

are still looked for in the future, when a Chicago opera, with a Western theme, the work of a Chicago author, may be rendered by Chicago singers and a home orchestra, which will rank with those of the old world.

Chicago has four dime museums, and the Eden Musee, or Frank Hall's Casino, on Wabash avenue, where is an exhibition of wax-works, and a vaudeville or minstrel performance every hour in the day. Another pleasant place to pass an hour is at the observatory roof garden of the Masonic temple, where there is to be seen an electric scenic theatre and other attractions, three hundred feet above the ground, overlooking Lake Michigan.

Neither must the Libby Prison Museum on Wabash avenue, near Fifteenth street, be overlooked. It is indeed one of the most interesting and instructive of the many show places which the city presents. A massive stone wall encloses the original Libby prison, brought here from Richmond, Va., and put up just as it appeared there. It coiitains portraits of leading generals on both sides of the late civil war, various specimens of fire arms, a good collection of shot and shell, original dispatches, letters and reports from commanding officers and an exceedingly rare collection of war mementos, memorials and relics, many of which have come from the splendid collection of Charles F. Gunther, who is one of the promoters of this genuinely meritorious exhibition.

Art In Chicago

BY Miss CAROLINE KIRKLAND. The crown of prosperity is art. Material welfare must be adorned with literature, music, painting and sculpture, otherwise its appearance is gross and unworthy. The fame of the old merchant princes of Venice rests at the present time, not on their great ability in commerce, but on the fact that it was through their liberality that Titian, Tintoretto and Veronese flourished. The Medici of Florence are known to-day not because they were successful pawn brokers, but be- cause they were the patrons of Michael Angelo, Raphael, Andrea del Sarto and Benvenuto Cellini. Imitating the superb Venetians and the great Florentines,the merchant princes of Chicago have developed into art patrons whose names are familiar in all the studios and art centres of Europe and America.

The same public spirited zeal which the foremost citizens' of our city have shown in the development of her commercial resources has animated them in her fostering of her intellectual and artistic side, so that now she is the proud owner, either in her public collections or in the private galleries of her citizens, of some of the finest arttreasures in the land. Connoisseurs from older countries who come here to spread the gospel of the new schools of painting are astonished to find that the pre-Eaphaelites of England, the Barbizon school, the impressionists and the plein-air painters of France are as well known and completely represented here as in the older cities of the East, while even those who have not traveled are familiar with the great works of the old masters in sculpture and painting through the fine models and copies that fill our public and private galleries.

The first public evidence of this artistic tendency and appreciation in Chicago was in the annual exhibition of pictures at the old autumnal exposition on the lake front. Here, under the inspiration of Mr. James H. Dole, was yearly gathered together the best artistic exhibition in the country, native and foreign artists participating therein. Pictures from the Paris Salon and the London Royal Academy were brought over to this fall exhibition in Chicago, which grew to be called in the great foreign studios, "-the American Salon.''' It was in this annual gathering that some of the private galleries of the West had their birth, and too much credit cannot be given to it as an art educator and influence.

The treasures that enrich the Art Institute have already been described, but the beautiful collections that adorn many Chicago homes are as striking and worthy of mention as these. One of the finest and most complete galleries of paintings in the country is owned by Mr. Potter Palmer. He and his brilliant wife have collected these with such skill and discrimination that on their walls hang the best examples of all the great schools of art of the nineteenth century. Nor have they followed the course pursued by so many buyers of pictures who select their purchases only in such art centres as Paris, London and New York. Very few artists of merit have exhibited here without finding in Mr. and Mrs. Palmer liberal and sympatheticpatrons;all of which helps to lift Chicago up above its hog-killing, grain-supplying reputation, valuable and worthy in its way, but not the sum of our ambition. Among the great masters represented in this collection are Corot, Millet, Breton, Daubigny and Casin, while there is no more complete representation extant of the latest impulse in art, the impressionists, than the collection owned by the Palmers. Monet, Manet, and Raffaeli are all to be seen here at their best. The American painters are likewise here ; George Fuller's rich, mellow tones ; Hitchcock's, Melchers' and McEwen's Dutch scenes ; Julian Stewart's delicate French touch and Chase's spirited originality, all are in evidence that painting in America holds its own. And the whole beautiful collection is housed in the sumptuous fashion that becomes art so well.

Mr. Charles Hutchinson's pictures, though comparatively few in number, are of unusual interest and value, as representing the poetic pre-Raphaelite school of English painters, whose pictures are seldom seen out of England, and are held there and everywhere in the highest estimation. Including Mr. Hutchinson there are not half a dozen Americans who are so fortunate as to own any of Dante Gabriel Rossetti's paintings,and these others all live in the East. The Beata Beatrix which hangs on the walls of Mr. Hutchinson's beautiful home on Prairie

Mr. C. T. Yerkes' collection of pictures is one of the most remarkable in this country. Nothing is more gratifying to American art lovers than the aquirement by American art patrons of works of the old masters. This sentiment is delighted and stimulated by a visit to Mr. Yerkes' gallery, where hang fine examples of Eembrandt, Kubens, Van Ostade, Ruisdael, Raphael, Holbein and a host of others, whose fame has survived the centuries. He is one of the few collectors of pictures in this city who is able to devote a gallery to his treasures. This is divided into two apartments, one of which is devoted to his unique and remarkable collection of old paintings, and the other to modern art. This latter gathering is in its way as complete and splendid as the other. Gerome, Diaz, Bongueriau, Meissonnier, Daubigny and their French, English, Dutch and American confreres are here in a gathering of magnificent color and technique, and the whole is of immense importance to the development and encouragement of art in America.

