American literature -- 19th century -- Periodicals; Sunday schools -- United States -- Periodicals
I now remember that I have not yet given a thorough description of my
hero, and as that is properly one of the first things to do in a sketch
of this kind, I must hasten to it. Mozart was clothed with a stationary
garment of brownish-yellow fur—I do not know whether the artists would
call it chrome yellow, yellow ochre, Naples yellow, or what. This
garment was at regular intervals striped with rings of a darker shade,
and these went completely around his body.
These rings reached their abrupt termination at the tip of the wearer’s
tail. It is quite proper to insert just here the fact that once upon a
time one of them fell off, and was found, a little wad of dark yellow
fur, on the floor of the dining-room.
Mozart had eyes of a rather uncertain color (a peculiarity of his
family, which you perhaps have observed), but they were probably nearer
the color of his fur than any other of which I think. His head was
shapely, and his ears and caudal appendage were graceful. Thus endeth
the description of his personal appearance.
The reason for naming Mozart as I did, will be obvious when I state
that he had unmistakable musical talent. As I cannot conscientiously
praise his voice, I will remain silent about it, simply saying that
it was very expressive, and that is more than can be said of some of
the so-called fine singers of this country. His vocal organs seemed
exceedingly devoid of elasticity, for their use was always confined to
the one syllable and note—“Waa-a-a-a-a-a!” differing only in pitch and
the length of time it was prolonged.
This difficulty prevented us from always comprehending Mozart’s
language, save by his accompanying gestures and actions, and by the
surrounding circumstances. But I have said more about his voice than I
intended. As I said before, he had unmistakable musical talent. If he
had not a musical voice, he had a musical ear (two of them, indeed!)
and would listen with rapturous delight to any music. If anyone was
playing on my piano, he would come and sit by the side of it, and
either listen intently or try to find out by his whiskers from whence
the sound proceeded. But if, while he was making these investigations,
the piano would play very loud for a moment, he would shrink away, much
frightened by the noise. If it was a special friend of his who was
playing, he would sometimes jump into the person’s lap, getting as near
as possible to the keys. Any rational and unprejudiced persons giving
heed to these statements, will believe what I said about Mozart’s ears,
I am sure.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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