e of the
clauses of the Conried contract was that, if at any time I was called
back to appear in Berlin, my contract would be indefinitely postponed
until such time as I could fulfill it without conflicting with my Berlin
contract.

[Illustration: LEAVING BERLIN]

That concluding season in Berlin was a constant series of farewells. The
news had been made public that I was to sing in America, and that I
would be absent for at least a year. One of the pleasant memories of
that season is a farewell concert at the Marmor Palace at Potsdam for
the Crown Prince and Princess, when they presented to me a diamond
pendant made up of the letters "W-C" interwoven--Wilhelm and Cecile. The
Crown Princess Cecile, gracious, charming, young, adored in Berlin and
throughout Germany, was greatly interested in charities, and during my
last season in Berlin I assisted her in organizing the programmes for
many charity concerts.

At last came the eventful day when I was to leave the country of my
adoption for the land of my nativity. I had announced an "Abschied," or
"Farewell Concert," in Philharmonic Hall, Berlin, the first week in
October, 1906. We charged five dollars a seat, and could have sold the
house twice over. One half the gross receipts went to a hospital kitchen
founded by my dear Frau von Rath, who had been so kind to me; and the
other half went to the fund of the Crown Princess's pet charity for
crippled children. It was a wonderful and representative audience, in
which royalty was conspicuously present.

Next day we drove through crowds in the streets of Berlin, _en route_ to
the station for Bremerhaven, from which we sailed on the Kaiser Wilhelm
II, my mother, father, and I. Quite a contrast to our last voyage
together on the cattle ship from Boston! But now we were homeward bound.
I was returning to the land of my birth after an absence of nearly
seven years, to sing in the greatest temple of music in the western
world. It represented the near approach of the greatest of my dreams.

But, could I have foreseen all the difficulties that were to come to me,
I wonder if I would have been so buoyant and care-free as the great ship
pounded her way westward through the October seas!

CHAPTER XII

MY FIRST APPEARANCE IN NEW YORK

The air was crisp and cold that brilliant November morning when the
Kaiser Wilhelm II nosed her way into New York Harbor. How proud and
alert I felt as I looked up at the mass of towering