two nights with Walter Campbell to sing those songs we were
accustomed to sing together on such occasions. The concerts were held
June 28 and 29, 1877. These were memorable evenings for us and we did
our best with Reuben and Rachel, Ten O'Clock and the Old Saxon, etc.,
which we were obliged to repeat to satisfy the great audiences which
greeted us. The chorus of 500, composed of singers in all walks of
life, people of leisure who had good voices which they had been taught
how to use, often take pleasure in giving the public a treat if a
pretext can be found for doing so. In this case it was thought that an
imitation of the manners, dress and costume of a past age would
attract an audience when a simple concert might not. This proved to be
true, especially of the Easter Anthem, which was magnificently sung,
and an encore was demanded by the delighted listeners. Each night the
stage was completely filled with this splendid chorus, and the effect
was tremendous when the voices rose with such magnificent volume,
unaccompanied. The leader gave the pitch from an old-fashioned tuning
fork, which was the only thing that was used at that time, to start
the music. The leader would cry out in a nasal tone, "All please
sound," when the pitch would be taken by the four parts led by the
timist to the successful finish.

Other entertainments of this nature were given. H.M. Bosworth's
operetta, "Mother Goose Reception," had a tremendous run. It became so
popular that it was played in every city and town of any size from San
Bernardino to Sacramento and Stockton and as far north as Oregon.
There was a rivalry between it and the Milkmaid's Convention which
received its full merit throughout the state. Mrs. Hodgkins and Miss
Lucy Grove were the bright originators of this cantata, which proved
one of the most interesting debates upon the milk question and
microbes ever propounded in any community with musical setting and was
a genuine side-splitting entertainment.

One of the special engagements that occurred yearly were the
commencement exercises of the Benicia Female seminary, a meeting of
alumnae and pupils. From 1862, on my return to California from Boston,
until the death of our instructor, Mary Atkins-Lynch, I was the
honored guest as vocalist at these gatherings, and I count these
epochs in my career some of the special occurrences. I was among the
first pupils of the school and added my talent on all occasions of
note during the