Portage sentinel. [volume] (Ravenna, Ohio) 1845-1854, 1849-12-10
A LOVE OF A SINGING MASTER.
BY MRS. C. NJ. KIRKLAND.

i The prettiest girl that attended our sing.
ing meeting was Jane Gordon, the only
/ daughter oil Scotchman who had lately
bought farm in the neighborhood, She
was fair and gentle damsel, soft spoken,
, and down looking, but not without stout
will oil her own, such as, they do say, your
very soft spoken people ere apt TO have.
Indeed, we argue that 10 be able at all
times to command ones voice down 10 q
given level, requires pretty strong good
will, and more sell-possession than impctu.
known that blusterers are easier governed
than any body else. Jane Gordon had
Hight hair, too. which hasly observers are
apt to consider sign of a mild and COM
iplying temper but our dear Jane, though a
good girl, and a duliiul daughter, had a
good deal Of trouble with alaG Adam. and
tgfvenvhsf subeer Ifssssss0.
So that by and s., when twas Whisper
ed that Jane Gordon was certainly in love
with Mr.. Fasoie, and that MIR. Fasole was
at least very attentive to Jane Gordon, the
old people felt good deal troubled. They
were prudent, however, and only watched
and waited, though quite determined thai
an :itlnerant singing master should not
carry off their treasure, to be mere foot
ball of Fortune, and have -.........
~t b K nor house nor ha,
Nor fire, nor candle light.
And at every snging-meeting, the intimacy
between Mr.. Fssole and his fair pupil be-
came more and more apparent, and the
faces flhe inappropriate damsels longer
and longer. The district schoolnasser,
that winter, was frightlul Old man, with
a face like deaths head, set off by pair
of huge round eyed speclacles, so he was
out OF the question, even if he had not had
wife and family to share his sixteen
dollars month. The storekeeper, Squire
Hoker's partner, had impruden,ly gone off
TO the next town for wife, but a few
weeks before; and young lawyer who
talked OF settling among US as soon as there
was anything to do-(he had an eye on the
setting back of the mill pond, we suspect)
did nothing but smoke cigars and play
checkers on the store counter, and tell
stories ofthe great doings at the place he
had been haunting before he came among
US. So the dearth of beaux was stringent
mere farmer.boys being generally too shy
to make anything of, until they have
bought land and slock, when they begin TO
look round, with business eye for some
body to make butter and cheese. Mr..
Fasole, with his knowing air and plentiful
stock Of modest assurance, reigned para
mount, 'the cynosure Of neighboring eyes,"
He "cut a wide swar,h," the young men
said, and it may be supposed they owed
him no good will.
How matters can remain for any length
Of time in such an explosive state without
an eruption, let philosophers tell. Twice
a week, for whole long Western winter,
did the singing school meet regularly at the
school house, and practice the tunes which
were to be sung on Sunday; and every
Saturday did one or two break downs attest
that improvement in music could not have
been the sole object Of such persevering
| industry. '
Sometimes bold bass would be found
finished off, for bar or two, in happy un-
consciousness that its harmonious COM
peers had ceased to vibrate. Then again,
owing to the failure, through timidity or
oblivousness, of some main stay, the whole
volume of sound would quaver away, trem-
bling into silence or worse, while the minis.
ter would shut his eyes, with look of
meek endurance, and wait until Mr..
Fasole, frowning and putting on some.
thing Of the air with which wejerk up the
head Of stumbling horse, could get his un-
broken team in order again. Jane Cor
don was not very bright at singing, per-
haps because she was suffering under that
sort of. fascination which is apt to make
people stupid; and she was often the
'sbroken tooth and foot out of joint at the
choir. Mr.. Fasole always took her part,
however, and told the accuser to "look at
home," or limited at some by gone blunder
of the whole class, or declared that Miss
Jane evidently hud,a bad cold-not the first