The herald and news. [volume] (Newberry S.C.) 1903-1937, 1908-09-01

So
ier-Journal.
Tidings Of the death Of "Blind
Tom'' at Hoboken, "where he had
been living in retirement,' the wires
tell US, "and subsisting on charity >
reach at least one heart that loved
and pitied him, and summon from
the land Of shades and dreams many
a ghost of days and dear ones long
departed. I must be his Oldest living
friend. It is not true. as | have
sometimes seen it stated, that taught
him what little he knew of music;
but I was at the outset of his strange
career and am familiar with all its
beginnings.
first heard of him through Ro-
bert Heller-William Hen::' Palmer
best known in his day as popu-
lar magician. but most accomplish
ed pianist. It was at Washington
and in the autumn Of 1850. Palmer
had Just come up with "Blind Tom"
in Louisville, I think, and had been
of course at once perplexed and amaz-
ed by his extraordinary characters
tics. His crude. often grotesque. at
tempts to initiate whatever fell upon
his ear, either vocally, or on the key
board, were startling. He mad heard
Judge Douglas speak and graphically
reproduced a few sentences. He had
heard reigning prima donna sing
and repeated her soprano in few
bars. The Bethune girls, daughters
Of Gen. Bethune Of Columbus, Ca,
his old master. had taught him few
iingles, which he ratified off upon the
piano. He knew nothing very compll-
Gated, or very we'll. But he was blind
and clearly an idiot; in short, he, was
a prodigy.
Palmer gave him several "lessons'
that is. he PLAYED over and over Tor
him such pieces as Thalberg's "Home,
Sweet Home,'' Mendelssohn's
"Spring Song" and the salient pas
saces out of some Of LIFTS tran
scriptions. Excepting a few addition
al "lessons" of this kind had later
along from Eugene Baylor, who
tanoht him his famous "Margrave
Danse,'' Tom made little further pro-
gress and learned nothing new.
He would spin about the piano,
like a baboon, mumbling to himself
whilst Palmer, or Baylor played, and,
if they stopped. he would rush head
long to the instrument and try to fol-
low after them precisely as they had
phrased. Two. or three, Of such ''les-
sons" sufficed, and though he learned
nothing accurately, nor played with
any other expression than they had
rendered.. what he did was surprising.
even to those who knew the process
and the limitation.
There was in the Tennessee line e
certain Maj. Naeconico, who had a
great baritone voice. He taught
Tom to sing Crooked in the Cradle
of The Deep,' very much as he sang
It. There was tailor in Griffin, Ga,
bv the name Of Hanlon, whose tenor
voice was fetching, and he taught
Tom two or three love ditties, which
Tom repeated in rich though rather
cultural tones, yet in undoubted ten
or. It was something more than
phenomenon Of memory. Though blind,
he could handle the key board readily,
whilst his vocal limitations from bass
. to treble, from deep baritone to mezzo
soprano. we're sufficiently accurate
and indhidualized to be recognized.
Tom seemed a woman-hater.
Whether it was pure misogyny, or
kind Of shyness manifesting itself
boorishly, know not. I we'll remen-
Der in Atlanta, where party OF US
had him with US off and on for two
or three months, a young lady one day
sat down at the piano and began to
nlav Tom was at the dark end OF
the chamber. spinning upon hands
and heels. and nlumblin" 70 himself.
He caught the sound Of the inStru-
ment. He stood for moment still
and upright. Then, like wild ami,
.mal he made a dash and swooped