Pawtucket tribune. (Pawtucket, R.I.) 1890-189?, 1895-09-07
THE YOUNG CRIPPLE.

! She was the youngest but ono OF a fam.
lily OF eight. Physically hor life was and
could bc nothing save one long cruciflx-
Ion. Crippled and doformed, there stretch
cd behind her u record OF suffering, before
her tho prospect OF greater torture still.
Nature had used her cruelty, for while her
puny and misshapon frame inspired ridi-
Guile, or at best shuddering pity, she had
been lowered with IA capacity for affection
that burned itself into leroer intensity
waiting the love that never came.
Misunderstood, sho had gradually re-
treated into little world of her own, with
nothing to love. NothiDgf There was her
violin, but that could hardly be considered
apart from Ida's own individuality. 1t
Was her violin that expressed more elo-
Iquently than herself could ever have done
the loneliness and the lovelessness of her
life How many heart conceived tragedies
had throbbed harmlessly away upon Its
vibrating stringsl How many delirious
day dreams had CROPPED their way from her
Amer consciousness into exhilarating life
through that medium which faithfully In
terpreted all her varying moodsi
"It speaks for me-" she once confessed
to the old doctor who understood her bet
ter than any one else. "What other peo-
pie feel they can explain In words, but I
6eem to have no power Of expression ex-
ospt through my violin"
DR.. Marshall was silent for moment.
Then he asked presently, "Did you ever
haar my boy Austin plsyf''
/ Ida shook her head. She had heard no
one Her morbid consciousness Of inflrm-
titles prevented her from attending any
public concert, and Austin Marshall, az
she knew, was professional violinist OF
repute.
"You ought to hear him. They tell me
his execution is remarkably good, and be-
sides gcniuses like you two ought to
know each other. I'll toll You what III
do, )" he added kindly. "I'n bring him
round one evening to SEQ you, u you like,
when he isn't busy"
Not many days elapsed Gro tho doctor
kept his promise, and Austin Marshall,
tall and strong, held the small, wasted
hand OF tho diminUtive musician and won
dered the while how tho perfect soul his
father had described had managed TO hnd
itself In that misshapen little body. And,
later on, when Ida had completely astound-
cd him with her rendering OF Dvorak's
Romance intense and heart
breaking-he told himself that such q
thing was monstrous. Here was IN untu-
tored genius, beside whom himself would
pale into comparative insigniflcance,
doomed by nature to perpetual solitude
while, Orpheuslike, she sought by her
music to charm into life tho rocks and
trees.
"You want some lessons to correct few
technical errors" he said at lost land
then you ought to be able to hold your
own at Queens hall or st. James with
the best of them. II I could believe In
the transmigration Of souls, would swear
the lost soul Of some repentant sinner Is
imprisoned In your violin"
He spoke with tho generous enthusiasm
of genius. Nero talent is sparing of praise
and begrudges success
~ con never play In public" she an
swerod briefly, with painful flush that
testified to her sensitive recognition Of
physical defects.
"Ida ON public platforml Why, they'd
never SEQ herl" interpolated jovial elder
brother, which the brutal candor admiring
friends had sometimes mistaken for frank
geniality. 1--WE call her tho Diminished
Seventh" he added, with o conscious
smile that betrayed the originator Of the
questionable pleasantly.
Poor Diminished Seventh She WINGED
as from blow, and Austin, with tho In
tention of covering her confusion, observed
with ready tact:
II suppose because tho minor harmon
les are most perfect and least understood
The retort was so sudden and 50 unex-
pectcd that for onoe the wag Of the family
was left speechless and not quito certain
whether some disguised slur on himself
had not been subtly introduced while Ida,
feeling vaguely that those few words had
sealed q compact OF eternal friendship be-
tween Austin Marshan and herself, took
up her violin again and dashed into Wild
and characteristic Hungarian air, whose
Ireckless jubilanoe was shadowed by ON
last the music was oil over she oropt to her
lof life, with its multitudinous possibili-
ties, had never been opened to her at the
enchanting page OF friendship.
That evening was but the forerunner
Iof many similar. Scarce day passed
without Austin Marshall contriving to
spend some time with the deformed musi-
lcian, and as the days lapsed into weeks,
and the weeks into months, it was noted
that when Ida played alone her airs wero
more romantic than before. And even her
unmusical family became infected with
their gayoty. Her mother, who frequently
alleged she could enjoy good music rs
much as any one, IL she could only get IL,
was chcered to tho verge of joyful antici-
patton, for who knew that Ida might not
attain the supreme height OF inspiring
dance music, such as her mother loved,
and abandon forever those ghoulish wails
she said were classical.
But when the old doctor noticed the
change hc shook his head In apprehension,
while tears of pity filled his eyes. His pro
fcssion had trained him to read the long
ings of the heart as well ~ the inflrmities
of the tenement IL inhabited, and II oil he
Thought and dreaded woro true Had
things been differcnt II Ida had not boon
distinctly isolated by nature from tho
sweetest gifts lifo can hold
And ono evening came the crisis Che
good doctor feared.
nI shall miss all this drcadfully when