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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/23355-8.txt b/23355-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6a7c11b --- /dev/null +++ b/23355-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,704 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Little Violinist, by Thomas Bailey Aldrich + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Little Violinist + +Author: Thomas Bailey Aldrich + +Release Date: November 6, 2007 [EBook #23355] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE LITTLE VIOLINIST *** + + + + +Produced by David Widger + + + + + + +THE LITTLE VIOLINIST. + +By Thomas Bailey Aldrich + +Boston And New York Houghton Mifflin Company + +Copyright, 1873, 1885, and 1901 + + + Weep with me, all you that read + This little story; + And know, for whom a tear you shed, + Death's self is sorry. + + Ben Jonson. + + +This story is no invention of mine. I could not invent anything half +so lovely and pathetic as seems to me the incident which has come +ready-made to my hand. + +Some of you, doubtless, have heard of James Speaight, the infant +violinist, or Young Americus, as he was called. He was born in London, I +believe, and was only four years old when his father brought him to this +country, less than three years ago. Since that time he has appeared in +concerts and various entertainments in many of our principal cities, +attracting unusual attention by his musical skill. I confess, however, +that I had not heard of him until last month, though it seems he had +previously given two or three public performances in the city where I +live. I had not heard of him, I say, until last month; but since then I +do not think a day has passed when this child's face has not risen up in +my memory--the little half-sad face, as I saw it once, with its large, +serious eyes and infantile mouth. + +I have, I trust, great tenderness for all children; but I know that I +have a special place in my heart for those poor little creatures who +figure in circuses and shows, or elsewhere, as "infant prodigies." +Heaven help such little folk! It was an unkind fate that did not make +them commonplace, stupid, happy girls and boys like our own Fannys and +Charleys and Harrys. Poor little waifs, that never know any babyhood or +childhood--sad human midges, that flutter for a moment in the glare of +the gaslights, and are gone. Pitiful little children, whose tender limbs +and minds are so torn and strained by thoughtless task-masters, that it +seems scarcely a regrettable thing when the circus caravan halts awhile +on its route to make a small grave by the wayside. + +I never witness a performance of child-acrobats, or the exhibition of +any forced talent, physical or mental, on the part of children, without +protesting, at least in my own mind, against the blindness and cruelty +of their parents or guardians, or whoever has care of them. + +I saw at the theatre, the other night, two tiny girls--mere babies they +were--doing such feats upon a bar of wood suspended from the ceiling as +made my blood run cold. They were twin sisters, these mites, with that +old young look on their faces which all such unfortunates have. I hardly +dared glance at them, up there in the air, hanging by their feet from +the swinging bar, twisting their fragile spines and distorting their +poor little bodies, when they ought to have been nestled in soft +blankets in a cosey chamber, with the angels that guard the sleep of +little children hovering above them. I hope that the father of those two +babies will read and ponder this page, on which I record not alone my +individual protest, but the protest of hundreds of men and women who +took no pleasure in that performance, but witnessed it with a pang of +pity. + +There is a Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Dumb Animals. There +ought to be a Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Little Children; +and a certain influential gentleman, who does some things well and other +things very badly, ought to attend to it. The name of this gentleman is +Public Opinion.{1} + + 1 This sketch was written in 1874. The author claims for it + no other merit than that of having been among the earliest + appeals for the formation of such a Society as now exists-- + the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to + Children. + +But to my story. + +One September morning, about five years and a half ago, there wandered +to my fireside, hand in hand, two small personages who requested in a +foreign language, which I understood at once, to be taken in and fed and +clothed and sent to school and loved and tenderly cared for. Very modest +of them--was it not?--in view of the fact that I had never seen either +of them before. To all intents and purposes they were perfect strangers +to _me_. What was my surprise when it turned out (just as if it were in +a fairy legend) that these were my own sons! When I say they came hand +in hand, it is to advise you that these two boys were twins, like that +pair of tiny girls I just mentioned. + +These young gentlemen are at present known as Charley and Talbot, in the +household, and to a very limited circle of acquaintances outside; but as +Charley has declared his intention to become a circus-rider, and Talbot, +who has not so soaring an ambition, has resolved to be a policeman, it +is likely the world will hear of them before long. In the mean time, and +with a view to the severe duties of the professions selected, they are +learning the alphabet, Charley vaulting over the hard letters with an +agility which promises well for his career as circus-rider, and Talbot +collaring the slippery S's and pursuing the suspicious X Y Z's with the +promptness and boldness of a night-watchman. + +Now it is my pleasure not only to feed and clothe Masters Charley and +Talbot as if they were young princes or dukes, but to look to it that +they do not wear out their ingenious minds by too much study. So I +occasionally take them to a puppet-show or a musical entertainment, and +always in holiday time to see a pantomime. This last is their especial +delight. It is a fine thing to behold the business-like air with which +they climb into their seats in the parquet, and the gravity with which +they immediately begin to read the play-bill upside down. Then, between +the acts, the solemnity with which they extract the juice from an +orange, through a hole made with a lead-pencil, is also a noticeable +thing. + +Their knowledge of the mysteries of Fairyland is at once varied and +profound. Everything delights, but nothing astonishes them. That people +covered with spangles should dive headlong through the floor; that +fairy queens should step out of the trunks of trees; that the poor +wood-cutter's cottage should change, in the twinkling of an eye, into a +glorious palace or a goblin grotto under the sea, with crimson