Ladysmith news-budget. [volume] (Ladysmith, Rusk County, Wis.) 1907-1927, 1914-10-09


pail full of fish. He went with me
to see my dam and fish trap, and
said | was liable to arrest for catch
ing trout in that trap, but finally
advised me: Keep your trap hidden
during the daytime, and after you
get enough to pay for your fiddle
We will take out the dam" | car
ried this pail of fish to town and
sold them to Dr. w. G. Pease; they
weighed twenty pounds and brought
me five dollars cash. So you see that
to pay half on my fiddle.
The next day l took my five dollar
bill and started to find Mr.. Spawn
and get my violin. He lived about
seven miles south of our place on
what was then known as the Hudson
| road. 1t was about noon when l ar
| rived at his home. After making my
business known and giving him the
| five dollar bill, he brought out the
violin and it was in a nice wooden
case. He opened the case and took it
out and 1 thought it was the finest
| looking instrument l had ever be-
| held. 1t was dark cherry color with
q yellow border. l thought it's tone
could not be excelled | told my faith
err now I had a fiddle that l would
never outgrow, but, alas, in about
three years | found that "The Lure
of the Mystic Fiddle was appealing
to me as strong as ever.
| knew that I had reached another
period in my experience that if |
made any advancement I must have
another fiddle. My next fiddle was
a fine Hopf violin that I got from
a man that was left-handed fiddler.
traded him my John Spawn violin
for his and gave him twenty dollars
to boot by splitting 1000 fence rails
for him.
The instrument I now use is
genuine Stainer violin, purchased
from T. Cairns, who had a collec-
ton Of thirty-one violins. When l
got this violin | took it home and
told my wife I had out-lived several
violins, "but," 1 said, "if you live
longer than l do, when you see me
lying with my eyes closed in death,
remember there are many beautiful
things in this old treasure that
have never brought out.
Some writer's claim that the great
secret Of the beautiful tone of the
genuine Stradivarius and Stainer vio-
Inns lies in the varnish. This I do
not believe. I don't believe you can
make good violin out of a poor one
by putting on the best violin var
nish that was ever made, while I do
believe that you can ruin a fine yio-
lin by putting on poor varnish.
believe the secret of the beauty of
tone of the violins made by the old
masters lies in the fact that they
never used any timber in construct
ing violin but what had ripened
and died natural death You may
take maple timber and let if season
for fifty, or | don't care how many
years INSIDE of building or out and
all you get evaporated out of it is
| the sap. The sugar or saccharine
properties remain in the wood, and
the same can be said about spruce
wood for the top. You can, by dry
ing it for long time, evaporate all
the sap, but the gum or nOn-vOlatile
substances remain in the wood, but
if the tree gets ripe and dies, then
when it dries the evaporation is so
complete and perfect that those sub
| stances pass back to the earth, fol-
lowing a law of evaporation that is,
in my estimation, peculiar to nature.
I have used my Stainer for all my
concert work and most of my teach
| ing since I have owned it, and it
has never failed in any way. I have
played almost all the old master
pieces of the world on this instru-
ment, but I never get tired of prac-
ticing on it,
Well, I will bring my article to a
close, hoping someone may be in
terested in reading it, and be en-
couraged to go on and advance in the
beautiful art of music, and finally.
like myself, find the fiddle of their
imagination, and thus come to the
end of THE Lure of the Mystic
Fiddle"