Wichita daily eagle., 1886-05-19
A QUEER VIOLIN.


l
How the Great Paganini Raised . Lare
Paroe for . Pretty Gifi.
In the autumn of 1882 Paganini va
residing at a villa hear Paris. He wa
an invalid and took very little notice o
. any other occupant Of the villa. Th'
only other occupant for whom he ap
peared to care much was Nicette, /:
young and pretty waitress who st
tended him.
One morning Nicette was sad and
detected, and her blue eyes showed
signs of weeping. Paganini, who had
taken an honest liking for the pool
girl, was not long in learning the cause
Of her grief. The conscription had just
been drawn; a bad number had fallen
to the lot of her lover, and, said she:
Poor Adolphe mustg of for . soldier,
and shall never see him again.
But why don't you find him a sub
stitute?' asked Paganini. Monsieur
is Joking" was tie sobbing reply.
.sThey say there is to be q war. and
fifteen hundred francs is the lowest
price for substitute.
A few weeks passed and Christmas
was at hand. In France it is the
custom to place wooden shoe on the
hearth just as we hang up stocking.
Late in the afternoon of the day before
Christmas Nicette entered the salon
where the musician was seated, the
center of large group. She said that
huge parcel had just arrived for Sig.
Paganini. He said he could not
imagine what it was, but ordered it up.
Wrapper after wrapper was opened
before the curious spectators, and
finally there appeared a huge wooden
shoe. almost large enough for an in
fant's cradle.
The bystanders laughed. Some limited
that it was sent by some one who meant
to insinuate that the great violinist was
more fond of receiving presents than
of making them. Paganini suspected
as much, and a sudden idea seemed to
strike him. ''Well, well, my friends.
we shall see if this shoe does not prove
of vslne to somebody" For three days
little was seen of him, and it was re-
ported that he was busy in his little
workshop, into which none were per-
mitted to enter. Then il was an
nounced that on New Years eve the
great maestro would give an unique
concert, in the course of which he
would execute fite pieces on violin
and five on a wooden shoe. The price
of admission was to be twenty francs
and but Zone hundred tickets were to be
sold. OF course they were disposed of
at once.
When the evening came Paganini
made his appearance in usual spirits.
The violin came first on the programme,
and every one declared the great
maestro fairly excelled himself, and
there was no end of bravos. He re-
tired for moment and then appeared
with the veritable wooden shoe under
his arm. But in his three days of Sc
clusion he had cut and carved it into a
rude imitation of a violin, to which he
had deity fitted three strings. Upon
this curious instrument he began to
improvise one Of those strange fanta-
sias, which many say were the highest
inspirations of Ms wonderful genius.
Scarcely had the tumultuous applause
ceased when PagAnini bade Nicette ap-
proach. Here" said he. ..are the
two thousand francs which the old
shoe has brought. That is more by
five hundred francs than is needed to
buy Adolphe off. Keep the rest to be-
gin housekeeping with. Here. too. is
the old wooden shoe. May be some
body will give you few francs for il"
There was great competition as to
who should have the wonderful shoe
violin. 1t was put up at auction and
sold to a rich Englishman for six thou
sand francs.-Ph iko9ekphia News.