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About The courier. (Lincoln, Neb.) 1894-1903 | View Entire Issue (Dec. 1, 1900)
r THE COURIER 11 t I Y V- t f V IX THE FRAULHN DOROTHY. A Little German Story. ' The first floor of No 117 lost caste by its cbeap restaurant; tba second was do better for a junke and old-iron shop; but in the third lived the Guligans who were in politics and most respectable. Midway between their apartments with the famous piano, and the Shaughnes 8vb of the upper regions, came a clean swept little landing, from whence, of aa evening, you might hear the violin of Herr Bauermeister weaving sunny little melodies, and soft, homesick quarerings -all to itself. The Herr was not famous in those days. He trudged the tenement stairs with his pot of beer like the others, and it was not yet so long ago that he play ed bad waltzes for bread and cheese at the variety snows that he might forget to give thanks for his beer and saua , ages. No one guessed as yet that he was born for greater things than the net of the ten thousand aliens who make art for the native born, who can not make it for themselves, unless, per haps, it waa the leader of his orchestra, or old Nick Leneeo, who played with him of an evening, and heard the violin when the fire was in the strings. Surely old Leaeen knew in those times, when he puftVd up the narrow stairway each night, with a musical bumping of bis big 'cello at the corners and a prodigious amount of grunting over the pteps between. Then the greeting was always the same. "It is well with thee, HanB?" and, "Ja Wohl, Nick," and, without another word, the two would swing iff and away into Beethoven, or, when ihe mood was upon them, ead and sweetly through the "Pilgrims' Chorus," as in the old days in the Palm Gardens, when the chatter died away at the tables, and the gay-clad officers grasped their scab bards lest the swords should clink as they walked. Lensen, the white-bearded, who bad played beneath Stockwitz at Frankfort, and a season at Berlin, must have guessed, for he was the un sparing master at these eveniogp. "Technique! technique!'' he would cry. "Thy great savage of a iolin will know no laws," perhaps holding sternly in bis heart the time when he might say, "Thou art a musician, Hans Make music for thyself." Every night, when the big Velio went bumpiDg down again, Herr Hans, like a boy fresh from work, would send a lusty "Hello,' to the flxir above, and rasp in to a laughing Irish jig-time, till the Shaughneesy's, little and big, came tumbling down the broken stairway. And then deep strategy: Tim Shaugh nessy, a whispered message in his ear, knocks on a little door across the land ing, and would Miss Dorothy come out to play with them? And if she would, great were the doings; and if she would not, "Guttn nacht," cries the tnubicixn, and drops bis uotes to a sleepy cradle song. The little red heads crawl drow sily up the stairs, the lights go out in the rooms, until pretty Bo.n the violin laughs and sobs aloae. Ever since she had come down from somewhere in North Carolina to live at 117 and work out her fortune in New York, the Herr Hans hud contiived to be on the landing ea:h morning when the door of MisB Dorothy's room open ed, that he might ay-",!A good morning, Fraulein," snd keep the memory of her answering smile to. turn into music at night. For of all that youthful army which a great city draws with a golden promise from the purer, cleaner, coun try, Dorothy, it seemed to Hans, waa the freshest, the pre tiest the best ex pression of those purities and graces which never find birth in the dingy Hoors of a tenement, and therefore the Herr Bauermeister would get from the maiden an inspiration in his music nothing else. "Hans, Hans," growled Lensen, "thou wilt soon be in love with this madchen at thy age!" and for answer the Herr Bauermeister only picked up his violin and played a few soft bars. "That is the theme, the soul of this girl," said he. ''From it I shall some day make a great sonata. I will love only the music, Herr Meister." Each day the music grew and chang ed and grew again. Each day the Herr Bauermeister saw well that the soul of womankind is strange and various be yond all knowing; yet the sonata grew, until a holiday brought MiBs Dorothy home for an afternoon and set its themes to confusion. But of such injuries the Fraulein could have guessed nothing, elee of an afternoon, when store hours were done, she would not have sung funny darky songs to the Shaugnneseys spell-bound on the landing, with the Herr Hans in full range, nor flaunted such entransingly ridiculous faces to make the children scream with laughter, and impossible ideas run through his head. ThuB, however, was damage and mischief sown in the heart of Herr Bauermeister. Looking through the door-crack, he feloniously caught each note, and, when the Bongs were done and the Sbaughneseys departed, he tip toed acrtee the hall, and hung a great red rose on her- door-knob, and then back again to play a tof t little U'ebeslied over and over again, until she opened her door and found the flower, and ran across to blow thanks into his keyhole. At which Hans, on the other side, smil ed foolishly, and, "This is not music, thou great boy!'' said he, and fell to work on a dusty etude It was such a holiday afternoon, the