CHAUTAUQUA.

Hokitika Guardian, 28 February 1921, Page 4

CHAUTAUQUA.

Packed audiences marked the Chaui tauqua sessions on Saturday, tire entertainments proving as popular as ever. Miss Hoot (contralto) and Mr Patton (pianist) were a happy combination of entertainers. Miss Hoot seemed to find as much pleasure in singing as the audience did in listening. Iho lady complimented the young folk on their quiet attention and interest in. the programme, but there was everything in the magnetism of the artist herself who commanded the situation. In dramatic numbers Miss Hoot was magnificent, while her other efforts, and particularly the Indian cycle of songs, she enraptured the large and enthusiastic audience. Mr Patton was described as a grown-up “Peter Pan.” It was apt indeed. Me is a wonderful pianist of whom an audience would never tire. 'Certainly on Saturday night the enthusiastic folk were quite carried away with his brillant performances. Mr Patton has a great repertoire—from grave to gay, from lively to severe. Hut whether it is a Sousa march, a rendition of the hitherto hackneyed “Rosary,” or an excerpt of Greig’s, the artist is superline all the time. Me , e ,s wonderful results from the piano. Mis efforts are entrancing, and lie m vests pianoforte playing with a new wonder. Me is a marvellous performer, a „d the audience gave him unmeasured appreciation. Mis playing was a delight and a revelation, and lie will regain in memory as the foremost pianoforte artist we have had the good fortune to hear. Mr Joel Eastman was the lecturer, and be took for his subject “The Unfolding of Democracy.” In these unrestful days the subject was appropriate, while the mattei' of the address gave the auditors food for thought and intimate reflection. It was a meaty speech, savoury alike in matter am manner. Mr Eastman was candid m his views. He spoke his mind fearlessly, but always with an evident sense ot conviction. By the unfolding of democracy he meant the coming into bloom of that agency which reveals as it satisfies the soul of man. It mean flie fruition of a healthy growth, the bursting into flower of a choice and radiant plant which was to give pleasure and spread a sweet aroma a about. Man was unlike the birds or akin to the insects, in that while thej had a self-protecting volition from birth, man’s mind or brain was a blank and only slowly drew in and assimilated the power of sell-protection. Gra ua lv the brain took power, and out ot it grew his love for democracy, that expansion of soul which ga'c him the power to produce something his S,)U loved. . It was in Ancient Greece that tins expression of democracy first came to the surface, but it was mainly with the 'Anglo-Saxon race that it had made its greatest advancement. Mi Eastman : traced the unfolding of democracy ni Britain from the'time before the Magna Charter. The signing of that great charter of the liberties of Britons imposed upon King John was hut the culmination of the work of the nobles and barons of England who at: Bunnymeade put their ideas into concrete form". From then on within the breasts of Englishmen democracy had been an unfolding power, till now no country was more democratic than Great Biitain. America had her charter of libeities in the great Declaration of Independence, and the constitution drawn up as complementary to that document, but the constitution was not the end ot

democracy, for it was still being added to, expanded, and reinterpreted as time went on. Britain had no written constitution which served to satisfy the aims of its democracy, but as time went on out of the hearts of the people they collectively moved for more and more power and obtained it. If, the latter part of his address Mr Eastman dealt with the present position of the democracy, and the unrest within the people. He contrasted the situation to-day with that ot a ten decades ago, within the life of the present generation. Events moved rapidly, and life and living were changing quickly. Wages were higher, work was less acceptable, unrest was general. The spread of education had uplifted the individual whose soul was crying out more and more for freedom. The world position appeared to be rushing to a climax wherein there might ho concealed disaster for the human race. Greater knowledge and understanding might yet relieve the whole position of "its gravity. New Zealand, the fortunate isles as he painted them in beautiful word pictury, was as much in-

volved as elsewhere. No country was free from the turmoil, no country had solved a way out from the present impasse. The lecturer urged democracy to stand together collectively and seek for its salvation through representative government only. Me did not believe in the initiative or the referendum. On' such occasions, passions and prejudices mdn sense. Through their representadietated the decision, not sober coinlives sent to Parliament, the country selected what should he its I rest men. The franchise was now so wide that all might take a part in the choice, and to that body of men should be left the ordering of the democratic situation as the logical way to a solution. Mr Eastman’s address was very illuminating. He lias a quiet style of oratory, and like every true American has a fund of humor, and is not above : putting the joke over on himself. The I address gave food for thought, and as ] indicating the measure of appreciation, reference need he made not only to the ! attentive hearing he had, but to the sustained volume of applause which marked the close of the speech. As ’ usual, the National Anthem closed the ] proceedings. ] This afternoon and evening, the ses- 1 sions will he all entertainment. There will be no lectures to-day. Five’young and talented ladies, instrumentalists and soloists, styled the Overseas Entertainers, .will supply high class entertainment and music. The fourth day of Chautauqua is described as “Joy Day,” which conveys some idea of the programmes to bo rendered. The ladies I come with a great reputation for brtl- “ liancy—as also for work, for they h played their parts also in the Great if War. si