South Bend news-times. (South Bend, Ind.) 1913-1938, 1918-10-07
Stadivarius and the V. c.
BY Dorothy Douglas

They left him alone to his grief.
Young Elsmere had suffered an ir-
recoverable loss. Stradivarius lay
before his tragic eyes, smashed into
a thousand pieces.
The boy was quite unable TO speak.
He was rendered powerless to move
or think with the terrible pain Of
mind. 1t seemed TO the three khaki
clad men looking on as If the young
musicians heart was bleeding slowly
within him and draining his frail be
ing of all that made life possible.
The automobile in which they
were dashing TO the great camp 0f
soldiers at which Elsmere was to
play his wonderful Stradivarius, had
swerved. struck jutting bit of wall
and-but they were all miraculously
saved. The beloved instrument alone
had suffered. Never again would its
silvery, magical sweetness echo
through the hearts Of men.
Elsmere would have sacrificed his
life for the loved Stradivarius. His
swift effort to do so when the crash
came told the three officers just what
the violin meant to the musician.
To them a fiddle was merely an in
strument Of wood ard strings that
any genius could make. But when
they saw Elsmere attempt to fling
his life away that the Stradivarius
might live they knew, and not with
out a lump in their soldier threats,
just what the boy was suffering.
There rough effort at consolation
had been a pitiful sight Three
husky. Drowned Ulcers trying des-
perately 10 bring a ray OF sunlight
into the blanched. agonized face OF
the slim, frail young violinist. They
had picked up the fragments tender
ly. with a sense of pity urging them
on. They had told him they would
get him another. not knowing
whether Stradiyarius was a city, a
man or a manufacturing plant.
There viii never be another
Stradivarius made" was all the
numb lips could say Elsmere's sad
eyes brooded long and tenderly on
the dear lost melody of the violin.
then he closed the bruised case
quietly and stood up. His eyes
were firm now but his voice
trembled in spite of the effort.
1T might have been a woman OF
Belgium crushed by those brutes. I
am glad II was not ne added. and
the three officers thought they had
never heard finer words issued at
greater cost. They turned away sud
denly and began tinkering with the
motor
A day or two later. Joan Melville.
reading the morning paper in her
scantily furnished room. found and
clan had sustained in his Stradi-
variuS. The article spoke Of the
worth OF the instrument. first n
money value. since II was insured
for some $4,000. secondly the ire
mendous importance I'm the world OF
music Of a Stradivarius and lastly
the immeasura BILE loss to the young
musician
Joan's tender heart contracted.
Sue always Ud0 "a ilDHl UNI 80 sun
able amount of suffering 20 endure
for other people In imagination
thar was very real she was tortured
now by the thought OF this perfectly
unknown musician soldier whose
violin had been crushed out OF ex-
istence
She thought suddenly how ire
mendous a gift 60 would be 20 send
the Stradivarius lying in her old
trunk 10 this Carl Elsmere. The
wonderful violin was her only val
liable possession. and had been
handed down from generation TO
generation since the 18th century
Her grandfather had been the lasr
musician in her family and he had
left the StradivarioUs 20 her with
the promise that IL should never be
sold
Joan knew enough OF the famous
instrument &C. realize that had she
sold 3 she need not have had so