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 LISA AXD FREDDIE. Fiddling Freddie, Frontispiece.
 
 FIDDLING FREDDY 
 
 BY 
 
 NEIL FORREST. 
 
 NEW YORK: 
 ANSON D. F. RANDOLPH & COMPANY, 
 
 770 BROADWAY, COB. 9TH St.
 
 Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1S71, by 
 
 ANSON D. F. RANDOLPH & CO., 
 In the Office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington, 
 
 E. o. JENKINS, 
 
 PRINTER AND STEREOTYPER, 
 SO N. WILLIAM ST.. N. Y.
 
 PZ7 
 
 FIDDLING FREDDY. 
 
 . i. 
 
 T^HE cold wind of November was whirl- 
 ing the withered autumn leaves along 
 the city streets, chasing them into corners, 
 whisking them out again, tossing them aloft 
 in the air, and treating them very badly, 
 and in a manner to which they were quite 
 unaccustomed, for all summer long they 
 had danced on the boughs, and the sun had 
 smiled as the wind sighed so softly through 
 the green branches, and coaxed them down 
 one by one ; and now that they were down, 
 how rude it was to bluster and roar, and 
 chase them in such a furious way. 
 
 (3)
 
 FIDDLING FREDDY. 
 
 But November breezes are not to be 
 trusted ; they whisper one minute, and roar 
 the next ; sometimes they will be so quiet 
 and good, and then suddenly begin to howl 
 and shriek in angry gusts, just as they were 
 doing one cold day, when Freddy stood be- 
 fore a large brown stone house, holding his 
 cap in his hand, to catch a penny which a 
 rosy little girl was trying to throw from an 
 open window. She threw it as hard and as 
 far as she could over the area railings, and 
 then hurried to shut the window, for the 
 cruel wind whispered to her ; " Go in, my 
 little dear, I don't need your little pug nose 
 this morning, for I mean to bite Freddy's 
 bare feet." 
 
 And the penny hopped into the street, 
 and kept on hopping till it reached the gut- 
 ter, and, just as Freddy stooped to pick it 
 up, the wind knocked off his ragged cap 
 which he had replaced on his head, and 
 away it went, flying almost as fast as the 
 leaves. Freddy picked up the penny hast-
 
 FIDDLING FREDDY. 5 
 
 ily, put it in his mouth, and ran after the 
 cap. It was a very ugly cap to look at 
 a very shabby, old worn-out little cap, with- 
 out a brim, with the lining all ragged, and 
 two holes in the tip-top of it. But was it 
 all Freddy had, and he was determined not 
 to let the wicked wind get it, just to throw 
 it into the river. It bounced and rolled 
 along just ahead of him, as his short legs 
 and little bare feet trotted briskly after it ; 
 sometimes he would almost touch it, but as 
 he leaned over it, a sudden gust would 
 whirl it off again, and away it went, skim- 
 ming down the street with Freddy after it. 
 
 At last he caught it, and with panting 
 breath and glowing cheeks, he returned to 
 his former position and joined a man who 
 was covering his hand-organ, and preparing 
 to lift it on his shoulder and walk away. 
 
 " Can't you keep your hat on your head ?" 
 said he gruffly to Freddy, who was now 
 polishing the penny on his sleeve, prepara- 
 tory to handing it to the man.
 
 FIDDLING FREDDY. 
 
 " If I had a bit o' string I could, Tonio 
 got such a thing about you ?" 
 
 Tonio only grumbled some reply, which 
 Freddy did not hear, but his tone was so 
 cross he thought it best not to question him 
 further, and he followed him silently till 
 another street was reached, when Tonio 
 again lowered his organ and ground out 
 a tune on it. Freddy immediately began 
 to caper and spring about in an extraordi- 
 nary way, whirling round, leaping high in 
 the air, waving his arm wildly above him, 
 and every few moments clapping his other 
 hand on top of his head to hold on his cap. 
 If it had been some rare singing-bird, Fred- 
 dy could not have been more anxious to 
 prevent its flight. 
 
 This hopping and whirling and leaping 
 was Freddy's way of dancing, and when he 
 had kept it up for a minute or so, he stop- 
 ped as suddenly as he had begun, seized the 
 rebellious cap in his hand, and made a sud- 
 den dart at a gentleman who was passing by.
 
 FIDDLING FREDDY. 
 
 " Eh ! what ! what's this ?" said he in a 
 tone of surprise. " Get out with you, you 
 rascal, or I'll have you taken up !" and on 
 he went. Freddy did not appear to be sur- 
 prised at all at this reception, but carried 
 his cap to every one who passed by. Some 
 gave him pennies, and some took no notice 
 at all of him, and some laughed, and some 
 scolded and said, " little nuisance !" and all 
 hurried along. Then Freddy looked up at 
 the windows of the houses, and when he 
 saw anybody sitting by one, he bowed and 
 laughed and held out his cap, and gave a 
 few more leaps and springs, and a lady, 
 who had a baby in her arms, tossed out 
 two pennies, which hopped and rolled just 
 as the other had done, and he had to hop 
 after them. As he stooped for the last one, 
 he put it hastily in his mouth, and, when he 
 handed the money to Tonio, he did not 
 give this one to him. 
 
 Tonio looked at him sharply and counted 
 the money, but Freddy pretended to be
 
 8 FIDDLING FREDDY. 
 
 looking diligently for more pennies, and 
 did not look at Tonio, who pocketed all 
 that had been given him, and again shoul- 
 dered his organ. And now the wind did 
 one good thing : it blew a bit of twine di- 
 rectly into Freddy's face. In a minute he 
 caught it, and, with a little cry of triumph, 
 he passed one end of the string through a 
 hole in his cap, and fastened it, and then 
 tied the other end to a hole in his jacket. 
 When this was done, he walked along 
 proudly ; no dandy in Broadway with a 
 silk hat felt better satisfied with himself 
 than Freddy. 
 
 At the next house before which Tonio 
 stopped, there were two children, who clap- 
 ped their hands, and cried, " Oh, here comes 
 an organ man !" and they made signs to 
 Tonio to play. They laughed heartily at 
 Freddy's wild dance, and in a few minutes 
 the front door was opened, and a servant 
 appeared with sixpence for Tonio, and a 
 request that the little boy should sing.
 
 FIDDLING FREDDY. 
 
 At this Freddy looked dismayed, but To- 
 nio told him to sing at once, and immedi- 
 ately stopped grinding on his organ. Fred- 
 dy only knew one song, and but few words 
 of that. He had heard Tito, one of his boy- 
 friends, sing it. He tried to dance again, 
 hoping that would please the children, but 
 they made signs to him to sing, and Tonio 
 commanded him to do so, in an angry tone. 
 But how was he to sing with the penny in 
 his mouth ? However, he dared not dis- 
 obey, and began : 
 
 " My mountain home, te yortle too, 
 My heart for thee, too lortle too, 
 Still sighs and longs " 
 
 At this point the song broke off suddenly, 
 and Freddy went stamping round for a few 
 minutes, as though he had gone crazy. The 
 penny had slipped down his throat, notwith- 
 standing his efforts to prevent it from doing 
 so, but \hejodel was too much for him, and 
 down went the penny.
 
 IO FIDDLING FREDDY. 
 
 Poor Freddy felt as if he would choke to 
 death, but he was determined not to let 
 Tonio see, for fear he would know that he 
 had kept back the money. By dint of 
 coughing and much strangling he man- 
 aged to get it out of his throat, and once 
 more held it in his cheek, concealed. To- 
 nio called to him and swore at him, but he 
 was too much out of breath to sing again, 
 and so they bowed to the children, who did 
 not know what to make of Freddy's queer 
 song and movements, and once more they 
 walked on. . 
 
 As the evening drew on, Freddy did not 
 dance with such energy, and after awhile 
 he only shuffled his feet on the pavement, 
 and nobody took any notice of him. Every- 
 body seemed to be in a greater hurry than 
 ever, and, as the streets darkened, the 
 bright gas-lights appeared in the houses, 
 and the rich warm curtains were dropped 
 before the windows, hiding the children, 
 who were always the best customers. So
 
 FIDDLING FREDDY. II 
 
 Tonio concluded that it was time to go 
 home. 
 
 Freddy's feet were numbed with the cold, 
 and as he shuffled along after Tonio, rub- 
 bing one against the other to try and warm 
 them, he thought about the happy children 
 in those beautiful houses, who were always 
 so warmly clothed, and were shielded and 
 guarded from every evil. They did not 
 know what it was to feel this biting wind 
 tweak their noses and ears and feet and 
 hands. They did not have to dance all day 
 long to get their living. 
 
 " I wonder why they have so much, and 
 I have so little," thought the boy. " But 
 then I'm better off than Lisa," said he to 
 himself; "for I get plenty to eat, and she 
 don't." 
 
 And he rolled the penny round in his 
 mouth. It was a very uncomfortable place 
 to carry it, but his pockets had long ago 
 become so ragged that they would not hold 
 anything, and his cap had to be taken off
 
 12 FIDDLING FREDDY. 
 
 constantly. Besides, it had so many holes 
 in it that a penny would have dropped 
 through it if any one should put one in, 
 which never happened, for, though he al- 
 ways held it for them, the people who gave 
 generally threw them far beyond the little 
 old cap, into the street. 
 
 On and on trotted Freddy behind Tonio 
 and the organ, until they reached an alley, 
 opening off one of the narrow, dirty, crowd- 
 ed streets, far away from the broad hand- 
 some avenues they had visited that day. 
 
 Going down the alley and turning to the 
 right, they entered a dingy old house, toiled 
 wearily up a pair of rickety, creaking stairs, 
 and opening a door, found themselves in 
 a long room, with low ceiling, dirty walls, 
 broken windows and bare floor. There were 
 about fifteen men already in this room, and, 
 as Tonio entered, they greeted him with 
 mingled exclamations of welcome, derision 
 and abuse. 
 
 They spoke in different languages, some
 
 FIDDLING FREDDY. 13 
 
 in Italian, others in a French patois, and oth- 
 ers again in English. But all were grum- 
 bling, and seemed to have been waiting for 
 Tonio, who sat down wearily, and began to 
 cough violently. As soon as he recovered 
 breath, he signed to Freddy, who went from 
 one to the other of the men, receiving a 
 small sum of money from each, which To- 
 nio counted, and, adding a trifle more, told 
 Freddy to be quick and go and buy supper. 
 Tired as he was, he started off with alac- 
 rity, for he was hungry, too, and he very 
 well knew that there was no rest for him 
 till the supper was over. 
 
