The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1909-01-24

PAllS, JAN S.-Some one once said,
You can always depend on Califor-
mans for accomplishing things. They
really seem to have faculty for win
ming success" This assertion, so true
in many ways, also applies in the mat
ter of music, for almost every day,
over here. one hears Of the decided sue
cess of some former student from the
city by the Golden gate
From London, for instance, comes
the news of the success gained by VIII
Andrews with his fine voice. His po-
sition is assured there, and his engage
ments are many in the social world
He has been singing in THE Merry
Widow" these many months, and could
well aspire to grand opera were he
inclined. Andrews was one of st.
Lukes choir boys, and 1 recall all the
trouble and care Wallace Sabin took in
drilling those lads, for when he I'M
dertoon the work they did not know
do from Ia nor, indeed, the value
of a quarter note. Bob Bien was an
other C.f the boys who developed q
good voice, while Chester Fentress
was still another.
der. He did possess a remarkably fine
tenor voice. He is now singing in
London, where he has made great
success. The voice has developed into
a high barytone of fine quality. | met
him here the other day. He had run
over to Paris for the holidays and /
found him to be as unaffected and
wholesouled as when a boy in the
western city half way across the
world.
King Clark, who is recognized as one
Of the foremost vocal teachers of Paris
is another of st. Luke's former. choir
boys but of a long time before the
young man ] speak of. Clark sang in
the choir during the winter OF 1891. He
has been established in Paris for eight
years. and. in the language of the day.
has arrived
French women, and Parisiennes in
particular. have multitude of duties
to perform at this time of the year
First there is the obligation to send
out visiting cards to every one they
know or might, could would, should or
ought to know Nevertheless, the Gus
tom is on the wane. At every branch
postoffice, in former years. there used
to stand huge baskets specially in
tended to receive visiting cards.
pasteboard We're posted, and some of
them used to be delivered, but many
thousands of them, it seems, We're
never forwarded. Not infrequently
some scamp would snatch a score or
more cards from the baskets and in
some remote spot remove the pos
tage stamps and sell them.
Thousands of cards We're thrown
away and even the most conscientious
nf
to remain in a heap, undeliyered, un-
til the arrival of less busy time.
Your visiting cards, therefore. often
took TWO or three weeks to travel
quarter of a mile. Probably this dis
gusted the Partisan public, but at any
rate the people began to send fewer
cards during the closing days Of the
old year and now only some three or
four million cards pass through the
Paris postoffice. whereas twenty years
ago eight to ten times as many were
received
But more important obligation
than that of reminding your friends of
your existence by means of these visit
Ing cards is the paying of New Years
visits to relatives and friends. This
is no light task, and it is frequently
the end of January before you have
come to the end of the names on your
visiting list Naturally, too. you have
to receive a number of calls, and so it
comes about that new gowns are in
great demand at this time of the year.
Nearly all of the visiting frocks that
I have seen are of what. might be
called the straight up and down
gown with only slightly defined waists
At first this sounds perhaps as If they
might be rather mannish in cut. but
in reality nothing could be more exqui-
sitely feminine than these princess and
"soutaine" frocks when they are cut
with all the subtle knowledge of the
good dress maker and are worn by
the inimitably graceful Parisienne.
Never was perfect figure shown to
better advantage than today. But a
word of warning: Anything less than
perfection in cut is fatal and the eff
feet of such a gown, worn by a woman
of awkward carriage, by one who is
overstout or carelessly corseted, is
nothing short of comic
Among the New Year visiting gowns
that have been prepared for a we'll
known society woman there is one that
struck me as particularly charming.
1t was carried out in eitron colored
cloth of the most satinlike texture.
Somewhat on princess lines, it was
made with a little bolero and stole
cut in one, the latter reaching to the
bottom Of the skirt, and the whole en-
tirely covered with soutache embroid-
cry of the same shade as the cloth.
Buttons, of course, played large part
in the scheme, many small ones en-
broidered in citron and Egyptian blue
silk fastening down the stole to the
skirt and a few large ones appearing
on the bolero. The yoke was of
square meshed tucked white tulle, en-
broidered with spots and covered at the
lower part with gold and silver passe-
menterie. The long sleeves were COM
posed of citron colored cloth tucked
with little groups of tucks and deco
rated with small gold buttons. Around
the bust and passing under the stole
was draped a wide sash of Egyptian
blue silk-a happy combination Of coll
ors.
Stockings have never been more
precious to the feminine heart than
they are Just now. They have suddenly
come to the front owing to the fashion
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