Mr. James W. Ellsworth is distinguished as being the possessor of a remarkably fine Rembrandt, which undoubtedly stands very near, if not quite, at the head of works by the old masters owned on this side of the Atlantic. With the exception of this picture and an original portrait of Columbus by Lorenzo Lotto, and one or two of Hubert Vos' paintings, Mr. Ellsworth's collection is confined to works of American artists and is of great beauty and variety. Some of the most charming examples of our distinguished landscape painter, Inness, are to be seen here, from his earliest efforts to his splendid maturity, as well as pictures by Stetson, Blum, Chase, Fuller and many others.

Mr. S. M. Nickerson's collection of pictures is more conservative in its trend than some of Chicago's collections, but represents the best French, English and American

Some very fine examples of the ancient and modern Flemish and Dutch schools are to be found in the collection of Mr. J.Russell Jones. His residence abroad, as American minister to Belgium, gave him unusual opportunities for getting pictures by Ruysdael, Verboeckhoven, Koekoek, Perignon and other Belgian and French painters.

Prominent among Chicago art patrons are such well known names as Martin Ryerson, Albert Munger, Thomas B. Bryan, J. H. Dole, George M. Pullman, P. D. Armour, Edward Blair, H. N. Higinbotham and R. H. McCormick.

The liberality, public pride and good judgment of these and others of this city have created an atmosphere which prompted Charles Dudley Warner to say, in an article on the West published in Harper's Monthly, "Culture is humming in Chicago." It is this healthful spirit, this desire for progress and enlightenment which makes wealth a blessing to a community, elevates the standard for beauty, adorns homes and public buildings, and fills the parks with works of sculpture, some of which are artistically fine, and all of which are historically or intellectually inspiring and interesting.

Nor are the women of Chicago behind the men in "making" for art and culture, as Matthew Arnold says. They have in individual instances contributed to the honor of the city as art-patrons and, by their enthusiasm, have frequently stimulated appreciation and effort in this direction, while collectively they have done and are doing a work that will be more and more valued as time goes on. This labor is being carried on under the direction and auspices of the Decorative Art Society, which was founded some years ago by Mrs. J. Young Scammon, Mrs John N. Jewett, Mrs. Edward Ayer, Mrs. W. K. Nixon and others. This society makes periodical contributions to the Art Institute of rare and exquisite things in the way of bric-a-brac, embroideries, laces, antique furniture and similar objets de vertu. These beautiful gifts are selected with great knowledge and taste from the most choice opportunities in Europe and are doing much to give to the Art Institute the sumptuous, complete look of the best foreign galleries and museums.

Chicago, young as she is, has given her quota of well known artists to the art world. G. P. A. Healy's is the most distinguished name on our calendar. Although he was not a native of Chicago he was always so closely associated with this city, claiming her as steadfastly as she claimed him, that he may well be considered as having laid the corner stone for art here. His recent death put an end to a long, successful and honorable career. It is a source of pride to us Chicagoans that, after attaining world- wide celebrity and recognition, Mr. Healy brought his laurels and his family back to his foster-city and spent here his last days. The list of our distinguished dead is not a long one yet, but it is a very honorable one, and high up in its columns will always be read the name of G. P. A. Healy.

Many of the younger painters who had their origin in Chicago have gone to older and more congenial art-atmospheres, where they have met with the appreciation and fame, which in her younger days Chicago did not have the confidence in herself to give. Among these are Charles Dyer, son of the « ellknown Dr. Dyer of this city, Carroll Beckwith, Lawrence C. Earl and Walter M. McEwen. Miss Annie C. Shaw, an artist of unusual promise, laid down her brush forever too early to give more than an indication of a remarkable taleut. Her death was an irreparable loss.

The decorative art in Chicago has been mainly applied to making homes beautiful. No public buildings have any of this form of art, though the Art Institute will, when completed have some fine mural paintings. Mr. Potter Palmer's house is celebrated, not only in Chicago but throughout the entire length and breadth of this country, for its mural decorations, such distinguished artists as Perrault, Ferrier, Jacassi and John Elliott having painted walls and ceilings until it is a veritable "palace beautiful." Conspicuous among the men of the brush in Chicago who devote themselves to this special branch of art are Mr. John Pretyman and Mr. John R. Key, grandson of the celebrated Francis Scott Key. These artists have turned their talents in this direction and are doing much to cultivate the taste and lead it from the gorgeous and gaudy to the beautiful and refined.

The growing knowledge and love of art mean a great deal in a city where life is at such a high pressure as it is here. The repose and strength in this great realm of beauty will gradually come to us and give us that tranquility and poise we lack, so that Some day we shall wake up and say: "Though time is fleeting (and no where so much so as in Chicago) art is long," and we will then go more slowly and thoughtfully on our way.

