The San Francisco call., 1910-01-09

that / had ever heard or. Perhaps ii
was the forerunner of the modern anna
teur night. At any rate the prize that
was held out to the amateur contest
ants. including myself. was goddess
and keyless watch. When the singing
tournament was over. like Walther in
Die Meistersinger.' I was the winner.
That was and is my only claim to fame
as a classic singer
This is one of the verses that the
youthful Lauder sang:
Tho poverty daily looks in at my door.
Tho I'm hungry and footsore and i'll.
1 can look the whole world in the face
and say,
Though poor I'm gentleman stillr'
\ AUDER'S success in the competi-
ton raised him unexpectedly to the
- position of hero among the mill
boys of Arbroath and the lad had
visions of making much wealth with
his musical and mimic talents He
thought he might, ultimately, earn as
much as f5 week before he died.
Young LADDERS stay in Arbroath
lasted only two years. His uncle
SANDY" advised his mother that there
was more work at Hamilton in the
west of Scotland and at better wages
than at Arbroath. Mining was better.
he maintained, than working in fax
mill, and SO. after deal of contempla-
ton, the widow moved to Hamilton,
where Harry "got a job" at once as
a "pithead boy"
1T was with light heart" writes
Lauder. that I began work After
few weeks got a chance to go below
and work at the face with a miner
who promised to pay me 10 shfIlings
a week as his assistant.
My first trip below the surface was
to me a fearsome but thrilling expert
ence. and 1 held my breath as we went
down, down, down, farther and farther
away from the sunshine and the world
into the regions of blackness and 81
lence. The flicker from the gauze
lamp which 1 tremblingly carried only
blinded my eyes. ! seemed to be strug-
Cling for breath. and every moment
expected the grim, damp walls and
the narrow roofs of the roadways to
collapse and bury US forever. But
the stern reality of hard work soon
knocked all such thoughts out of me,
and in less than half an hour l was
sweating like NAVY in the stoop at
which my gaffer was employed.
"On the following Monday 1 got
start of my own as a -trapper. The
duties of a trapper' are to open and
close the air course doors as the pony
out. He is supposed to do nothing
else and never leave the doors on any
pretext whatever. But it is only Sup
position, for the pony drivers contrive
to make the trappers do a good deal of
their work and they are not as a rule
backward in meeting a refusal with a
bang on the jaw or a hearty kick
Many time L sampled both courte-
sies.''
IT was in this, the Eddlewood colliery
near Hamilton in western Scotland,
that Lauder first found out that he
could entertain and interest his fell
lows.
''Gie s a bit C - sang, Harry was
the frequent request during the noon
hour, and Harrys first real expert
ence at entertaining was thus gained
at the expense" as he says, "of the
inoffensive miners. Luckily for them,'
says he, my repertoire was limited to
three or four songs" For three years
Lauder toiled in the mine and took
his wages home to his mother. He did
little singing then. When his brothers
grew up and were able ito go below
into the tunnels of the colliery Harry
began to compete at concerts for prizes
and to sing at soirees.
Il was proud youth" says Lauder.
"the night that 1 received my first fee
for singing at a concert. The sum
was only ) shillings. but it seemed
many times that amount. After sing
ing my songs at the concert one of the
artists advised me to try the Glasgow
harmonic competition. l did so and
was lucky enough to be one of those
to win medal That was in 1892 The
song 1 sang that night was 'Toorallad-
die which is not very classical
title. Indeed, it was rather a ridicu-
lous song, but dressed it up as fol-
lows:
.Twig auld Tooralladdie,
Don't he look immense!
His watch and chain are no his ain,
His claes cost eichteen pence;
WI cuffs an collar shabby,
o. mashers he's the daddy;
Hats aft, stand aside. an let
Past Tooralladdie.'
ON the foundation of such meager
song LADDERS fame was built.
- When he came back to the mine
the following Monday morning he was
the hero. and be began to build air
castles, of course. He told his bride
that he proposed to chuck the mine
and go upon the stage Mrs. Lauder,