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Show Jj oo VIOLIN MAKER AN OGDEN CHEF I Superintendent T. F. Rowlands is ! apprehensively observing the rise to i fame of "Brit." his colored chef, who I I seems destined to become a modern I Stradivari. Not that Mr. Rowlands is prejudiced against the art of making I high-class "fiddles," but because he 1 Tears that he will ultimately lose a 3 cook extraordinary and that the lm-1 lm-1 maculate "galley" in the rear of his 3 private car will be a hard place to 1111 I when the present Incumbent shall I have taken his leave. ! "Brit's" real name Is Willis J. Brlt-I Brlt-I ton. He Is 50 years of age, and he 1 has been enacting the role of a hlgh-5 hlgh-5 class chef on ttie Southern Pacific for u good many years. Between shift3 1 he Is a violin maker, and a good one I at that His friends assert with ail posltlve- ness that, while he may not he a direct di-rect descendant of the "Wizard of Cremona," It Is certain that he is a reincarnation of something famous along the line of instrument making. j and one who Is privileged to examine a lolln of "Brit's" creation or listen I to the rich full tones which can be j drawn from It Is almost inclined to I think so himself. S 'Brit's" grandfather made violins oelo" do wa' and his great-grandfather 1 j did likewise. Both were slaves, but J'lhejnsirumeiits which they turned out j and under most trying circumstances I made them famous and did much to 1 lighten the load of their advanced iears. Many yenrs ago "Brit" began re- pairing violins, and it was not long before he made one. The workman-S workman-S ship was not of the best, but the tone S was there as if a master touch had D j superintended Its construction, ami I since that time each instrument has H excelled the previous one. A few I months ago "Brltt" presented his cm- plover's daughter. Miss Ireue Row-S Row-S lands, with a beautiful violin, and ho I is now engaged In making another 9 one that he believes will make him ifamoup It is already a fine instru-J.mcnt instru-J.mcnt of Hungarian pine, curley maple. 3 etc., inlaid around the edges and all I but ready to receive its applications 9 of stain, shellac and varnish. With-j With-j out any of these the tone. which it will y produce Is marclousl rich, and when fifteen coat.? of varnish shall have S ben applied, "rubbed down" and pol-ij pol-ij Ished, It will bo a valuable violin 3 A few weeks ago a musician of 3 1 Reno, Nevada, dropped his violin in H tho street and a heavy wagon wheel crushed It Into a shapeless mass of splinters. Those who saw it assert that some of the pieces were too small to ''pick up with the naked hand." "Brit" happened to bo in town on Mr Rowlands' -private car and he was sent to examine the "remains" Tho wreck was carefully gathered in a basket and "Britt" set to work on its restoration It took three months to accomplish the task, but the violin was restored and Its delighted owner declares that the tono, whole different, differ-ent, Is oven better than before. |