have seen nothing comparable to the desert."

--HONORE DE BALZAC (adapted).

[Footnote: Note the detailed description. Does it add to the reality of
the scene? Does the author succeed in making the panther appeal to our
sympathy? Does the story seem plausible or merely fantastic? Where do
you find surprises in the story that add to its interest?]




FOR THOSE WHO LOVE MUSIC


I had engaged him by the year. Twice a week he came and went through his
whole repertoire, and lately, out of sympathy for me, he would play the
_Miserere_ of the _Trovatore_, [Footnote: Miserere of the
Trovatore. Trovatore is an opera by Verdi.] which was his show piece,
twice over. He stood there in the middle of the street looking
steadfastly up at my windows while he played, and when he had finished
he would take off his hat with an "Addio, Signor!" [Footnote: Addio
Signer: "Good-by, Sir."]

It is well known that the barrel-organ, like the violin, gets a fuller
and more sympathetic tone the older it is. The old artist had an
excellent instrument, not of the modern noisy type which imitates a
whole orchestra with flutes and bells and beats of drums, but a
melancholy old-fashioned barrel-organ [Footnote: A melancholy barrel
organ. What does the author mean by this?] which knew how to lend a