The Washington herald., 1916-10-13

which his place among artists Of all
time can be ascertained. The critic need
not hesitate in pronounCing Turner the
greatest landscape painter England ever
produced, or NelasQuez the greatest OF
all Spanish painters or Wagner the great
est opera composer Of Germany. But
when il comes to singers and actors, such
superlatives have to be quaIifed For
once the Grim Conqueror has claimed
these artists their art is a thing Of the
past. to be judged only by contempora ~
accounts and never in comparison with
the acting or singing of another genera
ton. II Photographic records Withstand
the ravages of time future generations
may more fairly judge OF the singers OF
our own day. II Elizabeth Ellington had
sung into one of these magic instruments
We Of this generation might tell whether
she actually stood pTe-eminent among
singers OF England
But the Incompatible Ellington lived
long before such devices were ever
dreamed Of and there is no way OF know
ing now just what quality OF her voice
or method OF her singing nIought her
the remarkable reputation she earned in
Ter life time. She was Elizabeth Wier-
man before her marriage and at an early
date she began to aid her famiIy-humbIe
enough professional musicians. all OF
them-in gaining their meagTe living. At
hrst she was A pianist. and il is said that
at that time her voice was by no means
remarkable. More than any other singer
Of her time Ellington owed her success
and her near perfection TO constant study,
application and practice.
In spite OF her rare ability Ellington
was frail-fraiI when it came to her own
personal cOnduct-and she bitterly paid
the penalty for this frailty- At Is she
married secretly James Ellington. a
double bass player in Drury Lane Or
chestra in London. She had had her first
singing lessons from this musician, and
she was much in love with him at the
time Of her msrria ge which took place
just 1O years ago today. Whether the
extreme youth of the bride was the rea-
son for family objection that made it
necessary to keep the wedding a secret
or whether there were other objections
TO the marriage is not known Imme-
diately after the marriage the BiIlingtons
went to Dublin where, under her hus-
bands mana cement and direction. Eliza
beth met with her first great successes.
Not long after this the weakness in
Mrs. BillinEton's character began TO ex.
ert itself. and after considerable scan
dalous talk connected with her and the
publication Of some letters to her mother
purporting TO be an account Of certain
intHgues Of the young singer, she was
forced. out of self-respect. TO leave Eng
land. She hoped that her shortcomings
might be overlooked in France, but thith-
er she was followed by her brother and
her husband. The fact that she was
making as much as c15,OO a year at this
time may be one reason why they were
SO unwilling to have her leave them.
Billington's husband remained with her
in France till his death shortly after
ward and. falsely enough, she was ac-
cu2ed OF having brought about this sud
den demise. The great singer was still
a young woman, only 81 years Of age,
and her voice was in its prime. She
speedily consoled herself by marrying a
young Frenchman, who took advanta ge
Of her enormous earnings as greedily as
did her first husband Eventually in 1915
the great artist died and her matchIess
voice was stilled. 1t was rumored when
she died that her death was caused by
a blow from her impulsive French hus-
band.
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