STREET- IDYLLS,

Otago Witness, Issue 1976, 3 October 1889, Page 32

STREET- IDYLLS,

No. 3.-FETTERED.

BY HUGH BURT.

If of all words oftoqgue and pen the saddest one " 1'

might have been,'.' More sad are those we .dailyjjee, "it is, but hadn't .ought to beV' ''.<;"-.,< < » ; '

He vvas;a badly-dressed man,* a poor man, and, apparently, from his bent body and shuffling gait, an elderly- man. He was ill at ease, too, and his ' eyes wandered restlessly from side to side as he crept aloag, ke eping close to the walls and houses, partly not to attract attention, partly, it seemed, t6 shelter himself from the chilly,- drizzling rain that was falling with a monotonous swish. His clothing, though long past its pristine freshness, wore an air of quondam respectability not foreign to the man himself, despite the evident ravages that drink and dissipation had worked upon him. He had a terrible hacking cough that boded ill for longevity, and occasionally he would stop, and, with a weariness pathetic in its resignation,- lean against the fence while his whole frame shook in a paroxysm of coughing. He had evidently some ulterior destination in view, as after these fits he would hurry along a little faster, as though making up for lost time. . - Presently he reached a chemist's shop, and entered with the air of a man who was uncertain as. to his reception. ,By and bye. he returned, bearing in his hand a large key— the key of the church opposite. Hastily crossing the road he unlocked the side door and entered the dark church. Groping his way up the aisles with the familiarity of one accustomed to the way,. he seated himself afe the organ and struck a few quavering chords. The. quivering notes swelled up and died away amqng the black rafters overhead, and then the music recommenced. - Beneath his magic touch the responsive pipes' answered and the glorious, strains pealed forth , in a wild martia.l melody; It was like the marching of a victorious, army— a vast -paeon of triumph and glory; Almost" imperceptibly it changed into a more solemn measure,, and .Beethoven's > beautiful Moonlight Sonata began to, speak through the darkness, the plash of silvery, waves beneath asilyer moon, thexustleof>.w.aving cornfields, the, whisper of trembling leaves, the soft sigh of the roving breeze, the .silent splendour of sad stars,; and the long drawn moan of human sadness seemed- to. grow out of the weird music. And still - once, more it changed to the wild desolate wail.. of some sorrow mors than human whichrang through* the dark recesses v of the silent church" like ithe harsh cry of breaking waves torn into •ragged shreds of foam by granite crags. And now the plaintive notes of -*' Annie.-Laurie '? wailed forth, It was a queer ;r air .to, choose for, the organ, but il^ sadness, was intensified by the beautiful vox hiumna t .an&

'itorairaljnqstjflie. words whsh goffered' in. tWdarlaiessY - '- ' 'Andthd'sa'fchfl'wortd'tome, - ■> • ~ , , ,„ And fdr darling Annia Laurie " .,, „I'd lay me doon and dee. ilft&tiieri tbe music ceased with a disohord. more pa£fretteeven than the plaintive notes, as the nnkerripS fresd .w"a.g bowed in terrible .. weariness upon the key*?. il She's a' the world to me/ ~So she had beefi to him ; and through the darkness gleaaied a vlsios of' a 'fair-haired, grejr-eyed maiden. , : " For ever, ' she had , whispered as he framed her face between his hands and he had placed, his life in her. white hands in utter trust, and lofedwith the love that knows ( no doubt. And she— When she was tired — laid it 'down, this . pisy thing of a fe,w. bright summer ncfonths,- atad tne clpddi gathered round, him and" fchg d&jfs drawled out .their weary: same■negg week* by v w*eofc. ,Whafi'mi|hfc his life have been had she been ttge/ WitQ to \^oi;k for,, strive for, live for, "earth had been heaven and tfce sbnl would hare waf^d-hun ,to height" of^famS.' now that she f was worse .than dead . to~him what Mattered it ? Why fight life's .'battle, take the chanCeof wounds, buffet' unceasingly against the stormy world ? Leave that for the heroes of a happy .world. He vpas but mortal, and the dim by-patjhs were good .enough for „ one whose soul was 105t.., He would creep through (he -world wrapped but in self. And beyond it'?— Ah, what of that ? Nothing- to him"— -» 6 future "save a blank. Only the

wild disc'otdant muaic in him spoke at times of a something he dottld not — would not — understand. It told of & losing, trusting heart jtorn from him by a sense of dflty, of grey eTes daily saddening, and fair cheeks wast-

< eyes daily saddening, and fair Che'G'Ms wasting till the dimples changed to hollowg, Utd then through the darkness, piercing heart and brain, would come the terrible thought] "I have misguided her."' It was done. The past's eternal shape is sealed for ever. Rising, he closed the organ with trembling hands and left the sacrea precincts of the church. He returned the key arid once more wandered off down the street, The dampness steamed up from the wet ground, and the glare of light from the windows of a public house and the soflnd-of laughter from within brought him to a stop. For a moment ho paused irresolutely on the threshold. Should he "go in, or try •again for the sake of ■ the Annie he used to love— nay, still loved. At that moment a carriage rolled swiftly by and he caught' 1 *!, glimpse of a well-known face: He, that 'other, was^with hertoo. A moment later the" -.door of the' public house swung open; and presently a voice might have been heard singing in a shrill tenor to the accompaniment of a cracked and tinny pianoSi much the better for you I eay-you I ' cay— you I say— If we had lots of cats, And they ate all the rats, 'T jrou'.d be so much the better for you.