The Washington herald., 1908-02-16
GIRL QUARTET SAIL
Go to Panama to Give Musi-
cal Concerts.
TO BE PAID BY GOVERNMENT

Miss Anderson, I'm Command, Says
Her Companions Were Selected
Largely Because of COmeliness.
Two Are Insfrumentalists and Two
Singers-BOOked ON the Colon.
New York. Feb. 15.-"When first
started to organize this concert company
TO go TO Panama, / thought OF taking sew
eraI men, but / found difficulty in get
ting male musicians at the salaries al
lowed by the government Then. too.
Canal officers in this country came 10
me and said: Here. what are you doing.
Miss Anderson? There are lots Of men in
the Zone-Eothing but men. Those poor
fellows are just hungry for the sight of
women-pretty women. What YOU should
do is to take with you the prettiest girls
you can get
So said Miss Ruth Anderson, at the
Panama Steamship Company dock, this
afternoon. just before the sailing of the
steamship Colon.
When the Colon sailed for the Tsthmus
this afternoon she had among her pas
sengers Miss Anderson violinist, Miss
Katherine Rogers. soprano; Miss FEida
Ohling. contralto, and Miss Laura Cope
pianist, who are going to give series Of
concerts in the Canal Zone under the
patronage Of the United States govern
ment
Girls Are ComeIy.
Now. I'm not saving I made by salec-
tions solely on the basis Of pe~ssn at
fractions continued Miss Anderson. ''bur
I will admit it had a deal 10 do with them
I didn't neglect talent by any means. but
/ picked out the most attractive girls /
could find. You see. az least - per cent
of d musicians success depends on her
personal charm. Any one bad-tempered
and ugly must sing or play like an angel
TO neutralize the effect"
The concerts are 20 be given in the
Young Mems Christian Association club
houses at Colon. Panama, Empire and
Culebra and viii be in lire with The gov
ernments policy of providing welfare
workers 10 amuse the men who are de-
voting their lives 20 digging the big
ditch"
To BE Gone FOuF Weeks.
Although the vicinity Of North River
and Twenty-sixth street was one Of the
dreariest spots in town to-day, with
sheets of driving rain pelting the steve
doTes and policemen who formed the ma
jority Of the pedestrians, Miss Anderson.
The leader ol the party. was on hand
early.
we expect 10 be gone four weeks.
she said, and in that time We shall give
| eight concerts, two in each town. On our
arrival In the zone, We are to be met by
the secretaries Of the Young Mems Chris
! tian Association clubs who have planned
all the details Of our visit. From that on
We shall be in their hands
THE government is taking much inter-
est in the entertainment of the. canal en-
ployes, you know, and it has spent S55. 900
I in building each of the clubhouses. They
/ have been so successful that, believe, il
/ Is intended to build four more.
"The secretaries Of the clubs are an
civil service men, appointed by advice OF
the international Young Mems Christian
| Association.
Programmes 10 Please All.
Il have been told there are 2000 Y. NJ.
/ c. 4. members in the zone, and. besides
/ that, there are three or four thousand
/ other Americans. all of whom we .xpect
/ to see at our concerts. OF course. they
/ viii be all kinds of men, and We are try
/ ing TO arrange our programmes so as to
/ appeal To every class
/ we shall give eight regular numbers
at each concert. not including encores, of
which I am sure there will be many.
4 That will mean two solos for each of US.
/ The first solo will always be something
/ rather classical, perhaps heavy, and in a
/ foreign language-bits from the German
and Italian composers, for instance. The
/ second viii be lighter. and the encores
4 viii all be popular. such as old Black
Joe and variations of popular melodies.
Our aim will be both to educate and
to amuse."
/ Curfew Law No Terror.
! DO you expect to be bothered at all
by this curfew law. which there is talk of
enacting in the zone?" was asked.
oh, no" replied Miss Anderson. 7
think that's all talk, Besides. it would
| have to be an extremely early curfew
/ that would deplete the audiences at half
past nine o'clock. II our concerts begin
promptly on schedule time. at s o'clock.
as they should, and if we cont have four
or five encores to each number, we ought
to be through by that time. So I'm not
! worrying.
"One of the reasons we are going to the
/ Canal Zone is to give the employees some
| diversion, to keep them from doing things
they ought not to do If we can keep
them engaged until their bedtime we shall
be successful. I think
We're not going down strictly for mer-
cenary reasons, you know. There is a
! kind of patriotic purpose underlying.
Il must say that 1 find il attractive to
work for the government, and in a way
that is what we are doing The govern
ment gives US our transportation, and we
are going down under its auspices
It's my first experience of the kind, of
| course, and we all hope that our presence
on the isthmus viii help a little in build
ing the canal At any rate, we are going
to try to learn great deal about it-as
/ every American ought to.
I'VE expect to have a good time. as
there will be several social affairs for Us.
and to return much the better for cur
trip. ] only hope We shall be able to do
an equal amount of good for the men who
are working dewR there"