The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1898-08-23
CHRISTINE NELSON'S HOME
The Prima Donna Revisits the Place
of Her Birth in Sweden.

New York, Aug. 23.-Christine Nils
son has sold property in Boston valued
at 5000 900, if reports from Europe are
to be believed, with the object of in
vesting this money in her native land
Although she has lived since her retire
ment from the stage and her marriage
to a Spaniard almost continuously in
Paris. it has been observed that she has
frequently shown a desire to return to
her native land permanently. One Of
her appearances before an audience Of
any size took place not long ago on one
of her visits to Sweden, when she was
serenaded by a large number of stu
dents from one of the universities. When
they had finished she sang to them sew
eral Swedish folksongs from her bal
cOny-
Recently the Countess de Casa Miriam
da, as she is known in private life, re-
turned to Sweden to visit the village
of Snugge, in which she was born near
~ 80 years ago. She had not been
back in 40 years, but the detail with which
she remembered the place astonishei
every member of the party which ac-
cOmpanied her Some of the original
furniture is said still to stand in the
little house which was Christine's first
home, and her first remark on entering
one of the rooms was:
All there is the little trundle bed on
which I passed so many nights!"
Later, when she was walking along
the IOdQ lndL leaQS TO NlSlauQd, the
countess said:
There by the big stone is a fresh
spring, from which all the little girls
in the neighborhoOd used to have to
fetch water for the coffee. I can re-
member it all as clearly as if 1 had
done it only yesterday"
She passed the night in an inn near
the place of her birth, and the next
morning went to a, nearby village in
which some of her youth had been
passed. On the way the carriage turn
ed from the high road through a pri-
vate way. AS the barrier was removed
for the vehicle to pass the prina donna
said:
How often have I ridden through
this gate! I can recognize the old stone
pillars on each side of the gate"
The old house was, of course, very
much changed, but there were still
points about it which the woman who
had played and sang there as a child
still recalled. The old threshing floor
was still intact, and the same in nearly
every detail that it was formerly.
Here there used to be dancing so
smile, land I could never recall how
many times have had to play my old
fiddle for the dancing"
After she sought out six old friends
in the vicinity and spent some time
with them, Nine. Ia COmtesse de Casa
Miranda returned to Stockholm, but not
before she had left with them substan-
tial souvenirs of her visit.
Christine Nilsson is said to be one of
the richest of the retired singers, so she
can easily afford to be generous to her
childhood friends, especially if they be-
long to the same humble walks of life
from which she came. That the large
fortunes earned by popular singers in
this country today are nothing new can
be understood from the fact that on one
of her visits here Christine Nilsson
earned $3.50. 900. Jean de ResZke's STE, 900
and Calves $50, 900 seem small enough
compared to that amount. Her profits
oil, Enr- 1T10r ST
great, and her European successes help
ed to swell the fortune she possesses
today. Fortunate investment was also
an important element in her wealth.