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Show ! LITTLE FIDDLERS. I A Merry School of Youthful: Violinists. IT SOUNDS LIKE & C0HCE3T OF KiTYCIDS ' Budding Virtuosos Taking the First j Lesson. Fancy 2u0 little tiddlers all fiddling I away ut once! Fancy the noise! Fancy ! thn fun! It is lik-e a concert of katvdids to hear theui. and like stirring up a shoal ' of sand fiddlers to see them running up and down the steep stairs to und fro from their lessons. Moreover, it is like trying to catch an old granddaddy sand fiddler, to catch one of these litllo youngsters and ask him how ho learned to fiddle and when and where. Saturday afternoon after-noon is the time to seo these baby virtu-I virtu-I osus in their glory. From cast, from west, from Harlem and Hoboken they come skipping along by twos, by tlirees, with maids in attendance, to worship at the sliritie of the violin. Professor Watson, Wat-son, of Fourteenth street, is master of this marvelous school, and he draws uo i lines regarding sex, ago or previous condition. con-dition. Rich and poor alike come and are treated to the saiuo free instruction. "You would bo astonished," ho said, as tho unique entertainment drew to a close, "to know some of the names that are among tlie two thousand we have on our books already. No one, no matter how rich he may be, cares to throw away money on finding out simply whether a child's fancy is a natural taste or a whim. So people who know of tho school send their boys and girls to me. 1 can soon Und out if the child has any cleverness, and I immediately notify them. If tho j boy of rich parents likes his violin, they . naturally buy him a good instrument and i engago a teacher. Other children come I and go, more as their own fancy dictates, but they usually have some one, an older sister, or an aunt or a grandmother, who takes prido in their little liddlings and soon buyB for them a violin of their own, which they can take homo and practice on to their hearts' content. In that way I get a partial recompense for my time and trouble, and at the same time I have tlio satisfaction of knowing that I have I been able to keep some children's minds I away from worse tilings during their first few years." It was 2 o'clock when tlio youngsters began lo arrive. Some lly down tlio street as if they moved on steel springs, . grinning happy little grinsof satisfaction ! as 1 1 icy pound on sturdy legs up to tlio ; rooms alwve. Others, coming for the j first time, wander open mouthed along the street, asking now a hand organ man. and now a policeman, if they know ; "where the music man's place is." Unless ' they know Professor Watson's name they are apt to have some trouble in finding him, tor Fourteenth street is full of I "music men." At last they see some ! other little boy with a fiddle and their j troubles are all over. Once upstairs, their real troubles are ! usually over, but the poor, unhappy kids : do not seem to think so. A little twist catches their tongues as they start up-j up-j stairs, and by the time they have reached ; the office a double bow knot could not tie i them any tighter. Tho professor's j daughter takes them in hand first and, ; after their unruly little members get '- limbered up a bit, finds out all about each I new pupil. Then she passes them along j to tho next room, where they make their ! professional bow to one of tlie teachers, j to say nothing of their first violin. They I stand around in helpless rows until the : busy professor comes flying along, then I one by ono are stood out in the middle of the floor, their loiees joggling beneath Lhem.and set to work, ; "Feet sol ' says the professor, his right : heel in the hollow of his left foot. I Invariably the left heel drags itself up to the right foot. ! "Brrrl" says the professor. "You j would tip over on your noso if you tried j to Btand sol Now the violin under your chin, so that your cheek just rests on it i to keep it steady. Hands olf the strings, j but holding the case, sol Elbow down. ! Bow in your right hand. Oh, no, never, j my boy. That's a good way to hold a saw, but .it's a bad way to hold a violin bow. There, look you. Thumb so! j First and second fingers so last two fin-j fin-j gers so," Very clumsy the pudgy littlo fingers I are to begin with, but in a few minutes when the violin fright is worn off tlie fingers begin to limber up, and in a surprisingly sur-prisingly short time these babies are sawing away as natural as life. In far less time than it would take a greater mind these youngsters know each string as well as they know their own names, better in fact, than they knew them when they faced Miss Watson in the office. Then they are crazy for a tune. Bcforo any one could believe it possible their shrewd little wits have conquered the myateries of the staff and the notes, and they are sawing away at e, a, d, g, d, a, e, with all the gusto of artists. The next step ia to twist tho littlo fingers so they can elido up and down tho Btrings and pinch them down at tho proper points, und as soon as that ' is done there begin to grow variations of tlie first wonderful theme. To an outsider tho hour on a busy Saturday afternoon is a wonderful sight. Tlio mental dexterity with whioh the clovor professor handles his small scholars, schol-ars, his patience, und tlie interest whioi. he takes hi tho poorest and least clover of thoso little free pupils, is something tj bo admired. Professor Watson was tho famous Ola Bull's manager, and when he tiuus u child whoso heart goes om Into the old fiddlo that Bniiff tries up under his chin ha tr.!:c3 him about through tba rooms and ttlJs Glories of the great master, mas-ter, and shows him tho pictures and roiics thai hang a!out the wall, the watch which was his gift and, ohoicojl treaauroa of all, his violins. |