The Brookhaven leader., 1883-04-26
The Boy Who Whistles.

|
|
He trudged along, unknowing what he
And whistled as he went, for want of
| thought"
1t was probably memory of his boy
hood time which prompted Dryden
when he linked the jingling lines to-
! gether which head this article, for GER
| tainly no man can read them without at
once catching the whole sentiment of
the couplet.
Because John Dryden, the poet and
dramatist, was buried in Westminster
Abbey and lives in history, it is not i'm
probable that Johnny Dryden, the boy,
often whistled his way through the
lanes of Aldwinckle to confess, on
reaching his home, that he had for
gotten one of the many most important
articles his mother had sent him after.
Bows whistled in the seventeenth CEN
fury just as they whistle now. In fact
whistling has always been and always
will be one of the prerogatives of boy
hood, and he whose ability to whistle
lives with him to maturity or old age
has always a reserve force with which
to blow aside many of the aches and ills
of lifetime.
Where is the boy who has not had a
dear companion whose face was no
more promptly recognized than his
whistle? Every boy has a memory of
the signal which so often reached his
ears, and his alone, from the chum who,
knowing that it was against rules and
regulations to be out of doors at night,
persistently puckered his lips and blew
| temptations terrible to resist and not
always overcome.
How many a boy has lived, who, per-
| hapS able to whistle in but one fashion.
has envied his more accomplished friend
different ways? What a paragon was
the boy who could perform the act of
whistling in all known styles!
How we boys used to stare wonder
ingly and with admiration as the cham
pion whistled with four fingers filling
his mouth, with two fingers, with any
one finger and even with the thumb and
in each instance causing shrill shrek
loud enough to be heard half mile
away. Then with what a patronizing
air the champion would sink his skill to
indulgence in the ordinary lip-whistle
or the almost as common and very
sOnOrOus doubled fist-whiStle, to again
jump with bewildering brilliancy to that
chef d euvre of sifflement-th tongue
and-teeth whistle.
1t is surprising how many are the
moods indicated Enthusiastically by
boys whistle. There is the whistle in
which the head is held erect, the eyes
look straight ahead, but at nothing in
particular, the lips show the utmost
muscular contraction, the distended
cheeks prove total Indifference to APP
pearances and the noise, strain most
monotOnOus, because it ends in the
wrong place, only to again take up the
first note and give a repetition to the
| erratic finale over and over again,
totally oblivious to all surroundings.
Then there is the disconnected whistle.
doubtful, often false, and generally ac-
companied by slow pace, hanging
head and general indication of regret
and unwillingness to do ANYTHING bat
whistle. Again there is the boy, often
grown to manhood, who does not know
one note from another, yet who insists
on whistling constantly, in a hopeless
effort to catch tune which he heard
the band play at the county fair.
Sharps and flats are alike to him, while
measure is wholly unknown and un-
thought of. Perhaps the man and his
whistle are a bore TO a majority of
people, but it is bread and meat to him.
1t is an unconscious sanitary measure,
doing much to keep lungs and stomach
on good terms with each other.
Where is the boy who has not often
"whistled aloud to keep his courage
up" while busy in the attic at some
mischief or slyly in the pantry search
ing out the cake box. How many
wives and mothers now live and love
their boys whistling because it re-
minds them of the time when they
used to listen for the whistle of the bov
of long ago who now sits over there in
the great armchair with spectacles on
his nose, legs crossed and the heel and
toe of the free boot rocking in time to
the whistling of the young man who,
having mastered new operate aria, is
putting on his hat and gloves in the
hallway preparatory to going over to
let his sweetheart know of his latest
accomplishment.
1t is only among boys that whistling
becomes fine art, and it is often aston
ishing to observe the perfection which
some of the artists attain. A hundred
boys will attend the production of a
new opera, and the next day fifty of
those boys will be heard whist
ling selections from that opera,
each one having chosen the air which
most pleased him. In this way have
the regulations of song-writers been
made. Fritz Emmett's Lullaby, 4"
William Scanlan's Peek-a-Boo," and
many of the old-time Foster melodies
are notable examples of popular songs,
: and the first herald of that popularity
were the boys who whistled the airs
all over the streets of America. Much
of the success of "Pinafore," The
Mascotte," of that oddity THE Turkish
PATROL" and of numerous other compo-
sitions, is directly attributable to the
boy who whistles. Free Press.