German Sängerfest: Picnic and Distribution of Prizes

     “The Procession of the United Singing Societies, Turners and military organizations will leave headquarters (Germania Assembly Rooms) at 9 o’clock.

     Route of Procession: Bowery, Chatham-st. and City Hall, where His Honor Mayor Gunther will address the singers; from City Hall up Broadway to Bond-st., 2d-st., Avenue A to 10th-st., East River.

     The boats Magnolia and Chase will leave foot of Broome and 8th sts. every half hour after 12 o’clock.

     Ample arrangements have been made with the Second and Third-avenue Railroad Companies for the conveyance of visitors.”

     “Early yesterday morning the singers assembled again at the Germania Assembly Rooms, for the purpose of preparing for the picnic, which was held at Jones’ Wood yesterday.  Over two thousand singers formed a procession, under the marshalship of Mr. Joseph, in the following order: -

First Division.
Platoon of Police.
Twelve Aids in blue scarfs, on Horseback.
Fest Marshal Hillenbrand.
Music and Drum Corps of the Eleventh Regiment.
Eleventh Regiment, National Guard, under Command of Lieutenant Colonel Lux.
Three Companies of the Ninety-sixth Regiment – Company E, Captain L. Kurz; Company F, Captain Schmidt; Company C, Captain Weierder.
Fifth Regiment, National Guard, under command of Major Meyer.
Second Division.
Music and Tambour corps of the New York Turn Verein.
The New York Turn Verein.
Turner Societies of the Vicinity.
Third Division.
Marshal Joseph Burger and his Aids.
President Steffens, Officers and Delegates of the General Saengerfest.
Hirschman’s Music Corps.
Fest President, the Orators and Committee of Honor.
Singers of Philadelphia and Baltimore.
Fourth Division.
Marshal H. Ringshaeuser and his Aids.
Wiegand’s Music Corps.
The other Visiting Singers.
Fifth Division.
Marshal George Klein and his Aids.
Wannemaher’s Music Corps.
The Home Societies.
Sixth Division.
Marshal August Schmidt and his Aids.
Dietz Music Corps.
The Societies composing the New York Allgemeine Saengerbund.

     The first division was formed in Great Jones street, the right resting on the Bowery.  The second division was formed in Lafayette place, right resting on Great Jones street.  The third division was formed in Lafayette place, right resting on Fourth street.  The fourth division also formed in Lafayette place.  The fifth division was formed in Astor place, and the sixth in Fourth avenue.

     The procession proceeded down the Bowery through Chatham street to the City Hall Park, where the singers were reviewed by the Mayor.  It was an imposing procession, and the streets were crowded when the singers passed.  At about ten o’clock the singers passed through the Park and thence proceeded through Broadway up to Bond street, through Bond street, Second street, avenue A, Tenth street, avenue C to the foot of Eighth, where the excursionists embarked on board of a steamer and barge, which conveyed them to the festival ground.

Their Arrival at the Wood.

     Shortly before one o’clock the barges Stella and William Roberts were towed up the East river, crowded with perhaps the most musical freight it was ever their privilege to carry.  Arriving at Jones’ Wood they were moored at the dock, and amid the thundering of Captain Keim’s battery of guns the members of the various Saengervereins landed.  With bands playing and banners fluttering in the breeze they made the circuit of the grounds, halting before the grand stand.  At this stage there could not have been less than twenty thousand persons present.

     From this point a congratulatory address was delivered to the Saengers by Mr. Steffen.  He encouraged them to persevere in the study of their glorious art and to show the Americans that they were as skillful in handling the lyre as they had proved they were earnest in grasping the sword in the late struggle for the Union, but at the same time never to forget that Teuton blood flowed in their veins, and that, though the land of their adoption was dear to them, that of their birth had the first claims upon their affection.  This address, delivered with all the vigor which the German vernacular was capable of, was received with loud and continued applause.

     This over, those present dispersed through the grounds to follow the bents of their inclinations, which generally led them to the improvised bar where lager was being served out in large quantities.

Familiar Faces Present.

     Physiognomy has attained the dignity of a science, and we are able with facility to distinguish among a crowd faces which. If we have never seen before, still betray a sufficient amount of character to render them known, and often we are thus brought into contact with persons whose traits are quite familiar to us.  Among the vast crowd which was present at Jones’ Wood yesterday it would, indeed, be strange if we did not meet some old friends.  The basso of the Saengerbund was picked out with facility; his obesity, full face, huge buccinators muscle were sufficient to point him out, who at the concerts astonished us with his depth of vocal powers, and made us fancy the stage was about being upheaved by an earthquake.  Then the slim, dapper, respectable tenor, with blue eyes, effeminate appearance, light hair and nervous tread.  The musical enthusiast, too, was not difficult to discern – the admirer of Mozart who, as the hero of one of Wilkie Collins’ novels, ‘carried as much of his favorite in his pocket as could be contained in a three tuned musical box.’  This individual generally wears spectacles, has his dark locks combed behind his ears, and presents a generally anxious and sometimes sepulchral appearance.  Were this man to come across his favorite in the other world, we verily believe he would, regardless of circumstances, have the effrontery to request him to perform his ‘Twelfth Mass’ or the overture to his Don Giovanni.  The female portion of the assemblage too, is not unfamiliar to us.  The women of Rubens’ and Van Dyke’s pictures are unmistakable; their plump figures, dreamy eyes, &c., remind us of old friends.  Then the jolly old Burgomeister Mynheer Van Dunck, who never got drunk but whose song the one burden bore of

    Oh, that a Dutchman’s draught should be
    As deep as the rolling Zuyder Zee,

with an accompaniment of clinking lager beer glasses.  We have not forgotten him.  All seem perfectly familiar to us, and we are not alone.

     Rounding the Horn

     is one thing, but the horn going round is quite different.  The huge vessel, shaped as a cornucopia, is a peculiarity of German festivals.  It is a social custom, and forms an admirable substitute for the passing of the Indian pipe.  This utensil is usually formed of a horn of huge dimensions, which is generally slung from the shoulder of some one of the society of Saengers or Schuetzers.  It is not intended to be blown, as the ‘Horn of Chase,’ nor is it at all allied to the ‘horns of Venus;’ it is merely a drinking cup, and when filled with the ‘old Rhine wine,’ forms an admirable adjunct to one’s accoutrements.  Monster cups of wood or silver are sometimes used, and, we are told, serve the purpose for which they are intended admirably.

Distribution of Prizes.

