Show 1 Afraid Afra Id of elf f Her Gifted Gift c Son S Blind Toms Mother Moth r Is T Said to Have llave Feared F ared the Musical Prodigy 1 I F HUB E In conversation the the other day ay W w with a a prominent pro mi southerner now flOW I I residing In Washington allusion was made says ay the Washington Post I r to the thc announcement of the death of oC Charity wiggins Wt the mother ot or Blind Tom the thC w well U ii known musical I attention being called to the tho wu statement that the tho old ne neres rs had bad b died at the advanced age ae ot of c W years yar j Yes replied the southerner Aunt Charity must have bave been at least t 10 years ye old If It not more nore I remember her ner upon pon my last wt visit to Georgia She haLl l t ta i ia a little cottage cottars home hom ot of her be own on Ross Roes urn HID one of ot the many pretty suburbs whIch environ the city db of As we wa drove UP tip to the tha cottage she nhe was seated sea ed edon on the th front perch eh dressed In black born bom bombazine 1 bazine balne relieved rell ve with a snowy I crossed over her capacious crons bosom and id protected pro ted with a broad expanse of ot white apron ap n and ana Do t her h ul was twisted a 0 abright 1 bright colored bandanna She represented r pr a true type of ot the antebellum aunties a class now fast at away aVa While talking she gently rocked herself herse to and fro fm find and plied pUe her ner turkey tall thU f fan h fl in that dignified manner peculiar ar to the old mammy of quality Though rhou h in iii excellent health considering ber her five score years Aunt Charity Charit ds mem memory ory was WIlS hazy and uncertain and ano an try as e s she ehe would w she could not reckon upon her black digits the names end 11 ages aces of ot her children chU ren Her Be first 11 t born A man naw over ov r SO 80 years of pC I age and living upon one of ot the tue nat i plantations she well and nothing delighted her more than to talk taut of or Blind BUnd Tom Torn TomAs TomAs As to when and where BUnd Blind Tom was i born neither r his bl mother nor anyone else has been been able to determine accurately accurate He Io was a babe In his hId hl mothers moth s arms when General Bethune bought C t I tartt along alon with a number of ot other sTares slaves from Mr lr Wiley Jones J In tn 1830 1850 Through a feeling of ot compassion General Bethune Insisted In that the child be Included In tb the purchase u base Ito to prevent its being separated from its ts mother moth r for none could foresee that this tills I lump lumo of ot black Inert In rt flesh and bone with eIt Its vacant Idiotic expression and sightless eyes hud been anointed with the divine chrism of or exquisite harmony The little blind slave was always an object of ot more or less Interest op n the plantation not only on ly on account t of ot his helplessness because too of ot the Idio Idiosyncrasies III which he evidenced at an ait early age He had a TV way ay of ot crawling about the premises s like flke a big bl brown browa lizard and would frequently lie tie for hours flat fiat on his back staring with eyes at the sun Sometimes he was caught in the L act of gou his fists into his eyeballs eye balIs thus Irritating them until they bled This led ed to the Inference that he was not totally blind so 80 when years later lator Mr tr Bethune took his little black Mozart to Ir Paris be he had hod a specialist to examine and operate on Toms eyes The operation was only successful however and Tom was w s never able to discern rn except dimly the outlines of otan an object L The child chik also had a habit of ot dragging himself up on the veranda cranda of or the big house and squatting near the door would wait walt patiently for tor a a kind word or a 0 friendly friend Iv from those who went In or out He lie was keenly k enly sensitive to the light lightest lightest est blame or praise and showed a sort of ot ofa ota a doglike fondness for certain members of the family but was easily Irritated and would give way to yelps of inarticulate LI passion when provoked It qt w was waa noticed that at a remarkably age sounds exerted a controlling influence ov over r him from the th soft sort tones of oC the flute to the harsh grating of or the Often when wh n the song of a bird had allured him to wander far tar away L Into the woods the sound s und of ot the flute would bring him home again lain Tom Toni was about 4 years of age when I he first heard a piano and it produced a peculiar and most remarkable effect upon him At first he Ie stood as if spell bound then his eyes began to roll rolT his fingers to twitch and his body to sway back and forth orth when suddenly he seemed convulsed with emotion and the contor lions of ot