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THE SAN FRANCISCO CALL, SATURDAY, OCTOBER 5, 1912.—THE JUNIOR CALL.
What Fame Brings to a Diva
When lime. Luisa Tetrazzini was
singing in San Francisco seven years
ago her fame had not spread to the
east, and at least two important in
terests failed to embrace the oppor
tunity offered to them by the diva at
that tiiiH>, says Robert Grau, in Lippin-
COtt'*, r
Tetrazzini was singing at the Tivoli
theater. Her weekly salary at the
outset was $350, and, as her fame grew,
the management increased h«r honor
aiium until she was paid $300 a night.
I'll , : lute Ilerr Conried was then in
> hfcrg* of the Metropolitan Opera house
in N.w York. In response to a- tele
gram asking her terms for a five year
contract, the diva replied that she
would sins for $500 a night. These
terms the impresario declined.
This was fortunate for the new diva,
who sailed for Kurope and sang at
Covent Garden in London, where she
was paid $1,000 a night, and also cre
ated the greatest furore ever achieved
in an English opera house. Her suc
cess was so pronounced that even Melba
was relegated to second place. It hap
pened that Oscar Hammerstein was in
need of a star for his new opera houses
in New York and Philadelphia. The
intrepid Oscar signed Tetrazzial for
three years at a nightly honorarium of
$1,500. The directors of the Metro
politan made a similar offer, but Oscar
was given the preference.
TetrazxlnJs star has been in the
ascendant ever since, and recently she
had the great satisfaction' of putting
her signature to a contract with the
Metropolitan directors by which she is
to receive the coming season $3,000 a
night—just 600 per cent more than she
was available for when she sought to
sing at this institution five years *go.
But if the operatic impresarios have
cause to regret their lost opportunity,
what may be said of a leading phono
graph company, which at the same
period in her career refused to pay the
diva 11,000 for the exclusive right to
the vocal records for her entire re
pertoire.
This same phonograph company has
since contracted with Tetrazzini for
exactly the same privilege; but the
terms are wholly different. Instead of
$l,oe* paid outright, the diva received
a bonus of 135,000, while her royalties
in addition amount to about $.40 coo an
nually. Such is fame.
Never Fails
Hokus—Those rain making schemes
never worked out, did they?
Pokus —No; If you want to be abso
lutely sure of rain, get up a picnic.
THE WINNERS OF TWENTY PAINT BOXES
Twenty boxes of paints will be given
away next week In this department" to'
the Juniors, boys and girls, who send
In the best colored pictures. The draw
ing opposite may be colored with
either paints or crayons, and must
reach the office by Wednesday after
noon. This contest is open to Juniors
10 years of age or younger. Write
your name, age and address in the
dotted lines below the picture.
Prizes were awarded to the follow
ing Juniors, who painted the picture
in the paper September 28:
Bra Rae Llndley, 2145 Russell street,
Berkeley.
Helen O. Smith, 525 Forest avenue,
Palo Alto.
Helene Over, 327 Alcatraz avenue,
Oakland.
Arthur Helecker, 824 Henry street,
Oakland.
Imosrene Thompeon, 319 Soledad
street, Salinas.
Esther Burllnir, 1108 % Alabama
street, San Francisco.
Yorba Shorb, 3118 California street,
San Francisco.
Alice Requa, 321 Montgomery ave
nue, Piedmont.
Beatrice Hont, 31 Presidio terrace,
San Francisco.
liOnla I.lfht, 753 First avenue, San
Francisco.
Andrew l<. Stone, Burlingame.
Jacob Boyer, It. F. D. 4, box 37,
Stockton.
Mewellyn Frederick*, 605 Wai bridge
street, San Francisco.
George Todd, 301 Olive street, Santa
Rosa.
Elaine Slerek, Hopland.
Bernlce Holbrook, Selby.
Roth Bochmer, 816 Fifty-eighth
street, Oakland.
liouUe Mellln, 231 Tennessee street,
Vallejo.
France* Fratee, 328 Estudlllo avenue,
San Leandro.
Dora Dodge, box 21, Mendocino.
T" Words of Thanks
To the Editor of The Junior Call—
Dear Sir: The book which was awarded
to me for answering the puzzles was
received last Saturday with great
pleasure. Thanking you many times
and wishing great success for The
Junior Call in all of its undertakings,
1 remain, yours respectfully,
JOSEPHINE FOGARTY.
San Francisco.
Dear Editor: I thank you very much
for the nice box of paints. I am very
glad I won them, they are so nice.
Sincerely yours,
LUCIA ALLINIO.
TAFT FAMILY UNDISTURBED BY POLITICS
President Taft's days in his at
tractive but unpretentious summer cot
tage at Parramatta are not disturbed
by the pre-election campaign. Stirring
political agitation throughout the
country is not reflected there, and the
president's busiest days with callers
and correspondence go by unnoticed by
the family. It is only when the presi
dent, responding to pressing invitations,
leaves Beverly for a few days that the
disadvantages of being a president and
a presidential candidate impress them
selves on Mrs. Taft and Miss Helen
Taft.
The president accomplishes his daily
work with a smoothness and dispatch
which can only be appreciated by taking
-a peep Into hi.s study. Outside the cot
taga the visitor sees no signs of work
at all, even on the business afternoons.
Friends of Mrs. Taft drive up in auto
mobiles for afternoon calls and tea, and
the signs of typical summer vacation
times are seen on all sides. Cheerful
feminine voices and the hearty laugh of
Major Thomas L. Hhoads, who is a
great favorite, can be heard at intervals.