fountains +and golden staircases and silver foliage--all that is a matter of +course. This is the kind of world they live in at present. If these +things happened at home they would not be astonished. + +The other day, it was just before Christmas, I saw the boys attentively +regarding a large pumpkin which lay on the kitchen floor, waiting to +be made into pies. If that pumpkin had suddenly opened, if wheels +had sprouted out on each side, and if the two kittens playing with an +onion-skin by the range had turned into milk-white ponies and harnessed +themselves to this Cinderella coach, neither Charley nor Talbot would +have considered it an unusual circumstance. + +The pantomime which is usually played at the Boston Theatre during the +holidays is to them positive proof that the stories of Cinderella +and Jack of the Beanstalk and Jack the Giant-Killer have historical +solidity. They like to be reassured on that point. So one morning last +January, when I informed Charley and Talbot, at the breakfast-table, +that Prince Rupert and his court had come to town, + + "Some in jags, + Some in rags, + And some in velvet gown," + +the news was received with great satisfaction; for this meant that we +were to go to the play. + +For the sake of the small folk, who could not visit him at night, Prince +Rupert was gracious enough to appear every Saturday afternoon during the +month. We decided to wait upon his Highness at one of his _matinées_. + +You would never have dreamed that the sun was shining brightly +outside, if you had been with us in the theatre that afternoon. All the +window-shutters were closed, and the great glass chandelier hanging from +the gayly painted dome was one blaze of light. + +But brighter even than the jets of gas were the ruddy, eager faces of +countless boys and girls, fringing the balconies and crowded into the +seats below, longing for the play to begin. And nowhere were there two +merrier or more eager faces than those of Charley and Talbot, pecking +now and then at a brown paper cone filled with white grapes, which I +held, and waiting for the solemn green curtain to roll up, and disclose +the coral realm of the Naiad Queen. + +I shall touch very lightly on the literary aspects of the play. Its +plot, like that of the modern novel, was of so subtile a nature as not +to be visible to the naked eye. I doubt if the dramatist himself could +have explained it, even if he had been so condescending as to attempt to +do so. There was a bold young prince--Prince Rupert, of course--who +went into Wonderland in search of adventures. He reached Wonderland by +leaping from the castle of Drachenfels into the Rhine. Then there was +one Snaps, the prince's valet, who did not in the least want to go, but +went, and got terribly frightened by the Green Demons of the Chrysolite +Cavern, which made us all laugh--it being such a pleasant thing to see +somebody else scared nearly to death. Then there were knights in brave +tin armor, and armies of fair pre-Raphaelite amazons in all the colors +of the rainbow, and troops of unhappy slave-girls, who did nothing but +smile and wear beautiful dresses, and dance continually to the most +delightful music. Now you were in an enchanted castle on the banks of +the Rhine, and now you were in a cave of amethysts and diamonds at +the bottom of the river--scene following scene with such bewildering +rapidity that finally you did not quite know where you were. + +But what interested me most, and what pleased Charley and Talbot even +beyond the Naiad Queen herself, was the little violinist who came to the +German Court, and played before Prince Rupert and his bride. + +It was such a little fellow! He was not more than a year older than my +own boys, and not much taller. He had a very sweet, sensitive face, with +large gray eyes, in which there was a deep-settled expression that I do +not like to see in a child. Looking at his eyes alone, you would have +said he was sixteen or seventeen, and he was merely a baby! + +I do not know enough of music to assert that he had wonderful genius, +or any genius at all; but it seemed to me he played charmingly, and with +the touch of a natural musician. + +At the end of his piece, he was lifted over the foot-lights of the stage +into the orchestra, where, with the conductor's _bâton_ in his hand, he +directed the band in playing one or two difficult compositions. In this +he evinced a carefully trained ear and a perfect understanding of the +music. + +I wanted to hear the little violin again; but as he made his bow to the +audience and ran off, it was with a half-wearied air, and I did not join +with my neighbors in calling him back. "There 's another performance +to-night," I reflected, "and the little fellow is n't very strong." He +came out, however, and bowed, but did not play again. + +All the way home from the theatre my children were full of the little +violinist, and as they went along, chattering and frolicking in front of +me, and getting under my feet like a couple of young spaniels (they +did not look unlike two small brown spaniels, with their fur-trimmed +overcoats and sealskin caps and ear-lappets), I could not help thinking +how different the poor little musician's lot was from theirs. + +He was only six years and a half old, and had been before the public +nearly three years. What hours of toil and weariness he must have been +passing through at the very time when my little ones were being rocked +and petted and shielded from every ungentle wind that blows! And what an +existence was his now--travelling from city to city, practising at every +spare moment, and performing night after night in some close theatre or +concert-room when he should be drinking in that deep, refreshing slumber +which childhood needs! However much he was loved by those who had charge +of him, and they must have treated him kindly, it was a hard life for +the child. + +He ought to have been turned out into the sunshine; that pretty +violin--one can easily understand that he was fond of it himself--ought +to have been taken away from him, and a kite-string placed in his hand +instead. If God had set the germ of a great musician or a great composer +in that slight body, surely it would have been wise to let the precious +gift ripen and flower in its own good season. + +This is what I thought, walking home In the amber glow of the wintry +sunset; but my boys saw only the bright side of the tapestry, and +would have liked nothing better than to change places with little James +Speaight. To stand in the midst of Fairyland, and play beautiful tunes +on a toy fiddle, while all the people clapped their hands--what could +quite equal that? Charley began to think it was no such grand thing +to be a circus-rider, and the dazzling career of policeman had lost +something of its glamour in the eyes of Talbot. + +It is my custom every night, after the children are snug in their nests +and the