The Van Buren press., 1894-09-01
UNGRATEFUl MUSICIANS.
Dealer In VlOlins Relates q Painful Ex.
perience With One of Them.

UNGRATEFUL MUSICIANS.
Dealer In VlOlins Relates q Painful Ex.
perience With One of Them.
"The young man who axes music
his profession and has talent to recon-
mend him has his path smoothAd in
many ways said a dealer in violins
the other day. "In the first place, there
are plenty of teachers who are willing
to instruct young geniuses. in the hope
Of enhancing their own regulations
through being able to point to them
with pride as pupils of their own. II
the young musician happens to be
violinist there are plenty of dealers who
will lend him such instruments as he
needs, trusting that he will, in the event
of success, direct others to their estab-
lishments. Dealers in pianos, and the
big manufacturers are always ready to
furnish young man with accommodate
tions Of different sorts. If he is anxious
to teach, they will get pupils for him.
If he wants room in which to teach,
they will furnish it to him free of rent.
If he is hard up, they will frequently
lend him money or give him employ
lnent of congenial character, and If
ne gives benefits they buy tickets. II
he brings customers, they give him
commission on the sales made. If he
wishes to secure pianos for himself or
his friends, they will supply them to
him at cut rates.
''It is a sad thing to have to acknowl-
edge that the geniuses are rarely
grateful. Frequently they refuse to
advertise the dealers who have helped
them, and bring forward others to
which they are under no obligations.
Some of them do not repay loans, and
some are downright swindlers. l am
induced to make these observations by
a recent unfortunate experience of my
own.
Several years ago a young man
came to me aSd requested permission
to try some of my violins. I knew his
father, and saw that the young man
had talent, and SO gave him the run
of my place. / expected, of course,
that he would direct his friends to me
whenever they needed anything in
my line. He was very fine player,
and it was of service to me to have him
around the shop. When he played a
violin in the presence of a customer, it
usually meant sale. Recently he
came to me and said he had customer
for violin. l gave him one worth
fifty dollars, and he took it away, say
ing that he would show it to his friend
and let me know the result. Several
days thereafter he came back and said
that he thought he could induce his
friend to take a better violin, and re-
quested me to let him have one or two
others so that his friend could try
them. l said certainly, and let him
have two, one worth one hundred and
fifty dollars and one worth three hun
dred dollars. He said he would be
back the next day.
Several days passed and I heard
nothing of him. Then he came and
said that his friend was still trying
them, that he was responsible person.
and that it would be just as well to let
him try them all and decide at his lei
sure. made no objection to that, and
week passed by. might not have
said anything even then had it not been
that had customer to whom l want
ed to show these violins, and as had
no duplicates, wrote to this young
man asking him if he could not bring
them back. l received no reply.
wrote again and again, and finally sent
- Ii, -, Ill
The clerk came back saying that the
young man had been absent from home
for week, and that his folks supposed
that he was in the country. Then
became somewhat alarmed, and went
over to the house and saw his father
myself. told him what had happened,
and asked him what l had better do.
His father was very respectable man,
but could see at once, from the way
he acted, that he was of the opinion
that his son had deceived me. He told
me that he was quite sure that the
stories that his son had told me were
manufactured, and said that he would
set out to find the boy.
Several days elapsed, and finally the
old gentleman came into the store with
the boy. The latter looked very much
frightened and crestfallen, his father
very angry and very much panied. II
was as he had supposed. The boys
story to me had proved lie from be-
ginning to end. He had pawned the
violins and spent the money he had OBJ
tanned. The father was man of small
means, and was unable to redeem the
violins, so had to redeem them my
self. He promised to repay me as soon
as he could, and suggested that prose.
cute the boy. But did not want to-
''This is not so unusual an occur.
renee as you might imagine. The
tricks and deceptions that young
musicians of talent practice in their
dealings with men who are then
benefactors are sufficient to make one
lose his faith in human nature. II
would almost seem as though the pos
session Of musical genius frequently
carried with it degree of moral oh
liquity which one would not expect to
find in any but criminals 1t is certain
that many of the clever young men
and old men, too, for that matter, with
whom we come in contact are mer
whom we would not associate with fol
moment if it were not for their tai
ents."-N. Y. Sun.
Solomon'a Wisdom.