Some of the salient features of club-life, its fascinations and its perils, have been discussed in a previous chapter,* It was there considered primarily in reference to its relations to social conditions, and particularly as regards its influence upon the home. It was shown that however well adapted the club might be to the wants and needs of bachelor life, it was too frequently apt to interfere, more or less seriously, with the discharge of those old-fashioned obligations which attach to the father of the family. Nevertheless, the cardinal fact remains that clubs appeal to a latent impulse, innate in masculine humanity; and that their attractions strike a responsive chord is a fact attested alike by the multiplication of their number and the gradual raising of the test of qualifications for members toward the point of comparative exclusiveness. The club of to-day, as an individual entity, long since outgrew alike the alms and the scope of the early organizations of serni- kindred character which were its predecessors. To-day there does not exist in any great city a club which has not framed its own shibboleth. Each has its own board of censors, whose fiat is unalterable. For membership in the more fashionable organizations, wealth - while not prescribed as a qualification for membership - is actually indispensable, for the reason that the luxurious appointments of the club-house and the necessarily heavy running expenses render imperative assessments which men of merely moderate means might find it difficult to meet. Yet there are clubs for the poor, where the enjoyment is, perhaps, quite as keen, even amid plainer surroundings, as behind the noiselessly swinging doors none may pass save " the elect." There is, however, one fundamental consideration underlying all associations of this character. Be the members high or low, rich or poor, the sine qua non of admission must be congeniality of temperament, of aims, or of habit, as well as comparative equality of social position. Yet clubs present a diversity of objects, almost as multiform as the principles of their composition. Some are more or less political in their constitution; others literary or scientific; others are made up of sportsmen; others make adherence to a particular creed a pre-requisite of membership; and some have been formed by citizens of foreign birth or extraction, who, while loyal to the country of their adoption, yet desire to perpetuate the associations and customs of the land of their birth.

To enumerate all the clubs of the western metropolis would be a well-nigh impossible task. Their number is legion. Within the narrow limits necessarily assigned to the present chapter little more can be attempted than a brief mention of those which have attained greatest prominence.

corner of Jackson street and Custom-House place. It probably embraces in its list of membership more professional men and merchants than any other similar organization in the city. It was incorporated in 1879, and its avowed object was the encouragement of social, moral and political loyalty to the' National government. Among its cherished aims have been the inculcation of a higher patriotism, the maintenance of civil and political equality, the purification of elections, and the overthrow of official corruption, wherever found and however engendered. Its political complexion has always been strongly Republican, yet it was formed as a non-partisan organization, nor is any particular political faith made a condition of membership. The club entertains in a manner almost princely, and its cuisine is unsurpassed. An entrance to the club house is reserved for ladies accompanied by their escorts, a special section of the house being devoted to a " ladies' department," the fittings of which are adapted to feminine tastes. The Calumet club was organized in 1878. It erected a magnificent four-story building at the corner of Michigan avenue ''and Twentieth street, all the appointments of which were elegant and luxurious. This structure, with a magnificent collection in its art gallery, was destroyed by fire in 1892, an employe perishing in the flames and the secretary dying from heart failure, induced by theattendant excitement. Since then a new, and yet more elegant, building has been erected on the former site. The membership of the organization embraces not a few of the leading men of Chicago.

The Apollo club - a musical organization scarcely second to any in the country - came into existence in 1872, Silas G. Pratt and George B. Upton being the founders. Its chorus numbers more than two hundred, and probably fully 3,000 voices have been trained in its classes. Professor William L. Tomlins has been its director for many years. Its annual con- certs appeal to Chicago's music-loving public as do few others. One praiseworthy feature of these is the duplication of highpriced entertainments for working-people, who are thus educated in a taste for classical music at a comparatively nominal cost.

The Chicago club, one of the earliest and most exclusive of the city, was formed in 1869, being the outgrowth of the old Dearborn club, whose house is at the corner of Jackson street and Michigan avenue. The Chicago erected a house at the corner of Wabash avenue and Eldridge court, which perished in the conflagration of 1871. Later it secured a home at the corner of Van Buren street and Michigan boulevard.

The membership of the Columbus club embraces those members of the Catholic church in Chicago who may be regarded as the representative men of that communion in both professional and mercantile walks of life. Its growth has been rapid and its attitude conservative. On all National questions which have presented themselves since its formation the club has spoken, in no uncertain tone, on the side of patriotism, as distinguished alike from partisanship and sectarianism. The present quarters of the club are on Monroe street, between Wabash avenue and State street .

The Commercial club is made up of leading bankers, manufacturers, merchants and capitalists of the city, who meet, from time to time, around the banquet-table, to interchange views regarding Chicago's commercial needs. It owns no home of its own, but frequently entertains distinguished guests from abroad at its sumptuous dinners.

The Iroquois club, while essentially social, is pre-eminently political, an adherence to the doctrines of Thomas Jefferson being a sine qua non for membership. It came into being on October 4, 1881, and rapidly grew. Its roll of members embraces a majority of the prominent, wealthy Democrats of the city whose tastes incline toward club life. It occupies an elegant house (of its own) at the corner of Michigan boulevard and Adams street. The banquets of the Iroquois are almost sybaritic in the exquisiteness of the viands, and it was at one of these that Grover Cleveland uttered his famous aphorism - "a public office is a public trust."

