broke up into knots talking and marvelling. To the old Trapper's face,
as he gazed at the Lad, a strange look came,--the look of a man to whose
soul has come a revelation so pure and sweet that he is unable at first
to compass it with his understanding. He came close to the Lad, and,
sitting down on the edge of the platform, put his hand on the knee of
the youth, and said:

"I have heerd most of the sweet and terrible noises that natur' makes,
boy: I have heered the thunder among the hills, when the Lord was
knockin' ag'in the 'arth until it jarred; and I have heered the wind in
the pines and the waves on the beaches when the darkness of night was on
the woods, and Natur' was singin' her evenin' psalm; and there be no
bird or beast the Lord has made whose cry, be it lively or solemn, I
have not heerd; and I have said that man had never made an instrument
that could make so sweet a noise as Natur' makes when the Sperit of the
universe speaks through her stillness: but ye have made sounds
to-night, Lad, sweeter than my ears have ever heerd on hill or
lake-shore, at noon or in the night season, and I sartinly believe that
the Sperit of the Lord has been with ye, boy, and gi'n ye the power to
bring out sech music as the Book says the angels make in their happiness
in the world above. I trust ye be grateful, Lad, for the gift the Lord
has gi'n ye; for, though yer tongue knows leetle of speech, yit yer
fingers can bring sech sounds out of that fiddle as a man might wish to
have in his ears when his body lies stiffenin' in his cabin, and his
sperit is standin' on the edge of the Great Clearin'. Yis, Lad, ye must
sartinly play for me when my eyes grow dim, and my feet strike the trail
that no man strikes but once, nor travels both ways."

At this point the announcement of supper was made; and the company
streamed towards the tables. The repast was of that bounteous character