A Village Stradivarius

by Kate Douglas Wiggin




CHAPTER I



"Goodfellow, Puck and goblins,
Know more than any book.
Down with your doleful problems,
And court the sunny brook.
The south-winds are quick-witted,
The schools are sad and slow,
The masters quite omitted
The lore we care to know."
EMERSON'S April.

"Find the three hundred and seventeenth page, Davy, and begin at the
top of the right-hand column."

The boy turned the leaves of the old instruction book obediently, and
then began to read in a sing-song, monotonous tone:

"'One of Pag-pag'" -

"Pag-a-ni-ni's"