Scan 18
Camilla: a tale of a violin, being the artist life of Camilla Urso, 1874
10 lines. Read by computer on 3 September 2026. Printed page 8. See the scan on archive.org.
1When not listening to music she was very active and merry and displayed an abundant fund of good health and spirits. She early learned to talk and walk and was considered an unusually bright and precocious girl. Her earliest months gave a hint of her love for music. If fretful or peevish with weariness or ill-health she could soon be pacified by a gentle song from her father as he carried her about in his arms.
3The first intimation of a desire to make music herself came when she was three years old. Hearing a hand-organ play in the street while the family were at dinner she softly left the table and went into the next room. Presently the tune on the hand-organ was repeated on the piano in the parlor. Her father opened the door quickly only to find the child trying to hide, as if she had done something wrong.
5Before she could talk she could hum over or sing a number of songs, and at four years of age could repeat in a thin piping voice many of the songs and airs sung by her mother and always insisting that the accompaniment should be played while she sang.
7She did not go to school. Hardly any children in the town had any such advantage. There were a few small primary schools and that was about all the chance that was open to the young people of Nantes for an education.
9So far in Camilla's life it did not make any particular difference. Things were going on quite to her satisfaction and she was perfectly happy even if she could not read or write.
The computer misreads some letters and numbers. Where a name matters to you, read the scan.