Delaware gazette. [volume] (Delaware, Ohio) 1855-1886, 1871-03-10


and George GoldthWaite, of Alabama
Eli Salisbury. of Delaware; J. w
Stevenson, of Kentucky F. P Blair, Jr.i
Of Missouri; Zebulon B. Vance, of North
Carolina Joseph P. Kelly, of Oregon
/ Henry Cooper, of Tennessee; and
Henry C. Davis. of West Virginia
democrats.
ECoENTRIcITVEs OF BEETH-
OVEN.
/ The master of musical harmony found
it impossible to come into harmony
with this evil world He would keep
house without the remotest notion oi
housekeeping. In one period of SIX
months he changed his servants seven
times and, according to his diary, at
I another epoch he made twelve changes
/ from May till December And thus he
was always moving, for some real or
| imaginary reason. An inconvenient
I hour for dinner. or. an unpleasant neigh
Dor would send him seeking for a new
home. While writing the opera OF
''Leonora'' the theater gave him apart
mentsin the building. He soon took a
dislike to these, for no other apparent
reason than that they were free.
He spent his summers in the beauti-
ful rural villages around Vienna, and
he would frequently keep his city rooms
all the time, either forgetting to give
them up or desiring to have them if he
suddenly concluded to leave his sum
mer quarters, which he would some
times do for no other reason than that
of having a frontage that did not suit
him. Once he had very desirable rooms,
overlooking a little stream crossed by a
bridge. The neighbors soon learned that
certain windows were those of the now
famous Beethoven: and, because they
stopped occasionally on the bridge, in
hope of getting-a sight of him, he sud
denly moved away, with a great piano
and all his household goods, to the
neighboring Baden. Here he would not
stay, because his landlord bowed to him
so much and paid him SO many cOmPi
ments. Thus he paid three rents in a
single SUMMER
( After much trouble, he found other
rooms in Baden; but would only take
them on condition that the owner would
put shutters on the windows. 1t seemed
that Beethoven was in the habit Of keep
ing a sort of daily score on the shut
tiers with a pencil. Sometimes it would
be a long account, and then again some
of his precious musical inspirations. The
shutters became great curiosity, and
finally quite treasure for the admirers
of the master offered the owner quite
sum for them at the end of the season.
When this was told to him, he broke out
into Homeric peals of laughter.
His daily habits were quite simple.
Winter and summer, he rose with the
sun, and went to his work, which he
rarely laid aside before two. o'clock, exz
cept for a most frugal breakfast, and an
occasional run out into the open air for
sometimes he seemed oppressed in his
work by the confinement of his room,
and needed the broad canopy of heaven
to develop his inspirations. He rarely
worked after dinner, and never at night,
if he could help it. During twilight, he
loved to sit at the piano and indulge in
his phantasies and occasionally ne
would GO for an hour to the coffee or
beer-house to read the papers. But. in
these localities he sought not cOmpan-
ions or conversation when his beer and
papers were exhausted, he was sure to
hurry home, that ten o'clock might find
him in bed.
His baths and ablutions were among
the most important events of his life. He
would stand before his bowl and com
pose while washing. Sometimes he
would pour pitcher after pitcher over his
hands or his body, and keep grumbling
or screaming up and down the scale
Then, at last, with eyes rolling he
would stride across his chamber and
note down something on his window
shutter, perhaps; and then, the bathing
would commence again. In moments
of deep thought he would pour floods
of water over the floor, and know moth
ing of it until the landlord from below
would hurry upstairs to protest against
the ruin of his ceiling below a conflict
which would perhaps end in the masters
removal to other quarters.
He had also his strange whims at the
table and over his food. He always
made his coffee himself, in a glass ap~
paratus, and religiously counted sixty
beans to each cup-even when friends
were drinking with him. Soup was his
faVorite dish; but it was difficult to
please. him in this. His verdict Of
"poor soup was irrevocable, and the
servants were obliged to take it away.
When he had guests, he occasionally
went into the kitchen himself, but the
guests were always the sufferers for this
condescension. He would at times
even forget his invited guests. and dine
at the hotel. while they were vainly
waiting for him at his quarters. And
thus lived this eccentric genius and
strange anomaly, in discord with him
self and the world, while in sweet accord
with the loftiest harmonies ever uttered
by man.-PUE ~. NJ DelZs, in tie
" 7. L5zae6eHaEHt.