Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1902-12-06
THE VIOLIN MIOROBE

zone of the most insidious and yet amia-
BILE microbes that know anything about"
| remarked a local music dealer. is that
which we in this business call the fiddle
bug. The fiddle bug operates upon those
whom 1t takes possession of in a great
| many different ways For example, there
| Is well-known physician here in Washing
! ton who was seized with the fiddle bug
/ only about two years ago. although he is
now man well into middle age. 1t hit him
/ bad. The way it seized him at first was to
| give him the idea that he just naturally HAD
to learn how to play on the violin. He, a
busy medical practitioner, past fifty. with
| the natural stiffness Of movement that
| comes with that age, got 1t into his head
| that life would be just one long stretch Of
! the bad lands and bowling desert for him
unless he learned how to play on the violin,
| Well, he began. He invested in fine and
| expensive outfit-frst-rate violin and bow.
music rack elementary violin music-all
the accessories. He engaged a good violin
| teacher. The teacher looked the elderly
| medical man over and told him frankly, at
| the outset that he was good 1000 to /
| shot, or words to that effect so far as his
| chance OF ever learning how to play on the
violin was concerned. The doctor didn't
| take any offense. He had the fiddle bug
too bad for anything like that. and he said
| he was willing to pay the freight and take
a chance. He didn't have a particle of
music-that Is. so far as the acquisitive end
| OF 1t Is concerned-in his whole huge frame
and after about two months lessons the
| violin teacher told the physician that 1t
| would take him at least Thirty years to
| learn how to pound bass drum. much less
| how to play Not for Joe or Yankee Doo-
| die on the fiddle.
This discouraged the doctor some, and
| for the time he took the teachers word for
| 1t and abandoned his idea Of learning the
| violin. Two months later the fiddle bug
i'm n 90 10 hn,,c Lit
| lin-not that he had disposed of the first
one, but that he liked fiddles-Iiked to have
| 'em around him to look at, even If he
couldn't play. He engaged a second teach
| er, who ran shrieking from the doctors
presence at the end of the fourth lesson
with his fingers in his ears. Well, since
| that time the good doctor has bought three
| new fiddles and engaged three new violin
| instructors, and at the present hour he
| can't even draw straight down bow on
| the open string to save his soul. It's not
in him But the fiddle bugs in him, and
| he'll never get rid Of 1t. It's the grief of
| his life that he can't play just one tune on
| the fiddle. If he could only get away with
| The Soldiers JOY The Irish Washer
| woman I'd be willing to wager that for the
| remainder Of his days he'd be investing half
| his income as medical pra ctitfoner in new
| fddles.
| Then there's welI-known man in one
OF the departments who's had the fiddle bug
| for matter of forty years-ever since he
| was boy. He's had first-class instruction
| time and again, during all those years, and
yet the best he can do now is to play just
| simple pieces fairly WELL He loves to
| play just these simple pieces over every
| night of his life. and he never misses a
| night. He isn't under any delusion as to
| the extent of his ability as a player-he
| knows exactly where he stands on that
| and makes no bones about ridiculing his
| own music. But he's just got the fiddle
| bug, that's all. and he always will have it.
| He's got fddles, and some of them good
| ones. all over his house-under the sofas
and lounges and beds, on the tables. on top
| of the bookcases-they're everywhere and
of dollars on iddles and fiddle acocuter-
| ments. although he's never been anything
but fairly comfortable man.
Then there's another departmental man.
| this one younger, who has the violin mi
| crobe in an odd FORM He's fairly good
| player. just an average one, without any
particular inspiration: He's been at 1t
| about ten years and he has spells of en-
| have all of his music books dug out of the
| attic trunks, and start all over again. But,
when the enthusiastic spell hits him, he
| always has to buy a new violin. for the
| reason that he gets rid Of em in short
| order when the enthusiasm is punctured
| His fiddle ardor will last perhaps a month
| or two, during which time he practices
! fiercely and gets into all sorts of dickers for
| new f1ddles. Then some crackerjack vio-
| linist comes along to Washington and gives
a concert, and this enthusiast goes to hear
concert hall in state Of utter gloom and
| depression The great player is so very
great indeed, and the chance OF ever being
| able to attain one-millionth part Of his pro-
| iciency Is completely out Of the ques-
| ton. So this enthusiast returns to his home
and vows to his wife that he's never, under
| any circumstances going to take fiddle in
his hands again. He Immediately begins to
dig around to find somebody that wants to
buy a good fiddle cheap. I've known him
to sell tiddles that he paid as high as 800
for to the first man THAI offered him $40
note for it. After a while, as 1 say, the
| overpowering effect of the great players
| music wears off, and then he gets the fiddle
bug all over again and sets about to take
his old love into his heart once more.
And yet the bug has another and an ex-
ceedingly peculiar way of acting. There are
some fellows who are just natural mu-
sicians-they're born with 1t. It's as easy
for them to pick the fiddle up and run away
| with it, as the expression goes, IL they're
started at the instrument early enough, as
it Is for an alert apprentice to learn the
plumbers trade. Well, 1 know perhaps a
dozen Washington men who possessed this
musical ability in their early youth, and
who were started at the violin by their
parents. Most of them had to be virtually
dubbed into practicing by their parents
and yet, even with this forced and unwill-
ing effort, they became good players in the
course of few years capable. with study,
of doing almost anything with the instru-
ment. Well, all Of these particular men
that I'm talking about have absolutely
dropped the violin since they arrived at the
age when they became independent OF the
control Of their folks-given 1t up abso-
lutely and wholly. with no thought of ever
taking it up again. And that's the fiddle
bug-the people who can't play, want to-
and the people who can won't"
L
Women Doctors in Paris.