At the close of the opera I was called before the curtain, and on quitting the stage, with Adelina Patti on my right and Scalchi on my left, I was met by Chief Justice Shea, who approached me and said—
"Colonel Mapleson, a number of our citizens who represent significant phases of social life and important business interests in this metropolis desire to testify in a public and notable manner that they understand and laud the superb success which has followed your efforts to establish Italian Opera in this city. It is seldom that public men are understood. It is very seldom that they are offered an acknowledgment beyond the few earnest friends that cluster around them. Those citizens to whom I refer recognize that your career amongst us has not been a mere chance success, but the result of patience, energy, and the intelligent courage which comes of ripe experience. They think this an apt occasion on which publicly to express the sincerity of that opinion. Sir, allow me on their behalf to offer you this memorial."
I was then handed a magnificent ebony case, fitted with a crystal glass, containing the following:—A valuable repeater watch set in diamonds, a gold chain with diamond and ruby slides, diamond and ruby charm in the shape of a harp, a pair of large solitaire diamond sleeve buttons, a diamond collar stud, a horse-shoe scarf pin (nine large diamonds), three diamond shirt studs, a gold pencil-case with a diamond top and a plain gold pin with a single diamond; the whole being valued at £1,300.
The ebony case and crystal glass I still possess. The contents, together with everything else, went to keep the Company together during the disastrous retreat from Frisco of the following year, as to which I will later on give details.
I thanked the Chief Justice briefly for the gift and the public for their patronage, and with difficulty left the stage amidst ringing cheers and waving of pocket-handkerchiefs: I say with difficulty, because at that critical moment, as I was picking up a bouquet, the buckle of my pantaloons gave way; and as my tailor had persuaded me, out of compliment to him, to discard the use of braces, it was only with great difficulty that I could manage to shuffle off the stage, entrusting meanwhile some of the jewellery to Patti and some to Scalchi.
At New York, as previously at Philadelphia, Chicago, and San Francisco, lively complaints were made of the vanity and levity of my tenor, Cardinali, who was an empty-headed, fatuous creature unable to write his own name or even to read the love-letters which, in spite, or perhaps in consequence of his empty-headedness, were frequently addressed to him by affectionate and doubtless weak-minded young ladies. Cardinali possessed a certain beauty of countenance; he had also a sloping forehead, and a high opinion of his powers of fascination.
At San Francisco he got engaged to a young lady of good family, who was one of the recognized beauties of the city. A date had been fixed for the marriage, and the coming event was announced and commented upon in all the papers. The marriage, however, was not to take place forthwith; and when my handsome tenor got to Chicago he was much taken by one of the local blondes, to whom he swore undying love.
At Philadelphia he got engaged to another girl, who became furiously jealous when she found that he was receiving letters from his Frisco fiancée. Not being able to decipher the caligraphy of the former beloved one, he entrusted her letters for reading purposes to the chambermaids or waiters of the hotel where he put up.
At New York Cardinali formed an attachment to yet another girl, who fully responded to his ardour. He used to get tickets from me in order that he might entertain his young women in an economical manner at operatic representations; and one day, when he had taken the girl whom he had met at New York to a morning performance, he asked permission to leave her for a moment as he had to speak to a friend. This friend turned out to be a lady with whom he had arranged to elope, and the happy pair left for Europe by a steamer then on the point of starting. He did not, as far as I know, change his partner during the voyage, and I afterwards lost sight of him.
We remained at New York a week, giving six extra performances, and left the following Sunday for Boston. There, too, we stayed a week, terminating the season on the 2nd May, on which day Mdme. Patti sailed for Europe, followed by the Company. These frequent voyages across the Atlantic were my only rests. They greatly invigorated me, bracing me up, as it were, to meet the fresh troubles and trials which were sure to welcome me on my arrival.