The Montgomery advertiser., 1906-07-29

If youth from joyance turn and stray?
 Autumn Is but the spring grown Its harvest roses mixed with rue"
 If youth but knew, If youth pue
 knew"
 vagrant fiddler has most to do
 with the story, though the pair or
 lovers. whom he befriends, have an in-
 tense interest for the reader. In the
 fddler's own words he is "an indiVid-
 ual known the country over as the
 crazy musician. sometimes more terseiy aa Geiger- -Hans--what in English you might call Ffddle-John, some call me inc scholar vagabond. and some cnu- dren (bless them) Onkel. You may dup me, if you please. the singer of youth. and thus he sings: 70 youtni o' Spring! o wings of the. soull vir- ginity of the heart, expectation, un. known mysteries of life! Weaitn or strength and yearning
 Thus does Geigsr-Hans apostropnizs youth, and even throughout the stor1 does his fiddle weave a wandering airS A sweet and plalntive story. The roses of life have turned to ashes for him. :. He had a name once. other than Geig- er-Hans. Happiness lay within ms grasp, but now his name had gone like ms youth anu h0 ChAs teach the young to enjoy their youth. Heavy hearted himself, finding neither
 neace nor comfort in his wandertngS heyet has taken to his heart Sidonla, the ornhan ward of the Burgrave. ITS she he intends to help ind happiness and when chance throws a noble youtn in Geiger- Hanss way. he leads nm 2. once to Sidonia, hoping much --Aronl youth and opportunity.
 A chapter or two ia devoted to the l intrigues and scandals Of Jeronte court life "A King whose life ener- Ries when the cracking or ms pro- | fher's empire may be heard on every
 side. are divided between the aevlsins ,ss l of new costumes, the planning or reveis nnd the discovery of fresh favorites.
 Sidonia is singled out upon her pres entation at court, as a tresh taVor- ite" But tho friendship of the old | fiddler rescues her from even thls, and she finds her natural protector m | her husband. Urged to flee, by the
 Ssdaler. Sidonia asks where? ITO the | fcrest,' replied the wanderer, "to the forest. to the green arms that Will hold your love so safely, so discreet'y. To the quiet and peace of the loresI' | before you shape your way together children. into the great noisy world. Fo | the simplicity of the forest, you young maenate, that you may for ever after wards have a memory of love as the hreath of nature itself to haunt you
 i, your grandeur. To the Forest House, ! won little mamam. whither 1 once brought a youth who was missing ms
 spring time and had lost his way. that
 he might find them both."
 The fIddlers story is told. "the mel ody in the violet" he calls 1t. and therein Is explained why he fiddlad. Hans, though of noble blood, had be- ! come the vagrant wanderer For triV- | ial reasons he leaves his wife, and goes | to America Then broke the storm | long lowering over Franco, the awful | revolution. The wife perished on the | scaffold, and to the husband was Jeff | A bunch of violets worn on Madame s | corsage 'eThere was blood on the vioiets" said the fiddler, "her blood | and mlne--for the man that was 1 died too, then. murdered in his youth, l even as she" 'The something that
 lived on, the old man-call 1t myself | if you will-this self that is before you
 now-it took the vloIets and began to | walked away . And 1t has walked
 ever since. No place could be home | to me 'aHaIn--no land could be country.
 France least of all. But the skies and
 the trees are kind. they understand
 my sorrow, they take 1t unto them-
 selves" This tc Stephen, to heal the
 breach that had come between him
 and his wife. 9idonia- "oh, If you
 but knew saId the fiddler, life has
 one unsurpassable flower for youth l take 1t now lest a breath from heaven ] aaattAT this bloom. Its scent Is for