He would take this box into the bathroom with him and eat while he lay in the hot water until he was overcome by the enervating warmth and by the steam and would then drop off to sleep.
It was during these days that Vandover took up his banjo-playing seriously, if it could be said that he did anything seriously at this time.

He took occasional lessons of a Mexican in a room above a wigmaker's store on Market Street, and learned to play by note.

For a little time he really applied himself; after he had mastered the customary style of play he began to affect the more brilliant and fancy performances, playing two banjos at once, or putting nickels under the bridge and picking the strings with a calling-card to imitate a mandolin.

He even made up some comical pieces that had a great success among the boys.

One of these he called the "Pleasing Pan-Hellenic Production"; another was the imitation of the "Midway Plaisance Music," and a third had for title "A Sailor Robbing a Ship," in which he managed to imitate the sounds of the lapping of the water, the creaking of the oarlocks, the tramp of the sailor's feet upon the deck, the pistol shot that destroyed him, and--by running up the frets on the bass-string--his dying groans, a finale that never failed to produce a tremendous effect..