children gathered close about, Dorothy in her happiest, saucieet mood, that a ptrange disturbance begin below. The shouts of the restaurant children heralded the great event, and the Guli g-tn youngsters followed as far as they dared, which was until the outermost rea-head spied a blue uniform and gave the alarm. Herr Bauermeister heard the noise, and, looking through his crack, saw the little Fraulein grow very pale, andlreached the door just as she tore open a telegram, gave a little cry, and tumbled right into bis arms. For a second he thought of nothing but the delight of having that little body lying there; thn she opened her eyes and slid into a sad little heap on the floor in the midst of the frightened children. "My mother!" she sobbed. "My moth er!" And at that nans tiptoed away and brought down good Mrs. Shaugh neesy, then went into his room and shut the door. Pretty soon the old Irish woman knocked and entered with straming cheeks. "Her mother's sick to "ceath in Caroliny," said she, sobbing without restraint. "Poor choild, Bhe's no money to take her home." The Herr Bauermeister was delving in a flutter of time-tables. "At six does she leave?" said he gruffly. "As for the money, I have much, and you shall say that it is from you. And now," said he, "will I play that which will soothe?" "Tne aunts bless ye!'' cried Mrs. Shaughnessy, and went back to the room across the landing. It waB then that Herr HanB first play ed the great sonata whose theme is the soul of a girl. There is another motive when you hear it now, but outside Dorothy's door it sang only of purity and teudprness and sympathy, with deep quavering grief in its melodies. An other messenger boy followed the first while be played, and the trembling Mrs. Shaughnessy tiptoed shakily into the darkened room, and came bursting out again crying, "Better! Better!" that the whole house might hear. "Lieber Gottl that is good," shouted Hans, and, tucking bis fiddle under his arm, went trotting down the stairs, for it was concert afternoon and the hour long past. He waa not much of a thinker, this Herr Hans, when anything besides his music needed solving. He lived upon his sensibilities, and hip violin thought for him. Perhaps it was for that reason that he could not ana lyze the pleasant melancholy which kept him company all the way to the way to the music hall, which made him wish to be on the little landing one in stant, and the next breathing his whole heart into his violin before a hundred hearers. The streets, the air, the passers-by, went round to the thrumming swing of his sonata, and the glory of an unknown motive blending with the old music tilled his mind with a curious wonder. The violin under his arm was fairly throbbing with suppressed song. Entering the side door of the hall, he heard with impatience the full swing of the orchestra which told him that his time had not yet come. The symphony flared out in a glori ous blast of trumpets, followed by rap turous applause and a prosaic rustle of whispers. In the midst of the confusion Hans entered by the drums and made made his way through the chairs with a serene unconsciousness of fault. The conductor and Nick Lensen, talking' anxiously together, spied him as he took bis accustomed. seat, and pushed their way thither' with flushed faces.- "This will not do, Bauermeister," cried the leader angrily; "yours is the next num ber." "It was a sickness, Herr Con ductor," said Hans, calmly, but he beckoned Lensen closer. . "Nick," he whispered feverishly, "what is that which I play today?" "Ihou fool," cried Lensen, "the aria. Mad one! thou wilt disgrace us!" "It may be," said Hans, tightening the G string with un wonted care. The Herr Conductor tapped sharply, silence spread over the chairs, and Hans stepped to the dais with uplifted violin. For the space of a breath or two he did not break the silence. Then his bow just touched the strings, and drew softly across. Three times he played a simple melody slowly and with a caressing carefulness, like one who would be sure of that which he has found. "Ach! how grows the theme!" said he, audibly, threw back his head, and was off and away into the great so nata. There was a faint rustle of Bur prise among the audience, and a cran ing of necks in the orchestra, but as the quivering strains mounted higher and higher into the fullness of completed harmony the murmur ceased. Then a new motive, wonderfully sweet, and half ashamed, stole in and inspired the old sonata, until music and musician and hearers alike throbbed to the height of the glorious love song of the violin. Then sudden silence, and "The mischief is done," muttered Herr Hans; "until this I did not know" a few soft notes like the breath of wearied passion and it was over. And then what a burst of applause, what crowding friends and rapturous praise! Old Nick stood trembling, with a big teardrop run to bis white beard. "HanB, Haus, it is thy masterpiece!" he cried, while the Herr Conductor seized him in his arms and kissed him. But the Herr Bauermeister only shrugged. 