The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, February 9, 1902, Page 16

16 THE SUNDAY CALL. TLLIAN eer capers t grea NORDICA omts fewer n any of the other singers. She does mnot de- the public’'s sympathy be- a pet poodle is denfed a ns in t best suite of the fiy into tantrums the to be coaxed and i managers behind es nothing, in fact, that is weird wholesome doctrine of go0d, work. come to doing is in the allezed song as an offset to ard a b her repertoire. Mme. Nordica has and the coon song. used by her sine- melody of ““Poor, s him, the words Stanton says Nordica, best class of latter-day fons and is so distinct ragtime as to make it should identify it 1t is a song to only be done by a cul- usician and 1 am surprised that « so commonly believed that I am sing- ted to vaudeville and the K the composi ngs on popul tice to show that Mme. ically fond of ad- akes her a paradox anation of her un- may be found in the is a down East Yankee and the spirit of practical goes hyste of = family of six i has for m ome in Los A sters z there will be q ger e eldest now armingtc hdez- ewise A s, N R G Aller 7 e fam merica, 1 0 16 marrie Jon M John Allen, < < one iime One of g en of t on his back gaziag med highest But with his . Her mind was « T W ing b nd the confi of the cit which and to her ch though to dream, ope. tillo draws this n T was a great girl she She chidren, old ich fell in al vears her s full of enjoyment—al- m and or entertain upon any energy and strong will was also a woman of high c ic Nor was she of her admiration of «character that her eldest the name of Cymbeline's of her interest in “The eii” that a second girl be expected from one christened her iter, for some reason, herself with the unro- of Annie ut the fourth, when all America was _ouis Kossuth, the Hunga- ame Wilhelmina Kossuth. for the nd a senti- young wife Mrs. Norton er Lillian Bayard not the Lillian knows. The first golden-haired child, months, and the next came fell heir to her name ful two-fold love was somewh; of the Jacked the practical s the making of the ew inventor and a musi- m both parents came the musi- th we oted in the village mplishments. group was that of the the piano, the father his brother Harrison with thelr vio- brother, John Allen, ng in a sweet tenor, while the older ghters and cousins joined with him in there were friends and who in for an evening's nd joined in the chorus. When nklin County mnusical convention undertook such ambitious werk as orato- s her fondness Taylor for the made s Wz rid now r mu mmor at er sitting the mother’s the song. Often ves came rio Mrs. Norton and her daughter Imogen were he chorus. Sometimes the moth- er undertook mino solo parts. Con- ductor, planist and soloists were from Boston—ever the center of Mrs. Norton's dreams. And this heunting dream was to become & reality, and in the most undreamed-of way Emilio Castillo, a young Cuban but Jate- 1y errived in Bostdn, was one day searct- ing forra‘eousin evey more lately arrived, who for &n entire day had not appeared at his Jodgings. In the course of his search voung Castillo called upon a lawyer, who afterward became his friend. When the young Cubans wanted to leave Boston, as hot weather came on, the lawyer said: “Why not go to Farmington, Me.? It is a delightful place, and there is a charm- jrg family there by the name of Norton o will take you in.” "q{e outcome of it all was a love affalr, and when the Cubans went back to Bos- ton Imogen planned to go to visit some cousins living just outside the city, that she might be near her fiance. Here was the mothe chance. Of course, she could not allow her daughter to go alone so far from the home nest. Why not remove the nest? So it came about that the farm was sold and the family moved to Boston, renting a large enough house to take roomers and boarders. The mother had converted the father to the bellef that the girls should have a better education than the Maine village offered. The father was also hop- ing for a competency from an invention he had just perfected for coring apples. But his hopes were to go the way of many other bright hopes. He placed the invention in the hands of a friend, giving him power of attorney.to act, and while the friend became rich from the inven- tion the inventor never got a penny out of it. At this time Lilllan was six years old, & restless child, the pet of the family, badly spoiled and full of whims. She fretted under the restraint of school and pald little heed to her books. “She never did take education like other people,” says Mrs. Castillo. ‘‘She seemed to absorb it by observation; but unless she was Interested it could not be drilled into her.” She ran away to the theater whenever she had a chance, and her greatest pleas- ure was In the companionship of her father. The two were great cronies and were always together at theater or con- cert, and