American Lancaster gazette. [volume] (Lancaster, Ohio) 1855-1860, 1855-07-26
THE DYING MINSTREL.
BY gro. wfLKEs.

Poor Tom Briggs How well rrcollect
him as he used to enter between the first
and second divisions of the performance,
with his banjo on his shoulder, and his
cheerful GOOD eve'nin, white folksl'
Black as he made hmielf, Tom Briggs
could not help being handsome, while the
special SCI of his red vest and the exquisite
trim OF his lower outline helped largely to-
wards his title as the "Darkey Apollo"
There are some persons so resoluiely
handsome that no paint will disfgure them
no garb entirely disguise, and of this sort
was poor Tom Briggs. Wisely spprecia-
ting his good gifts, he preferred the silent
favor they insured in the minds of the au-
dlencc, to the clack which is the reward of
preposterous exageration. He was the dan
dy Niger; clean as race-horse, fine as a
star, and when his finger struck the banjo,
you felt that he was filed with the spirit
of an artist. Altogether, Tom Briggs was
an extraordinary person, and had he chos-
en- a less humble instrument, and sabject-
cd his taste to the tutelage of science, he
would have achieved an elevated and re-
fined renown. As it was, he distanced
rivalry, elevated the banjo to the rank Of
the guitar, and rendered his performance
not only the feature of concert, but by
word OF surprise. This makes him a char
acter worth which had once heard him,
the comment inevitably was, ,----"Ah, but
you should have heard Tom Briggsp'
This was fame; and Tom Briggs felt its
inspiring influence. and day by day he
played more famously because it.
Success develops genius. Those who
cannot win it, stop on the near side of Jor-
dan; and there they must remain till it gives
them strength to get beyond. But Tom
Briggs took one jump to the right side Of
Happy Valley, and leaving competition in
the rear, made it useful to him in the way
OF contrast. Every one conceded the su.
periority of Tom Briggs All minstrel
managers endeavored to secure lin, and
1t is the misfortune of us here that he was
forced to leave the band for the cemetery
in the FIRST week Of his arrival on these
shores.
But Tom Briggs had other merits than
attached to his pursuits. Ho possessed a
kind and gentle spirit; he was shy, modest
and reserved, and free from the hard habits
which characterize many Of hisclass. He
had great notion, too, of beinga gentle
man, and instead of hanging about taverns
and passing his time in vulgar pleasures,
he devoted himselfto elegant attire, good
company and that ladorious practice which
is the mother ofimprovement.
Nevertheless, Tom Briggs, pursued these
inclinations without offence to his profess
ional associates. With all his niceness Of
dress and manner there was no exceptional
vanity in his bearing; nothing about him
which the most jealous critic could style
"airish." He had an inborn gentility which
oozed out Of him, as it were, gracefully,
and you could feel no more objection to it
Il an to the just pride of handsome girl,
who only evinces an amiable desire to be
fine. Elegance was his "natural gait, 'and
| verify believe his comrades took as much
pride as himself in his straw kids, and per-
haps felt that they were in some way asso-
ciated with the dignity of the band. Ger
tain it is, that his unassuming excellence
had made adeep impression on their minds
and when he was lowered out of sight, ma
ny tear dropped silently into the fresh
sand that laid ready TO be heaped into his
grave!
The evening performance that succeed
ed this ceremony, was doleful one. "For
art L., L.,
what was about. Tom and had travel
ed together for years, and it seemed 10 me
as if had lost brother All my main
business was done with him, and when
looked around, in the middle of my work
and found strange face in place of his,
and remembered that had just helped to
put him in the ground, | nearly broke
down"
AS he said this, the eye of the humorst
became moist, slight tremor and huski-
ness was percepGble in his voice, and turn
ing half round, SO as TO look another wav,
he suddenly asked a crowd Of us to drink.
"Ah, gentlemen" said he, when we had
all got our glasses, and he had cleared his
throat, you'll never see the like of poor
Tom Briggs again! He was different from
most other players. They seldom take
any pride in their business, and are gem
orally satisfied with any cheap instrument
they can get; but Tom was very particular;
he never stood upon the price of banjo,
when he got good one, he was always
studying some way to ornament and i'm
prove it. He had light one and heavy
one for different kinds of work, and he
played so strong that he got a piece of
steel made for the end of his finger, as a
sort of shieldlike, to prevent tearing off
his nail. He was very fond of playing the
heavy one, and when he was coming up
the coast, he would sometimes strike his
strongest notes, and then turn round to me
so proud and say, "Abj Eph," what'll
they think when they hear the old Gre
mona speak like that?"
ut did not make any difference when he
took sick. He played all the same. On
ly after he got here, he could play only the
light one. He used to have it hanging a.
gainst the wall, so as he could reach it in
bed. Most any time you went in you'd
hear him talkin to the old Cremona, as he
called it, and making it talk back to him.
But by'm by he got so weak he could
scarcely hold on to it, and have sat by