A hale-looking blind man, with a cheerful look, poorly but not
squalidly dressed, gave me the subjoined narrative. He was led by a
strong, healthy-looking lad of 15, his stepson:--
“I have been blind since within a month of my birth,” he said, “and
have been 23 years a street performer. My parents were poor, but they
managed to have me taught music. I am 55 years old. I was one of a
street-band in my youth, and could make my 15_s._ a-week at it. I
didn’t like the band, for if you are steady yourself you can’t get
others to be steady, and so no good can be done. I next started a piano
in the streets; that was 23 years ago. I bought a chaise big enough
for an invalid, and having had the body removed, my piano was fitted
on the springs and the axle-tree. I carried a seat, and could play
the instrument either sitting or standing, and so I travelled through
London with it. It did pretty well; in the summer I took never less
than 20_s._, and I have taken 40_s._ on rare occasions, in a week;
but the small takings in the winter would reduce my yearly average to
15_s._ a-week at the utmost. I played the piano, more or less, until
within these three or four years. I started the bells that I play now,
as near as I can recollect, some 18 years ago. When I first played
them, I had my 14 bells arranged on a rail, and tapped them with my
two leather hammers held in my hands in the usual way. I thought next
I could introduce some novelty into the performance. The novelty I
speak of was to play the violin with the bells. I had hammers fixed on
a rail, so as each bell had its particular hammer; these hammers were
connected with cords to a pedal acting with a spring to bring itself
up, and so, by playing the pedal with my feet, I had full command of
the bells, and made them accompany the violin, so that I could give
any tune almost with the power of a band. It was always my delight in
my leisure moments, and is a good deal so still, to study improvements
such as I have described. The bells and violin together brought me
in about the same as the piano. I played the violoncello with my
feet also, on a plan of my own, and the violin in my hand. I had the
violoncello on a frame on the ground, so arranged that I could move the
bow with my foot in harmony with the violin in my hand. The last thing
I have introduced is the playing four accordions with my feet. The
accordions are fixed in a frame, and I make them accompany the violin.
Of all my plans, the piano, and the bells and violin, did the best, and
are the best still for a standard. I can only average 12_s._ a-week,
take the year through, which is very little for two.”