     It had been intended that the distribution of prizes – the principal feature of the day – should take place at two o’clock, but punctuality has not a place among German virtues, and it was half past four o’clock before the orator of the occasion – Herr Kapp – took his place on the stand, and in an oration, full of vigor and feeling, harangued the Saenger Brueder.  After this the decision of the judges on the musical contest was made known, and the prizes distributed amid loud applause.

The Prizes Themselves.

     The first prize, awarded to the Philadelphia young Maennerchor, who acquitted themselves so creditably at the concert the previous evening in Keissyeo’s ‘Wanderer’s Night Song,’ was a banner of pure white silk, stringed with heavy gold bullion and heavy cords and tassels to match.  It was designed by P. Kraemer and executed by Mayer, of 108 Canal street.  On one side was represented an ancient bard with a harp in his hand and a female figure with a lyre, while the Goddess of Music between was represented in the act of joining their hands.  On the other side was represented a harp wreathed in flowers, with the inscription: -

    Preisgabe des 9 Allgemeines Saengerfesten
    Abgehalten vom 15 bis 20 Juli, 1865, N.Y.

     A rosewood pole, surmounted by an American eagle, supports the banner.  The execution of the design is exquisite and reflects great credit on Mr. Mayer.  The second prize, awarded to the Philadelphia Saengerbund for their rendering of Abt’s ‘Storm and Blessing,’ was a richly chased silver ‘goblet,’ or goblet, surmounted by a diminutive figure intended to represent Fame holding a wreath which she seems about to place on the head of some person or persons unknown.  Busts of celebrated German composers grace the corners of the goblet.  To Mr. Beltermann, of Eldridge street, the manufacture of this exquisite piece of workmanship was confided.  Great satisfaction was expressed by all at the adjudiontion, and the Philadelphians have carried off their well earned guerdons.

How the Teuton Amuses Himself.

     No one understands the meaning of genial amusement better than the German.  All his gambols are carried on quietly and without the intervention of the police being necessary to preserve order.  Yesterday he conducted himself with becoming propriety.  Stands had been erected at various places through the wood, which were allotted to the different singing societies, who made the ‘welkin ring’ with the gems of German music.  At each of these stands was an improvised lager beer saloon, upon which frequent calls were made during the day.  There could not, at five o’clock, have been less than seventy-five thousand persons present, a huge portion of whom was of the gentler sex, who seemed no less to enjoy themselves than their lords and masters.

     The poet who in a view of teetotal affection wrote,

Drink to me only with thine eyes
And I will pledge with mine;
Or leave a kiss within the cup
And I’ll not ask for wine,

must have understood very little about the matter, and was certainly blissfully ignorant of Saengerfests.  Assuredly the man who would apostrophize his mistress so at Jones’ Wood might fairly be set down as laboring under an attack of mental aberration.

     Singing did not [illeg.] the entire of their programme of amusements.  There was a game styled ‘Copenhagen,’ doubtless of Danish origin, which was extensively patronized.  In this game a ring was formed of ladies and gentlemen, who, having gone through some mystical formula, kissed one another in a truly horrifying manner. No; we do not mean this as a case of sour grapes.

     Then there was ‘scupping,’ a peculiar mode of giving one’s self a headache; riding dummie horses on a circular plane, a still more effectual way of attaining the same object; there were shooting galleries, billiards, monster panoramas of the rebellion on a small scale, weighing machines, lung testers, &c.; all of which had their votaries; and then

The Dance,

     which was unceasingly carried out on the two large platforms, which proved themselves incapable of accommodating all who would fain have indulged in this pastime.  The waltz was, of course, the main feature of the programme of dances.  Strauss’ delightful airs courted the old and young alike to trip it on the ‘light fantastic,’ but the al fresco concert, in another portion of the grounds, attracted a larger number of admirers than even the terpsichorean movements.  Theodore Thomas was there, and with him a  large orchestra, which, under his skillful direction, performed the choicest morceaux of modern music.  The programme was selected from the works of Rossini, Mendelssohn, Gounod, &c., and therefore was peculiarly attractive.  A number of the Saenger societies were photographed during the day.

The Police Arrangements

     were admirable.  A large number of officers were present from all precincts, who pounced on suspicious personages the moment they appeared on the scene.  Several of the light-fingered gentry were present and one or two arrests were made.

An Abrupt Conclusion.

     The rain which had been threatening from an early hour to disperse the pleasure seekers, but which, in consequence of its so long threatening, was not thought much of, came down in torrents about seven o’clock, thus bringing the day’s amusement to rather an abrupt termination.  Fireworks and other attractions which were to have taken place did not, and every person rushed to the cars, which never were so crowded since the days of the laying of the rails.

     Thus terminates the ninth grand Saengerfest.  New York has done its duty in entertaining the visiting societies, and we are sure similar courtesies will be returned to them at the Tenth Saengerfest to be held at Philadelphia in 1867.

The Number of Visitors.

     When the prize distribution took place at four o’clock in the afternoon, some thirty thousand persons were on the ground; and in the course of the day the festival grounds were visited by at least forty thousand persons.  The third prize was awarded to the

Liedertafel of Buffalo,

     who received as a prize a valuable and most splendid piano, from the piano manufactory of Kraushaar & Co., of Houston street, corner of Broome.

     The singers who have been the victors in the prize singing contest had their photographs taken on the festival ground.  Also the Colonia Society of New York, who have been the hosts and entertainers of one of the champion societies of Philadelphia.

     The German societies had their headquarters yesterday at various places in the Park – under the trees – where their magnificent banners were displayed from the branches.  The Colonia had its headquarters on a hill in the northern section of the Park, where the members entertained their guests – the Philadelphia Young Maenner Chor.

     The Liederkranz had its headquarters on a hill in the centre of the Park, where the trees were tastefully decorated with the banners of the Liederkranz and its guests.  Its guests were the following societies: - Buffalo Liedertafel, Boston Orpheus, Germania of Montreal and Hartford Quartet Club.  Several chorus songs were delivered by the Liederkranz and its guests, and by way of variation choruses were sung by the Gemischte chorus, composed of the male and female singers of the Liederkranz.

The Programme To-Day.

     To-day the banners and flags, and their standards and devices, which have been used as decorations for the Academy of Music and the Saenger headquarters during the Saengerfest, will be returned to the visiting societies, most of whom will take their departure from the city to-morrow.

     To-day a grand Saenger Commers of the united societies will take place at Germania Assembly Rooms, in the Bowery, at eleven o’clock A.M., during which the visiting societies will render various popular pieces appropriate to the occasion.  As a compliment to the American born population, the Star Spangled Banner will be rendered by the German singers on this occasion in a most splendid and improved style.