gas is turned down, to sit on the side of the bed and chat with +them five or ten minutes. If anything has gone wrong through the day, it +is never alluded to at this time. None but the most agreeable topics +are discussed. I make it a point that the boys shall go to sleep with +untroubled hearts. When our chat is ended, they say their prayers. +Now, among the pleas which they offer up for the several members of the +family, they frequently intrude the claims of rather curious objects for +Divine compassion. Sometimes it is the rocking-horse that has broken a +leg, sometimes it is Shem or Japhet, who has lost an arm in disembarking +from Noah's ark; Pinky and Inky, the kittens, and Bob, the dog, are +never forgotten. + +So it did not surprise me at all this Saturday night when both boys +prayed God to watch over and bless the little violinist. + +The next morning at the breakfast-table, when I unfolded the newspaper, +the first paragraph my eyes fell upon was this:-- + + "James Speaight, the infant violinist, died in this city + late on Saturday night. At the _matinée_ of the 'Naiad + Queen' on the afternoon of that day, when little James + Speaight came off the stage, after giving his usual violin + performance, Mr. Shewell {1} noticed that he appeared + fatigued, and asked if he felt ill. He replied that he had a + pain in his heart, and then Mr. Shewell suggested that he + remain away from the evening performance. He retired quite + early, and about midnight his father heard him say, + '_Gracious God, make room for another little child in + Heaven._' No sound was heard after this, and his father + spoke to him soon afterwards; he received no answer, but + found his child dead." + + 1 The stage-manager. + +The printed letters grew dim and melted into each other, as I tried to +re-read them. + +I glanced across the table at Charley and Talbot eating their breakfast, +with the slanted sunlight from the window turning their curls into real +gold, and I had not the heart to tell them what had happened. + +Of all the prayers that floated up to heaven, that Saturday night, from +the bedsides of sorrowful men and women, or from the cots of innocent +children, what accents could have fallen more piteously and tenderly +upon the ear of a listening angel than the prayer of little James +Speaight! He knew he was dying. The faith he had learned, perhaps while +running at his mother's side, in some green English lane, came to him +then. He remembered it was Christ who said, "Suffer the little children +to come unto me;" and the beautiful prayer rose to his lips, "Gracious +God, make room for another little child in Heaven." + +I folded up the newspaper silently, and throughout the day I did not +speak before the boys of the little violinist's death; but when the time +came for our customary chat in the nursery, I told the story to Charley +and Talbot. I do not think that they understood it very well, and still +less did they understand why I lingered so much longer than usual by +their bedside that Sunday night. + +As I sat there in the dimly lighted room, it seemed to me that I could +hear, in the pauses of the winter wind, faintly and doubtfully somewhere +in the distance, the sound of the little violin. + +Ah, that little violin!--a cherished relic now. Perhaps it plays soft, +plaintive airs all by itself, in the place where it is kept, missing the +touch of the baby fingers which used to waken it into life! + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Little Violinist, by Thomas Bailey Aldrich + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE LITTLE VIOLINIST *** + +***** This file should be named 23355-8.txt or 23355-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/3/3/5/23355/ + +Produced by David Widger + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + http://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. diff --git a/23355-8.zip b/23355-8.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..6909b0d --- /dev/null +++ b/23355-8.zip diff --git a/23355-h.zip b/23355-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..946a3c8 --- /dev/null +++ b/23355-h.zip diff --git a/23355-h/23355-h.htm b/23355-h/23355-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..61623df --- /dev/null +++ b/23355-h/23355-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,796 @@ +<?xml version="1.0" encoding="iso-8859-1"?> + +<!DOCTYPE html + PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd" > + +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" lang="en"> + <head> + <title> + The Little Violinist, by Thomas Bailey Aldrich + </title> + <style type="text/css" xml:space="preserve"> + + body { margin:5%; background:#faebd0; text-align:justify} + P { text-indent: 1em; margin-top: .25em; margin-bottom: .25em; } + H1,H2,H3,H4,H5,H6 { text-align: center; margin-left: 15%; margin-right: 15%; } + hr { width: 50%; text-align: center;} + .foot { margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify; text-indent: -3em; font-size: 90%; } + blockquote {font-size: 97%; font-style: italic; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%;} + .mynote {background-color: #DDE; color: #000; padding: .5em; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 95%;} + .toc { margin-left: 10%; margin-bottom: .75em;} + .toc2 { margin-left: 20%;} + div.fig { display:block; margin:0 auto; text-align:center; } + div.middle { margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify; } + .figleft {float: left; margin-left: 0%; margin-right: 1%;} + .figright {float: right; margin-right: 0%; margin-left: 1%;} + .pagenum {display:inline; font-size: 70%; font-style:normal; + margin: 0; padding: 0; position: absolute; right: 1%; + text-align: right;} + pre { font-style: italic; font-size: 90%; margin-left: 10%;} + +</style> + </head> + <body> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Little Violinist, by Thomas Bailey Aldrich + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Little Violinist + +Author: Thomas Bailey Aldrich + +Release Date: November 6, 2007 [EBook #23355] +Last Updated: November 30, 2012 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE LITTLE VIOLINIST *** + + + + +Produced by David Widger + + + + + +</pre> + <div style="height: 8em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h1> + THE LITTLE VIOLINIST. + </h1> + <p> + <b> By Thomas Bailey Aldrich </b> + </p> + <p> + Boston And New York Houghton Mifflin Company + </p> + <p> + Copyright, 1873, 1885, and 1901 + </p> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + Weep with me, all you that read + This little story; + And know, for whom a tear you shed, + Death's self is sorry. + + Ben Jonson. +</pre> + <p> + This story is no invention of mine. I could not invent anything half so + lovely and pathetic as seems to me the incident which has come ready-made + to my hand. + </p> + <p> + Some of you, doubtless, have heard of James Speaight, the