The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1890-09-29
I'll T%ROVATORE.n
An Unexpected Revelation Brought
to Light by the plaintiye Air.

w AiSHu W INV ~Al0AhUA'S AAis :.
would you please give q little as
sis tance to a poor woman that hasn't
had a mouthful to eat since yesterday
morning?'
The speaker was q woman not
younger than twenty-five, nor older
than forty-five, but it would have
been difficult to make anything like
an accurate CUES atthe unkempt and
bedraggled creature that stood before
the little group whining out her petit
ton for aims, which seemed to have
so ingrained itself into her speech
that it would have been difficult to
imagine her giving forth anything be-
yond that dismal hypocritical mono
tone.
Her face, that once might have been
fair and girlish, vas coarse in feature,
bloated and discolored with inebrlety,
and almost devoid of any expression
save that of stupid, callous mendi-
cancy. Her eyes, Thai still retained
something of the deep blue OF the
midsummer sky, were bleared and
watery and half shaded with swollen
anu lulIdi1lcu HIS UAdU St1lk W ce
| deep silky fringe of golden lashes.
Beneath the tattered and soiled mop
| of lace which she wore over her head
and shoulders, after the n of a
mantilla, two or three little faded
yellow curls were peeping out in
| strange contrast with the furrowed
and weather-beaten forehead over
which they seemed inclined TO stray.
Her dress was soiled and tattered,
her small shoes were discolored and
broken in many places, and her hands
were hidden in the ragged mantle of
dirty lace which they held in place
upon her head and shoulders. She
waited, staring stupidity at the trio
for a reply. and as none seemed in
clined to give, one remarked las if to
excuse himself for giving nothing)
that he thought she was more thirsty
than hungry after all.
Like enough yer right she re-
marked, carelessly, turning away as if
to quit the store. but when half way
around she hesitated and cast a long
ing look at a huge, old-fashioned
grand piano of Continental make
which had just been tunedand put in
order in the storeroom before which
she stood.
She looked intently at the piano for
nearly q minute, while her back was
turned to the group, and then facing
about toward them, with a softened
look in her face and a curious, ner-
vous. huskiness in her voice, she re-
Marked
I'D like to play on that piano if
nobody objects"
Nobody did object, ard, in fact, all
were anxious to see how this drunken
tattered and bedraggled creature
would perform at the piano. ~
They were not long in doubt. AS
the woman seated herself at the piano
the dirty mop of lace fell from her
shoulders and released a tangled mass
of faded yellow hair, which still rip
| pied and flashed in the sunlight as it
streamed over her shoulders and down
| her back.
Her hands, which were now seen
for the first time, were small and
daintily formed, and except that they
were,nOt free from CRIME, and that
the nails were far from being tidily
kept, they would have readily passed
for those of a high bred girl of twenty
who had always lived Il life of ease
and luxury. These trifles surprised
the gentlemen; but though they won
dered at the change wrought by the
fall of the old wrap they were lost in
a~mazement as the dainty but grimy
little fingers struck the first two or
three chords with a touch, firm, mas
terful and yet delicate. Then the lit
tie fingers wandered swiftly about
among the keys as if in search of a
theme. and then with infinite pathos
breathing through every note came
the plaintive aria from III Trovatore, y
"Ah | have sighed tie rest me-"
Not a sound passed the motionless
but tightly parted lips, but the coarse,
hard lines in the bloated and discol-
ored face seemed softened as if by
some miraculous TRANSPORTATION, the
watery mists seemed to pass from the
azure tinted eyes,, and as the notes
rang out a theme of unreasonable
melancholy those kindling eyes
seemed speaking every thought in
Manrico's d~espairing wall. Who shall
say that any stricken lover ever more
earnestly sighed for that dreamless
sleep of his last dark and narrow bed
than did this poor wretch, so long, so
far and SO irrevocably divorced from
home, from love, from faith, from
father, mother, brothers or sisters,
from the reverence due to her sex and
from all that could make life desir-
able, and whose inseparable compan-
ions were shame and hunger and
thirst?
Forgetful of all around her, she
drifted from the operate to the CLASH
cal, playing unhesitatingly from
memory in the most brilliant style Sc
lections from Mozart, Beethoven and
Chopin. Suddenly something seemed
to call her back to herself, and stop
ping as suddenly as she commenced
she gathered her rags about her and
prepared to go, A small collection
Hoods sar-