 On his way down stairs he stopped at the 
 door of another room, and gave a long loud 
 knock, calling out, " Sally, come up." This 
 was a signal to the old woman who lived 
 there to carry the coffee she had made up- 
 stairs, together with such portions of the 
 supper as she had cooked. This old woman 
 was paid by the men to cook, wash and 
 mend for them. 
 2
 
 14 FIDDLING FREDDY. 
 
 She was known as Sally, and if she had 
 any other name, Freddy had never heard 
 it. The men were all organ-grinders, fid- 
 dlers, harpists, or strolling minstrels, who 
 went about in bands. 
 
 Their days were spent in much the same 
 way as Tonio and Freddy, and at night they 
 all assembled in this room, paying for it by 
 joint contributions, as they did for their 
 meals. They were a tired and a cross set 
 of men just now, for they were hungry ; 
 but at times, when they had supper and 
 were rested, they were lively and jolly 
 enough ; Freddy had never known any 
 other home. He remembered nothing but 
 this home and Tonio and the long, long 
 streets no mother, no gentle or caressing 
 voice, no playthings or amusements, only 
 this close crowded room, or trotting be- 
 hind the organ and dancing on the streets. 
 But Freddy had a cheerful heart, and, as 
 he knew nothing better, he was quite con- 
 tented and happy.
 
 FIDDLING FREDDY. 15 
 
 There were times when Tonio was cross 
 and would swear at him and even strike 
 him ; but the poor child was used to swear- 
 ing, and learned to dodge the blows. He 
 had no one to teach him to be good, and 
 he was like a little heathen in one respect 
 he knew nothing about God. 
 
 The men with whom he lived earned an 
 honest living by playing on their musical 
 instruments, and they all gained enough in 
 this way to keep them above want ; but, 
 though they did not steal, nor teach Freddy 
 to, they did what was very nearly as bad : 
 they gambled nearly every night, sitting 
 up long after midnight over their cards. 
 Fortunately for him, Freddy was always so 
 tired with his day's work that he fell asleep 
 as soon as supper was over, and never knew 
 what took place around him after that. All 
 the oaths and quarreling of the men were 
 unheard while he slept peacefully ; but 
 while this. saved him from hearing a great 
 deal that was sinful, and his life with Tonio
 
 16 FIDDLING FREDDY. 
 
 kept him fully occupied in the daytime, and 
 out of mischief, you may imagine that he 
 learned little good from those around him. 
 
 If he did not steal, it was more because 
 he was afraid of Tonio than because he 
 knew it to be wicked. He was only nine 
 years old. At that age a child cannot be 
 depraved ; but, alas ! for him if he is sur- 
 rounded by those who are. 
 
 When Freddy had knocked at the door, 
 he ran off quickly to the store at the corner 
 of the street. The old woman rose slowly 
 from her chair, and began to bustle about 
 the room, gathering dishes together in a 
 basket, and lifting a large tin coffee-pot 
 from the hot stove. A little girl, about as 
 old as Freddy, had started when she had 
 heard the knock, and a gleam of pleasure 
 lit up her pale face, which a moment before 
 had looked as though it never could smile. 
 She was sewing horn buttons on to coarse 
 blue shirts by the dim light which came 
 from the window. Her dark blue eyes
 
 were swollen with crying, and the heavy 
 lids and long black lashes drooped wearily 
 over them. 
 
 The old woman, after much clattering 
 round the room, turned sharply upon her, 
 and asked her why she sat there, and told 
 her to get up at once and carry the basket 
 and coffee-pot upstairs. The little girl rose, 
 and, taking the heavy basket in one hand 
 and the coffee-pot in the other, carried 
 them slowly up the broken stairs, followed 
 by Sally, who scolded her all the way for 
 not going faster. When she had set them 
 down on the table in the men's room, Sally 
 told her to get back to her work. Closing 
 the door behind her, the child ran quickly 
 down the stairs, and reached the door of 
 the house just as Freddy returned, his arms 
 full of bundles, from the store. 
 
 " Lisa," he whispered as he entered, " are 
 you there ?" 
 
 " Oh, yes, yes, Freddy ! have you got it ? 
 Give it to me quick, or she'll come."
 
 IS FIDDLING FREDDY. 
 
 " Here," said Freddy, handing her a roll, 
 " here it is eat it up. I 'most killed my- 
 self to-day trying to hide the penny for it. 
 Tonio made me sing, and it got stuck in 
 my throat. If I hadn't got it up, you 
 wouldn't a-had your supper, Lisa." 
 
 " Oh, Freddy, how good you are !" cried 
 the little girl in a frightened whisper, eat- 
 ing her roll voraciously. 
 
 " Well, I don't know. I guess Tonio 
 wouldn't think so if he knew I kept a 
 penny. But I've a right to it, for it's my 
 dancing that gets it, and I mean to bring 
 you a roll every night, Lisa, for you're 
 'most starved, ain't you ?" 
 
 " Yes," said Lisa, faintly. " She only gives 
 me just the scraps left from the men's meal's. 
 Oh, I do get so hungry!" 
 
 " Don't you have coffee ?" asked Freddy. 
 
 " Oh, no, never !" replied the child. 
 
 Freddy thought for a moment, and then 
 said, " I'll tell you what, Lisa ; I've seen 
 lots of old tin cans lying round the streets
 
 FIDDLING FREDDY. 19 
 
 up-to\vn, and I'll get one to-morrow and 
 hide it behind the door ; then, when I can, 
 I'll fill it with coffee for you. I don't mind 
 going without once in a while, and you 
 look out sharp the first thing in the morn- 
 ing, will you ?" 
 
 " Thank you, Freddy ; how kind you are 
 to me. Nobody is half so good to me now 
 as you are." 
 
 " Oh, bother your good 7" cried Freddy. 
 " Maybe I'll want it all myself, after all. 
 But you look out for it, and perhaps you'll 
 find it, and perhaps you won't." 
 
 With these words Freddy ran off, for he 
 dared not wait longer ; and little Lisa, hav- 
 ing finished her roll, crept softly back to 
 the room, and by the flickering firelight 
 began her weary task again with a lighter 
 heart just in time, for an instant after Sally 
 entered ; and it was well for Lisa that she 
 was in her place, at work.
 
 II. 
 
 THE next day Tonio called Tito from 
 his adjoining room to come and teach 
 Freddy a song. He told Freddy he must 
 sing as well as dance, and to hurry up and 
 learn how to do it properly. " Well, then, " 
 said Freddy to himself, " I must find some 
 other way to hide Lisa's penny, or I shall 
 choke to death some day." 
 
 He had a quick ear for music, and a clear, 
 sweet, childish yoice, and he caught several 
 popular melodies quickly after hearing Tito 
 sing them ; but he found it hard to remem- 
 ber the words. 
 
 " The words are of no 'count," said Tito ; 
 " slide your voice along when you forget 
 them." 
 
 Tito was an Italian boy, who sold white 
 mice and san in the street. He had been
 
 FIDDLING FREDDY. 
 
 in America ever since he was a little child, 
 and spoke English better than Italian. He 
 was Freddy's best friend, and used to bring 
 him flowers from the country in the sum- 
 mer, when he returned from his long expe- 
 ditions. He had a brother whom Freddy 
 dreaded to meet, he was so tyrannical and 
 cruel, but Tito never allowed him to beat 
 Freddy when he was by. 
 
 As soon as the song was learned, Tonio 
 shouldered his organ, and, with Freddy fol- 
 lowing, set off on his day's tramp. Freddy 
 picked up the first tin tomato-can he saw 
 lying by an ash-barrel, and he put a few 
 stones in it, and walked along rattling it, 
 hoping to slip a penny in by-and-by, when 
 Tonio was not looking, and so deceive him. 
 
 They had not much luck that day. No- 
 body seemed to want to hear the music, or 
 to see the dancing. Many a time they 
 were ordered away from before the door of 
 some house where they had taken their 
 stand. "At this rate, there would be no
 
 22 FIDDLING FREDDY. 
 
 chance for Lisa," Freddy thought ; and 
 when next they stopped he began to sing, 
 hoping to attract more notice by doing so. 
 His plan seemed to succeed, for a gentle- 
 man, dressed in plain dark clothes, stopped, 
 turned round to look at him, went on a few 
 steps, came back, and stood listening. En- 
 couraged by this, Freddy sang his very 
 best and his voice rang out clearly on the 
 frosty air. The gentleman waited till he 
 had finished, and then, taking two or three 
 cents from his pocket, handed them to Fred- 
 dy, saying, at the same time 
 
 " Is he your father?" pointing to Tonio. 
 
 " No," answered Freddy, " I ain't got no 
 father." 
 
 " Do you think you could sing well 
 enough to join a choir of boys and chant a 
 Christmas carol in church ?" asked the gen- 
 tleman, who was the young rector of a 
 neighboring chapel. Freddy had not the 
 least idea of what was meant, but he an- 
 swered
 
 FIDDLING FREDDY. 23 
 
 " I can sing ' Not for Joe,' if you like.". 
 
 The young man smiled and turned to 
 Tonio. " I'm getting up some music for 
 Christmas ," said he, " and I want a few chil- 
 dren's voices in the choir. Your little boy 
 seems to have a good voice. Suppose you 
 send him round to me, and let me see what 
 I can do with him ?" 
 
 "What can you do for him ?" asked Tonio, 
 wide-awake as to the business part of the 
 transaction, which the other evidently had 
 not considered. 
 
 " Oh," said he, smiling, " I'll make that 
 all right." 
 
 " No," answered Tonio, " he can't go, 
 unless you pay me six cents for every hour 
 he stays with you, and I'll lose money by 
 that," he grumbled. 
 
 But Freddy knew better. They had not 
 made sixpence that day, and they had been 
 out many hours. 
 
 " Well, well," said the young man, " I'll 
 agree to that. Send him round to me at
 
 24 FIDDLING FREDDY. 
 
 four o'clock this afternoon;" and he was 
 hurrying off when Freddy called out 
 
 " Hold on, sir ! Where am I to go ?" 
 
 " Oh, to be sure !" said the gentleman 
 smiling ; " come to the door of the vestry 
 room belonging to the church on the next 
 block. Do you know where that is ?" 
 
 " Is it the big brown stone house that 
 rings a bell in its loft?" asked Freddy. 
 