once they attended a reception to President Johnson, when the President took the child upon his knee and talked 10 her for a long time. Four of the girls had two large beds in a roomy chamber. On the wall hung a long mirror, before which the children paraded in their long trains, playing lady- come-to-see. “Often,” says this elder sister, I have wakened of a bright summer morning and seen Lillie in her long nightdress, her hair streaming down her back, pirouetting or standing on tiptoe before the gla: whistling some new air she had caught at theater or concert. At this time sha was nipe or ten years old. “Lillie had not been a particularly pretty child,” she continued, ‘but be- tween twelve and thirteen she blossomed out into the prettiest girl I ever saw. The puplls of her beautiful bright eyes were so large that the eyes looked black instead of blue at night. Her glossy nut. brown hair hung far down her back. Bhe had fine teeth, a beautiful complexion and & dazzling smile. While her features were not regular there was a fascinating play about them. The opening of Iilllan's career came about in a sad way, Wilhelmina, thres years older, had been placed in the Con- servatory of Music soon after the family moved to Boston. Her fine voice attracted much attention and great things were prophesied for this girl of seventeen. She ‘went home to sing at Farmington and the next morning the news spread through _ the town that she was stricken with typhold fever. Quick consumption fol- lowed and In six weeks the girl was dead. For months the piano remained closed in the Norton house. Then the family took up the course of their life agaln. By the move to Boston the family purse had not grown longer. But one daughter could have the advantages of the con- servatory and Lillian, now fourteen, took the vacant place. The capricious, restless child, bored with bopks and the routine of school, settled do to steady, hard work at a pace which she keeps up to this day. She was far ahead of her class In natural gifts and ability to learn. She became the special pupil of John O'Neil and n three years had finished a five years’ course. Nor was she free from the envy that attends success. But the envious were quickly put to rofit by the sweetness and modesty of the young singer. When she left the conservatory she was the ac- knowledged queen of all the singers on the school’s long roll. Mr. Castillo, her sister's husband, has some pride In the fact that he bought Lilian’s graduation dress. To the simple child this gown of brocade in several shades of blue, which cost $75, was a It gorgeous creation. ts doubtful it she feels half so grand to-day in gowns that cost ten times as much or more. She was soon doing duty in a ¢hurch cholr, and was even called to fill engage- ments ‘as sololst {n Baltimore and St. Louls: But ambition had her In its tofls and these mild honors failed to satisfy. Titjens, the great singer, came to Bos- ton and the girl obtalned an interview with her. With youth's audacity she sang for Titjens Leonora’s great arla, and Tit- jens discovered what Lillian herself may have dared to hope but hardly to belleve. She was to sing that night “Il Trova- tore,” and the great singer showed the girl how to get a better effect in some passages, dismissing her with an order ad- mitting her to the dressing room during the evening’s performance. Here Lillian was introduced {o Madame Maretzek, and the result of the episode was that some- how the Nortons scraped together enough money to take Lilllan and her mother to New York, where Miss Norton was to have two years under Maretsek's diregs, tion. - But Miss Lillian’s spirit of Yankee thrift rose up to haunt her as money drained out and none flowed in. So Maret- zek took her to Gilmore, with the admo- nition to sing ‘“something easy” from “Lucla.” With this admonition in her ears the girl burst forth in the “Bright Seraphim” aria from “Samsor Gilmore engaged her for a hundred con- certs in Europe. Before leaving this coun- try she paid a visit to John O'Nell, her old teacher, to receive this encouragement: “Tt is really too bad, Miss Llillle, after all your devotion to pure art, this going to Europe with a brass band.” But Miss Lillle had an eye to She went with ( ore, taking h: with her; and out of the brass iness. T mother tour enough money was saved, with a little more borrowed, for more lessons. This time it was in Milan, under San Giovanni. The musty garret in Milan made cheerful and homelike by a few feminine tricks of the devoted mother, who also substituted wholesome New England cookery for spaghett! and maca- roni. There was nothing in Lilllan Norton's method of singing to undo and San Gio- vanni declared her ready for the stags. Every day mother and daughter went to him for rehearsal, and in December, 1373, Lillian made her debut in “La Traviata,” at Brescia, before an