A HEROINE IN HUMBLE LIFE.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XV, Issue 249, 20 October 1880, Page 4

A HEROINE IN HUMBLE LIFE.

Mdlle. Tua, the thirteen-year-old young lady, who has just borne off the violin prize nt tbe French Conservatoire, which was disputed by twentyfive candidates, all considerably her seniors, is the heroine of quite a little romance in humble life. Her parents, born at Turin, belonged to the working cluBP, her father, being a mason, earning a couple of -shillings a. day. He'was passionately fond of music, however, and although without the most element, ary instruction,, used, of an. evening, when work was over, to pick out on a violin, which he had bought for ten franca, airs of Verdi, Donizetti, or Bellini, which he had heard" performed" by the barrel. organs. His daughter, at that time, six years _old, Boon became his pupil, and the pupil quickly grew more proficient than ;the master. The majson also insisted upon hiß wife learning the guitar, in spite of expostulations of that worthy woman that her household duties claimed all her time. Subsequently the three went to Nice, Monaco, and other places, where they played in the streetß or in the court-yards of hotels, and made an excellent harvest, the singular musical talent of the daughter, then only. nine, yeara of age, being particularly remarked. One day a lady at 7 Nice questioned the father as to Bib ~intentions concerning hia daughter. He revealed to the lady his dream of saving up enough mooey to ~go to JParis and live there, whilst hia little girl' studied at the Conservatoire. The lady, who h&4 been struck with the child's gifts proposed ; that be should start for thai capital va t once, and undertook to , recommend him to the professor , of violin at the Conservatoire, whom she knew; The latter received the little, party, kindly, and recognised promptly the daughter's extraordinary talents, but'tlie question arose how were the three to live whilst the child was prose* cuting her musical studies. This query was solved by the violinist, who enlisted the sympathies often of his friends, each of whom subscrided thirty francs per month to supply the wants of the Tua family. The . predictions that Mdlle. Tua would make her way have been realised ; last year she carried o# the second prize at the Conservatoire, and this year she has gained the first. Her father has, says the Siecle, already received brilliant offers if he will take his daughter to America, and the fortunes .of the family may be looked upon as made. Those ten francs spent in purchasing the violin by the musical mason were well laid out. tß___Wß_-_-WWHBgaB-_aweßmßßß_-g ■"^iwuijgta.'r^tjpx^-.