Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1867-07-23
For the Spectator.
SIMPLE ANNALS OF FUDGETOWN.
BY CHIPS.
CHAPTER III,

THE MIsERIEs OF A COMPOSER. THE YOUNG
STUDENT.
Crowned heads and starred nobility with
great consideration for the well-being of the
mechanic arts and the reputation of the de-
spised artizan, put their shallow heads together
(the only things they can put together with any
degree of tact) and get up great Worlds Fairs
and National Exhibitions. Immense parade is
made and treasures of money are spent in order
that the handy work of the expert mechanic
may be displayed before the wondering eyes OF
the world. This is all we'll enough-it encour-
ages manufactures nerves the arm of the
hard-working and despised artizan-it causes
him to strain every nerve in order that he may
eclipse his compeers, and furnish gorgeous Or
naments for the palaces of the ermined fools
who teach their offspring to despse the hand
that wrought the luxuries that surround them.
Crystal palaces display before the envying eyes
of the drones of society almost every article that
could be fashioned by the ingenuity of man, ar
ticles of utility-luxury arts -labor-saving
and costly. Yet, in vain may the masses that
crowd these exhibitions look for corner which
may be appropriated to the special welfare of
the musician. Musicians come into the world
under an evil star-the heavens look threaten
ing when they sing their first greeting to the
glorious sun of day. The Emusic Of the
spheres that ushers into life the young child
of song is anything but harmonious, for the
stars are out of humor and the harp of thou
sand strings yields uncouth sounds when the
poor sufferer sings his first song-which is usu-
ally the most attractive.
Let us take peep into the sanctum of the
composer. There he sits before an old and
worm-eaten Clamenti piano, whose limited
tones, if it ever had any, seem to mourn the de-
funct harmony of past years. Musty scores
and dingy manuscripts are piled on rotten
shelves that grace the walls Of his 10 by II re-
treat. A small cot occupies corner where the
numerous webs of a spider, who had retired
from business on account of the inclemency of
the weather, spread out like the time-worn ta-
pestry of some feudal hall, and seem to weep
because there are no more summer flies to be
ensnared. This couch serves him for a place of
repose during the night, and shelter from the
biting air when he cannot persuade the chair
man for the relief of the suffering poor to leave
a quarter of cord of wood at his door. We
will presume him to measure, longitudinally,
six feet-the cot is five feet in length-room
enough at the lower end for a comfortable roost
for a lordly rooster and his sultana outside the
coverlet!
Pale and wo-begone-for he has had nothing
to eat for the last twenty -four hours-he seats
himself at his venerable Clamenti Talk about
''the poets eye in fine phrenzy rollingl' an
embryo oratorio that will eclipse even the d.
yinest conceptions of Handel Beethoven or
Haydn, is stored in his brain, and it must
come out Wrapped in blanket, and with
a two-cent candle running away from the pre-
vailing gloom, he seizes his pen and gives form
to ideality The angels that were brought down
from heaven by the sweet harmony of this
sainted Cecilia, are invoked-the venerable in
strument is touched-it speaks, and it's husky
tones give out sounds that, to the ears of the
enthusiast seem hcaven-born. The composer
is inspired he revels in world of harmony,
and he exclaims with rapture-'I have them
here !-Oh, that l could give them to the
world" The clash of orchestras-sweet har-
mony of voices and the loud shouts of the ad.
miring multitude swell up before him, and
(poor devil y he is made man.
Perhaps he wishes to compose for a single
instrument alone. The melody is soon on pa