Show COMeS o y n 1 Q 0 flack I r k i yv Y A AA AI I T A i II 4 4 r f A l V Y r S 1 Polish War Worn sand end Has H s J JOh sot Jea Oh my friend my heart Is fe full tull of ot J happiness What a man you are arel You v are sire more than a musician You are a B. poet and there Is poetry In your fingers angers Clemenceau JAN SKI SIH and his wife sailed salted from New York for Europe Europe Eu Eu- rope th the other day No he heas was as not going back Into Into Into In In- to politics He lie was goIng goIng goIng go- go Ing to take a rest Mayhe May Mayhe Mayhe he loaf 1 oat and enjoy his soul to his hearts heart's con con- content tent lie He deserves s it e For or has Staged during the past winter a most remarkable comeback Ills AmerIcan AmerIcan American Amer Amer- ican tour has been the most wonderful triumph ever everon won on by a musician lie Ill has bas surpassed even his triumphs of ot ote the he e Nineties And Is two sixty-two I When the tour was In preparation Insurance was sought Not an on Insurance world would anee ance ence company In all the listen Usten to him Even Een Lloyds Lloyd's which will take a chance on almost anything re re- refused refused fused him It Is to laugh at sixty sixty- two gave 73 recitals lie He traveled lib Bb din dla- miles In a private car Ikes to be entertained but there were were social Invitations pressed upon him which he could not Ignore Ills principal trouble was to find halls big enough to hold his audiences Ills His biggest big gest Best audience was one of ot In San Francisco receipts Francisco receipts 2 1500 In three I recitals In New York the receipts were for tor two In Chicago lor Jor two In Los Angeles 1849 1 for tor three in Boston Doston 2 and for tor one oneY onela la Y Cleveland Bhe gross receipts o of the tour which Bo no company would Insure were I When Clemenceau was In New York eft at t the Gibson home bome appeared appeared ap ap- and begged to see the great Frenchman achman It was late and the Tiger Tiger Ti TIger ger was In bed Just the same the Tiger was de lIe- lighted Of ot course course urse At At once Why I would see this great man In bed They met In the center enter of pf Clemenceau's Clemenceau's Clemen- Clemen aus au's chamber embraced and put lipto lip lipto to cheek after otter the continental custom After their chat the Frenchman said Before Defore I go hom horns I want wont to hear you play When shall hall I have that pleasure pleas pleas- ore ure Master said the pianist I will play for you now now Clemenceau was delighted Leading ithe Pole by the hand he almost danced e downstairs to the music room shouting shout shout- ling Ing like a boy and summoning the thet t household to come and he hear r come come and Una hear har seated himself looked ant int the Tiger a moment as ns If it for tor In- In BPI ration then leaned back closed his hisa four times And nd a i eyes and played tour played f f through through It all nil Clemenceau sat sot erect In inthis this Jils Is chair his bis f features a kaleidoscope of the passion and pathos of the music As finished Clemenceau caressed him again Oh my friend my heart is full of ot happiness What a man you ou are I 1 You 4 y o v a u r a v 01 yahl r I are more than a musician You are a poet and there Is poetry in your fingers fin fin- n- n gers ers Well that Is the way figuratively way figuratively that speaking peaking that and the American public met Nevertheless for a long time there was every ery Indication that the Polish pianist was lost to the world of ot mu mu- sic lIe He quit In 1915 1015 to devote himself himself him him- self body soul and fortune to his native nath i land lie fie came to America as plenipotentiary from the National I Polish committee and labored like a giant lie lle raised a large sum through many benefit concerts lie He delivered many addresses to recruit Poles In the United States lie He spent his private fortune In organizing the struggle for Polish freedom In January of ot 1919 1910 working with General the military dictator dictator dictator dicta dicta- tor of Poland became prime minister of ot the reconstituted Polish state He lle was slightly wounded at Warsaw by a would-be would assassin As premier did as well as anyone could In those distracted days He lie kept things going He lie represented his country ably at th the peace con con- ference terence returned to this country worn war-worn and with his fortune gone And he said at that time I shall never play public In again That Is a closed chapter I shall compose compose compose com com- pose music from time to time but I Ishall Ishall I Ishall shall never play again agala And thereupon thereupon thereupon there there- I upon he went Into retirement In Cali Call forma fornia But Dut Old Mother nother Nature Is II a Jolly Jo good nurse the nurse the very best there Is She offers