     During the festivities at Jones’ Wood the Committee of Honor was in session at the hotel, where the Mayor was present, and a vote of thanks was offered to Mr. Geilfuss, the Corresponding Secretary of the General Committee, in consideration of his numerous labors in behalf of the Saengerfest.  A toast was also given in honor of the Fest President, Mr. Bissinger, the President of the German Society.”

     Includes a detailed description of the procession, listing all participating organizations and their numbers.  “The crowd at the monster pic-nic yesterday was immense.  It materially interfered with the running of the cars, which rendered it a physical impossibility for us to reach the times office much before early breakfast-time, and necessarily we compress the vast variety, the infinitude of jolly fun into comparatively little space.  The proceedings of the last day of the Saengerfest were conducted with punctuality, decorum, good order and eminent enthusiasm.  First in order was the grand procession, which formed on several streets in the vicinity of the headquarters and marched in the following order…

     …The streets were thronged along the line of march with an interested crowd of all nationalities, who cheered and hurrahed as the procession passed.  Entering the east gate of the park, the societies filed past the Mayor, who reviewed them, but made no address; after which, the procession marched down Broadway, across the east side of the city to the river, where they took boats for the festive haunts of

Jones’ Wood.

     Here they found everything in apple-pie order.  Platforms by the dozens were erected, booths and sheds by the score.  Sixteen hundred tables dotted the magnificent place from the entrance to the river.  Mr. Peter Childknecht, the proprietor, had done everything to make the place attractive, and render the occasion a pleasant one.  Mountains of eatables and oceans of drinkables were provided, and waiters to the number of several hundred were employed for the occasion.  Flags and banners gaily fluttered from every point, while wreaths of flowers decorated pillar and post.

     There were photographers ready for jobs, also blind men with fiddles.  We met queer old men with weighting-machines; shooting-galleries abounded; swings and scoops tempted many; and lager-bier booths enticed all.

     At 3 o’clock there was an immense assemblage there – not less, certainly, than twenty thousand people.  These gathered beneath the shade of the magnificent trees which there abound, and listened to the

Oration of Mr. Kapp.

     We would gladly print it all, but it is long, and our space at this hour is limited, which must be our apology for this brief sketch.  Mr. Kapp said:

     ‘The festivities which, for four days, have united us, within and without the great American metropolis, are drawing to a close.  The hours of friendly intercourse, of cheerful mirth and recreation, have gone by.  It remains to crown the winners in the race of song, to distribute these prizes among the most successful, to raise a parting song, a shout – words of farewell, a pressure of hands – and the gay throng will be among the things that were.  May the remembrance of these fleeting moments beguile the journey homeward, and may the trophies won animate the victors and the vanquished to unceasing effort in the glorious path of German song.  I have had the honor of welcoming you on your arrival in our city, and the unavoidable absence of a valued friend, who was to have tendered you our farewell wishes, devolves upon me the duty of taking his place.  How could this duty be better performed than in contemplating what we have attempted and attained in its bearings upon the position and the future of the German-Americans in the social and political life of this country, and in the home of our fathers?  It is not the first occasion, as we are all aware, on which the German singers of the Eastern States have held a festival, although it may be the first on which so large a number as twenty-five hundred have attended.  Within fifteen years last past, Philadelphia, Baltimore and New-York have welcomed the German glee clubs in their midst no less than eight times, and the present celebration would have been held four years ago, if the war had not intervened between design and execution.  In the turmoil of arms the muses were hushed.  At a time when the fate of a people rests on the point of the sword, the mind is not at ease to follow the airy flights of fancy, or the play of lighter humors, in a free country where all sit in council who take the field, where the chances of war decide also the individual fortunes of every citizen, he willingly sacrifices the comfort of refinement to the political exigencies of the time, and holds his personal advantage subordinate to the higher interests of the community.  Thus, from the first outbreak of rebellion, our countrymen fully appreciated the importance of the contest which was forced upon the country; thus every man hastened to the rescue of our liberties and labored in his sphere and to the utmost of his power without hope of favor or reward.  More than all others the fighting men of German birth – Turners and singers in the van – discerned the true state of political affairs, burst the shackles of party and poured out their blood on every battle-field of the vast theatre of war, absolving the debt of patriotism without stint or cavil.’

     Mr. Kapp then eloquently reviewed the effect produced upon American society by the culture and spread of music, and concluded by this defining the path and duty of the Germans in America:

     ‘We are in the midst of matured political institutions, of the advantages of which we have constantly partaken, which may at times require our services for their preservation, but where creative energy is without an object.  Standing on American soil, we must share the political labors of our fellow-citizens in the spirit of that profound humanity in which we have been reared.  For what is outside of politics our eyes are still turned homeward; we can never renounce the land of our fathers without renouncing our better selves.  The times have happily gone by when the German, dazzled by the material achievements of the New World, made haste to cast his memories and his attainments behind him, in his overweening anxiety to out-Herod the Herods of practical Americanism.  The memorable occurrence known as the Know-Nothing movement made manifest to the dullest perception that the German does not rise in the scale of being by apeing American manners and babbling American phrases.  The more firmly we cling to the intellectual treasures of our nationality, the more will we be respected by the native population.  What firmness of character is to the individual, national pride is to a people – the source at once of self-esteem and of the regard of others.  The path, then, lies clear before us.  Identifying ourselves unqualifiedly with the welfare and the glory of our adopted country, let us do so as freemen, under the promptings of our own natures, in obedience to the light by which we have learned to be guided, that is to say, as Germans.  In the purity of our aims and vigor of our exertions let us vindicate the peculiar gifts of our nationality, throwing our intellectual equality into the common scales.  Let not the means cause us to forget the ends, reality make us overlook the ideal, form blind us to essence, labor destroy the faculty of enjoyment, the useful crowd out the beautiful, the turmoil of speculation and excitement fritter away the force of self-command!  From such a vantage ground we shall not only value ourselves as we should, but shall the more justly appreciate the advantages of the people around us.  We shall gladly emulate their energy and enterprise, their readiness to make sacrifices for the public welfare, their willingness to contribute to the prosecution of good purposes, their freedom from opinionativeness and captiousness, and their cheerful submission to the will of the majority; in a word, we shall strive to acquire their good qualities without discarding our own.  We have a better destiny than that of the raw material in the hands of the citizens; we were not as manure to be absorbed into the particles of a foreign soil.  We have a place in the ranks of civilization, battling against barbarism.  There is work for every honest effort, for every thinking mind, for each sinewy arm, for the common goal is not obtained by jostling and cross purposes, but by the order and concert of a united movement.  There is need of a division of labor in the enterprises of the mind as well as in those of business; and as in practical life a well-organized activity creates a demand for its services, so a thorough distribution of our intellectual duties will achieve results of which we would otherwise have no conception.  There is no need of straying into the by-ways of fantastic dreams or wild experiments; of spending our energies upon the attempt to organize a German State, or colonize a German Utopia; here, at our very doors, in the midst of our fellow-citizens of every clime, is abundant opportunity for our ablest efforts.  Time was when a German poet sang:

     ‘Germans, a nation to be your stars in their course have denied you;
    Wherefore? That ye might be freer to grow and be men.’

