| Show Memories of Blind Tom Baltimore Sun v The recent visit to Baltimore of ot Blind Bun a aTom Tom the wonderful negro pianist has ha IOU d a flood loud of memories m morles among amon g members of the tile older generation aa M a well as 88 awakened considerable interest aI I among those tho e of the younger generation i for Tom was probably better known know n forty years year ago than he is today Blind Tom for tor that is his only name was warn born a slave In Dixie probably in South Carolina before the civil war In addition ad to being blind Tom Tot n nwan was wan alna considered lacking in men mental mental I Ital tal capacity Idiotic in fact Owing to t this his misfortune he be was wa W a favored char character hax actor acter about the plantation and was eel sel seldom 1 dom required to do any work His Hi I mistress a line fine performer on the Ui th Uipiano piano and ills ide chief h r delight was to sit k and listen beneath the open window of or orthe f the room where she played plaTed One day da so 80 the story goes she had bad ha a occasion to 16 leave the music room and an d while absent b nt was surprised to hear hes dr r front the th had Just jurt ju t left notes of t one of f her most difficult it selections played pIaye correctly and with wit li her own exquisite touch Returning hastily to tile the room she was amazed to I 0 find Tom occupying o the piano stool his hi Is round back and his body bed y swaying g from aide ilde to side liide just as s his h is audience saw him last week Thus was ws Is genius discovered ed and he became e eone one of C C tH tile OM most musicians of I his hl day d He e was his master that r all Th over the country and nd never failed fail to t attract large Jarge J I During the be early ly part of the civil War Tom made a tour of the conel confederate V erate state staten These were his haley halcyon In I days flays In hIs repertoire was one piece pIed e which never failed to set his audience audI nce e wild It was called celled The Battle BattIe of I Manasas sas and was reputed to be a composition t of f Toms A lady who wi 10 heard Tom play The Battle of at Manas Mann Manasas Manassas I Isan san sas as thus describes it From the treble notes came sweetly sweet I Ithe the faraway sounds of the confederate i bands as they advanced d playing The TI Girl I Left Behind Me while the bass bai Cs sonorously represented the northern norther n hosts heralded by the strains of ot Yan kin kee Doodle Nearer and nearer draw the opposing armies louder and louder grew the respective national l airs then came C me an ominous lU lull 11 followed by a t single boom and arid the contest had hail be br begun begun gun What a perfect pandemonium tf c t I s sounds und next followed The roar of ot ar at the roll ron of ot musketry the call caU o othe f I Ithe the bugle were In turn Imitated while I Dixie and The S Star r Spangled Sp Banner came floating from I the south and north the audience meanwhile listening in tn breathless in n terest At last lut the uproar ceasel cease i ant ana the ungainly musician awkwardly sowing bowIng retired amid prolonged ap applause e eThis This ability to play two entirely dif different di different ferent airs airi simultaneously is one OGe if f Toms most mo t unique accomplishments nt Southerners of Toms Tom generation g nay Kay that at the time of Toms tour tout of f the southern states In the early sixties his age was given at IS 11 1 which would fOUm make him hint at least 58 I years S old now |
