Читать книгу The Chord of Steel - Thomas B. Costain - Страница 5

Table of Contents

It is most unusual for all the members of a family to share one interest and for this mutual absorption to continue through three generations. This was true of the Bell family, who devoted their lives to the training of the human voice.

It began with Alexander Bell, the grandfather, who was a shoemaker at St. Andrews, Scotland, in the early years of the nineteenth century. The game of golf was in such an early stage at this time that it could scarcely be said to have any existence at all; except at St. Andrews, where the Ancient and Honourable Golf Club had been active for half a century. With so much walking over the stony banks and braes, the shoes of the members wore out more quickly than usual and so the trade of a shoemaker should have been highly remunerative. But the first Aleck Bell had a far different ambition from that of fashioning shoes for golfers. He wanted to be an actor.

He had a fine presence for the stage, although he was not tall. His forehead was broad and high and surrounded by close, curling hair. His eyes reflected every emotion which took possession of him, his nose was substantial (which remained a feature of the family), and his mouth eloquent. Unfortunately the stage was regarded not only as “low” in Scotland but downright wicked. Handsome young Mr. Bell, who had married into a substantial family, the Colvills, encountered serious opposition to his plan. He did the next best thing. He moved to Edinburgh and set himself up as a teacher in speech and elocution.

Proving successful, as well, as a Shakespearean reader, he published a textbook called Elegant Extracts, which became very popular; it being considered proper to read the plays of the immortal bard or even to hear them read in public, but under no circumstances to see them played on the stage!

Some years later he opened a school for boys at Dundee and this proved so successful that the family had a carriage of their own, which was a proof of very considerable affluence. Finally he moved to London and purchased a house on Harrington Square. The aura of aristocracy did not hang low over this particular square, but people in London spoke of it as “nobby,” a term well deserved.

The teaching of elocution proved so profitable that Alexander the First lived here in luxury and ease.