 " Yes," said the gentleman ; " I'll meet 
 you there at four o'clock ;" and he hurried 
 off. It was now about three o'clock, and 
 Tonio said he would keep near the church 
 till the hour had passed ; and when the 
 right time came he told him to go where he 
 had been directed, and come home as soon 
 as he could with the money. So Tonio 
 went off with the organ on his shoulder, 
 walking sWeways down the street, and 
 Freddy started alone in the direction of the 
 church. He knew the building when he 
 saw it, but he had never been inside of a 
 church in his life, and had not the least idea
 
 FIDDLING FREDDY. 2$ 
 
 of what it was like, or what it was for. He 
 walked round and round it, and tried to 
 open the iron gates. 
 
 " I wonder why folks will keep their area 
 gates locked," said he to himself. " That's 
 a stunning big house, though ; but I don't 
 see no bell to the front-door. How do they 
 get in ? If I'd a long rope, now, a-hangin ' 
 to that big bell up there, I'd pull it loud 
 enough for them ! " 
 
 Saying this, Freddy came to a little side- 
 gate, which he tried, and found unfastened. 
 Walking up the narrow flagged walk, he 
 came to a door which stood ajar. 
 
 " I guess this is the bestry door," said he 
 to himself; "he said to go to the bestry 
 door." 
 
 Seeing nobody, he advanced a few steps, 
 and found himself in a high, narrow passage- 
 way, with a red baize door in front of him, 
 and a flight of stairs at his side. He walked 
 to the door and knocked, but his little 
 knuckles made no sound on the soft materi- 
 3
 
 26 FIDDLING FREDDY. 
 
 al. There were two small oval glass win- 
 dows in the door, but they were much high- 
 er than Freddy's head. He knocked again, 
 and, receiving no answer, turned to the 
 stairs. 
 
 " I guess I ought to go up and ring the 
 bell, and let him know as I'm come," said he, 
 softly. 
 
 His little bare feet made no noise on the 
 cocoa matting with which the floor was cov- 
 ered, and, although Mr. Browning, the 
 young rector, was sitting in the vestry room 
 at that moment, on the other side of the 
 baize door, he never knew that Freddy was 
 at hand. The hands of his watch pointed to 
 quarter past four, and he began to get im- 
 patient. 
 
 " I do not believe that little fellow will 
 come at all," said he " I was foolish to ex- 
 pect it. I'm sorry, too, for he had a good 
 voice. Well ! I must give it up, and look 
 more systematically for a choir," and he 
 took his hat and walked toward the door.
 
 FIDDLING FREDDY. 2/ 
 
 Just as he opened it he heard the church- 
 bell toll one. He started, and hastily looked 
 at his watch again. It surely was not time 
 for any service! No, evening service did 
 not begin till seven o'clock. What was the 
 bell ringing for ? Again it tolled one and then 
 again, more feebly, and then came a loud 
 peal, as though some one jerked it violently. 
 
 Amazed at the unusual sound at such an 
 hour, Mr. Browning stood, hat in hand, for 
 a moment, and then ran upstairs up and 
 up, and up, till he came to the belfry, where 
 he found Freddy hard at work. He had 
 put one foot in a loose knot of a long rope 
 that hung there, and had taken hold of the 
 upper portion of it that he might have a 
 firmer hold, for he was not strong enough 
 to move the bell with his hands alone. 
 With every pull the bell rang, and, as the 
 rope was shortened by its swinging, up 
 went Freddy's leg with a jerk, nearly as high 
 as his head ; but, by dint of clinging to the 
 rope with both hands, he managed to swing
 
 28 FIDDLING FREDDY. 
 
 himself off the floor, and his weight brought 
 the bell down again with another jerk. 
 
 " What are you doing, child ? " gasped 
 Mr. Browning. 
 
 " Please, sir, I knocked, and I knocked, 
 and there wasn't no bell to your front door, 
 and all your area gates was locked, and I 
 was afraid you'd be a waitin ' for me, so I 
 rang your bell to let you know as I was 
 come. But it's dreadful hard work, sir." 
 
 Mr. Browning could not help laughing. 
 
 " You've let every one in the neighbor- 
 hood know, too," said he, as Freddy disen- 
 gaged himself from the rope that hung to 
 the still vibrating bell. "But why didn't 
 you come right through the red door?" he 
 asked, as they began to descend the stairs. 
 
 " I didn't know as they'd let me in with- 
 out ringin'," panted Freddy, quite breath- 
 less with his late exertion. 
 
 "Were you never in a church before?" 
 asked the clergyman. 
 
 " No," said Freddy. " What's it for ? "
 
 FIDDLING FREDDY. 29 
 
 " It is God's house," said Mr. Browning, 
 solemnly. 
 
 " It's a bustin' big one, ain't it ? " said 
 Freddy, with wide open eyes, as he follow- 
 ed Mr. Browning through the door into 
 the vestry room. 
 
 " Is God rich? " 
 
 The young clergyman turned round hast- 
 ily, and looked keenly into Freddy's face. 
 He thought for a minute that he had to 
 deal with a sharp, mischievous, probably a 
 profane boy ; but the innocent look of won- 
 der in his large eyes showed him that he 
 was not. A little New York heathen that 
 was what he was ! A poor, neglected, 
 ignorant little child ! 
 
 " What's your name ? " said Mr. Brown- 
 ing. 
 
 " Freddy." 
 
 " What's your other name ? " 
 
 " Haven't got no other as I knows on," 
 answered Freddy, laughing, and showing 
 a glistening row of white teeth.
 
 3O FIDDLING FREDDY. 
 
 " What is your father's name ? " persisted 
 Mr. Browning. 
 
 " Haven't got no father." 
 
 " Nor mother?" 
 
 " No ! I never had no mother." 
 
 " Who was that man you were with ? " 
 
 " Oh, that's Tonio. I live with him. He 
 plays on the organ, and I dance and take 
 the money." 
 
 11 Do you never go to God's house on 
 Sunday?" 
 
 "No! Guess he hasn't got no houses 
 down to where I live. Never asked me to 
 come, anyways, and nobody never took me. 
 Guess he don't know Tonio, nor none of 
 our men, for /never heard of him." 
 
 Mr. Browning sat down in his large 
 leather chair and leaned his head on his 
 hand. He was a young man, and had but 
 lately come to the city to live. This was 
 a new experience to him. How could he 
 teach this child ? Where and how should 
 he begin ?
 
 FIDDLING FREDDY. 31 
 
 " You wanted me to sing, didn't you ? " 
 asked Freddy, after a pause. 
 
 "Yes," said Mr. Browning, recollecting 
 himself. 
 
 Freddy instantly struck up, " Not for 
 Joe," which he sung in a spirited way, as 
 taught by Tito. 
 
 " Hush ! hush ! " exclaimed Mr. Brown- 
 ing, hastily. 
 
 Freddy stopped suddenly, and looked up, 
 rather amazed, into his patron's face. Tito 
 had said that everybody would like that 
 song. 
 
 " Don't you like it, sir? I can sing 
 ' Home, Sweet Home,' if you'd rather," and 
 he began that. 
 
 Although many of the words were for- 
 gotten, Freddy sang one verse of the sweet 
 old melody, and his young voice rang 
 clearly and sweetly through the room, with 
 its high, arched ceiling. 
 
 " Can you catch a tune quickly ? " asked 
 Mr. Browning, thinking, at the time, how
 
 32 FIDDLING FREDDY. 
 
 pathetic a song it was in the mouth of that 
 poor little barefooted wanderer. 
 
 " Guess so," said Freddy, and Mr. Brown- 
 ing, sitting down before a small melodeon, 
 played a simple tune. 
 
 Freddy looked with wonder at this per- 
 formance. He had never seen any musical 
 instrument like this before, but he was de- 
 lighted with the sweet sounds that issued 
 from it. 
 
 " That's ever so much nicer than Tonic's 
 organ," said he. " It's not so Zanglcdy 
 Zangledy" 
 
 " Well, now try and see if you can sing 
 this," said Mr. Browning, encouragingly, 
 and he played and sang a verse of the 
 Christmas hymn. 
 
 Freddy listened, and very soon joined in 
 the melody. Mr. Browning looked pleased. 
 
 " I see that you have a good ear for 
 music," said he ; " would you like to come 
 here and learn with a few other children, and 
 then sing in the church on Christmas Day ? "
 
 FIDDLING FREDDY. 33 
 
 "I'd just as soon," said Freddy, "If 
 Tonio'll let me. But you'll have to pay him 
 for me, and you must let me out in time to 
 get Lisa's penny." 
 
 This had to be explained to Mr. Brown- 
 ing, who heard from Freddy poor little 
 Lisa's story. She had been brought to 
 Sally's a year ago, by her dying mother. 
 Sally was her grandmother, and had prom- 
 ised to take care of her ; but she made her 
 work very hard, was often cruel to her, and 
 never gave her enough to eat. 
 
 " Lisa sings ! " exclaimed Freddy, as he 
 finished his story. " If you'll pay Sally for 
 her, she could come and sing 'stead of me, 
 and maybe you'd find her something to eat 
 once in a while." 
 
 Freddy's black eyes sparkled as he made 
 this little plan for Lisa's benefit. It would 
 take her away from Sally for awhile, at any 
 rate, and maybe this grand gentleman 
 would give her a penny for herself some- 
 times.
 
 34 FIDDLING FREDDY. 
 
 Mr. Browning said he would go and see 
 Sally, and ask if she would let Lisa come, 
 but that he should want Freddy too. 
 
 " What is't all for, anyway ? " asked 
 Freddy. " Is the singin' for God ? " 
 
 " Yes," replied Mr. Browning. 
 
 "Will he be here next time?" said 
 Freddy. " Lisa's dreadful ragged and dirty, 
 and so am I. Maybe he won't let us into 
 his big house when he sees us." 
 
 " He sees you now, my little boy. He 
 made you and Lisa, and everybody. He 
 made the world, and everything that is in 
 it." 
 
 Freddy's eyes opened widely, and Mr. 
 Browning went on to tell him about God. 
 It may seem a very strange thing to chil- 
 dren who read this that a boy of nine years 
 old had never heard of God, but Freddy 
 had nobody to teach him. He listened 
 eagerly to Mr. Browning as he told him the 
 wonderful story of God's love to us, of 
 Christ's birth, of his thirty-three years of
 
 FIDDLING FREDDY. 35 
 
 life on earth, and of his cruel death by those 
 he had come to save, and for whom he 
 prayed with his dying breath. 
 
