72 OCCASIONAL HAPPY THOUGHTS. 



letter S at present.) Why should certain stigmas be affixed 

 to certain trades ? 



Query. — Was the first Hatter considered a lunatic by 

 people Avho, till then, used to go about bare-headed ? Just 

 as the inventor of Steam was looked upon as a maniacal 

 visionary, because he thought he could do something a little 

 out of the common with boiling water. 



Second Query. — Was the first Fiddler (evidently an object 

 of envy because he played first fiddle) looked upon as 

 inebriated .? Perhaps so. I put an instance to myself. Sup- 

 posing I met Herr Joachim fiddling his very best for the first 

 time — supposing, also, that I'd never seen a fiddle in my life, 

 and suddenly came, in a street, or a wood, or on the sea- 

 shore, on Herr Joachim, hard at work practising for a con- 

 cert that evening, what would be my opinion of Herr 

 Joachim's condition? I think I should be, at first sight, 

 inclined to take a Policeman's view of the matter, and say : 

 Drunk and Disorderly. Very good. Then, supposing this 

 to have happened any number of thousand years ago, this 

 would be crystallised (good word this) into a proverb, which 

 would naturally come to be " Drunk as a Fiddler." 



Of course I select Herr Joachim as the present distin- 

 guished representative of the height of good fiddling. 



Then, while on the subject, I might make a series of 

 similes for trade and professional purposes : thus. Mad as a 

 Hatter, Drunk as a fiddler. Comic as a Cobbler, Mild as a 

 Milkman, Bold as as a Baker, Short as a Shoemaker (short 

 referring to his temper). Terrible as a Tanner, Fierce as a 

 Photographer, Charitable as a Chandler. 



