The Council Bluffs nonpareil. [volume] (Council Bluffs [Iowa]) 1857-1867, 1859-08-13

hurry to swallow a mouthful of fresh air,
and then to rush back to her beloved piano.
She soon left Scots uhat hae and Annie
Laurie behind, having perfectly mastered
these two airs and had it not been that " Q
were nervous and provoked at the disturb
ance, we should really had considerable in
terest IN watching her progress more par
tlcularly as sweet and clear voice
made itself so distinctly heard that we could
repeat the burden of the song, to which all
the widows energies seemed devoted, when
the first difhulties were overcome of the be-
ginner's first lessons.
The air of this song was a curious comb
nation of the pathetic and jocular; we had
never heard it before. Was it foreign 2
Italian ?-No. French ?-No. German?-
No. Swedish mo. Irish Mot altoge-
ther. Scotch Mot altogether. English:
Not altogether. 1t was very odd song,
very peculiar song; and over and over and
over and over, she practised it, until some
times we awoke in the night, haunted by i.
in our very dreams, and singing, 5000,
Pm alone in this world without you" We
believed that was the burden of the song,
but were not quite decided about the " o.
90; )" it might be Ochone;" it might be
|
very peculiar to say the least of it: and the
widow herself always seemed doubtful about
this part of it, going over the 5000" in
various ways. always sweetly, but still as if
she felt dissatisfied with her own efforts, and
desired to improve. The entire practising
was now merged and concentrated in this
one ditty; it appeared as if all the previous
hours of persevering industry had been de-
voted to the piano only to accomplish her
intense desire of mastering this one song
Morning, noon, and night, ceaseessly, over
and over, again, on went the piano accom-.
paniment-nt length perfectly learned, and
the vocal, 5000, Pm alone in this world
without you"
Sometimes she would very diligently prac.
tise another pretty air-AH is lost now-o
waltz, or a polka but ever she returned
to her beloved 5000 :" and no other
song did she attempt and if we had beer
both prejudiced and angry, we should have
declared that it was IN unique song, pret.
ty song, and very sweetly sung. But as i,
was, we only snuifed the air in disdain, re-
marking What can induce any human
being to sacrifice so much time to learning
s. songW
We christenel our neighbor Angelina .
after q celebrated amateur musician Of that
name but Sally overheariDg US SO denomi.
nate her said, gravely
"Ihat's not the lady's name. Her name
is Mrs. Fordham and her servants name is
Goodwin"
"Thank you, Sally" said we. care you
sure ?"
"Quite sure; Goodwin told me so herself
because the postman brought letter here
for me as wa. meant for her--thc direction
wnrn't leggibe like" But "Angelina" shs
continued with US and we agreed that hcl
wonderful perseverance, was worthy of a bet
ter cause. \ better canse? What cause
could induce oman to dev ote herself body
and soul-and at her mature age-to learr
singing, and that singing all condensed into
the pathetic. the iocular, the sweet but ridi
culous "O-O-O,' at which she always
stuck there ,ras something wrong there
the lesson was not perfect. The sweet, clea1
voice again and again attacked the 90,
until flesh and blood could bear it no longer
and we were obliged to stuff cotton in ou1
cars, in order to pursue our occupation o.
reading and writing. She was wonderful
woma .. Wien did she eat? When sh'
went to bed, surely her fingers mus
have still been working, and her dreams
haunted as ours were by that extraordinary
! burden" O-O-O,l am alone in the worlC
without vou.'
Christmas WIS now approaching, and We
expected our relative, poor Louis Davidson
to pass the Christmas holidays with u.s.
We say" poor LOUIS" because his history
had been Il sad but too common one
! Brought up hy an improvident mother as ar
/ idle gentleman living on " expectations,
Louis, when those expectations failed, nnC
absolute ruin stared him in the face, haC
met the storm with energy and decision
| scarcely to be looked for IN one hitherto
sef-inIulgent and suplne. Discardng all
, fne- gentleman habits, he had promptly anG
/ thankfully accepted the offer Of a situation
as usher in u school. presided over by wor-
thy gentleman, who had been friend Of his
! fathers, and who ptied Louis from his
! heart, according 10 his warm sympathy anL
! rcspect, as altered prospects brought QUIT
! brighter side of the young mans character
/ lie now entirely supported his aiIing. weak
mother, who occupied humble apartments il
/ the village where DR.. Smiths academy was
situated. We had succeeded with some diff
fcuity in pcrSuading LOUIS to come and pass
the vacation with US. We greatly admired
and esteemed him more than We ever could
have done in his days Of ldleness and frivol.
! itv though now, as then, there was an m.
dercurrent Of genial funin his nature, al
wavs good naturcdly evinced, which circum-
stances had no power to dampen or to re.
press.
/" wonder what Louis will think of Can
gelina' and her song,' we often said to one
another. "IIe is extremely fond of music
and has quick ear; and this repeated 80.
O-O' will greatly amuse him. But what d
quiet, orderly creature this Mrs. Fordhau
seems in all other respects a model neigh
| bor-no visitors. no letters. no d sturbance
of any kind, save this. We shall leave Lou
is to find out the mystery, if mystery there
is in her queer proceedings; and even his
good taste cannot be offended with the sweet
clear voice, and Industrious precision, of the
piano accompaniment. But oh that she
would vary her song ''-as the 60 -O"a,
that moment reached US, and We searched
for the cotton wool, to dull our acute sense
of sound.
On the very first evening after Louis ar
rival, he turned an attentive ear to the mu-
sic issuing from the next house; but there
was a great deal of music going forward, sc
! that ne CouIu hot Iulte uietlHctiS Hldhc oul
the air; he fidgeted, and on a sudden pause
in tho conversation, the 800" became au-
dible, and Louis, to our surprise, moro and
more excited and i'll at ease. At length,
starting up and bending over our tea-table
he whispered ''You have musical neghbors
who are they? | have almost fancied
know the song but there is such a noise
cannot quite make it out"
"We call our neighbor 'Angeina;' but
| her name is Mrs. Fordham,' we replied,
"and she is a most singular and industrious
parsonage"
At that moment there was pause in the
conv ersation, ,aud silence ensued; every WORD
was audible next door. "Fm alone in thi,
world mithout you."
| To our amazement, Louis Davidson
changed color, and displayed remarkable ag-
tation, holding up his finger to enforce 81.
lencc, and when the sweet voice ceased
sinking down on his chair with n sigh of re-
lief, but expressing in bis looks considerable
embarrassment. When our guests were
again engaged in talking, we drew near Lou
is, and touching him on the arm, said