Precious Letter

Bearing a letter whose preciousness she was too young to comprehend fully, a young Italian lyric soprano reached last week the rocky island of Manhattan, having left for at least one year the no less rocky peninsula of San Francisco, at the other edge of the continent.

Her letter: "A week ago tonight I heard you all sing and I had an experience which I never had before, for the young women and the young men who took the first and second prizes were the very ones that I had marked. Can it be that I am developing into a musical critic?

"Please accept my congratulations. In many ways I should prefer that you take second prize rather than first, had you been my daughter.

"The whole program was most interesting and creditable. May I present my best wishes for your progress during the year of training which you have deservedly won?"

The recipient of that letter was Emilia Da Prato, 20, daughter of a San Francisco workman, winner of a year's voice training and $2,000 in cash prize offered for good radio voices by the Atwater Kent (radio) Foundation of Philadelphia.

The writer of the letter was Grace Goodhue Coolidge, first lady.