infant + violinist, or Young Americus, as he was called. He was born in London, I + believe, and was only four years old when his father brought him to this + country, less than three years ago. Since that time he has appeared in + concerts and various entertainments in many of our principal cities, + attracting unusual attention by his musical skill. I confess, however, + that I had not heard of him until last month, though it seems he had + previously given two or three public performances in the city where I + live. I had not heard of him, I say, until last month; but since then I do + not think a day has passed when this child's face has not risen up in my + memory—the little half-sad face, as I saw it once, with its large, + serious eyes and infantile mouth. + </p> + <p> + I have, I trust, great tenderness for all children; but I know that I have + a special place in my heart for those poor little creatures who figure in + circuses and shows, or elsewhere, as "infant prodigies." Heaven help such + little folk! It was an unkind fate that did not make them commonplace, + stupid, happy girls and boys like our own Fannys and Charleys and Harrys. + Poor little waifs, that never know any babyhood or childhood—sad + human midges, that flutter for a moment in the glare of the gaslights, and + are gone. Pitiful little children, whose tender limbs and minds are so + torn and strained by thoughtless task-masters, that it seems scarcely a + regrettable thing when the circus caravan halts awhile on its route to + make a small grave by the wayside. + </p> + <p> + I never witness a performance of child-acrobats, or the exhibition of any + forced talent, physical or mental, on the part of children, without + protesting, at least in my own mind, against the blindness and cruelty of + their parents or guardians, or whoever has care of them. + </p> + <p> + I saw at the theatre, the other night, two tiny girls—mere babies + they were—doing such feats upon a bar of wood suspended from the + ceiling as made my blood run cold. They were twin sisters, these mites, + with that old young look on their faces which all such unfortunates have. + I hardly dared glance at them, up there in the air, hanging by their feet + from the swinging bar, twisting their fragile spines and distorting their + poor little bodies, when they ought to have been nestled in soft blankets + in a cosey chamber, with the angels that guard the sleep of little + children hovering above them. I hope that the father of those two babies + will read and ponder this page, on which I record not alone my individual + protest, but the protest of hundreds of men and women who took no pleasure + in that performance, but witnessed it with a pang of pity. + </p> + <p> + There is a Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Dumb Animals. There + ought to be a Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Little Children; + and a certain influential gentleman, who does some things well and other + things very badly, ought to attend to it. The name of this gentleman is + Public Opinion.{1} + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + 1 This sketch was written in 1874. The author claims for it + no other merit than that of having been among the earliest + appeals for the formation of such a Society as now exists— + the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to + Children. +</pre> + <p> + But to my story. + </p> + <p> + One September morning, about five years and a half ago, there wandered to + my fireside, hand in hand, two small personages who requested in a foreign + language, which I understood at once, to be taken in and fed and clothed + and sent to school and loved and tenderly cared for. Very modest of them—was + it not?—in view of the fact that I had never seen either of them + before. To all intents and purposes they were perfect strangers to <i>me</i>. + What was my surprise when it turned out (just as if it were in a fairy + legend) that these were my own sons! When I say they came hand in hand, it + is to advise you that these two boys were twins, like that pair of tiny + girls I just mentioned. + </p> + <p> + These young gentlemen are at present known as Charley and Talbot, in the + household, and to a very limited circle of acquaintances outside; but as + Charley has declared his intention to become a circus-rider, and Talbot, + who has not so soaring an ambition, has resolved to be a policeman, it is + likely the world will hear of them before long. In the mean time, and with + a view to the severe duties of the professions selected, they are learning + the alphabet, Charley vaulting over the hard letters with an agility which + promises well for his career as circus-rider, and Talbot collaring the + slippery S's and pursuing the suspicious X Y Z's with the promptness and + boldness of a night-watchman. + </p> + <p> + Now it is my pleasure not only to feed and clothe Masters Charley and + Talbot as if they were young princes or dukes, but to look to it that they + do not wear out their ingenious minds by too much study. So I occasionally + take them to a puppet-show or a musical entertainment, and always in + holiday time to see a pantomime. This last is their especial delight. It + is a fine thing to behold the business-like air with which they climb into + their seats in the parquet, and the gravity with which they immediately + begin to read the play-bill upside down. Then, between the acts, the + solemnity with which they extract the juice from an orange, through a hole + made with a lead-pencil, is also a noticeable thing. + </p> + <p> + Their knowledge of the mysteries of Fairyland is at once varied and + profound. Everything delights, but nothing astonishes them. That people + covered with spangles should dive headlong through the floor; that fairy + queens should step out of the trunks of trees; that the poor wood-cutter's + cottage should change, in the twinkling of an eye, into a glorious palace + or a goblin grotto under the sea, with crimson fountains and golden + staircases and silver foliage—all that is a matter of course. This + is the kind of world they live in at present. If these things happened at + home they would not be astonished. + </p> + <p> + The other day, it was just before Christmas, I saw the boys attentively + regarding a large pumpkin which lay on the kitchen floor, waiting to be + made into pies. If that pumpkin had suddenly opened, if wheels had + sprouted out on each side, and if the two kittens playing with an + onion-skin by the range had turned into milk-white ponies and harnessed + themselves to this Cinderella coach, neither Charley nor Talbot would have + considered it an unusual circumstance. + </p> + <p> + The pantomime which is usually played at the Boston Theatre during the + holidays is to them positive proof that the stories of Cinderella and Jack + of the Beanstalk and Jack the Giant-Killer have