rest and quiet and peace to the weary She has cures 0 of her own for tor forthe forthe the sick lick at heart And LAnd the Pole was a patient worth her best efforts He fie Is le abig a abig abig big man physically Any man who can play ploy at a public performance for tor three hours with only a brief Intermission is a strong man And he be Is a strongman strong strongman strongman man mentally Ol ther Nature had her herway herway herway way with this ng man roan Those who know him well say that in the depths of his own being he f und strength and philosophy to regain his poise that his present ph physical steal and artistic well being Is but the reflection n of the man within that Is master of ot himself as well as of ot his instrument Yet Is temperamental like most artists He lIe Is II a man of ot Intense Intense intense In In- tense emotions At the time the late president of ot Poland was sas assassinated the news was kept from him until after he be had finished his recital When he was told he collapsed In a chair rage chair rage grief and anxiety overcoming him The thinking reader will not have to be he told that there are other features h Iv tt the tt situation which make the come comeI I b bick ck of remarkable It i w It ee bie Rr-I Rr I Iwas was more than a generation that made his bla first appearance In New York And times have changed since then then then-In In the musical l world noless no noless noless less than in the world of ot affairs was born In Russian Poland In 1800 1860 lIe He was wal a youthful prodigy and played the the piano piano In public at twelve In 1887 1881 he appeared appeared appeared ap ap- with marked success In Vienna tours In Germany France and England England England Eng Eng- land followed In 1891 he be made the first of several successful visits to the United States s. The young oung Polish pianist created a furore Indeed The sensation which followed was epochal in the annals of music lie was a fascinating figure Indeed tall Indeed tall and slender with Sir Galahad Gala Gala- Galahad had face and hair that suggested to the cartoonists a huge hue chrysanthemum of gleaming gold It R tiny have been his hll personal magnetism its Us h poetic beauty graceful poses and extraordinary coloring coloring col col- coloring oring anyway his aud ces s were his hll before he struck a note And when his fingers of steel with tips of ot velvet drew from the ment melody and poetry harmony and majesty he threw his hearers out of normal balance His audiences rose from their seats seta In wild disorder to storm the platform Something had gone across the footlights that could not be ho resisted So It t was all over the country Crowds gathered wherever he appeared eager to carry him In triumph In those days though there were many pianists of note not there was Wal one ane Best Dest Pianist and everyone knew his name But Dut now how things are ace changed INow I INow INow Now those who are best qualified to judge are reluctant to attribute primacy primacy macy to any artist however great They see In hi each great artist his bis Individual Individual individual In In- excellencies that make him great They see no basis of ot comparison between for tor Instance a and a Hofmann or between a Hofmann and a All they say are great but none Is I. the greatest Moreover triumph was wasa a generation ago The flapper who now goes to recitals knows not the handsome young Pole mole of the Nineties No doubt her mother is loyal to the memories of those fascinating days But the musical youth of at today have havea a score of ot to follow tollow and I i adore And yet In spite of all this ski came back back and and In moro mora ways than thu one Ills triumphant reception by his hll friends on his first appearance was as a musical affair Yet the musical interest in in- Interest interest terest was of ot minor Importance The critics tried tried and and not very successfully success success- fully fully to to say that had not entirely recovered his early form but that he be played better than ever It was evident that they appreciated the presence of a force that lay beyond and perhaps above art It was there Is beyond question one of ot the foremost artists of ot the times lie He Is a patriot who spent his fortune and abandoned his art In organizing the struggle for Polish freedom lIe He Isan Is Isan Ison an on orator of ot distinction lie He is a statesman who has been premier of ot abig a abig abig big nation And he Is a n man strong enough to come back at sixty The thousands of ot Americans crowded recitals from coast COlst to coast and gave back bock to himIn him himIn himIn In a few short months the fortune spent for his native land undoubtedly saw In him more than the musician The new artistic laurels they thrust upon the artist were in no small part their recognition of ot him as a man |