Evening star., 1901-05-11
THE MUSIC OF THE NIGHT


had spoken derogatorily of the young lady
who lived next doofs to his boarding house
and put In tep hours Of the day and night,
as he asserted Without affidavit, humping
away at poor. helpless piano, when
weli-known Washington musician came
saliantiy to the young lady's rescue by
changing the tIubjetx to a story out of his
experience.
This experience with what may be called
neighborhood music" he said reminds me
Oh time twenty-five years ago. when our
young and supersensitive friend here was
hardly in his first trousers. 1 was living
then in a boarding house in St. Louis
WHICH, nope he will not hold against me
ana pald Tor my board and other expenses
OF life in an interior town by playing the
violin In the old De Bar Opera House or
cnestra at a small monthly stipend. in
creased at intervals by engagements. after
the theater. at balls. private dances and
other social festivities. I was pretty fair
musician in those days, and 1 had as
roommate a teacher, who il his life had
oeen spared think would have become one
OF the really great teachers of the world.
lnere were other boarders in the house, but
none or any especial interest. except one.
anu ne only because he could make poorer
music on the violin than any one / ever
heard attempt it, notwithstanding he had a
Hnashli!cent instrument that [ believe would
nave played itself l. it had been given half
d chance.
His room was next to ours, and I know
Whereof speak. for he had terrible en-
erSS ana tlreleSs industry, with soul for
music not excelled by that of one of the
sreat masters 1t seemed to devour him,
ana his failure to express what was in him
was slowly but surely sapping his very
Vltals. There was look In his eyes Of one
VINO searched day and night for what re-
.iaileu nidden. and every nerve and muscle
showed the terrible tension Of a perpetual
surviving Tor the unattainable. Sometimes
Wheh listening to me as l played somethi
that l couid do very well indeed | noticed
., .nat ne iiited himself and threw back his
hedu as II he would fly into the empyrean
OF the harmonies. Then he would drop
oaeh @ again with sigh, and there would
ooine ,. over his face and his figure the slow
on,'Id "rIiiiess @ OF longing that seemed as If it
couIu never be sratitied. Usually when I
.anAe III with my roommate at night, for he
.ausht late our next-door neighbor would
pe saving away on his violin. and he would
s.pp "nen ne heard us; but on the night Of
ar1ac. miacn enls story narrates he was sound
asleep when we came and we couId baar
MIN snoring heavily
fLiteen minutes after we got in we
Ieafu MIN moving about his room and
then we heard the first touch of tho how ~
Tue Strlngs, and We wondered If he could he
cruei enough to commence operations on
us, US at tnat time of night. We looked at each
@ olher IN dlsmay as the first notes of the
music came uncertainty forth but In q =, IN
ute or Two our dsmav changed into amaze-
meht' Tor he. or whoever held the instru-
faun "esan playing as we had never be-
loie hearu MIN play. Five minutes later
we were listening to such pla wing a q neitber
OF us had ever heard from ANYBODY and
We haa heard some of the greatest PLAYERS
as os ~ thI e. morId during our time. 1t seemed
80. 10 ~ me- ny Z were IN the strains of the instru
ilient az the agony of pent-up soul striI,-
ius 70 preak from it's bonds and then II
wind df ierth IT, IN perfect storm and whirl-
mianas - =. w. i'perated consonance, and all the
q. iI.iurderlng g cane swinging from the how y q
some inspired being were breatbjng ~
the strings of the violin ns oh
and i tie l.enfs Dance. with its difficulties
,.i;u rs Is peautles; Mendelssohn's Concerto
WIN its strength and feeling: Beethovan.s
W YIN !S grandeur; Rachs ChacOnne WITH
sa Us "luerness1 of melody; Ernst's Hunga-
., ,.al airs' with thetr rhythm and meiodic
,ii,illeht. I,, tne'CarMval of Venice as Ole
Bull could not haveQplayed it: tho n,nsio
OF OF I1euxtemps. of Saint -Saens. of Ta,lh ne
ol.onr and dozens OF others. as Pas.n;ni
iiisnt nave rendered it. and so on in a So
quehce no less beautiful that were tba
selections composing 1t, the man nl.,a5
with a power of feeling and a heautI oe
technique l have never heard eouaIed W.
llStehed spell-Dound for two hours and
hal,l,; hmen at iast ne stopped from sheer ex-
naustlon, we made a rush for hts roon,
TO congratulate him on his wonderful nerl
1crmance. but the door was locked and wa
fcmla fea,I1, not. not get In. The room was per
80 10y ua.h, as We could see over the tran
SEM ana though we heard him rno,,;na
about, We could get no response ~ Ing Ing
cans, and at last left our neighbor To his
own meditations We talked it over nntiI
we Went to sleep. and the very first thing
IN the morning, when we heard him IN anS
ABOUT. we went banging into his room TO
extend our applause, although il might ho
a little late. You know a musician doasn,t
so soon as that forget what good music
Is. and he is the most generous Of ali
Of
OF what Is really good music we went In
on him with whiri when he opened the
door to us. and when We began in our on
thus1astlc fashion to congratulate him he
looked at us biankiy and said he had NOT
been playing. Then we thought perhans II
might have been some one else. but that
could not be. for both window and door
We're locked. and We insisted that it could
was playing whether he was willing to ac
knowledge 1t or not. You see the moor
fellow knew what We thought of his ordf-
nary performances. and he had an idea we
were trying to guy him. We assured him
to the contrary, however. and at last he
told US that he had dreamed that he wa G
playing at a great concert and had played
just as he wanted to play, Just as he
hoped mop to play, just as he prayed to play
there was a CLEAN Of hope in the restless
eyes that had looked SO long for what wa c
never to come.
I'VE knew. then, that he had been play-
ing in his sleep. And why shouldn't he
play so? He knew the music perfectly,
and how 1t should be played. for he had
given 1t all his thought and labor and
love, and surely there should be some re-
sponse. Strange powers had come to other
men in visions of the night, and why not
to him? And 1T had to come to him. but
IT. never came again. for although We
watched and waited many nights bv his
side as he slept, he gave no sign Of the
powers that lay within him, yet beyond
his reach We even went so far as to try
to influence him in his sleep, but it was
quite in vain. and one night when he rose
feverishly from his bed. and we thought
the moment of inspiration had come again
he made sudden dash for the window and
went out and down to the stone pavement
four stories below
Muzzled the Ducks.
From the Kansas City Star.
A baggage man on the Santa Fe who rms
into Kansas City from out in the western
part OF Kansas has lost lots of sleep. 1t is
doubtful If he ever can catch up with 1t.