Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1893-07-14

scroll the song which most had touched
him in the other days, he fell weeping
to his knees and thanked the good God
who had given the singer this message
entirely for himself.
In the NOR ming the village stirred
with a new life. The MEN went to the
field, carrying their scrolls with them,
and as. they rested from their work
they set about learning their song. 1t
was truly like meadow of unhedged
1arks learning to pipe. At home the
women, as they busted themselves with
household tasks or piled their needles,
sang cheerily as they spelled out each
new phrase. So through the day they
worked, laughing gleefully at each
others mistakes and false notes. AT
hight they gathered together for mo-
ment to think of the singer who had
gone from them, but had left them each
his song, neither too high nor too low,
but just adapted to his voice and capa-
BILE of bringing out all its sweetest
tones. e'The good singer" they said,
"how well he knew US a lll'
So the days were spent in practice.
If by chance anyone grew weary and
his hope failed, or if, cast down for the
moment, he feared that the singer
might not, after all, return, he would
reassure himself, saying: ''How grand
will the whole chorus sound!' Some
times, too, one became spiritless and
disc ragged over his task, rebelling at
his discords. Then would another say
to him: "Shall then the singer when
he comes be disappointed in thee?
What if, lacking thy one part, the
whole opera should waltz" Thus they
cheered each other
AS the seasons waned, however, and
the singer came not, the little doubts
began to grow stronger, the little dis
couragements were less easily recovered
from, and even (among the more indo-
lent-of the villagers) could be heard
murmurs. ''Of what use," they grum-
bled, sis this trill here and that note
there? never can sing it in that way;
no one will know if leave it out" An
other was bolder still 81 will not
trouble myself with that phrase" he
would say; II will write it over to suit
myself" Still others, more self-willed
than the rest, cried out: ''Oh the stupid
song! it was good enough for last year,
but have quite overgrown it. l am
sick of its old drone. will make an
other like it, but more varied and bet
ter suited to my voice, which of late
has grown so much stronger" And
there were one or two who found their
songs SO small in comparison with 9TH
ers that they were quite angry and gave
up their parts altogether.
In vain did the wiser heads in the vii
lage demonstrate, for soon, indeed,
most of the villagers had followed the
lead of their bolder neighbors and
altered their songs to suit themselves,
So it came about that only few re-
tanned the simple, sweet melodies
which the singer had left them. OF the
rest, some had put in new notes and left
out old ones, some had changed the key
of their song to another which they
thought more suitable to their voice,
and some had so varied and simplifed
the ir songs that the original theme
could scarcely be discerned. Most, in
deed, were, in this way and in that,
quite different from the songs left them
by the singer 1t was true that few
who thus changed their scrolls found
out their mistake too late, and tried to
erase the alterations they had made.
But here and there they had forgotten
a note in the original melody, which,
try as they might, they could not re-
store.
The villagers were in this condition
when, one morning, as, according to
their custom, they looked up to the lit
tie empty cottage on the cliff, they
found, to their great surprise, that it
was again occupied. They had waited
so long that at first they could not
credit their own eyes; but as they
up from the chimney, and they could
no longer doubt that at last the singer
had returned to them. With mingled
feelings they awaited his summons to
the study, some with joy of hope full
filled, others with sense of their own
insuficiency and shortcomings, and
some with a heavy weight of shame.
And, truly, many Jagged behind when
the little procession wound up the
mountain to the cliff. None, however,
was so covered with dismay and con-
fusion, or so stepped in ingratitude,
that he stayed behind altogether.
Even the most willful of them all
cared too much for the singer for that.
So, half-hastening, half-lingering, the
villagers went to greet HIM.
When all We're gathered together in
the study they knew so we'll, and saw
him standing as they had so often seen
him, erect in the freight, watching
them with the old luminous, tender
eyes, now smiling, now sad, they fell at
his feet with cry and, holding up
their worn and blotted scrolls, they
sobbed out their joy and their sorrow,
their struggle and their failure, like
children from their tasks at school.
The singer heard them with gentle
smile. He passed among them touch
ing now one and now another who
seemed most in need of comfort. BY
and by hush fell upon them all.
"My people," he began slowly, 81
have not lacked tidings of you in the
distant villages where have dwelt ]
have heard how it has Jared with the
songs which I left you, and how you
have forgotten the melodies which ]
taught you. You have spoilt their
beauty and their sweetness, and you
have perverted their meaning by addi.
tions and renderings of your own. But
because you have not forgotten me, the
singer, have come to you that may
teach you again the songs which sang
to you. Faulty indeed now would be
the opera il | should join all these