Marquette ciubs. sively - Republican in their make-up. Each occupies its own club-house, the former on the west, the latter on the north side. Each holds semi-public meetings, addressed by prominent Republican orators, which are believed to be potent missionary agencies for partisan success.

The Hermitage is a north side Democratic club. It is, however, social as well as politica'* ^s members are leading Democrats of the north division, and the organization is in a flourishing condition, having some years ago absorbed the Arlington, an association of similar character.

The origin of the Germania Mannerchor is somewhat peculiar. At the funeral of Germania Abraham Lincoln, in 1865, a Mannerchor. small party of Germans attended to render a chorus. They were pleased with each other's singing, and determined to form a society. From this small beginning has grown one of the largest and most prominent musical and social organizations of the country. Their club house, in the north side, is one of the handsomest in Chicago.

The Illinois club enjoys pre-eminence among the social clubs of the west side. Illinois Organized in 1878, it rapidly grew ciub. in membership, despite the fact that the test of admission has always been more or less exclusive. Its first home was at 601 Washington boulevard; thence it moved to its own house, situated at the corner of Ashland boulevard and Monroe street. Its building is handsome and commodious, and here entertainments are given for the wives,

Amusements, Ast, Clubs And Homes

The Lakeside c;lub began its corporate career in 1884. It owns its own building (three stories and a basement) of brick and stone on Indiana avenue, between Thirty-first and Thirty-second streets.

The Union club is an organization wholly social in its scope and decidedly exclusive in union Pasging upon applications for memciub. bership. Its handsome club house is located on the north side, at 12 Dearborn place. The organization enjoys the distinction of having occupied a house erected on the site of the old "William B. Ogden" mansion, one of the landmarks of the great fire.

The Standard was organized in 1869, and is the leading Jewish club of the city. The standard membership is limited to 400 and ciub. jjie initiation fee is higher than that of any other in Chicago, being fixed at $500. Its house, at the corner of Michigan avenue and Twenty-fourth street, is one of the handsomest and best appointed in the country, and the furnishings are of the most sumptuous order.

The Sunset club takes for its motto the familiar quotation from Herbert Spencer, sunset "^e k'ave had somewhat too much Club- of 'the Gospel of Work/ it is time to preach the 'Gospel of Kelaxation.' ' It was founded in 1889, and in many particulars resembles the Twilight club, of Boston, and the Seven O'Clock club, of Washington. Meetings are held fortnightly, dinner being served at some one of the leading ^otels at a quarter past six. Then follow short talks from members and invited guests on topics of current interest or importance. The aim of the organization is to promote and foster rational good fellowship and tolerant discussion among business and professional men of all classes and creeds.

The Press club, as its name indicates, has a membership made up of Chicago journalists. Press ciub Ifc was formed in 1880 and has of Chicago, steadily nourished. Its object is to bring the members of the newspaper profession together in closer personal relations, to elevate the profession, to further good fellowship, and to extend a helping hand to all members of the association who may deserve it. It occupies handsomely fitted up rooms at 131 Clark street, a convenient location for members engaged in active professional work. Journalists visiting the city are accorded club privileges on being properly introduced by members in good standing.

This organization had its inception in the meetings of a score or more of literary women, Illinois woman-, who were wont to gather at Press Association, the home of Dr. Julia Holmes Smith. Its legal entity dates from 1885, It is formed upon very nearly the same lines as the Woman's National Press association and is represented by delegates in the National Editorial association, the Federation of Women's clubs and the International League of Press clubs, and is auxiliary to the Illinois Woman's Alliance. Nine meetings are held each year and an annual banquet given. All women who have published original matter in book form, or who have been or are connected with any reputable journal are eligible for membership.

The constitution sets forth the objects for which the club was founded, and thus defines them - "mutual sympathy and counsel, united effort toward the higher civilization of humanity and general philanthropic and literary work." No numerical limitation is placed upon the membership, which at the present time (1894) includes a large proportion of those women of Chicago who have attained special eminence in art, science, philosophy, or literature. Members are elected by ballot, the initiation fee being fixed at fifteen dollars and the annual dues at ten dollars. In the matter of practical work this organization has surpassed any other association of women in the city. To its efforts are due many notable reforms - notably the appointment of matrons at the police stations and the county jail and the placing of female physicians to take care of female patients at the county insane asylum at Jefferson. The appointment of women on the school board was also largely attributable to the club's influence. Regular meetings are held at the Athenaeum building twice each month. For facilitating the aims of the club several departments have been formed - reform, philanthropy, home, education, and art and literature. At the regular meetings the exercises consist of the reading of topical papers, with discussions. The practical results of this combination of women (other than those above enumerated), have been the founding of a free kindergarten - the first, a boys' industrial school at Glenwood,and the formation of numerous societies of kindred aims.

[For the following brief account of other women's clubs than those above mentioned the author gratefully acknowledges his indeotedness to the graceful pen of Miss Caroline Kirkland, who has not only obtained an enviable place in literature, but also occupies a deservedly prominent position in many fields of effective work for the advancement of her sex to its proper status.]

