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Gisborne Times, Volume XLIX, Issue 4905, 26 June 1918, Page 3

wondering sometimes to see one or other of them in the naiids of our elders oil Sunday afternoons. I have indeed wickedly wondered is. that had not something to do with my father’s tendency to drop off + o sleep on ; Sunday afternoons. But „ “Pilgrim’s i Progress” lured us always] that ) breathless romance and adventure of ! the spirit, written by the tinker of j Bedford. . who had an art lacking in all the learned divines on the sheli ves. Of the few novels of this com- ' pahj' of hooks was-“ Uncle Tom’s Cs- | bin.” >This book, too, had been in ! the hold of%the wrecked ship, aud bore some traces of its adventure. ! It was dear to us, too. by the history of its coming there. It was my mother’s book; vet not really hers. Just published when her people -were leaving the old land, the Look was 'the rage in London; a friend gave them a copy to read on the way out; it was then to have been passed on to someone in New South Wales, vaguely supposed to be near Melbourne, and of no definite address. The book was never applied for by anyone in Australia Felix, and so remained with mv mother. This was one of our 1 earliest stories, and was j read aloud to us in the evenings by ! our parents in turn. How we loved it! and lived with the characters,' peopling familiar spots with them. STAGE GOSSIP. .Lapses of memory on the part of singers are more frequent than audiences suppose. As a, rule (writes “Sylvius” in the Dominion) the words of many ballads repeated in | certain phrases over and over again, act as camouflage for any slips of memory they may make. * I have heard some vocalists singing a string of words quite foreign to the song, until they pick up the theme again. -Others of less experience will break suddenly, and! if without music, will I go to the piano to refresh their memories. Some singers dare not trust their—memories at all. Madame Dolores always had her little book of ■words with her on the platform, and felt uneasy without it. It is not a desirable thing to be utterly dependent on the printed word. Indeed, the vocalist who cannot remember the words is handicapped, as it cannot be expected that the spirit of the song can be conveyed when the singer has to refer to the words at frequent intervals. There are some singers who always appear with music, but just as often as not it is not the music of the song, but is merely something to occupy the hands with. Others again for much i the same purpose are known to have the habit of fingering a programme or any scrap of paper they can get to give the fingers something to do. j which in other words is a form of nervousness they should force them- : selves to overcome. Recently in Melbourne Mr. Fred Collier, the fine baritone who was in Wellington three months ago, was singing “O Ruddier than the Cherry” (from Handel’s “Acis and Galatea s ’) when lie forgot his words, brplce off, made another start, and forgot them agaip. A third time he tried, and a third time he failed. At a fourth attempt the words flowed as toey should, and the singer was accorded an ovation for his persistence.' Sir. George Alexander bequeathed the rights of two of Oscar Wilde s plays to Vivian Holland, who is uscar Wilde’s son,