Daily inter mountain. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1881-1901, 1901-02-23

| everywhere. is told for the first time.
| When Ferdinand Lust's music was at
| the height of its popularity not many
years ago he had all the money and
friends he desired. He held the position
of Organist in Vermont church at q
salary of $4,000 year and was instructor
to Modjeska's son. An opera of his was
meeting with big success and his royal
ties from the famous "Trilby Waltz
alone brought in a small fortune. He
Travelled far and wide and visited many
! parts of the earth. He had all that
| wealth. health and fame could give him.
But there came a change. When the
! years began to creep upon him the
wealth, health and all began to fade
away. He drifted out to San Francisco
and taught for few years and then
4 went to Colorado Springs. Then he be-
came wanderer without home or
! friends.
He Joined the Marie Bell Opera COM
/ pany as conductor, but things didn't go
we'll, and when Clarksville, Tenn. was
reached the organization disbanded.
7 Without a cent of money the now
feeble and gray-haired composer was
/ thrown upon his own resources and tried
I to earn a few dollars by teaching. But
! he was lonely. in bad health and had no
/ friend, brother or sister. His life was so
| desolate that even strangers noticed it
and would speak a kind word to the
/ gray-haired musician. His sorrow was
/ increased by a romance of his youth The
/ girl he had loved in the fatherland and
from whom he had been separated by a
lovers quarrel, had been lost to him and
/ he knew not whe'ther she was dead or
alive.
/ But there was one who brought cheer
tn lac hN hear
! southern girl with the fair. soft com
plex.a of the Southern cline. She had
seen but nineteen summers and was as
sweet and unselfish as she was beauti
| full.
Rosa Whitfield was his favorite pupil
and she always tried to throw a few
| rays of sunshine into his life. Sometimes
! when the lessons We're over she would
| pin a rosebud on his coat send some
4 little delicacy to his lonely studio. Often
| thsre were big punches of Southern
roses. He would place them on his piano
\ and play cut his soul to the sweet scent
\ ed beauties. Once he pressed a bud in a
book and pinned it to poem.
But the gray hairs We're growing
I thicker among the thin locks and his
| health was failing. One morning in the
fall, that pretty Indian summer of the
! south. he went to her home to give II
lesson as usual S.se saw that he was
very weak and she did not want him to
teach that day. But he insisted He
needed the money, and she reluctantly
yielded. That morning she sang sweeter
than usual and there was something
pecaily tender in his music. But the
effort was too much for him. All of Il
sudden his head began to reel. his eyes
dimmed and his voice failed. He clutched
! at chair and fell to the floor. He awolle
on the couch and felt the touch of a
! gentle hand upon his brow. He seemed
to realize that the end was drawing near
| and his eyes filled with tears as he gazed
upon the young girl If a friend like the
one beside him could do so much for an
old man, what would love have been in
his younger days? She had been 50 kind
to him and he owed much to the
tender words and gentle deeds He
seemed to be thinking Of the past as he
looked into her eyes and began to talk.
Your name is Rcaa. = is sweet
name. You are my frien-, you-ycu---
are my Rosa!" Then sudden light
came into the old mans eyes and he
sprang from the couch. MY Rosa!" he
exclaimed. MY Rosary! 1 will write
a song and 1t shall be called that for
you" The grayhaired musician faltered
a minute and then added in a pathetic
voice. land 1 fear it Will be my last" }
1t was then that one of the sweetest
songs ever written was born. He was
enthused with the inspiration and, al
most too sick to stand alone, went to his
studio. There. all night long, by the light
of oil lamp, he toiled at the piano,
putting his emotions into music.
BY daylight it was finished. He made
copy and carried it to her to try. He
never played an accompaniment as he
/ did that morning and she sang the song
as it has never been sung since. A week
later she sang it in a concert and it
caught the public ear like whirlwind,
until today it is being sung from ocean
\ to ocean. But the musician never re-
covered from the shock. He took to his
bed and gradually the eyes dimmed until
last week they closed forever. During
his illness almost every morning there
was a bunch OF roses beside his bed that
had been gathered by the fair southern
! girl and often she would drop in for a
minute y cheer him up and bring some
delicacy which she had prepared with
her own hands to tempt his appetite 1t
WAS she who sat beside his bed and
cooled his brow as the last light in his
eyes died away.
The funeral took place at the church
which he had served as Organist. 1t was
an unusually solemn occasion. Just as
the minister finished his discourse {,
, beautiful sunny faced girl stepped to the
: chancel rail and began the tender, sweet
, strains of melody to the soft accom-
, paniment of the great organ. My
Rosary" was the singer and the song
was the same. The dead composer lay
at her feet. The audience was as still
/. as death, and as the last notes of the
pure. sweet voice died away. many eyes
were filled with tears. The remains were
laid away in Greenwood, and on the red
! earth. Of the new made mound the same
girlish figure placed a large bunch OF
, Southern roses
pARARIE OF AN ACTOR