Page:Notes of a Pianist.djvu/27

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CONTENTS.
xvii
PAGE
CHAPTER XVI.
Back from the concert—Beautiful effect of elegantly dressed ladies—English officers dressed to attract attention—Know nothing more ill-bred than a fashionable Englishman, unless it be two fashionable Englishmen—Second concert, all pieces encored—'Sunshine Patti'—What a beautiful thing medicine is!—Arrive at Prescott—Eight years ago—Madame de Lagrange—Invited to take lunch—Unknown name—Enchanted house—Its mistress—An infantile impression—Granddaughter of Vespuccius—Stranded on the banks of the St. Lawrence—Not treated with respect—Envious mothers—Rubini—Madame Merlin—What has become of her—Concert—Not a large audience but sympathetic—Arrested—Admirable candour of the justice of the peace—Justice well administered!—Spleen—Embark from Kingston for Cape St. Vincent—Strakosch sea-sick—A capsized schooner—Reminded of the death of a horse in a bull fight—Land at Cape St. Vincent—A landlord's welcome—Reach Watertown—Give concert at seven o'clock on account of workingmen's ball—Tired out—Utica—Beautiful churches—Asylum for the insane—Head physician one of our friends—Concert and warm audience—Sleep at hospital by invitation of the doctor—Spiritual manifestations—The haunted house—The two young men—Oneida community—Invited to visit them—Fifteen hundred acres of strawberries—Syracuse—Bad hotel—Railroad crossings—A providence for American railways—Syracuse always gives me a good audience—Oswego remarkable for its situation—Always play with pleasure at Oswego—Do not conclude the receipts good—One thing money cannot rule—Geneva—Lakes of New York—A dyspeptic English musician—Auburn—Charming battalion of young girls—"I have not yet heard one air"—The general who recognizes but two airs—A relation by one of my friends—'Home, Sweet Home'—Auburn—"Deafening racket he makes with his piano"—O critics!—Catholic church—Execrable music—Rochester—Charming town—Should like to transport some of my audiences to Europe—Feminine type in the United States superior to that of Europe—Their influence on men—Most charming types of women at Rochester—The element I fear the most in my concerts—Joy of the pianisticules—Mr. X., a supposition—Always the same song—Those who have nothing to lose are fools—Monte Mayer and Newton a fool—I know an ass!—Voltaire's apostrophe 277