Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1912-03-16

r1czzSzRCE7s,z.E7I7y- ~ /
was entering upon her sixth year.
Then the father, who cared only for
his daughter and his music, sold his
patch of ground and went to Upsala .
in search OF fame and fortune. He /
found nothing but poverty.
He returned to the country, wander
ing from fair to fair, stunning his /
Scandinavian melodies, while his |
child, who never left his side, listened |
to him in esctasy or sang to his play |
ing One day, at Ljimby fair, Pro-
lessor Valerius heard them and took /
them to Gothenburg. He maintained 1
that the father was the first violinist /
in the world and that the daughter 1
had the making of great artist. Her
education and instruction were pro- !
vided for. She made rapid progress |
and charmed everybody with her pref
tiness, her grace of manner and her
genuine eagerness to please.
When VaIerius and his wife went
to settle in France, they took Daae
and Christine with them. Mamma"
Valerius treated Christine as her
daughter. AS for Daae, he began to
pine away with inconsistencies He
never went out of doors in Paris, but
lived in a sort of dream which he
kept up with his violin For hours al
time, he remained locked up in his
bedroom with his daughter, fiddling
and singing, very, very softly. Some
times Mamma Valerius would come
and listen behind the door wipe away
a tear and go downstairs again on
tiptoe, signing for her Scandinavian
skies.
Daae seemed not TO recover his
strength until the summer, when the
whole family went to stay at Perros.
Guirec, in a far-away corner of Brit.
tany, where the sea was of the same
color as in his own country. Often
[ he would play his saddest tunes on
the beach and pretend that the sea
stopped its roaring TO listen to them.
/ And then he induced Mamma Nalerius
/ TO indulge a queer within of his. AT
the time Of the ''raTdons," or Breton
/ pilgrimages, the village festival and
dances, he went off with his fiddle,
as in the old days. and was allowed
to take his daughter with him for
week. They gave the smallest ham.
lets music to last them for a year and
+ slept at night in a barn, refusing
bed at the inn, lying close together
on the straw, as when they were so
! poor in Sweden. At the same time
they were very neatly dressed, made
/ no collection, refused the halfpence
offered them; and the people around
could not understand the conduct OF
this rustic fiddler, who tramped the
roads with that pretty child who sang
like an angel from heaven. They fol
lowed them from village TO village.
One day. a little boy. who was out
with his governess, made her take a
longer walk than he intended, for he
could not tear himself from the little
girl whose pure, sweet voice seemed
TO bind him TO her They came to
the shore of an inlet which is still
called Trestraou. but which now,
believe, harbors a casino or some
thing OF the sort. At that time there
was nothing but sky and sea and a
stretch OF golden beach. Only, there
was also a high wind, which blew
Christmas scarf out TO sea. Chris.
tine gave a cry and put out her arms,
but the scarf was already far on the
waves. Then she heard a voice say:
It's all right, I'll go and fetch your
scarf out of the sea"
And she saw a little boy running
fast, in spite of the outcries and the
indignant protests OF a worthy lady
in black. The little boy ran into the
sea, dressed as he was, and brought
her back her scarf. Boy and scarf
were both soaked through. The lady
in black made a great fuss, but Chris
tine laughed merrily and kissed the
little boy, who was none other than
the Vcomte Raoul de Chagny, stay
ing at Lannion with his aunt
During the season they saw each
, other and played together almost
: every day. At the aunts request. sec
, onded by Professor Valerius, Daae
consented TO give the young vtscount
! some violin lessons. In this way
Raoul learned to love the same airs
that had charmed Chrtstine's child
; hood. They also both had the same
calm and dreamy little cast OF mind.
They delighted I'm stories, in old
Breton legends; and their favorite
/ sport was 10 go and ask for them at
the cottage-doors, like beggars:
"Ma'am :" or. Kind gentle
man have you q little story
TO tell US, please?"
|, And IL seldom happened that they
did not have one given them; for
nearly every old Breton grandame
has. at least once in her life, seen the
"korrigans" dance by moonlight on
the heather.
But their great treat was, in the
twilight, in the great silence OF the
evening, after the sun had set in the
sea, when Daae came and sat down
by them on the roadside and, in a
low voice. as though fearing lest he
should frighten the ghosts whom he
; evoked. told them the legends OF the
, land Of the north. And, the moment
he stopped. the children would ask
for mora