The Kemper herald. (Scooba, Miss.) 1875-1908, 1906-07-05

Translated From the Swedish of
August Strindberg.
Fly EDWIN BJORKMAN.

One night he brought home some.
music and said to his wife: suppose
we play four-handed when we've a.
dinner?"
"Got something new" she asked.
81 bought Romeo and Juliet Do
you know it?"
"Of course, l know it," she replied.
"But | don't think l ever saw it per-
formed"
ooh, it's wonderful! I recall it as a
youthful dream. And yet l heard 1t
only once-that was twenty years ago"
When dinner was over and the chill
dren had been put to bed and every
thing was quiet in the house, he lit the
candles on the piano. Then he read
from the gaudy title page:
Romeo and Juliet" He added:
TITS Gounod's most beautiful compost
ton, and | don't think we'll find it too
difficult"
She took the primo part, as usual,
and they began together-D-major,
four-quarter time, allegro giusto.
pretty, is it not?" he inquired when
they had finished the overture.
"Ye-es," she admitted a little reluc-
family.
Let us play the tempo di marcia
now" he said. cts something extra
fine. l recall the splendid choruses
still"
The march commenced.
"Well, is it not grand?" he demand
ed, triumphantly, as if he had created
the music himself.
ITO me it has a touch of brass band
In it." she ventured.
Now, his honor as a man of good
taste was at stake. lie began to look
for the moonlight scene in the fourth
act. After a long search he ran
across a grand aria for soprano which
he concluded must be the one he was
thinking of.
Once more he started: ram-tamtam,
r~am-tamtam. That was the way the
bass sounded, and it was very easy to
play.
do you know" his wife argued
when they were through with it, 81
think the music is cheap"
He felt detected and had to admit
that it savored of the hurdygurdy.
That's just what 1 have been think
Ing all the time," she confessed.
"And then it seems SO stale-to
think only that Gounod could grow
old-fashioned SO quickly" Thus he
tried to cover up his retreat. do you
want to play any more? Let us try
the cavatina and the terzetto. re
call them particularly because the So
prano sang them divinely."
When they had played those pas
Bages he looked real sad, and put away
the music as if he wanted to close the
door on the past.
How would some beer taste?" he
suggested. They sat down at the table
and drank a couple of glasses.
Its marvellous" he resumed. 81
For we must have been aging apace
with Romeo and Juliet of course.
Think of it-twenty years have gone
by since / heard that opera the first
time. 1 was fresh in college and had
plenty of friends, and the future was
smiling at me so full of light and joy.
For some time l had been displaying a
sprouting beard and a white student
cap. | remember particularly well the
night when Fritz and Philip and l went
to the opera. Some years earlier we
had made the acquaintance of Faust
So we were great admirers of Gounod.
But Romeo surpassed even our great
est expectations, and we were thrown
into an ectasy by the music. My two
friends are dead now, Fritz coveted the
most exalted positions, and he eve
got beyond a private secretaryship.
Philip died as a medical student. And
I, who wanted to be a councillor of
State, have to stay satisfied al an army
paymaster. How the years have run
away while we were not noticing them!
Of course, | have seen the wrinkles
grow deep around my eyes, and my
HdlF TURN gray at Tie tempiSS-UuI ludL
We had already gone so far on the road
to the cemetery was more than l could
dream"
Eyes, we've grown old, dear-you
might have understood it by watching
our children. And my looks show it,
too, although you don't speak Of it"
How can you say such a thing!"
ooh, | know it only too well, dear
est" his wife persisted wistfully. Il
know well enough that I'm growing
ugly, that
Strange, that nothing will last now
adays," her husband broke in. 1T
seems almost as if we grew old o
quickly these days than in the old
time. Haydn and Mozart were play
ed in my fathers house, although both
We're dead long before he was born.
And now-Gounod is obsolete already!
1t is a sad thing to encounter the ideals
ct ones youth In this way. Terrible