Music: Will to Sing

On a golf course at Lake Placid, N. Y., last week, Rosa Melba Ponselle laughed and chattered from the high spirits of her summer out-of-doors. Playing the round with her, was her singing coach, Romano Romani. He watched her grow serious and silent to tee off. His eyes were on the ball.

While her club was still swinging, he heard a dull crack. Rosa Ponselle toppled over at his feet. A ball sliced by an unknown golfer had struck her forehead just above the eyes. She was unconscious with a slight concussion of the brain. Nonetheless the woman’s unbeaten will to sing which got her vocal lessons, during her Meriden. Conn., poverty, carried her the next evening to sing at Lake Placid for the benefit of the Saranac Lake Society for the Control of Tuberculosis.