Page:Tex; a chapter in the life of Alexander Teixeira de Mattos (IA texchapterinlife00mcke).pdf/33

 petty, shabby, cowardly side to him; and one had only to tell you of what the man in question chooses to keep concealed."

"Life," said Samuel Butler, "is like playing a violin solo in public and learning the instrument as one goes on." Those who met Teixeira only in his later years must have felt that he was born a master of his instrument; it is not to be imagined that there could ever have been a time when he was ignorant of the grace, the urbanity, the consideration and the gusto that mark off the artist in life from his fellows.