Mower County transcript. [volume] (Lansing, Minn.) 1868-1915, 1871-09-21
CAMILLA.

uttU d DACh lOOul LII LAO wy va :" AAOoJ
lodging house, where he slept nights and
munched his meals of bread and cheese
Tor bologna sausage, when he could "llord
it), and from whence he crept, as harmless
and unnoticed as fly, down to the corner
of the dingy street, to the little music
shop of Carl Bertmann, German settler
somewhere in Soho.
There he tinkered all day on broken
violins and other mt1slcal instruments,
never absenting himself fof d moitient,
save on Saturday afternoons. when he
went to the house of small tradesman to
teach the piano to three or four very
stupid girls. Sundays, he curled up in his
deli, and amused himself, nobody knew
how, until Monday morning:
There are few certainties; he never
went to church, but he picked ragged
children from the pavement when they
fell near him, and gave them halfpennies
when he had any; shared his dinner often
with NANCY dirty cur, who acted as 8
sort of escape valve for the illtemper of
half the men and women in the street /:
and he reused Pat Ryan ffom his midnigl&
snoose in the gutter, many d cold night,
and literally carried him home to Moran
and the children"
As for his honesty, as neighbor re-
marked, 1T he found five shillings in the
street, he'd wear out ten shillings' worth
O. strength and shoe leather to find out the
owner"
One cold night Paul was returning
from his work, with loaf of bread under
one arm and violin under the other,
when at the street door he stumbled, and
nearly fell over small object crouched on
the STEP
"Bless us! what's this?' cried Paul,
striving to regain his equilibrium.
"Only me, STRIP and the small object
stood up, and became very pale, thin, and
Are you hurt, little girlf"
"No, sir"
"What are you doing out here in the
cold!"
Nothing"
"Why don't you 60 home?'
"I amt got anyl"
"Dear mel Where's your mothers"
"In Heaven!"
At this, Paul was dumbfounded, and
seeing that great tears were stealing down
the childs wan face, he thrust the violin
under the arm which had held the bread,
and putting the other around the tiny fig.
ure, he said: "Oh, I've got home, a real
ly Jolly place! Come up and see.'
And this is the way old Paul came to
have neat little housekceper, and to be
buying calico gowns and shoes out of his
poor salary.
People wondered at the sight of this
bent old man, hitherto alone and uncared
for, now walking daily to his work with
his hand upon the shoulder Of the odd,
yet pretty faced girl, looking at her with
honest pride frightening his eyes, and
laughing as loud as she wherever the joke
came in But old Paul looked unconcsrn.
ed, evaded the questions of the curious,
and learned to love nothing better in this
world than the little wait, Camilla
There were many, many days, when
rheumatism drew Paul up by the fire in
the old back attic, and drew the very last
penny out of the dilapidated old purse
but brave little Camilla, never forgetting
how near death she had been on that bit.
ter night of their meeting, always found a
word to ward off hunger, and courage to
keep them both bright until help came.
The winter of 1885, came in like lion,
as many poor wretch well remembers,
and with the first blast came Paul's enc
nv He turned, one night, sad face from
his warm corner in Bertmann's shop
among the violins, and hobbled up the
cold street, feeling the approach Of the old
rheumatic pains, and wondering what
would become OF his poor little Camilla.
His excitement carried him to the last
fight of stairs, and hearing Camilla g
voice, he paused to rest and to listen. She
was singing, in that sweet and expressive
manner which made her voice seem to him
the swee test and purest he had ever heard.
At the end of the stanza she took breath,
and another voice said: "Child, you as
tonish me. Either am poor Judge of
mitsic, or else your voice i5 the finest I
ever heard. You are right in preferring
its cultivation to anything else"
An electric thrill shot through old Paul's
frame, and quickened his blood to a
rapidity that quite carried away his rheu-
matte pains, and in twinkling he was up
the stairs and in his little attic.
He was terrified at the sound of mans
voice, but the sight Of handsome and
polished zentlcman, with diamond studs
in his snowy linen, heavy ring upon his
dainty w:i.te hand, unquestionable broad
cloth upon his back, in close conversation
with his Camilla, whose wonderous beauty
had of late startled even his dull percep-
ton, was more than Paul could bear.
He was very small man-had been in
his youth-and now that Times whitening
fingers had touched him, he was shrivelled
and dried like withered fruit, but in his
virtuous indignation he pufed out to his
fullest extent, and in his falsetto voice
piped, Camilla, how dare you invite any
one here?"
"Oh, Uncle Paul! This is Mr. Claver-
ing, q gentleman whose-whose-"
kI,nn Ct, fv0r,H Il Aaot Il,
Your niece, sir, few days since, was
passing through our crowded thorough.
fare, when my mothers carriage drew up
tive, and, bidding the driver attend to
them, she began to descend unassisted.
her foot was on the step, when the ami.
mails sprang forward and flung her vio-
lently from her foothold. But for the
sudden act of your niece, who received
my mother in her strong young arms, the
mother at once entered shop, and, keep.
ing your niece near her, sent for me. I
came to-day, at my mothers earnest re-
quest to express our heartfelt gratitude,
and to offer"
"You needn't offer Camilla penny, sir.
She'll never suffer while I've q pair of
hands to work for her." said Paul.
"You mistake me- do not wish to in
suit you, but would raise this child from
her poverty and educate her, that she
might be of use to you and to herself, and
become refined woman. Don't let your
selfish love stand in her light, and shut it
out from her. She sings like prima
dona, and wishes to study music"
The great lustrOus eyes of the child
turned imnlOrinplv to her strange euar-
dian.
"Lor', Camilla, can't stand in your
way. know you re every bit a born
lady, if your poor forsaken mother did
die in a hovel among wretches who
turned her into the cold as soon as the
breath had left her body; but deary me,
can't part with you."
"And you shall not. Let me serve little
Camilla, and she shall never leave you, but
shall prove blessing to you in your old
age"
Paul could say nothing, and the strange
visitor departed, with no further injury to
his darling than an eloquent glance from
an expressive pair of eyes.
Then from the gloomy lodging house to
a snug set of chambers few streets of,
went Paul and Camilla, and the poor
wretch began to look like another being,
in his cleaner work clothes and Sunday
suit, earned from the increased number Of
pupils provided through the willing as
sistance of their philanthropical friend
Clavering.
Day after day Camilla went with her
books to the teacher so strangely pro-
viled; and after little time, there came
days when passers paused to listen to the