Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1874-10-09
A Wonderful Child.

On Saturday last we had the pleasure Of
seeing Rose Mansfield Eyersole, little girl
whose child life seems to be a repetition OF the
wonderful childhood Of Mozart. Her fame
has already been spread to the public, her
life having been published at length some
months ago in an indianapolis musical periodi-
cal, and extensively copied. She IS now al
most five years old, but shows no abatement
Of trr wonderful musical powers. She was
att Gibson house with her father, DR.. A.
C. / ersole of Dayton, and her mother, and
few persons were invited to see her and hear
her play. She is little less than the ordin-
ery size for her age, but hasa handsome,
upright, graceful, robust form, soft, light
hair, fair complexion, large, light blue eyes,
broad, high forehead, and round face, wear
ing in repose the thoughtfulness Of age, but
when lighted up in conversation sparkling
with the vivacity OF childhood.
Being an acknowledged " prodigy" she is
the object of much concern. Her parents
are warned from many sources to beware
how they task her power, as she is - too
wise to live" Her father il physician,
and she is his only child hence warnings are
perhaps superflous. lie says he does not
task Rose 10 the least. lie merely answers
her questions and allows her to 60 to the
piano as if it were play. 1t Is her amrse-
ment She has learned to read in the same
way and manifests an unusual prcc0city in
this direction. Indeed the thoughtful ex
preston Of her face IS a true index Of the
nature of her mind. She talks not 50 much
like child as ike woman. A physician
who was introduced to her said to her -
am doctor like your father. How do you
like the medical profession, Rose p
don't like it," she replied. witholt n mo-
ment's hesitation.
L" You like music better" ne continued.
Yes, always liked 1t,
You mean YOU have liked it ever since
you were little GIRL" he said.
No." she answered quickly" | mean
liked music phen ] was a little girl. |
couldn't play, of course, when was little
baby, for then had chubby fat hands
She Is not 3 "little woman" in the respect
Of not liking to play. she watched child
rem at play and seemed to enjoy 1t as much
as they, even while she was seated at the
piano, and when she jumped down she ran
like any other child 10 see what could he
seen from the window. During the half
hour of her levee she played the March from
Norma, Sweet Home. and other compost
tions she has learned. This, though re-
markable, Is the least of her attachments.
Her playing is remarkable, mainly from her
absolute musical truth Of tone. she makes
no discords.
1t is as composer that she challenges the
wonder Of every body. During this little
recital she improvsied harmoules that were
faultless. It was amusing TO see her
body and arms stretching their utmost
- enable her fogers to touch tie proper
KEYS. At tie request Of her father she
played a march, composed ss she played It.
While she was playing il her father said,
- Can't YOU put a little minor passage into
it?" She played a brief passage and thea,
without cessation or change Of time, woye
into it q minor passage Of exceeding beauty.
She improyised also Il lovely waltz.
The most remarkable feature she lrc,eli5,
however, is her knowledge Of absolute pitch.
She can instantly, Gu hearing any mlsi-ll
tone, reproduce it on the piano. Ine pi y
sician already mentioned was asked to sound
note with his voice and let her repeat it
on tie Tianl. He said be couldn't sing at
all that he didn't know Old Hundred from
Yankee Doodle. Rose looked around sld-
denly at him, and with the utmost oant,r.
said, with emphasis, " do.
The laugh tina, followed nearly destroyed
the test. bat at length one Of tie company
sounded a note, aud, without moments
hesitation, Rose touched the key correspond
ing 10 iii
Her father says that while she was eating
breakfast at home, few days ago, hv hap
pened u whistle portion Of clmp1sition
by Beethoven which Rose had heard. lie
observed her looking troubled art asEcd
what was the matter
d" was thinking Of that anian;e yo1 are
whist,ius it in F, and it is written in c.
He was not sure al ell what key he bal
and told her to 81; st..l while be went to the
piano To ascertain.
lis almost F, papa >he said, a. he
went out Of the dor. Il heard a little
sparkle Of in il
Aud true enough, he found that there va-
" little sparkle Of 7 in il; It was slight
shade below F.
Rose is undoubtedly a child Of re-uo-ka1.e
brain development. She reads ~ before
stated, and she las a quite thorough know
ledge Of geography, being able to tell the
location Of all tie principal cities IN Europe
She Is not simply a musical prodigy So Is
certainly the m'st wonderful child now liz
iur.-C.gci1nGti Gg@etfs.