Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1875-09-01
ments. like Marius in the ruins of

ments, like Marius in the ruins of
Carthage, and bewailed himself.
It was an intensely cold and still win
ters day; there was not a sound to be
heard in the village, save now AMI then
a distant sleigh-bell, the dropping of
some huge icicle, or the loud report of
some nail as it sprung with the frost in
the rafters. AS the signor sat there
now with the broken volute Of his violin
in his left hand, and the other wound
in his hair distractedly, one of these
nails went off, as you might say, with
more Of an explosion than usual upon
lowed by clear, resonant note that for
half u moment seemed to fill the house
with q silvery vibration. They all
heard it, and looked up bewildered;
and suddenly Jessie, With joyous cry,
sprang to her feet and darted from the
room. The garnet door had been left
open by somebody, she found. In a
moment she was back, and had placed
in the hands of the signor, whose mood
of frenzy bad been succeeded by ono of
silent desperation. the little black fiddle.
cit fell from the nail," she was say
ing. cit was that we heard. It want
ed to come and comfort you. you see.
Is it good for anything? Can you mend
your own with it, It is so old!''
Why do you bring me this, my
child?" he asked, sadly, but took it,
and ran his eye over it. Something
seemed to strike him as he did SO. He
bent his head quickly, lifted the violin
to his ear, and tapped it and listened,
ran his fingers down it's lines, took out
his handkerchief and busted it infinitely.
His hands began to shake; he was hold
ing his breath; he was comparing the
measurements of the little black fiddle
with certain figures in memorandum
book drawn from his pocket. He peered
into it's every dimension in sort of
mad haste. He took magnifier, and
then with u bit of chamois leather began
rubbing the end of the little black fiddle
as if he were polishing jewel. All at
once he cried out:
Aha Behold it +! Read it, my
children, read Soto la discipline
d. Il. Straliuarius, Crenaon0, l. II. s.
It is his, the Giuseppe del Jesus, when
the great Antoine was his master. That
is his seal, I. 81. S. Oh, the rogue
But he knew music And Antoine
Stradivarius has had it on his hands;
has looked at its sides, it's table, its ou5es,
it's lustrous varnish; has drawn the bow
across it; has said it was good Quick
where are my strings? We will see;
we will see. There is no bridge That
is all right. The bridge would not have
answered. My Stainer bridge is whole
yet"
He was silent in long but hurried
unrolling and fastening of strings, an
endless tuning and hearkening and tun
ing again, and then the walls of the
room were vibrant about them, and
Signor Pazzani was playing on the lit
tie black fiddle, and the sweet, power
full sorority, the suave, silvery, intense
tone, the mellow but majestic strength,
were ringing in their ears ''like the
humming of swarm of angels wings"
said the signor, suddenly leaving off,
with his bow in the air.
s'Ah, look at it ! What grace in the
curves! how severe the volute! how
elastic and bounding the tone! and col
or! How purple and rich and full of
lustres it will come out when [ shall re-
store it!'' he cried, gayly, smiling on
them one and all. cit will be mine;
you will not think of keeping it;
you can none of you play on it," he
began to implore. tits Guarnerius,
the Giuseppe del Jesus. It is worth
money-it is worth more; you shall
have thousand, you shall have fifteen
hundred, you shall have two thousand
dollars for it.
ooh, hush, indeed" cried Jessie
"Of course you shall have it, sir. 1t is
valueless to us; lit is yours"
Stay, stay a moment, JESSIE said
her father.
ssThe little black fiddle is mine. That
poor old vagabond, fallen from his high
estate. gave it to me. It is way bread
has of coming back upon the waters
after many days. II the signor wants
to pay me thousand dollars for it, we
will compass the other five hundred by
ourselves, and you shall 60 to Italy"
The next morning Signor Pazzani
went off with the little black fiddle
tucked under his arm, and Mr.. Brooks
went to the city with him to secure
Jessie's passage Id the next steamer
that sailed for foreign shores. And the
little fdltle had some share in it, after ALL
What Squirrel Can Do.
The following overture tale is told of