| Ada
Hutton was born in 1897. When she was eight, her family moved to Dalhart where
she lived for eighty-two years. She was 101 years old when we had our first interviews.
Though her memory was fading and sometimes she was a little confused, her sense
of humor was still very much intact. She enjoyed telling this story.
We
had a piano, and to start with, I played by ear, but later I got training. I played
quite a bit. I taught myself to play the violin too, and I had a few lessons on
the violin. I did very well on it, I guess. I still love music, but I've forgotten
a lot. Every now and then though, I'll try to play a little - just for myself.
One time,
there was this lady in town who really thought she was something because they
had a lot of money. She asked me to play at her daughter's wedding that was going
to be at her home. It was a real nice home, and all these fancy people came.
There was a little problem. I only knew the beginning of The Wedding March, and
the end. I didn't know what in the world to do. I knew a tune from the opera Aida
and I thought I could play a little of that and finish up with what I knew of
The Wedding March. So, in between I played that. That lady didn't even
know the difference.
When I began to play that part that wasn't The
Wedding March, I remembered that the preacher was from out of town, and I
thought, 'Oh, my!' I was sure he had heard it played the right way and, sure enough,
his eyebrows went up and he looked so funny, and I'll bet the way some of the
others cleared their throats, they knew the difference too. Nobody knew how sick
at my stomach I was though. And, you know, nobody ever said a thing to me about
that, but I've never forgotten a thing about that wedding. |
