Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1899-03-24
orleans, and there he made the break


of his life.
1T was Sunday evening when we
| landed in that resort of SIardi Gras and
other large and healthy joys. and we
| sort of scattered around to get a bird s.
| eye view of the town. When it came to
viewing a town Stub was a bird with
eyes all over him. and 1 guess he saw
enough to write a book about, only
haven't heard that he ever wrote it.
| Anyway, he stayed out SO late that
night that he forgot his name, and
when he showed up Monday noon he
| tried to make the gang believe that he
| was the father of his country, and his
| first name was George. He couldn't re-
member the other one. and it made no
| difference anyway, as he intended to
make his debut as a soloist that very
night under the alias of Signor Stub
bini. 1t was in order to get Stub out
| of that frame of mind, so we treated
| him internally and externally with am
monia cocktails and cold baths until he
rounded to pitch of humility that
made him sad enough to bring tears
| to the eyes of an instructor in math.
| He said he was a crawling worm and
| he'd like to go out and dig holes in the
| garden. After that he had big din
ner. 1t braced him up to beat the band.
| The manager and [ put him through
| the alphabet and the multiplication
| table and the shorter catechism and de-
cided that he was all right to show up
| that night. That's where we sprinkled
our record with haysee1.
! do you know what hangover is?
Well. a hangover is one of those jags
| that takes nap way in the back of
your brain and leaves you feeling pref
ty solid with yourself until it wakes up
again. When it gets walked up it's time
| for your friends to tie ropes around
you and lock you in a room. That's
what the manager and l ought to have
done with Stub, for ne had a hangover
like the caves of house. If he'd only
shown it little more-but he didn't.
[ tackled him an hour before concert
time when he was getting into his dress
| clothes.
Feel all right?' asked him.
| Feel like bird he said. Say. if 1
had the real thing in a banjo tonight
instead of that fake cheese box you
rugged for me | could tear the eternal
/ soul of music right out of it. Let's have
a cocktail
Never one said. It's up to you
to drink ice water
"'No,' said he. 1T would put out the
fires of genius. I feel the spirit of
Beethoven and Wagner and Mozart and
the man that wrote Johnny Get Your
Gun" all stirring within me. Great
song, Johnny, Get Your Gun" is
! YES but you don't need to sing it. >
l said. for Stub had taken a long breath
and opened his mouth. Sure you're all
right?'
Truly rural says Stub. Six slick,
slim. small saplings. Think could do
those stunts if 1 wasn't? Watch me tie
my tie
"Now, it's really something of trick
for u man to put up dress tie in neat
bow unless he's pretty steady, and Stub
| tied a gents furnishing store model in
three moves. That settled my doubts.
| When I left him he was singing He
said its was America because he was
| patriotic. Three minutes later met a
boy in the hall carrying two cocktails
on tray. / asked him where they were
going He said to Mr.. Gillis told him
to charge 'em to Mr.. ellis private ac-
count and drank 'em both. Then
sent Jerry Corley, who sat next to Stub
in the banjo line, to hover over him on
angel wings and see that he didn't es
| tablish lines of communication with
any more booze. Jerry was careful
chap. He did the angel wing business
| with an eagle eye attachment and land
| ed Stub at the concert hall so late that
he couldn't usher. Stub said he didn't
| feel much like ushering. anyway; felt
| kind of compressed around the head;
| effect of the pressure of his musical
| thoughts on the inside most likely
During the first piece he got along all
| right. From my place at the other end
I got a glimpse of him pecking away
at his hemp strings with kind of rapt
look like a man hitting up something
| long and cold through straw with the
| thermometer at 90 degrees.
''As / said, Jerry Corley was u careful
sort of man, but he got his eye on
| girl in the audience that he used to,
know, and 1 guess it ratified him, for
when he gathered up the boxes for our
second appearance Stub goldbricked
Jerry and got his banjo, and Jerry was
| in such n trance that he never noticed
/ that he was up against Stubs hemp
| lined silence-spreader till he hit his
chair. Then he made u swipe for his
| banjo, but Stub warded him off and the
| trouble began. 1t was some kind of
| lingering waltz we had for that time
and it began with some little tinkly
picks on the mandolins, very soft and
birdy. Well, the maniolins started in.
| and first thing 1 knew heard a kind of
wild whisper from Jerry Corley:
Don't touch the strings, Stub
s'Then Stubs bass voice said:
Lego that banjo, Jerry. Drop it
| or I'll kick your chair over
There was a kind of scraping OF the
/ cb md