Chicago;" its object, as is stated in its constitution, to be "intellectual and social culture." And very well has it attained its object, for it is to-day a power in the social and intellectual life of the city and an important agent in that culture, literary and artistic, which Chicago women so earnestly and successfully seek. The club, whose membership is limited to 175, holds its regular meetings on the second and fourth Fridays of each month from October to May, on which occasions papers on some literary or artistic topic are furnished by members, followed by an informal discussion. Occasionally this entertainment is varied by music. Besides these regular meetings there are afternoon and evening receptions. The moving spirit of the Fortnightly in its early days was its founder, Mrs. Kate Newell Doggett, who was its president for the first six years of its existence. Prominent among its members are such well known names as Mrs. John N. Jewett, Mrs. Mason Loomis, Mrs. Charles Henrotin, Mrs. Potter Palmer, Mrs. Charles Gilman Smith and Mrs. H. M. Wilmarth, who is the president of the club at the present writing. The influence of such an organization is far-reaching and extends beyond the boundaries of the membership list. Especially potent is it as an inspiration for similar organizations,and the Fortnightly may be considered the parent,or at least the fostermother, of such other well-known societies as the Woman's Club, the Friday Club, the West End Woman's Club and the Young Fortnightly.

order to give the younger women of Chicago, and especially of the north side, an association similar in aim and construction to the Fortnightly. It was founded Friday, March 4, 1887, and was immediately successful in drawing to itself the most cultivated and enterprising young married and unmarried women in that part of the city where it took root. Following the steps of the Fortnightly it announced its object as " literary and artistic culture." Its regular meetings take place on the first and third Fridays of each month, from October to May, and have a programme similar in character V that of the parent organization. Its first president was Mrs. Reginald de Koven, who is making a name for herself in the literary world. Prominent among its members are Mrs. Charles Henrotin, Miss M. S. Hill, Mrs. Emmons Elaine, Mrs. Chatfield-Taylor, Mrs. J. B. Waller, Jr.,and Mrs. Lindon W. Bates. Miss Caroline Kirkland, is its present president. In the spring of 1892 Mrs. Potter Palmer, president of the Board of Lady Managers, came before the Friday club and asked it to take charge of a bazaar to raise money with which to erect the Chil- dren's Building at the World's Fair. This the club agreed to do, although it was not within the direct line of its work; but to work for the Fair was at that time a stirring appeal to all the people of Chicago. Under the auspices of the Friday club a bazaar was held at Mrs. Potter Palmer's beautiful home on the Lake Shore Drive, where in three days the unexpectedly large sum of $47,000 was raised, the net proceeds of which, $35,- 000, were turned over to those who had charge of the construction of the building. Of this sum, $13,286 was left over at the end of the Fair, and this was given by the club to various charitable and educational institutions, viz.: $7,000 to the Illinois School of Agriculture and Manual Training; $4,000 to found two scholarships in the Art Institute; $2,000 to the Students' Fund Society of the Chicago University; and the rest, with additional from the club treasury, to the Woman's Relief Fund. The membership of the Friday club is limited to 150.

The Woman's West End club is an organization more resembling the Women's club woman's West than the Fortnightly in object End ciub. and construction. It is of comparatively recent growth, and its -membership is mainly limited to ladies living on the West side. Mrs. W. J. Chalmers is especially identified with it in its organizatioii and promotion and its tone is one of high cultivation united to liberal and progressive thought.

The Young Fortnightly, a club of young women of the South side, has a large member- TheYoun* ship among the young maidvortnightiyciub. eng j,, the neighborhood of twenty years of age and its object is intellectual culture.

ciety started from very small beginnings about 1877. Four ladies, fine pianists, used to meet in the ware-room of a piano firm for practice. Gradually they collected about them a small band of listeners and players. This grew in number until the club reached a very large size, having 150 or more active members and over 600 associate members, including the most musically gifted women in Chicago. Foremost among those who made the society and carry it on are Mrs. John Clark, Mrs. Frank Gorton, Mrs. Charles Haynes, Mrs. George Carpenter, Mrs. William Warren and Mrs. Theodore Thomas. The club is distinguished, not only for its influence in cultivating a taste for good music, but for its excellent business management, which enables it to secure for special concerts the best professional talent that a season offers.

Besides these there are many other societies for self-culture, all helpful and of permanent benefit to the community. It is the age of organization; and while men of all classes are organizing for business purposes, politics, reform, or pleasure, the women are organizing for mutual improvement, and are becoming intelligent patronsof literature, music and art.

The Sheridan club was organized in the spring of 1888. Its first need was a club Sheridan nouse> and t° secure a fund for Club- this purpose a separate organization, called the Sheridan Club Auxiliary Association, was formed within the club itself and capitalized at $75,000. Building was commenced in June, 1891, and the house was ready for occupancy in May, 1892. It is a substantial, three-story building, costing, with its furnishing, $100,000. Its dimensions are fifty by one hundred and forty-five feet, its front is of stone and pressed brick, and all its appointments are handsome. The club is composed chiefly of leading Irish-American citizens.