'Ach! it is good," said he. "Tomorrow I will write the score, and then, old friend, perhaps I will leave thee for awhile." "TonnereV cried Lensen. "I should have guessed. It is the madchen!" But Hans had already escaped. Out side the stage door was the tail of a string of hansoms. Only the least ex citement would have urged him to such extravagance, so that the cabby who found himself possessed of so eager a passenger caught hi6 fervor and drove down Warburton street as if at least an alderman were within. Print deals not with such astonishment as that which Vint Pub. Nov. si3 Notice of Petition for Letters. In tbe county court of Laucaiter county, Ne braska. In re estate of Itobert Van Andel, deceased. The State of Nebraska, to Mary Van Anitcl. Frank Vincent Van Anilel ana to any other persons Interested In said matter. Take notice that a petition signed by John F. Itlffc praying wild court to grunt letter of administration of mild estate to John F HIITo hiw been tiled tn said court; that the name Is set for hearing on the tlth day or December, !. at ten o'clock A. M.. and that If you do not then appear and contest, said court may grunt ad ministration of the said estute to John F. ItlfTe. Notice of thfo proceeding lias been ordered published three week successively lu The Courier of Lincoln, Nebraska, prior to said hearing. Witness my hand and the seal of said court this 15th day of November A. D 1990. (SEAL.) Fit A.N K K. WATERS, County Judge. Hy Walter A. Lkesc. Clerk County Court. First Pub. Nov. 511. Notice of Incorporation. The undersigned hereby give public notice that they have associated themselves together for the purpose of forming the following incor poration: 1. The name of said corporation Is the "City Illock Company." 5. The principal place of transacting the busi ness of this corporation Is at the city of Lincoln, Nebraska. 3. The general nature of the business to be transacted by this corporation is to purchase, own, repair, maintain. Insure, rent, lease, mort gage, sell, and convey real estate, fixtures and appurtenances in the city of Lincoln. Nebraska. 4. The amount of capital stock authorized In this corporation Is 38,0uu, divided Into 3tiu shares of I10O each, which shall be paid at or before the date of Issuance of certificates there for, cither in real estate, money, or fixtures, or appurtenances, situated in the city of Lincoln. Nebraska, at such reasonable valuation as shall be put thereon by, the board of directors of this company, but the Incorporation shall be deemed complete upon the subscription of three shares. .5. The time of commencement of this corpora tion is the date of the tiling of these articles with the county clerk of Lancaster county. Ne braska, and the date of its termination Is at the expiration of twcnty-tlve years from said last named date. 6. The highest amount of Indebtedness or lia bility to which this corporation may at any time subject Itself is two-thirds of Its capital stock, which may be secured in whole or in part by a mortgage or mortgages upon real estate owned by It. 7. The affairs of this corporation shall be con ducted by a board of three directors, who shall choose a president from among their own num ber, and who shall also elect a secretary and treasurer but the last named offices may be held by the same person. The board shall also appoint or provide for the appointment of such subordinate officers as It may see fit. R. C. Hazlett. C F. SsCHWAIlTZ. F. D. Cornell. First Pub. Nov. 17-5. Notice is hereby given that pursuant to li cense and authority granted at Lincoln. Ne braska, on the 12th dav f November. 1UOJ). by the Honorable Edward P. Holmes, one of the judges of the District Court for Lancaster coun ty. Nebraska, sitting at chambers; the under signed executors of the last will of Nathaniel Leech. late of near the city of Calgary. In the district of Alberta. In the North West Terri tories of Canada, will offer for sale anil sell to the highest and best bidder for cash at the east front door of the court house of Lancaster county, Nebraska, between the hours of 10 o'clock A.M. and 11 o'clock A. 11. on the 17th day of December, A. D. I9il, lot numbered twenty-one I -I) In block numbered one I Din Kennard's addition to the city of Lincoln, Lan caster county. Nebraska. Said sale will be held open for bidders during the whole time between said hours. Joseph Leech. Oeohck Leech, Executors. First Pub. Nov. 21-X Notice of Probate. In the county court of Lancaster county Ne-braska-E I 197. The state of Nebraska, to Francis. Van Andel. Mrs. Annie Mcltae and to any other persons interested In said matter. Take notice that an instrument purporting to be the last will and testiment of Mollie Van Andel, deceased. Is on tile in said court, and also a petition praying for the probate of said instrument, and for the appointment of John Kiffe as executor. That on December I lth l'-XV, at ten o'clock A. M. said petition and the proof will be heard at the county court room In Lin coln, in said county, and that If you do not then appear and contest, said court may probate and record said will and grant administration of the estate a prayed for Notice whereof hxs been ordered published for three weeks successively prior to said hear ing in The Courier of Lincoln, Nebraska. Witness my hand and seal of said court this 19th day of November, 1900. I.SEAL.J Frank R. Waters, County Judge. By Walteh A. Lee.se, Clerk County Court. PAINTING, Poll shin gg. Twenty eight years experience as an inside decorator. Reasonable prices. CARL MYEER. 2612 Q Phone 5232.