United States or Qatar ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !


"I I stay with the leetle white angel for ever and ever!" he whispered, his words meant only for the unhearing ears of the child. "Jan Thoreau will stay, yes and hees violon! I give it to you and ze museek!" He laid his precious violin across the foot of the cot. In the days that followed, there came other things which Jan could not understand, and which he made no great effort to understand.

And when his soul clamoured for expression, it usually uttered itself in one or the other of the two ways, and more usually in both ways. And when he had drunk, his brain a-lilt with unsung song and the devil in him aroused and rampant, his soul found its supreme utterance in torturing Batard. "Now we will haf a leetle museek," he would say. "Eh? W'at you t'ink, Batard?"

But Fiddlin' Jack lived on in the little house with the curved roof, beside the river, refusing all the good offers which were made to him for his piece of land. "NON," he said; "what for shall I sell dis house? I lak' her, she lak' me. All dese walls got full from museek, jus' lak' de wood of dis violon. He play bettair dan de new feedle, becos' I play heem so long.

It formed a bond between him and Cummins' people. His heart went out to them, and he went more freely among them, and made friends. Jan had not played upon his violin since the coming of Jean de Gravois; but one evening he tuned his strings, and said to Melisse: "They have been good to you, my Melisse. I will give them ze museek of ze violon."

But it was a great day when he was eight years old, and Jacques brought out a small fiddle, for which he had secretly sent to Albany, and presented it to the boy. "You see dat feedle, Billee? Dat's for you! You mek' your lesson on dat. When you kin mek' de museek, den you play on de violon lak' dis one listen!"

The big bridegroom came up and clapped him on the back, with the nearest approach to a gesture of affection that backwoods etiquette allows between men. "Jack, you're the boss fiddler o' this hull county. Have a drink now? I guess you 're mighty dry." "MERCI, NON," said Jacques. "I drink only de museek dis night. Eef I drink two t'ings, I get dronk."

"You know dat little Billee of 'Ose Ransom," the fiddler would say to a circle of people at the hotel, where he still went to play for parties; "you know dat small Ransom boy? Well, I 'm tichin' heem play de feedle; an' I tell you, one day he play better dan hees ticher. Ah, dat 's gr-r-reat t'ing, de museek, ain't it? Mek' you laugh, mek' you cry, mek' you dance! Now, you dance.

"For the museek of the violon somet'ing to eat!" he heard, and the thin figure swayed and fell almost into his arms. The voice came weak again. "Thees is Jan Jan Thoreau and his violon " The woman's bloodless face and her great staring dark eyes greeted them as they entered the cabin.

There is no beggary among these strong-souled men of the far North, and Jan's lips did not beg. He unwrapped the bearskin, and whispered: "For the museek of the violon somet'ing to eat!" He played, even as the words fell from him, but only for a moment for the bow slipped from his nerveless grip and his head sank forward upon his breast.

Tek' your pardnerre. EN AVANT! Kip' step to de museek!" Thirty years brought many changes to Bytown. The wild woodland flavour evaporated out of the place almost entirely; and instead of an independent centre of rustic life, it became an annex to great cities. It was exploited as a summer resort, and discovered as a winter resort.