Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1897-01-16
A FIDDLER WANTED.
He WAS FAMED AND AT DANCE MUSIC
DID VERY WELL.

He WAS FAMED AND AT DANCE MUSIC
DID VERY WELL.
Fun and rrolic In !Nashout on the Ore
gun short inc-Milliunaircs and Immi.
grants Attend n Tnncc and Experience
Musical Surprise.
On st. Fatrck's day, 1894, five
through trains hornd both to the east
ward aud westward of the Oregon Short
Line of the Union Pacific, were tied up
Mt Glenms Ferry, Ida. They had been
rarght between two serious washouts,
one ut Pocatcllo and the other at Indian
Creek, three days before, and had to
wait ut Glcnns Ferry for track repairs
along the line before they could proceed.
Glcnns Ferry is Il bleak little railroad
and sheep herdors town of 300 or 400
inhabitants, situate OH Il sagebrush
bluff overlooking tho unspealably dark
and dreary Snake river.
Tho five stalled trains carried 600
passengers of ;.s miscellaneous a charac-
ter rs could be gotten together at a
carefully selected congress Of types.
There were emigrants and millionaires;
soldiers on the move; dainty women in
palace cars and women bound for Creedo
and Cripple Creek i'll day coaches; min
crs who killed time during tho wait in
shooting magpies circling over tho
Snake river; Shoshone Indians travel.
ing to tho limits of their reservation;
well behaved and quiet people, noisy
and tumultuous people But all were
stuck alike, and they made the best OF it.
Lines Of social dcmarcation were for
tho time erased. All hands mingled
easily on the little station platform and
in tho little station waiting room. The
supply Of food on the dining cars gave
out tho first day of the hitch, and every
body was fed, and well fed, too, i'll the
STATEN eating room. They sat down at
tho tables in relays and patiently
awaited their turns.
The railroad employees and their
wives were to give II dance at the little
town hall on St Patrick's night The
switcmman who had been customarily
employed TO fiddle for them had been
switched to another division. Inaquan-
Diary, tho dance committee toured the
trains and station to ascertain If any of
the stalled passengers happened to be
carrying violin and was capable OF
producing music on it. lii one of the
sleeping cars they came across an artistic
locking man, with very long hair, Il
seraphic, olenginous countenance and
exceedingly bagey clothes. They were
looking for a fiddler. they said Did he
know Of any on tho train: Well. he
t,idn l;roT Gn outrageously bid Eng
lish) he played Il little himself once in
awhile, and had rather fair fiddle
with him. Tho long haired man accent
cd the eddie" rather curiously. But
the railroad men were overioycd. Would
he play for them to dance with their
wives ana sweethearts? Certainly! Did
he know dance music? Well, some.
All Of the stalled passengers were in
vitcd TO the dance, and they all went
\ good many of them could not get i'll.
The baggiiy clothed fiddler turned up
i'll gcod tiMc The pianist was waiting
for him. So was the railroad dance
committee, orc of the members OF which
slipped So in one dollar bills into the
fiddlers hard ~ payment in advance
for thu evenings work. TWAS smiling
ly accepted. The dance began. The
tircman's wife, who played the piano,
produced al old bethumbed violin and
piano tuno book and turned to the Ian
GERS. She told the fiddler, ut the end of
the first dance, that lie did pretty well,
only he went too fast. Then there was
Il waltz. The fiddler WIS informed by
his accompanies that he was getting
along finely, and everybody i'll the room
began TO prick up his ears at the sweet
ness Of tho violin music, although the
dances were common enough and tawdry
enough.
Another walr2-the beautiful Blue
Danube. al of the dancers on the
floor stopped dead at the first bar, and
the travellers with cultivated musical
ears moved clcse to the piano. The pi.
alist ceased. She wished TO listen. The
violin Music WAC miraculous. The play
or swaycd fro::l side to side rs he phras-
ed. He appeared to be oblivious of his
surroundings. He inprovlsed variations
of inspiring tenderness. He out-Strauss-
ed Strauss. G;s violin sang, throbbed
with passion. When the last note died
away, the people in the hall appeared
tc be in Il drca,n-all but one
N. Ysaye," said Charley Fair, the
son of the late United States Senator
Fair, stepping from the throng, won't
You play that lively, rafting thing you
gave us at !4e Bohemian club i'll San
Francisco the other night? It's been
running in my head ever since. I"
NJ. Ysayo played Berlicz's "Pizzi-
cato" az he perhaps never played it be-
fore Washington Star.