     Germany is exerting herself to falsity the prediction.  Casting aside the swaddling-clothes of cosmopolitan inanity, it has based its policy on the solid foundation of its interests.  The festival of its marksmen and its singers, as held this year at Bremen and at Dresden, are protests against disunion and atrophy; they point the way in which the country will recover itself, slowly perhaps, but surely.  To us, on the other hand, as Germans in foreign parts, the distich of Schiller is clearly applicable.  To constitute a German nation in the bowels of the American, is impossible; but to lend our influence to the struggle for the best interests of man, is not only feasible, but a solemn duty, and our influence will take the firmer hold, and wear for itself the wider bed, the more highly we prize the fruits of our German culture.  What though some, justly or unjustly, complain of neglect or even insult; what though a few may have been quitted by their country instead of quitting her, we must not speak ill of the fatherland.  It is a forward child that maligns its own parents, even for cause.  We may leave it to the piqued aristocrats and self-conceited refugees to belittle their country for having withheld from them a sphere of action, or because their fortunes are more promising abroad.  True, Germany is apt to forget her children outside of her borders, until such time as she needs a patriotic contribution; not knowing what she has lost, she treats them as an English squire regards his poor relations, wondering at their pertinacity in inviting themselves to the family gatherings, when their best prospect is the seat at the lower end of the table.  It is natural for us to view the matter in another light.  We think of poor Cordelia thrust from her father’s door because she could not heave her heart into her mouth, yet ready to give succor when the favored ones failed in their duty.

    ‘No blown ambition our arms incite,
    But love, dear love, and our aged father’s right,
    Soon may we see and hear him!’

     Hail, then, to the land of our sages, our poets, our composers!  Hail to the great republic which has given us a kindly welcome, which has crushed rebellion, and reset the foundation-stone of liberty!  Hail to the Ninth German Musical Festival!  May it have a long and glorious line of successors for the honor of Germany and the good of America, shedding their refining influences on the spirit of the people, sustained by the favor of our worthiest citizens, and crowned with joy and gladness as this has been.’

     The address, of which the foregoing synopsis gives but a faint outline, was enthusiastically received and frequently interrupted by applause.

     The crowds continued to gain in numbers.  Superintendent Kennedy, with his knobby cane: Inspector Carpenter, bland and watchful; a gay and festive band of detectives, and the regular police force, under Capt. Hartt, managed, with little difficulty, to keep perfect order.  Now and then, a pickpocket presumed to practice his little games, but he was nabbed and checked before he could pawn his booty.  Pretty girls were not very numerous, but solid, retired, happy-faced girls were multitudinous.  German families of every degree, from the Mayor to the commonest laborer, were there in full force.  The best men among them, Gunther, Steinway, all the committee and their friends, had gay times in Childknecht’s private parlors, others thronged the dining-rooms, ran over upon the piazzas, overflowed the balconies, and drank up over enough to float the Dunderberg.

     Dancing

     was in order, or rather romping.  The music was fair and the hopping fearful.  Perspiration in streams dampened many a cheek and limped many a dress.

     But what’s the use.  A crowd is a crowd; a pic-nic is nothing but a pic-nic; and this was an immense crowd at a monster pic-nic.  There can be no description of such a scene as this in two nor ten columns, and we can’t spare the room.

     The rain clouds came up about 6 o’clock, and the rain drops came down at 8.  The men were soaked outside as well as in; the women were drenched, and bedraggled, and decomposed, while the poor, tired, hungry little children, with whom the woods fairly swarmed, suffered agonies untold.

     It would do our nervous pen good to describe the hubbub and confusion in the park, the long line of wet and dampish pilgrims to the avenues, the immense crowds by thousands waiting for the cars, the packed, jammed, steamed and boiled passengers homeward bound; but we forbear.  The Festival is closed.  Starting under auspices most favorable, it continued in sunshine, amid the intense satisfaction of the participants, and the unanimous commendations of the citizens at large, and although it has closed with its finale somewhat marred by the unkind action of the heavens, we have no doubt it will ever be remembered with pleasure by one and all who were concerned therein.”

     Includes a detailed description of the procession and a list of the participants.  “Yesterday was the first day of the great Saengerfest proper at Jones’s Wood.  The jubilee, indeed, had lasted longer, but the days previous had been devoted mainly to the musical cultivation and exhibition of the numerous societies.  Yesterday was the festival, the picnic, ‘the blow-out,’ the joyous scene.  Katrina and Deena may have had some solicitude about their voices; they may have prepared themselves carefully for the musical contest, but the festival, the picnic, was the desideratum of their longing dreams.  Here they would be at liberty.  ‘Hans’ and ‘Dietrich’ could wander with them through lonely glades, by lonely and sweetly singing brooks, and among the Summer-clad fields, whispering words of fondness, perhaps of love.  The music would not govern the voice, but the feet.  They would chase the glowing hours with flying feet in multiform mazes, and the lager, the Rhine wine or the Weisbeer would be a sensual addition to the charm.

     The morning dawned with puffs of white cloud in the heavens, upon a broad, bright field of blue sky.  The breezes were afloat, but there was an abundance of brilliant sunlight, and the day promised to be fine.

     As early as 9 o’clock in the morning, the up-going cars and East River steamers began to be thronged; by 9 ½ they were crowded; by 10 they were crammed.  The Germans were out in full force.  They brought their wives and their babies.  By every avenue they came to the wood.  The Second and Third-ave. cars were packed to their uttermost, and there were hundreds of hacks, carriages, barouches, buggies and wagons in the thoroughfares.  The lower part of the city was deserted, and the reservoirs of beer in the upper portion were opened and seemed to be inexhaustible.

At the Wood.

     Arriving at the Wood about noon, we found the avenue on which it fronts blocked up with thousands who were unable to obtain admission.  Hacks, with disappointed occupants, were slowly making their way back, policemen were busily ordering people from the gates, at the same time swearing there was no more room; and the sound of commingled music and merriment floated from the Wood in an enticing manner, that must have been particularly annoying to the disappointed throngs.