Washington oity clubs> and is virtually a sport- Park ciub. jng association of the highest class. Its racing meetings have a national celebrity. The club house is an unpretentious building, within the grounds of the club's racing park, just south of Washington Park. The building is commodious and handsomely fitted up for the convenience of members and the ladies of their families. It is, however, rather a rendezvous than a resort.

The De Soto, although only two years old) is already one of the leading clubs in the The De Soto we8*' division of the city. Its ciub. home is at the corner of Jackson boulevard and Sacramento avenue, but it is proposed to secure another site and erect a larger building. All its equipments and appointments are of a high order. A peculiar feature of this organization is a "ladies' auxiliary," which has been found to be a great assistance. The ladies are given the exclusive use of the club house one evening each week, besides being frequently entertained. The membership is representative of every department of professional, commercial and political life, and includes leading west side bankers, physicians, lawyers and business men.

ciub. izations on the west side. Its limit of membership is five hundred. Its handsome and commodious house is on Washington boulevard, at the corner of Wood street, and the balls and other entertainments given there have made it famous in social circles.

The Argonaut has been organized upon a unique plan. While, as its name implies, it Ar onaut *s ma^e UP °* those loving aquatic ciub. sports, none but members of the Chicago club are eligible for election. The club house, or rather the club boat, " The Argo," lies at the east end of the Illinois Central pier. The membership is limited to fifty-one, to correspond to the supposed number of the crew of the mythical Argo. The clubalso owns a one-hundred-foot steam yacht. Meals are served in a handsome dining saloon; ladies are invited on Tuesdays and Fridays.

The Fellowship club, among whose members are many of Chicago's most eminent citizens, was formed in June, 1891. Its avowed object is the promotion of good fellowship, and the exten- sion of the same " to the stranger within our gates." The number of resident members is limited to fifty, and of non-resident members to twenty-five. Honorary members may be elected by a unanimous vote of all the resident members present at any meeting where a quorum of the latter is in attendance. Quarterly meetings, with banquets, are held at some leading hotel or restaurant. Latterly some unique features have been introduced into these gatherings. Thus, on one occasion, the banqueting hall was transformed into an exact reproduction of the deck of the steamship " Fuerst Bismarck,'5 on which some of the members were about to depart on a tour through the Orient. Upon the return of the voyageurs, the hall was arranged after the fashion of a Turkish salon. At another time the great hall assumed the appearance of a wood, in which a party of German revellers was conducting a picnic. On all such occasions no effort is spared to make the surroundings intensely realistic in even the most minute detail; furnishings, color, light, music, even the garb of the attendants, are carefully studied and arranged. The toast-master is selected chiefly for his ready wit, and light speeches by distinguished men add to the enjoyment of these re-unions.

Among the best known gentlemen's and family clubs of Chicago, other than those above named, may be mentioned the following : - the Bankers', Forty, Harvard University, Hyde Park, Kenwood, Oakland, University and Whitechapel.

The Chicago Literary Club is 'the leading and oldestorganization of the kind indicated by the name in the city. It was established in 1874, and has steadily increased in members and usefulness since that time. While its influence may not be as widely extended as is desirable, its standard is high and the interest of its meetings unabated. It holds its sessions in the Art Institute building.

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Among the leading athletic and sporting clubs of the city may be named the Chicago Athletic Association, the Washington Park, the Farragut, Illinois Cycling, the Lincoln, the Chicago Cricket, the Englewood and the Oak Park Cycling clubs. All these occupy permanent homes and most of them own their own houses. A brief sketch of the Washington Park club has been already given. It would be interesting to enter into the history of all of them, but the growing length of the chapter warns the author that he has already transcended the limits which he had assigned himself. Yet a few words relative to the largest - the Athletic Association - seem necessary.

This organization was formed in January, 1889, its object being the promotion of physical culture and the encouragement of manly sport. The roll of membership has grown until it includes some 1,500 names, among them those of many of the city's leading business and professional men. Its house is probably the largest and best equipped athletic club house in the United States, its cost having exceeded $500,000. It occupies a site eighty by one hundred and seventy-two feet, is ten stories high and is believed to be thoroughly fire-proof. The style of architecture is Venetian, the front being of gray stone and yellowish brick. In the basement are eight bowling alleys,extending under the sidewalk a shooting gallery running the entire length of the building, a bicycle storage room (with lockers), connected by an incline with a bicycle club room on the first floor, large storage and repair rooms, and the boilers and machinery. On the first floor is a spacious vestibule, into which opens a broad, handsome hallway. On this story, besides the bicycle room already mentioned, are the business offices, lavatory, barber shop and dressing rooms, back of which are Turkish and Russian baths, a swimming tank, forty by sixty feet, and a lounging room. A separate entrance leads from the street to the bicycle club room, the object being to allow members to ride up to the door of the building, store their machines, don their business suits and leave their wheels until evening. On the second floor are the cafe and billiard rooms (with small apartments for the billiard markers) and a lavatory. The front half of the third floor is given up to the library and reading room, two club rooms, lavatory, drying room, linen room, etc. The rear half of this story is occupied by thircy-seven baths, with], 500 lockers and 106 dressing rooms. The gymnasium occupies the fourth and fifth stories. Tlie running track has been ar ranged on a balcony, so as not to interfere with the work of the gymnasium proper, and its length is ten laps to the mile. Sixty-six sleeping rooms, with baths, are located on the sixth and seventh stories. On the eighth floor is the large banquet hall, with several smaller dining rooms for private parties. In the rear of these are the store rooms, kitchen and servants' offices. Here are spacious balconies, so arranged that large dinner parties may be accommodated who wish to enjoy the view and the breezes of the lake. The ninth and tenth stories are thrown into one, and contain ball courts, racquet, tennis and fives. The fittings are rich and costly, but are of a substantial rather than a luxurious character. Among hunting and fishing clubs, some of the principal are the Tolleston, one of the wealthiest associations of its character in the country, the Chicago Cumberland Gun club, the Audubon, the English Lake Hunting and Fishing, the Diana, the Fox Lake Fishing and Shooting, the Mak-Saw-Ba Shooting, and the Union Shooting and Fishing clubs.

