PATTI AS A CHILD.

Manawatu Herald, Volume VII, Issue 261, 24 April 1889, Page 2

PATTI AS A CHILD.

«~ The following reminiscences of Fatti a« a child Will be found interesting. And at cisht yeara old »he was even then a parsonage of som« importance, managing to ins'ain a lartre family on the money sbe made by concert-giving. Long before she ronld speak plainly, ltttle Adettun wou.'rt hum all the airs she ha« leaned at b,er mother's knee with amazing fa-iiity. Nothing delighted her mi much as to accompany her parents to the theatre when they went to fulfil their eveiiinu't* engagement. Propped up against a wing, ahe would fo low their perfurmnmeH through n lrnle in the caums, dimly deposing of apple* and sweetmeats, wuh. wjjiob the. : artirs libera ly supplied her, the while. Wrll she remembers how on the occasion of an eminent primadomia making her debut at the New York Opera House «hf ran up to the great lady,, who was curt«eytm; after her final aria to the app'anae of an tnthmnaitic public, aud with tbe ingenuoiiH imiß-ttinence of her five Humm m txciairaed, " How badly yi.u tnll ! Yon rest too long 011 the neobud note. Listen to n.-., and try to do it a» I do I " Tbe appearance of Mario and Grisi in New York i h miotliet of the j»nroa dniin»'n earliest itiniui«ncnce«. and she in wont to tell how tagerly she looked forward to the great erenl. » d t>aved her poekfi-nioney to buy a little bouquet of camellias to present to the Diva of whom she had heard so much ; how, when the moment arrived, swelling «ith pride, nhi* screwed up her courage to offer th« poyy. shy altno«t for the first time in hrr life; how Grini, tired or imj.atienr. wa^rd away the flower* with f »c word* " Not just nQw, little girl •" and bow Mario, )itaii<ltng by, ca'ight her hi hisarmx, and, kit»*inif «tway (be tears promised •« ke*N> tfiym f.ir aver for her pretty <ake. After the opera was over, the child on returning home would jump out of bed when all was quiet in the house, and by the light of a cradle would attire herself in a red oloak of her mother's, and with her father's sombrero perched on her head, would enact the scenes now from." Norma," now from "Lucia" or "Smnambultt," clapping her hands and shouting hrava ! at her own performance, while showering homemade wreaths and bo fuets of newapaper at her feet. At lengtU a crisirf cams in l)*?r parent* affaire, and, their /ioanoet

■Ming at the lowest ebb, the child herself proposed giving a concert, for which ■ 'jtatatfi -at a few cents sold well enough. Mdme Barilli, as she powdered her child's small brown fao* felt no unnatural tvepi- , •dation; bu* Adelina herself, nothng daunted, tktched her doll "Hennette" u» hermifms, and strutting oa the platform with ineffable importance, curtseyed with her hand on her heart, as she had seen wisi before her, and then with the most "precocious postures imaginable commenced her " cast* diva." Loud laughter and applause greeted the gifted child, whose voice if no* strong was pure and thrilling as a blackbird's, and whose execution of intricate passages was well-nigh phenomenal. JProm that day Adelina Patti's concerts be> •came the ra^e of the town.