The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1875-12-16
Tommv. the soprano.

and Just as tall as the top OF the chanceI
rail. When he put on his white robes
and stood up to sing he looked like a
young angel with blue eyes and very
bright brown hair. He had no wings.
This some people thought a pity. It
was not, for then he might have flown
away. Besides, a clever boy is better
than two angels In picture book.
On this particular morning he had no
white robe, and he did not feel much like
singing. 1t was cold and stormy out of
doors, and one couldn't be quite sure
whether it was night or morning. The
clock on the wall said five minutes past
eleven, but that was q mistake. The
clock had stopped. And the fire was
out, and the water had frozen In the tea
kettle, and the cat was dead. Poor old
blind pussy! She had just died. Tom
my looked at the old cat stretched out
beside the cold stove. He looked at the
heavy frost On the windows. He looked
at his hands red with the cold, and he
wondered what would happen next.
Far away over the snowy house-tops
came the sound of bells. The chimes
How merrfly they rang! He listened to
the jangEng music. Such queer old
song Tommy took up the tune and
sung softly:
q God rest you, merry gentlemen,
Let nothing you disnay,
For Jesus Christ, our Savior,
Was born upon this day.
That was all he could sing; he let the
bells say the rest.
He was not a very merry gentleman.
The poor old cat was dead, and the fire
had gone out. That was not all. There
were no Goals, nor any breakfast, and up
stairs-ah up stairs in the cold and dark
lay his mother, sick, feeble, poor and
old before her time.
f'Let nothing you dismay
Fer Jesus Christ our Saviour"
How the chimes rang out on the frosty
air! cit must be nearly time to go to
church Tommy looked at the clock.
1t only stared at him, with both hands
lifted up In mute despair.
Tommy spread rug over the poor old
cat, and, putting on cloth cap and a
faded coat, he prepared to go out of
doors.
He could do nothing more. The world
seemed to be quite upside down, and
Christmas Day all out Of place, as if the
year had stopped with the clock. He
could do nothing more. The dispensary
doctor said he would call soon. He would
not wait for breakfast, for there was moth
ing to eat in the whole house. At least,
he could get warm at the church, and, by
the time the service was over, perhaps
something would happen. What might
happen he could not guess. It would
be something better, for things were
quite as bad as they could be.
All It was pleasant to get into the
warm church, out of the cold wind and
the snow. The choir were nearly all
there, and the service was about to begin.
Tommy hung up his poor old hat and
carefully crept into his white robe. One
of the alto boys buttoned it up behind
for him, and gave him his music book.
There was little stir among the white
robed men and boys, and then they
formed in a procession and marched two
and two through small door into the
great church. How the loud organ
pealedl The music seemed to thrill him
through, and he took his seat in the
choir with trembling knees. How full
the church! Every seat seemed to be
taken, and he looked around on the great
company in kind of dull surprise. 1t
was III all the papers, but Tommy didn't
Thomas Sterry, would sing that morn
ing, and many had come to hear him.
AS for Thomas Sterry, he knew there
was a solo somewhere In the service; he
had studied it carefully, but now he al
most forgot where it came or what it
was about.
Small time for thought. The choir
stood up, and IN moment away they
went in the opening anthem. How
Tommys voice rolled out the sonorous
Latin:
GLORIA in excelsis Deo!"
1t was delight to spring through the
lively measures of Mozart's great Twelfth
Mass, and Tommy toc6 up the high sus-
tanned notes Id the soprano part as if he
were really an angel, after all. There
WAS great picture of an angel, standing
on golden clouds with trumpet in his
hand, in one of the windows, and one
lady In the congregation thought il
looked Just ike Tommy. After the
anthem, the service began and went
on in the usual fashion. Tommy for
got all about the dead cat, and the break
fast that he did not eat, and he almost
forgot his mother. The music seemed
to carry him away to another country
where there was no snow, nor sickness
nor poverty, nor tears. He thought how
many months his mother had denied her
self everything that he might learn t.
ing; perhaps the church people would
give her little something, for really sh,
was so very, very poor! The church peopl,
were wen able to pay something, anC
they ought to do it. He must speak t,
them on the morrow
One Of the singers whispered in hi
ear:
clock out, Tommy Here come
your solo. "
How the organ caught up the brillian
music He had hardly time to open hi