Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1869-01-15

Learn WHAT"
q That tune =
% At church.
.. You've good ear, Sam
"I've nothing else good, but can whistle
anything
"Can you whistle me the Morning Hymn ~
did SO.
Good very good. Know anything of
music, Sam ~
"Nothing"
" Like to?'
" I'd give all have in the world to be able
to play anything. My souls full of music
| can't sing note, but | cou play anything
if Iwere taught"
" SO you shall, Sam, my boy. Come home
with me. Carry these skins, and you shall
begin at once
went home with him and found he was
one Of the players Of his parish, his instrument
being the violoncello. | took my first lesson,
and from that time commenced a new life.
Evening after evening, and sometimes during
the day, wandered over to his little shop,
and while he sat, stitch, stitch, at the boots
and shoes, played over and over again all
the music could get from the church.
+ You've beautiful lingering, sam, my
boy, beautiful, and though 1t does look a ut
tleawkward to see you bowling away with
your left, it makes no difference to You hou
ought to be fine player, sam
Twas enthusiastic, but was poor. want
ed an instrument Of my own, but l had no
monc, and earned none-I could earn
none Nv parents Thought, and perhaps
RIGHTLY. that if they found me food and cloth
inc. | was well provided for, and so for some
twelve months used the old cobbler's instru-
ment. improving daily. 1t was strange that
the limbs and fingers 50 rigid and stiff for
every other impulse should. under the i'm
pIlse of sound. move with such precision,
ease and exactness.
sam. my boy said the cobbler one day
ssyou shall have an instrument, and your
father shall buy it for you, or the whole
Parish will cry shame upon him.
- But he don't know word Of this,
said.
glad to know of it - and he told ne his
plans.
At certain times it was customary for the
/ choirs of neighboring churches to help each
other, and it was arranged that the choir of
our parish should play and sing on the next
Sunday morning, at his parish church, and
that he and his choir should come over to our
parish for the evening service.
- And you, sam, said he, ''shall take my
place in your own church and, please God,
You do as well there as You ve done here. it
will be the proudest day ! shall know, sam,
my boy, and your father and mother will say
so too
How | practised, morning. noon, and night
for the great day; how the old man darkly
binted at a pr dizzy that was to be frthcom-
ing at the festival and then the day itself,
with its eyents-all is as vivid before me as
if it were but yesterday.
The eyeni' 2 came and there in the dimlY
lit gallery, | sat waiting, with my master be-
side me.
sam, nv boy," said my master, " Its q
great risk its getting very full that's the
and my lady Just come in. Keep your eyes
on your book and feel what YOU re playing.
and think you're in the little shop I've
brought a bit of leather to help You, and he
nut piece of thar black leather that has a
peculiar acid scent in front of me. The scent
of it revived me the many hoursl had spent
there came back at once, and felt as calm
as If | We're indeed there.
She came at last, and service began. q
i that night. Shall ever forget its pleasures.
the wondering looks Of the friends and
5 neighbors who came and found in me, the de-
< spised. awkward. left handed saddles'- ap
e prentice, the prodigy of which they had
heard rumors o il was glorious The
@ fret few strokes Of my bow gave me conf
dencc. and did well, and knew ii, through
the hymn, through the chants, and ON To ib'
t anthem before the sermon. That was to b'
7 the gem of the evening it was Handel
then new anthem, '' know that NV Redeem
+ er liveth.'
Il began-harsh iuharnoni1us, out of tune
i know not why or how one by one the
D instruments ceased and were silent one by
one the voices died away and were lost, and
- she and | alone, bound together and driven
on by an irresistible impulse, went through
: the anthem; one soul, one spirit seemed to
5 animate both. The whole congregation list
cned breathless as TO an angel; and she, sell
absorbed and like one in trance, sang, fill
2 ing me with q delicious sense Of peace and
exulhtion, the like Of which have never
known since.
1t came to an end at last. and with the
last triumphant note ] fell forward on the
desk in a swoon.
, When recovered found myself at home
J in my own room, with the rector the doctor,
and my parents there, and heard the doctor
say
q. told YOU be would, my dear madam,
knew he would
Thank God - murmured my mother.
E. Nv dear boy, how we have feared for YOU.
p What a difference was courted and
made much of 81 Genus 80 and - Very
clever - and i. Delightful talent Pc such
were the expressions ! now heard instead OF
..stupid - awkward - and ''unft for any
: thing
/ Nv father bought fine instrument; and
was the hero of the village for several months
1t was some days after that Sunday that
yentured to ask about the rector's neice.
s. Ny dear boy" said my mother, 81 the
like was never heard. We saw YOU there
and wondered W hat You were doing; but at
soon as we saw YOU with the bow. we knew
you must be the person there'd been SO much
talk about: and then, when the anthem
came, and we all left off singing and they all
left off playing, and only you and Miss Cecilia
kept on, we were all in tears. | saw ever
the rector crying; and poor girl, she seemed
as if in a dream, and so did you it wa,
3 dreadful for me to = YOU with your eye,
, fixed on her, watching her so eagerly. AnC
then to look at her, staring up at the stained
glass window as if she could see through il
miles and miles away into the sky. o, In
sure, the like never was and then when yot
: fell down, | screamed. and your father raj
up and carried you down and brought yoJ
home in Farmer Slade's four-wheeler."
After this | had an invitation to 20 up t,
the rectory, and there IN the long winte
evenings we used to sit and while played
she sang. 0 those happy times when she Low
ed me, but only as a dear friend; and loveC
; her as never had loved before or could low
| again do not know what kind Of love
: had for her | was but little older thar
J she was, but felt as father might feel t,
his daughter: a sweet tenderness and loyt
! that made me pitilul toward her. ! knew
she loved a man unworthy of her, and
think, at times, she felt this herself an,
knew felt it.
was perfectly free Of the rector's houst
u at last, and we used to find in our music q
means of converse that our tongues coulC
. never have known. All me-those days
Gone Alas they are gone.
u She left us at last and in few years hel
: motherless child came back in her place, anC
Il as again sit in the rectory parl0r, years ant
years after my first visit. with her daughter
beside me singing-but, alas. not with he
mother NOlce-al lue Dlu ntIipIltS Hoot
q. back upon me, and feel a grateful calm iol
in the openly shown respect and affection
of the daughter of her whom loved SO silen
1t tly, so tenderly and so long.
/ sit in the old seat in the church a0w ant
" play; and, once in the year, the old anthem
but the voice is gone that filled the old churcl
IT as with a glory that day. | feel as the sound
Is swell out, and the strings vibrate under M
Is withered fingers, am but waiting to be nea
: her under the old yew-tree ounside. and i
: may be, nearer to her still in the longed-fo
e future.
: From report issued some weeks ago by tn
1 directors of the Sociefe du Cable Trdns-.fflaR
/; tioue Fracais, we learn some interesting partic
ulars in reference to the cable that is to con