 When at last he stopped speaking and 
 looked up, there sat Freddy, with all ten 
 of his little nuckles dug into his eyes, trying 
 to keep out, or wipe away, the tears that 
 li'onld come, and had made long streaks 
 down his dirty little face. 
 
 " Can't help crying," said he, with a sob : 
 " it was so dreadful good of Jesus to leave 
 up there, and come and be cold and hungry. 
 It is so bad to be cold, sir. Oh ! you don't 
 know ; and Lisa says it's worse to be 
 hungry. And he didn't need to be, either, 
 but just 'cause he loved us, it were dread- 
 ful good of him. Oh, I'll sing real loud, I 
 will, if you think he likes that song as you 
 sung ! " 
 
 Mr. Browning thought he had said 
 enough for this time, and, looking at his 
 watch, was surprised to see how late it was. 
 
 " There, there," said he, " rim home now.
 
 36 FIDDLING FREDDY. 
 
 Here's your money, and a penny for Lisa. 
 I'll go and see Sally, and you must, both 
 come to-morrow at the same hour. Don't 
 forget what I have taught you." 
 
 " No sir !" called back Freddy, who had 
 already started for the street. " I'll be sure 
 to learn that song as you says God likes ! " 
 and away he ran, singing, down the frosty 
 street, rattling his money in his tin can as 
 an accompaniment ; and as Mr. Browning 
 stopped to lock the church door after him, 
 he heard his clear, childish voice in the 
 distance, shouting " the glad tidings," as he 
 hastened home to tell all to Lisa, and give 
 her the roll and coffee.
 
 III. 
 
 B' 
 
 know how to make any tune come," 
 said Lisa, when Freddy told her about his 
 day's adventure. 
 
 It was late in the evening, and the two 
 children were in their retreat behind the 
 house-door, where Lisa had found the toma- 
 to-can full of coffee, and where Freddy had 
 joined her, bringing the roll as usual. He 
 had talked so rapidly, and jumbled every- 
 thing together in such a way, that Lisa 
 could not understand at all what he was 
 talking about. One fact alone became evi- 
 dent to her that Freddy had told some- 
 body she could sing, and that this somebody 
 was coming to see Sally and ask permis- 
 sion to have her do so. 
 
 4 (37)
 
 38 FIDDLING FREDDY. 
 
 " I never sang in all my life, Freddy. 
 How come you to say I could ?" 
 
 " Oh ! I s'posed you could, and I bet you 
 can. It '11 be so jolly to get away from old 
 Sally, and p'raps you '11 make money by it," 
 replied Freddy. 
 
 " But if I can't, how can I?" inquired 
 Lisa, with a perplexed air. 
 
 " You can, I tell you you can. I '11 teach 
 you the tune, and you '11 learn it in half a 
 shake." 
 
 " Will it grind out of me, like out of an or- 
 gan? " asked Lisa, hopefully. 
 
 " Oh ! I guess so. Why, it 's nothing at 
 all, Lisa, but just open your mouth and let 
 it come." 
 
 Lisa opened her mouth wide. " Don't 
 seem as if 'twould," said she, after a pause, 
 during which Freddy stood gazing down 
 her throat, as though he expected to see 
 the tune there. 
 
 " But you do n't try," said he, impatient- 
 ly. " Make a noise in your throat kinder
 
 FIDDLING FREDDY. 39 
 
 so," and Freddy sang gayly. "Why, it 
 just sings itself," said he, as he finished. 
 " Can't you let the sing come ? " 
 
 " 'Course I'll let it," said Lisa. " You just 
 tell the words, and p'raps the sing will come 
 when I say them." 
 
 " Shout the glad tidings ! " sang Freddy, 
 half shouting the words. 
 
 " Oh, hush!" cried Lisa; "Sally will 
 hear you." 
 
 " Don't care if she do," replied Freddy, 
 stoutly. 
 
 " Oh ! but / care, 'cause if she catches me 
 here, she'll beat me," said Lisa, in a fright- 
 ened voice. 
 
 " Well, she won't catch you. It's pay- 
 day, and she's screwing the money out of 
 the men upstairs. She'll be busy enough 
 awhile yet. Now, then, try again." 
 
 " Shout the glad tidings," sang Lisa, in a 
 deep voice, all on one note. " There, 
 Freddy, it did sing that time, didn't it ? " 
 said she, joyfully.
 
 4O FIDDLING FREDDY. 
 
 " Yes," answered Freddy, doubtfully, 
 " but don't make such a roaring noise down 
 low. Put your voice up a little in your 
 throat, kinder sorter." 
 
 Thus exhorted, Lisa tried again ; but this 
 time she squeaked in such a high key that 
 Freddy burst out laughing, threw himself, 
 down on his back, kicked his feet high in 
 the air, turned a somersault, and finally 
 came right side up again. Lisa was doubt- 
 ful, for a moment, whether this was intend- 
 ed as a compliment to her performance, or 
 otherwise. But her doubts were solved by 
 Freddy, who exclaimed, in a choking 
 voice : " Oh, my goody, Lisa ! What a 
 screech you did give ! " And off he went 
 again, shaking and shouting with laughter. 
 
 " Oh, don't ! " he cried, as Lisa began to 
 try again. "I'll die a-laughing. Oh dear! 
 oh dear ! oh, my goody ! Can't you sing no 
 other ways than that? " 
 
 " Wasn't that good ? " asked Lisa, eagerly. 
 " You told me to make my voice go high."
 
 FIDDLING FREDDY. 41 
 
 " Now see here, Lisa," said Freddy, con- 
 trolling his laughter. " It mustn't be all 
 high, nor all low ; half of each like, this way. 
 Now try again." 
 
 "Shout the glad tidings" sang Lisa, with 
 two grunts and two squeaks. 
 
 Off went Freddy on his back again, roll- 
 ing over and over, in a spasm of laughter. 
 
 " Oh, Lisa ! " he gasped, as soon as he 
 could speak, "you'll be the death o' me. 
 Oh, my goody gracious ! " and he wiped his 
 eyes on the ragged sleeve of his jacket. 
 
 " Well Freddy, I told you I couldn't ! " 
 said poor Lisa, quite discomfited by the 
 effect she produced on her audience. " You 
 oughtn't to have said as I could. Now the 
 gentleman will come, and Sally '11 beat me 
 'cause I can't sing." 
 
 " No, she won't," said Freddy, becom- 
 ing sober at the thought. " Don't you say 
 one word, good or bad, when he comes, and 
 he won't ever think to ask you, 'cause I said 
 as you could sing lovely."
 
 42 FIDDLING FREDDY. 
 
 " But what'll he do with me up to God's 
 house ? Nobody'll want me there if I can't 
 sing," and the tears gathered in her eyes. 
 She did not know, in the least, what it was 
 that she was required to do ; but the prospect 
 of leaving her wretched home, for even a 
 short time, was an agreeable one to her, and 
 Freddy had hinted at some unknown good 
 that would happen by-and-by, if she sang 
 for God. 
 
 " Never you mind, Lisa, I'll sing loud 
 enough for both," said Freddy. " I'll shout 
 and yell the glad tidings so they'll all think 
 you're singing, too." 
 
 " Oh, will you, Freddy? " said Lisa, grate- 
 fully. " Then that'll do just as well, won't it ?" 
 
 " I bet it will," answered Freddy, his con- 
 fidence in his own abilities increasing, as he 
 saw Lisa's deficiencies in this respect. 
 
 " What is the glad tidings, anyways ? " 
 asked she. 
 
 " Why, just what I told you first of all," 
 answered Freddy.
 
 FIDDLING FREDDY. 43 
 
 " But I didn't know what you was talk- 
 ing about," said she. 
 
 " Well, lemme see," said Freddy, medita- 
 tively. " I 'most forgot, but I know it was 
 something mighty good. Oh, yes ; now I 
 know. First of all, Lisa, most folks in the 
 world is horrid wicked bad." 
 
 " So they be," assented Lisa, in a tone of 
 conviction. 
 
 " Well, an ' so when they die, they've all 
 got to go to the bad place," continued 
 Freddy. 
 
 " I dessay," said Lisa ; " but I don't think 
 that's such dreadful glad tidings, 'cause 
 mebbe we'll have to go 'long o' the rest." 
 
 " Well, now, it don't seem as if I'd hit it 
 just right," said Freddy, with a puzzled 
 air ; " 'cause it did seem like glad tidings 
 when the gentleum was a-talking. I must 
 ha' left out something. Stop a bit, till I 
 think. Oh, yes ! now I got him ! Nobody 
 need to go there, after all that's it you, 
 nor me, nor nobody ! "
 
 44 FIDDLING FREDDY. 
 
 " Why not? " asked Lisa, eagerly. 
 
 "Why,* to be sure, now, that's the glad 
 tidings ; just 'cause God (that's him as made 
 us, you know him as lives up to the sky), 
 he don't want us to go there ; he'd rather 
 we'd come to live with him up to the sky." 
 
 "Oh! Freddy, I don't b'lieve it! How'd 
 we ever get there?" 
 
 " Don't know ; but we would if he said 
 so. He can do anything in all the world 
 he likes." 
 
 "Well, I don't b'lieve he'd like much to 
 have you an ' me up to his place in our dirty 
 old ragged clothes." 
 
 " I don't know ; some folks ain't so petick- 
 ler about dirt as you be, Lisa. Now I'd 
 just as lieve be dirty as clean, any day," 
 answered Freddy. 
 
 " How d' you know he wants us there, 
 anyway? " inquired Lisa, waiving the ques- 
 tion of cleanliness. 
 
 " Why, that gentleum Mr. Browning 
 his name is he said so."
 
 FIDDLING FREDDY. 45 
 
 " How does he know ? He's never been 
 up to the sky, has he ? " 
 
 "Why, no, you goose! but I guess he 
 knows what he's talking about, mostly." 
 
 " Perhaps he just made it up," said Lisa. 
 
 " He didn't, either," answered Freddy, 
 indignantly. (He had no idea of being 
 doubted, even when he told wonderful 
 stories.) 
 
 " Well, I wish I knew all he said, then," 
 said Lisa, uneasily. " Tell it all to me, 
 Freddy ; I want to know about it." 
 
 " Well, then, don't ask me so many ques- 
 tions ; you don't give me time to think ; 
 girls do always chatter so forever." 
 
 Thus rebuked, Lisa clapped her hand 
 over her mouth, and sat down in a little 
 heap, her knees drawn up to her chin, and 
 closely hugged to her with her other arm, 
 waiting patiently to hear Freddy's story, 
 when his memory should be sufficiently 
 refreshed ; to which end he scratched his 
 head very hard, as though that were the
 
 46 FIDDLING FREDDY. 
 
 most effectual method of polishing his wits ; 
 then he drew a long breath, looked medita- 
 tively into his ragged cap for a moment, 
 slapped it sideways on his head, and began. 
 
