Woman of the Century/Bertha Webb

WEBB, Miss Bertha, violinist, was born in North Bridgeton, Maine. She comes from a musical family on both sides. From her earliest infancy she gave evidence of extraordinary talent and ability for music. It is related of her that she could hum a tune before she could enunciate a single word. BERTHA WEBB. Through her earlier years her musical training was fraught with difficulty. She lived in Portland, Maine, with no teacher of the violin nearer than Boston. Once or twice a week, when only a child, she made her trips to that city, where Prof. Julius Eichberg gave her her first instruction. She was often called upon to play before audiences in Maine, and on one of these occasions her uncle, Dr. Hawkes, of New York City, was so impressed with her talent that he proposed that she should go to the metropolis, where she could pursue her literary and musical studies without interruption. She went and was at once placed under the care of the late Dr. Damrosch. After his death she studied with Prof. Listemann, Prof. Dannreuter, Prof. Bouis and Camilla Urso. For ten years she studied earnestly, and she is to-day an example of what a woman may accomplish by determined effort. She is well known in musical circles as one of the most conscientious and painstaking musicians in the country. She has played in nearly every city in the United States. During the past season she played two hundred-fifty nights in succession, and more than a quarter of a million people listened to her playing. She now makes her home in New York City.