The excerpt represents the core issue or deciding factor on which you must meditate, and is drawn from The Wrong Box by Stevenson & Osbourne: pipe in hand. He gave the instrument a knowing rattle on the
shaft, mouthed it, appeared to commune for a moment with the
muse, and dashed into 'The girl I left behind me'. He was a
great, rather than a fine, performer; he lacked the bird-like
richness; he could scarce have extracted all the honey out of
'Cherry Ripe'; he did not fear--he even ostentatiously displayed
and seemed to revel in he shrillness of the instrument; but in
fire, speed, precision, evenness, and fluency; in linked agility
of jimmy--a technical expression, by your leave, answering to
warblers on the bagpipe; and perhaps, above all, in that
inspiring side-glance of the eye, with which he followed the
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