The ladies' dresses were very magnificent, and such as the great mass of women in no other country in the world can afford to wear. The fair sex were not as numerous as might be expected, the gentlemen outnumbering them considerably; but those who were present seemed to enjoy the concert in the highest degree. It is very probable that many ladies were kept away for the first night by the fear of being crushed; but when they find that their apprehensions were groundless, they will doubtless take the Castle by storm to-morrow night.

The river, we read, was thronged with boats that stayed throughout the performance, and in many cases were manned and occu]:)ied by those to whom the newspapers of the time referred as "the rougher element." Jenny Lind's .share of the proceeds from the first concert was in the neighbomdiood of ten thousand dollars, an enormous sum for a singer of that day to receive for a single performance. It added greatly to the popular appreciation of the "Casta Diva" that she bestowed this sum upon various charitable and public

46 The Hudson River

institutions in New York City. In the bestowment of the largest sum, three thousand dollars, upon the (then volunteer) fire department fund, may perhaps be detected the fine advertising instinct of her manager, Mr. P. T. Barnum. Many notable pageants and many distinguished names are associated with Castle Garden. Here, more than once, the people of the city have welcomed a celebrated guest with all the enthusiasm that in later days we have seen evinced for an Am.erican or a German admiral. The accounts given of the landing of Lafayette and his reception at Castle Garden, in August, 1824, show how far from being a new thing it is for the average Manhattanite to express his feehngs vehemently when a reception is in progress.