Private Musical Evening

“There was a little musical party on the premises last evening.  Ellie had informally asked Jem Ruggles’ Glee Club—viz. twelve or fifteen young amateur tenors and basses—to sing here, and half a dozen of our more familiar friends to come and hear them. But her invitations insensibly multiplied, so that the ev’g developed into a ‘soiree’ and the Glee-men found themselves confronting a room full of people . . . some forty or fifty in all.  The glees were pretty and very well sung. Mrs. Arthur, Miss Holdredge, and Fry favored us with a solo each, and we had a lovely movement from one of Mendelssohn’s trios by Hoffman at the piano.  Bergner—violoncello and Mösenthal, violin.  People, who are better judges of execution than I pretend to be, said this was rendered with absolute perfection—as to accuracy and expression, both.  The company seemed to go on agreeably. There was no unreasonable gabbling and giggling, the most common bane of musical evenings. Full justice was done the little supper and I am told the young gentlemen of the Glee Club—all strangers save Jem—were well pleased with the transaction. On that point I had misgivings, but we did our best to make them feel at home, and I think we succeeded.”