The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1907-12-08
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Harris Genius
By Colin 5. Collins.


/
Hart stirred uneasiIy as the tones
fioated out, now round and full. now
the merest whisper OF divine melody.
No mere amateur it was, who tenderly
bowed the violin. Hart had heard the
best of those who had come to Amer
lea on tour, and he knew that this was
the playing Of a master.
Even as a. child, Morris Hart had
been strangely moved by music. and
now his soul thrilled as the almost hu-
man notes pierced the air. For time
he could not locate the player, but at
last he caught glimpse of a girl as
lovely as the music she made.
She stood at the window of a squalid
tenement that faced the building in
which Hart had his office, and. all un-
conscious of the notice she attracted,
played on and on. The same airs she
played over and over again. but the
trial balance waited while Hart drank
in the melody. AT last, with a sigh, she
laid down the instrument, and carefully
putting it away. busted herself with
the preparation of her simple meal.
Hart turned again to the trial ball
ance which the bookkeeper had laid
upon his desk, but he could not Danish
from his thoughts the fair musician
| and the picture she made framed in
the opening in the rough brick of the
| rear wall
She was fair with the fairness of the
| North, but her eyes were the lustrous
| black of the Latins, and !. in her face
was an odd mixture of the cold repres-
| sion of the North-born with the pas
sion of the SUMMER South. Even in the
poor dress she wore she did not lose
her queenly stateliness of bearing,
| and the collarless, shabby waist be-
trayed the round fuuness of her neck
and the dazzling whiteness of her
| shoulders.
| For a man who had hitherto account
ed women things of little Importance,
| the girl of the violin occupied much of
Harris attention that afternoon, and in
| the evening she absorbed his thoughts
| to the exclusion of all else.
| Hart was early at his office in the
| morning. He had passed an almost
| sleepless night and had come to the Of
flee in the hope of finding forgetfulness
of the girl in the absorption of work.
He gathered up the mail from the floor
| in front of the letter drop and me-
| chemically busted himself in opening
| the envelopes.
| But scarcely had he begun when
from across the yards came the sound
of the violin. Today she stood slightly
4 -l.a Il \ 10 +oy
| w discern her face, though his memory
needed no refreshing, and he could see
| her as plainly as he had the day be-
| fore, when she had stood just in front
of the window. Over and over again
she played the same airs. The head
clerk came in for the mail and Hart
waved him away. 1t was not until the
violin was put away and the girl sat
at the window with some sewing that
Hart could give his attention to his
affairs.
In the afternoon the violin was taken
up again and once more Hart stopped
work, that he might drink in to the
full the sweet strains that seemed to
gain an added beauty from their en-
vironment.
For a week or so Hart enjoyed the
daily concert then there came a day
when the windows were closed and the |
violin did not sound In some way Hart |
worried through the day, but when |
evening fell instead of going direct to |
his club, as was his custom. he hunted |
M the little house on the back street. |
It was with difficulty that he located |
the apartment, but at last he found /
the right one and made eager inquiry |
of the slatternly woman who announc- |
ed herself as the janitress.
They We're. gone, she told him, the |
little old professor and his daughter. /
She did not know where they had /
gone. They were annoying the other
tenants with their everlasting playing /
and had been asked to move on that I
account.
Great heavens!" gasped Hart. You /
would probably turn out Paderewskf
himself
1--WE don't take thin Hungarians,"
explained the janitress. THE little
Dutch professor was bad enough. Divil
another wan NV thin comes in here"
Hart turned away heartsick and dis
coura ged. Now that the girl was gone,
he felt that he had let pass out of his
life the one woman who would have
made him happy All the evening he
moped at the club. and in the days to
come the employees at the office asked
each other anxfousIy if the depression
in stocks had impaired the capital of
the business. Only business worries
could account to them for Harris ir-
rita ability.
Then came a night when one of his
associates at the club insisted upon
carrying him off to vaudeville house.
There's musical act on that you
will like: you can't afford to miss it," ]
he urged, and Hart went for company's I
sake though he detested the musical
of vaudeville. $
The seats were easy, smoking was
permitted and Hart found himself {
bored until the next to the r
last number was announced.
This is great; something new" ex-
planned his companion. and Hart re-