Helga Larsen is a young soprano who at present is traveling in the eastern states on a concert tour. Less than two years ago she was working as a maid in a household on the South Side of Chicago. At that time she had just arrived from Norway, and her knowledge of English was very limited. However, she had had some training in music.

As Miss Larsen began to improve her English, the woman for whom she worked noticed that she was careful in her choice of words.....She never spoke of her homeland or of her activities there; it was known that she had acquaintances in Chicago, but she never mentioned them.

One spring day while working....Miss Larsen began to sing....one of the Norwegian folk songs. Her employer heard her from below....and was utterly 2surprised at the sound of the soft melodious voice....The following day she asked Miss Larsen to sing, and the girl, sitting down at the piano, sang one of her folk songs. After singing several numbers the members of the family for whom she was working decided to find a way for the talented girl to secure the kind of position for which her talent and knowledge qualified her. The lady of the house spoke of the girl's voice to Mrs. Crosby Adams, a well-known music teacher. Mrs. Adams became interested, and as she was living near by she found it easy to get a chance for a conversation with the girl. To her surprise she learned that Miss Larsen not only was well acquainted with the music of Grieg and Kjerulf, but also with that of most of the world's greatest composers.

....Mrs. Crosby Adams offered to give the girl more advanced instruction in music; she found an easier job for Miss Larsen so that she could find time for practice, and in addition she made arrangements with Miss Elizabeth Harding, a singing teacher, for voice training. It did not take long for Miss Larsen's voice to develop.

Mrs. Crosby Adams is very proud of this pupil of hers. To a reporter for the Skandinaven she said:

"Miss Larsen possesses an unusually sympathetic voice, and she sings both in Norwegian and in French with excellent diction. At present she is traveling in the eastern states as a member of a concert group, and everywhere she has received favorable criticism....She will return to Chicago within a week."...