The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1898-01-13
The Fiddle Told.

! Office. His clerk had just LETT him
The Christmas season was a busy and
responsible one with him, for he chose
that time to investigate thoroughly the
| criminal records of the state and pardon
such prisoners as good conduct or extern
uating circumstances placed within the
pale of the executive clemency.
If questioned as to the selection Of the
| holiday season for the exercise of the be
nign prerogative,'' he was wont TO an
swer: 20, may be helping TO turn the
| tide in the soul of some Paul, and nave
fancy to do it when peace and good VIII
| are most likely to be at the flood; that Is
| ALL
Whether this were all, and it were not
| in response to some deeper sentiment,
! those who knew him best alone could say
Tonight as he looked at the piles OF mali
matter Oh his desk yet to be disposed of
/ he pushed back his chair with smoth-
cred groan and started to the door, moved
! by a wild impulse to get outside and turn
| the key on it all.
An obstruction in his path caused him
| to stumble, and ne saw curious-looking
| bundle in brown paper, clumsily tied with
| a coarse Irvine string, lying on the floor
/ at his feet.
! He remembered the clerk having men
! toned a package from the state prison.
| this must be it-and pushed it impauently
/ TO one side; but as he did so something
! in the coffin-shaped outlines made MIN
! stoop and tear away part Of the cover.
He found to his amaZement, a vioi:H,
/ and appended to it a soiled pencil writ
! ten note evidently an appeal OF some kind.
| Curiosity conquered fatigue. He had
/ handled many and various petitions, out
never one in shape like this.
Detaching the note from it's fastenings,
! he crossed the room to the window, and
by the waning light of the winters day
| deciphered the following illiterate text:
ITO the Gunner: They tel me that yer
! Hart gifts tender to Prisners at christmas
! time and you listens to what they have
to say. I've ben here 20 years fer killing
! a man and I've ben Sorry eVry since l
done it. I was hot headed Boy NV Y
| and the man called pap Liar and sed
| things agin ma. I couldn't noways stand
| thet and I nocked him down. he was a
pale sckly Completed tender foot and he
| never 8 OF up agin. never meant to kill
him but my fist was hevy and sum mad
things inside NV me sicked me on. they
never give me no sort Nv a trial but JeS
| put me in Hear fer Life his folks was
| rich and mine was pore and couldn't pay
| no lawyer. pap is gone blind and mann Is
old and they amt nobody to look after EN-
but Josef. Josef is the gal tibet was 60
in TO marry me. She left her home when
| they sent me Hear and went to look after
the old Folks sames they were hern. eff
| could git back to Josef and the old folks
and the mountains Ide never lif my han
agin no man agen ceptin twas to help
him so help me God.
"They tel me as how you kin make
fiddle TAX til the children puts down their
/ earnhC.
you mine along NV this what l made when
was a Boy back in the mountains, the
sames 1 koted my gal with an played fer
mann and pap round the fire sunday ev-
nins. shes aged along with me but she
KEEP her voice sweet and stiddy yit.
Take her Gunner and set down by
yourself in the still Nv the evnin and let
her talk to you fer me. l amt Altered
shell fergit nuthin, the old Home on the
side NV the mountain and mann and pap
and Josef a settin thar and waitin these
20 years fer the Boy they wouldn't let go
their holt NV nor quit luvin no matter
what he did. Josef not forgit nuthin,
shes too much like the wimmen shell be
telin you about, seems like she knows
| things as well as I do. Praps cause shes
ben lyin agan my Hart so long, and if
she cant tell nuthin Gunner let her
talk to yer Wife. Its about Wimmen shell
tel mostly. Winner and Sorrer. And VIM
min is quicken men to understand them
things.
That's all. it's TUX me weeks to rite
this Letter Goodby. God go with the old
Fiddle and help her tel it strate.
''ABNER HILL"
When the governor turned away from
the window there was a look on his face
that few had ever seen there except his
wife.
He lifted the violin carefully from the
floor tore away its wrappings. and looked
at it long and curiously. 1t was roughly
made of native pine and maple and var
nished with the homemade varnish of
the mountains, but the strings gave back
the true VIC tone, clear and ringing.
Bringing his chair closer to the CRATE.
he placed the instrument in position, drew
the bow, and there lin the still of the
evening let her talk to him"
He was mountain boy himself, and as
the first soft notes fell on the air, plain
tive and piercing like the cry of the
whippoorwill in the early spring, he felt
the youth stir in him and heard again the
far call of the hills.
He saw the log cabin high up against
the side of the mountain, where the laurel
and the sumac grew and the ash made
bright the scene with its dark fruit;
where the breeze came laden with the
odor of pine from the forest and the birds
touched the highest notes in their shrin
treble.
He saw the boy with his sturdy limbs,
his bold blue eyes and his waving hair,
barefoot and scantily clad, searching for
the earliest berries in summer and the first
nuts in the fall-free, joyous Innocent,
happy.
He followed him in the Tong, long
thoughts of a lad across the distant crest
of the Devils backbone" and wove with
him mystic dreams amid the shades OF the
haunted ravne.
He sat with him at the feet of the
mountain lass ard listened while he pour
al the crude poetry of his awakened soul
into the sensitive instrument which alone
could interpret tie mystery within him.
He stood beside him and watched the
blazing pine knots roar up the cabin
chimney. while the old folks IN the corner
looked at each other across the boy with
that surreptitious tenderness of the eyes
which takes the place. in those grown
gray and sure of each other, of the more
open demonstrations.
He saw the whole % years of clean.
humble living; the unasDiring pastoral
life of the southern mountaineec, com
panioned by nature; simple, fearless
brave; scornful Of the false reverent OF
the true tender TO weakness. fierce TO
wrong; and. alas, uncontrolled as the ell
emenJs around him; crushing. in some
mad output of strength. the obstacle in
his way, 20 stand afterwards IN awful
recoI before the unknown potentialilles
O. his own organism.
Full and swelling were The straius that
issued from the throat OF the violin as II