Middletown transcript., 1908-03-28
THE LOST MELODEON
BY g. "A. STEPHENS

our old school district caused a
greater stir or started such dark
suspicious as the disappearance
Of that melodeon from the school
house.
1t was q new melodeon, and a
good one for those days-1867.
We paid forty-fve dollars for it
in Portland and raised the money
all among ourselves, without help
from the older folks at home.
Music at school was a new thing
with us then. Not every teacher
is musical. But Master Pearson
who taught that winter and for
two winters afterward, was a
singer. He loved music, and
had the gift of creating an inter-
est in it. During the first week
of the term heopened and closed
school by singing a hymn, assist
ed timidly at first by two or three
of the larger girls.
Others soon began Ginning in,
however, inspired by the melody
of the masters voice. Within a
fortnight the whole school was
singing, or trying to sing, and
during the third week We raised
the money and bought the melod-
con.
We purchased also twenty-five
copies of a singing book, called
School Songs, and ever after that
the old schoolhouse resounded
morning noon and night to our
new vocal efforts. There were
also evening musicales-although
that word had not yet come into
vogue.
Certain of the parents in the
district were afraid that music
was detrimental to other studies,
and that musical schoolmaster
was likely to be good for little
else; but that was hardly true of
Master Pearson.
He was quite as keenly interest
ed in arithmetic, geography and
history. He hung the bare walls
of the old schoolroom with large
maps, charts and pictures. The
room had never looked so at
tractive; and indeed, we had never
made such progress before.
Those.were among the few terms
at old District Number II when
every scholar was interested and
did not wish to lose a day.
Tidings as to what a good
school we were having and
how well our sc b 0 OR o m
looked spread abroad, and ex-
cited envy among the scholars
in District Number 9, two
miles to the. east of US 1h rs
had been rivalry and sometimes
open hostility between the two
schools for several generations.
The Number 9 boys appeared to
hate US, for no better reason
than that we were in advance
schoolhouse was better than
theirs; we had everything little |
better; and it may be, too, thai
we were inclined to put on a
few airs:
They thought so, at least, and
constantly twitted US with being
nabobs, and applied other less
complimentary epithets. Never
theless we sometimes went OYER
there to spelling matches and
school exhibitions; and occasion
allysent them a general invita-
tion to visit US.
Our new melodeon augmented
their envy. On Friday evening
of the seventh week of school we
gave an entertainment with
music. Master Pearson read
selections from The Last Days
ofPompeii, i,and exhibited pictures
of Mount Vesuvius, Pompeii and
Herculaneum. A. young lady
played the melodeon. Thomas
Edwards declaimed The Roman
Sentinel, and the school sang six
songs from our new book. |
While the master was reading
we heard great stamping of feet
in the entry outside. The door
then opened, and four of the
Number 8 boys tramped in and
took seats together in the farther
corner of the room. Ii
All four were well known to
us. They we're Newman and
Rufus .Darnley, Coleman Hays
and Clinton McCansland. It'll
looked little as il they had en-
tered with a design to be rude.
Dr. at least offensively indepen. i
dent. We talked with them as
usual, however, after the enter
sainment was over. Newman | |
had never seen a melodeon, and
ooked at the instrument with /
.urioSitv. making several iolxas 4