I have been
rewarded by having given to our state many beautiful singers who
remember with gratitude their aged instructor, no matter where they
may reside, and a number of them are climbing and have climbed to high
positions of prominence as singers of ability, and with personal
attractions which have given them their stepping-stones to higher
attainments in the art of vocal music.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
GOLDEN JUBILEE OF SONG SERVICE, JUNE 12, 1896
Three days before my sixtieth birthday, which occurred on June 12,
1896, I incidentally mentioned to a friend that, on that date, I would
also be fifty years a singer before the public. The next morning a
phone message asked me to come down to the _Call_ office on some
G.A.R. business, as I supposed. This I did.
When I entered the office I was engaged in conversation for an hour
while, unknown to me, a shorthand reporter and an artist were taking
notes. I returned to my studio unconscious that my words had been
recorded and that my picture had been sketched by the quick hand of
Richard Partington. What was my great surprise on opening the _Call_
on the morning of the 12th to find myself pictured on the first page
as happily laughing as could be. The headlines ran like this:
HAS SUNG FOR HALF A CENTURY
MRS. BLAKE-ALVERSON LOANED HER VOICE
TO AID UNION SOLDIERS
HER JUBILEE RECEPTION
MADE HER DEBUT IN AN OHIO CHURCH
WHEN A LITTLE MAID OF TEN
SINGS AS LUSTILY AS EVER
She Has Sung for Fifty Years in Scores
of Churches, Halls and Theatres from
Boston Across the Continent to California
My astonishment knew no bounds, for I always shrink from publicity
even though I have become conspicuous during my singing life.
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