13.—A SUDDEN CURE.
He who undertakes to manage an opera troupe chooses a road beset by thorns. Opera singers, especially if their salaries be high and they feel they can afford to follow their own sweet wills, generally do about the exact opposite of what a sensible person would predict. The manager must be ready for any emergency and be surprised at nothing.
Some years ago when Mme. Gerster was billed to sing in St. Louis, she suddenly sent word to the manager that she was ill and unable to sing her part in "Lucia," which must be given that evening. He suspected the indisposition to be not very serious, but requested a medical certificate to put before the public to satisfy them for the non-appearance of the songstress. Gerster declined to be seen by a physician, saying her word was as good as her bond, and that when she said she was ill, that settled it.
The manager insisted upon calling in a physician, who asked to see her tongue. So, as she was leaving the room, she derisively stuck out her tongue at him, with the exclamation, "There!" The doctor at once wrote out a certificate, saying that the epiglottis was irritated, the uvula contracted, and the tonsils inflamed.
When Gerster was shown this certificate she grew quite angry, and insisted upon singing that night, "just to show what an ass that doctor was."
All the same, the doctor sent in his bill for $60.