Twenty tales by twenty women: From real life in ChicagoAnonymous
General
Twenty tales by twenty women: From real life in Chicago
Anonymous
Chicago (Ill.) -- Moral conditions; Prostitution -- Illinois -- Chicago
“‘Oh, don’t worry, little girl,’ (he always called me little girl), ‘I
guess some one will love you.’ He seemed to forget that I was growing
old. I have forgotten to mention that my musical education had been taken
up and I had learned to sing fairly well. I had been thinking how I might
earn a living and when he came in I told him my quandary. He suggested
that I take instruction in French dancing and come to America and join
the profession.
“I hesitated, I could not bring myself to the point of considering such a
proposition, while such joy as I now possessed lasted. Then the necessity
of supporting myself again forced itself into my mind, and we laid the
plans which later brought me to this city. I gained a fair knowledge of
heel and toe dancing, and believing what my teacher said, I considered
myself competent to fill an engagement in America. As a last farewell
trip my Prince concluded to sail with me, we would take in the sights of
the World’s Fair here and he would then say goodbye and leave me in my
native land, older, wiser and as unhappy as when he found me, but it must
all end. He had done all and more for me than he had promised. It was
such a rarity for a man to keep his word with me that the novelty of the
thing was entrancing.
“The Fair and all its glories were viewed and absorbed by us. Then came
the sad bitter end of all; we must give up all pleasures. I shall never
forget the last few days of his stay. We sat up late into the night,
reviewing all our travels.
“Then goodbye—I lived days in blank despair. Each time I looked on some
treasure he had given me, tears would flow so freely as to indicate no
control of the flood gates which my eyes appeared to be.
“At last, more to attract my mind to other things, I made application for
a position. I did not need to work yet, for the Prince had left me with a
well filled purse. I had no trouble in getting an engagement. I rehearsed
all day, performed in the evening, went to my room at night and looked
at this poor little picture and cried myself to sleep. My boy would have
been nineteen. I used to try and imagine what he would have been like as
a full grown man.
“One night as I was doing my turn I saw in the audience Professor
Singleton. He did not recognize me, and fool like I left the stage and
cried. I arose the next day with that long reaching determination and
desire to see him and talk with him. It was an easy matter to search
the hotels. I found him. He failed to recognize me at first, but a few
words from me quickly convinced him of my identity. I learned that his
daughter, who was nearly seventeen, was attending a musical college here.
Then I wanted to see her, but was careful not to let him know my wishes
in that direction.
“I soon found her and managed to make her my friend. She was a sweet
girl; I often closed my eyes and took her in my arms with brain afire and
ears strained, almost expecting to hear her call me mamma.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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