his hI body wore were something most painful to behold Immediately y upon the lh completion com leUon of if the selection D he groped his way to the piano and ach each key smelted smelled of It From that lin mf day to this Blind Tom ft has tj never been happier than when Ills his ebony ebon fingers lingers with their magical touch were wandering over oer the th keys of ot the Instrument he loves so go well Not N t long thereafter the family was F amazed one day da to discover the black child seated at nt the piano playing with ease and accuracy the arlous various selections which he had heard given by friends and ana members of ot the household After Arter this he was allowed free tree access to the ment and soon oon began Imitating almost every sound sund s und he beard heard When asked what f this or that t was he happened to be play da dau Wt tl lug Ing he be would o answer u w What tUt the birds said or What the rain or the tho wind told me From the roof root of ot the family mansion to within f f a foot of the h ground ran a large tin gutter down d which the water would le e with a peculiarly musical and soothing sound after a hard rain The rho gentle gurgling of the small stream combined with the occasional tick tlc tick of rain drops seemed to have hao a peculiar fascination tas n for fol Tom rom and after alter a rain ral he lic was wa always to lobe be found close clese to the gut tor tr listening intently to its Us melody One night after an unusually heavy hea rainstorm the Inmates of or the house were aroused from their slumber by a sound und which Seemed a confused medley of rain drops and pianoforte Creeping softly i down the stairs they th y beheld Blind BUnd Toni Tom bending eagerly ea erly over the piano plana He would strike one and then another cord until r he had produced the exact I harmony harmon which h he stool sought would then springing ng from the piano grope his hia way Va through an open window onto the veranda and pla pIa j Ing his ear close to the gutter which ox ex along this his t side Ide of the house houseS listen i intently Int nUy for a moment Having caught the tone desired lIe he would hurry back bark to tho i piano and after alter a tI fee fer fe trials reproduce I It with sih wonderful accuracy Thus h he con COt d going back and forth from piano to I gutter until at ast last was composed the th en tire selection which he afterward called I Raindrop Polka This Blind BUnd Toms first CI t composition Was vaa in after aCter years ears em eta I bodied in his hla Rainstorm the best known and most 1 meritorious of oC his bis ls productions Often otton exhibited this little HN musical cal prodigy prO ig was ivas 1 for the wonderment 01 of friends anc neighbors n it I was wa not until about I g years rs of age that he first ap alp In tn a public I concert I recall QUite quit vividly ono one or these early performances I unique Indeed 1 a The cert hall hail a large room gaudy audy wIth gay frescoes and glass I ra more or r lees leas dimmed with spot soot and dust had at one oe end a board boari stage tage upon which WaS placed piano a chair and After waiting wh what at seemed scena seem d an 0 long time Ume the tho manager appeared upon the stage l half hal coaxing half hatt leading n a little black p dressed In white lie He was or of a ruttier rather chubby build wi with a TJ large S head h h ad A which rested In a it D S eullar cullar c way ay 8 upon the back back of ot his aers der 1 HIs mouth as usual was wide open onen and Ms his gnat at blubber lips and white glistening U teeth were about all nIl that you could OUd B je e as he faced you Tom Thin was not in n fl a good humor that night and it re q a deal dell of or coaxing and promises of or candy and cakes cak to Induce him to open the concert At last seating himself a at tho the piano almost half halt a yard ard distant h hu be stretched retched out his arms full length length a as though to claw from the keyboard those thos wondrous melodies which so bewildered and delighted his audiences Now Tom m my boy said his master in a kindly kind tone suppose you ou give u us something from Verdi HIs head fell fl farther back his lingers fingers began beJan to glide gild smoothly over the keys kers and those bar monies of ot Verdis which you would have chosen ch as the purest exponents of ot slon ston floated at d through the room pa pas from other composers cOm pours equally as is renowned followed After each piece ho he applauded himself lustily then turned 3 ap to his mast master r for to the approving i pat lint upon the head A musician then came upon the stage to put the he childs powers to a more severe test Songs and Intricate symphonies were f rendered Tom stood motionless while