Walton High School - Periwinkle Yearbook (Bronx, NY)

Page 33 text:

I-le Knew Monk Twain Mr. Stowell, head of the Bronx School of Music, is known to his neighbors at Briarcliff and to his students and associates as the man who knew lvlark Twain. Since l am acquainted with a,pupil of his, l was granted an interview. I entered his studio in fear and trembling, but I had no sooner shaken hands with him than I knew that the interview would be a pleas- urable one. For Mr. Stowell is a gentle, affable person who is perfectly willing to talk, thus putting his questioner at ease. l-lis passion is music, his vocation, teaching it, and his hobby, painting. Pictures in great numbers and of a variety of subjects hang on the walls, covering almost every available inch of space. l came to the point at once as a good reporter should. You are a musician, l began. Do you recall Mr. Clemens' atti- tude toward music and musicians? lvlr. Stowell methodically knocked the ashes out of his pipe, refilled and lighted it, taking a few tentative puffs before he answered. l-le dearly loved songs, the songs of the negroes, and he himself often sang the old spirituals with great feeling. l-le pretended an indifference toward other music, but I am inclined to think that it was merely a pose. Certainly a man who could write so beautifully could not be insensible to the wonders of music. And as for musicians, he continued, his daughter Clara is a musician, the wife of Ossip Cabrilowitsch, the well-known pianist and conductor. Do you remember, I inquired next, anything of his home life? Mr. Stowell's eyes held a mischievous twinkle as he replied. l may not look like a child prodigy now, but l was once considered one, and as such, l was frequently invited to Mr. Clemens' home to play the violin for his guests. l-le often staged entertainments for his children, usually in the form of plays. They acted in the roles which he origi- nated, and were very competent indeed. l played during the interludes when the meagre scenery was being changed, he went on with a whim- sical smile. Susy, one of his daughters, was an unusual child, lvlr. Stowell added in a tone of reminiscence. At the age of fourteen she wrote a biography of her father which she and her friends considered a master-

Page 32 text:

L- L , r I I Y 1 I

Page 34 text:

piece. At one time she was my lady love, but that was. long before she became a writer of such distinction. As for lvlr. Clemens, l have at hazy recollection of a merry gentle- man 'with an immense shock of white hair. l-le seemed at the time almost of another world, quite removed from the ordinary run of mor- tals. But he was very jolly with his children's little guests and always made them feel at home. I know that we always laughed a great deal when he told us stories in his inimitable fashion. l-lowever, we had no idea of the fame which he possessed at the time. lt was not until later that l realized how fortunate l had been, growing up in the shadow of a home whose head is considered one of the world's great humoristsf' l looked down at the notes which l had been collecting so assidu- ously. The thought occurred to me that l had been taking up entirely too much of Mr, Stowell's miorning. Gathering my papers, l thanked him for the interview and left him sitting at hisi desk, sucking his pipe meditatively. HELEN Row Candles ol the Laid Tall and straight, Their slender forms Reach toward the sky. From afar, their laden boughs Are pure white flames Lighted by the wind As candles to the Lord. MARjORlE BRENSBURG