Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1898-10-12

soul, shouldered into the crowd and told
the boy to move On.
"Now, my brother William said
Uncle Joshua, sis something of a violin
list himself. He was one of the party on
the hotel porch; and no sooner had the
policeman stopped the concert than up
he got and ran after the strange must
clan like a boy after a circus parade.
Billy had been over in Paris the Win
ter before and while there had stumbled
onto a lot of music by an old French
composer whom the world had never
discovered, by the name of Francois
Fayette. This Fayette, my brother told
me, had come to the city q century or
two before from somewhere in the south
of France with a lot of music he had
composed and then disappeared. His
music had lain undisturbed in the garnet
of an old building many years, and
from thence had passed into the hands
of a dealer in old manuscripts; and it
was from him William secured it.
Nov, it seems that the piece William
had heard the musician play that night
was one of these identical compositions
by the forgotten Fayette. He had al
ways thought it a marvelously sweet
little composition even when he played it
himself. But as he had heard the
stranger render it it was a dream and a
revelation.
"Well, the upshot of the matter was
that after much urging and pleading,
William managed to bring the boy home
with him that night. After we had fed
him and he had rested and told us his
story, not without a great deal of tact
full questioning on our part, he finally
took his violin and began to play.
"Ah," said Uncle Joshua, softly, as he
| sank back into his chair and closed his
eyes. 81 cannot tell you how he played.
Even I had tears in my eyes that l
--II-SA I-~~- lo1J- Al zA.I1 L.:
tons were always from the compositions
of the misty Fayette. Where had he
learned them? He could not tell US. 1t
was all in his heart, he said. 1t was the
music hat had come to him from muir
muring pines and ripping streams; and
some of it, he said, was what he heard
on stormy nights.
He played far into the night for us,
and then next morning we had one of
our darkies hitch up and take him home.
William had given him enough money
for his rent, II The boy promised a
speedy return.
"a week passed, and then another
week. With his absence the wonder his
playing had aroused in us increased. In
deed, we almost came to doubt the
reality of it all. Where had he ever
heard the music Of Eayette? Indeed,
how could he ever have heard it at all?
He could not be an imposter. The mys-
leFy cOuIu not De explained away on the
grounds of mere coincidence.
1--WE were on the point of driving out
to the boys cabin to hear him play again
when one morning, bright and early, Il
tall and lanky youth, carrying an oblong
bundle under his ARM, came up to the
door Of our house and inquired for Will
lam. He and [ were eating breakfast
at the time, and the stranger, evidently
a cracker, was ushered in.
BE you all the gentlemen ez give
Bub the rent money! he inquired, adj
dressing William. William said that he
was. Wei, Bub he's dead: en- he sent
you all this fer to remember him by
We learned little more. The boy had
died two days before from no apparent
cause. His last request was concerning
the violin.
1.-Two months later, when autumn was
well on. and the nights were becoming
chilly, William and 1 were sitting before
the fireplace one evening talking about
the boy who had played such wonderful
music. William was holding the violin
ship. Suddenly | saw him draw the vio-
There's a name or something he said.
'On this little shell plate. that I've never
noticed. By jOve, what if he jumped
up and held the violin close to the light.
l was hanging over his shoulder on the
instant. And there, very faint, but
clear enough in the strong light to be
read, engraved in fine French script was
a name that sent our hearts a-leaping
like mad. Boys, the name on the violin
was that of Francois Fayette.-Troy
Times.