Walker-My_Musical_Ex.. - Walter Cosand

76 MV MUSICAL EXPERIENCES
dinner-hour, but though they had just sat down, I
was asked to come in. Coming to the point almost
immediately, I asked Sgambati if he could verify all
that
P
Signer R
. Was he
had just been telling me about
so very gifted—so hard-working?
Had he been able up to the present time to support
himself by giving lessons? And had he lost his
pupils because their parents feared he was con-
sumptive? I asked Sgambati all these questions,
not because I had the slightest doubt of Signer
R 's veracity, but because I had formed a plan,
and in order to carry it out with success, it would be
necessary for me to be able to refer to Sgambati.
Sgambati replied that all I had heard was, indeed,
but too true. It was a sad case. Sgambati could see
no way of procuring effectual help for the suffering
and destitute young student. When he heard, how-
ever, that I proposed drawing up a statement of the
case, and sending it in the form of a circular to our
musical friends both in Great Britain and in Rome,
he not only allowed me to use his name as vouching
for the entire accuracy of the statemeait, but he also
offered to stand second on the list of subscribers
when the subscription-list should have been once
regularly started. That was a happy and successful
day ! The first friend, to whom I applied in person,
was an elderly English lady, well known in Rome for
her benevolence. She immediately took a deep in-
terest in the case, and consented to head the sub-
'