River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1913-01-09


feeling as If some vital change was
impending. His little cruise loomed
up large, important, epochal. He
laughed at himself and thought, with
his customary optimism, that vaca-
ton WIS worth waiting twelve years
for. If waiting endowed it with sucn
a flavor. Jim knew that Aleck Would
relish the spin, too. Alexis nature
was that of a grind tempered Win
sportiness. Jim sat down Sunday
morning and wrote out the whole pro-
gram for Alexis endorsement, sent
the letter by special delivery and went
out to reconnoiter.
The era of Sunday orchestral con-
certs had begun, but that day, 10 jim
regret, the singer was not contralIo.
Dramatic Soprano" was on the pro-
gram; a new name, quite unknown to
Jim. His interest In the soIolst
waned, but the orchestra was enough.
He thanked Heaven that he was past
the primitive stage of thinking any
single voice more interesting than the
assemblage of instruments known as
orchestra.
Hambleton found a place in the dim
vastness Of the hall, and sank into his
seat in a mood of vivid anticipation.
The instruments twanged, the audi
ence gathered, and at last the music
began. It's first effect was to rouse
Hambleton to a sharp attention TO oe-
tails-the director, the people in the
orchestra, the people in the boxes;
and then he settled down, thinking
his thoughts. The past, the future,
life and it's meaning, love and its
power, the long, long thoughts OF
youth and ambition and desire came
flocking to his brain. The noble con-
fluence Of sound that is music worked
upon him it's immemorial miracle; his
heart softened, his imagination glowed,
his spirit stirred. Time was lost TO
him-and earth.
The orchestra ceased, but Handle
ton did not heed the commotion about
him. The pause and the fresh be-
ginning of the strings scarcely dis
turbed his ecstatic reverie. A deep
hush lay upon the vast assemblage,
broken only by the voices of the vio-
Inns. And then, in the zone of silence
that lay over the listening people
silence that vibrated to the memory
of the strings-there rose little
song. To Hambleton, sitting alb
sorbed, 1t was as If the circuit which
galvanized him into life had suddenly
been completed. He sat up. The sing
er's lips were slightly parted, and her
voice at first was no more than the
ha1f-voice of a flute, sweet, gentle, be-
quilting. 1t was borne upward on the
crest Of the melody, fuller and fuller,
as on a flooding tide.
Gree of my pain, free OF my burden OF
sorrow,
At last I shall see thee
There was freedom in the voice, and
the sense Of space, of wind on the wa
tiers, of life and the love Of life.
Jimsy was a soft-hearted fellow. He
never knew what happened to him;
but after uncounted minutes he
seemed to be choking, while the or
chestra and the people in boxes and
the singer herself swan in hazy
distance He shook himself, called
somebody he knew very well an idiot,
and laughed aloud in his joy; but his
laugh did not matter, for it was
drowned in the roar of applause that
reached the roof.
Jim did not applaud. He went out
doors to think about it; and after a
time he found, to his surprise, that
he could recall not only the song, but
the singer, quite distinctly. 1t was a
tall, womanly figure, and fair, bright
face framed abundantly with dark
hair, and the least little humorous
witch to her lips. And her name was
Agatha Redmond.
t'Of course. she can sing; but 1t
isn't like having the real thing-'tisn't
an alto" said Jimsy ungratefully and
just from habit.
Tie days experience filed his
thoughts and quieted his restlessness.
He awaited Aleck with entire pa
tience. Monday morning he spent in
small necessary business affairs, Sc
curing, among other things, several
hundred dollars, which he put in his
money-belt About the middle of the
afternoon he left his hotel, engaged
taxicab and started for Riverside.
The late summer day was fine, with
the afternoon haze settling over river
and town He watched the procession
of carriages, the horseback riders, the
people afoot, the children playing on
the grass, with a feeling of comrade-
ship. Was he not also tasting free
donna lord Of the earth? His gaze
travelled out to the river, with the
glimmer here and there of tug-boat,
little steamer, or the white sail of
a pleasure craft. The blood Of some
seagoing ancestor stirred in his veins,
and he thrilled at the thought of the
days to come when his prov should
be headed offshore.
The taxicab had its limitations, and
Hambleton suddenly became impa-
tient of it's mouotonous slithering
along the firm road. Telling the driv-
er to follow him, ne descended and
crossed to where Cathedral Parkway
switches off. He walked briskly, feel
ing the tonic OF the sea air, and circled
the cathedral, where workmen were
lounging away after their days toll
The unfinished edifice doomed up like
giant skeleton of some prehistoric
era, and through its mighty open
arches and buttresses Jim saw fieecy
~~-~~~~~~~~~~~-~~D~~~~~
| his collar is dandruffless. When tho
noon houF fa over thew ride 10 fhai,.