The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1907-03-18
HER EASTER JOY
BY ESTHER JOYCE

~ understand all that-it is just for my
own pleasure. II could not study
sooner. It is just for the joy of being
able 20 sing for myself"
He stopped short in his nervous way
and looked at her. Such simplicity. such
humility such lack of ambition almost
staggered him.
Perhaps some time-when my voice is
q little stronger-you might, that Is, II it
would be quite right, you might let me
join your choir at ST. Augustin's?''
First vacancy there is" he assented,
heartily. What our congregation likes
is a number of sweet, correct voices. BY
the time some one gets tired of rehearsals
or marries or moves away. I'll have your
voice placed and be glad TO take you on
And so commenced the musical career
of Miss Amy Carter aged thirty-one. res
idence a second-class clearinghouse; oc-
cupatiOn, spending the small inheritance
which had come 10 her suddenly after
life of narrow drudgery and unrelieved'
sacrifice. At first her lessons opened and
closed with almost m0nosyllabic CONVEX
lsation, but in time the musician delved be-
meath the surface and found the heart
which for years had almost starved for
music. 1t had been born in her. she
thought. but there had been work 10 do.
so heavy that her hands had grown too
rough and stln- TO play the old-fashioned
organ. There were two invalids to nurse
when the village choir would have been
glad of her services. And so she counted
her love as dead and buried until the in
Iheritance had come. and then
We'll" she said with whimsical smile
| Il thought I'd come to New York and
/ hear the best of music while the money
lasted. ] would have a taste OF real life
what have heard people eall the Joy Of
living.
Weston smiled to himself. She called
/ this seeing life. And indeed these days
she was In a fiutter of excitement
Pail the time. Weston had tickets he
could not use for this concert and that
/ Matlnees came just when he had pupils
and 1t was a shame to waste the tickets
! He was tremendously diverted by this
/ delicate. howeTlike woman, who felt that
/ she was indulging In a mad orgy of
music. He learned to look forward with
/ keen interest to her comments on thg
concerts she attended. Self played 80
small a part in her enjoyment It was
l always not how she felt. but how the
music affected the audience, And gradu-
/ ally he discovered that she had a decided
gift of criticism. which was developing
under the course Of reading he prescribed
for her.
! Something, he knew. too, that his pupil
/ Of thirty-one had not discovered. Under
the magic of indulging the one great
! longing of her lifetime she was cheating
old Father Time, turning pages back and
not forward The faint color was al
ways in her cheeks these days, and the
voice. rising in her birdlike throat, was
fresh as a girls lifting like d lark's in
/ Powered meadows
And watching her development the
tired man began to wonder what had
come over him. He saw his work in a
new light The weight of drudgery slip
/ ped from his shoulders. The sense OF
wasted effort yielded 70 the infectious
happiness of his buoyant pupil.
! And 50 dawned Easter morning over
st. Augustin's. Outside the doors the
/ mob of sightseers swayed, while the regu-
lar parishioners claimed first right to
pews. Then came the thrush of strang-
ers. The Organist took his place. Mr.
Weston raised his hand and the band of
white-robed men and women filed into
the choir loft Out 10 the waiting multi
tude rolled the waves of perfectly ball
anced harmonies. A hundred voices, adj
mirably selected thrilled the eongrega-
tiOn and yet TO the man who had trained
them there came but a single voice.
Her face was uplifted. her eyes dewy and
tender, as with futelike elearness the
wonderful words reached him above the
heads OF the other singers:
The strife is DER. the battle done;
The victory Of life Is won,
The song Of triumph has Begun. Aleluia-
AllelUial Alleluia
To the man it comes not as pean of
triumph. but message of pesee-and she
had shown him the way,
He wanted to tell her now-tlis min
ute The service stretched ahead of him
Unfortunately.
'Alleluiai Alleuia,"
! His glance caught and held hers. A
startled expression flashed over her face.
/ The huteIike tones faltered and died
away. The absorbed singers on either
side did not note that her hand trembied,
and her face paling. turned from the
leader TO the banks Of Easter lilies Per-
haps it was their perfume-something
seemed TO smother the sound in her
throat. Then. as If fascinated. her glance
Travelled back 20 meet his. and the tender
gravity in his face steadied her She
raised her book, the color came back
into her face, and. as her voice hoated
out to him IN the final "Alleluia," he
knew that his hearts message had
Preached her. and that was her answer.
Copyrighted, 1877, by Mary McKeonl