historical solidity. They + like to be reassured on that point. So one morning last January, when I + informed Charley and Talbot, at the breakfast-table, that Prince Rupert + and his court had come to town, + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "Some in jags, + Some in rags, + And some in velvet gown," +</pre> + <p> + the news was received with great satisfaction; for this meant that we were + to go to the play. + </p> + <p> + For the sake of the small folk, who could not visit him at night, Prince + Rupert was gracious enough to appear every Saturday afternoon during the + month. We decided to wait upon his Highness at one of his <i>matinées</i>. + </p> + <p> + You would never have dreamed that the sun was shining brightly outside, if + you had been with us in the theatre that afternoon. All the + window-shutters were closed, and the great glass chandelier hanging from + the gayly painted dome was one blaze of light. + </p> + <p> + But brighter even than the jets of gas were the ruddy, eager faces of + countless boys and girls, fringing the balconies and crowded into the + seats below, longing for the play to begin. And nowhere were there two + merrier or more eager faces than those of Charley and Talbot, pecking now + and then at a brown paper cone filled with white grapes, which I held, and + waiting for the solemn green curtain to roll up, and disclose the coral + realm of the Naiad Queen. + </p> + <p> + I shall touch very lightly on the literary aspects of the play. Its plot, + like that of the modern novel, was of so subtile a nature as not to be + visible to the naked eye. I doubt if the dramatist himself could have + explained it, even if he had been so condescending as to attempt to do so. + There was a bold young prince—Prince Rupert, of course—who + went into Wonderland in search of adventures. He reached Wonderland by + leaping from the castle of Drachenfels into the Rhine. Then there was one + Snaps, the prince's valet, who did not in the least want to go, but went, + and got terribly frightened by the Green Demons of the Chrysolite Cavern, + which made us all laugh—it being such a pleasant thing to see + somebody else scared nearly to death. Then there were knights in brave tin + armor, and armies of fair pre-Raphaelite amazons in all the colors of the + rainbow, and troops of unhappy slave-girls, who did nothing but smile and + wear beautiful dresses, and dance continually to the most delightful + music. Now you were in an enchanted castle on the banks of the Rhine, and + now you were in a cave of amethysts and diamonds at the bottom of the + river—scene following scene with such bewildering rapidity that + finally you did not quite know where you were. + </p> + <p> + But what interested me most, and what pleased Charley and Talbot even + beyond the Naiad Queen herself, was the little violinist who came to the + German Court, and played before Prince Rupert and his bride. + </p> + <p> + It was such a little fellow! He was not more than a year older than my own + boys, and not much taller. He had a very sweet, sensitive face, with large + gray eyes, in which there was a deep-settled expression that I do not like + to see in a child. Looking at his eyes alone, you would have said he was + sixteen or seventeen, and he was merely a baby! + </p> + <p> + I do not know enough of music to assert that he had wonderful genius, or + any genius at all; but it seemed to me he played charmingly, and with the + touch of a natural musician. + </p> + <p> + At the end of his piece, he was lifted over the foot-lights of the stage + into the orchestra, where, with the conductor's <i>bâton</i> in his hand, + he directed the band in playing one or two difficult compositions. In this + he evinced a carefully trained ear and a perfect understanding of the + music. + </p> + <p> + I wanted to hear the little violin again; but as he made his bow to the + audience and ran off, it was with a half-wearied air, and I did not join + with my neighbors in calling him back. "There 's another performance + to-night," I reflected, "and the little fellow is n't very strong." He + came out, however, and bowed, but did not play again. + </p> + <p> + All the way home from the theatre my children were full of the little + violinist, and as they went along, chattering and frolicking in front of + me, and getting under my feet like a couple of young spaniels (they did + not look unlike two small brown spaniels, with their fur-trimmed overcoats + and sealskin caps and ear-lappets), I could not help thinking how + different the poor little musician's lot was from theirs. + </p> + <p> + He was only six years and a half old, and had been before the public + nearly three years. What hours of toil and weariness he must have been + passing through at the very time when my little ones were being rocked and + petted and shielded from every ungentle wind that blows! And what an + existence was his now—travelling from city to city, practising at + every spare moment, and performing night after night in some close theatre + or concert-room when he should be drinking in that deep, refreshing + slumber which childhood needs! However much he was loved by those who had + charge of him, and they must have treated him kindly, it was a hard life + for the child. + </p> + <p> + He ought to have been turned out into the sunshine; that pretty violin—one + can easily understand that he was fond of it himself—ought to have + been taken away from him, and a kite-string placed in his hand instead. If + God had set the germ of a great musician or a great composer in that + slight body, surely it would have been wise to let the precious gift ripen + and flower in its own good season. + </p> + <p> + This is what I thought, walking home In the amber glow of the wintry + sunset; but my boys saw only the bright side of the tapestry, and would + have liked nothing better than to change places with little James + Speaight. To stand in the midst of Fairyland, and play beautiful tunes on + a toy fiddle, while all the people clapped their hands—what could + quite equal that? Charley began to think it was no such grand thing to be + a circus-rider, and the dazzling career of policeman had lost something of + its glamour in the eyes of Talbot. + </p> + <p> + It is my custom every night, after the children are snug in their nests + and the gas is turned down, to sit on the side of the bed and chat with + them five or ten minutes. If anything has gone wrong through the day, it + is never alluded to at this time. None but the most agreeable topics are + discussed. I make it a point that the boys shall go to sleep with + untroubled hearts. When our chat is ended, they say their prayers. Now, + among the pleas which they offer up for the several members of the family, + they frequently intrude the claims of rather curious objects for Divine + compassion. Sometimes it is the rocking-horse that has