We had a good laugh, and I received a hearty welcome. I
was quickly installed in my room, where, after a nice dinner, I curled
up for my afternoon nap. At half-past seven the carriage came for me,
and I was informed that I should not have a hard reading, as they had
engaged singers to take part. So, when I got into the carriage, who
should I find, beshawled, and beflowered, and betoggled in blue satin
and white lace, but our old friend ---- of Andover concert memory, now
become Madame Thingumbob, of European celebrity. She had studied in
Italy, come out in Milan, sung there in opera for a whole winter, and
also in Paris and London.
"Well, she sings very sweetly and looks very nice and pretty. Then we
had a little rosebud of a Chelsea girl who sang, and a pianist. I read
'Minister's Housekeeper' and Topsy, and the audience was very jolly
and appreciative. Then we all jogged home."
The next letter finds Mrs. Stowe in Maine, and writing in the cars
between Bangor and Portland. She says:--
MY DEAR HUSBAND,--Well, Portland and Bangor are over, and the latter,
which I had dreaded as lonesome and far off, turned out the
pleasantest of any place I have visited yet. I stayed at the Fays; he
was one of the Andover students, you remember; and found a warm, cosy,
social home. In the evening I met an appreciative audience, and had a
delightful reading. I read Captain Kittridge, apparently to the great
satisfaction of the people, who laughed heartily at his sea stories,
and the "Minister's Housekeeper" with the usual success, also Eva and
Topsy.
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