Dr. Bob Jones Sr. told the story:
I remember years ago I was holding a meeting in Ocean Grove, New Jersey. I was in that big amphitheater there that accommodates about ten thousand people. The people told me a story. They said a few nights before I was there they advertised in the paper that a man who had just come back from Europe was going to play on a five-thousand dollar violin he had bought in some old museum in Europe. It had never been used in America — was to be played for the first time that night. All the seats in the building were sold and even the standing room. The time came for the artist to come on stage. He came on the stage and waited until the applause swept the crowd first one way the then the other. Then he took his violin and played. The music was sweet. The violin cried like a baby, sang like a bird, laughed like a child. The crowd sat there enrapt. The people said, “Did you ever hear such music! Oh, the tone! We are not surprised that the violin cost five-thousand dollars. It is marvelous. The seasoned tone is wonderful!” When he got through playing, waves of applause swept the crowd this way and that way.
In the midst of the excitement he turned around, took the violin and broke it all to pieces on a chair. They said, “he is crazy! He is mad! he is braking a five-thousand dollar violin!” Still in the midst of the excitement he reached behind him, and from under a seat pulled out a case. He took out a violin, looked out over the crowd, smiled and said, “Ladies and
...