broken a leg, + sometimes it is Shem or Japhet, who has lost an arm in disembarking from + Noah's ark; Pinky and Inky, the kittens, and Bob, the dog, are never + forgotten. + </p> + <p> + So it did not surprise me at all this Saturday night when both boys prayed + God to watch over and bless the little violinist. + </p> + <p> + The next morning at the breakfast-table, when I unfolded the newspaper, + the first paragraph my eyes fell upon was this:— + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "James Speaight, the infant violinist, died in this city + late on Saturday night. At the <i>matinée</i> of the 'Naiad + Queen' on the afternoon of that day, when little James + Speaight came off the stage, after giving his usual violin + performance, Mr. Shewell {1} noticed that he appeared + fatigued, and asked if he felt ill. He replied that he had a + pain in his heart, and then Mr. Shewell suggested that he + remain away from the evening performance. He retired quite + early, and about midnight his father heard him say, + '<i>Gracious God, make room for another little child in + Heaven.</i>' No sound was heard after this, and his father + spoke to him soon afterwards; he received no answer, but + found his child dead." + + 1 The stage-manager. +</pre> + <p> + The printed letters grew dim and melted into each other, as I tried to + re-read them. + </p> + <p> + I glanced across the table at Charley and Talbot eating their breakfast, + with the slanted sunlight from the window turning their curls into real + gold, and I had not the heart to tell them what had happened. + </p> + <p> + Of all the prayers that floated up to heaven, that Saturday night, from + the bedsides of sorrowful men and women, or from the cots of innocent + children, what accents could have fallen more piteously and tenderly upon + the ear of a listening angel than the prayer of little James Speaight! He + knew he was dying. The faith he had learned, perhaps while running at his + mother's side, in some green English lane, came to him then. He remembered + it was Christ who said, "Suffer the little children to come unto me;" and + the beautiful prayer rose to his lips, "Gracious God, make room for + another little child in Heaven." + </p> + <p> + I folded up the newspaper silently, and throughout the day I did not speak + before the boys of the little violinist's death; but when the time came + for our customary chat in the nursery, I told the story to Charley and + Talbot. I do not think that they understood it very well, and still less + did they understand why I lingered so much longer than usual by their + bedside that Sunday night. + </p> + <p> + As I sat there in the dimly lighted room, it seemed to me that I could + hear, in the pauses of the winter wind, faintly and doubtfully somewhere + in the distance, the sound of the little violin. + </p> + <p> + Ah, that little violin!—a cherished relic now. Perhaps it plays + soft, plaintive airs all by itself, in the place where it is kept, missing + the touch of the baby fingers which used to waken it into life! + </p> + <div style="height: 6em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Little Violinist, by Thomas Bailey Aldrich + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE LITTLE VIOLINIST *** + +***** This file should be named 23355-h.htm or 23355-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/3/3/5/23355/ + +Produced by David Widger + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Little Violinist + +Author: Thomas Bailey Aldrich + +Release Date: November 6, 2007 [EBook #23355] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE LITTLE VIOLINIST *** + + + + +Produced by David Widger + + + + + + +THE LITTLE VIOLINIST. + +By Thomas Bailey Aldrich + +Boston And New York Houghton Mifflin Company + +Copyright, 1873, 1885, and 1901 + + + Weep with me, all you that read + This little story; + And know, for whom a tear you shed, + Death's self is sorry. + + Ben Jonson. + + +This story is no invention of mine. I could not invent anything half +so lovely and pathetic as seems to me the incident which has come +ready-made to my hand. + +Some of you, doubtless, have heard of James Speaight, the infant +violinist, or Young Americus, as he was called. He was born in London, I +believe, and was only four years old when his father brought him to this +country, less than three years ago. Since that time he has appeared in +concerts and various entertainments in many of our principal cities, +attracting unusual attention by his musical skill. I confess, however, +that I had not heard of him until last month, though it seems he had +previously given two or three public performances in the city where I +live. I had not heard of him, I say, until last month; but since then I +do not think a day has passed when this child's face has not risen up in +my memory--the little half-sad face, as I saw it once, with its large, +serious eyes and infantile mouth. + +I have, I trust, great tenderness for all children; but I know that I +have a special place in my heart for those poor little creatures who +figure in circuses and shows, or elsewhere, as "infant prodigies." +Heaven help such little folk! It was an unkind fate that did not make +them commonplace, stupid, happy girls and boys like our own Fannys and +Charleys and Harrys. Poor little waifs, that never know any babyhood or +childhood--sad human midges, that flutter for a moment in the glare of +the gaslights, and are gone. Pitiful little children, whose tender limbs +and minds are so torn and strained by thoughtless task-masters, that it +seems scarcely a regrettable thing when the circus caravan halts awhile +on its route to make a small grave by the wayside. + +I never witness a performance of child-acrobats, or the exhibition of +any forced talent, physical or mental, on the part of children, without +protesting, at least in my own mind, against the blindness and cruelty +of their parents or guardians, or whoever has care of them. + +I saw at the theatre, the other night, two tiny girls--mere babies they +were--doing such feats upon a bar of wood suspended from the ceiling as +made my blood run cold. They were twin sisters, these mites, with that +old young look on their faces which all such unfortunates have. I hardly +dared glance at them, up there in the air, hanging by their feet from +the swinging bar, twisting their fragile spines and distorting their +poor little bodies, when they ought to have been nestled in soft +blankets in a cosey chamber, with the angels that guard the sleep of +little children hovering above them. I hope that the father of those two +babies will read and ponder this page, on which I record not alone my +individual protest, but the protest of hundreds of men and women who +took no pleasure in that performance, but witnessed it with a pang of +pity. + +There is a Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Dumb Animals. There +ought to be a Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Little Children; +and a certain influential gentleman, who does some things well and other +things very badly, ought to attend to it. The name of this gentleman is +Public Opinion.