Gov. Bob. Taylors Tales

Gov. Bob. Taylor's Tales, by
Robert L. Taylor

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Title: Gov. Bob. Taylor's Tales
Author: Robert L. Taylor
Release Date: December 23, 2006 [EBook #20171]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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TAYLOR'S TALES ***

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[Illustration]

Gov. Bob. Taylor's Tales.
"THE FIDDLE AND THE BOW,"
"THE PARADISE OF FOOLS",
"VISIONS AND DREAMS."
ILLUSTRATED.
Published by DeLONG RICE & COMPANY. Nashville, Tenn.

COPYRIGHTED, 1896. All rights reserved by DeLong Rice & Co.
UNIVERSITY PRESS CO., NASHVILLE, TENN.

PREFACE.
This volume presents the first publication of the famous lectures of
Governor Robert L. Taylor. His great popularity as an orator and
entertainer, and his wide reputation as a humorist, have caused repeated
inquiries from all sections of the country for his lectures in book form;
and this has given rise to an earlier publication than was expected.
The lectures are given without the slightest abridgment, just as
delivered from the platform throughout the country. The consecutive
chain of each is left undisturbed; and the idea of paragraphing, and
giving headlines to the various subjects treated, was conceived merely
for the convenience of the reader.
In the dialect of his characters, the melody of his songs, and the
originality of his quaint, but beautiful conceptions, Governor Taylor's
lectures are temples of thought, lighted with windows of fun.
DELONG RICE.

Temples of Thought, Lighted with Windows Of Fun.

CONTENTS.
"THE FIDDLE AND THE BOW." 9 Cherish the Little Ones 19 Fat
Men and Bald-Headed Men 22 The Poet Laureate of Music 23 The
Convict and His Fiddle 25 A Vision of The Old Field School 27 The
Quilting and the Old Virginia Reel 36 The Candy Pulling 44 The
Banquet 48 There is Music All Around Us 53 The Two Columns. 61
There is a Melody for Every Ear 63 Music is the Wine of the Soul 66
The Old Time Singing School 72 The Grand Opera 78 Music 80
"THE PARADISE OF FOOLS." 83 The Paradise of Childhood 90 The
Paradise of the Barefooted Boy 98 The Paradise of Youth 104 The
Paradise of Home 112 Bachelor and Widower 117 Phantoms 119 The
False Ideal 121 The Circus in the Mountains 123 The Phantom of
Fortune 128 Clocks 130 The Panic 133 Bunk City 135 Your Uncle 137
Fools 140 Blotted Pictures 143
"VISIONS AND DREAMS." 147 The Happy Long Ago 151 Dreams
of the Years to Come 160 From the Cave-man to the Kiss-o-phone 169
Dreams 175 Visions of Departed Glory 178 Nature's Musicians 181
Preacher's Paradise 185 Brother Estep and the Trumpet 189
"Wamper-jaw" at the Jollification 190 The Tintinnabulation of the
Dinner Bells 193 Phantoms of the Wine Cup 196 The Missing Link
197 Nightmare 198 Infidelity 200 The Dream of God 201

"THE FIDDLE AND THE BOW."
[Illustration]
I heard a great master play on the wondrous violin; his bow quivered
like the wing of a bird; in every quiver there was a melody, and every
melody breathed a thought in language sweeter than was ever uttered

by human tongue. I was conjured, I was mesmerized by his music. I
thought I fell asleep under its power, and was rapt into the realm of
visions and dreams. The enchanted violin broke out in tumult, and
through the rifted shadows in my dream I thought I saw old ocean
lashed to fury. The wing of the storm-god brooded above it, dark and
lowering with night and tempest and war. I heard the shriek of the
angry hurricane, the loud rattling musketry of rain, and hail, and the
louder and deadlier crash and roar of the red artillery on high. Its
rumbling batteries, unlimbered on the vapory heights and manned by
the fiery gunners of the storm, boomed their volleying thunders to the
terrible rythm of the strife below. And in every stroke of the bow fierce
lightnings leaped down from their dark pavilions of cloud, and, like
armed angels of light, flashed their trenchant blades among the
phantom squadrons marshalling for battle on the field of the deep. I
heard the bugle blast and battle cry of the charging winds, wild and
exultant, and then I saw the billowy monsters rise, like an army of
Titans, to scale and carry the hostile heights of heaven. Assailing