We at length secured places at a table in a corner of the room and, as soon as we could attract the attention of one of the busy waiters, ordered a round of drinks.  When I had somewhat collected my senses, I realized that in a large back room into which the main room opened, there was a young fellow singing a song, accompanied on the piano by a short, thickset, dark man.  After each verse he did some dance steps, which brought forth great applause and a shower of small coins at his feet.  After the singer had responded to a rousing encore, the stout man at the piano began to run his fingers up and down the keyboard.  This he did in a manner which indicated that he was master of a good deal of technique.  Then he began to play; and such playing!  I stopped talking to listen.  It was music of a kind I had never heard before.  It was music that demanded physical response, patting of the feet, drumming of the fingers, or nodding of the head in time with the beat.  The barbaric harmonies, the audacious resolutions, often consisting of an abrupt jump from one key to another, the intricate rhythms in which the accents fell in the most unexpected places, but in which the beat was never lost, produced a most curious effect.  And, too, the player—­the dexterity of his left hand in making rapid octave runs and jumps was little short of marvelous; and with his right hand he frequently swept half the keyboard with clean-cut chromatics which he fitted in so nicely as never to fail to arouse in his listeners a sort of pleasant surprise at the accomplishment of the feat.

This was ragtime music, then a novelty in New York, and just growing to be a rage, which has not yet subsided.  It was originated in the questionable resorts about Memphis and St. Louis by Negro piano players who knew no more of the theory of music than they did of the theory of the universe, but were guided by natural musical instinct and talent.  It made its way to Chicago, where it was popular some time before it reached New York.  These players often improvised crude and, at times, vulgar words to fit the melodies.  This was the beginning of the ragtime song.  Several of these improvisations were taken down by white men, the words slightly altered, and published under the names of the arrangers.  They sprang into immediate popularity and earned small fortunes, of which the Negro originators got only a few dollars.  But I have learned that since that time a number of colored men, of not only musical talent, but training, are writing out their own melodies and words and reaping the reward of their work.  I have learned also that they have a large number of white imitators and adulterators.