Dorothy. She played ‘America’ with one finger today, and Professor Abendschein says there are many adults who cannot do that.
“Her teacher at school, Miss Prince, says that Dorothy is not so remarkable in some of her studies as in singing, she can hear her above everybody in the class when they all sing together every morning. She thinks Dorothy may have vocal talent, I hope so because I have always wanted to have a daughter who could sing and so give joy to many people, it is such a gift to be able to sing well!”
Why Darling’s Diary was discontinued after this entry cannot be told. Possibly Mrs. Loamford’s election to the Board of the Parents’ Association of Dorothy’s school may have curtailed her hours for biographical endeavor. Yet the hope expressed in the final installment was not in vain. Oddly enough, it was the death of Professor Abendschein that prompted Mrs. Loamford to make Dorothy a musician.
The Professor was a short, stout, blue-eyed German, with long white hair and an unkempt moustache that dropped about his mouth in a melancholy curve. His clientele was not large, for the Professor—the title had been bestowed on him by his students only—had little genius for self-advertisement, but his pupils were loyal. He brought with him an atmosphere of old-world coffee cups and an echo of conservatory days when he had been the companion of many a young artist whose fame since had become international. “Scharwenka played it so,” he would say when a student attempted his own version of the Polish Dance which was the Professor’s ponsasinorum, If the student played it like Scharwenka, concertos and concert études followed; if the student failed
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