The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Fifth String, by John Philip Sousa,
Illustrated by Howard Chandler Christy

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Title: The Fifth String

Author: John Philip Sousa

Release Date: July 22, 2009 [eBook #29481]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII)

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[Illustration]

THE FIFTH STRING

by

JOHN PHILIP SOUSA

The Illustrations by Howard Chandler Christy

Indianapolis
The Bowen-Merrill Company
Publishers

Copyright 1902
The Bowen-Merrill Company

Press of
Braunworth & Co.
Bookbinders and Printers
Brooklyn, N. Y.

_The Fifth String_

I

The coming of Diotti to America had awakened more than usual interest
in the man and his work. His marvelous success as violinist in the
leading capitals of Europe, together with many brilliant contributions
to the literature of his instrument, had long been favorably commented
on by the critics of the old world. Many stories of his struggles and
his triumphs had found their way across the ocean and had been read
and re-read with interest.

Therefore, when Mr. Henry Perkins, the well-known impresario,
announced with an air of conscious pride and pardonable enthusiasm
that he had secured Diotti for a "limited" number of concerts,
Perkins' friends assured that wide-awake gentleman that his foresight
amounted to positive genius, and they predicted an unparalleled
success for his star. On account of his wonderful ability as player,
Diotti was a favorite at half the courts of Europe, and the astute
Perkins enlarged upon this fact without regard for the feelings of the
courts or the violinist.

On the night preceding Diotti's debut in New York, he was the center
of attrac