Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1880-03-05
as WEET BELLS TANGLED" ."

well known now in the printing line but, as
the song says "When they began, they'd no
peat in the pan and before they were fair
! ly on their legs, so TO speak, Mac Neil went
and married lass without a tocher." Shiel
| had ycarncd over this extravngance himself
and going down one day with his partner TO
the old place where they had learned their
trade, hearing from the prcssroom the old
sweet, familiar tunes, Shiels heart throbbed
! to the measure and he said TO Mac Neil with
| n big blush on his broad checks, that he sup
posed his partner had forgotten little Jenny
! Burke, but he, for one would never forget
her while the world went round, and he was
going in to see her that very day. Where
upon Mac Neil began to redden too and led
the way so readily to the particular press
that the young English girl was feeding and
| Jenny met his approach in such shy, trem-
bling, glad confusion poor Shiel felt his
! heart suddenly faint within him, and stole
! away. after minute or two, to be alone with
! a singular pang Of dcsolaton that had swept
| over him. When Mac Neil joined him. Shel
! was himself again, but there was something
| in his face that led Mac Neil to ask him what
was the matter Had he lost anything?
"No-yes,' stammercd poor Shiel then
added, piteously why didn't you tell me-
Mac, that you had kept on with Jenny?
| thought it was a bargain We shouldn't think
! ed"
80 it was, Shiel,' said Mac; but 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 a musical
ear, and there's no harm in being charmed
| by song or two"
"Tush, man :" broke in Shiel. DO you
| love ench otherE
Pm afraid so. Shiel."
Then the sooner she's out OF that nasty
press room, the better"
If you'd board with us, Shiel, rbelieve
We could save money by going to housekeep-
ing; and think how nice it would be to have
a snug ingleside Of our own :"
Shiel WINGED a little from this proposal but
couldn't find courage to reject it: SO they
! took rooms near their place of business, and
for the first twelyemonth OF so Macs fiddle
was well known to the noighborhoOd. The boys
dropped in for a chorus three nights out of
four, and all went merry Us a marriage bell,
till the feeble pipe Of an infant was added to
the refrain, which suddenly subdued all other
music in its vicinity to the immense 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's squeak was singularly low and
sweet, and as it gained volume it also ac-
| quired melody.
Now ! take this premature and striking
proclvity as a misfortune. Infant prodigies
are always more or less of a nuisance, and
! little Miss jeans precocity grew to an alarm
ing extent rs the years went by. The firm
of Shiel and Mac Neil fourished Jenny
! saved the pennies, and the only eXtrava-
gances were in behalf of little Miss Jean,
whose waXen face could only be coRxed into
a glow by the aid Of Eome sort Of a melody.
And the older she grew the wider her taste
| expanded, so that after while new piano
was manUuyred up the stairs and almost filed
Jenny's little parlor.
ITS a burning shame" said one Of the
boys ito give up the dear old fiddle for the
| jinglin' of them ivory puppets. Every new
piece of Miss Jeans sets a fellows teeth on
edge. One can't 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 phe-
| nomeuon.'
SO were the rest of the cronies-they fell
| of one by one, and in few years none were
left but Shiel; he, poor fellow, sat night aft
er night with his head up against the wall,
the music going in one ear and out of the
other, till it seemed to him he had become
simply a sort of hollow melancholy tube for
the accommodation Of echoes.
What could Mae do, who had alone kept
| pace with his daughter, and appreciated to
the full her remarkable profcency-what
could he do but long for a larger, fuller,
| broader scope for her? The ceilings were
low in their humble floor; the acoustic prop
critics were entirely wanting in that cramped
but cOzy vicinity. Alas alas the nest was
all too small for its full-hedged inmates, and
the neighborhood was not what it had been.
Macs business increased day by day. He
was getting to be quite a moneyed man. and
really an authority in music
And Jenny, finding that the very walls of
the old nest were almost bursting asunder
| consented Mt last to move into a fine new
| house in q new neighborhood, and have new
| furniture aud new clothes, a new church and
minister, a new butcher and baker, and
worst of all, some very superior and excellent
servants, who took the whole establishment
out of her hands, and left her high upon the
banks of prosperity with nothing to do but
| to enjoy herself. And all at once she began
| to be most miserable. Mac Neil and his re-
markable daughter stepped out of their nest
| as the blithest finest, most sagacious of birds,
| left the worthless tenement that had served
its purpose. and began forthwith to scratch
and peck and scramble for themselves in the
most natural and praiseworthy way. But
poor Jenny stumbled at every step, and grew
more featherless and forlon as the years went
by. Pretty she was yet, far prettier than her
| daughter, but this did not seem to win for
Jenny would have gladly taken the ponder
Gus form and heavy features of Mrs. Delaney
We're, could she have gained thereby that la
| dy's severely critical taste and talent, or the
long bony neck of Miss Perry, if it could still
hold those wonderfully high notes which Mr..
Mac Neil so admired. Do what she would,
the old accent that was once so dear in her
husbands ear still clung to her.
Don't say yere, for here Jenny" ex-
postulated Mr. Mac Neil land I'd rather do
/ without anything at the table than the letter
h, except when it's one letter too many"
So Jenny began to speak only from sheer
necessity She never could please her hus-
band any more, do what she would, and
didn't care to find favor in the sight of 9th
ers. 1t began to be apparent to Jenny that
she was a clog and burden to her husband
and daughter-nay to the whole world in
which they delighted TO live-and there came
time when she resolved no longer to be the
stumbling block to their popularity
There was a musicale at the house thai
night, and all the doors were open. The