The daily palladium. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1904-1905, 1904-04-05

I0CCoe~0OO'1'
a pause long enough to excite my APP
prehension, responded with THE River
and the Rose" | thought the line,
'sWhat hast thou done with the rose?'
might have some reference to my
sighted token of flowers. but this idea
did not come to me till the song was
done While she sang it was impossi-
bic to think of anything. 1t was
matter of pure emotion. However.
since questions were in order, did my
poor best with who Is Sylvan
| was in hopes that her reply would
throw some light upon the question,
Who is the girl in the orchard? But
for some minutes l was rewarded only
by chords of the guitar, untransiataDle.
not meant to be understood.
Then the girl began to sing even
more softly than usual, as if to herself
1 have never been able to understand
the acoustic properties of that spot.
The little cliff might well have acted
as a sort OF sounding board, but the
ascending column OF air due to the fire
should have neutralized the effect and
to a certain degree muttied the tone to
my ear Yet there was a spot upon
the water where | could get most
remarkable illusion of nearness. The
singer would seem to be beside me,
and more than once / felt that strange
chill of the supernatural and looked
almost fearfully into the shadows that
were cleft by the path of light. This
time the miracle was twofold, for not
only was the voice incredibly near, but
the girl was singing my Swiss song,
which she couldn't possibly know.
She sang only a part of it, and 1
could not make out whether she was
using my words or indeed any words
at all. But it was my song for GER
tainty. The incident belonged in dream
land, where the melody itself was born
I had sung it very little abroad, prob
ably not more than half dozen times,
except when alone. The manuscript
was nailed up in a box with various
documents, papers and books contain
ing records of laboratory work which
/ had shipped from Germany. / had
seen that box unopened in our house
since my return.
In New York I had not sung except
in my room at the hotel when my
father was there, and once afterward
to Gushing. If | had favored either OF
them with that particular composition,
beyond a doubt l should have told the
story of it, and | could not remember
to have done so. In fact, | would
have staked my head that the song had
never been heard in this country until
the girl gave voice to it there upon the
rocks behind her veil of flame.
1t seemed that she did not know it
all, for she broke off in the middle of
phrase and went back to the begin
ming. This must be by way of sug
gestion to me- and so | sang the
strange little song, being inspired to
fairly creditable performance by the
fitness of the theme. When | had fin
ished, there came a faint sound across
the water like the clapping of hands.
Then the fire was scattered suddenly,
almost as if there had been an eXplo-
sion in the midst of it, and saw for
moment dark figure, whether of man
or woman 1 could not tell, but 1T
seemed not to be hers. Darkness and
silence followed The moon that had
shone in the earlier part of the evening
was now obscured by heavy cloud,
though most of the sky was clear.
Ito be continued.)