The Homes Of Chicago By H. C. Cbatpibld-Taylor

To speak of the homes of Chicago is to speak of those who have made them. The homes of Chicago are but the reflection of the sentiments of their occupants, of their tastes, of themselves in fact. The countless architectural types which line the streets of the western metropolis are no more varied in their individualities than the men who dwell in them. Choose at random a block of Chicago residences in some prominent street, and analyze them one by one. A tasteful mansion, representative of the best American art, is neighbor to some structure palatial in dimension, Philistine in taste, vulgar in display, while next it is a vacant piece of land; and beyond a modest dwelling, tasteful because unassuming, stands next a row of houses run out of the same mould at the minimum price per cubic foot. On the farther corner, a huge apartment building flaunts the banner of utilitarianism high in the heavens. The very lack of homogeneity of these buildings is typical of Chicagoans. It is the secret of their splendid success. The buildings of that block were reared within, perhaps, half a dozen years, by men whose motives, abilities and capacities were as varied as those reflections of their taste. The evident disregard of their builders for the laws of harmony affords a convincing evidence of their intense individuality.

It is this individuality which makes Chicago different from older cities. Countless elements seethe in a mighty caldron. Cloud upon cloud of steam rises upwards, but in the crude, stupendous mixture brewing there uniformity is wanting. The elements do not blend; they have not had time. In a century perhaps the seething will cease, the caldron will smoke no more, and the world, prompted by curiosity, will take off the cover and find a clear, savory brew, in which every element is perfectly blended.

In older cities rows upon rows of brownstone, or red brick, fronts converge down straight and narrow street ways,the monotony of their symmetry evincing the despotic sceptre which conventionality wields over their inhabitants. Chicago's individuality defies the conventional despot which rules her older sisters.

that in a half century the simple cloak of provincialism has been exchanged for the imposing mantle of a metropolis. Fifty years ago Chicago was a frontier post ; twenty-two years ago a scourge laid her in ruins, and to-day she stands among the first of the world's great cities. The change has been so rapid that its effect has not been fully realized. Especially is this true of the homes of Chicago. That is to say of the homes of the older and better class of families. It would be difficult to apply one generalization to the homes of over a million people, made up as are the inhabitants of Chicago, of all nationalities and creeds. But the typical Chicago home, the one which is different - perhaps - from those in older cities, because less influenced by advanced sentiments, is the home of the Chicagoan who settled here in the early days before the fire. It is a home where the rigorous proprieties of New England reign supreme. Though the outward trappings of metropolitanism are sometimes found there, the controlling sentiment is New England puritanism. It is the puritanism brought west by the pioneer, and fortunately for Chicago it has remained.

The typical Chicago home - perhaps best is the truer word - is American through and through. The mode of life is simple. A man of the world would call that home provincial, and pass it by with a cynical shrug of the shoulders. A man of heart would stop to examine and admire, and as he examined he would see in the sentiments of that household the secret of Chicago's, of America's success. The vigorous energy, the uncompromising sense of duty, the complacent confidence, the Christian optimism which permeate the members of that household have made Chicago possible. The head of that house came West, imbued with those sentiments. He came from a country where there were no laggards, and early in life, he put his shoulder to the wheel. He never faltered from his purpose, because he was incapable of such an action. His purpose was success, and he set himself systematically to accomplish it. He was stern and close, because his father had been stern and close with him. He worked unceasingly, because he had been taught the value of work. The result of his life is a rich, powerful business house, grown up in a lifetime from the humblest beginning. The result of thousands of similar lives is Chicago, grown in a lifetime from a frontier village. But such men, such homes, though the best, are perhaps no longer the most numerous. In a way Chicago has outgrown them. Within the past twenty years the demand for fuel has been so great that elements have been brought from the four quarters of the globe to feed the mighty flame first lighted by the sturdy New England pioneer.

