I was no longer alone or friendless, for I had you. I sang
as I had never sung, and one theatrical manager, who happened to call
upon my teacher during my lesson hour, offered me a position at a
good salary at once if I would accept.
"I could not accept, of course, knowing what the coming months were
to bring to me, but I took his card and promised to write him when I
was ready to take a position. You came into life in the depressing
atmosphere of a city hospital, my dear child, yet even there I was
not depressed, and your face wore a smile of joy the first time I
gazed upon it. So I named you Joy--and well have you worn the name.
My first sorrow was in being obliged to leave you; for I had to leave
you with those human angels, the sweet sisters of charity, while I
went forth to make a home for you. My voice, as is sometimes the
case, was richer, stronger and of greater compass after I had passed
through maternity. I accepted a position with a travelling
theatrical company, where I was to sing a solo in one act. My
success was not phenomenal, but it WAS success nevertheless. I
followed this life for three years, seeing you only at intervals.
Then the consciousness came to me that without long and profound
study I could never achieve more than a third-rate success in my
profession.
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