Delaware gazette and state journal. (Wilmington, Del.) 1883-1902, 1899-04-27

| brother-ln-law said nothing and they
waited a few minutes in strained
silence. Finally they walked about
the room looking at each other.
! "Do you think it was quito wise to
let him goH" said my brother- in-law,
with compressed lips. The Nice Boy
is horribly afraid of my brother- in law.
"I'll-1'll go out and--and get him."
he gasped, and dashed out into tho
dark, oursing himself for fool. This
was unfortunate, for in firo seconds
mole, Mr.. Decker had reoled into tho
room. IIe explained in q very thick
voice that he had never been able to
play without the drink; that little
brandy SGT his fingers free, but that he
had taken too much and must rest
When the Nice Boy got back had
brought two great pals of cold water
and fresh dress shirt--it was too late.
The man lay in a heap on the floor.
and my brother in law stood white and
raging, talking to the heap. The man
was drunkenly. horribly asleep. The
Boy said that the worst five minutes
he over spent were those in which he
poured water over the heap on the floor
itnd shook ii, my brother-in law watch
ing with an absolutely Understandable
expression
llltn no SOl Out vi tlit DidbibTll anu
said something. Mr.. Decker had net
a doctor?--was there perhaps % doctor
in the audience?- they could realize
his position--and more Of that sort.
| knew well enough. When the
doctor went in he found the Boy
shaking the drunken brute ON the
floor, and they told the doctor all
about 1t and he went out by the other
door And they got a carriage and
took Decker to the hotel
l don't know--it seemed not wholly
his fault. And his face showed that
he had suffered. But the men would
hear nothing OF that. My brothor-in-
law says that for woman who is
really as hard as nails | have more
, apparent and aesthetic sympathy than
any one he ever knew. And that may
be so.
The people took il very nicely. They
cleared tho floor, and the younger ones
danced and tho older ones talked, and
the manager sent over ices and coffee,
and it turned out the affair of the
season. And they were all very CRATE
full to my brother-in- law and his
friend, and quite forgot about the
strange artist.
Whether he ever fully realized what
! the evening had been we never knew,
because when they went in the next
morning to see how he was, they found
,, him dead. The doctor said that tho
. excitement. the terror, the sudden cut
ting off of liquor, with the sudden wild
: drinking, were too much for an over
strained heart, and that he had prob
! ably died soon after he was carried to
! his room.
! 1t seemed to me little sad that
while they were dancing, the man
whom they had come to see----. But
!, my brother in-law says that turn to
I the morbid view of things, and that
: that was the very blessing of the whole
= affair-that the crowd should have
been so pleased, and that the horrible
! situation should have ended SC
: smoothly. Because such a man is
!. better dead, he says. And, of course,
: he is right. Life would be horrible tc
Z !, him, one can see.
But have noticed that the Nice Boy
Z and the girl who heard him play dc
not feel so sure that his death was
best. For myself, / shall always fee
!. that the world has lost its musica
r master have heard the music
It makers of two generations and not one
i of them has excelled his exquisite
o lightness and force OF touch, and thai
s wonderful singing stress coulc
cry to think of it ~ And when we q
Y abroad next, shall find out the namt
| Of the man who played in Leipsic ant
II Paris and Vienna-for he must hav'
It played there once 4 he said he hac
s played to thousands--and see il an,
e one there has heard of his secret, hi
It wonderful singing through the keys.
d And though my brotherin-law say
" that the musical temperament in com
n bination with Bohemian tendenc.
n gives an emotional basis which is abso
1t utely unsafe and therefore untrust
q worthy in its reports of actual facts,
}. know that the most glorious music O
10 my life gained nothing from m.
:. Imagination. For there were three o
1t us who saw tho spring come over tn
1t hills that night. Three of us heart
d the triumph-song of love incarnate
/. and thrilled to it. Three of us kney
,. for once peace that passed our under
1t standing, and had the comfort of littl
o children III their mothers arms.
d And though it is not true, as IN
n brother-in- law lnsinuates, that ma
20 need only be able to play my soul ava
ID in order to be ranked by me among tn
ID angels, shall continue to insist tina
" somewhere, somehow, the beautifu
IN sounds he made are accounted to hir
I'd for Just little righteousness!