Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1888-10-01
Poor Blind Tom.

| GOWn. Az aryIHS lHeeI'dlS uf'ilN
the music of a sweet toned piano
floats softly from the interior of an
old house and mingles a delightful
harmony with the dull hum of traffic
in the populous thoroughfare. Men
and women hustling to and fro IN
the street stop often and listen to
the strains. The fingers that so
deftly touch the keys and draw such
wondrous symphonies from the in
strument are those of strapping big
negro who sits at the piano in the
spacious back parlor, and for hours
sometimes those residents who are
fortunate enough to have living quar-
ters in Ninth street -Whose~back vim
dows look upon the rear porch of the
old-fashioned dwelling have rare
and delightful treat. The back win
dows of the old dwelling, reaching
from floor to ceiling, are thrown open
to the June breezes and the sunshine,
and all the wondrous variety Of mel
ody that the negro draws from his
grand piano floats out upon the balmy
air in waves of captivating sound.
Every once in a while the stalwart
African will start up from his seat
and rush out upon the porch, and
pace up and down like an imprisoned
animal, beating his chest and moan
ing piteously. A railing that reaches
above his waist completely cuts off
egress to the little garden patch that
blooms in the back yard, and he runs
his hand along it as if he were try
ing to find stairway to the garden.
GLOW are you, Tom? What's the
matter?" some one who has been lis
tening is sure to say when the must
clan makes such sudden appearances
on the porch. Their greeting is al
ways CHEEKY, for all the listeners
know we'll that the big-chested negro
|
nous Ethiopian pianist. Tom never
appears in public. He is suffering
from some nervous complaint that
renders a repetition of his stage per-
Torrance impossible.
For hours daily he tramps up and
down the porch in his slippered feet,
clad in blue trousers and dark fian-
mel yachting shirt, bareheaded and
uneasy. He behaves like an impris-
oned bear, at times crouching on all
fours or dancing up and down in
mysterious delirium. He has worn
ridge in the flooring of the porch near
the hand rail by his restless prone
made to and fro. Music or harmo-
nious sounds seem to be the only in
fluences that ever divert him from
these capers on the porch.
One Sunday recently the chimes in
Grace church steeple on Broadway
began to ring, and the echoes, soft
ened by the distance they had trav-
ersed, struck Toms ear with a sweet
Naturalization that reproduced note
by note the beautiful hymn, "Near-
er, my God, to Thee" In an instant
the blinded giant ceased his tramp
on the porch, and, resting his hand
on the railing, raised his sightless
eyes to the sky, and turning his head
in the direction of the chimes, stood
like a statue, listening with rapt at
tention to the melody. The echoes
died away finally, and, waiting some
minutes to hear if they would contin-
ue, he groped his way through the
open window into the parlor, and,
seating himself at the piano, ran his
fingers over the keys in sudden in
spiration. What he played was an
imitation as perfect as the piano
would allow, of the music of the
chimes. Tom repeated the same
stirring imitation when little later
the chimes again rang out upon the
June breeze.
Then he rose from the piano, went
out on the porch, and listened in
curiously intent way to the noise
made by the Tapping wings of flock
of pigeons, whose cote IS built against
the wall of an adjoining house.
The sun meantime rose SO that its
| hot rays broke past the shade OF
tree in the garden and beat against
the side partition of the porch. The
big negro leaned on his hand against
the partition. He withdrew it the
moment he felt the heat. The sens
alton seemed to puzzle him, for he
placed his hand on the partition
again, withdrew it second time and
began to stroke it and to ponder.
He stood in this way stroking his
hand for many moments. Then he
looked up and smiled. 1t had dawn
upon him at last that what he had
felt was sunshine. He held both
hands aloft and groped in the air un-
til he discovered by his sense Of feel
ing that he was standing in the rays
of the sun. He remained on the spot
motionless, with his sightless orbs
opened wide to the golden rays, and
laughed with the glee of child who
had found new plaything.
One day last week when he had
found the sunlight in this same CROP
ing way, a servant girl, with a high
keyed, discordant voice, began to
sing ssWhite Wings" as loudly as she
could. She was at work IN a dwell
ing some distance from Toms house,
but he had heard her voice distinctly.
1t appeared to CRATE upon his nerves
terribly. and he dashed up and down