     Some enterprising foreigners, having an eye to profit, form the throngs who were thus left out in the cold, commenced at an early hour in the morning to institute a ‘refreshment grove’ immediately opposite Jones’s Wood, in the deep grove on the west side of First-ave.  Temporary booths were erected and the inevitable lager brought forth, and a very pleasant, though somewhat crowded, pic-nic was enjoyed by hundreds who had come up-town for the grander affair.

In the Wood.

     Making our way through the narrow entrance to the Wood, with the kindly assistance of a number of policemen who preceded us with their clubs drawn, elbowing and forcing our way through this wall of human beings, we at last found the coveted inside of the fence almost equally crowded.  The upper side of the grove contained a general crush of hacks, carriages, buggies and almost every species of vehicle from the funeral hearse to the common cart.  Hackmen were swearing, cartmen were replying with vigor and effect; little boys – the gamins of New-York – were running hither and thither, with apparently no other object than to scream, shout, and make themselves general nuisances; while the main crowd of incoming Germans – men and women, children on foot, and babies in arms – continued to pour on toward the river, like a torrent toward the sea.

     The dry grass was trodden into dust, and the roads and pathways were doubly dusty with the tramp of eager multitudes.  The groves no longer presented green vistas of cool retreat and seclusion.  Almost every square rod of green grass was taken possession of by some family group.  The smooth, jutting rocks were transferred into impromptu tables, whereon the luncheon of the day was spread, with its attendant drinkables.

     Now and then you would notice beside one party a keg or two of lager, with a temporary booth containing wine and other beverages.  This indicated the down-town proprietor of a lager beer saloon on a festive burst.  He had brought with him his own wine, beer, and cheese, and was having a family time in a domestic, hearty way.  Other groups would consist of several young fellows, who, with their three or four bottles of whisky, were making merry regardless of expense; and now and then the German shoemaker or tailor, with his family, was to be seen, having a more quiet and less expensive time with plain sandwiches and cheese, without the accompanyment [sic] of beer or wine.

     Further on the crowd grew in density.  It ceased to be groups of families and became a succession of miscellaneous assemblages, seated on benches, with burdened tables before them, or lying in the grass with charming indiscrimination and abandon, and with a regular lager beer booth in the center.

     The meadow, where the Caledonian Club chiefly resort for their cricket and ball games, and where the great target of the Schutzen Corps still remains, was a specially favorite place of resort.  Upward of 20 minor booths had been here erected, around which thirsty throngs were gathering and going, and a band of music was pouring forth its mellifluous strains from the small dancing stand, where the mystic maze was being woven by men and women, boys and girls, with an energy worthy of the best and any cause.  Flags were flying.  From every bare branch fluttered a streamer or banner, representing various nationalities, but with the national colors of red, white and blue omnipresent.  Almost all the men wore badges symbolic of the singing society to which they belonged, which were also represented on the persons of the ladies by graceful scarfs of appropriate colors.

     It has been said that the German women whom we see in this country usually lack beauty.  But there were many pretty girls at the festival yesterday, and the joyousness and heartiness of those who were not thus distinguished, amply made up for beauty of face and gracefulness of form.  The bright, rich blood which mounts in swift blushes over the face of the German girl, her opulence of smiles from eye and lip, and the staid but beautiful movements of her robust form, whether walking or moving in the dance, possesses a nameless charm to even the most fastidious.  If naturally slow-motioned, the music seems to inspire her with unwonted briskness.  She enters the dance like a duck in a pond, and proceeds with its enthusiastic evolutions like a goose on the wing.

     But if at the meadow the throngs were dense, they grew more dense was we approached

The Hotel.

     The next to the largest dancing-stand was crowded to its full capacity, and the springing of the elastic boards beneath the dancers’ feet, the strains of the music and the bravos of the hedges of spectators was but an accompaniment to the general festive discord, made up of the crash of ten-pins, the soft kissing of billiard-balls, the pop of soda-water and ginger-beer, and the humanizing elements of noisy converse and laughter on the lawns beneath.

The Swings

     were in motion, groaning beneath their cargoes of merry Dutch girls and their lovers, and seeming to sweep through the air with redoubled vigor, on account of the merriment which reigned supreme.  A strong breeze blew from the sea.  The maidens’ garments fluttered in the wind.  They tilted backward and displayed their ankles to the delectation of the spectators.  Their scarfs would now and then flutter off.  So would something else.  And then there would be a glimpse of the upper portion of a snowy bosom before it was hastily covered, while Hans and Dietrich, on the opposite side of the oscillating car, would shout with laughter and look queer at the same time, and the little boys and girls would innocently wonder what they were laughing at.  All this in the gusts of music from the dancing stands, the hubbub of the near-pouring crowds, and in the fresh sea breeze.  But the swings, in spite of their joyous freights, did not by any means throw into shade

the hobby-horses,

     which were in full blast.  Around their mimic circus they flew now fast, now slow, with blooming maidens and enterprising youths mounted on their saddle-backs.  Some novices on the hobby-horses would soon become giddy and retire in disgust, with a semblance of seasickness, but those who were used to it, would go on with a rush.  The wooden ponies could not go fast enough for them.  Round and round they would spin, clutching the flying manes, caring little for appearances, only conscious of the delightful exhilaration of rapid movement, the luxury of velocity, and drinking the fresh breeze as they circumvolved.  Most of the occupants of the hobby-horse saddles are girls – German girls.  We have mentioned a certain display which the swings cause them to make, but, upon a breezy day the hobby-horses, more than any other occasion an exhibition of

Ankles,

     which are positively enchanting, and yesterday, for the first time, we took it into our head to make a hasty study of this charming and suggestive feature of female beauty in an entirely ethnologic and purely esthetic point of view.  Representatives of almost every European nation participated in the amusement.  The wind was high; the convolutions of the hobby horses were swift; and the ‘study’ was easy as well as delectable.

     We ascertained by numerous examples the following facts:

     The German ankle, as a general thing, is not beautiful.  It is short, thick, clumsy.  Yet to the eye of the love-sick swain it may appear more graceful than that of the Venus de Medici.  Nevertheless, there are many kinds of ankles of Germanic formation, and some of them are not at all unsymmetrical.

     The Danish ankle is generally very good.  The blood of the sea-kings is in the damsel’s veins.

        ‘Bright maiden of Orkney,
        Star of the blue sea,
        I’ve swept o’er the waters
        To gaze upon thee.’

