WACHTEL THE PERFORMER.

Dunstan Times, Issue 782, 13 April 1877, Page 3

WACHTEL THE PERFORMER.

The San Francisco News Letter tells the following:—“A pathetic story has been going the rounds of the papers as to the manner in which Waehtel, the great tenor, first became known and famous. This narrates how he was originally a poor cab driver in Dresden, and that one wintry night, as he was singing to himself upon his box, the audience of the Grand Opera began to disperse ; how the entranced multitude gathered around the unconscious cabby; how he finished his solo amidst a storm of applause ; and how, the very next day, a large purse was subscribed to scud him to the conservatory at I'aris. Mr Sehengler, who lives over on Rincon Hill and who is also German, was much affected by this story, and as he, too, has a voice, he determined to be sent to Paris at once. So, on Thursday evening he waited until the California Cheatre began to let out, and, mounting the box of a hack in front of it, ho lifted up his voice and sang. The tumultuous crowd was instantly hushed, and stopped transfixed, as, with closed eyes, the absorbed singer sat, his whole inspire 1 soul floating out in glad triumphant noise. The selection by Mr Sehengler was ‘Tommy, make room for your Elide,’ one of the best of its kind, but at the end of the third verse a brickbat struck Mr Sehengler immediately beneath the right car, knocking him over the dashboard, following which he was walked ovr and his neck stepped upon by the thoughtless throng.' Mr Sehengler is convinced there is a fraud about this Waehtel story somewhere.” Common Malformation.—Too long a tongue. George 111, after opening the Session of Parliament, asked the Chancellor, “ Did 1 deliver the speech well ?” Very well, sir,” was Lord Eldan’s reply. “lamgl id .of it,” rejoined the King ; “ for there was nothing in it.”