A great event occurred in Josef's prospects at the end of his second
year of school life at Hamburg. The Capellmeister, Reutter by name, of
St. Stephen's cathedral in Vienna, came to see his friend, the pastor
of Hamburg. He happened to say he was looking for a few good voices
for the choir. "I can find you one at least," said the pastor; "he is
a scholar of Frankh, the schoolmaster, and has a sweet voice."

Josef was sent for and the schoolmaster soon returned leading him by
the hand.

"Well my little fellow," said the Capellmeister, drawing him to his
knee, "can you make a shake?"

"No sir, but neither can my cousin Frankh."

Reutter laughed at this frankness, and then proceeded to show him how
the shake was done. Josef after a few trials was able to perform the
shake to the entire satisfaction of his teacher. After testing him on
a portion of a mass the Capellmeister was willing to take him to the
Cantorei or Choir school of St. Stephen's in Vienna. The boy's heart
gave a great leap. Vienna, the city of his dreams. And he was really
going there! He could scarcely believe in his good fortune. If he
could have known all that was to befall him there, he might not have
been so eager to go. But he was only a little eight-year-old boy, and
childhood's dreams are rosy.

Once arrived at the Cantorei, Josef plunged into his studies with
great fervor, and his progress was most rapid. He was now possessed
with a desire to compose, but had not the slightest idea how to go