San Antonio light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1911-1993, 1926-01-24
? TITLE Amira Calderon, working girl
in cloak and suit factory, dreamed
the Cinderella dream which they say

r TITLE Amira CalderOn, working girl
in cloak and suit factory, dreamed
the Cinderella dream which they say
every girl dreams.
It is always the same plot-for golden
hour she steps out of her humdrum life
and dazzles an admiring assembly of the
wealthy and important, and then back to
the old drudgery again.
All girls dream it, but this one not only
dreamed it but did it. She had her golden
hour of triumph, glory and even fairy
motor chariot, and then-well, she still
has the dress and the golden memories.
Amira Calderon began dreaming when
,brge was a poor little Mexican child in
'dMexico City. She dreamed as she helped
her mother with the cooking and house
work in their modest home, but she did
not fool herself into thinking that such
dreams had anything to do with her real
life-how could they?
Girls are supposed to marry young IN
Mexico. So when Amira reached the ad-
vanced age of sixteen it was high time to
stop dreaming and marry. Such young
he called princely. They were as poor and
humble as her own family, and why not!
WHY should she hope for anything better!
There was no answer to that question.
One day as she worked in the kitchen
q shadow darkened the brilliant sunlight
that flooded in the open door. Neither
she nor her mother heard the footsteps OF
the man who cast the shadow, because the
girl was singing She always sang at her
work-so do most Mexicans, and at their
loafing, too--and she sang well, like most
Mexicans When she finished her song
the shadow took off its hat and advanced
until the women saw a man in the door,
way -.
He was well dressed, stocky, and his
swarthy skin and his features seemed not
unlike a native of Mexico, but the pronun-
citation betrayed him as foreigner. He
asked permission to enter, which the
mother granted, though somewhat uneasy,
because in Mexico, even among the iowly,
the rules surrounding young. girls are
most strict The stranger said:
"You have beautiful voice. Would
YOU mind singing that last song again."
He did not ask which of the women was
the singer, for his ear had told him that
youth was in every vibration of it. The
girl glanced at her mother for permission
and resang her song. The man thanked
her, repeated his compliment, ard added
that if she ever came to New York, he
would be glad to have her sing for him
again. Then he bowed to each OF the
women, retreated into the blazing sun,
and was gone.
Mother and daughter looked at each
other in wonder and then laughed Who
was this crazy foreigner who had invited
them to call on him in the far-away town
where everyone is supposed to be mil
lionaire, and had not even mentioned his
name and address? He must be loco.
Just then the breeze fluttered bit Of
cardboard to the floor from the table
near the door. Amira picked it up and
promptly sounded one of her highest notes
with an accent of astonishment. The card
read:
"Enrico Caruso."
Both women rushed out and, spellbound,
watched the back of sturdy figure trudg-
ing down the street and out of sight with
out turning around. Amira was never
quite the same afterward. That brief visit
had done serious thing to her, 1t had
mixed her dreams up with her real life
and it would never be possible to get them
entirely untangled again.
Caruso, prince of singers, had stepped