{1} + + 1 This sketch was written in 1874. The author claims for it + no other merit than that of having been among the earliest + appeals for the formation of such a Society as now exists-- + the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to + Children. + +But to my story. + +One September morning, about five years and a half ago, there wandered +to my fireside, hand in hand, two small personages who requested in a +foreign language, which I understood at once, to be taken in and fed and +clothed and sent to school and loved and tenderly cared for. Very modest +of them--was it not?--in view of the fact that I had never seen either +of them before. To all intents and purposes they were perfect strangers +to _me_. What was my surprise when it turned out (just as if it were in +a fairy legend) that these were my own sons! When I say they came hand +in hand, it is to advise you that these two boys were twins, like that +pair of tiny girls I just mentioned. + +These young gentlemen are at present known as Charley and Talbot, in the +household, and to a very limited circle of acquaintances outside; but as +Charley has declared his intention to become a circus-rider, and Talbot, +who has not so soaring an ambition, has resolved to be a policeman, it +is likely the world will hear of them before long. In the mean time, and +with a view to the severe duties of the professions selected, they are +learning the alphabet, Charley vaulting over the hard letters with an +agility which promises well for his career as circus-rider, and Talbot +collaring the slippery S's and pursuing the suspicious X Y Z's with the +promptness and boldness of a night-watchman. + +Now it is my pleasure not only to feed and clothe Masters Charley and +Talbot as if they were young princes or dukes, but to look to it that +they do not wear out their ingenious minds by too much study. So I +occasionally take them to a puppet-show or a musical entertainment, and +always in holiday time to see a pantomime. This last is their especial +delight. It is a fine thing to behold the business-like air with which +they climb into their seats in the parquet, and the gravity with which +they immediately begin to read the play-bill upside down. Then, between +the acts, the solemnity with which they extract the juice from an +orange, through a hole made with a lead-pencil, is also a noticeable +thing. + +Their knowledge of the mysteries of Fairyland is at once varied and +profound. Everything delights, but nothing astonishes them. That people +covered with spangles should dive headlong through the floor; that +fairy queens should step out of the trunks of trees; that the poor +wood-cutter's cottage should change, in the twinkling of an eye, into a +glorious palace or a goblin grotto under the sea, with crimson fountains +and golden staircases and silver foliage--all that is a matter of +course. This is the kind of world they live in at present. If these +things happened at home they would not be astonished. + +The other day, it was just before Christmas, I saw the boys attentively +regarding a large pumpkin which lay on the kitchen floor, waiting to +be made into pies. If that pumpkin had suddenly opened, if wheels +had sprouted out on each side, and if the two kittens playing with an +onion-skin by the range had turned into milk-white ponies and harnessed +themselves to this Cinderella coach, neither Charley nor Talbot would +have considered it an unusual circumstance. + +The pantomime which is usually played at the Boston Theatre during the +holidays is to them positive proof that the stories of Cinderella +and Jack of the Beanstalk and Jack the Giant-Killer have historical +solidity. They like to be reassured on that point. So one morning last +January, when I informed Charley and Talbot, at the breakfast-table, +that Prince Rupert and his court had come to town, + + "Some in jags, + Some in rags, + And some in velvet gown," + +the news was received with great satisfaction; for this meant that we +were to go to the play. + +For the sake of the small folk, who could not visit him at night, Prince +Rupert was gracious enough to appear every Saturday afternoon during the +month. We decided to wait upon his Highness at one of his _matinees_. + +You would never have dreamed that the sun was shining brightly +outside, if you had been with us in the theatre that afternoon. All the +window-shutters were closed, and the great glass chandelier hanging from +the gayly painted dome was one blaze of light. + +But brighter even than the jets of gas were the ruddy, eager faces of +countless boys and girls, fringing the balconies and crowded into the +seats below, longing for the play to begin. And nowhere were there two +merrier or more eager faces than those of Charley and Talbot, pecking +now and then at a brown paper cone filled with white grapes, which I +held, and waiting for the solemn green curtain to roll up, and disclose +the coral realm of the Naiad Queen. + +I shall touch very lightly on the literary aspects of the play. Its +plot, like that of the modern novel, was of so subtile a nature as not +to be visible to the naked eye. I doubt if the dramatist himself could +have explained it, even if he had been so condescending as to attempt to +do so. There was a bold young prince--Prince Rupert, of course--who +went into Wonderland in search of adventures. He reached Wonderland by +leaping from the castle of Drachenfels into the Rhine. Then there was +one Snaps, the prince's valet, who did not in the least want to go, but +went, and got terribly frightened by the Green Demons of the Chrysolite +Cavern, which made us all laugh--it being such a pleasant thing to see +somebody else scared nearly to death. Then there were knights in brave +tin armor, and armies of fair pre-Raphaelite amazons in all the colors +of the rainbow, and troops of unhappy slave-girls, who did nothing but +smile and wear beautiful dresses, and dance continually to the most +delightful music. Now you were in an enchanted castle on the banks of +the Rhine, and now you were in a cave of amethysts and diamonds at +the bottom of the river--scene following scene with such bewildering +rapidity that finally you did not quite know where you were. + +But what interested me most, and what pleased Charley and Talbot even +beyond the Naiad Queen herself, was the little violinist who came to the +German Court, and played before Prince Rupert and his bride. + +It was such a little fellow! He was not more than a year older than my +own boys, and not much taller. He had a very sweet, sensitive face, with +large gray eyes, in which there was a deep-settled expression that I do +not