The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1874-02-05
A Gent,eman Organ-Grindcr.

An eccentric parsonage has for the last
twelve months been making tour through
Ireland presiding over q barrcl.orean and
n,,yinm it in town after town for the amuse-
ment of the natives. He was dressed as q
gentleman, and never solicited coppers, so
that after while he began to attract univer.
sal attention. He never condescended, as
some do, to carry his instrument on his back.
He had it lodged in small carriage Oh
trusses of straw, and drawn ~ a donkey,
who performed sort of goose-step, in
order TO enable bis master to comply
| with the regulation of moving on" and
at the same time permit tune to be leyelled
ut any particular house selected for The pur-
pose. Then the Organ-grinder contriyed to
| envclop himself with certain interest by a
silent, reserved, and mysterious demeanQr,
He stopped at respectable inns, and was
never communicative, though many efforts
were made to try and get him to tell news
about himself 1t was impossible, people
said, that so gentlemauly, so distinguished
| looking an individual was really organ
grinding for livelihood. 1t was noticed,
! however, that ii lie never asked for money
he never assumed a distinctly aggressive ut
titude when offered it. People who would
never think of giving anything but cop
pers to an ordinary organ-grinder used to
send servants down with siXpence or a
shilling to the edition de lure Of the craft,
which was received with grave and polite
salute. Then the question was asked, Who
is the gentleman organ.grinder2 He was q
noblemau in disguise; u marquis in naufti
doing the whole thing for all enormous
wager. He was monomaniac driven mad
by listening to London stIeet-muSic. He
was Fenian emissary hiding his real avoca-
ton under comparatively innocent occu-
patton. 1t was noticed by those who in.
| ciined to the latter opinion that the tunes
he released from the box were of more
or less national or patriotic turn. AS the
| wooden horse contained the armed men,
the barrel. organ Of the gentleman
grinder was tenanted by reasonable
melodies. AS matter of fact, however,
| the airs were of amixed description. He had
| ventured Oh a novel experiment altogether.
In the first place, with the exception. per.
haps, of Dublin, the country is nearly as free
| from organ-grinders as from The creatures
who were banished from the soil by st.
Patrick. And so this enterprising parsonage
had the ground pretty much to himself. His
instrument was regarded with as much Won
der rs pleasure. He was, of course, credited
| with immense ability by the listeners, who
| must have contemplated the churniug out of
the airs with as much respect as q musical
| u,rtuoso contemplates an attack upon the
| difficulties Of List by Won Bulow.
Then there were the incidents of the
journey, not, to be sure, rs exciting in
prospect rs the famous march of Sergeant
| Bates, but which in themselves must have
| been 6iyertiug and instructive to person
of sphilosophic temperament. In due course
| came notoriety. Toward the end of his ca.
reer the gentleman organ-sriuder was almost
| mobbed by the curious, and finishing his pill
grimagc in Dublin he was forced by sheer
pressure Of popularity into being an obstruc
ton to the thoroughfare Ia the eyes of the
police, who brought gentleman, donkey, and
organ before the magistrate. Magistrates
have not much respect for romantic mystic
ries, and the gentleman grinder was asked to
| declare mis- name. He SO far coquetted with
| this query that at first he said his name was
Brown, but he is understood to belong to a
respectable family in The county Meath named
Kieran, aud was weIl-to-do farmer. And
SO this Orpheus was no prince, no duke, no
foreigner even, after all, but a Meath squi-
reen. But what put it into farmers head
to abandon his sheep and his sweet fields
and to go about tho country playing on a
,arrei-0rgan? Perhaps he intends 10 pub.
lish his adventures. "rhrough Ireland
with Barrel-Organ" would sound rs at
tractIgcly as :. Through Norway with q KNAPP
sack" MIR, Dieran might reproduce his ex.
periences, as Sergeant Bates has done. Ire
land from an organ-grinder's point of view
would present up with sIimpses of new lea.
turesofthe country. Hehad bis status recog-
nizedand respected by the bench. The Tnagis.
trate said if the prisoner gave his word OF