I will continue my narrative of special engagements. I had eighteen
years' experience in singing for the Welsh colony of men and women who
formed a society known as the Cambrian Mutual Aid Society. It had been
in existence four years before I was engaged as vocalist. The society
was prosperous and about 300 strong at that time. Professor Price, Mr.
Jehu, Samuel Williams, Gomer Evans, H.J. Owens (Obedog), E. Meredith
(tenor) and J.R. Jones (bass) were the prominent persons connected
with the society. March 1st was the day for celebrating the yearly
singing tryout. The Welsh miners and their families came yearly from
Mt. Diablo mines for a holiday of sociability and song. The day was
called St. David's Day. My first engagement with this society occurred
on the 2d day of March, 1874, the first having come on Sunday. We were
obliged to sing the Welsh airs. This was a new departure for me, but,
nothing daunted, I began the study of the Welsh music, and when the
night came for the yearly banquet and evening of song I was well
prepared to give them their desire. I had as other artists, on this
evening programme, Mrs. Howels, a Welsh soprano who sang like a bird,
so beautifully; Mrs. Von der Mehden, soprano; Mrs. M.R. Blake,
contralto; C. Makin, bass; John Hughes, bass; Joseph Maguire, tenor;
Vernon Lincoln, tenor, and the Mt. Diablo singers, about fifty fine
voices. The initial concert was a pronounced success, about 600 being
present. In 1878, at the annual concert, I met for the first time Mr.
D.P. Hughes, tenor, who sang a Welsh song, Cwymp Lewelyn, also in a
male quartette, (oh, what full delight), Hughes, Roberts, Jones and
Hannis. This was Mr. Hughes' first bow to the society of singers in
San Francisco. I was the first American singer he had met in San
Francisco thirty-four years ago. Later he became director of the
Orpheus Society, leader of church choirs, teacher of voice, and still
teaches and directs a women's singing club in Oakland, Cal.
In September, 1877, the town of San Rafael was in need of a fire
engine, and to begin the collection for the fund a series of concerts
was inaugurated. The first was held in the district courtroom,
September 8th. The following well-known artists took part: Theodore
Herzog, violinist; J. Lewis, bass; Mrs. H.M. Bosworth, soprano; Ben
Clark, tenor; Walter C. Campbell, bass, and Mrs. M.R. Blake,
contralto. The room was full to overflowing and the singers were given
a splendid welcome. The women of the city decorated the hall most
lavishly and our reception was notable. The treasury received a
splendid amount of funds to carry on the good work so auspiciously
begun. This was the second city wherein I assisted in the beginning of
a fund for a fire engine. The other was Santa Cruz.
In 1877, old folks' concerts were often given with great success. The
quaint hymns of Father Kemp's collection seemed to be an attraction to
the people, and seldom a month passed without concerts of this kind.
The societies and churches reaped a goodly sum from them. The
different singing clubs concluded to give two concerts for the old
folks. They were to be on a grand scale, and the Grand Opera House was
secured. My programme does not give the promoters' names or the object
of this great gathering of singers. I remember only that I was engaged
for the two nights with Walter Campbell to sing those songs we were
accustomed to sing together on such occasions. The concerts were held
June 28 and 29, 1877. These were memorable evenings for us and we did
our best with Reuben and Rachel, Ten O'Clock and the Old Saxon, etc.,
which we were obliged to repeat to satisfy the great audiences which
greeted us. The chorus of 500, composed of singers in all walks of
life, people of leisure who had good voices which they had been taught
how to use, often take pleasure in giving the public a treat if a
pretext can be found for doing so. In this case it was thought that an
imitation of the manners, dress and costume of a past age would
attract an audience when a simple concert might not. This proved to be
true, especially of the Easter Anthem, which was magnificently sung,
and an encore was demanded by the delighted listeners. Each night the
stage was completely filled with this splendid chorus, and the effect
was tremendous when the voices rose with such magnificent volume,
unaccompanied. The leader gave the pitch from an old-fashioned tuning
fork, which was the only thing that was used at that time, to start
the music. The leader would cry out in a nasal tone, "All please
sound," when the pitch would be taken by the four parts led by the
timist to the successful finish.
Other entertainments of this nature were given. H.M. Bosworth's
operetta, "Mother Goose Reception," had a tremendous run. It became so
popular that it was played in every city and town of any size from San
Bernardino to Sacramento and Stockton and as far north as Oregon.
There was a rivalry between it and the Milkmaid's Convention which
received its full merit throughout the state. Mrs. Hodgkins and Miss
Lucy Grove were the bright originators of this cantata, which proved
one of the most interesting debates upon the milk question and
microbes ever propounded in any community with musical setting and was
a genuine side-splitting entertainment.
One of the special engagements that occurred yearly were the
commencement exercises of the Benicia Female seminary, a meeting of
alumnæ and pupils. From 1862, on my return to California from Boston,
until the death of our instructor, Mary Atkins-Lynch, I was the
honored guest as vocalist at these gatherings, and I count these
epochs in my career some of the special occurrences. I was among the
first pupils of the school and added my talent on all occasions of
note during the continuance of the seminary. It was in Benicia where
Mrs. Lynch first began her work as principal of the seminary. Her
pupils are now scattered over every quarter of the globe. A thousand
invitations were sent out and 250 accepted and others sent their
regrets from the different cities in which they resided. These were
put in a list and read with interest by those who gathered in
1878--the last and most notable reunion of the school. There were at
this time Messrs. Gray, Jones, Woodbridge and Hastings, trustees of
the seminary when it was founded. They had not met for years, and the
pleasure they felt at this accidental meeting can be imagined. It was
like one large family reunion, for these men were our friends as well,
and through their efforts the seminary was placed upon a high
standard. We were visited yearly by the notable men of the state
legislature, army and navy, professional men and women of culture and
talent. It would not be amiss to let the younger generation be
familiar with the names of early Californians who stood high in the
nation and honored men of the state: Capt. and Mrs. Matthew Turner;
Dr. Cole and wife of San Francisco; Professor Trenkle, pianist, San
Francisco; Dr. S. Woodbridge; Judge D.N. Hastings and wife; Hon. L.B.
Mizner and wife; Bishop Wingfield; Major Hackert; Professor Roger of
St. Augustine College; Capt. E.H. von Pfister; General Kautz; Major
Wells; Major Wilhelm; Captain Rixford; Lieutenant Scriven, U.S.A;
Lieutenant Weresch, U.S.N.; C.B. Houghton; Rev. Mr. Easton; Professor
Corbaz; Mrs. Brackett, class '59; Harriett Riddell, Class 72; Major
Townsend; Dr. Peabody; Samuel D. Gray and wife; John Denning; Judge
Lynch; Professor Trenkle, one of the pioneer musicians of the state
and seminary; Mrs. Mary Loughlin Kincaid, of San Francisco high school
fame, president of the alumnæ; Mrs. Mary Hook-Hatch, vice president;
Mrs. Agnes Bell Hill, treasurer; Miss Kittie Stone, secretary; Mrs.
M.R. Blake, the first vocalist of the seminary to distinguish herself
in the world of music and song.
Dr. Woodbridge in his address alluded to old memories connected with
this young ladies' seminary, the trials and vicissitudes of one of its
first principals; how she had taken the school in early days with six
or eight pupils and in a few short months had 140 scholars beneath the
roof. The doctor paid a fitting tribute to the ability and worth of
Mrs. Lynch and the grandeur of her position in the cause of education.
Her life was a glorious victory and one that should be handed down to
posterity.