     So sang the Berserker of old, and he evidently had cultivated his taste for ankles in his own native land.  But, generally, the Danish ankle is too abrupt in its descent from the swell of the calf to the delicacy of the approach to the foot.  This gives it a clumsy appearance, and prevents it from being a special favorite.

     The ankle of Saxony (of course we speak and always only of female ankles) is worse than the Danish.  It is shorter, thicker, and indicative of vigor, and vigor only.

     But the Swiss ankle is a model of beauty.  Long, slim, elegant, delectable, it is something to think and dream of.  The peasant stocking of plaid covers it with fairy like exactness.  You can see the keen muscles play beneath the fabric of the covering.  It swells not abruptly, but gently, upward into a perfect calf.  Only the Alpine roads, the rude torrent crossings, the romance of Switzerland, could have produced such an ankle.  It is for a picture rather than an every day sight; it is for the painter, the poet, and the philosopher.  It is beautiful, delectable, charming, enchanting.  It is strangely suggestive.

     The ankle of Bavaria is also beautiful.  Lean and elegant, it however broadens too quickly as it approaches the foot, which is an imperfection not easily to be overlooked by the connoisseur.

     Austria is worse.  Her ankle has the fault of having no taper.  The calf of the leg ends at the foot.

     Hungary is the same.  This is probably owing to the inhuman tyranny which has trodden over her for years.  Women are compelled to pull plows and canal boats, and engage in other species of degrading labors more meet for cattle, steam and caloric engines, and nothing better could be expected of their ankles.

     Prussia makes a better show, but, on the whole, her ankles are not good, and, in dancing, she has a ludicrous custom of switching up her petticoat, in order to make a special display.

     The Irish ankle needs no eulogy.  It speaks for itself.

     The English is fair, indicative of great feats of walking, and other exercises.

     The French ankle is positively bad.  The fault with the German is usually an excess of size – a superfluity of flesh and muscular power; but the French errs in an entirely opposite direction.  It is too slim.  It is long, thin, scrawny.  The ascending swell to the calf (inordinately large) is too long and gradual and the largeness and homeliness of the foot also detracts from the general effect.

     Italy has an exquisite ankle, light, graceful, full of elasticity, and yet with a languid listlessness which recalls the promenades of Naples and the evening lounge round the ‘winged lions of St. Mark.’

     But perfection is only reached in the ankle of the Spanish girl.  It is soft, slight, luxurious, and rife with tremulous, nervous thrills.  It descends to the little foot with firm confidence, but it rises to, and is slowly immersed in, the gradual expansion of the leg with the happiness of illimitable progression.

     A Spanish maid was upon a hobby-horse, which was flying at full speed; her dark face was aglow with the exercise, her little hands clutched the bridle with tremulous eagerness, and her large eyes, ‘wild with the fire of the South,’ were emitting more than their accustomed blaze, but the gaze of the admiring throng was fixed upon her ankles – her chiefest charms.  As the wind – the south wind, fresh from the sea, with all the voluptuousness of the tropics – gently lifted her crinoline, and that delightful, perfect, delectable ankle was suddenly exposed to view, a deep sigh arose from the breasts of the gazers; and when still higher the amorous breeze elevated the coy, striped petticoat and the rounded, glorious calf of the damsel was made visible, the deep respiration of the spectators was almost painful.

The Booths.

     Leaving the ladies’ ankles, we proceeded to the men’s resorts for lager-beer and other liquors.  Upward of 30 booths had been erected in the neighborhood of the hotel, and these were constantly thronged by hundreds of lusty Germans, intent on filling themselves with Nature’s sweet disturber – balmy lager.

     The bar-room and restaurants attached to the hotel were also densely thronged throughout the day.  The German population were out en masse.  Having taken Holland, they were intent upon taking New-York.  They did it with a vengeance – upon German drinks and condiments.  Some were also ‘taken in’ at the same time, by entering numerous outside shows, for the exhibition of monstrosities and dissolving views, which were bad enough humbugs to effect the dissolution of a grizzly bear.  But the main attraction in this quarter, as well as in the entire grounds was,

The Main Dancing Stand,

     which was so crowded that there was more dancing on the programme than upon the boards.  But there was plenty of fun.  To witness a waltz, for instance, was to see about fifty couples hug each other convulsively, turn this way and that, every moment coming into collision with other couples, which would compel a change of tactics.

     But everybody was jolly.  To witness a cotillion was to see 30 groups of four each distractedly endeavoring to execute steps, which the intervention of loungers would render impracticable.  The crowd was so great that ladies lost their partners.  In crossing the stage in an abstracted mood, we were considerably startled by a corpulent and energetic German lady who suddenly picked us up in her arms, pressed us convulsively to her ample bosom, and whirled us around for a few seconds at the rate of about 20 miles an hour.  The music ceased, she saw her mistake, squealed, and fainted, but came to, explanations followed, and we led her to a seat.

      The dancing continued almost all day, but late in the afternoon, rain commenced falling, which damped and dispelled the Terpsichorean spirit.  It also prevented the display of fireworks, and caused the dispersion of the crowd at a comparatively early hour.

Grand Procession.

     The fourth day being generally devoted to excursions, our German fellow-citizens yesterday turned out in great numbers.  Nowhere, even in Germany, is so much display made at like festivals than in this the Empire City of the American Continent, and therefore our citizens turned out in large numbers to see the pageant, which was expected to be the greatest ever witnessed even in this city – the city of parades and processions.

     And we can say they were not deceived either in the numbers or the brilliancy of the procession.  The singers from abroad, with their hosts, at an early hour of the morning assembled at their different headquarters, and accompanied by their wives, sweethearts and sisters on the sidewalks, proceeded to the general headquarters, where the procession was formed.

     At precisely 9 ½ o’clock the Grand Marshal rode past the line, and then gave the word to start, which was done in the following order of marching…

     …The streets through which the procession marched were lined with the people of this city, who in very enthusiastic manner greeted them, the German portion of the crowd being especially enthusiastic, showing their pleasure by throwing up hats, waving of handkerchiefs and the most vociferous cheering we have ever heard on this side of the Atlantic.

     The procession then marched through the Bowery, Chatham-st., to the City Hall Park, to be reviewed by the Mayor and city authorities.

     Owing to an accident, the car having run off the track, his Honor the Mayor was detained some twenty minutes beyond the time at which he intended to be at the City Hall, in order to review the procession of the ‘Saenger Vereins’ yesterday morning.  He arrived, however, in time to greet the singers, the city escort having just passed, and expressed his deep regret that he was prevented paying his respects to the entire body through the accident.

