Wauwatosa news. [volume] (Wauwatosa, Wis.) 1900-1948, 1903-07-18
A Daughter of the West.

master.
She wished, she announced, to be 4
singer Of Irish songs alone, and although
she was prevailed upon to sing a few
English ballads, she chung, for the most
part, to her native airs, singing them
with Il pathos that brought tears to the
eyes of almost all who heard her.
At last the night Of her first appear
ance drew near. She was to sing at the
Queens hall, and everywhere placards
announced her as the new Irish Soprano
Miss Kathleen Neville.
The signor, as he walked through the
streets, stopped before every one of
them, his bosom swelling with pride and
elation, and Maude was little better
The NEW Irish soprano" herself, how
ever, was pitifully nervous, and perfectly
convinced that, on ascending the plat
form and meeting the glanees of so many
hundred pairs OF eyes, her voice would
instantly leave her forever, so that she
would be exposed as q fraud. and her
two friends held up to the world as OBJ
jects of ridicule.
But it cannot be so. You are sure to
surpass yourself" her master told her.
so you both say. You don't know
how l feel, signor, you can't possibly
know Oh, why didn't l stay at Bal
inahow singing to myself in the
boreeng"
That is scarcely grateful, Mees Kath-
leen."
Il know it isn't, and I'm awfully sorry
to be so hOrrid, only am so frightened;
and when l try TO get Maude to console
me the practical creature only says. You
must take a bottle of Guinness stout,
dear, that will make you all right As
if You could, you know"
well, you might at least try. 1t is
wonderful what little stimulant can do
when one is very frightened. Mind you
are very careful what you eat and drink
today, and oh! do be careful of your
throat. If you should catch cold in it,
Don't, signor! The idea is too hor-
rible"
As the eventful evening drew on large
bouquets of dollhouse flowers began to
arrive for Kathleen tributes from some
of the signor's male pupils, most of
whom cherished hopeless love for the
beautiful Irish girl and had she carried
all their tokens with her that evening
the platform, large as it is, would scarce
ly have held them all, much less the
singer into the bargain.
But the only bouquet she carried was
one of pink roses and lilies of the valley,
given her by the signor; the others filled
all the vases, basins and jugs that
Maudes fat would supply, and turned
the six rooms into gorgeous conserva-
tory.
The signor had made his choice care
ii ho ,S.N1~ - I I
the delicate color in the girls cheeks as
though they had grown together, twin
clusters ON the same stem.
Maude could not check an involuntary
cry of admiration as she appeared, clad
in a simple ivory satin dress, her white
neck and shoulders cleaning, and her
| dark hair waved about her shapely head.
Il don't know which to admire most
you or your voice." she said.
Kathieen's lips twitched wistfully.
Il wanted to look NICE" she said $50
that people wouldn't be quite so angry
if I failed
Nonsense, child!" said Afaude, you
won't fail; why should your"
Now that the time had really come,
Kathleen's gay spirits We're ebbing fast.
She was almost too miserable to care, for
her own sake, whether she broke down
or not
Suppose she won great honors for her
self that night, and awoke next morning
to find herself famous? What good
would it do her?
She would be glad for her friends sake.
/ but for her own?
Fame was but an empty thing after
all, and meant very little; certainly it
could not bring happiness with it, and
without happiness what did anything
! greatly matter?
If only Denis had been true! How
pleased he would have been at her sue
cess, and how they would have shared it
! together.
Denis had always loved music; besides.
she would have been far happier in the
! tiniest of cabins with him than as the
greatest singer of the world
As she drove through the crowded
streets to the concert hall, she mentally
compared the two pictures; the first, a
! beautiful, luxuriously furnished fiat, and
a gorgeously -attired lady in a lounge
chair, perusing the days newspaper
which gave lengthy column of praise to
her wonderful performance Of the night
before.
Enter in the midst of it, stately
maid, with: "Will you wear the dia-
monds or the emeralds tonight, ma
dame?"
Then the scene changed to a wild Irish
hillside, with its great boulders and its
little brawling streams leaping down to
the peat bog below, and there, in the
midst of the desolate grandeur stood a
tiny whitewashed cabin with its quaint
| matched roof and earthen floor, on which
the cocks and hens picked up the leav-
| ings of the owners dinner.
She saw slip of girl with bare feet
and short petticoats bending over the
pot hanging in the open hearth, while
she crooned a lullaby to the babe that
lay blinking in its wooden cradle; and
tall, dark faced man came in from the
fields outside, his spade in his hand and
a creel of turf on his back.
And of the two pictures-but the car
rage had stopped with a sudden jerk,
and someone was opening the door.
| Queens hall at last
A round of applause went up as the
hoo ,,4fF,,I o,ir1 in x1,bsfa en- m 20 hn