The Washington herald., 1912-11-24

other equally terrifying person clutched
me by the arm was about to shrek
for help. picturing the mysterious Iaby-
rinth toward which I was being rapidly
perambulated as a sort Of lethal chamber
for the slow extinguishing Of all the Aunt
| Hates Of the world. franticaliy went
| over my virginia. sins. with grim visions
Of Edgar Allan Poe'Rstory Of the Inquisi-
| ton plucking az my agonized memory
when plunk! right into a smiling and
pleasant-voiced italian we bumped-and
with sigh Of relief collected my scat
tered wits and prepared to Gull the
thoughts Of the great Leoncavallo.
RIGHT INTO THE PRESENCE.
The smiling Italian proved to be a sec
retary-interpreter sort Of person who as
sured me that in one moments" signor
Leoncavallo would receive me-then a
deep. resonant voice Numbered from the
room beyond. "EntrateP' which means
Come in" And your trembling little rel
alive was ushered into the presence Of the
great Maestro.
signor Leoncavallo sat in state. entirely
surrounded by himself
Signor Leoncavallo is 4 famous COM
poser. that Is agreed-he Is incidentally q
rotttNd composer-nay more-Signor Leon
cavallo is a fat-a pery fat-composer. As
the preliminary introductions were being
accomplished took a furtive bird's-eye
view of the celebrated musician and
found that his most fascinating feature
was a tangled silvered mass OF silky hair,
which rippled in superabundance from a
brow Of peculiar narrowness and height
His small. bright eyes. set rather close
together. were hazel in hue and possessed
oil the innocent candor Of child There
was nothing Elusive or aesthetic In his
personality. He sat placidly smiling q be-
nignant welcome at me whilst he waved
a pudgy hand in the direction Of a neigh
boring chair. Just then. to my dismay
the interpreter-secretary began bowling
himself discreetIy away.
''Oh, don't 60" I exclaimed, mentally
catching the hapIess gentleman by his
flying coattails as he was about to disap-
pear through the door. II can't be left
alone with this seething mass Of Italian
verbosity. It isn't fair"
HAD ONE ANGLo-sAxoN PHRASE.
You see the Maestro by this time was
language which sounded something like
Mass on a Sunday morning, but all il
conveyed to my unhappy ears was Mic
musiea grandiosoi milo musica splendido,
milo musica magnihcono, bombasta, dam
idistics, rattistico. How do you do1'' That
was the one phrase In English with which
he was evidently familiar.
visibly shrank under this volley.
'Pariar Italiano?" suddenly asked the
great Maestro excitably. interrupting him
self in his panegyrics on his own music
do you speak Italian?" repeated the
interpreter. raising his voice and arms
louder and higher than his masters.
NO" conhded apologeticaIy, and,
barricading myself behind my sketch
book, I awaited the next attack from the
enemy. There was a cessation In verbal
hostilities for a moment. and to relieve
the tension plucked up courage to In
quire Of the interpreter:
What do you'll mean. what does the
Maestro-consider the main essentials
necessary TO make the successful COM
poser Of serious music nowadaysf'
'Ah. ha"-a Macchiavellian ouestion
that-for Leon promptly launched forth
in bombastic TRADE which sounded IKE
an anatomical treatise or something OF
the sort
'.Brasnzf' he thundered. pounding his
massive brow In . manner BY no means