The Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1877-1885, 1877-03-23
Emma Abbott in Davenport.

BurtlS opera House last evening 10 near
the Emma Abbott troupe. Rock Island
and Moline didn't attend, because they
heard the party in Moline the previous
night. Whenever they have good
audience at the Burtis Rock Island and
Moline has to furnish it. The Gazette
makes the following excuses for the
! thinness of the audience:
For sundry reasons the number of persons pre-
ent was no index to the musical taste OF our CITY
Not only was it the regular prayer meeting evening
full blast, but lecture was being given at one oil
the churches.
But the Gazette speaks highly of Miss
Abbott, as follows:
AS at Moline, Miss Abbott was greeted,
not as a stranger but as an ancient fer,
the appearance upon the stage of her light
inspired form" being the signal for
spontaneous outburst of hospitable welcome
which was redoubled as the fiual cadences
! of her first song died away. For an encore
she gave the quaint and tunetul ballad of
Molly Bawn." AS she sung it it made
one long to have Tennyson's Bugle Song
set to music expressly for Miss AS voice
and execution, the only ones fit and able to
realize to the ear ones imaginative
conceptions of the horns of Elfland family
= blowing. Sulivan's beautiful ballad,
Looking Back" was certainly never more
tOuchingly rendered. Therein and in
l Aud Lang Lyme" the peculiar sympa-
thetic quality of her voice was felt by
the heart of every one within its
sound, while in the second encore, from
u Robert, was most apparent the beguiling
spiritual sweetness of the soaring soprano,
so much criticised and praised. Her
:, marvellous diminuendo, as on the evening
before, enthralled every person with a
" normal tympanum The concert, as a
r. whole was decidedly the best given here
for years.
+ Mr.. Tillinghast, the Rock Island editor
of the Gazette, furnishes the following 10
regard to Miss Abbott:
Never has the writer met one more
e truly endowed with gratitude for honors
l. won and forgetfulness of hardships ex-
perienced. Her memory of early days
c and childish scenes is marvellous. She
relates with great earnestness the incidents
# of her life and retains the names of all
those whom she has met.
Perhaps the characteristic which quick
est forces itself upon the visitor is her stu
cere candor and cordiality. She is of small,
nervous even delicate stature. but her whole
being seems to be filled with persevering
& determination and unconquerable will.
y This rare and uuyieldiug will has been
taught never to bend or swerve. During
u the years she has been away she has eXpe-
rienced great changes Of fortune, has stud
led and striven diligently and necessarily
for recognition in her chosen profession
&c Al, -. 80
d world, and hes risen from place "unhOn
J. 0red and unsung" to (if not the) leading
u position IN the world Of musical and dra.
d matte art. After leaving our western prai-
e ries whose wildness and grandeur have
? followed her, she went to New York. KIND
r. friends were attracted to her as they have
ever been since and with the aid of these
and inspired by her own indomitable ear
nestness, her love for art and culture, which
re was and is 10 less than a passion, she
h sailed in French steamer for the old
world. In spite of obstacles her purpose
was pursued as one would pursue q lost
friend. Through manifold hardships ant
struggles this brave western Illinois, We
might almost say Rock Island, girl bal
passed, emerging like gold tried by fire
As one most discriminating writer says:
She has shown a constancy, pluck and deter
minatlon worthy of so grand and honorable a.
ambition as that OF reaching the highest place il
her profession; for her ambition not to b
, satisfied with anything less than the highest pm
al Miss Abbott's parents and brother ar
ey now living-her father in Baltimore, aut
ey her mother near Naukesha, Wisconsin
IT. For each and all of these she entertains tn
ey deepest feelings of love and filial regard
Ty The following incident of Miss Abbott
lie life was related and it is published wit
ny her sanction Eleven years ago sh
came to Rock Island on one cf her frs
'h' concert tours. Her father was musician
OF and he had preceded her visit here S
ng there rang in her ears the names of fe'
friends Of her fathers acquaintance, On
of these was Mrs, Matte lie Claire, c
Davenport, sister of Mrs. Milton Jone
lal of this CITY, Mrs. LIE Claire now has
,al her possession letters written by Miss Al
- boot to her at that time. Another was Nj
III JnO. Deere, the veteran and venerable pillow
RS master of Moline. She came here in 1861
unknown and uncared for save by hersel
in with fortune of ten cents. She canvass
ed the situation with Mrs. lie Claire.
looked dark and unpromising; but wit
Oh that persistence which is nature, and thu
tender love for mother which is akin to i
~ began. She called upon Mr.. Deere,and tt
J. cruel story has gone upon its travels thi
he refused to assist her. 1t was wit
err emotions of gratitude that she on yeste
tie, dav urged a correction of that reckle
story which she never authorized an
T., H. never knew until its appearance in tt
Ill newspapers. MIR. Deere assisted her
the old Congregational church in Moln
OK So did Mr.. A. NJ Hubbard. Mrs Christ
IRIS. then Miss Hemenway, and others, of NJ
line, aided her. and she now recalls it wi
kindness. Mrs. Dawson, Mrs. Wheele
lie, now of Kansas City, Mrs. Minnie Beal
has whose mournful history the reader know
her aud others, sang with her. She lodged vii
ok Mr., and Mrs. S. W. Wheelock, and the
good and generous people assisted he
She sang and played her guitar, giviI
pleasure and satisfaction to her audieDc
r. She made the concert what it was, he
VI self going to the printing Office and gettil
Der tickets, which she sold here aud there
tbs personal canvass The receipts for bot
hat evenings were $50. During the followi
.~t winter she visited Moline again, and aga
e0' did this artless little girl find home al
the friends, The rest is known. All or me
yes of those who read this hasty sketch ha
an heard her and they will long eDtertainIon
49, memories of love for her last appearan
''' among us. They will follow her with bel
-ent sons and benedictions and God-speeds.
who
one And we of THE ARGUS add that
lere we'll remember when Miss Matte Biddis
who (now Mrs. LIE Claire) brought Emma A