Criticism

August 29, 1899, Appleton Post-Crescent

We first attended this gathering in 2014:   https://menashabook.blogsot.com/2014/03/mystery-solved-brighton-beach-chautauqua.html.  Giving credence to the adage that no good deed goes unpunished, or that you can't please all the people all of the time, the editors of the Madison newspaper take umbrage with the gathering at Brighton Beach in the summer of 1899.  Before there were movies and radio and television, entertainment was scheduled debates, stage plays, or orations for the assembled masses.  While every parlor had a piano and a great amount of sheet music for entertaining, events like this were a welcome respite.  Evidently, the editors of the fine Madison paper thought we could have done better.  The schedule is published at the link above...see for yourself who attended and the topics covered.  I thought the program was well-rounded but then, as I am not of the 1899 sensibilities, I am unaware at what could have been.