AFTER A PROFESSIONAL VISIT.

Otago Witness, Issue 2808, 8 January 1908, Page 77

AFTER A PROFESSIONAL VISIT.

JDr Forbes Winslow, the celebrated mental expert, in " Living Leaves from a Physician's Diary," relates the following incident: — Z »»*>£ Perhaps the^.mosfc™nieresting man I ever met was my favourite composer. He once did me the honour to/listen to my efforts on the_piano; P^icT not know him then, howe"ver,*'«tnii t JXinever. .riSetr "him again, so whether he regarded -one as' a hopeful or a musical-, aspirant -to be £*tied is a moot • point -wiih-_me,T and ""^wilL- remain so — the composer has "long been^vdead— for ever. It was at Venice, ' and^ here again 't was my profession which led^jGo^the meeting^ I had gone to ,the Adriatic's Queen to see . ascertain obscure case of insanity in which I was very much interested. One evening, after having spent the day in a largo asylum on • San ; Cements, a neighbouring island, I returned to my rooms xat die ..Hotel Europa in a not 'very pleasant frame "of mind. ' 3 was astonished and indignant at the restraint which was be,ing practised in the institutiqn, and I was just beginning" to Write an article of protest, I rentembbr, 'wlien the maid announced 8 friend of mine. " Try music," he advised. " Come along. Don't "worry. Try the " piano. You'll' be more 3omposed presently." — To a Small Audience. — I, yielded, and together we strolled' 1 down io'-'tftoi' .salle-a-manger. There was' nobody else in the room at the time, so I tat down at the piano and commenced to improvise a little. TVTien I had been " playing ,,, a few minutes a little, elderly gentleman entered the room. I noticed, after a time, that he laid down hie newspaper and approached nearer. I felt sure 'I was "making some kind of an impression, and^ 1 continued to thump louder and louder on the keys, and to use the pedals freely. The loudet I played and the .more discordant mj productions,' the more absorbed the littl« man became. . I', had always thought, with many othei improvisoißJ/, I suppose, " that the more noisp one made the more magnificent wai the. effect), ,and now and again as I, turned my hesd and caught the little man's interested gaze the conviction %vould grow upon me. In addition, my indignation at the asylum restraint had 'fl%d by -this" time, and I was becoming as interested «.lmos< us was my elderly auditor. " " -Which AYas'lt?— Suddenly I missed, him, and strangeij efiough I stopped improvising quite unconsciously. When I turned """to ~ nry 'friend t saw that he was wearing a curious smile. "Po you know who' the little man is?" ,he^,yjfystfl'<s. ' ■ " No. -' I replied. " No. Why do voti smile? " "He's Vyasrner!" he chuckled. Wagner! I left the piano and returned .to iny^oom .and o»v article-wtitinff. Warner ! Whether, as T- say. he pitied mo, oi whether he made mental note of my' nmrcal ideas, and immortalised them in hh operas which he produced later, T cannot 3a,y. I never lis f en-for them, because ' should not be able to recognise them. ■ -■ , *•' ! '*• ■.'.■..■ '■«-!'■" J'« ~ J: — 7!f Are you convinced that the man in •■ the dock ,is , the . person whom the prosecu- ' tion T a^eg«s hiro to be?" asked a defending . eojfes^Kof -au witness recently.. "I am." was i[W'-Te"plT,-' delivered with a broad "errin. makes yo>i so certain?". "Be- ■ olijijie-Khis nose i« one-6ided." was the unexl p^^sljtjpeply- "And "are you sure that tha mEm^iTie' prisoner, is supoosed to be had , a-.'nCisgSlnelinpd to' one side?" ■ "I am." ' "Astirdjfsvhat, may I -ask, makes 'you. *=o oer- ' trajfiTof ,that?" "Because I punched il there,* said..the witness quietly. - r-.AV well-known , Scottish architect wa« , Sraisifejifiri,in Palestine- recently, when new* ' r€^§i§ifP m °^ an 0 " t° s fansilj cmjßJ^^Sfh'e hapnv father immeo'iat-elv nro video 1 Jiiniself with water from the Jordan to cais|of,-home for the christening of th« infant, and "returned to Sqpt'aTid. On~ th« Sunday appointed for tlie ceremony h« duly nresented himself at the church and sought * out the beadle in order to hand ojw»ih«j pr-pciou 1 * waW to his care. H<i i puilpdi the flask from his Doekpt, but the 'beadle Held up a warning hand, and cama ;nearer to whisner, "No the nbo. fir' No ■'the noo! Maybe aftsr the kirk's oot !"