The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1914-08-15
HISTORY BUILDERS.
The Secret Of a Singer. Magic Inau-

AhS ~SerASA VI OAhb~e NaettS Anhe
ence.
whrsn Esprssay for M Hsahl
By DIR. Il. J. EDWARDS.
For many years the most intimate per
4 sonal as well as professional relation
were maintained between Parke Godwi
and George William Curtis. In many re
/ spects their careers were OF a like char
acter. Both were magazine editors an
| Jointly associated as editors Of the once
famous Putnam's Magazine. Both. oh
tanned great popularity az lecturers. AM
/ II was as a lecturer that Mr.. Curti
! gained sufficient amount to repay tn
/ creditors his share of the obligation
which the failure Of Putnam's Magazin,
entailed. Mr.. Curtis was under no Iesa
obligation 10 do this. but he looked upoI
II as a debt Of honor.
After Mr.. Curtis death. in 1897. I fire.
| quently heard Mr.. Goodwin set forth II
anecdotal form some Of his recoIIectionl
OF the delightful and lifelong association
Ne had with the famous writer. One daJ
Mr., Goodwin was telling me some Of Mr.
Curtis Experiences as a lecturer when al
| Of sudden q new train OF thought Led
him to speak OF an experiences which the
latter had undergone in the dos wher
they were joint editors Of Putnam's Mag.
azine.
ct never saw Curtis really excited but
once" ksaid Mr.. Goodwin. Il should be
more accurate II said that never saw
him really excited excepting when BE-
recalled his experience with Jenny Lind
He wAs ordinarily perfect master of him
self He controlled his temper admir-
ably when he was attacked by Roscoe
Conkling at the Rochester convention OF
IsT. He always spoke Of the debt he had
incurred through his association with
Putnam's Magazine without betraying the
slightest symptom OF regret that this OBJ
legation should have weighed so heavily
upon him.
But II was different when Jenny Lind's
name was mentioned. Curtis once told
me that he heard Jenny LiDd in LeIpslc,
four or fve years before she came to
the United States. He paid $40, or the
equivalent. in German money, for his
ticket. I don't think any one in New
York City was as greatly excited as was
Curtis when Jenny Lind began her con-
cert tour in the United States.
II once asked him why his recollec-
ton OF Jenny Lind and her singing AFFECT
ed him 80 strangely.
He told me in reply that when he
heard Jenny Lind sing in Leipsie he was
satisfied that there was something be-
sides her voice that 50 mysteriously and
strongly brought the audience under her
complete control He said that after re
heard her sing in New York he was per-
susded that she possessed some mystic
or almost hypnotic faculty which she ex-
erted perhaps unconsciously. He was also
persuaded that Jenny LInd's singing and
the wonderful command she gained over
her audiences furnished a hint Of the
higher and almost unsupported faculties
not only Of the human mind. but also OF
the human soul, and that he was pro-
convinced that Jenny Land gave
the first hint in modern times Of what
the ultimate perfection and the ultimate
universal language OF the human race
are to be. For music. Mr. Curtis insisted,
Is some day TO be the universal language.
as II Is to some extent the univeral Ian
guRge now"
Copyright. 1914. b. Z J. Edwards. All rights r. I
-seTedl