Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1911-05-20
dignant London woman to the leader OF
a German street band You are not
Germans at all, or you would not make

dgnant London woman to the leader o.
a German" street band You are not
Germans at all, or you would not make
such abominable music"
Madam replies the leader. you are
also fraud. You are not English, OF
you would not know the difference"
Every few days, Just at dinner time the
air is pierced by a melancholy whistle
1t is flute in awful action. at the lips
of the most seriously sad individual 1t has
ever been my lot to behold. Man and in
strument and time are in perfect har-
mony. He has never lured a copper from
pocket within my knowledge. yet he
goes on from street to street. day and
night, wailng forth his lugubrious notes
Somebody gives him just enough to keeI
his thin body inflated with breath suffi-
Gent to keep up his doleful performance
1t must be in self-defenSe-aS a bride for
silence.
Tonight l saw down the street a street
piano operated by a rather good-looking
man. who had placarded on the instru-
on the front of the piano. thus: Il am
willing to work one week without pay
on approval This is my last resort l
am ashamed to have to make this appeal,
but 1t Is necessary"
Another that l passed a few days ago
had a similarly frank statement posted
on the front of the piano. thus: L am
ashamed to have to do this, friends, but
1t Is all that is left to support my wife
and three little children.
Sometimes children-perhaps not 1.-The"
children-are in evidence. Some of the
piano grinders and singers are accom-
panied by sad, draggled women with
youngsters in arms or clinging to their
skirts. One cannot afford to stop to look
III the case is genuine 1t is useless to
try to give real relief, for in this immense
mass of people charity must be regulated
with the greatest care or the problem be-
comes dreadful to contemplate. And if
the pathetic little group is only a bit OF
good stagecraft the disposition Is strong
to kick hole in the music box and turn
the lmpostor over to a constable.
Many Freak Musicians.
One-stringed violin players are not rare
In the streets here Then there are per-
formers on penny whistles. who make I'M
usually good music. The other night our
rest was disturbed at a late hour by a
singer In the street at the back, with
an exceptionally fine voice. 1t had a
plainly feminine range and quality, yet
we were told in the morning by the host
ess' who knows every one of the fifty
seven varieties of street beggars infest-
Ing the neighborhood, that the singer was
a man, accompanying himself on the
violin.
Some weeks ago a concert was ar
ranged by group of pubic-spirited citi-
Zens, at which the performers were men
and women chosen from among the street
musicians. This was just before NV ar
rival. am told that the music rem
dered was above the average of profess
slonal concert work. Some of the mu-
seal novelty numbers We're better than
much that is billed on the variety stage
1t is understood that in consequence OF
this performance several of these street
Ministries are to get profitable bookings
at the halls.
Remains for consideration another grour
of petitioners for public assistance the
famous sidewalk artists. These lightning
chalk performers are still busy making
lurid landscapes on the flags, with ex-
amples of pastel work on cardboards
leaning against the fences. Some are yer,
clever. while others are mere sticks
please appreciated" writes one who fire.
quents the embankment. Another gayly
anticipates your possible appreciation
with frequently repeated Thank you
broadly lettered beneath his Turneresaue
scenes of sun and shade and sea and
storm. Copies of paintings in the London
galleries catch the eye of the tourist, now
and then remarkable for execution anc
color especially considering the medium
Perhaps these men make living in
this way. 1t is to be hoped they do. for
surely it is hard work, and it represents
a certain kind of talent. But they. like
the street musicians and the blind vend-
ers and beggars. are. after all, only symp-
toms of the industrial and social disease
from which London is suffering, which
the most learned of physicians continue
to study in great puzZlement and with
much disputing as to the nature, the
cause and the cure Of the ailment
G.. A. LYON, Jr