The Caucasian. (Shreveport, La.) 1900-192?, 1901-01-13
A FAILURE

dramatic sopranos, the real car split
ting. soul piercing. knife edge kind. A
young woman's voice may be an ex-
quiste mcZzo soprano - but. no. that
won't do. She wants to be screcch-
ing dramatic soprano. The teacher
gauges her vanity and her pocket and
feeds the one while she cmptics the
other. 4 woman who is a world celeb
rity as an operate trainer has amassed
an immense fortune 10y running con-
traltO and meZzo soprano yOiccs-large-
ly. sad 10 say, American ones. In the
day of judgment perhaps these strain
cd voices will get even by rising up
and singing to her. An American girl
with a voice need not journey TO Paris
to ascertain its range and compass.
There arc honest singing teachers at
home who will tell her exactly what
she can expect from her voice and
what she can do with it. Having as
certaincd this. if she can afford in-
struction Iraly is the native home of
music. the mother Of the natural meth
cd of voice training. Besides. living is
cheaper than in Paris. Then lcI no
vaulting ambition tempt her to monkey
with the high screech unless she climbs
to it naturally. 1t will be her undoing.
The rich. mclOdious meZZO soprano APP
pears to be the voice belonging most
naturally to American singers. Final
ly. after the voice has been sweetened,
nodded and developed in Italy, Paris
is the spot of all the earth to acquire
what musicians call style and finish.
Dramatic expression is the natural
gift of the French nation. They will
impart it arti1icially to the SONS and
daughters of other races for a sufficient
consideration
Let us say out of the so girl stu
dents who have some talent prepare
themselves for at least an average
successful professional career. What
becomes Of the rest? They fail. Why?
Simply because they have not the grit
and the industry TO succeed. They
have no 90 in them; no more fire fash
ing earnestness than a turnip. They
go out in darkness.
Thus . in 100 aspirants are success
full Fifty have no talent; the rest are
lazy. But what becomes of them all?
The answer to this is the sad part of
the story. Many of them dawdle
through two, three. half dozen years
in Paris and go home, dead failures
and knowing it. They have not even
learned the French language correctly.
What they do thereafter is not a mat
ter of the slightest consequence to any
body outside their homes. If they
tread the ordinary rut of marriage. re-
production and the duh. domestic
grind. or If they fade out in colorless
spinsterhoOd. it is all one. Let us bury
them and leave them.
Four hundred dollars is the least sum
on which a girl can live in Paris
year and pay for tuition, clothes and
all other expenses. To do that she will
have to deny herself most of the things
which make life to a girl worth living.
Hundreds cross to Paris with no more
than half that sum for annual ex-
penses. They beg. they borrow. they
suffer. A number Of wealthy Ameri-
can ladies living in France have es-
tablished a charity fund TO aid these
forIorn girl students. but It does not
half go round. The American Girls
club is a cheap and excellent boarding
home in the Latin quarter. but it can
not accommodate more than a third
of its applicants.
Another phase Of Paris girl student
life. the darkest. Paris is the most
beautiful city of the earth. For all ex-
eept young French girls it is also the