Whenever
she made the effort, she was discouraged--perhaps ridiculed; and thus
discouraged, she would shrink again from her anxious task. She knew she
could sing, and knew she could sing unlike any body else; knew she sung
better than any whom she had heard of the popular singers, but could not
tell why others could not think with, and appreciate her. In this way it
seems, she was thrown about for three years, never meeting with a
person who could fully appreciate her talents; and we have it from her
own lips, that not until after the arrival of Jenny Lind and Parodi in
the country, was she aware of the high character of her own talents. She
knew she possessed them, because they were inherent, inseparable with
her being. She attended the Concerts of Mad'll. Jenny Lind, and Operas
of Parodi, and at once saw the "secret of their success"--they possessed
talents, that no other popular singers mastered.
She went home; her heart fluttered; she stole an opportunity when no one
listened, to mock or gossip; let out her voice, when _ecce!_ she found
her strains _four_ notes _above_ Sweden's favored Nightingale; she
descended when lo! she found her tones _three_ notes _below!_ she
thanked God with a "still small voice"; and now, she ranks second in
point of voice, to no vocalist in the world.
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