Page:The Homes of the New World- Vol. III.djvu/49

Rh heard Meyerbeer's “Prophète.” The piece is unpoetical and meagre in its conception, but it affords grand spectacle, and the music of Meyerbeer has, in all cases, some dramatic, characteristically beautiful parts. Mrs. D., who performed the part of the mother of the prophet, played and sang nobly and well. The prophet was a wearisome person, so was his beloved. If the piece instead of being founded on a poor love intrigue, had been sustained by religious fanaticism and spiritual pride, such as we meet with in the historical prophet, John of Leyden, the opera would have had a true interest. As it is, there is no food for thought, and it excited my nerves to that degree with its continual startling effects, that it was with difficulty I could keep my eyes open. The last scene was monstrously magnificent, and woke me up a little. The sight of the white garmented, lovely young Creoles in the pit and boxes charmed my eyes as before. But I discovered some pearl-powdered noses on the faces of some of the elderly ladies.

I have also visited asylums and schools, in consequence of invitations. New Orleans is divided into three municipalities; the schools are said to have greatly improved within the last few years; teachers, both male and female, come hither from the Northern States, and wherever they come, they bring with them that energetic educational life which distinguishes those States. A female teacher in one of the schools of New Orleans can obtain a salary of one thousand dollars annually; but the living, on the other hand, costs three times as much as in the other States of the Union.

I heard the boys in the great boys' school singing boldly the praise of their native land, as

This is sung in the Slave States without any one