 " Here's how it is, Lisa, this is just what 
 that gentleum said : and now don't you go 
 and put in your word all the way along, and 
 make me forget again." 
 
 Lisa shook her head in token of her will- 
 ingness to maintain unbroken silence. 
 
 " Where was I ? how far had I got?" in- 
 quired Freddy. 
 
 " Where God was a-going to take us up 
 to the sky," answered Lisa. 
 
 " Oh, yes. Well now, you see, that's 
 'cause he loves us ; he can't bear to have 
 anyone go to the bad place ; and Jesus, that's 
 his son, he loves us, and so he came away 
 down out of heaven, down here, for to say 
 so. That's the way the gentleum knows it. 
 He said as Jesus made himself into a little 
 weeny teeny baby, just like any other baby, 
 when he came, instead of being a great king,
 
 FIDDLING FREDDY. 47 
 
 as he might a-been if he'd chosen, you know, 
 'cause all the whole world belonged to him." 
 
 "What did he do that for?" asked Lisa 
 hastily, and instantly clapped her hand 
 over her mouth again. 
 
 " Just what I said !" exclaimed Freddy ; 
 " I said looker here, Mr. Browning, what 
 made him come so ; didn't you say as he 
 could do whatever he liked ? ' Yes ' says 
 Mr. Browning, ' an' he liked to do that, so 
 as he could know just egzactly how every- 
 body felt that lived in this here world.' " 
 
 " But I guess he didn't know how it felt 
 to be cold and hungary and tired all the 
 time, as we be, or he wouldn't a-come that 
 way," exclaimed Lisa. 
 
 " But he afcdTknow !" cried Freddy ; " that's 
 just what he did know. He growed up to 
 be a man, an' he was real poor, and he didn't 
 have no home at all, but just went round 
 from one place to another, making folks well 
 that was sick. Oh, he could do anything 
 that he wanted to. And for all that the
 
 48 FIDDLING FREDDY. 
 
 world belonged to him if he'd a chosen to 
 take it all the ships, all the shops, all the 
 houses, and gold and silver, and everything, 
 he didn't have anything, nor care for any- 
 thing, but just to make folks good, and tell 
 'em about God, an' how he loved 'em. And 
 I asked Mr. Browning was he ever cold and 
 hungry, and he said ' Oh, yes, lots and lots 
 o' times.' So you see he did know just 
 egzackly how we feel, and he must ha' 
 wanted us up to heaven pretty bad, or he 
 wouldn't a-done it." 
 
 u Where is he now? "asked Lisa. 
 
 " Gone back home again," answered 
 Freddy, pointing with his thumb in the 
 direction of the sky. " Some of the horrid 
 wicked men killed him." 
 
 "Killed him!" cried Lisa, in a horrified tone. 
 
 " Yes, in an awful bad way, too ; they ran 
 nails through his hand and feet, and hung 
 him up on a thing shaped like that and 
 Freddy held his fingers up like a cross. 
 How it must have hurt ; just think, Lisa, of
 
 FIDDLING FREDDY. 49 
 
 being hammered up with nails on to a big 
 tree, and hanging and hanging there till 
 you died." 
 
 Lisa shuddered. "What did he let them do 
 it for ? " she asked in a low tone. " If he could 
 do all he wanted to, why didn't he kill them ?" 
 
 "Then they,d all have gone straight 
 right off to the bad place," said Freddy. 
 
 "An* served 'em right," answered Lisa 
 hotly. 
 
 " Yes, but you see he didn't want to leave 
 'em, and he loved even the bad men who 
 killed him he loved everybody ; an ' what's 
 more, Mr. Browning said that he wanted to 
 die that way, 'cause if he did, every body 
 that loved him could go up to the sky, an ' 
 so he let em ' kill him. But you see he 
 made himself alive again, and he's went 
 back now to heaven and he,s God, and he's 
 going to let us all go live with him some 
 time or other, if we love him." 
 
 "What made him do it all, I wonder?" 
 asked Lisa. 
 5
 
 5O FIDDLING FREDDY. 
 
 " Just 'cause he loves us, I tell you." 
 
 " But he don't love you an me, does he, 
 Freddy ?" 
 
 " Yes, he do, he do, too ; Mr. Browning 
 said so loves us ever and ever so much." 
 
 " Why, we never did nothing for him ; 
 what makes him love us ?" 
 
 "/ don't know, I'm sure ; I shouldn't think 
 he would a bit, but he does, and that's the 
 glad tidings." 
 
 " I didn't know as anybody loved me any 
 more," said Lisa, after a moment's pause. 
 
 " Well, he do," asserted Freddy. 
 
 " Nobody's ever loved me since mother 
 died," said Lisa, the tears gathering in her 
 dark blue eyes. Poor child ! she had good 
 reason to think so. The only kind words 
 she ever heard were from Freddy. She 
 was thankful to escape blows from Sally, 
 and her wretched life was fast benumbing 
 the sensitive feelings that were natural to 
 her. This story of Freddy's wakened an 
 old feeling in her heart a half-smothered
 
 FIDDLING FREDDY. 
 
 longing for love that had lain there like a 
 dull pain, and which now turned into a 
 sharp agony, and, clasping both her hands 
 over her heart, she sobbed as if it would 
 break. 
 
 " What's got you, Lisa," asked Freddy, 
 half frightened. 
 
 " Don't know, oh, I don't know !" sobbed 
 she. " Oh, Freddy, nobody don't love me, 
 and it hurts so !" 
 
 " Yes, they do," said Freddy. " I love 
 you. Didn't I save all my coffee for you, 
 and tell you all 'bout the glad tidings, and 
 get to have you go 'long o' me up to God's 
 house, 'way from old Sally? Come now, 
 don't cry so ! What's the use ? Get over 
 it ! We'll both on us go to-morrow, and 
 mebbe you'll git a penny all to yourself." 
 
 Lisa looked up gratefully, but could not 
 speak. To have had a penny of her own 
 would have seemed a rich prospect a little 
 while ago, but she hardly cared for it now. 
 She felt as if something of infinite value
 
 52 FIDDLING FREDDY. 
 
 had been offered to her, but she did not 
 know how to grasp it. Was there really 
 anyone, anywhere, loving her ? Was there 
 any place she could go to, that would be 
 like her own old home, where she was so 
 happy? Freddy seemed to be sure that 
 Jesus loved her, but where was He ? 
 Heaven was a great way off, and he had 
 gone back there. How could she let Him 
 know that she wanted to go, too ? 
 
 She remembered how her mother had 
 petted her, and called her darling, precious 
 little Lisa ; she wondered if Jesus would 
 love her that way. In her childish way, 
 she wondered why she suffered so ; why 
 she felt so wretched since Freddy had told 
 his glad tidings. She did not know that 
 it was her loving nature asserting itself, 
 after long repression, that caused this pain. 
 It was like the physical agony of a half- 
 frozen traveler, roused by warmth to life. 
 She longed to know more, to be very, very 
 sure that there was some hope of love and
 
 FIDDLING FREDDY. 53 
 
 happiness for her. But Sally's voice was 
 heard, as she descended the stairs to her 
 own room, and in an instant Lisa sprang 
 up, and, without even a look at Freddy, 
 ran away to her miserable bed, where she 
 was lying, apparently in a deep sleep, when 
 Sally came in. 
 
 But many long hours passed before she 
 slept that night. Long after the old wo- 
 man's snores told of her heavy slumbers, 
 Lisa lay with her eyes fixed on the starry 
 sky, wondering what heaven was like. It 
 must be very bright, she thought, if so 
 much light shone through. 
 
 One star shed its soft beams on the earth 
 more brightly than the rest perhaps that 
 was the place where Jesus was. He loved 
 her ! This thought filled her poor, lonely, 
 aching little heart. She could go and live 
 up there with Him, Freddy said, if she 
 loved Him. Oh, how she longed to go ! 
 But the bright star shone on steadily and 
 beautifully, and as her blue eyes slowly
 
 54 FIDDLING FREDDY. 
 
 closed, it led her weary little heart nearer 
 and nearer to Jesus ; and so He gave his 
 beloved sleep. 
 
 True to his promise, Mr. Browning set out 
 the next day, to find Old Sally's room, and 
 ask for Lisa. But this was a much more diffi- 
 cult matter than he anticipated. Freddy's 
 directions had not been very explicit, in the 
 first place, and when Mr. Browning had 
 managed by great perseverance to find the 
 right street, he was puzzled to know which 
 of the many houses was the one which 
 Freddy had described, when he said : 
 
 " Oh, you can't miss it ! it's got a door 
 with one hinge broke, and a heap of ashes 
 in front. The steps is mostly tumbling 
 down, too, and Tito's got a great big cage 
 hanging out a winder, with his mocking- 
 bird in it. Leastways, it will be there, if 
 he hasn't took it in by the time you come. 
 But, anyways, you'll know the house when 
 you come to it ; it's red brick, and the 
 chimbleys is kinder shaky like."
 
 FIDDLING FREDDY. 55 
 
 But, unfortunately for Mr. Browning-, 
 Tito had "took in" the mocking-bird, 
 and the shaky condition of the door and 
 chimneys was by no means peculiar to 
 one house. Ash-heaps seemed to prevail 
 greatly throughout the length and breadth 
 of the street, and rickety steps formed an 
 entrance to at least twenty houses. But Mr. 
 Browning was not easily daunted. He had 
 been interested in the bright-eyed boy who 
 had sung- so well, and spoken so earnestly 
 of his little companion, and he determined 
 in his own mind, after his conversation with 
 Freddy, that if it were a possible thing, he 
 would reclaim some of these poor ignorant 
 children from the heathen darkness in which 
 they had been brought up. 
 
 But his patience was sorely tried, as he 
 went groping up flight after flight of rick- 
 ety stairs, in search of Sally's room, and 
 descended again without finding her. It 
 was a difficult matter for one, unaccustom- 
 ed to it, to make these descents, so numer-
 
 56 FIDDLING FREDDY. 
 
 ous were the pit-falls, in the shape of water- 
 pails, scrubbing-brushes, flat-irons and coal- 
 scuttles, with which the stairs were strewn. 
 He was just about to give it up in despair, 
 when he suddenly encountered Freddy him- 
 self, who had not gone out on his day's 
 tramp, owing to Tonic's illness. He had 
 been suddenly seized with an attack on his 
 lungs the previous night, and Freddy was 
 now on his way to get some " doctor's stuff," 
 at the nearest druggist's, as he told Mr. 
 Browning. 
 
