bespoken for the singers was
enthusiastically extended to them all over the North. The journals of
the day fairly teemed with praises of them; and often, in the larger
cities, hundreds of persons were turned away from the concert-hall,
unable to obtain admittance, so great was the rush.

After a while they visited England, where they sang before the Queen
and others of the nobility, everywhere repeating the triumphs that had
been theirs in this country. In fact, it was proved that their power
as singers held sway wherever they sang; wherever was found a soul in
unison with melodious sound, a heart capable of human emotion. It was
not so much the words of their songs--these, it is true, were not
without merit in a religious sense--as the strangely pathetic and
delightful melody of their music, and the freshness and heartiness of
the rendering, that gave them their greatest charm. This has since
been most pointedly demonstrated in Holland and Switzerland, where
these singers have drawn crowded and delighted audiences that neither
speak nor understand a word of English: such is the beautiful,
far-reaching power of this, in the truest sense, "music of the heart."

I now present a few of the many tributes of admiration which their
performances drew from cultured English people. Thus spoke Mr. Colin
Brown, Ewing Lecturer on Music, Andersonian University, Glasgow:--

"As to the manner of their singing, it must be heard before
it can be realized. Like the Swedish melodies of Jenny Lind,
it gives a new musical idea. It has been well remarked, that
in some respects it disarms criticism; in others it may be
truly said that it almost defies it. It was beautifully
described by a simple Highland girl: 'It filled my whole
heart.'

"Such singing (in which the artistic is lost in the natural)
can only be the result of the most careful training. The
richness and purity of tone both in melody and harmony, the
contrast of light and shade, the varieties and grandeur in
expression, and the exquisite refinement of the _piano_ as
contrasted with the power of the _forte_, fill us with
delight, and at the same time make us feel how strange it is
that these unpretending singers should come over here to
teach us what is the true refinement of music; make us feel
its moral and religious power."

Others spoke as follows:--

"I never so enjoyed music."--