MUSICAL FESTIVAL

IN HONOR OF THE PRINCE OF WALES.

Prominent among the incidents of the past school year was the Musical Festival, given by the children of the public schools, to His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales, during his recent visit to this country. This affair has been so elaborately described and commented upon here and elsewhere, by the public journals of the day, that but little if anything new can be said of it But as an interesting feature in the history of the school year,—marking as it does the successful exhibition of an important department in our system of public education in Boston, it claims a brief record in the pages of the present Report.

now.

The celebration took place at the Boston Music-Hall on the 18th of October, 1860, in presence of His Royal Highness and suite, the Governor of the Commonwealth, the Mayor of Boston and members of the City Government, and a large and brilliant concourse of citizens. Under the direction and superintendence of the Standing Committee on Music from the School Board, and a joint Select Committee from the City Council and School Committee, arrangements for the festival were entered

upon at an early day, and carried out on a scale of liberality commensurate with the demands of the occasion. All the seats were removed from the floor of the building, and a dais was erected in its centre to accommodate the royal party and invited guests; the galleries were reserved for ladies, and the standing-room around the platform on the floor, the corridors, and entryways for whoever was fortunate enough to procure an entrance ticket. At the orchestral end of the hall was constructed a temporary platform and stage, rising and extending, in amphitheatrical form, from the floor nearly to the roof, having seats for a choir of twelve hundred and eighty children, and accommodations, in the hollow square on the platform, for an orchestra of sixty musicians. The interior of the hall was simply but richly decorated. Hangings of blue and gold depended from the fronts of the balconies, showing on the three sides the simple words, " England," "America," and "Welcome." Over the architraves of the doors and windows, and at appropriate points on the wall, trophies of arms and armor, interwoven with the English and American flags, alternated with the plumes of the Prince's crest; and over all the American flag and cross of St. George drooped in abundant folds from the ceiling. The chorus and orchestra above named, together with the full organ, constituted the musical force for the occasion. The whole was under the conductorship of Carl Zerrahn.

The vast choir had been selected, in like manner as at the musical performances in our recent annual school festivals, from among the many thousands of the children in the public schools, now competent to take part

in such exercises, who had been prepared by previous study and rehearsals, for the proper execution of their tasks.

The day set apart for the celebration proved all that could be desired. The Indian-summer weather, the out-door military and other attractions, and the novelty and interest of the occasion itself, combined to draw hither an immense multitude of people.

At three o'clock in the afternoon, the column of troops gathered from various parts of the State in honor of the day, began their march through the principal streets of the city, at which time, and for two hours subsequently, the living pressure was at its cli

max.

"The crowd, at this juncture," to use the words of a metropolitan critic, "altogether exceeded that which assembled to greet the Prince at New York. Niblo's rooms, on the night of the Japanese ball, were not so thickly and immovably crammed as were the streets and sidewalks along which the procession had been announced to pass. All travelling about the city was interrupted. Even the expresses declined to undertake their ordinary tasks."

Those who were bodily present in any of the localities thus alluded to, or attempted, at the proper time, to make their way to the concert-room, will recognize in the above quotation no exaggerated description. And this was the time within which it became necessary for the masters of the various schools to assemble the twelve hundred children at their school-houses, and convoy them thence to their places of rendezvous at the Music-Hall, situated in the very heart of the

It is but justice to say

city and its moving masses. here that the marching of the troops had been originally fixed at an earlier hour in the day, and was unavoidably postponed when too late to alter the arrangements for the concert. Foreseeing the difficulties that must inevitably attend the assembling, and progress through the crowded streets, of the children at such a time, every possible precaution was adopted by the Committee to avoid detention and insure the success of this portion of the day's programme. We make mention of these things here because we have not seen them alluded to elsewhere, and because it shows, in no feeble light, the reality and efficiency of that system of order and school discipline which, under such circumstances, could marshal and conduct its thousands of children. to their required goal with all the promptness and punctuality that attends an ordinary school exercise. The seating of the children in the choir having been accomplished without delay, the orchestra took up their position, and, at the stroke of five, the conductor stepped forward and awaited the signal to begin. The hall was, at this time, crowded to its utmost capacity, -every seat and available inch of standing-room being occupied. A quarter of an hour later the Prince and his suite, consisting of the Duke of Newcastle (who is also chairman of a British commission on Education), the Earl of St. Germans, Lord Lyons, Major-General Bruce, Dr. Ackland, and other distinguished noblemen and gentlemen, accompanied by His Excellency the Governor of Massachusetts and staff, the Mayor of Boston and heads of departments, entered the hall, and occupied the places reserved for them on the raised dais in front of the platform.