Evening star., 1899-04-01
Then the Mendicant Musicians Re-
turn to Their Haunts.
FAMILIAR FACES ON THE STREETS
Lame and Blind Who Play Their
Best for a Few Pennies.
THEY HAVE A HARD LIFE,

The mendicant musicians of Washington
are contemporaries of the crocuses in that
they begin to pop out about the same time.
The barrel organists and the itinerant
Jakey bands of the paves do business the
year around. On the afternoon of the big
February blizzard a disconsolate-looking
band of four footing troubadours made the
route from the Peace monument to 9th street
on Pennsylvania avenue alternating with
Germanized variations on the American
national airs and somewhat beery fo1ksongs
of the fatherland. They stood in snow
knee deep most of the time. and, as their
stations were taken mostly in front of sa-
looms, they seemed to acquire a sufficient
quantity of beer and sauSages to keep
them warm. If there is anything drearier
tnat Schuberts serenade as rendered by
four butchers of the brass under such cir
cumstances. with cyclonic blizzard fill
Ing In the already overcharged number of
minor notes, man who heard that mourn
ful performance would like to know of it,
The barrel organists and street piansts
did not get out on the big blizzard day, but
they nave not overlooked any opportuni-
ties since then. and their colony is being
anpilhed every day with fresh arrivals
from other cities. The Star set forth
about a year ago the admirably contrived
system these perambulating Italians of
the ever-turning noise-producing crank
nave OF dividing up the sections of a city
so that they shall not infringe upon each
others territory.
Appeal to Pity.
The unfolding of spring is already bring
ing out the widely distributed battalion of
pavement musicians, whose appeals for aid
IN the shape OF iucre are not grounded so
much upon the quality of music they fur
nish as upon their obvious physical imper-
fections. The blind kazoo player of Market
space mas been doing pretty well ON that
peat since the middle of March. He is
comfortably clad and well-set-up young
man or thirty or thereabouts with a face
OF some strength. His complete blindness
Is only too palpable, for his eyes are sunken
and entirely closed He first appeared with
an ordinary tin flute of the eight-holed va
riety, such as small boys, filed with their
hrst martial inspiration, employ to render
their neighborhoods hideous. This blind
man OF Marhetspace, however, contrived to
produce some QUITE Remarkable effects from
his tin whistles pEHying a singularly large
number of tunes, considering the limited
range OF his lpsIEgment. 1t was perhaps
his his apd appreciatS9n I. OF the limitations of
hmseif upon the kazoo, upon which prac-
ticaiiy any old thing in the musical line
from from MoitramS Evening Star song to. Ber-
ioz PlzZlcatti, can be educed after a man
ner. He doesi SURPRISINGLY well with tha
kazoo and thrGwsra depth of pathos into
some OF the popular ballads of the dav
that sound siRplyI maudlin when sung bv
the variety thsfters talladists. He seems to
nave eonsiderShie oppression, TOO, for the
otner atternooH hefgorked off Nevin's Mar
Sissus: us. with al Of its puzzling changes in
Key, with accgtacy. and effect This hind
man does excesdtqgly well at the hands of
the Market space space shoppers.
Are Back Again.
Inc young smooth-faced,' neatly dressed
man, Completely blind, who covered a nor.
ton OF 7th street last year, with a small
poy to lead hiRaso and who played rollek
ing airs on theumouth organ to his own
accompaniment '1on the banjo, made his
spring appearance last week and had his
usual crowd around him. The crowds
chipped in literally. too. This young man
Is sald TO nave been clerk in Washing
ton clothing house few years back. He
iost ms eyesight through an unsuccessful
operation Tor separation of the retiua He
Is really accomplished banjoist. and he
KNOWS now to get some very sweet tones
out of the -harmonica
The crouching woman with the faded
black shawl completely hiding her head.
VINO used to grind out unspeakably dismal
hymn tunes from a crank-turned rneIodeon
at the corner of 18th street and the ave-
nue., has been out for a couple OF weeks
past. She has abandoned her old station.