The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-03-06

Countess sagoni's, although he would have loved to. He was merely behind time.
 But the lard lady pricksd up her ears at mention of the Countess name, as she belonged to a real aristocracy. centuries old. which ripened on the shores of the Adriatic. and the newly richer would have given her tiara to be one of the favored few who attended her really musical nausicales.
 Her tone toward Zabritsld softened. and she told him that he could come in and sit down behind the grand piano if he found 1t too cold in the ahte-room. Zabritski had never sat behind grand piano in his life. and as he Is fond of new sensations he accepted her invita- ton and hid himself from the chatterink throng, and at last Brown came in and sang to Zabritskfs accompaniment. and above the conversation. although there were nearly hundred talking and he was the only one singing.
 After the music was all finished the nt- tle basso and his humble friend, Zabrit- ski, went away without a word from the lard lady. because. she was talking a blue streak to an aristocrat from above Fifty-ninth Street. who was as freshly aristocratic as newly minted coin. and
 
 coinage of 1908.
 But the butler gave Brown $2B in three bills as he went out. and so he was hap py-for he needed the money.
 Time works miracles. and some time later the lard lady gave an evening con cert, and having by rare good luck met the Countess Sag6ni. she invited her. and the Countess Sagoni. having a .fondness for freaks, accepted the invitation. One must relax sometimes.
 The rich lard lady had number of singers who waited in the antesro room. but her piece de resistance was no less . lion than that great Hungarian pianist (born in Irving piace), Ignace Zabritski, She had engaged him through Herr Vol fram Waldvogel. and happen to know that he was 10 receive $500 for playing once.
 Now if she had had a memory for faces she would have recognized him as soon as he came in-and yet I don't know You see Herr Waldvogel, who is a real German gentleman. blond. six feet tall and with the manners of an Austrian noble. came with Zabritski. and he pre-. l sented him to the lard lady with tremen- dous impressiveness. and Zabritski put on his most exclusive air and seemed about to die of ennui on the spot, and | that fetched the lard lady all right Qi you will pardon such a free use of Eng. lish)
 But the thing that settled it was when
 the Countess Sagoni went up to Zabritski whom she knew very we'll, and chattcd
 most bohemianly with him in very choice | Italian. After that every one in the room was hauled up and presented to him, and | then he sat down and played a pathetic thing by Tschaikowsky. and many people who knew 1t was pathetic were moved to | tears-right In the midst of their conver- | sation- and after 1t was all over the lard lady shook hands with Zabritski most ef- | fusiveiy and asked him if he knew any | other artists of dear old Hungary" who | could do a turn. She also said she adored talent" And Zabritski remembered his sense of humor just in time and told her he had a compatriot named BraunskI.
 who had glorious bass voice, and he
 thought he could get him to sing for s2oO as great favor, although he was sim ply visiting this country and was doing | nothing of professional kind. Of course you know that when the little basso came to the house he had his label on (the wrong label, naturally. as Brown, ] or Braunski, the basso, was born near Gowanus Canal over in Brooklyn). But the lard lady made much of him, l you can bet your sesterces, and the Countess Sagoni, who knew good voice
 when she heard 1t. no matter where a
 man happened to be born, had him sing
 at one of her Sundays. and that WAS tho
 beginning of his present successful career.