Buchanan County bulletin. [volume] (Independence, Iowa) 1869-1891, 1878-11-01
"SWEET BELLS JANGLED."
Harper's Weekly.

lcGS, 81 W SPEAK, MdC Neil WCHC dul
married "a lass without tocher." SHE
had yearned over this extravaganza him
SELF and going down one day with hi.
partner to the old place where they ha(
learned their trade, hearing from thu
press-room the old sweet, familiar voic.
singing the old sweet, familiar tunes
Shells heart throbbed to the measure
and he said to Mac Neil, with a biz
blush on his broad cheeks, that he sup
posed his partner had forgotten little
Jenny Burke, but he, for one, woul(
never forget her while the world wen
round, and he was going in to see hel
that very day. Whereupon Mac Nei
began to redden too, and led the way Sc
readily to the particular press that thu
young English girl was feeding, and Jen
ny met his approach in such a shy
trembling, glad confusion, poor SHE
felt his heart suddenly faint within him
and stole away after minute or two, to
be alone with singular pang of desola
ton that had swept over him. Wher
Mac Neil joined him, Shiel was himself
again, but there was something in hi
face that led Mac Neil to ask him what
was the matter had he lost anything?
"No-yes," stammered poor Shiel
then added, piteously: why didn'1
you tell me Mac, that you had kept or
with Jenny? | thought it was a bar
gain we shouldn't think of marrying til
the business was well started
$50 it was, Shiel, said Mac; "bu,
you know what sweet voice she's got
Deuce take me, if it didn't haunt me
night and day. You don't know what
it is to have musical ear; and there's
no harm in being cheered by a song o1
two
"Tush, mani broke in Shiel Dc
you love each other?'
" If you'd board with us, Shiel, | be
lievc we could save money by going t(
housekeeping; and think how nice il
would be to have snug ingleside of oul
own"
Shiel WINGED a little from this propos
al, but couldn't find courage to reject it
SO they took rooms near their place Of
business, and for the first twelvemontl
or so, Macs fiddle was well known il
neighborhood. The boys dropped il
for chorus three nights out OF four
and all went merry as a marriage
till the feeble pipe of an infant was add
ed to the refrain, which subdued al
other music in it's vicinity, to the i'm
mense delight Of Shiel, who, not being
able to raise note himself, was some
what tired of the melodious conceits OF
others. He did not know that the child
squeak was singularly low and sweet
and as it gained volume it also acquired
melody. Shiel was disappointed to fine
the little girl an exact reproduction OF
her papa, but could not believe that the
fates had willed she should share his
weakness for music. He declared i,
was the monkey that amused her, where
as the baby's soul was given over to the
hurdy gurdy.
Now, | take this premature and strik
ing proclivity as a misfortune. Infant
prodigies are always more or less of g
nuisance, and little Miss Jean precoci
ty grew to an alarming extent as the
years went by. The firm of Shiel 4
Mac Neil fourished. Jenny saved the
pennies, and the only extravagances
were in behalf of little Miss Jean, whose
waxen face could only be coaxed into .
glow by the aid of some sort of melody
And the older she grew, the wider hel
taste expanded, so that after a while 1
new piano was maneuvered and cngi
neered up the stairs, and almost filled
Jenny's little parlor Many a familiar
knick-knack had to go to the wall or be
tucked out of sight to make room fol
this mountain of mahogany.
= It's a burnin shame, said one OF
the boys, to give up the dear old fid
dler for the jinglin' of them ivory pup
pets. Every new piece of Miss Jean
sets fellow teeth on edge. One can
have any more fun at Macs; he's hung
up his fiddle and his bow; and for my
part I'm sick to death of the infant
phenomenon.
SO were the rest of the cronies they
fell off one by one, and in few years
none were left but Shiel; he, poor fell
low, sat night after night with his heaC
up against the wall, the music going il
one ear and out of the other, till i,
seemed to him he had become simply J.;
sort of hollow, melancholy tube for tht
accommodation of echoes.
What could Mac do who had alone
kept pace with his daughter, and appre
ciated to the full her remarkable pro
ficiency-what could he do but long fo1
larger, fuller, prouder scope for her
The ceilings were low in their humbl,
floor; the acoustic properties were en-
tirely wanting in that cramped but COZ,
vicinity. Alas! alas! the nest was al
too small for it's full-fedged inmates
and the neighborhood was not what i
had been. Macs business increased
day by day. He was getting to be quite
mOneyed man, and really an authority
in music. Busts of Beethoven, Mozart
Haydn, and all the rest stared poo
Shiel in the face Look which way h,
would, the sightlcss balls Of those ole
masters followed him
And Jenny, finding that the yer,
walls of the old nest were almost burst
ing asunder, consented at last to NOV,
into a fine new house in new neighbor
hood, and have new furniture and ney
clothes, a new church and minister,
new butcher aud baker, and worst 0
all, SOHiC NCIy SupCllul anu CACCllCli
servants, who took the whole establish
ment out of her hands, and left he
high and dry upon the banks of pros
perity, with nothing to do but to enjo,
herself.
And all at once she began to be mos
miserable. Mr.. Mac Neil and his re
markable daughter stepped out of thei
most aS tho hriphtpSt finest most saua
cious of birds, left the worthless tene
mcnt that had served its purpose, ant
began forthwith to scratch and pee
and scramble for themselves in tn
most natural and praiscworthy way
But poor Jenny stumbled at every stel
and grew more featherless aud forlor
as the years went by Pretty she wa
yet, far prettier than her daughter, bu
this did not seem to win for her the ad
miration she most coveted. Poor Jen
ny would have gladly taken the ponder
Gus form and heavy features of Mrs
Delaney We're, could she have game
thereby that lady's severely critics
taste and talent, or the long, bony nee
of Miss Perry, if it could still hold thos
wonderfully high notes which Mr. Ma
Neil so admired. Do what she woul(
the old accent that was once so dear t
her husbands ear, still clung to her.
Don't say 'yere' for here Jenny,
expostulated Mr.. Mac Neil; 8 and /
rather do without anything at the tabl
than the letter Il, except when it's on
letter too many
So JENNY horan to sneak only fro,