The courier. (Lincoln, Neb.) 1894-1903, 1899-12-16
THE PASSING SHOW
VILLA GATHER
TO LILLIAN NORDICA.

TO LILLIAN NORDlCA.
NY VALIANT CouNTRYwoMAN:
will acknowledge at the outset that
your career has always interested me
more than your art. Had you limited
your ambition to church chcir, appear.
ing occasionally in q limited oratorio
repertoire. az many other women quite
az talented as yourself have done. there
would be little in you to marvel at. Had
you, on the other hand, chosen an easy
and remunerative career abroad, like
your compatriot, Mile. Sanderson, you
would have insured wiser form of no
toriety, would have appealed more
strongly to the vulgar imagination, and
would have encountered, think, but
few reproaches. 1t is your taste for
difficulties that has always interested
me. I think come strain Of the zeal Of
the campmeeting exhorter, John Allen,
your grandfather, must prompt in you
that Puritanic tendency to consciously
master whatsoever is difficult in the
world. The most remarkable thing
about you lie that you should have chos-
en- the career you have. Having once Sc.
riously set out to be singer. I fancy it
was but natural that the grand daugh-
ter OF John Allen should be good one,
aad that Whatsoever her hand found to
do. she should do with her might.
You were born at Pennington, Maine;
q name culpably easy Of pronunciation
for the birthplace Of singer. In early
life you had the still greater misfortune
to remove to Iowa; Patagonia would
have been more suspicious. Your youth
was passed among people bitterly pre-
JUDGED TO the thester and Indifferent to
must; Of the better sort. 1t was
handicap that you ran with fortune from
the outset. During the earlier part Of
your career you we're persistently logged
by misfortunes. your connection with
Mr.. Gilmore's European fiasco being not
the least among them. But you we're
sbundantly endowed with that peculiar.
ly practical and aggressive form Of cour.
age in America termed grit" believe
there lie no synonym for the word 10 any
other language. and certainly the wo-
men Of no other nation possess that
quality 90 largely. 1t 10 not always an
attractive quality in woman, but it 10 in.
valuable to ambition.
When you made your debut Ia opera,
you had studied indefatigably and your
musical education was unusually broad
and comprehensive. Your memory has
always been excellent. and you were
able to sing q large repertoire at an
hours notice. But your Unborn inspti.
tude for dramatic expression, your Puri.
tacic aversion for emotional display,
chung to you. lettering you like heavy
armor. It was not until you sang at
Beyreuth. when you were carried be.
yond yourself by the new possibilities
opening before you, by the whole associ.
atoms Of the place, the flattering com.
partnership of great artists, intoxicated
by your own success. stimulated by the
music itself az by draught OF Rhine
wine. that you began to learn that hard
est of lessons for American women; to
let your self 60, IN the argot of the green
room, abandon, and that, my valiant
countrywomsn, is the only lesson you
have never learned thoroughly; the easy
thing. which is not q matter Of labor.
or sleepless nights. or incessant practice.
but OF look. touch sigh. But here
that difficulty -defying brain was put at