Three days before my sixtieth birthday, which occurred on June 12,
1896, I incidentally mentioned to a friend that, on that date, I would
also be fifty years a singer before the public. The next morning a
phone message asked me to come down to the _Call_ office on some
G.A.R. business, as I supposed. This I did.
When I entered the office I was engaged in conversation for an hour
while, unknown to me, a shorthand reporter and an artist were taking
notes. I returned to my studio unconscious that my words had been
recorded and that my picture had been sketched by the quick hand of
Richard Partington. What was my great surprise on opening the _Call_
on the morning of the 12th to find myself pictured on the first page
as happily laughing as could be. The headlines ran like this: