Viscount Hinton on Organ Grinding.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume X, Issue 3265, 25 July 1889, Page 2

Viscount Hinton on Organ Grinding.

I had an interesting chut the other day (writes a correspondent of ; ; the Sunday Times);' with Viscount'' Binton, who, as is well known, is perambulating the streets of: London with a barrel organ, as a' means of at 1 once'earning a livlihood mid calling attention to. his supposed family' grievances, His lords'iip does not hold a high opio.iqn of the profession of musio, or at all events that branch of it upon which he is engaged. "People," ho says, " sometimes call mo a lazy fellow, and ask why I don't get some :work,. , Well,; I set out at eleven in the morning and seldom get home until half m hour after mid: night. I am exposed to all weathers; I trudge from\.twenty-five to thirty miles a day dragging all the .'way an organ which, with itscarriage, weighs 5£ hundredweight. If that isn't hard work I- should like to know what is." "-Po.you.evir perform out:of London?":I asked. "Igo into one or other of the suburbs every day, I have a.different route for taoh day of the week, For instance, I am expected at the public-bouses in Oxford street every Friday. I get my, biggest crowds, in Oxford, street," for : many people 1 there , follow me from pitch to pitch, and when 1 send round tho h'at they say, 'Oh, we gave you some money at tho other end of-'the street,' The contributor I like best is the man who drops a penny or a threepenny-bit into the box and passes on without blocking up the pavement, But Oxford street pays pretty, well generally.": "Pon'tyou get,awfully sick of hearing the same times over and over again !" "No, indeed, I never listen to them.' I couldn't whistle even one' of the tunes over now, Then I change may barrel overy week, becauso somo people liko one style of music and others another style.",- "And how,". I asked, " do yon get on with /your; ;'i()li', tbo Italians are ; as good as ;g6ld! If they.see that you can hardly drag one foot after tlieotlie'r,;they will'']end a ijand : barro'\y wjthoitt bpjug asked. I can't ! s<»y 'as much 1 for the natives. The English organ" g|ihdcr as a rule ,jj a bail lot-" !'I supbpse, said I, " that you are making tnqre, money than jf.you bad.entered any of the learned professions?" His lordship shook his head sadly. " It's a poor business; considering, the long! hours and h«rd,work..; Ijhaye.topay teii shillings a week for, .my 'organ, and half-a-crown for the lamps, When I have deducted a proportion of my day's earnings to cover these

expenses and the cost of my dinner and ten, I have only about six shillings, But," ho added, brightening up, " 1 H<n going to apply to the South-Eastem Railway Company for permission to play oil the boats of the Calois-Dover service. You see that would mean good tjmsiuoss for me, and it would, unjvo.an Attraction on board . the boats,' wouldn't it 1" I did not answer the question,- : but suggested tifiit, however arduous and honest the wnrk"niij!hi'be;'"it" was a' "pity that aV man of his education could not be \.

doing something better than grinding iislrect organ.

Sunday Sciinmag'es

A Home paper says scrimmages on a Sunday can hardly be defended, except on the ground that the better the day (he better deed. What can be said in defence of scrimmages in n place of worship like those of which /"'■' Queen Street Chapel, Stepney, were the scene on a recent Sunday 1 Tho|P» account of this lively affair is as entertaining a bit of reading of the kind as could be wished for, and includes a series of strange incidents. It is in short a record of ft pitched battle between Presbyterians and Congreg'Hionalists.,. , How... these Cliriatiiins.lbve' : orie- another) >. Tho Presbyterians had worshiped on the spot for 200 years, but had been evicted on the chapel being transferred to the London Congregational Union. The chapel was to be re-opened on Sunday, when rival ministers presented themselves, each had his supporters. Tho Presbyterians; sang.-.sMoody , and. Sankey's' hymns,, and' when the Congregationalists appeared in force there was an ugly rush, A gentleman concerned in the transfer of tho chapel was denounced as the greatest villian on earth, .and there was a careful noto'tiikon of the words with the view of commencing au a:tion for slander. When the rival parties were fairly inside there was an ugly - for the platform which does duty'roy the pulpit. The Rev Robert Maekay who. headed the ; ,congregationalists, had the liest'of it.' He ascended the platform, but was speedily dislodged, " Stand up, stand up for Jesus" and "Dare to he a Daniel" were sung, but the cries of •' Police" and " Go away sir," strangely marred the harmony, i Reading .Scriptural passages in an exhalted key, and singing at the highest pitch " Hold the Fort" were but a burlesque of religion and a couple of arrests—one for brawling and. another for assaujft -must have made tho reflective sijgfc for the quief of tho Established uhurch, where at least everything is dono" decently and in ordjr." Some half-a-dozen policemen were on the scone, and they bad their energies and tact pretty : well taxed at this Stepney scene,;. 1 . ■'[■'{{■. ■■,} ■■■, Memory at Death.

The current number of the Eevue Rose publishes an interestingsuminary ofan'account-recently communicated to the Sociate da' Bologie by M-fir Ferfo, and in which are embodied some of his experiences of the effect of ethor on persons at the point of death. ..Ib.ia a well-known fact that the idyingi ini-e of ten; able to see the principal facts of their'lives, which . otherwise have been forgotten for many years, clearly and accurately before them. The reason for this clairvoyance M. Feree ascribes to a sudden modification ot tho cerebral circulation, which can also be brought about by artificial means, tells of a case of a patient who'was dying of consumption. He had already lost consciousness, when, after having' hied '.revived :by two successive injections of one gramme of ether, tho dying man slowly raised his head anil rapidly pronounced a string of words, which no one near was able to understand, as they wero in Flemish.';. Alter aome move ments indicating' impatience, be made a sign that he wished to write, A pencil and paper were then handed to him, and he wrote rapidly three or four lines, alsoiu Flemish. This man who was a native of Antwerp, ba£| lived in Paris for many years, anc» had nover wrote or spoke anything but French, but when dying, he Beoaied to be unable to recollect that language. Afterwards it was found that his pencil note was about a debt of 15 francs, which he had borrowed- from somebody at Brussels in 18G8, and which had nover beon paid. In another case tho patient was dying disease. He had fainted several tinfes and no longer replied to any questions put to him, bis pulso was all but gone, but after. an.. injection of.ether he turned his'head towards his > wife, rapidly, "You will not find that piu, for all the floor has been re-made," which was an allusion to an incident of eighteen years ago.' After uttering theso words, breathing ceased.