The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1899-01-25
LIKES PROVIDENCE.
Master O'haTa Finds Audiences Here
Decidedly FfsndIy.


II 80 fNaNt bth5hi'd ~ VI 81
ing back TO Providence next week" !"
said Master Joe OTlares the boy So
prano. To the writer In Boston last
Saturday, "for during my previous
week there / found the audiences SC
encouraging and apparently so pleased,
ana met 40 many charming people.
| Yes, i am still presenting the choir
boy scene, with it's beautiful stage
setting; and, as you have seen here to-
day. IL seems TO please even better than
during my first engagement. OF course,
| ts something OF novelty; but you
can hardly realize how carefully it has
| 10 be handled. for you know IL is not
altogether easy TO couple the church
and the stage, To place a church scene
on the stage and yet do II I'm such a
way as not only shall not give the least
| possible offence TO the very many peo-
| pie who are patrons of Mr.. Keith's
| theatres I'm all the cities OF his circuit,
but as shall actually win their approval
ana give them pleasure, Is no easy
task; and the measure Of success L
have had is, OF course. all the more
| gratifying because OF this fact.
After the church scene, i'm which I
sing The Choir Boy In costume. / am
appearing, as before, in ordinary even
ing dress and sing several ballads, and
i have taken up several new ones,
| among them Because which seems 10
please the audiences better than any
other / have sung.
And by the way. did you ever stop To
think how very unsatisfactory many OF
the titles of popular songs are. how
little idea OF the songs themselves they
convey Besides that, there Is a good
deal in some OF these songs that is very
far from true. Just take Paul Dres-
Eap'G IN ha NfaI
for instance. Now. you know my home
~ I'M the West; and | happen 20 know
little about the locality where the
story OF that song is placed. OF course,
the moon does look fair many a night
along the banks OF the Wabash. just
as IL does on many a night on hun
dreds OF other streams. and at the right
season of the year you can smell new
mown hay there, too: but, contrary 20
the impression you would receive from
the song there is nothing at all pecu-
liar about the moon there nor anything
in the smell OF the haV that differs
from that with which you are familiar
here in New England. Really. some OF
the lines in some OF these popular songs
strike me as intensely ludicrous when
you come TO consider them seriously;
but this song Because that | am sing
ing Is one of the most sensible.I have
seen.
Mr.. Dresser's very pretty song also
tells US about the candles cleaning
through the sycamores. but the fact Is
there are precious few sycamores left
out there, for they have all been
chopped down; and you would have To
make 81 still hunt TO find many candles
in use there, too. oh, they're quite
civilized and modern out there | assure
you. Take that coon song, You'll get
all that's coming to you Anybody
nj NNn inf al 70 way
II word of announcement TO the good
souls who feel that they are entitled To
reward Of some kind in the present or
the hereafter. when I'm reality IL is only
warning TO the kind of people who
are always looking for trouble.
Il don't know. though. but the titles
of songs are just about as conclusive
and intelligent as those of a good many
of the popular books of the day, or even |
Of plays and dramatic sketches: and |
the songs have this advantage. that we |
can find out all about them without any |
particular personal effort.
Yes, ! find very much that is pleas |
ant in vaudeville; and. somehow, L |
don't seem To find any petty jealousies |
among those whom / meet-at least, |
not so far as ] am concerned. / sup |
pose because j am only boy and alone |
working my way, trying hard to win |
reputation and success. everybody !
seems 10 be very kind to me and 10 be |
disposed to take special pains TO help /
me, To give me boost as boys say.
"Oh, l can't tell just what my future |
will be. OF course. I've got some ambi-
tion, and some times | think of things \
i would like To do; but you know the !,
only way one can ever hope TO get even |
the least bit of reality out OF these day /
dreams is by trying TO do the very best |
he can now, and then leave the future |
d daNalOn itself A EfnH GnntatN
lady here In Boston this week offered /
TO supply the funds to give me an edu-
cation for the operate stage. OF /
course, il was awfully good Of her; but
you know / can't tell now what my
voice may be as | grow older. and then
again ! kind Of like To feel ! am earn
ing my own way. It's a kind of salts
faction 20 feel--or at. least should |
think IL would be--if you happen TO be-
come really a great artist. that you
have done IL all yourself, that YOU have
worked your way UP the ladder all by
your own efforts; and I thing my
mother. who is of course deeply inter
ested in my work, would look at it in
the same way.
"Yes, | don't know but IL is so, that
the ladies' and children give me more
applause than the gentlemen do: hut
then, don't you know, / think that
they are always more demonstra tive
than the gentlemen, at least as regards
a quiet act like mine. 1t seems TO me
that it takes more noise. more excite
mcnt, more appeal To the humorous
side Of life, to arouse enthusiasm among
the gentlemen In a theatre audience |
than in the case OF the ladies'
And here the interview ended, for the
sweet-Voiced lad. light-hearted and |
happy, apparently. as the average
school boy of his age, said a hasty
"good-by" and bounded away at the
call of the stage manager iust as any !