The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1894-06-24
mot on earth. -

could.
She walked straight to the woebegone
musician, took his ragged hat from his
hand, placed it kindly upon his head, and
said
"Might-might beg We boldly to make
/ that music agin2"
Eyes. yes a Thousand times, LADY,"
Then the professor put his very soul
/ into the work; played the melody from
/ beginning to end, never missing a note;
and fingered lovingly over the improvised
refrain.
When he had finished he saw that her
/ hands were clasped tightly across her
| bosom and that she was weeping bitterly.
Loretta. racklie Oh, Loretta!"
called rough, but kindly voice from
! just over the gate. "Oh, Loretta Ha' We
ma better come long VII Lijel Bring the
| fiddler Teller. if We likes"
"Ay, ay, Liiah Boswell. The music
was putin me back in oil Yorkshire
! likem Then turning to Poppett she said:
Come long Wi your fiddle and dog,
| stranger. Anyhows yen sure find sup
an bite wi hus' 20
The girl had been to the stream for
bucket of water. Liiah Boswell took it
up, and chatting merrily enough, led the
party over the old road through dense
woods for a short distance, when, on
rounding a heavy clump of oaks, they
! came suddenly upon a large gypsy camp.
Lijah Boswell, with broad grins and
much gesture, in a few Romany words
told his gypsy companions all he knew of
the wandering musician and his wonder
full dog, and then these simple people
crowded around Poppett in scores while
| he gave them the best melodies his weary
| fingers could invoke, urged on by de-
I lighted applause and grateful incense of
steaming pots swinging above cracking
| fires, while Nose in his happiest vein,
did his finest tricks and passed the hat
so wisely that, amid roars of laughter,
1t was fairly filled with copper coin.
Then came a smoking hot supper for
the pilgrims from these ever-hospitable
| gypsy pilgrim bands. How that hungry,
foot-sore wanderer ate; how Nose ate;
and how they both felt and looked graft
tude unuJterable; brought both smiles
and mists TO the eyes of member after
member of the band, as they caught
stealthy glimpses of their beaming faces
and then as silently stole away to rejoin
| their companions and indulgein grotesdue
pastime and hilarious laughter.
After the professor and Nose had fin
| ished, nothing would satisfy the gipsies
but more music-music wild and heroic,
music registering and bacchanalian; and
| then dance ay, a dance such as they
had not had since they left old York
shirel Old and young Joined and never
| III dll EOppebG ) buedJTlC OK p6Fl6uC6, even
in the grandest spectacular. had he seen
or imagined anything equaling the wild
abandon of these tawny people, from bag
| gish spaewife to rosy-faced chauvie, as
they sped by him in fantastic groupings,
never desisting until utterly exhausted,
| long, long into the hours of the starlit,
happy night.
Then with grinder Lijah and Nose for
tent-fellows, the professor gratefully
Canlr a pn1ph n fresh 1aaN nd
| aromatic cedar boughs, and endeavored
to drive the face and form OF Loretta
from his mind and collect his scattered
| senses; but dazedly he saw the fiariug
camp-tres grow dim and DINNER, was
| conscious Of the peaceful quiet and hush
that fell upon the happy spot, and in
trice was pilgriming in the land of pleas
| ant dreams.
Loretta, racklie, the songstress of the
camp, and the professor became INSOFAR
able companions upon the road or in
| camp, with the melodies which somehow
| grew more and more tender, they were
soon together the loved MINISTRIES of the
band Tho passion which mad over
whelmed poor Poppett since he had first
| heard those grand Maine woods filled
with the echoes of Loretta's song had
been wordless, but the old violin had told
his love; told it pleadingly, eloquently :;
| and true as truth, love unspoken by
| tongue or pen will reach unto the object
| of its alteration and make its message
known. This dumb idolatry was pltiful
Its response was pitying and dumb. If
| there had been no wandering nawkeu
the old violin had not told its masters
tender prayers in vain.
| One evening the two were sitting to-
| gether in camp among the elms of the
! Mystic Lake, over against old Arlington,
not far from still more ancient Boston
town-the winter was approaching, and
the band was fast journeying south
toward winter quarters now-when
Loretta stopped suddenly In her song.
''Poppett, which way is England?' she
| asked solemnly.
over there, Loretta" the professor
replied, pointing with his bow; ''to the
eastward, thousands of miles beyond the
Boston lights"
She laid her fair head in the palms of
her hands and sat there, silently weav-
ing herself to and fro for a little time.
Perhaps the GYPSY girl heard again the
Yorkshire throstles sweetly singing in
| the hedge and listened to the murmurs of
the Wharfe as it softly flowed to the sea.
She finally turned to the musician and
said, as il her heart could hold it all no
longer:
"Poppett, I wants to go Were there's
books an music an all sech bright
thingsi"
With me, .Loretta!"
1t came in a trembling whisper from
the musicians lips. 1t was the most dar-
ing thing the professor had ever said
No, Poppett, with-with Matthew"
Something came into the professors
eyes which, for a moment, shut all the
world out and left everything blank to
him. He had heard the story of Matthew
from kindly old Lijah. The violin moaned
a little for its master and Nose grew rest
less but finally the musician faltered:
And if Matthew never comes2"
Then Poppett, with you; sure, sure p
The dogs sympathetic and expressive
tail never wagged so boisterously before
and if dog ever did such thing, like the
''old man" of the plays, he surely said
God bless you, my children!"
An hour later there was a pleasant com.
motion at the outskirts of the camp. A
party of gypsy friends, who were to ac.
company the band on its southwark Jour.
ney, had arrived. Among the vans was
one of beautiful design and decoration
drawn by a handsome pair of horses
These are delights to gypsy eyes, and
horses and van were instantly surrounded
by garrulouS men, so occupied in their
interest and admiration that its driver
for the time escaped observation.
The latter, a young gypsy of perhaps 20