"NO TATTLE.”

Shannon News, 21 August 1928, Page 3

"NO TATTLE.”

CLARA BUTT’S WALL MOTTO;-

("Sun" Special). LONDON, August 13. "Breathe here no tattle nor take none out; "So may the love of God dwell in , this house."

The couplet is carved on the wall opposite the front door of Dame Clara Butt’s cottage at Northstoke, 15 miles from Reading, and confronted a representative of the "Daily Sketch" who was sent to Northstoke in connection with the passage in Dame Clara’s life story, in which it is written that Melba told* the great contralto, just prior to her first visit to Australia: "Sing ’em muck; it’s all they understand." He was unsuccessful in his quest. Dame Clara being at a cricket match, the locality of which the servants refused to disclose. The secretary added that the singers had always been great friends. Dame Clara and her husband, Mr Kennerley Rumford were greatly surprised when they read the offending passage. The "Daily Mail" states that at the last Royal garden party the King referred iaughingly to the singer’s visit to Windsor, after which the incident is alleged to have occurred, saying: "I have been reading the book with the greatest interest, and finished it last night. ’’