 " I knowed you'd come," said he, " an' 
 Lisa she's all ready for you. Old Sally's 
 a tough one, I te\\ you ; but money '11 fetch 
 her." 
 
 This was delivered with a knowing wink, 
 intended to serve as encouragement to the 
 clergyman, who was yet unacquainted with 
 Sally's peculiarities of disposition. 
 
 Mr. Browning followed the direction of 
 Freddy's pointing finger, and soon knocked 
 at the right door. There was a sound of
 
 FIDDLING FREDDY. 57 
 
 rubbing and scrubbing and splashing, but 
 nobody answered his repeated knocks, and 
 at last he opened the door. A dense vapor 
 filled the room, rising from a large tin boil- 
 er on the stove, and from an iron pot where 
 a cabbage was cooking. 
 
 Before a washtub in the middle of the 
 room, with her back to Mr. Browning, 
 stood Sally. She was busily employed 
 washing, and was bending so far over, or 
 rather into her tub, that little was visible 
 of her, except a pair of black worsted legs, in 
 carpet slippers, and a blue flannel petti- 
 coat. 
 
 On Mr. Browning's entrance, the legs 
 wheeled round briskly, and a large frilled 
 white cap and pair of red, bare arms 
 emerged from the tub. 
 
 " G'long !" said she. " Git out ! G'way 
 with yer, and shut that there door behind 
 yer !" 
 
 This was not a flattering reception ; in 
 fact, considering the trouble Mr. Browning
 
 58 FIDDLING FREDDY. 
 
 had taken to find her, it might be consid- 
 ered a disappointment. 
 
 " G'long, I say ! We don't want none o' 
 yer trax, nor yer Bibles, neither ! Nor yer 
 company ! Nor yer sarse ! Git out, I say !' : 
 and her manner became more and more ex- 
 cited every moment, as she talked herself 
 into a fury. 
 
 " I'll tell ye all ye want to know. We 
 don't go to church, nor we don't mean to ; 
 nor we ain't none on us baptized, nor we 
 don't mean to be and, if yer don't clear 
 out, /'// baptize ye with a bucket o' hot 
 water !" 
 
 Mr. Browning stood aghast, \vith the 
 door-latch in his hand. He was strongly 
 tempted to clear out, as Sally advised, but 
 was unwilling to beat so inglorious a re- 
 treat. It was evident she took him for a 
 Bible-reader, or city missionary, and equal- 
 ly evident that as such he would not be 
 tolerated. 
 
 " But, my good woman " he began.
 
 FIDDLING FREDDY. 59 
 
 " None o' yer good womanings to me !" 
 she cried, in a loud, high voice ; " I'll show 
 yer the sort o' good woman I be in a min- 
 ute, if yer don't clear out !" 
 
 " Have you a little girl here named Lisa ?" 
 he asked quickly, retreating a step as Sally 
 advanced. 
 
 " Yes, I have ; and she's the plague and 
 torment of my life. What do yer want 
 with her?" 
 
 " Will you hire out her time ?" asked 
 Mr. Browning, trying to choose the words 
 that would make the quickest impression. 
 
 " What to do ?" asked Sally. 
 
 " To sing," answered Mr. Browning. 
 Now it was no uncommon thing for the 
 children of that neighborhood to hire them- 
 selves out to strolling bands of musicians, 
 and their parents often received quite large 
 sums of money for their services, and Sally 
 began to think she had been too hasty in 
 denouncing Mr. Browning. 
 
 " If ye mean business, ye may wallc in,"
 
 60 FIDDLING FREDDY. 
 
 said she, more moderately, wiping a stool 
 with her wet apron for him to sit down 
 upon. 
 
 And now followed a long discussion, dur- 
 ing which Mr. Browning was so disgusted 
 with the old woman's avarice and violence 
 that he was almost resolved to let the whole 
 plan go, and he would have taken his de- 
 parture had he not caught sight of Lisa's 
 pale little face. There was a longing, wist- 
 ful look in her eyes which touched his 
 heart. He thought she looked like some 
 little, gentle, hunted animal, and he sighed 
 as he thought what her life must be with 
 this dreadful old woman. So he yielded to 
 the exorbitant price which Sally set on her 
 services, and the arrangement was con- 
 cluded after much debate. 
 
 Lisa's eyes lit up with a sudden joy ; but 
 when Mr. Browning turned toward her she 
 ran swiftly out of the room, fearing that he 
 would ask her to sing, and knowing that 
 her only safety lay in flight. She ran down-
 
 FIDDLING FREDDY. 6l 
 
 stairs into the yard and hid behind the 
 pump, where she remained trembling till 
 Mr. Browning, drawing freer breath, de- 
 scended the creaking stairs, and passed into 
 the street. 
 
 6
 
 IV. 
 
 ""]" TALLOA, Sally!" cried Freddy, ar- 
 
 JLJL riving at the top of the stairs in a 
 breathless condition, owing to the rate at 
 which he had run to the druggist's and 
 back, in hopes of hearing a portion of the 
 interview between her and Mr. Browning. 
 " Halloa ! Are you going to let Lisa come 
 with me to-day to sing ?" 
 
 " She may go where she likes," muttered 
 Sally, " 'long as she brings me money. But, 
 mind ye ! I'll know if a single penny's miss- 
 ing, an' if it is " Sally's raised fist finished 
 her sentence for her. 
 
 Lisa shrank back, cowing, but Freddy 
 seemed to consider this brutal permission 
 the climax of his hopes. 
 
 " Of all the girls in our town, there's none 
 o' them up to Sally," he sang, executing a 
 (62)
 
 FIDDLING FREDDY. 63 
 
 dance of triumph in the middle of the floor. 
 " Give us a bit o' soap, Sally," said he ; 
 " we're going among folks, an' got to scrub ;" 
 and he took a piece that lay by the tub. 
 Sally made no objection, and Freddy, call- 
 ing to Lisa to follow, ran down to the pump 
 in the yard, and began vigorously to work 
 its handle. 
 
 " Hold your head under, Lisa so now 
 just keep still a minute," and he gave her 
 such a showering, that before the minute 
 was over she looked like a little drowned 
 mouse. " That's right," said he, " scrub 
 away ; feels awful cold, don't it ? Never 
 mind now you pump for me." 
 
 " F-f-f-f-f-f-reddy, d-d-d-d-d-don't p-p-p-p- 
 pump s-so hard," exclaimed Lisa, with chat- 
 tering teeth, as she withdrew her head. 
 
 Freddy's energy had nearly taken away 
 her breath, but she took her place at the 
 handle, and he was soon sputtering and 
 chattering at a great rate, but still bravely 
 resolved to "scrub up for folks."
 
 64 FIDDLING FREDDY. 
 
 Pump-water in November is apt to be 
 cold. You may try it, if you don't believe 
 it, and see what you think about it. Freddy 
 did not often venture his precious head un- 
 der that spout, but this was a great occa- 
 sion, and he felt that it demanded a toilet. 
 He produced a rough crash towel on which 
 he and Lisa rubbed and scrubbed all the 
 dirt off their faces, and all the soap into 
 their eyes, at which point Freddy stopped 
 and began a vigorous attack on "his hair with 
 a small wooden pocket-comb, which he had 
 once found in the street, and which was re- 
 served more for ornament than use among 
 his chief treasures. When every hair stood 
 on end on his head, and Lisa's short curls 
 shone with the unusual friction, he declared 
 they did look lovely. 
 
 " Come on, now, let's run, and that'll 
 warm us better nor blankets," said he, and 
 off they started. 
 
 The clock was striking four as the two 
 children presented themselves at the door
 
 FIDDLING FREDDY. 65 
 
 of the chapel. Freddy assumed all the air 
 of a complete man of the world and per- 
 fectly at home in all its ways, and thor- 
 oughly acquainted with men and manners. 
 He saw that Lisa regarded him as an oracle, 
 and considered him an embodiment of all 
 wisdom and knowledge under the sun. He 
 determined to preserve her respect, and in 
 patronizing tone said, " Come on, Lisa ! 
 Don't be scared ! I know the way. That's 
 the stairs up to the bell ; this is the door we 
 go in at." 
 
 " Is the bell hung up near the sky for God 
 to hear when folks want to get into heaven ?" 
 asked Lisa. 
 
 " I 'spose so," answered Freddy, hurry- 
 ing along to avoid any more questions. It 
 would not do to admit that there were any 
 subjects on which he was ignorant. But 
 she dragged back a little. 
 
 " Let's go ring it then," said she. But 
 Freddy pulled her forward, and pushed 
 open the baize door. Mr. Browning was 
 6*
 
 66 FIDDLING FREDDY. 
 
 
 
 in the room, and several children were also 
 there. 
 
 " Here we are, sir," said Freddy, " and 
 here's Lisa ; I've taught her the tune, an' 
 she's bound to sing it most lovely." 
 
 Lisa squeezed his hand as a sign to say 
 nothing about her singing. Mr. Browning 
 welcomed them both kindly, and said, as 
 they knew the tune, he would teach them 
 the words before they sang all together. 
 So he arranged the children in a row be- 
 fore him, and told them to repeat the lines 
 after him. The six children who were in 
 the room when Freddy and Lisa entered, 
 were from a neighboring institution, where 
 they had been carefully drilled to recite to- 
 gether at the same moment and in the same 
 key. The instant Mr. Browning finished 
 reading two lines, they began, and in clear 
 tones echoed his words with precision, as a 
 clock sometimes suddenly strikes loudly and 
 as suddenly stops. 
 
 " Oh, my goody !" exclaimed Freddy,
 
 FIDDLING FREDDY. 67 
 
 taken by surprise, looking along the line of 
 children, who stood motionless, with their 
 hands tightly folded under their blue check 
 aprons. 
 
 " I don't think you repeated the words," 
 said Mr. Browning ; " I want you to learn 
 them perfectly now try again," and again 
 he repeated the lines. 
 
 Lisa listened eagerly, and gathered cour- 
 age to say what she remembered of them 
 in a very low voice, but checked herself, as 
 the six children suddenly concluded while 
 she was but halfway through. Not a word 
 had Freddy said. He was absorbed in 
 watching the others, looking at them before 
 and behind, as though searching for some- 
 thing. He evidently thought they were set 
 off like machinery, or pulled, like Tito's 
 puppets, by a concealed wire or string. He 
 stood balancing on his toes, his eyes fixed 
 on their mouths, and, as they all shut with 
 a snap at the same moment, he drew a long 
 breath.
 
