PIOUS NIGGER MINSTRELS.

Waikato Times, Volume IV, Issue 207, 6 September 1873, Page 2

PIOUS NIGGER MINSTRELS.

A COWCBBT given by a truly converted company of niggermelodists appears to be the most popular entertainment offered during this present May for those who do not go to. the thentre. " The Coloured Jubilee Singeri" wrived ir^m. Amecica,, most opportunely, at the very beginning of themonth. They gave u private rehearsal and taste of their* quality before a select aristocratic and clerical audience at Willis's Booms as soon as possible after kbeir arrival. Lord Shfiftesbury presided ; invitations were accepted by " themmisters of our leading denominations.'* Theii» Barnum, if they possess one, evidently hife the mark. Ewry tinge ofT worldliness,. every suspicion of secularly, was banished from, the entertainment at the very commencement. The Ckrittian World declares that " the opportunity was a very auspicious one for the singing band, and there can b» little doubt that it will sevve as a fine introduction to the English public." It appears that the singers are students of the " Fisk University." and propose to gather a sum of money for their Irarned mother by giving concerts in Europe. We trust that their health will not suffer by studying all the doy and ringing; all the night. It is a novel and quite a Yankee reproduction of the travelling beggar-seholasnnip of the middle ages. Such, lowers and martyrs of learning will certainly never permit their »ongs to interfere with their studies. Indeed, th» character of their songs wiH show their audiences what a. mass of study still lies like an obligation upon them. They have to pour out such rile and atrdcious English at night that it must require very hard labor indeed in the day to form, or keep the least acquaintance with pura English. Their entertainment shares the generic character of all other " nigger entertainments ;" it is in part pathetic, in part comic. The pathetic element is perhaps unsuited to th« "Month of Mary ;" for, if we may judge from the title given to one of their songs, " Steal away to Jesus," it partakes somewhat of that kind of sentimentality which that devout Marian, Father Faber, introduced into English hymns. A converted " Josh Billings ""seems to have provided the comic infusion, which, is produced mainly by bad spelling and by mispronunciation* The students will perhaps be cured of the two bad habits they are forming when they give up einging and go back to Fisk; University to rum their attention to learning. What fun, these expedients cannot suppl; the- singers attempt to call; forth by wretched abuses of the language of Scripture and. perversions of the meaning of English adjectives. They sing about the devil as "-old Satan," and the King of Egypt aa " old Pharaoh ;" they imply that to be good on« ought to be young. It must be refreshing to Mr Bradlaugh to read that a solemn conclave of noblemen and preachers uproariously encored " €to down, Moses.'* We notice that the devil baa again become with these Yankee Purita» entertainera what he was with the Catholic entertainers of the middle aen-™ the mont comical of characters. They ting j— Vr " If you want to see old Satao run, You must shoot him with the Gospel gan."'

Llamko bt Machinery. — Amo»g the sensational amu m ments now going on in New York tha performances of n young feminine gymnast, Lulu by name, at Niblo'a Ctorde * ore noticeable. Tbe deliberate attempt* at neck-breaking which she nightly undertake* attract immense ettdieaces of ladies and gentlemen, who. tnjoy tbe sensation, amazingly,, and recommend it to their friends as a worthy and thrilling si"ht. The astounding feat consists in what appears to be a. leap thirty feet high from the stage floor, and the graspine of a pair of bars at that elevation, directly over the heads of the audience. We need hardly say that the flight U assisted by mechanism. The performer, costumed in stage tights,, totally unembarrassed by petticoats, exhibiting all thecharma of her well proportioned physique, stands upon the small, iron step, which forms the extremity of a lever that project* up through the stage floor. Below the stage and connected with the lever is a weight of 4,000 pounds and a trigger arrangement. At the appointed moment the gymnast placet, herself upon the step, assumes the required position, an attendant taps the floor us signal, the trigger below is moved, and the gymnast shoots up like an arrow through the air to. the bars above. It is a dreadful trick, for the least variation, in the force of the mechanism, or the most trifling deflation in her course through the air, would drive the gymnast away from the friendly bars, and send her headlong upon the iron. chairs below. We sometimes marvel at the strange tastes of tlie Spaniards who still find enjoyment in the gory spectacle of the bull fight; but what will we say of the sensibilities of Americans, whose popular evening entertainments depend for their) chief zest upon the antics of a company of half nude ballet rtnncers, coupled with tba fearful risking of human life by methods such as we have described ?— Scientific American. A literary Frenchman of some eccentricity lately said to. his body aervant— " Listen, my man. I have a fancy for not wasting words. It will be necessary for you to require but a syllable to undeißtand me— as, for instance, when X call for my razor that you bring me al&o all that belongs to it— soap, brush, tweezers, towel ; and so of other tbingf." For a while all went marvellously well. Tbe ingenuity of the valet was promptly exercised, and the matter wa* pleased with his good luck in getting so aatiefactory a diviner of his wants. One day, however, being taken seriously ill, he dispatched his man for a' physician, wha resided but a few doors off. A half-hwur elapsed— one, hour- two hours— and no man, no doctor. At the end of three hours enters the faithful domestic, covered with sweat and dust and followed by a train of heavy fees. •« Well, air," exclaimed the suffering invalid, " where have, you been all this time?" " Getting the orders," responded the zealous man. "You aaked only for the physician i but I thought you would need also the notary to make your will, and the priest to confess you, and the under-, taker to measure you for your coffin, and here they are,"