Staunton spectator and vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1896-1916, 1903-04-10
FREAKS OF FORTUNE.
Curious Turns of Her Wheel In Russia,
Italy. and Germany.

Fortunes wheel has lately played a
few interesting pranks in the destiny
of mere men in Russia and Italy which
remind one of the wonders of Aladd
in's lamp. Thus poor fellow named
Shalyapin, who few years ago labor
ed long and hard for his daily bread in
various Russian cities, standing on
the lowest rung of the ladder, is now
the prince of Russian singers, and,
what is more, a splendid actor over
and above. Whenever he appears be-
fore the footlightsthe theatre is crowd
ed to the ceiling and the manager has
to turn money away" In Italy a
sudden revolution of the fateful wheel
has producec similar result, and
SignOr GiOrgioni, who was only fish
monger some eight months ago, Is
theatrical star of the very first magni
tude to day. He was noted until last
year for the loud, sllvery voice with
which be was wont to cry out and
praise bis finny wares in the market
place, drawing considerable crowd OF
buyers away from his competitors.
One day lover of music CHANGING to
pass that way heard the voice and de-
clared that there was money and music
in it, Giorgioni thereupon changed
the fish market for music school. and
has now made his irst appearance be-
fore the public of Naples with tri-
umph which breaks all records. The
walls of the San Cairo Theatre quak-
ed with the thunder of the applause
which greeted the .ex fishmonger, and
musical critics are squandering upon
his performance..t the superlatives of all
the adjectives of praise in the vocabu-
larry He is credibly asserted to be the
prince of Italian tenars, and likely
candidate for thr championship of the
world.
Prizes in life's lottery are restricted
to no one profession or calling. Thev
may be fewer in this career and more
numerous in that, but they are the
monopoly of none. This universally
of lucky chance was curiously exem.
pIified short time ago here in the
German capital by lady whose occu-
pation-she was correspondent in a
dressmaking establishment-shut her
out from the everyday world and left
her little opportunity of bettering her
position. But the psychological mo
ment arrived when an importer out in
MOntevideO wrote to Berlin firm say
ing that he refused to accept large
consignment of goods sent him. and
gave various grounds for his attitude.
The lady correspondent replied to his
letter with great ingenuity and equal
energy, and the correspondence, car
ried on for a considerable time with
remarkably great emphasis, ended in
the triumph of the lady. The goods
were finally accepted and paid
for. At present the importer in ques-
tion, who is travelling on business, paid
visit to Berlin, called on the firm,
and spoke of the dispute in which he
had been worsted. The wealthy creole
was not little astonished to learn
| that all the arguments had been for
mulated and the letters written by a
young lady. lie asked to see her, fell
in love with her on the spot. proposed,
and was accepted then and there, and
thus his business trip has developed
into delightful wedding tour. The
dressmaking firm is now besieged with
applications for a post which offers
such attractive possibilities LoLdon
Telegraph.