Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1889-01-10
TIE ADVENTURE OF A DAY.

Ali Il a II L.' v III w II i4t -
Two friends who wander by the shore
I>oz NOD upon the self ZANE sess
Hearing two voices In the roar,
B.seanse 0f Different memories
For him whose kVe the sea hsth drowned
IL faaaas The music II his wrong;
For him whose life with love ID crowned
It breaks upon the beach III song
i s.
To many Of US life Is not unlike the alpha
bet game Of anagrams, We are given few
stters and cut Of them We spell what we can
Something's We fail entirely. fate gives us
all cousonnnts; or II We have voUels also,
we are stupid and do not combinations,
and il Is confusion TO the end Sometimes
we ge, the wrong word, and fnd EVIL" where
De should have spelled live" Such mis-
takes give false keynote, and our days never
cons into time as they should, hut, good or
tad life allows Us 10 do our own spelling.
When John Elliot WIS three and-twenty
nm uncle died and left him 500. In itself
s5GOis not to be despi-4d. but 1t Is always too
much or TOO little for a working ttSis For
= year John reflected on the QUESTION what
20 should do with IL, and then he decided To
10 TO Europe The matter scanned simple
81 onsh 10 him. As a capital for business the
..,ncy was uleager. and it was too much To
fritter away in fractions II he kept 1t for
rainy day how he 10 know that he
should not have the luck Of the Old woman
who saved her supper for her breakfast and
died before morningi But il man IS to hive
in tho world surely he should ses it, and what
Is -1si,.r 10 do when ono is four-and-twenty
untrammelesi. and full u good health and
spirits and with purse In the poc2'.tf
So John took years holiday from his law
stwh.s and sailed 10 Havre and he s,aid
away tHelYe months and sixteen days, and in
that time he saw much and had many ad
ventures But us his fortune was small and
Europe Is large, he had 10 make his own legs
carry him over great deal Of ground.
One day in the fan Of the year. when tha
eh'Ttnu's were ripening John WIS walking
all ns a narrow deiilc In the unountG:ns Of the
Sierra Neyadn Far above hiui rose the
rocks, bare and stony; but his MI path was
shatleri by trees and he wais,d over srassy
WAYS quite early in the day h.' s;it dpsu by
a brook which mn down stouy and precip
itous ied, and le, tho peace AMI rest Of the
silence bring him dreams. If he had but
Known II. upon this very stone there once had
sat n Moorish knight, Wounds, III the Il hit in
visor and watched the death shadow which
Is always gray steal over his face. But Of
this John knew nothing, and he cpntentedly
whistled as he sat there and If he thought Of
Christian and Seracen it was only III refer
ence 10 Granada, Ia which he WAS going He
thought Of robbers. hut he was as ignorant of
them us Of hoors and feared them as little;
and indeed IN all his walking hs never met a
bandit After Il time be- arose. md to the
tune Of Annie Laurie tnok up his march
again. and il there is t-tt-r test for a
whistler thHn Is this tune ! do not know 1t.
Suddenly be heard shout from the rocks
above, aud looking up he Spanish sailor
waviu, h- md
John had one to Europe knowing no Ian
gtage but his own, but he had picked up a
tew pE Ia Spanish, and W he call, d back
and sild ho thanked the gsntlua,s very
much 1t was not perhaps, n very APT reply,
hut John hal not understood what the sailor
had said and the phrase sounded well, and
had the advantage of t-ing in the language
If III" country The sailor WIS. however,
NOT satisfied. and again he eiLlid, md this
time john assured him thu: all he. John.
owned was II the distinguished genteuan's
service But even this did not please the
stranger, Who then thought it wise to run
down and Join John, and thus try tue effect
OF a nearer intercourse He was q handsome
Young man a little older than John, and his
clothes were beautiful in color and 80 well
suited To- show OF his vigorous figure and ilue
fnce that John wished himself al artist, 50
that he might make "A study of So clean and
picturesque subject Yet it would have
been more IL the purpose had he been lin
gust. because then he could have answered
the sailor who seemed To he in doubt about
the rond 1t would. however, have been
iof no use TO have understood Spanish, the
Nailor's command Of that language being
|cveu more limited than Johns was but the
nilor stalanursd along until John betook
Inhnsef 20 hi, own language and said he was
IAN American. and spoke only English AT
this the sailor smiled. seeming we'll pleased,
but he replied in German. Then they looked
At each other and laughed, and began to
walk on side by side OF course they talked,
and were very polite to each other, and
seemed amused and pl, ised TO bn together so
il mattered little that they did not under
stand each other But this will happen
when takers speak the same language and
even If We use the best English there are
times when our nearest friends do not com
prehend us, and their Interpretation of what
But these two young fellows had no fear OF
being misunderstood, fancying that neither
was understood at all They told each other
stories. and laughed together, AMI pointed
ont what they liked, and grumbled over what
they did NOT They gathered chestnuts and
acorus as two children might and about noon
they lurchel together under the shadow Of n
rock On which pine tree grew " hen they
opened their Lnapsacks and one brought out
wine and the other olives TO eat with their
bread and cheese. each nodded approval, and
ike good fellows ulahe free OF each others
pro sisio,is being sure of welcome Then the
saiior took up some salt and laid 1t in the
pam OF biz hand, and John taxing a pinch
rom IT, the two OF them etc salt together,
and the German embraced the American,
aud they both again laughed But really the
air was sl celebrating. a3d they were both
!, yo,in.. ai full of vitality and happiness
hat thty tln,hed as babies cry. because it
was .hr thin: they corild most easily dc.
Whether the sailors rad was the same as
his own, John did not tnow hut they kept
on together, going steadily southwest towards
the city OF Granada, but being still two days
journey away from t. When the sun had
turned toward the west, and all the shadows
pointed east. the sailor began TO sing His
voice was baritone. but IL was SO high that
had an Italian singing master had the train
ing OF it. be would have pulled it up into q
tenor lie would have done this because the
Italian Of today scorns the medium registers,
and would rather sing high than slg we'll
But John pricked up his ears to hear the
song. II was odd enough aud was plainly
enough suggested by the scenery and it WINS
very well sung indeed, although it was writ
ton for the Zerlina of Fra Diavoio, who is
not usually baritone
After singing few bars, he paused, looked
up at the sun. and said; "Es ist drei Uhr
zwapzig Mnuten"
He was not proud Of his voice, but he was
Of his skill in telling the hour by the sun.
But John understood it a challenge, and
he at once took up the air and carried it on.
And they understood each others operate
Italian
Johns voice was y good clear tenor, and
when be took his high Notes, with dne
flourish OF his arm. who ever applauded .
prima donna a. the sailor did joint And
they nodded and smiled in great Glee So
then they quit Fra Diavolo. and the sailor
broke into the duet between Lionel and
Punket,, and thus the two road mates sang