Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1906-10-31
az MARcARET e. sANcsrER.


The exceptional woman to whom
God has given a glorious voice of
great breadth, compass and sweet
ness has the world at her feet. Her
voice is a gold mine and during the
years of her triumphant career mon
ey is rained upon her without stint,
and she has flowers and compliments
and the alteration of thousands. No
one else possesses her power to
please the listening world. If art
has done its best to develop her nat
ural gifts and if, in addition to the
music of her voice, she is endowed
with great soul, sympathetic and
passionate, refined and sensitive, she
reigns over all hearts an uncrowned
queen, whose sceptre sways the null
titude as the wind bows the golden
heads of field of ripened wheat.
Such voice is seldom found. Oft
ener it is bestowed upon a peasant
woman, who has spent her childhood
in out of door work, than upon the
favored daughter of home replete
with luxury and alive with culture.
This is why we are sometimes terri
bly, disappointed at the chasm that
seems to lie between the woman and
the artist, the one being, it may be.
coarse and sensual while the other is
beautiful and satisfying. But the
truest artists must be great in their
womanhood as we'll as magnificent in
their art; if they are to rise to the
top of the profession.
Good voices are often utterly
ruined in childhood through the folly
of parents and teachers, who allow
them to be, strained too early. Real
musical training and hard work, so
far as the voice is concerned, may be-
gin in early gir1hood, but must not
anticipate that period. Although a
girl may have pleasing voice and a
good ear, there is no reason to expect
that she Will one day become a fam
GUS singer. In no department of ed
ucation does the probability of disap-
pointment Turk as it does here. Hun
dreds of young women have voices
that should be cultivated, voices fiex-
ible, sweet and silvery, voices that
will be agreeable in the parlor and
the drawing room, and that may
prove acceptable in concerts and
choirs.
The splendid voice, full of color,
fire, depth and expression, the royal
soprano or the full-throated contralto,
is the birthrig1t, as l have said, OF
one here and there, not of the many
If one has it, her parents, her friends
or her townspeople should do their
utmost to give her the opportunities
she needs for it's fine cultivation
This will be an affair of time, pains
and great expense. In this country
the best masters charge large fees for
an hours teaching, and often. after
years of earnest study and effort, the
voice fails to fulfill it's promise.
There are excellent advantages fol-
the girl with a voice in America
t Conservatives in the larger cities
have attracted the best teachers and
a student may gain very much by de
voting her efforts to acquiring whad
can be learned here. Patriotic people
sometimes declaim against the com
mon anxiety to send our daughters
| to Europe for musical education
| The gist of the matter is that whfN
we have good advantages here, WI
| still lack atmosphere. A girl who i:
taking her musical gifts seriously
| and who expects to devote years o.
her life to singing professionally
should go abroad to be taught. Ii
Paris, Berlin, Vienna or Florence sh,
| will become one of eommunit,
where music is as daily bread. Sh,
Observation-Disclosures