The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1880-01-29
SAVED BY a SONG.

thick on the ground, and still falling
heavily, with a touch of fog in the air.
1t was past ten o'clock, and the streets
| and lanes of the great city were all but
| deserted. Merchant and broker, clerk
and warehouse man, and the rest Ct the
| busy crowd, who had tbronged those
streets by day, had one by one drlfted
away 70 their homes; and the lofty ware
houses loomed black and forbidding over
the silent thoroughfares. Here and
there the gleam frcm solitary window
struggled Intellectually with the outer
darkness, and served but to bring into
stronger relief the general gloom and
solitude.
And nowhere was the darkness deeper
or the sense of desolation more profound
than IN st. Winifred's court. st. Wlnl-
fred's is one Of those queer little alleys
which intersect the heart of eastern Lon
don, and consists, with one exception, of
houses let out as Offices, and utterly de
| serted at night. The court is bounded
on one side hv st. Winifred's church,
while in one corner stands quaint old
house, occupying a nearly triangular
piece of ground, and forming the excep-
ton we have referred to, baving been for
many years the residence of st. Wini-
fred's organist, Michael Fray. Many OF
these ancient churches still remain IN
odd hooks and corners OF the city; relics
of time wien London merchants made
their homes in the same spot whereon
they earned their daily bread, worship
ping on Sundays in these narrow aisies,
and when their time came asking no
better resting place than beneath these
venerable fagstones on which they had
knelt in life. The iberality of ancient
founders and benefactors has left many
of these old churches richly endowed,
and still, Sunday after Sunday, rector
and curate mount their respective desks
and struggle through their weekly task;
but portly aldermen and dignified bur
gesses no longer fill the hig1 backed
pews. A wheezy verger and pew-opener
with dozen or so of ancient men and
women, care takers of adjoining ware
houses or offices, too often form the only
congregation.
St. Winifred's like many of its sister
edifces, athough small in extent, is a
|
lecture, having been designed by an
architect of world wide fame, and boast
,, ING stained glass windows OF richest color
and exquisite design, and oaken carvings
of flower aud leaf to which the touch of
a master hand has impa~|
! pesuty. ri,u western extremity Vi 'u0
church abuts upon narrow lane, on
| week day one of the busiest IN the clty'
but on Sundays the broad portal is fung
omen in vain, for its invitation Is address
ed to empty streets and deserted houses.
Y The only sign of life this Christmas
e Eve in st. Winifred's court was FAINT
;, CLEAN of fiickering freight proceeding
from one of the windows of the guam
three cornered house in which Mlchae
: Frav passed his solitary existence.
20 MANY wears before the period OF ou
e story the same month had taken iron
e, him wife and child, and since that tim
Michael Fray had lived desolate, hl
only solaco being a rare old organ, tn
T friend and companion of his lionel
an hours. The loss of his wife and daugt
nd ter had left him without klth or XII
pit His father and mother had died IN h
= early youth, and an only brother, gil
ed but wayward youth, had in early III
at run away to sea and had there found
IN, lIo vaterv grave. Being thus lett alone
tbe world. Michael F'ray's love for mus
which had always been the most markt
II feature of his character, had become
tensifed into an absolute passion. ES
i, ming after evening, when darkness hi
>, settled on the city, and none could col
plain that his music lnterfered with pt
. mess or distracted the attention from
~ nobler clink of gold, he was accustom
;. TO creep quietly into: the church a
there 'talk to himself, as he called 1t
the old organ, which answered him ba
;, again with tender sympathy and pow
of consolation which no mere hum
listener could have ever afforded. l
\, oroan of st. Winifred's was Of comp
atively small size and made but sea-
show of pipes or pedals, but the bla
* oi ened case and yellow, much worn Ike
Ind been fashioned by the cunning br
;, ;. AND skillful fingers of "Father Sml
himself. and never had the renowned
organ builder turned out more skill
- niece of workmanship. And Mlcl
FRAY, by use of years and loving, ten
II study, had got by heart every pipe
IL stop in the rare old instrument and
acquired an almost magical power
bringing out its tenderest tones and
Sin blest harmonies.
Build Hear him this Christmas Eve, as
years sits before the ancient key board,
- feeble candle dimly glimmering over
ndsf nnf well worn page before him, tilcke
ensjng ! sing weirdly over the ancient carving
wash. calling into momentary life the Ell
heal. of mitred abbot and mailed crusa
-,na g A feeble old man, whose sands OF
Piles, have all but ran out-a sadly weak
edy. tremalOus o.a mnn, sras wlsn Bns when
known ana dlul uneei' ''in eyes
cases cases. are placed upon those yellow keys
atarrh, shaking hands shake no longer; the
most e, - I.y,or :, tboso
far5rad PeTi remembered pages. Under the tou
egmat 81 mat Michael Fray's deft fingers the AL
lperior organ becomes instinct Win lie
harmony. The grand old masters