Wisconsin herald, and Grant County advertiser. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1844-1845, 1844-12-28

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the strong boxes which caused them to
believe that some catitf' was at work
striving toopen them.
The good vrouws Of New Amsterdam,
who took precedence at Governor Lub-
berson's during the celebration of the
stakeholder. were not behind hand on
this occasion. But seeing il was not
meet or proper that every body should
partake in such refined luxury as the
music Of the old bind fiddler, they
sought to monopolize him, by getting
up divers concerts, from which the
commonality were excluded on account
of the high price of admission, which
was no less sum than ten stivcrs.---
Here they reveled with all the zest of
exclusive enjoyment which is so essen
tial to our happiness, and the old iid-
dler was in all his glory. His peck
cts ovcrilowcd with money, and his red
cap was every night covered with flow
ers showered on il by enthusiastic dow
ayers and sentimental damscls, inso-
much that a promising poet wrote a
sonnet on the occasion, in which he
compared him to a black rose-bush
crowned with full blown piony.
Now it was that the young sprigs Of
New Amsterdam, more especially those
who were deeply smittcn with the ten
der passion, began to be horribly jcal-
Gus on account Of the favors which,
though denied to them,wcrc thus show
cred on the old blind fiddler, who had
become the great idol of the fasinable
world. twas in vain they sought TO
win the attention Of the young damslcs
by the most cxcruciatcing, dcvoirs, for
they only replied to all they could say
or do by eargerly asking "Have you
heard the old blind fiddler Z" Instead
of listening with their usual docility to
compliments, and declarations of love,
they hummed some one of his favor.
lite tunes, crying out at intervals, 80
how dclightful-how divine" A great
many matches were broken off about
this time, and the good Dominic Hell
derbcrg complained of having nothing
to do but preach and attend funerals.
Resolving, at length, no longer to sub
NIT TO this martyrdom to fddle-dum-
dee, the young sprigs Of the city put
their hcadstogcther in order to discom-
fit the old blind fiddler, and laid sever
al plans for that purpose. At one
time they creased his fddle-strings, but
found, to their utter amazcment and
CONSERVATION, that the music only be-
came more incfIably sweet, and that
tho bow slipped over the strings more
blithcly than ever. Another time they
hired a rabblc of boys to gather to-
gcthcr under the window of the city
tavern, where the concerts were held,
equipped with horse fddlcs, conch
shells, morrow bones and clcavcrs, and
all sorts unscemly discords, in order
to overpower the strains Of the old blind
fiddler. But he seemed only ANNA
ted to still greater cxcrtions of his art
and produced such transcedont tones
from his instrument, that the little var
lets stood stock still like so many posts,
listening, ms it were in "A trance, to
the wonderful and astounding har-
mony. Another time these Jealous
pated young fellows procured a goodly
number of cats, headed by the great
tom cat Of YfIrouw Goosander, the
burgomastcr's wife, which mcwed
and cattcrwauled with such stupendous
energy, especially on moonlight nights,
that he disturbed the whole ncighbor-
hood. These they caused TO be bro't
one night near the walls Of the city
tavern, and, just as the old blind iid.
dlcr was in the midst Of his great mas.
ter-piecc-" Molly put the kittlc on"
these mischievous, or rather Jealous
pated, sprigs did incontinently begin
to twist the tails of these pugnacious
animals, in the expectation that they
would set up rival concert of new
ling. But the cats, being as il were
under the diabolical influence Of the
old blind fiddler. instead Of following
their natural instinct and screaming out
with all their might, one and all turned
quietly upon their prosecutors, and
almost scratched their eyes out in a
twinkling. "Ah-lah!' exclaimed the
old blind fiddler. while his eyes shonc
like two glass bottles, and his elbow
moved so fast that it became invisible.
The worthy youngstcr, Master Rocl-
off Roelofsen, only son Of Evertsc Pc