Maeder, the husband of Clara Fisher, actress and vocalist, and
the musical director of Mr. and Mrs. Wood. Instructed by Maeder, Miss
Cushman undertook the parts of the Countess in "The Marriage of
Figaro" and Lucy Bertram in the opera of "Guy Mannering." These were
her first appearances upon the stage.

Mrs. Maeder's voice was a contralto; it became necessary, therefore,
to assign soprano parts to Miss Cushman. Undue stress was thus laid
upon her upper notes. She was very young, and she felt the change of
climate when she went on with the Maeders to New Orleans. It is
likely that her powers as a singer had been tried too soon and too
severely; her operatic career was brought to a sudden close. Her voice
failed her; her upper notes departed, never to return; she was left
with a weakened and limited contralto register. Alarmed and wretched,
she sought counsel of Mr. Caldwell, the manager of the chief New
Orleans theatre. "You ought to be an actress, and not a singer," he
said, and advised her to take lessons of Mr. Barton, his leading
tragedian. Her articles of apprenticeship to Maeder were cancelled.
Soon she was ready to appear as Lady Macbeth on the occasion of
Barton's benefit.

The season ended, she sailed for Philadelphia on her way to New York.
Presently she had entered into a three years' engagement with Mr.
Hamblin, the manager of the Bowery Theatre, at a salary of twenty-five
dollars a week for the first year, thirty-five for the second year,
and forty-five for the third. Mr. Hamblin had received excellent
accounts of the actress from his friend, Mr. Barton, of New Orleans,
and had heard her rehearse scenes from "Macbeth," "Jane Shore,"
"Venice Preserved," "The Stranger," etc. To enable her to obtain a
suitable wardrobe, he became security for her with his tradespeople,
deducting five dollars a week from her salary until the debt was
satisfied. All promised well; independence seemed secure at last. Mrs.
Cushman was sent for from Boston; she gave up her boarding-house and
hastened to her daughter. Miss Cushman writes: "I got a situation for
my eldest brother in a store in New York. I left my only sister in
charge of a half-sister in Boston, and I took my youngest brother with
me." But rheumatic fever seized the actress; she was able to act for a
few nights only, and her dream of good fortune came to a disastrous
close. "The Bowery Theatre was burned to the ground, with all my
wardrobe, all my debt upon it, and