The Palatka daily news. (Palatka, Fla.) 1884-1888, 1885-09-29
HAUNTED BY MUSIC.
ihe Peculiar Deiusion Following n GAn
Who Listens Sad Music


Who Listens to Sad Music
Ifittsburs DispatchJ
Young man" said a prosperous-io0kinp
| citizen, did You ever observe the habits ol
musical people: Because if you have, you
have seen great deal of character that you
would not have seen if you hadn't"
With this strange declaration lie subside
INTO deep roverie y cloud OF pain occa
/ slonaliy passed. over his face, and there was
/ a twitching of the muscles of the mouth, as
! II he were undergoing some mental torture.
! Presently lie gavo q start. and, rubbing his
! hands across his forehead for tho purpose of
! collecting his thoughts, broke the impend-
/ ing siIonce with his voice
"Ah, me!' he said, Il was living over
again some nights of agony | have spent.
am fa t growing Old. | am haunted by a
terrible delusIon. At times l feel that my
hair IS a white - snow, my hands shake as
if with the palsy, and | seem to totter OH
my knees. When the idea pursues ME l can
not get rid OF it, and | am driven almost to
despe, alton"
u am sorry for you, my friend" said the
reporter But, really, you do not look
anything ike the being you describe" And
he was, inioel, anything but like it. Large
well-built, iat, and joily-looking he rather
was an imrersonation of o properous Enn-
lish country squire.
Mine is a peculiar Gaze, | guess he
unused. "And, strange as it may seem, it is
true that the deiusion that Eaunts my
creams ami make my everyday life mis-
cradle existence is caused altogether by the
playing of a violinist in yonder," and he
turned his heal AMI pointed his finger to-
ward dark, gloomy, dilapidatoj house
that doomed up in the shadows falling
arounI.
"Ile is young man who has long been in
low health and spirits Two years ago his
father dIed-strickeu down very suddenly:
SIX months afterward his mother, one of the
kindest mothers that mortal ever loved fol-
lowed her husband. The brother and two
sisters left behind continued to live in the
Old home. They wero mover seen to smile
The young man Is great lover of the
violin. | bolieve he was taught by his
father. The instrument he uses is a won
deFfui ono that was obtained in Italy over
fifty years ago The violnist never PLAYS
except at night. Then he shuts himself
alone IN his dark room, and pours his soul
out through the strings. And, OIL l think
there can be nothing i'll this world or
Che next sadder than the walls in that
music. 1t is the melody of a soul that has
been deal for years. The players heart is
broken, AMI he plays heart-brokeu music
havo listened at my window some nights
AMI eagerly drunk iii overy note. 1t makes
ine feel old and heart broken 1t is q terri
ole deiusion, put l can not shake it off when
1t comes upon me. For days at a timo it
makes me miserable, till 1 grow desperate"
Those who are intimate with the gentle |
man confirm his story. His case is indeed
peculiar. Yet it is not the only one of its |
KIM, for several similar to it have been |
known I" occur. 1t is a powerful ilIustra-
tioh OF tho peculiar mental organization OF |
u musical disposition, and OF the my sterious |
Influence that music has upon one who loves
it and snrreniers him 5elf altogether g, Is
in fiulence