Since my accident I have not been able to go much in the outer world
because of my inability to walk or ride in the street cars. But I
spent an evening in the year 1907 that I think will be worth the
telling.
Persons who think and study a great deal need an occasional respite
from the drive of daily labor. So thought fourteen of our Oakland
doctors who agreed to meet once a month, talk over important cases,
read short papers on special topics and enjoy a social time at the
banquet table. Dr. J.M. Shannon, my family physician, was included in
the membership, and it was his turn to entertain the guests at his
home in East Oakland. During my convalescence I had promised to do him
a favor any time for his great kindness to me in my long sickness, and
my appreciation of his skillful art in my case which made it possible
for me to walk, even if on crutches. While I was living on Eleventh
street, Dr. Shannon came in one morning to ask for the favor. He
unfolded his plan, giving me a list of the members of the club and,
because I was so handy with my pen and brush, wanted fourteen place
cards for his banquet which was to take place in two weeks at his
home. His idea was to have something different. The cards were to
represent the different specialties of the physicians, and I was
somewhat bewildered with the subjects he gave me. It was a new
departure in art for me.
I realized I had to put my best efforts to the test to make a complete
success out of a knotty problem. I spent a week in perfecting my
sketches. After completing the cards, I called up Dr. Shannon to come
and see if all was to his satisfaction. I placed the cards before him
on the desk and awaited his approval. It was some minutes before he
spoke. He looked up and said quietly, "I guess I'll have these doctors
surprised this time," and he enjoyed the anticipation of the fun
highly.
"Now you have done this O.K.," he said. "I still have another favor to
ask. I want some music and I want you to sing. I will also have some
instrumental music so you will not get too tired, for I want music
every fifteen minutes between the courses during the dinner. The
guests are not to know who the singer is, and I will see that you get
there after they have passed into the dining room."
"All right," I said, "the music will also be provided, so you can
rest assured that my part of the programme will be carried out to your
liking and the pleasure of your guests."
I selected familiar ballads that most men like to hear if they like
music at all, and my accompanist, Miss Juliet Maul, prepared the
instrumental part, and as she was also a good second soprano, we
prepared two duets that always please, and we had a programme worthy
of our host. When we arrived at the appointed hour the dinner was;
going on and, as we were given the signal, Miss Maul began playing a
bright, pleasing, instrumental number, which was such a surprise and
also complete departure from the usual arrangement that all
conversation ceased until after the number had been given, and then
great applause came from the dining room. At the stated time Miss Maul
and I sang, Oh, That We Two Were Maying, which was highly appreciated.
It was not until I had sung my song, Because I Love You Dear, that
they began to wonder who the young lady singer was. Doctor smiled and
assured them that they would find out later. He started them to
guessing, and he was highly pleased at his joke. After the first
number had been played the folding door which had been closed was
quietly slid back by a unanimous request. Evidently the music was a
genuine surprise and a happy addition to the excellent menu they were
enjoying. After having successfully given nine numbers, the dinner
came to an end the curiosity had become intense--they wanted to greet
the singer, so they started up the song, She's a Jolly Good Fellow,
and I joined in the chorus when they had finished. I did not appear.
In a few minutes they began, So Say We All of Us, to the tune of
America. That was too much for my patriotic nature, so I began and
sang alto until I had reached the dining hall and appeared in the
doorway with crutch and came before the august presence of our
doctors. In one moment they arose with glasses in hand, and one of the
older members proposed a toast to Oakland's sweetest singer, Mrs.
Blake-Alverson. After I had acknowledged their compliment by my bowed
head, one of the doctors handed me a glass, and I responded. I said,
"We will now drink to our doctors of Oakland." After they were seated,
one of the oldest of the doctors asked me how I accounted for the fact
that I retained at the age of seventy-one the voice of a woman of
twenty-five. After my satisfactory answers to a number of important
questions, they informed me that I had done this evening for their
entertainment and great pleasure an act that had never been known in
medical history before. Those present voiced the remarks with hearty
appreciation and continued applause.
The third surprise of the evening took place after the doctors had
left the table and adjourned to the large hall and drawing room. When
they had all assembled, the lights were turned on and before them
stood in a row like statues their wives, ready to be received, with a
smile on their faces, the only visible indication of life in them.
They reminded me of Mrs. Jarley's wax figures, standing in a perfect
line while the demonstrator illustrates their beauty and natural
abilities as "first-class wax figgers." It was too bad the camera
missed the expression on the faces of those fourteen men, dressed in
full evening attire, and staring at the faces of their wives, it
seemed to me, for ten minutes or more. At last one of them broke the
spell by quickly stepping over to his wife and calling her by name. He
kissed her and said, "I am delighted to see you." The others followed
suit. The next half hour was spent in telling how they managed to keep
the secret, and to so arrange matters that in the future the ladies
would be included in the select gatherings of the medicos. The next
hour was spent in listening to some clever speeches and interesting
papers, which were very amusing and teemed with jokes and sharp hits
of sarcasm. At the close of the reading I was once more called upon to
repeat some of the songs that I had sung for them. We all gathered in
a spacious music room where for an hour I sang for them their favorite
selections, closing with "Home, Sweet Home," in which all who could
joined in the chorus. Thus ended one of the most delightful evenings
spent in the hospitable home of Dr. and Mrs. Shannon.
The members of the club who were present were: Drs. E.M. Keys, A.H.
Pratt, M. Lewis Emerson, A. Liliencrantz, J.M. Shannon, Samuel H.
Buteau, J.W. Robertson, E.J. Boyes, O.D. Hamlin, Francis Musser,
Herbert N. Rowell, Guy Liliencrantz, I. Frank Lilly and Chas. A.
Dukes.
It was in the small hours of the morning before the last auto wound
its way down the spacious drive towards Oakland.
[Illustration:
Mrs. Margaret C. Pierce
Mrs. Sarah Watkins-Little
Mrs. Marriner-Campbell
Mrs. Blake-Alverson
Mrs. Helen Wetherbee