ADVENTURES OF A TRAVELLING SINGER.

NZ Truth, Issue 143, 14 March 1908, Page 8

ADVENTURES OF A TRAVELLING SINGER.

CRANKS I HAVE MET.

My Life on Tour.

'(By Ada Crossley.)' i

' I will not pretend to have had any ] very terrible adventures during my life, but I have travelled a good deal during the course of the many tours i which" I have undertaken m this and , other countries'. I was bom and bred ! m Gippsland, Australia, a district which forms the widest part of Victoria, and I am proud to describe myself as a child of 'the bush. In those early days I had to take long daily RIDES ON. HORSEBACK m order to obtain my musical education, which was afterwards completed m Melbourne. The first turning point of my life came when the question of trying my luck m London presented itself for. consideration. I was very doubtful about taking the step, and eventually decided to trust to luck by spinning a coin on the question— heads to go to London, tails to remain m Australia. It came down heads, and I started on one o%

THE LUCKIEST VENTURES OP MY LIFE.

Looking -back over my life, I must say that the luck has certainly been with' me, and seldom more conspicuously so than when at the Leeds Festival one of the big singers mistook the hour of the performance. I was present at the time, and, knowing the music, was commissioned to take her place. This, of course, served to bring me before the public j m a most unexpected way, giving me one of the . chances of my life. However, most of my earlier adventures have already been wri't^n about, so I will turn to those of more recent date. The provincial" tour upon which I have been engaged all the autumn and winter has been, responsible for many amusing incidents and adventures. One thing that has amused me very much is that so many people have jumped to the conclusion, that, because I am a singer I should also be

AN EXPERT AT '{LIMERICK-' • ING."

Where the connection comes .m I cahoot at all see myself, but, be this as it may, at almost every town where I have sung I have been the recipient of countless requests, both by letter and personally, to assist the applicants with suggestions for "last lines." "lam sure, wrote one lady to mc, "that you will not withhold your assistance m this matter, because I am not fighting for my own advancement', but. intend, to devote all my winnings to charitable purposes, .after deducting a reasonable sum as salary for the time lam spending. I have already been trying very hard to win a prize for several months, but, although I have not yet succeeded, I feel sure that with your kind help I will do so. If you will comply with my request I shall be very glajtl, m order to recompense you for any time you may spend, by buying a ticket when next you give a concert here." I am afraid that, as the odds against winning a prize must We many thousands to one, this kindhearted "lady, when she .does win a prize, will not have much left over for charities after deducting —a reasonable sum as salary" for the time spent. Anyway, lam afraid I

DID NOT RISE TO THE OCCASION.

My readers would be surprised, I think, did they know, how often a public performer is applied to for advice,, apart from the kind I have just spoken, of, on all sorts of subjects. I sang at Darlington early m November and three notes were sent round to mc after the concert which will furnish a striking example m evidence of what I say. The first was from an ' eccentric individual who said he had invented a smokeless fuel, and thought, as I was constantly touring about from town to town, I might like to become agent for it, with commission on sales. He suggested that at every concert I should announce from /the platform the advantages of the fuel ! The second was from a lady who was. anxious to place her two daughters m a good London school, where their education could be completed. "I venture, dear madam," she wrote, "to trou-' hie you over this matter, knowing that your home is m London, and that you will therefore probably, be able to advise me as to which ' is

THE MOST FASHIONABLE SCHOOL, i

and the one where my girls are likely to 'be 'finished' to the best advantage. At present I have practically decided to send them to Miss Douglass's school at 133 Queen's Gate, but I should be so much obliged if you could confirm the wisdom of the choice." In this case, I may mention, I replied to my correspondent confirming her choice, partly her cause I happen to know this school very well by reputation, and partly because her letter to me was a very nice one. The third lette/i: was from" a doctor, who said he was studying to specialise on the throat, and wanted to know whether -I would leave him, m my will, my larynax and vocal chords, as after hearing me sirig he was certain much valuable information -and knowledge might be gleaned from their examination ! Whenever I visit Manchester I invariably recall an adventure of mine which is indelibly associated with my memory of that town. One day m London, just as I had finished lunch, and was preparing to fulfil an engagement t

TO SING AT A WEDDING

reception, an agent called upon me m a great hurry to say that an artist who had been engaged to sing at a concert that evening at the Grand Hotel, Manchester, had been "taken ill. Could I fulfil the engagement m her place. Making a hasty calculation as to trains and times, I consented, _ and by going straight to the station from my afternoon engagement, after merely returning home to pack my bag, I caught the Manchester train, and was able to dine and change into evening dress en route, It was a bitterly cold evening, with snow on the ground, so that I was very glad to -get to the hotel. Imagine my astonishment when I was informed that there Was no concert there, and Mr Weishaupt, the courteous manager of the hotel , soon dis>-

covered for me that there was not a concert anywhere m Manchester that evening. Much puzzled, I had some supper and returned to London again by the midnight train to discover next day that the agent had meant the Grand Hotel, Birmingham. An incident, which' must have been more startling for my neighbors than for myself, occurred to me the other day, at my house m St. John's Wood, Having returned from the provinces the night before, and being engaged to sing m the afternoon, I was just myself that I could nave a few hours' rest when there was a knock at the front door, and the arrival of a photographer with an immense amount of impedimenta reminded me that I had consented to have some photographs taken. After several pictures had been obtained m the garden, my husband and I

POSED AT THE BILLIARD TABLE

while the • photographer arranged his flash-light apparatus. By some miscalculation he put rather too much flash-light powder out, with the result that when he lighted it the explosion was so violent that it quite shook the windows. In order to let the smoke escape, all the windows, which happened to be m front of the house, were opened, and a dense black cloud floated out into the front garden- which speedily attracted the attention of passers-by. Within five minutes everyone in -the neighborhood imagined; 'that .the house was oh. fire, and it was only with the greatest difficulty that my husband prevented the fire engine being sent for. One wag' in the crowd, when' he found we did not want a fire engine, suggested m a loud voice that the house was evidently insured,, a-nd altogether I felt heartily glad when smoke and crowd had dispersed, and the photographer had gone his ways and left me m peace. ___ ,