Many of Mrs. Taft's Washington friends
have summer cottages near by, and in
vitations to luncheons, dinners and so
cial gatherings abound. Miss Helen Taft
has many young friends in the neigh
borhood and finds her time delightfully
filled when she gives her hours to so
ciety and recreation.
The president's cottage is veil back
from the road and shaded In by over
nanging trees, so that it gives an im
pression of combined restfulneee and
seclusion. During the afternoons
Mrs. Taft is hostess to her friends the
president is tacked away In bis study
within a few feet of tbe door by which
his callers arrive.
All of the routine business, such as
arranging appointments . for caller* , ,
copying and preparing correspondence
and preparing matter for the presi
denfe signature, is done at the execu
tive offices at Beverly, about a half
hour's walk from Parramatta. Persons
desiring to see the president on dusly
ness must communicate with Rudolph
Foreler, the president's assistant sec
retary. Mr. Foreter makes up the list
of afternoon appointments and com
municates it to the president and also
to the secret service men who are al
ways on duty at the president* cot
tage while the president is there.
Thus all the callers are expected be
fore they arrive and the exact hours- of
their appointments with the president
are arranged. The president is very
particular about not keeping callers
waiting If he can help it. He saver
breaks an appointment once made, even
This-is ; the • picture' - Paint it- in water cblprs or (crayon and send immediately.': .-to .tiS?
though keeping it deprives him of his
early evening automobile ride, which
he takes before dinner.
President Taft gets a great deal out
of each day spent at Parramatta. He
always arises early—sometimes at six
o'clock in the morning—and goes to his
study, where, with some of his staff, he
disposes of correspondence and busi
ness matters left over from the day be
fore. It's work, and hard work, for
the president until breakfast time witft
his family, before, nine o'clock. After
breakfast the president looks over the
morning papers and maps out his pro
gram of work for the afternoon with
Mr. Forster before leaving for his
morning golf game at the Myopia links.
Indians' Poisoned Arrows
The arrow poison used by the Indians
of Colombia has been found to be the
secretion of the skin of a small frog,
says the Chicago Tribune. The arrows
nre % inch palm spine*-, which are shot
from a blow gun about 14 feet long
and the hunter carries the frog along
in a hollow bamboo In order that he
may have the poison In a fresh condi
tion.
A simple prick of the skin yields the
poison drop when needed. When one
of the arrows enters the body of even
a large animal—such as a Jaguar,
monkey or deer—paralysis quickly fol
lew* and the victim is then easily
killed. The use of the poison, it Is
said, doea not affect the flesh of the
animals killed, which is quite harm
less when eaten.
Two French naturalists have made
experiments with tbe edible frog, Rana
esculenta, showing that its skin exudes
a similar poison when irritated and
that an extract prepared from the skin
plves in guinea pigs the same symp
toms as inoculation with the arrow
poison.
Tavolara Island the Smallest
Republic
The smallest republic is not San Ma
rino, as usually supposed, but the
diminutive ialmnd Tavolara, about
seven and: a half miles on* the coast of
Sardinia. The island! is only one and
a fifth miles wide and its whole popu
lation numbers only KS. In 1836 Tavo
lara was granted l independence by Carl
Albert, and & certain Barteleoni as
sumed the till* of king under the
name el Paul I. He died in May, 1882.
In USfr the Tavolarians proclaimed the
republic, and, according to their con
stitution, a president is elected every
Iβ years.—Seattle Poet Intelligencer.
Bridge Over the Ganges
The task of bridging the Ganges, the
great river of northern India which
issufn from an ice cave at the foot of
Urn Himalayan snow bed, has been as
signed to a group of English engineers,
says the Pall Mall Gazette.
This bridge, more than a mile in
length, is to carry the Eastern Bengal
State railway over the Ganges from
Damukelia to Sara Ghat, the place of
pilgrimage, to which hundreds of thou
sands of devout Hindus repair once a
year 10 wash away their sins in the
sacred river.
Spanning the river, the bridge will
be carried on steel trestles, which in
turn will be supported on massive steel
grilles in granite piers. The contract
calls for 15 main spans, each $59 feet
long and f>2 feet high and weighing
1,300 tons.
The Ganges Is essentially a river of
great cities; Calcutta, Patna, Benares,
Allahabad, all lie on its course, and the
ancient capitals of Agra and Delhi
are on the Jumna, higher up. Great
changes take place from time to time
in the river bed of the Ganges which
considerably alter the face of the coun
try. Extensive islands are then thrown
up and many decayed and ruined cities
that are then discovered attest the
changes In the river bed in ancient
times.
The bridge will cost about 16,258,000
to build.
An Esperanto Town
The other day a train marked "Es
peranto" arrived In Berne, conveying
Esperantists of all nations on their"
way to the Esperanto congress to be
held at Cracow from the eleventh to
the eighteenth of this month, eaye the
Pall Mall Gazette. The conductors on
the train also spoke Esperanto, and
the few passengers who were not Es
perantists .felt dismally "out of it."
The Esperantlste were in excellent
spirits. One of their leaders remarked
that before long there would be not
only trains labeled "Esperanto," but
the postoffices of the world would have
to add Esperanto to the number of
towns in the postal guide.
Already Esperantlste have purchased
a piece of land near Munich, where
a garden city is to be built, to be
called "Esperanto." Esperanto is pri
marily intended as a summer holiday
resort for Esperantlsts of any nation
ality. The town will have a theater
where plays will be performed in Es
peranto, and there will be a postpffice
which will conduct'lts business In Es
peranto and also an Esperanto bank.
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