Iowa voter. [volume] (Knoxville, Iowa) 1867-1874, 1870-03-03


n front 81 lar4e desached h0uas, whose
lovef window were all lighted np. and
in which l could plainly hear lsughing
voices. ! bad just united the usual green
baize wrapper I'm which | Acarded my
guitar, and already aounded geloe trial
dord, which almost frightened mp on my
proiect-it was 20 dreadful actually 70 hear
ones self playing - mendicans-all this
vas going on, and 20. too, was py heart
and my Hps and nostrils, even dietfng for
breath, when group Of young 1hen and
girls coming up the street stoppef behind
me-attracted, no doubt By ~ feeble
trial chords my trembling hnekS had
struck. was Standing inside he ttont
snrden, xate, which had unlatcAed, and
the people were, Of course, outside; %
that / had really nothing TO fear on the
score Of being recognized But win It BE
bcIieveds even before such . small
audience a. had gathered couldn't 90 on.
I felt could not And not, mind you,
because I had never before plsyed and
Gang before people Quite the contrary ;
for 1 hsd fre4uently performed - On
amateur, not only at parties and balls, but
even in the concert. loom. No; had
none Of the orthodox dS6atants weak
ness. simply felt powerless TO make the
terrible plunge, and actually begin to
perform - mendicant musician What,
then, did I do? for another horror, and .
worse one, came over me at that moment.
What if should be arrested az q .vagrsnt,
now was IN gentleman's grounds? /
would have given twenty pounds at the
moment to have been able TO turn and
run away-away anywhere. But had
gone past the now increased group at the
gate-had gone off without playing, or
in some way making my presence known
to the inmates Of the hOuse-mightl not
be suspected of being q spy for burglars,
or thief myself under the guise Of q
musician, and followed and arrested But
Necessity has a mother Invention. /
pretended that my instrument was out of
order at the pegs; gave muttered "Cos-
petto I" or two; and, kneeling on one knee
to support my guitar well on the other, l
fidgeted long with it to weary out my
watchers. 80 away they went, slowly
enough, a. / thought. And /! why fol-
lowed them quickly enough, can tell
you, and never stopped until had reached
the lonely sea beach, where sat down on
a heap Of gravel, and-what? well, then,
cried -gasped, or sobbed, or whatever
else you like to call it! I was going to
say nothing about this part Of the bust
ness but recollecting that in the history
Of such narrative as mine, it is beet TO
say exactly what occurred--nO more, and
certainly no less Il confess that / fairly
broke down-why,I cannot say.
must have sat on that heap Of gravel
for more than half an hour reasoning with
myself, and hard battle had in that rca-
soning. AT one time / fairly "jibbed,"
and would have "given the world" as
they say, If it had in earnest rained, as it
had all the evening been threatening to do
But it did MT rain and before got up !
was glad it did not. And having got
stronger hearted, determined to see my
adventure out that night, come what might.
Retracing my steps, got to one Of the
terraces facing the sea. This, however,
would not suit, because Of the long gar
dens in 'front.' Besides, had sense enough
to know that If chose spot where sew
eral houses stood together unseparated by
fencing,I could play to them all at once,
and should thus have an equal claim on
the inmates Of each. By-and-by-for l
may as well confess it, my heart began
dancirk about again, and my fingers, too,
trembEd, and l loitered dreadfully--I
came in front Of three houses in one block,
and without front gardens. There was a
light in the drawing room windoweof tho
middle one, and this determined would
be the very place for me. l stood-O,
did MT that shaking Of the legs come on
then !-pulled out my guitar, drew my
son,brero well over my brow, lifted my
coat collar high on my neck. looked fur
lively up and down the street to see
whether anybody was coming, and then
up 1t the lighted windows, and then, my
instrument having been tuned while sat
on the beach, gave rOuIGde on the strings
To see that all was right My song was to
be Neapolitan air, well enough known
to travellers Toto vOgli0 ben Gss0i" But
will 1t be credited latter had played
the prelude, and had actually taken the
usual preliminary full inspiration, / found
to nv disnay that could not recollect 90
much as the first line Of my song
"Wait," / thought. Courage and in a
minute or two, when this horrible dane
ing Of tho heart ceases somewhat, all will
be right" 30 waited . bit and thought
hard. But all remained wrong instaed Of
coming right, for before half minute had
passed my dOwn-turned eyes saw the path
way suddenly darken, and looking up,
found the lights in the windows were gone
away. 1855 s} #A
! followed them. ii
Here was panic number two. The third
Is the charm, they say, and 80 1t was in
my case. Now, the last panic wasn't near
" 80 bad as the first, and In one respect,
t did much good, inasmuch a. it taught
me BY defeat how to conquer. Itshowed
me, what had not until then suspected,
that / was not certain tonight Of being
able TO recollect the words Of my songs.
have since those days often thought that
II had not learned this when ! really
did make my debut should have fatally
collapsed during my search for missing
words, and fled In dismay, never to appeAr
more in public. Well, a. ! walked slow.
" towards another street; the terrible
words, q must do something in order to
live" kept thank Heaven, repeating
themselves in my mind they strengthen
ed my resolves, and fixed my vacillating
BY and by ! had ogive up In
despair all hope of recalling the words Of
my Italian aria, 20 pitched upon and
began repeating to myself the words Of
that sho4t and delightful song Of Norma's,
-" DeAi eOn u" which ! should have
. I. = - n ~ u - Il