they ey were bein being given Riven and for tor i a few moments thereafter then himself at the th piano played each e ch s lec lion tion without the loss hoes of a note or brent brea of ot i I tone Seated with his back to the piano pl no he gava tave several selections with accuracy and end expression slon At the he completion of o quite a long Jong pro gramme tho the little blind performer Was as beginning beg to show signs of ot weariness ss I whereupon his bis roaster master announced the per ner at an end Just then th n there ap d upon the tle stage Stag n musician with wilha a thick roll of oC music some of Qt his own com corn position which had never been niven In public and this he be insisted upon uP n the chile child trying The manuscript was wa fourteen pages long with variations upon an ani animated mated mat d themes theme The master refused r to sub the heys already tired energies to so S cruel a test but the tho Musician argued and persisted J en te and at last under protest seated himself at the piano During th the colloquy Torn m had stood by I with a C t dull heavy look upon his face but 1 the tho first note was sounded he u scrambled s st to the musicians sider ide ideis his h is he d rolling nervously and hl hIs fingers lingers twitching t h He struck str ck the I o on and then from the first note ote n to the last gave the th seCundo triumph triumphantly i antly antty a Jumping tip tw he fairly shoved the tha composer C S from the stool s and taking his I place lace p proceeded o to play pla r w the treble t with rl I sd such uch s brilliancy and power P as na fairly to azzle dazzle d both the audience and an the com composer comI I poser p oser When W en he ho struck the last octave he heI I prang sprang s from the piano yelling with he do height it ight Us U tT got hOt fm m massa us U got Jm sm m The I nc enthusiastic t applause of ot f the audience excited ex cited ted him still more anci It was an hour bour or o r more before his master manter could O Uld quiet the childs illda cl hysterical hysteric l agitation One remarkable feature texture of ot Blind Toms i playing laying p Is the tho scientific precision ot of his tau th u J From the beginning of ot his per peri i I it has been be n noticed that his tou t outil was always J scientifically accurate Y Yet yc y et t though surpassing ng all others In the c comprehension and retention e O of 01 sound the I science s of or muSIe he h baa hils never v ver er beep bl blI bLa I to t o master m fr He lie produces pro verbatim et lit literatim litI e whatever be he hears hea s not 1 he the t applause f at athe a the th end en In Jn the library of o f S ar seventeen e compositions I which w are ar e accredited to Blind BUnd Tom Com Of hese these t the RainS n alluded to tb t and nd the Battle of tf Manassas are the t e only ones 1 which w reflect any credit upon him hint as a composer compose c i This negro whose phe phenomenal n musical gift and marvelous pow DOW powers DOWers I ers e ra of at memory made him the star attraction attraction tion tl on at the leading lea theatres in days gone goney by b y la is now living a quiet gulet contented life Ute in ina Inu a picturesque u cottage g on the banks of o t r the Shrewsbury river i notwithstanding o lt a i ithe he the th e fact tact that there Is la an nfl n inscription on A tombstone t which records the fact fat that he 1 was w as among the number who perished In Inthe Inthe inh the t h Johnstown flood After the courts declared d him free tree and gave him the lege li ege of or selecting his own guardian his other mother m came tb lb live with him He did not know her however and h had ad not intelligence enough eno h to appreciate their heir t relationship while she was wis w s terrified at a t his outlandish gibberish and strange I behavior b believing him possessed She remained r for a time tl e with him however i then hen t declared that she would die if forced to t o stay any longer So Aunt Charity Chant re returned turned t to her beloved el ed home honie 1 itt Georgia I where w here her last days were w re made comforts b Jle la and free tree from front care through the un cons c instrumentality ot of her gifted I son s on And this son though possessing i such uch e a marvelous facility for inspiring In InI others o the deepest and most exquisite j I emotions motions e Is 18 Incapable of feeling the he t slightest pang of regret r gret or sorrow at atthe athe f tt the he t passing away of the faithful old I mammy whom they have laid to rest In Inthe I the he t old plantation amidst the soughing sou p lines ines and singing 81 birds that first awak awakened ps ened s the melody of ot music In the be benighted I n soul of ot her h r offspring i |