The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1891-01-18

ssThank you" she said; 'sand thank
you for these flowers. feel made over
anewl Now 1 can sing"
She put out her hand and Godfrey
took it in his.
For moment it seemed to them as if
they were alone together. When two
persons meet in complete sympathy all
other human association seems so trifiing
in comparison that they cease to be
aware Of it.
At this moment the overture came to
an end, and the order was issued for the
stage to be cleared. The prima donna
found herself again in her dressing room,
but not in the same mood as she had left
it. She was warm, composed and happy.
She looked in the tall mirror, and for the
first time saw Marguerite reflected there.
Then into her serene and awakened
mind entered all the tenderness, sim
plicity and pathos of Gretchen's lovely
story, and she felt the spirit of the Ger
man peasant maiden take possession of
her. The appurtenances OF the stage,
the mechanism of the effects, the glare
of the footlights, no longer had power
to disturb her illusion. They seemed
themselves an illusion, and only the
story was real. And when the moment
came that she stood before the mighty
audience they were to her no longer
hostile and opposing presence, with
which she must struggle in hopeless con-
test, but vast reservoir of human sym
pathy, aiding her, supporting her, COM
pretending her, supplying her with life
and inspiration, and responding thou
sandfold to every chord she touched.
AS her voice flowed out and abroad
from her lips it seemed to owe its en-
chanted sweetness and resonance not to
her, but to its echo in the hearts of her
listeners. Whence, then, had come this
marvellous change in the mutual rela-
lions between her audience and herself?
She was conscious only Of the joy of I'M
restrained expression; the audience, only
of the delight of ear and eye; and
Godfrey Bellingham, sitting with folded
arms and charmed pulses in the midst
of the assemblage, had no suspicion that
any part of this triumph of harmony and
beauty was due to him. His eyes and
all his senses were turned toward her,
but how should he imagine that amid
the crowd of that great amphitheatre
her glances were conscious of no face
but his, and that all the stupendous
magnetism of their silence and their ap-
plause was conferred and concentrated in
him? He had even forgotten that his
. MargueriteS were in her glrdle.
AS has already been intimated, how
ever, it would be superfuous to give any
account of this memorable performance
from the audiences point of view. Com
, petent judges, who attended many repe-
titions of the opera, have declared that
Mile. Mariana never afterward surpassed
the standard Of excellence she attained
on this first occasion. 1t was the topic
of the time, and the fame of it spread
all over the United States, and was
spoken of next day in London and Paris.
!, The public, which is so inhuman and
/ tyrannical in its apathies and antipathies,
is like a child and slave in its favorit-
: ism and its homage. It idoized the in
!, comparable Mariana, and would have
5 built her house of gold, with jeweled
: windows, if she had demanded it. The
? unknown girl from the upper reaches OF
| the Hudson, was crowned queen of New
{ York for the sake Of two or three hours
/ sweet singing.
r 1t is seldom that Adam, and even divin.
er Eve, in the days of their youth, are
> wholly insensible to the worship Of thei,
t fellow creatures. They may say and be.
3 heve that flattery cannot make them
F.; alter their own estimate of their merit
/, nevertheless, the eye that sees admira
l ton in all other eyes involuntarily wakes
: brighter and more assured, and the pres
3 ence before which others bow down, il
it do not bear itself more commandingly
$ can at least scarcely avoid graceful
/: condescension. Doubtless it is not the
merit but the homage which the merit
q causes that creates the citation. And by
q and by the suggestion will insinuate it
| self that there may, after all. be some
D thing exceptional in the nature gifted
t with such talents, apart from the talents
1 themselves. From this point it is not fal
! to the conclusion that exceptional nature:
l demand exceptional treatment and can
sideration-should not be made account.
able to ordinary rules; should be law
unto themselves. No position is more
susceptible than this of being indicated
by plausible arguments, and q poor argu.
l ment warmed by good will has always
been worth dozen better ones chilled
and torpid from the breath of disinclina
ton.
: Now Mile. Mariana, though she could
!, not estimate the influence upon Others
of the personal quality of her voice
could not help knowing that she sung il
tune and correctly; but, inasmuch as
. many other women could do this, SHE
was forced to infer that her being made
d queen Of New York must be due to some
personal quality, as aforesaid. This just
e persuasion gave her pleasure ON more
q accouAts than one; but one account wa!
b that it seemed to justify in some measure
l. the deception which she was maintain
n ing before the world. Though still
e chargeable with purloining Marana's
g name, she might, perhaps, acquit hel
d conscience Of damaging that lady in hel
: musical reputation. If she were listened
,e to with as great favor as the genuine
= Russian diva would have been, surely
l. the latter could not complain of any
IS very great practical injury. On tn,
q contrary she would have earned al
d American renown without being
3, troubled to SO much as open her lips
IS True, renown was all she would earn
RI but she had voluntarily given up thu
e offer of other emoluments before tn,
d false Mariana had ever been thought of