audience of Itallan peasants who knew singing if they did not know how to be fashionable. Her success was immediate and absolute. She almost fainted on the stage when the people rose to their feet and cheered. The faithful mother fainted behind the scenes. Then there was a more sophisticated, it not a more critical, audience to conquer at Genoa, and Lilllan Norton was firmly launched upon the operatic sea. It be- came a custom among San Glovanni's pu- pils in Milan to repeat the master’s say- ing regarding his favorite American pu- pil, “Ah No ! She has poetry. She has fire.” an Glovanni who chris- tened her Giglio Nordica, the lily of the north. Nordica's first operatic engagement was for three in St. Petersburg. In the Russian the lovely young singer was of| nt for by the Czar to sing at the palace. Such yards of red tape to unwind out- side the door of the foyal apartments! Such freedom and good fellowship with And then—one week from the last Sunday capital night on which Nordica sang for Czar, came the news of his assassination. During the dark days that followed no one was allowed to leave the capital; but rveillance would ad t n and her mother as soon as police s of their departure, Lill went again to Italy, where t young operati ger studied new roles with San Glovanni. Mr. Norton dled during the first year his wife and daughter were abroad and from ca had her mother as a e time of her that time Nor constant compa death in ich the great singer ow s mother is beyond esti- mate, but her devotion was repaid in kind. The mother’s unselfishness and force of will are well shown by the fact that the cablegram announecing her hus- band’s death was handed to her as she stood in the wings of the Imperial Opera- house in St. Petersburg, while her daugh- ter was singing on the stage. When Nor- dica came off the scene at the end of the act the mother had her feelings under such control that Lilllan suspected noth- ing, and not until the following morning was she told of her father’'s death. And was this “Lily of the North” to live solély for her art? So it seemed. There were no walks or drives with men, nor theaters, nor balls, such as delight the hearts of American girls. « If a man chose to call, he might en eon- dition that he stayed not later than 10 o’clock, and the daughter was ever under the watchful chaperonage of her mother. There were lovers in plenty, says Mrs. Castillo, but though they might woo they might not win, until one day along came & rich cousin of Mrs. Norton, Frederick Gower, who wooed and won. After a short acquaintance Lilllan Norton mar- ried her second cousin, in July, 185, at Paris. Gower’'s career was somewhat unique. The son_of a poor widow, he educated himself and became city editor of the Providence Journal. At one time he wrote to Bell, the telephone man, asking him to deliver a lecture on his telephone Bell in repl in Providence. sked Gower to come to Boston and assist him in pre- paring the lecture. Gower became deeply interested in the Invention, which he suc- ceeded in improving and simplifying, and ultimately took out patent: Bell telephone. Aft for the Gower- r establishing a com- pany he went where he took out patents company which paid hig as p o ear hat he met the ome to appear more the Frenchman than the American. spite of the mother's care, however, the choice of a husband 1lian, marriage prove n unhar ne after eighteen m hs the wi retu: a to Boston and had just instituted suit for separate maintenance when the news came of the disappearance of Gower. Gower had worked out a theory that by the use of magnetism in the control of balloons they could be made of great ser- vice for military and commercial pur- eory Gower started b to cross the Eng- lish Channel and that was the last of them. The balloon was scen floating far out at sea by a passing ship, but just how Gower met his death has never been known. His reputed wealth dwindled piti- fully when the estate came to be settled and the widow received very lfttle from it. After several years of retirement returned to the stage to continue her tr umphs. That these have been dearly bought, Nordica would have all the world know, for she sa “Nothing comes to me but through work and perseverance. I work when I do not want to. I shut my doors and dig into the pars. I dream of them. “When a girl I acquired the habit of goc ing to work against all inclination. To me, I will say frankly, all things come slowly and through tofl. Ambition is a fearful master and tyrant, but I would not excnange it for anothe Nordica’s first tragic matrimonial ex- perience did not discourage her from em- barking a second time on that troublous sea. About five years ago she married Joltan Dome, a young Hungarian tenor, whom she met at Bayreuth, and to date the marriage Is reported a happy one. It wa® about th time Nortons and he had ¢ In in an for I oy