The First Christmas Tour of the Glee and Banjo Clubs.

Saturday morning, December 22, was a busy time for the members of the Glee and Banjo clubs. After early breakfasts in Cambridge, the members met at the Boston and Albany station a few minutes before nine o'clock ready to begin their journey westward. The weather was clear and bracing, and the spirits of the men were high in anticipation of a glorious time as well as of a successful series of concerts.

The first stage of the tour was from Boston to New York. A special car was provided for the clubs. As all singing was prohibited in order that voices might be kept as fresh as possible for the strain about to be put upon them, the men turned to whist to pass the time. A basket luncheon was served at Springfield. One man who was in the smoking carat the time did not receive his basket and was compelled to go hungry until evening.

The train was very late in arriving at New York, and there was time only for a short rehearsal in the hotel parlors and for a hasty dinner before the hour at which the concert was to begin arrived. The sight which met the eyes of the students as they entered Chickering Hall was very gratifying. Of the twelve hundred seats, nearly every one had been taken, and the audience was as brilliant as it was large. The clubs were stimulated to do their best, and the result was undoubtedly a great surprise.

The New York concert given before the students had become wearied by constant travelling was far superior to that given in Cambridge two evenings previous, and, in the opinion of many, the best given in the metropolis by a college organization for many years. The audience was enthusiastic from the beginning. The yodels by Mr. Carpenter, the violin solos by Mr. Long-worth, '91, and the bass solos by Mr. Hackett. '91, as well as many of the college songs, received hearty encores. The success most pleasing to the Glee Club was that of the glee "Courtship." The New York audience was the first to recognize the delightful little touches in the glee, and broke out spontaneously before the last bars had been sung. The Banjo club succeeded in winning an encore every time it played. This was true of every concert during the tour.

After the concert the clubs were royally entertained at the house of the Harvard Club on W. Twenty-second street. A large number of graduates and undergraduates were present, and the walls were made to ring with the popular Harvard songs both old and new.

Sunday was passed in New York. Some of the men went to church: it was noticeable that the churches chosen were those celebrated for their good music. Others went out to luncheon and to dinner, and as far as Harvard men were concerned, the hotel corridors were deserted.

An early start for Philadelphia was made Monday morning. Several of the Glee Club men who had returned to Boston late Saturday evening in order to fulfil choir duties rejoined the party just before it left New York. One of the officers of the Glee Club who left the train at Bound Brook to send a telegram, found on his return that the train had departed. He was compelled to wait for the next train.

The clubs wore received at the Continental Hotel. Before luncheon was eaten or trunks unstrapped a rehearsal was held and then the men were given the rest of the day to themselves.

The concert in the evening was given in Association Hall on Chestnut street. As it was the eve of Christmas, the audience was not as large as might otherwise have been expected, but it made up in enthusiasm what it lacked in size. Of the concert itself, the kindest things were said. One of the city papers asserted that "the Glee Club, as a college organization, is by far the best that has yet been heard in this city; and indeed, was advanced to such a degree of excellence that members of Harvard's old glee clubs, in the days when the mission of a glee club was confined to singing before the halls of Matthews and Holworthy, were astonished at the growth which the club has attained in the days of their successors." The banjo men received their full share of favor.

The students accepted the courtesies of the Rittenhouse Club after the concert and endeavored to repay the obligation with songs and with banjo music.

On Christmas day, the clubs took the fast train on the Baltimore and Ohio for Cincinnati. Much to the disgust of the students they were compelled to eat an unworthy Christmas dinner in the crowded station dining-room at Baltimore. At Washington, during the ten minutes halt a score of men under the lead of Shippen, second bass, whose home is in that city, ran up the hill to the base of the capitol in order to catch a glimpse of the beautiful city. The natives were much astonished at the invasion.

Wednesday morning, breakfast was eaten in Cincinnati. During the day the cable cars which climb the steep hills of the city were well patronized by those who had fallen under the influence of the sight-seeing habit. The suspension bridge over the Ohio was crossed by many who desired to set foot on Kentucky soil.

The rain that fell during the afternoon had no perceptible effect upon the size of the audience at the concert in the evening. The Odeon was crowded to its utmost capacity by people who found little fault with the programme. Swarts, '88 and Longworth, '91, both of Cincinnati, were given solo parts ; the former sang his old favorite "The Capture of Bacchus" and the latter rendered on his violin the difficult adagio from Viotti's Twenty-second concerto. The great hit of the evening here as in St. Louis and New York was the college song, "Imogene Donahue" with solo by Lockwood, '90, and the "Darkey's Dream" by the Banjo Club. In regard to the Glee Club we quote a few words from a Cincinnati paper: "If music, heavenly maid, was not pleased with the appearance of these thirty dress-coated young Adonises, she can be in no wise the seraphic damsel we have been led to suppose."

When the students reached the University Club house after the concert they found a substantial supper spread for them. The feast lasted well into the night, the courses being interspersed with songs both from graduates and undergraduates. The greatest cordiality marked the reception given the members of the clubs in Cincinnati as elsewhere.