 68 FIDDLING FREDDY. 
 
 " Well, I never !" said he, lost in wonder. 
 Again and again Mr. Browning repeated 
 the hymn, till even little Lisa had learned 
 it ; but the mechanical precision of the six 
 perfectly overcame Freddy, and paralyzed 
 him for the time. He could do nothing but 
 watch them, starting when they began, and 
 gasping as they concluded. 
 
 " But, Freddy, you'll learn nothing this 
 way," said Mr. Browning, smiling. " I 
 want you to learn the words perfectly." 
 
 " I'll sing for you, sir, all you want," an- 
 swered Freddy ; " but I can't fire away as 
 them fellows do not if I was to live a hun- 
 dred years, sir. But never you mind about 
 the words ; I'll make 'em up as I go along, 
 if I don't know 'em." 
 
 Mr. Browning tried to show him that the 
 beauty of the hymn lay in the words ; but 
 Freddy, although he assented respectfully, 
 evidently continued to think that the words 
 were of " no 'count." But when Mr. Brown- 
 ing explained their meaning, and told in
 
 FIDDLING FREDDY. 69 
 
 simple language the message of peace and 
 good-will, how greedily little Lisa listened, 
 how she hastened to accept it ! Her blue 
 eyes had a happy light, such as Freddy had 
 never seen there before. 
 
 " How nice she do look," said he to him- 
 self. " It's all the soap she rubbed into her 
 eyes that makes 'em so bright." 
 
 Lisa, however, kept perfectly silent ; and 
 Mr. Browning, weary at last of the mono- 
 tonous chanting of the six children, and of 
 Freddy's stupidity about the words, began 
 to think that teaching was hard work. Lit- 
 tle did he guess the effect that his instruc- 
 tions had on the quiet, timid little girl be- 
 fore him. But the singing now began, and 
 Freddy was once more self-assured. His 
 fresh, sweet voice rose clearly, and soared 
 far above the dull steady grind that the 
 others kept up, but no sound came from 
 Lisa's lips. 
 
 " I don't hear you," said Mr. Browning ; 
 " sing louder." And every few moments he
 
 7<D FIDDLING FREDDY. 
 
 would turn to look at her, and say, " Louder! 
 louder I" 
 
 At last, goaded to desperation, Lisa, in 
 a rash moment, attempted to sing. Mr. 
 Browning faltered, stopped, listened, re- 
 commenced, then stopped altogether. 
 
 " I thought you told me she could sing," 
 said he to Freddy. 
 
 " So she can ; so she do." said Freddy, 
 boldly. But Mr. Browning shook his head. 
 
 Lisa burst into tears. In her imagination 
 she saw herself shut out from all the hap- 
 piness that she had so longed for. All 
 chance was over, she thought, of hearing 
 about who it was that loved her all possi- 
 ble hope of ever reaching Him, gone ; no- 
 thing left for her but Sally and her wretched 
 home, more wretched now than ever, since 
 the gleam of light had only served to show 
 her its misery. Freddy saw her crying, 
 and his black eyes glowed as he said : 
 
 " It's no matter if she do, or if she don't. 
 I said she could sing, an' I s'posed she could :
 
 FIDDLING FREDDY. 71 
 
 an' when she said she couldn't, I said as I'd 
 sing loud enough for both, an' so I did, an' 
 most split myself in two doin' of it." 
 
 Mr. Browning looked from one to the 
 other in amazement. 
 
 " But your singing won't do for her" he 
 said. " If she can't sing, what is the use in 
 her trying to?" 
 
 " I said so," whispered Lisa between her 
 sobs. " I said nobody would want me up 
 to God's house if I couldn't sing." 
 
 " Now, I'll tell you what," said Freddy, 
 with the air of one about to confer an im- 
 mense favor on Mr. Browning. " Here's 
 how we'll fix it ! I'll sing, an' them six 
 reg'lar stunners will fire away, an' Lisa, 
 she'll hand round the hat." 
 
 This was in accordance with the street-, 
 band regulations, and Freddy saw no rea- 
 son for any objection on Mr. Browning's 
 part ; he was vexed, therefore, to see that 
 he still remained unconvinced. " Well, 
 then, give her a triangle, or a tambourine,
 
 72 FIDDLING FREDDY. 
 
 an' I bet she'll play on it lovely. Well, 
 then," he continued, seeing in Mr. Brown- 
 ing's face that his plan did not suit, " if you 
 don't think that's doing enough for her 
 money, she'll stand by me an' tell me the 
 words. Why, goody me ! I couldn't re- 
 member half them words, so I couldn't ; so, 
 now, that's how we'll fix it." Freddy spoke 
 decidedly, as one who saw his advantage, 
 and meant to assert himself. 
 
 Lisa looked up timidly, but hopefully. 
 This was something she could do. 
 
 "Why do you want to come so very 
 much ?" asked Mr. Browning. 
 
 " 'Cause Sally will beat her if she don't 
 bring the money now," said Freddy. 
 
 " Is that it ?" asked Mr. Browning, seeing 
 still another reason in Lisa's face. 
 
 " She'll beat me sure !" said the little 
 girl ; then hesitated, and, with a strange 
 mixture of timidity and eagerness, she said : 
 
 " I wanted to know about Him that loves 
 me up to the sky. I want to go to Him,
 
 FIDDLING FREDDY. 73 
 
 'cause nobody loves me here but Freddy 
 Please, sir, if I can't sing won't He love me 
 no more ?" 
 
 Mr. Browning was startled by the ex- 
 pression of the pale, thin face raised to his. 
 In it was all the trusting innocence of a 
 child, all the misery of a loving nature 
 rudely repulsed. Already her wretched 
 life had written deep, sad lines on the little 
 face that should have been so fair, for Lisa's 
 was a nature that grew old with every wild 
 heart-beat more rapidly than by the lagging 
 years. On the answqgto that question lay 
 her future. If there was love for her, she 
 could live ; if not, she must die, slowly, but 
 surely, through long years of reckless sin 
 and misery. No wonder that Mr. Brown- 
 ing, reading something of all this in those 
 earnest eyes, paused for one startled mo- 
 ment, and then replied : 
 
 " No, little Lisa, you need not be afraid 
 of that. You are loved with an everlasting 
 love. God, who made you, did not choose 
 7
 
 74 FIDDLING FREDDY. 
 
 that you should sing, but He loves you 
 dearly, and when you go to Him you will 
 sing His praises forever." 
 
 " Oh, Freddy !" cried Lisa, in a joyful 
 voice, " let's run an' ring the bell, an' tell 
 Him I'm all ready, an' waiting for to come 
 
 in: 
 
 At this the largest of the six boys burst 
 out laughing, and stared at Lisa, and the 
 others joined him, and giggled derisively. 
 
 " You shut up," said Freddy, fiercely, 
 "or I'll give you something to laugh at 
 wrong side o' your mouth," and he ad- 
 vanced in a threatening attitude. 
 
 "None of this!" said Mr. Browning. 
 "I'll have no quarreling here." 
 
 " Well, then, just let that fellow stop his 
 jeerin' Lisa." 
 
 " I weren't a jeerin'," said the boy, be- 
 ginning to whimper. But Mr. Browning 
 would not listen to a word from either, and 
 made them all sing again. 
 
 Peace, however, was not so easily re-
 
 FIDDLING FREDDY. 75 
 
 stored, for as soon as Mr. Browning's back 
 was turned, the big boy advanced toward 
 Freddy and began a series of whispered 
 taunts, till at last Freddy, roused to ven- 
 geance, turned suddenly upon him, when 
 he shrank behind the others, and made hor- 
 rible faces at Lisa. 
 
 " If I can't lick you, I'll make mouths at 
 your sister," he whispered fiercely. 
 
 Freddy only nodded his head in a men- 
 acing way, as much as to say that a day of 
 vengeance would soon arrive ; but he kept 
 on singing the words of peace and good- 
 will, as though there were nothing else to 
 think of. Mr. Browning believed that the 
 trouble was over, and a few minutes after 
 the class was dismissed. 
 
 Mr. Browning detained Lisa for a few 
 words of comfort. He told her she should 
 come every day with Freddy, and take back 
 the money to Sally, but she must not sing. 
 She was to prompt Freddy, when he forgot 
 the words. Then Mr. Browning explained
 
 76 FIDDLING FREDDY. 
 
 to her very kindly that she must wait God's 
 time before she could leave this world, but 
 Lisa thought she could wait and be happy 
 now that she was sure of love. 
 
 Very fearlessly, very trustingly, this little 
 ignorant girl received the glad tidings. 
 Many and many a child listened that Christ- 
 mas to the wonderful story with dull, indif- 
 ferent ears, or heard it with a momentary 
 interest, and then forgot it in the merry 
 Christmas frolics ; but the Star of Bethle- 
 hem led this little wanderer to her Saviour's 
 feet, and who shall doubt that the gratitude 
 of her simple heart was acceptable in His 
 sight ? 
 
 Little did Freddy know of what was pass- 
 ing in her heart, as the two children walked 
 down the street. He was looking behind 
 every tree-box, peeping round the corners 
 of the streets, bracing himself for a contest 
 with the boy who had laughed at Lisa. 
 
 " He's sure to be round somewheres, 
 Lisn !" said he, " and I couldn't cat my sup-
 
 FIDDLING FREDDY. 77 
 
 per till I'd whopped him. No ! he daren't 
 show himself! But just you let me know 
 if ever he laughs at you again, an' I bet 
 he'll never do it but once more." 
 
 Lisa thought Freddy the bravest boy in 
 the world, but secretly hoped the fight might 
 not come off, and it did not, as the boy had 
 been marched off in a procession to the In- 
 stitution, where he meditated slyly on future 
 mischiefs to be done to Freddy when he got 
 the opportunity. 
 7*
 
 V. 
 
 CHRISTMAS had come and gone, and 
 V^many weeks passed since the children 
 had gone to the up-to\vn chapel. They 
 had been well paid, and the hymns and 
 carols had been well sung, and now it was 
 all over, and there were no more expe- 
 ditions together for Freddy and Lisa. Mr. 
 Browning asked them to corne, whenever 
 they could, to see him ; but Sally had no 
 idea of letting Lisa go unless she was paid 
 for her time ; and Freddy was how fully 
 occupied. 
 
