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Alverson, Margaret Blake, 1836-1923

"Sixty Years of California Song"


Other entertainments of this nature were given. H.M. Bosworth's
operetta, "Mother Goose Reception," had a tremendous run. It became so
popular that it was played in every city and town of any size from San
Bernardino to Sacramento and Stockton and as far north as Oregon.
There was a rivalry between it and the Milkmaid's Convention which
received its full merit throughout the state. Mrs. Hodgkins and Miss
Lucy Grove were the bright originators of this cantata, which proved
one of the most interesting debates upon the milk question and
microbes ever propounded in any community with musical setting and was
a genuine side-splitting entertainment.
One of the special engagements that occurred yearly were the
commencement exercises of the Benicia Female seminary, a meeting of
alumnae and pupils. From 1862, on my return to California from Boston,
until the death of our instructor, Mary Atkins-Lynch, I was the
honored guest as vocalist at these gatherings, and I count these
epochs in my career some of the special occurrences. I was among the
first pupils of the school and added my talent on all occasions of
note during the continuance of the seminary. It was in Benicia where
Mrs. Lynch first began her work as principal of the seminary. Her
pupils are now scattered over every quarter of the globe. A thousand
invitations were sent out and 250 accepted and others sent their
regrets from the different cities in which they resided.


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