Sealed Lips — page 24: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

16 SEALED LIPS. by an infallible ear, the child had discovered the fundamental principles of the science. At fourteen he not only accompanied the sacred chants per- fectly, but he improvised with much feeling and taste. “What would you like to do?” asked the enthusi- astic countess at the sight of this prodigy. “To visit the cathedral organ and know the organ- ist,” replied the young country lad. “More than once I have been to X—— on foot, to attend wor- ship on fete days, and have pushed open the little turret gate, and found myself on the narrow stair- way that seemed to me to lead to Paradise, but the young lads who blew the organ stopped me. One day they promised to let me work for them. How happy Iwasthen! It seemed that a part of me sung in every pipe. I had a genuine bath in har- mony, and that night, in spite of the dozen leagues that I walked, I never closed my eyes.” Madame O’Farrell had an artistic soul and a charitable heart, she felt that there was a future great artist in this child. First it was necessary to conciliate Father Gode- froid, an earnest instructor and a little defiant re- garding the castle, as people of his class were then scarcely less than to-day. A pedagogue—this word seemed allin all to him—passed in his eyes as one of the most noble and sure professions in the world. A musician! That was something like a chorus singer minus the fees. j