like to see in a child. Looking at his eyes alone, you would have +said he was sixteen or seventeen, and he was merely a baby! + +I do not know enough of music to assert that he had wonderful genius, +or any genius at all; but it seemed to me he played charmingly, and with +the touch of a natural musician. + +At the end of his piece, he was lifted over the foot-lights of the stage +into the orchestra, where, with the conductor's _baton_ in his hand, he +directed the band in playing one or two difficult compositions. In this +he evinced a carefully trained ear and a perfect understanding of the +music. + +I wanted to hear the little violin again; but as he made his bow to the +audience and ran off, it was with a half-wearied air, and I did not join +with my neighbors in calling him back. "There 's another performance +to-night," I reflected, "and the little fellow is n't very strong." He +came out, however, and bowed, but did not play again. + +All the way home from the theatre my children were full of the little +violinist, and as they went along, chattering and frolicking in front of +me, and getting under my feet like a couple of young spaniels (they +did not look unlike two small brown spaniels, with their fur-trimmed +overcoats and sealskin caps and ear-lappets), I could not help thinking +how different the poor little musician's lot was from theirs. + +He was only six years and a half old, and had been before the public +nearly three years. What hours of toil and weariness he must have been +passing through at the very time when my little ones were being rocked +and petted and shielded from every ungentle wind that blows! And what an +existence was his now--travelling from city to city, practising at every +spare moment, and performing night after night in some close theatre or +concert-room when he should be drinking in that deep, refreshing slumber +which childhood needs! However much he was loved by those who had charge +of him, and they must have treated him kindly, it was a hard life for +the child. + +He ought to have been turned out into the sunshine; that pretty +violin--one can easily understand that he was fond of it himself--ought +to have been taken away from him, and a kite-string placed in his hand +instead. If God had set the germ of a great musician or a great composer +in that slight body, surely it would have been wise to let the precious +gift ripen and flower in its own good season. + +This is what I thought, walking home In the amber glow of the wintry +sunset; but my boys saw only the bright side of the tapestry, and +would have liked nothing better than to change places with little James +Speaight. To stand in the midst of Fairyland, and play beautiful tunes +on a toy fiddle, while all the people clapped their hands--what could +quite equal that? Charley began to think it was no such grand thing +to be a circus-rider, and the dazzling career of policeman had lost +something of its glamour in the eyes of Talbot. + +It is my custom every night, after the children are snug in their nests +and the gas is turned down, to sit on the side of the bed and chat with +them five or ten minutes. If anything has gone wrong through the day, it +is never alluded to at this time. None but the most agreeable topics +are discussed. I make it a point that the boys shall go to sleep with +untroubled hearts. When our chat is ended, they say their prayers. +Now, among the pleas which they offer up for the several members of the +family, they frequently intrude the claims of rather curious objects for +Divine compassion. Sometimes it is the rocking-horse that has broken a +leg, sometimes it is Shem or Japhet, who has lost an arm in disembarking +from Noah's ark; Pinky and Inky, the kittens, and Bob, the dog, are +never forgotten. + +So it did not surprise me at all this Saturday night when both boys +prayed God to watch over and bless the little violinist. + +The next morning at the breakfast-table, when I unfolded the newspaper, +the first paragraph my eyes fell upon was this:-- + + "James Speaight, the infant violinist, died in this city + late on Saturday night. At the _matinee_ of the 'Naiad + Queen' on the afternoon of that day, when little James + Speaight came off the stage, after giving his usual violin + performance, Mr. Shewell {1} noticed that he appeared + fatigued, and asked if he felt ill. He replied that he had a + pain in his heart, and then Mr. Shewell suggested that he + remain away from the evening performance. He retired quite + early, and about midnight his father heard him say, + '_Gracious God, make room for another little child in + Heaven._' No sound was heard after this, and his father + spoke to him soon afterwards; he received no answer, but + found his child dead." + + 1 The stage-manager. + +The printed letters grew dim and melted into each other, as I tried to +re-read them. + +I glanced across the table at Charley and Talbot eating their breakfast, +with the slanted sunlight from the window turning their curls into real +gold, and I had not the heart to tell them what had happened. + +Of all the prayers that floated up to heaven, that Saturday night, from +the bedsides of sorrowful men and women, or from the cots of innocent +children, what accents could have fallen more piteously and tenderly +upon the ear of a listening angel than the prayer of little James +Speaight! He knew he was dying. The faith he had learned, perhaps while +running at his mother's side, in some green English lane, came to him +then. He remembered it was Christ who said, "Suffer the little children +to come unto me;" and the beautiful prayer rose to his lips, "Gracious +God, make room for another little child in Heaven." + +I folded up the newspaper silently, and throughout the day I did not +speak before the boys of the little violinist's death; but when the time +came for our customary chat in the nursery, I told the story to Charley +and Talbot. I do not think that they understood it very well, and still +less did they understand why I lingered so much longer than usual by +their bedside that Sunday night. + +As I sat there in the dimly lighted room, it seemed to me that I could +hear, in the pauses of the winter wind, faintly and doubtfully somewhere +in the distance, the sound of the little violin. + +Ah, that little violin!--a cherished relic now. Perhaps it plays soft, +plaintive airs all by itself, in the place where it is kept, missing the +touch of the baby fingers which used to waken it into life! + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Little Violinist, by Thomas Bailey Aldrich + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE LITTLE VIOLINIST *** + +***** This file should be named 23355.txt or 23355.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/3/3/5/23355/ + +Produced by David Widger + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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