Programme of Music
| Pianoforte Duet | "Oberon" | René Favayer |
| Misses A. J. B. and A. C. B. | ||
| Song | "Twenty-one" | Molloy |
| Miss S. D. | ||
| Song | "The Raft" | Pinsuti |
| Mr. B. P. | ||
| Ladies' Trio | "O Skylark, for thy wing" | Smart |
| The Misses B. and Miss D. | ||
| Song | "A Summer Shower" | Marziales |
| Miss D. | ||
| Song | "The Better Land" | Cowen |
| Miss M. B. | ||
| Song | "The Lost Chord" | Sullivan |
| Miss P. | ||
| Pianoforte Solo | "La Cascade" | Pauer |
| Miss A. D. | ||
| Song | "Let me dream again" | Sullivan |
| Miss R. | ||
| Song | "The Diver" | Loder |
| Mr. A. B. | ||
| Song | "My Nannie's awa'" | —— |
| Miss J. J. | ||
| Duet | "When the Wind blows in from the Sea" | Smart |
| Miss M. B. and Mr. B. P. | ||
| Song | "For ever and for ever" | Paolo Tosti |
| Miss A. J. B. | ||
| Song | "The Boatswain's Story" | Molloy |
| Mr. B. P. | ||
GOD SAVE THE QUEEN.
Private Theatricals.
A great many fine compliments have been paid to performers in this world, but do you remember one much better than this? Our Prima Donna sang "My Nannie's awa'," my favorite among twenty favorites; and she did sing it that night to perfection. We were all proud of her. When she returned to her seat next to M., there was whispered in her ear: "Oh, Jeannie, the lump's in my throat yet!" All the hundred warm expressions bestowed upon her did not weigh as much as that little gem of a tribute. When you raise the lump in the throat by a song you are upon the right key and have the proper style, even if your teacher has been no other than your own heart, the most important teacher of all.
After the theatricals at Merridale came the feast. The supper-table comes before me, and the speeches. The orator of the Wolverhampton connection is ex-Mayor B. He speaks well, and never did he appear to greater advantage than on that evening. It's a sight "gude for sair een" to see a good-natured, kindly English gentleman presiding at the festive board, surrounded by his children and his children's children, and the family connections to the number of seventy odd. They are indeed a kindly people, but oh dear! those who have never been out of their little island, even the most liberal of them, have such queer, restricted notions about the rest of mankind! This, however, is only natural; travel is in one sense the only possible educator. England has been so far ahead of the world until the present generation, that it is difficult for her sons to believe she is sleeping too long. The best speech of the evening upon our side was made by Our Pard, who said he felt that after he had forgotten all else about this visit, the smiling faces of the pretty, rosy-cheeked English young ladies he had been admiring ever since he came to Wolverhampton, and never more ardently than this evening, would still haunt his thoughts; and then, with more emphasis, he closed with these memorable words: "And I tell you, if ever young men ask me where they can find the nicest, sweetest, prettiest, and best young ladies for wives, they won't have to ask twice." (Correct! shake, Pard!)
We were fortunate in seeing the statue of Mr. Villiers unveiled. Earl Granville spoke with rare grace and ease, his style being so far beyond that of the other speakers that they suffered by comparison. The sledge-hammer style of oratory is done. Let ambitious youngsters make a note of that, and no longer strut and bellow, and tear a passion all to tatters, to very rags. Shakespeare understood it:
"In the very tempest and I may say whirlwind of your passion,
You must beget a temperance to give it utterance."