Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1886-09-17
BIG WOODEN SHOE.
The Use Paganini Made of an Odd nj,
steal Instrument.

: AAS Ooo a8aI1AuA NAAO0 OF an Odd M(l.
steal Instrument,
In the autumn of 1882 Paganini was
at a village near Paris. He
was an invalid, and took little notice of
any other occupant of the villa. The
only other occupant for whom he an
peared to care much was Nicette.
young and pretty waitress who attended
him.
One morning Nicette, tray in hand,
the apartment of the famous
maestro, who sat at table carving q
handle for a knife out of a piece of
ivory. Instead of her usual merry look
she was sad and detected, and her blue
eyes showed signs of weeping. Paga-
mini, who had taken an honest liking for
the poor girl, was not long in learning
the cause Of her grief. The conscrip-
ton had just been drawn, bad num-
Der had fallen to the lot of her lover.
and, said she: "Poor Adolphe must
go off for soldier, and I shall never
see him again"
"But why don't you find him a sub
stitute?" asked Paganini.
Monsieur is joking" was the Sob
bing reply. "They say there is to be q
war, and /, 500 francs is the lowest price
for substitute" Fifteen hundred
francs were not much to Paganini, but
no man ever loved money more than he
did, and to give such sum away never
entered his mind. So he said nothing,
but made memorandum in his book,
"See what can do for Nicette."
A few weeks passed and Christmas
was at hand. In France it is the Gus
tom to place wooden shoe on the
hearth, just as we hang up q stocking.
Late in the afternoon of the day before
Christmas Nicette entered the saloon
where the musician was seated, the cen
ter of large group. She said that
huge parcel had just been received for
Sig. Paganini. He said he could not
imagine what it was, but ordered it up.
Wrapper after wrapper was opened be-
fore the curious spectators, and finally
there appeared huge wooden shoe, al
most large enough for an infants era
de-
The bystanders laughed. Some
limited that it was sent by someone who
meant to insinuate that the great VIC
linist was more fond of receiving presents
that of making them. This was probably
the case, and more than possible there
were those in the room who knew
a good deal more than they pretended
about the sending of the shoe. Paganini
suspected as much, and q sudden idea
seemed to strike him. "Well, we'll, my
friends, we shall see if this shoe does
not prove of value to somebody" For
three days little was seen of him, and it
Yves reported that he was busy in his
little workshop, into which none were
permitted to enter, Then it was an
nounced that on New Years eve the
great maestro would give a unique con-
cert, in the course of which he would
execute five pieces on violin and five
on wooden shoe. The price of admis-
sion was to be 20 francs, and but one
hundred tickets were to be sold. OF
course they were disposed of at once.
When the evening came Paganini
made his appearance in unusual spirits
The violin came first ON the program,
and everyone declared the great macs
tro fairly excelled himself, and there
was no end of braves. He retired fol
moment and then appeared with the
veritable wooden shoe under his arm.
But in his three days Of seclusion he
had cut and carved it into rude imita.
ton of a violin, to which he had deity
fitted three strings. Upon this curious
instrument he began to improvise one
of those strange fantasias which many
say were the highest inspiration of his
wonderful genius. It needed no words
to tell that the theme was the life of 6
conscript and a soldier. There was the
suspense of drawing lots for the con
scription, the rejoicing of those whose
friends had got clear, the wailing Of
those not SO fortunate, the departure Of
the conscripts, the noise and hustle Of
camp, the war and tumult of battle, the
shouts of victory, the return of the con
scripts, now heroes, to their homes, ali
closing with the glad pealings of mar
rage bells.
Poor Nicette, whose lover was to be
marched off in a few days, stood behind
the scenes weeping. Scarcely had the
tumultous applause ceased when Pa
ganini babe her approach. "Here,
said he, are the 1000 francs which the
old shoe has brought. That is more by
500 francs than is needed to buy
Adolphe off. Keep the rest to begin
housekeeping with. Here, too, is the
old wooden shoe. Maybe somebody
will give you few francs for it,"
There was great competition as tc
who should have the wonderful shoe
violin. It was put up at auction and
sold to q rich Englishman for 5000
francs. Adolphe and his faithful Nj.
cette were married, and, trust, he
made her good husband.-Philadel.
phia Neacs.
Electricity and the Piano Plague.
1t is no secret, says q continental
contemporary, that private scholar is
ruined man if next door to his resi-
dence on the same floor maiden prac.
tices on the piano from 8 o'clock to II
in the morning, and in the afternoon
again from 3 to z, besides giving per.
formances to friends in the evening.
| Knocking against the wall. Whistlinp