The German, the Swede, the Bohemian, the Slav,the Italian,have come at our bidding, each to do his work, but they have come to stay. They have brought their families, they have brought their associations and their sentiments; they have built their homes. The Chicago of to-day is a composite mixture of countless elements, best understood when we consider that there are in the city more Germans than are to be found in Cologne, more Irish than in Cork, more Swedes than there are in Upsala, more Norwegians than in Trondhjem, without counting those born in America of foreign parents, often quite as foreign in sentiment as theirfathers. Each of these has his home and the sentiments he has brought across the ocean hold first place there. Each feeds the fire which crackles under the steaming Chicago caldron, and the sentiments of each have been added to the mixture. The typical Chicagoan of today, the man who stands at the front in every public enterprise, is the man of New England. The typical Chicagoan of the future will be a composite photograph of all the elements which compose Chicago life; or will one of those elements rise to the surface and flavor the whole ?

geographically removed from its fellows, fought out its destiny alone, but during the Exposition the world came, and, doubtful at first, went away enthusiastic.

Before the Exposition Chicago was an overgrown, provincial town. The contact with the world which that effort entailed gave it a taste of cosmopolitanism ; a subtle draught which once tasted is never forgotten. Chicago cannot go backward. It is contrary to its spirit. Before the Exposition its purpose was sordid, its efforts material. In the busy hum of its commercial life art felt out of place, even if it were not unwelcome ; but the Exposition brought art to its midst, a curious visitor perhaps, but one who would like to remain. Chicago, the capital of the material world, may one day become the capital of the ideal, but it is from the homes of the city that the leavening influence must come. American artists at Chicago's bidding produced that dream of art, the White City. The world sent its treasures to Chicago's doors, it remains for her to profit by the glorious opportunity of the Fair.

The homes of a city should not be judged by those of the rich. The great mass of the people make a city; they give it stability, energy, character. The rich are but a thin veneer, dazzling often, polished seldom, by which the entirety is too often judged. That impossible conglomeration called " Society," the few, in the selection of which discrimination seldom enters, is too frequently taken as representing the whole. In this democracy there should be no such word as society in its restricted sense. The great human family is society, and taken in that sonse the society of Chicago is energetic, progressive, patriotic. The people love the city, they are proud of it, they are ready to sacrifice their own interests for those of Chicago. They are proud of Chicago because it is their creation, their child. They have not inherited it, but they have made it. That is perhaps the secret of the intense municipal pride.

differences - greater variation in style, greater thought, or greater effort in interior decoration, and greater simplicity in the domestic economy.

The households of even the very richest are economically managed, and the tenets of old New England, except in rare instances, are still held sacred. Chicagoans have been too eagerly engaged in amassing wealth to lavish it successfully, and when simplicity is departed from vulgarity has been too frequently the result. The best characteristic of Chicago homes - that is of those where English is the language - is their thorough Americanism. Old world foibles and old world pessimism have seldom crossed the

Another pleasant feature of Chicago life is its comparative freedom from sectionalism. There is no North, no South, no West, because the people in all public efforts pull together, and the only distinctions are geographical.

In thinking over the homes of Chicago, one must hope that they will retain their Americanism and their simplicity; one must wish that the spectre of dissipation, the camp follower of high civilization, may never darken their doors.

The Labor Troubles Of 1894

THE jealousy between capital and labor, resting, as it does, upon the false idea of a supposed antagonism between forces which are, in the very nature of things, mutually supporting, is well-nigh as old as the introduction of the system of apprenticeship into the city of London. Dickens - in his great historical novel, " Barnaby Eudge " - alludes to the existence of this feeling in his description of the secret meetings of the valiant " 'prentice knights," under the leadership of the truculent " Sim Tappertit." The great novelist threw around the- situation all the ridicule of which his matchless genius was capable, and the subcellar conclaves of the dauntless " knights " excite only risibility and contempt.

But since the days of Titus Gates many changes have occurred. Education has become more general ; new avenues for the utilization of skilled labor have been opened; not only has the number of workmen been multiplied, but the laboring class, as a body, and its personnel has undergone great changes. Workingmen are more intelligent ; they are better informed as to the issues of the day ; their mental activity is keener, and not a few of them have become property owners and thus, to a certain degree^ capitalists. «

Whether or not this is one of the causes which have induced a growing dissatisfaction among the masses is a question, the discussion of which properly belongs to the domain of the social or political economist. It presents an abstract problem, the solution of which scarcely falls within the purview of the historian, whose attention is primarily directed to hard, unyielding facts. The broader education afforded by the common schools of America and the more perfect liberty guaranteed by the American constitution have made this country at once the ideal home for the laborer and a sort of Mecca for the propagandists of anarchy, who fail to recognize the fundamental distinction between liberty and license. In the United States (more, perhaps, than in any other country) physical activity is regarded as the "chief end of man." We are young, and it is because we are young that, as a nation, we are full of exuberant, untamed life. If we sit - unlike the rest of the world - we must rock; in fact, a rocking chair under full swing would be no inappropriate heraldic national emblem. It is true, as a German newspaper once said of us, that we "chew more tobacco and burst more steam engines than any other nation on earth."

It follows, as a natural sequence, that it is to this republic that the world may most naturally look for the evolution of the unsettled problem of the correlative duties and responsibilities of capital and labor. Here labor,if not more highly skilled, is more intelligent and self-reliant, and here it has attained the highest form of organization which it has yet developed. Probably in no country in the world has trade-unionism reached such a degree of perfection or exerted a wider power.

The history of these "unions" is replete alike with interest, romance and tragedy; a story of alternate triumph and defeat; a narrative of the play of human passions at once the loftiest and most brutal.