     Marching out of the west gate, the procession paraded up Broadway, through Bond-st., Second-st., Avenue A, Tenth-st., Avenue C to the foot of Eighth-st., E.R., where boats were ready to receive them.

     A number of people, mostly ladies, had preceded the procession to the wharf, and when the singers reached there, they were greeted with another ebullition of public favor.

     At 12 o’clock the two steamboats and two barges headed up the stream and past the beautiful Blackwell’s Island, and, accompanied by a Swedish steamer, the flotilla steered for the Woods, which were reached at 1 o’clock.

     Then a battery of artillery belched forth a loud-toned greeting from the iron mouth of the cannon, and the singers filed on shore.  There the greatest crush of the entire festival took place, but no accident occurred save the tearing of a crinoline or two and the crushing of a few beavers.

      Inspector Carpenter with Sergts. Weils and Weed were on hand at this spot and prevented all disorder.

     The singers once safely landed the procession was reformed again and a march through the woods taken up.  On the large stand on the Green, the officers of the Executive Committee reviewed the procession, and President Steffer addressed them a few remarks, thanking the singers for their attendance and zeal in behalf of the festival, and announcing some further details of the arrangements.  The singers then repaired to the places allotted to them on the ground, and the scenes which then took place must be seen to be understood.  Upward of fifty thousand people, from the babe a few weeks old to the old man on the brink of eternity, were encamped on the green award, with a keg of lager in their midst, imbibing the cooling drink, eating such dishes as potato salad, herring salad and other like viands, in the meantime singing songs of the dear old Fatherland.

     On the platforms bands of music played dances, and those who had an inclination that way profited by the opportunity and paid their homage to Terpsichore.  But aside of this the sounds of music and song greeted the ear from every nook and corner, as every society had an instrument or two in their midst.

     Finally at about 3 o’clock the singers were summoned to the Green, where the distribution of prizes to the successful Society was to take place and the oration to be delivered.

     After a patriotic air by Huschmann’s Band, and a few introductory remarks, the President, Mr. Steffen, introduced the Hon. Frederick Kapp, the orator of the day, who spoke as follows:

The Oration.

     The festivities which, for four days, have united us, within and without the walls of the great American metropolis, are drawing to a close.  The hours of friendly intercourse, of cheerful mirth and recreation, have gone by.  It remains to crown the winners in the race of song, to distribute these prizes among the most successful, to raise a parting song, a shout, words of farewell, a pressure of hands, and the gay throng will be among the things that were.  May the remembrance of these fleeting moments beguile the journey homeward, and may the trophies won animate the victors and the vanquished to increasing effort in the glorious path of German song.  I have had the honor of welcoming you on your arrival in our city, and the unavoidable absence of a valued friend, who was to have tendered you our farewell wishes, devolves upon me the duty of taking his place.  How could this duty be better performed than in contemplating what we have attempted and attained in its bearings upon the position and the future of the German-Americans in the social and political life of this country, and in the home of our fathers?  It is not the first occasion, as we are all aware, on which the German singers of the Eastern States have held a festival, although it may be the first on which so large a number as 2,500 have attended.  Within 15 years last past, Philadelphia, Baltimore and New-York have welcomed the German glee clubs in their midst no less than eight times, and the present celebration would have been held four years ago, if the war had not intervened between design and execution.  In the turmoil of arms the muses were hushed.  At a time when the fate of a people rests on the point of the sword, the mind is not at ease to follow the airy flights of fancy, or the play of lighter humors.  In a free country where all sit in council who take the field, where the chances of war decide also the individual fortunes of every citizen, he willingly sacrifices the comfort of refinement to the political exigencies of the time, and holds his personal advantage subordinate to the higher interests of the community.  Thus, from the first outbreak of rebellion, our countrymen fully appreciated the importance of the contest which was forced upon the country; thus every man hastened to the rescue of our liberties and labored in his sphere and to the utmost of his power without hope of favor or reward.  More than all others the fighting men of German birth – Turners and Singers in the van – discerned the true state of political affairs, burst the shackles of party and poured out their blood on every battle-field of the vast theatre of war, absolving the debt of patriotism without stint or cavil.  I do not say this with a view of claiming especial merit for us as Germans.  We have done our duty, and conscience is our reward.  But now that liberty and the republic have triumphantly demonstrated before the civilized world that their foes cannot prevail against them, now that a great cause has confounded all adversaries, it is fit that our paeans should be heard.  It is not the choir of male voices merely that graces our festival, it is the chorus of freemen that we delight to hear.  Shame upon the man who trills a song when he should fight a battle, but honor to him who first achieves his freedom, and then chants praises!  Music was the form of combined expression first exercised by the German mind in this country.  By the culture and spread of music the Germans have done much to invest American society with new life and manifold attractions.  The effect has been to make many Americans regard a musician and a German as convertible terms even to this very day.  There is a germ of truth concealed under this mistaken notion.  Every German, though he be without musical culture, has musical intelligence, inhaled like the fragrance of wild flowers from the very atmosphere of his native country, his mind, long a stranger to the political activity of other nations, has found room and leisure for gentler tastes, more genial studies, and a more harmonious development, than the more callous Yankee, absorbed in the perpetual adaptation of means to ends.  For ourselves we treasure song and poetry as the most palpable link between our Western homes and the joys of our distant home.  At a bound they carry us back to the Fatherland, and revive the impressions that were wont to gladden the hours of youth, subduing for a season the ceaseless din of daily toil and traffic, they break the slumbers of those home-bred spirits that hovered around us when we dwelt among our own.  They bridge the ocean, not alone to carry the backward march of memory, but to convey to us the new creations of our country’s genius in their most popular and appreciable form; like an electric current, they preserve the burnish even of the dullest steel, and suffer not the rust to settle.  They have proved themselves to history as the most efficient safeguards of our nationality in the land of strangers.  Our countrymen whom the last century wafted to the shores of the Hudson, the Schoharie and the Mohawk, clung to their national manners, thoughts and feelings just as long as they perpetuated the mastery of the grand and simple strains of the German choral hymns.  It was not until the third generation began to intone the English-anthems, and in consequence to give ear to English sermons, that they lost the thread of national continuity with their fathers who lived before them.  We do not need to be told that music is not the only badge of our nobility, but it is the broad popular foundation upon which the structure of our greatness is erected.  When thirty years of contest for the mental and moral emancipation of the world had prostrated the energies of Germany, music was the staff on which the nation leaned on.  She threw off the heaviest fumes of her lethargy, the asylum in whose pale for generations the common heart of the country sought a refuge.  At length the ditty assumed large proportions and aspired to bolder flights, until the wondrous dramas of Schiller and Goethe reverberated from clime to clime; and then the serried phalanx of our mighty sages passed the light of thought from hand to hand, until our people took the lead in the mental development of Europe.  A like career must be run by each individual German; from the ebastened sensational life to which music has introduced him, his way lies through the mazes of vigorous thought to the manly earnestness of action.  Our countrymen at home are now called upon to realize in their public affairs the teachings of our bards and our thinkers, to translate words into deeds, the theory of the closet into the practice of daily life, to conquer for the national mind a homestead in the land of its birth, to produce a German state, a free and united Germany.  In the solution of this problem we cannot greatly aid them.  We are in the midst of matured political institutions, of the advantages of which we have constantly partaken, which may at times require our services for their preservation, but where creative energy is without an object.  Standing on American soil, we must share the political labors of our fellow-citizens in the spirit of that profound humanity in which we have been reared.  For what is outside of politics our eyes are still turned homeward; we can never renounce the land of our fathers without renouncing our better selves.  The times have happily gone by when the German, dazzled by the material achievements of the New World, made haste to cast his memories and his attainments behind him, in his overweening anxiety to out-Herod the Herods of practical Americanism.  The memorable occurrence known as the Know-Nothing movement made manifest to the dullest perception that the German does not rise in the scale of being by apeing American manners and babbling American phrases.  The more firmly we cling to the intellectual treasures of our nationality, the more will we be respected by the native population.  What firmness of character is to the individual, national pride is to a people – the source at once of self-esteem and of the regard of others.  At our very doors, in the midst of our fellow-citizens of every clime, is abundant opportunity for our ablest efforts.  Time was when a German poet sang:

