The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1898-12-23
Clnl NAV on. .I;4NH BeethpNtH, 81
wrapped up in his cloak and scowling and


| wrapped up in his cloak and scowling and
| listening and thinking away"
Davy looked over at her and smiled.
Then he gazed up with love and visit
| fulness into the bending face above him.
! 1t made a touching picture, the dark
master on the pedestal, immortal, pulse
less i'll bronze, the beautiful lad at his
| feet, ambitious, desperate, in living flesh
and youth. .
"Davy," whispered Draxy from her
shadowy nook, let's play this is dark
| cavern, and the banks of organ keys are
the dragons teeth crashing at Inc. 1 am
n princess chained to the wall, and you
must come in with your sword and save
| me-
IN come and make the dragon sing 70
| you instead" said Davy, going to the
| organ seat.
| He ran his fingers down the keys. There
| was soft rattle of ivory, but no other
| sound.
Haven't got the steam on, have they?'
said Drdxy. proud of knowing all about
| the domestic habits Of the great organ.
| Davy, reaching to press knob that rang
| bell far in some lower region, smiled
| down at her bright little face, and then
sat waiting drcamily. do you know, ="
! she prattled on, when I'm out in the au-
| dicnce at concerts, and the hall is full of
people, and the gas is lighted, and the or
| gan looks so black and big, never can
| believe I am so well acquainted with it
and dare to cuddle up like this against
| it,
"Sh" said Davy, catching the first
whisper of q beloved, inspiring sound
the wind beginning to fill the giant pipes.
II to-, low IL r,,Cl
If from underground, now nearer, nearer,
louder. faster, till it swells and rises with
IL painting sweep up the hugo boles in
that great forest of brazen pipes and fills
their mighty sides as if to burst them.
Davy sat motionless and rapt, lost in
the great ;polian roar. "Hear it breathep
he whispered; "hear it breathe!''
His fingers ripple down across the
keys. Far above, in some high tree top Of
the forest pipes, voice awakes in answer
to his touch that fingers on the ear awhile,
so soft, SO sweet, so pleading, and then
sinks again into its nest of silence.
Now, farther still and hidden in some
deeper recess of the organ forest, another
voice awakes.
1t calls back to the pleading voice with
joy and courage.
Then another and another wakes and
sings, and soon the place is full Of music
and fragrance and beauty, and the tree
tops shake it out upon the air, like dewy
| drops.
Now the echoes, murmuring the last
cadence over and over, to get it by heart,
die away them selves, and all is still.
That's very good, Davy," said Draxy,
tired of being a princess chained to the
wall and stretching her active little limbs
in a brisk walk up and down the stage.
Suddenly she trottpd off down the steps,
and Davy, looking after her, saw her talk
ing to a poor old woman who was clean
ing the floor.
What you doing?" piped Draxy in her
friendly way.
Faith, darrlin,' said the old woman,
Strengthening up and holding one hand to
her back, - tits claiming up bit l am,
shure."
"Oh," said Draxy, peeping into the bas-
ket of torn scraps, II suppose you are tho
janitress.
"Jinnethress, is it? Faith, thcn per-
haps that is it. 1 scroob the tlures and
stairs beyant outside, and pick the stool
they throw down in here"
Draxy looked at her thoughtfully.
"That is too hard" she said at length in
decisive little tone What ails your
poor back:''
God bless ye. darrlin, and kape We
long from the same. Ills rhumatiz, dear,
and me ould bones are crackin wild it.
livery tonne l rise meself from pickin up
these little cards.
Poor woman! Who makes you do
such hard work." said Draxy, beginning
in another aisle to pick up torn checks
and programmes.
Me ould man is bedrid this five year,
and the little childther-the grandchild-
thcr, darrlin, wild the poor mother in
hivcn-God be merciful to her swate soul
i works to kape the little childther."
"Oh, I'm real sorry for you," said
DraXy. coming back to the basket, with
her skirt held up like an apron and filled
with scraps.
"Ah, God bless her! What's this, at all?
Is it pickin up the cards We are, darrlin?
Look at that now. All, 60 and sit down
wild yc miss, dear. Shure ye mustn't be
doin the loikes of that"
No, I'm just going to help you. l
was here last night. and so you see l made
part of this litter" said Draxy.
why" She exclaimed again directly.
They stick into this mating so. And
II illIlCS anu up dllo oO"iA eAASsS
rows of seats.
And away went Draxy, picking up
scraps for dear life and saying to herself
that she would never tear up and scatter
checks or programmes again as long as
she lived
80 the poor charwoman and tho little
maid went llp and down, hard at work,
while the soft Christmas twilight fell
without, and the great fugue relied and
thundcrcd from the organ.
Oh, what ~ thing it was to hear the
mighty rumble of that giant bass! You
could feel it shake the floor beneath your
feet IL made the balconies vihrate and
trcmblc, and sometimes the great hall
seemed almost to rock and roll with sound
Then, when it ended. there was such
silence that the slow ticking OF the great
clock s,rined like the heart beats of the
place, which you could hear because it
was so still.
Davy had finished practicing, and his
little sister, half way down the hall, was
wondering why he did not come out and
call her. She began to look often toward
the stage and then at the great clock face
on the balcony.
Hank Could that have been a strain of
music, or was it tho sad, sad voice of some
one grievin:;:
Draxy and the old woman turned at the
first sound and looked toward the organ.
They had scarcely listened while the
great fugue was rolling through the hall.
But something drew them nearer to this
magical strain, and they crcpt toward 1T
step by step.
What is Davy playing? Oh, what is
this that is making tears fall fast on the
>
1t was music that was never written
music that was never heard before and
will not be heard again, for Davy is in
spircd He is playing from his own soul.
This is his farewell to music and to- all his
hopes and dreams. The organ grieves for
him The master on his pedestal listens
sadly aud seems almost to stir with pity.
AT last there comes "a piteous strain,
then "a wild crash across the keys, and
Davy has flung his head down on his
armS. The music is ended
"Goodby, goodbye no whispered kiss
ing the yellow keys where his face lay hid
den
"Oh, Davyn' sobbed little voice, and
Draxy'S arms were around his neck, her
soft, wet check pressed close to his. Just
then gruff old voice said:
Come, come! This won't do! Stop
this sniveling!"
An arm that seemed too fathcrly and
gentle to belong to such a voice took in
Davy and DraXy mt once as they sat on
the organ seat, and seemed to hug them
and shake them at the same time.
Come! What's the matter here say?''
Where he had dropped from was the
mystery Had he been hiding in some
recess of the organ?
Impossible to say. But there he was,
I0oL,int, very grim eyccut about the eyes