Violin vs Fiddle

When Colin asked to have a go with Charlie's violin, the young musician felt all the blood drain from his face. He'd had the joy of listening to beginning musicians scratching out hazardous tunes from their instruments before, and the protective urge to refuse wrestled with his courteous wish to be polite. Surely... The man couldn't hurt it with just a few simple chords, and he'd show him how to hold the bow so as not to break the bridge. Still, he braced himself for the worst.

Colin took a deep breath and braced himself in stoic silence before drawing the horsehair along the strings in a vibrant, resonating chord that startled Charlie into a small yelp. The dockworker's fingers flew along the fretboard and a brassy but pleasant tenor brogue broke into song. Compared to the sober and frankly dismal sonata Charlie had been practicing this new reel seemed to pierce the atmosphere of the room like a thousand tiny lights in the gloom. When the last notes faded, Colin turned to the dumbstruck lad with a laugh of good humor. "Forgive me, laddie," he amended, holding out the violin, no worse for wear from its warm handling. "I couldn't help meself~" 

Charlie took the violin tentatively, almost feeling bad for the instrument. After being used for that, how could it go back to solemn dirges and stately concertos? Colin had taken this wooden bird from its cage and let it truly sing, and now he had to lock it back up again. And there was the matter of the man's little omission of his ability, bringing heat to his face as he realized how he'd been played. "I'm sorry. I assumed..."

"Don't fret over it, lad. I know I hardly look the type. But... Even in the gutter, us nobody's still have music." Colin's contagious smile receded enough for Charlie to see the twinge of shame in the man's face. He knew they were talking over a class divide as wide as the Irish Channel, and no matter how much he played the fool he could see that the rift between them was near unbridgeable. But maybe... maybe he'd be willing to try. 

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Why is class divide such a fun and interesting subject to write/draw? While reading/researching more about Victorian England, the topic of class is one of the biggest sticking points for so many strange choices and customs of the time. One interesting tidbit: With the invention of chemical dye processes that finally made black dye that didn't quickly fade, black clothing became more readily available to all classes in the late 1800's. Before this point, farmers and laborer's tended to wear more colorful but cheaper prints. Because white couldn't be kept white without intense starching and laundering and black faded quickly, these colorful prints could look decent even after hard labor. Once black clothing became accessible, the working class took to wearing them partly out of ease of hiding stains/wear and to appear more like the upper echelons. In reaction, brightly colored prints for dresses, vests and scarves became popular with the upper class who wouldn't deign to appear similar to their below-stair counterparts.

It was common practice for women of the house to give their old dresses to their servants before the custom of uniforms. This also ensured that the help would always be behind in the fashion trends of the times. The invention of the at-home sewing machine and ready-made (off the rack) clothing would change all this. Now working-class women could achieve some measure of trendiness in fashion, though obviously not with materials as fine as their mistresses'. Oh, but don't worry, in the mid 19th century wealthy women were obsessed with a vivid emerald color called Scheele’s Green, or Paris Green, which they'd use for everything from wallpaper to dresses. It was made with a deadly poison: arsenic.  We'll never know how many lives were claimed by this dangerous ode to beauty, but we do know that class divide through fashion and appearances was ever-prevalent and a never-ending string of cause and effect to keep up with the jonses (and to prevent the lower classes from emulating their 'betters'). 

By the way, I know this is a deviation from my usual content, but if this is something you dont mind or would like more of, I'm always happy to share character stories, interactions and little tidbits from my research! Thanks for your support!