        ‘Germans, a nation to be your stars in their course have denied you;
        Wherefore? That ye might be freer to grow and be men.’

     Germany is exerting herself to falsity the prediction.  Casting aside the swaddling-clothes of cosmopolitan inanity, it has based its policy on the solid foundation of its interests.  The festival of its marksmen and its singers, as held this year at Bremen and at Dresden, are protests against disunion and atrophy; they point the way in which the country will recover itself, slowly perhaps, but surely.  To us, on the other hand, as Germans in foreign parts, the distich of Schiller is clearly applicable.  To constitute a German nation in the bowels of the American, is impossible; but to lend our influence to the struggle for the best interests of man, is not only feasible, but a solemn duty, and our influence will take the firmer hold, and wear for itself the wider bed, the more highly we prize the fruits of our German culture.  What though some, justly or unjustly, complain of neglect or even insult; what though a few may have been quitted by their country instead of quitting her, we must not speak ill of the fatherland.  It is a forward child that maligns its own parents, even for cause.  We may leave it to the piqued aristocrats and self-conceited refugees to belittle their country for having withheld from them a sphere of action, or because their fortunes are more promising abroad.  True, Germany is apt to forget her children outside of her borders, until such time as she needs a patriotic contribution; not knowing what she has lost, she treats them as an English squire regards his poor relations, wondering at their pertinacity in inviting themselves to the family gatherings, when their best prospect is the seat at the lower end of the table.  It is natural for us to view the matter in another light.  We think of poor Cordelia thrust from her father’s door because she could not heave her heart into her mouth, yet ready to give succor when the favored ones failed in their duty.

        ‘No blown ambition our arms incite,
        But love, dear love, and our aged father’s right,
        Soon may we see and hear him!’

     Hail, then, to the land of our sages, our poets, our composers!  Hail to the great republic which has given us a kindly welcome, which has crushed rebellion, and reset the foundation-stone of liberty!  Hail to the Ninth German Musical Festival!  May it have a long and glorious line of successors for the honor of Germany and the good of America, shedding their refining influences on the spirit of the people, sustained by the favor of our worthiest citizens, and crowned with joy and gladness as this has been!

The Singers and the Prizes.

     Of course, the singing amounted to very little at the pic-nic; all were intent upon social enjoyment; they sang here and sang there, but no effort could bring any successful concerted effect out of such a chaos as presented itself on this occasion.  Great interest was felt on the subject of the prizes, the friends of each society claiming for their favorite the right to carry home the banner or the cup.

    We awarded the first prize in our article of yesterday to the Saengerbund of Philadelphia, giving them credit over the Liedertafel of Buffalo only on account of the more important music which they sang.  The Prize Judges, Messrs. Timm, Thomas and Mayerhofer, in accordance with our previously expressed judgment, gave the first prize to the Saengerbund of Philadelphia.  This award gave general satisfaction, although some thought that the Buffalo Society was better entitled to it.  To the astonishment of all, however, the Liedertafel of Buffalo was passed over on the second award, the Silver Cup being given to the Jungen [sic] Männerchor of Philadelphia.  This was a most preposterous judgment, and one altogether unexpected by those who heard and considered the performance of the two Societies.  We are glad, however, to learn that the most experienced member of the Committee was opposed to the decision, and though in the minority, fought against it as long as possible.  So the Philadelphia Societies carry away with them the honorable trophies of the amicable and harmonious contest just ended in this city.  The Saengerbund takes the elegant flag, the Jungen [sic] Männerchor the silver cup.

     There was a third prize, which we believe was not expected, in the shape of a new square piano, manufactured and presented by Kraushaar & Co. of New-York City, and this was awarded by the prize judges to the Buffalo Liedertafel.  It is a valuable prize, to be sure, but the second place of honor of right belonged to the Buffalonians, the decision of the judges, who were rather curiously chosen for umpires upon vocal music, to the contrary notwithstanding.

     It was a matter of astonishment to us, that no American National melody was sung at any of the concerts given by our German fellow-citizens.  It is very customary everywhere on such occasions to do honor to the reigning Nationality; why was it omitted on this occasion?  Is it possible that among the 3,000 singers no one of them knew ‘Hail Columbia’ or the ‘Star-Spangled Banner’?  If such is the case, it will be well for some of them to turn their attention to it, so that such a seeming discourtesy to the country may not occur in the future.  We are satisfied that none of these 3,000 singers knew either of the airs mentioned, or they would have been sung, because, the well-known firm of Lighte & Co., of this city, offered as an extra prize to be given to that society who excelled in singing one or more of our national airs, such as the ‘Star Spangled Banner,’ or ‘Hail Columbia.’  Their generous offer was accepted by the delegates, but there we suppose the matter ended, as no singing societies contested either for the honor or the piano in that direction.”