Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1898-05-18
MAINE FARM WHERE THE PRIMA
DONNA MADE HER FIRST BOW.
Lillian WOULD LIKE TO BUY THE OLD
HOMESTEAD, BUT ITS PROPRIETOR
PREFERS TO KEEP IT.


The brisk ride along a good road was
delight to one who loves the country and
the things that go along with it. On
tree in front of the old DIR. Dyer house,
flock of snow buntings swung and twit-
tered, and farther on by the Batter farm |
noticed a redpoll looking at me from a
snow laden apple tree. Crossing the mar
| row gauge track and climbing the hill
that leads up to the farm, a flock of seven
saucy little juncos fluttered along ahead
| Maine is not altogether deserted by the
beautiful in winter.
| had read that the house W here Nordica
was born was a little white cottage with
a few bushes growing about it; but not so.
| 1t is one of those comforta bic looking and
roomy New England farm houses, which
are the delight of inheritors and an honor
| to the builders. In front of the house
runs a low stone wall, and along he ample
lawn are well-kept shade trees. Behind it
is modern barn with tons and tons of
sweetsmelling well-made hay in it.
The farm is a good one. Up across a
field is large wood lot which creeps over
the top of a hill and down toward the IA
nous Titcomb maple syrup and sugar
farms, and the old Norton farm where
| Lillian Norton's father was ''raised" and
where | have played many a day with
Arbo Norton and other children of the
family in years gone by. From the front
door Of the house one can look away
twenty to forty miles all around and see
the beautiful blue mountains of Franklin
and Oxford counties, the nearest being
New Vineyard mountain, if l am not mis-
taken.
The gentleman now living in this house
is Alexander Forsyth, a near relative of
Nordica, who gave US hearty welcome
and at once placed a chair for us by the
fire in the old sitting room. This room
is paneled by doors and finished work of
old pine in way that gives surety to its
claim OF antiquity, and yet the house is
not so very old.
At the suggestion that we had come to
write something about the place, Mr.. For
syth kindly volunteered some facts, say
ing by the way, that many things had
been said and written about the house that
We're utter falsehoods. The house was
:
father of Lillian.
The future prima donna lived on this
farm till she was three years old, not very
long, TO be sure, but long enough to mould
her lungs and chest for the reception of
the glorious pine laden air that comes
rolling over the trackless forest from the
northwest and to get the lesson of the
OF. ia ms nj 1 he m n
her soul. She has since Travelled in
Switzerland and in Italy but no famous
peaks have caused her the thrill of de-
light that the first glimpse of Old Blue
does when, having left her company in
Boston or New York, she runs down home
for few days all by herself, and escapes
the troublesome newspapers and public.
Before going over the old house was
shown book wherein are trea- ured he
records of the Norton family. These are
the generations of her family
Lillian is the daughter OF Edwin Norton
and Amanda Elizabeth Norton, who was
the daughter of Camp meeting John
Allen. Every one doesn't know that Nor
dica had for a grandfather the famous
Methodist preacher but ii is fact. Ed
win Norton was the son OF James |. Nor
ton, who was born in Tisbury, Mass,
March s, 1888. His wife was Smith,
daughter of Timothy Smith James |.
Norton was the son of Ephraim Norton
who was sailor of Massachusetts, and
who came to Pennington with his wife,
Deborah Instance, in 17SS. Ephraim was
the son of Major Peter Norton, who was
a Revolutionary soldier, and was born at
Edgartown. Mass, Sept. 9, IT'S. The
major was the son of Ebenezer Norton,
who was the son of Nicholas Norton, who
was born at Weymouth and lived in
Dukes county, Mass, in 1863
And it only remains to be said that Nor
dica is eligible to membership in the
Daughters of the American Revolution or
the Order of Colonial Danes.
Mr.. Forsyth took US over the house.
Just off the sitting-room is bedroom
9xlS feet, and here, one morning. won't
say how long ago, for l forgot to make
note of it from the book of the Nortons-
she was born. 1t is a recorded fact that
her mother discovered her first faint cry
to be more musical to her than the voices
of seraphim or cherubim.
In the parlor is a large picture of Nor
diea elegantly framed and bearing her
autograph written in London in 1886, /
believe. Mr.. Forsyth's niece, Miss Lucy
A. Stone, lives with him, and she it was
who accompanied us over the house and
pointed out things of interest There was
picture of Jenny Lind in the same room,
and casts of Homer and the Maid OF
Athens.
Mr.. Forsyth formerly lived in Boston,
and while there collected some pictures
which are becoming valuable with age
One is an oil painting by welI-know1
. artist of forty years ago entitled "Buy a