I was like one in a dream. After refreshments
had been enjoyed, Mr. Edwin Bruce came forward and with a very
appropriate speech placed in my hand an album filled with the pictures
of the choir, leaders, past and present, director and organist. I was
so astonished I had not the power to speak, so my husband, who stood
beside me, replied to the giver of such a beautiful and thoughtful
gift to us who were to sever the bonds of friendship and song after
these four happy years together. I do not suppose one of these
beautiful singers, either man or woman, is alive today, but I shall
present their pictures in this volume as a memorial to one of the most
distinguished choirs that ever sang together, some of the singers for
sixteen years, and that gladly gave its best for the Union and its
preservation in 1861.
[Illustration: A sample programme of the early Sixties.]
After we had severed our connection with the choir in Dedham, Mr.
Blake wound up relations with his firm, Parker, Barnes & Merriam, on
Milk street, Boston; we reluctantly gave up the dear old-fashioned
Taft home, with its shade trees and orchards and fine kitchen garden,
where we had passed so many happy years; we said good-bye to our
lovely neighbors the Adams, and Follensbee and Bullard families, and
moved to Hersey place, Boston, to remain until we left for California,
February, 1862. We took the same route I had taken in 1851 and were on
the way for two months.
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