EMILE AUGIER AND THE ORGANGRINDER.

Waikato Times, Volume XXXIV, Issue 2745, 15 February 1890, Page 6 (Supplement)

EMILE AUGIER AND THE ORGANGRINDER.

One day a dramatist was making a call on hia-collaboratettr, Jules iSandeau, when an Italian organ-man began playing under the window. Sandeau, .who is of a nervous tetnperament, threw the man half-a-franc, saying, " Take that, my dear fellow ! But now go away at once !" " Is that your way of getting rid of these plagues ?" said Augier. "He is sure to comeback again!" "I don't know of any other plan, alas!" "Then let me tell you how I managed it. I live in the, Rue des Martyrs, the favourite resort of the wandering musicians. The very day I had removed into iny new lodgings and was looking out of the window, one of these virtuosi took his stand on the pavement opposite, and began to drone out the " Miserere." lat once gave signs of the iiltensest satisfaction. He then started a waltz by Strauss, " The Roses from the South." I took a chair and sat out on the balcony. The man played next, " Who has the prettiest sheep■?" and I clapped my hands as hard as I could. After that he passed on to "This is the Sabre," out of Offeubach's " Grand Duchesse of Gfirolstein," and I summoned the rest of the household that they might share the musical treat. . . '' Encore V" I exclaimed. The man played all his tunes over again, and when he had done, took off his cap to receive the reward of his performance. At that moment I disappeared like lightning, and, concealed behind the curtains, I witnessed a scene which would have been heai trending to any one but myself. The man stared at my balcony with a look of abject despair. At last he slung hi 9 box over his shoulder, after looking at the number of my house. I have repeated the same process five or six times with his fellow artists, and since then not another organ-grinder has ventured near the premises.—Wiener Press.