 Tonio had never recovered from his ill- 
 ness ; he kept growing weaker and weaker, 
 and was now quite unable to lift his heavy 
 organ. He would sit wearily over the fire 
 for hours at a time, or sometimes walk to 
 the side of the room where the organ was 
 kept and turn the handle for a few minutes, 
 (78)
 
 FIDDLING FREDDY. 79 
 
 but the tune was never played through ; he 
 would soon let it die out, and then return to 
 his seat by the fire. It was on one of these 
 occasions Freddy noticed that he dropped 
 his head on his hands, and shivered. 
 
 " Tired, Tonio ? " he asked, in a sympa- 
 thetic voice. 
 
 Tonio nodded, without speaking. 
 
 " He's too much for you now-a-days, ain't 
 he ? " said Freddy, alluding to the organ. 
 
 Tonio grunted an assent. 
 
 " What we going to do, anyways, Tonio 
 the money is 'most gone, you know ? " 
 
 To this, Tonio made no reply whatever ; 
 but Freddy continued the conversation 
 undauntedly : 
 
 " Pity, now I'm such a little chap. I'd 
 back him an' I'd grind him, but he's an 
 awful heavy fellow, he is I couldn't rise 
 him up an' do my big best. Tell you what, 
 Tonio! Just you trade him off for a fiddle, 
 an' teach me how to fiddle, an' I'll fetch in 
 the money splendid."
 
 So FIDDLING FREDDY. 
 
 Tonio seemed to listen, and Freddy con- 
 tinued : 
 
 " Give me a fiddle an' a bow, an' I'll make 
 your fortune, I will. Can, too! Dollar a 
 day, sure ! What d' you say ? " 
 
 Tonio groaned. " I suppose I've got to 
 come to it," said he, slowly, with a look at 
 his neglected organ. "I'll never play it 
 again, my strength is all gone. I'll never 
 be strong again." And he turned his thin 
 hands over and over, looking at them sor- 
 rowfully, and then dropped his head on 
 them again. 
 
 " Oh ! now don't take on, Tonio ; you'll 
 be all right when the spring comes an' the 
 sun shines. Maybe you ain't a-takin' the 
 right physic. I didn't know what sort to 
 get, an' so I took the biggest bottle with the 
 brightest paper round it ; but goody me ! 
 there's a lot more bottles you haven't tried 
 yet 'nuff to cure a million men, I guess. 
 I'll go get one of 'em, an' you'll be up an' 
 about in no time."
 
 FIDDLING FREDDY. 8 1 
 
 But, on looking into the small, greasy bag 
 in which the money was kept, Freddy found 
 that only enough remained for the week's 
 rent, and for a few more meals. This was a 
 very depressing state of affairs ; for Freddy 
 knew that, just as soon as they were unable 
 to pay for what they had, the men in the 
 room would insist on their leaving. Their 
 rules were strict prompt pay and no trust 
 and Tonio and Freddy knew what to 
 expect. They would be obliged to go, and 
 then what would become of them ? No one 
 would take them in without money paid 
 down. 
 
 " Now, you see, Tonio, all you can do is 
 to get a fiddle for me," said Freddy, as the 
 first feeling of dismay passed. " I'll bring 
 you all the money, and we'll live here same 
 as ever ; you shall have physic new bottle 
 once a week; pills, if you'd rather; take 
 your choice ; I'll pay for 'em ; I'll haul in 
 the money, I tell you! " And Freddy seized 
 an old poker, and went through the motions
 
 82 FIDDLING FREDDY. 
 
 of violin playing, squeaking his voice to 
 represent the instrument, and then dancing 
 around the room, presenting his cap to 
 imaginary listeners, and finally carrying it 
 carefully with both hands, as though it con- 
 tained an immense weight of money. 
 
 Tonio smiled a weary sick man's smile 
 but it flitted over his thin face, and was gone 
 in a moment. Turning hastily to Freddy, 
 who was at that moment balancing the 
 poker on his chin, he told him to turn the 
 handle of the organ as long as he could. 
 Tonio listened, while Freddy labored away, 
 beating time feebly with his fingers, and 
 watching with interest as he changed the 
 tune. At last, Freddy declared that he was 
 tired out, in token of which he threw him- 
 self flat on his back, and remained stiff and 
 motionless, merely winking one eye terribly 
 at Tonio. 
 
 " Clean gone, and killed with hard work." 
 said he ; " but give me a fiddle an' I'll " he 
 did not finish his sentence in words, but the
 
 FIDDLING FREDDY. 83 
 
 surprising number of leaps and springs he 
 gave, showed the reviving effect the fiddle 
 would produce on him. 
 
 " Go away, now and send Tito's father 
 here," said Tonio, "and you go where you 
 like, and don't come back till evening." 
 
 Freddy, nothing loth, attended to his 
 errand, and then strolled off to pick up any 
 chance job that came in his way. He did 
 not return till evening, but he brought 
 Lisa's roll which he had purchased with a 
 cent given him by a lady, for whom he had 
 picked up a bundle. To his great joy, he 
 found Tonio seated with a violin on his lap, 
 and the organ had gone. The money-bag 
 was nearly full again, and Freddy loudly 
 applauded Tonic's decision. It was evident 
 that Tito's father had conducted the bargain 
 in his own way ; but, though the violin was 
 very old and poor, Freddy looked at it with 
 rapture, and Tonio said it was good enough 
 for him. 
 
 " Good enough ! Its splendid. Aha, my
 
 84 FIDDLING FREDDY. 
 
 boys, wait a bit ! You'll hear music ! " said 
 Freddy, addressing an imaginary public. 
 
 It was time that this purchase was made ; 
 for that night Tonio's cough kept many of 
 the men awake. The next day they declar- 
 ed they could stand it no longer, and that 
 he must leave, and find a place to sleep 
 elsewhere. 
 
 Tonio was very weak, even more so than 
 usual ; and Freddy wondered how he could 
 ever walk in the icy streets, trying to find a 
 room. He proposed that they should apply 
 to Sally for the use of a small room at the 
 top of the house, under the roof. Tonio 
 agreed ; and Freddy entered into negotia- 
 tions with the old woman, who drove a hard 
 bargain with the child for the miserable 
 shelter. He was to pay a certain sum in 
 advance, and give her half of all he earned 
 every day. In addition to this, he was to 
 bring all the water from the pump that she 
 needed, cut all the firewood, and make the 
 fire regularly every morning. On no other
 
 FIDDLING FREDDY. 85 
 
 condition would she consent to rent her 
 attic, and Freddy was obliged to accept 
 these terms. 
 
 No sooner was Tonio fairly established in 
 his new quarters than he went to bed, worn 
 out, and Freddy had to wait many hours 
 for his first lesson. He had watched Tito 
 play on his violin so often, that he soon 
 learned how to handle his bow, and after a 
 few days' practice, Tonio thought he was 
 able to make his first attempt in the streets. 
 He had learned three tunes from Tonio ; 
 and though it was hard for a listener to say 
 which was which, as Freddy performed 
 them, still he seemed to know, and was per- 
 fectly delighted with his own success, and 
 confident that no one could resist such 
 music. 
 
 " Folks won't stand but two tunes at a 
 time," said Tonio; "but it's well to know 
 three in case children listen. Always play 
 for children they're the best pay." 
 
 A fourth tune, which Tonio now taught 
 8
 
 86 FIDDLING FREDDY. 
 
 him, was the most dismal thing Freddy had 
 ever listened to. 
 
 " That's to play where sick people are," 
 said Tonio. " You must watch the doctor's 
 gigs, and where you see them stop often, 
 go and play this, as loud as you can." 
 
 " Won't it make 'em feel kinder worse ? " 
 asked Freddy. 
 
 " Yes, it will make them feel a great deal 
 worse," said Tonio. 
 
 " It's a horrid ugly tune ; I'd rather play 
 something lively to cheer 'em up like," said 
 Freddy. 
 
 " Humph," said Tonio. " Much they 
 care for your music. You do what I tell 
 you, and play hard till they pay you to go 
 away." 
 
 Freddy did not like this advice, and he 
 thought it would be a terrible thing if Tito 
 should take it into his head to come and 
 play near Tonio's door till he was paid to 
 go away. 
 
 " I'd either have to thrash him or pay
 
 FIDDLING FREDDY. 8/ 
 
 him," thought Freddy ; " and most likely 
 he'd thrash me." 
 
 So he inwardly hoped that the suggestion 
 was one merely acted upon by Tonio, and not 
 generally known to the musical brotherhood. 
 
 And now began stirring times for Fred- 
 dy. The cold winter's dawn saw him strug- 
 gling with heavy water-pails, chopping wood 
 and making fires. Sally's work done, he 
 would get Tonio's breakfast. They still 
 paid, and eat with the men as before ; but 
 Freddy had to carry Tonio's coffee to him 
 now, as he could no longer go up and down 
 the steep stairs. As soon as he could get 
 away, he would go out for the day, with 
 his fiddle closely hugged to him, and make 
 his way up-town to the handsome houses 
 where the rosy children lived. And, oh, it 
 was bitterly cold ! 
 
 While he was playing, he kept rubbing 
 one foot and leg against the other to try 
 and warm them, and blowing on his numb 
 fingers, to enable him to hold his fiddle and
 
 FIDDLING FREDDY. 
 
 bow. Once in awhile, he would ask the 
 servants of a house to let him come in and 
 warm himself at the kitchen fire. Some- 
 times they would consent, and he would sit 
 by the great range, and watch the quanti- 
 ties of saucepans and kettles, and smell the 
 savory odor of the soups and meats ; and 
 then when he went back to the streets, he 
 would feel colder than before, and wish he 
 had not gone in. 
 
 " But the smell was something," he said 
 to himself; and he always played his live- 
 liest tune for the servants, and sometimes 
 danced for them, and was so cheerful and 
 merry that at last he became quite a favor- 
 ite in certain houses, and was welcome to 
 come in and warm his frozen hands when 
 they refused to hold the bow any longer. 
 Sometimes the children would be in the 
 kitchen, and they were always delighted 
 with his music and his singing, and saved 
 many a penny for Fiddling Freddy, as they 
 soon learned to call him.
 
 FIDDLING FREDDY. 89 
 
 Often the servants, as they became better 
 acquainted, would send him on errands. 
 The cook would discover, in the midst of 
 her hurry, that the butcher had forgotten 
 something, and she would give Freddy a 
 big piece of bread and butter for running 
 to bring it from the market for her. The 
 housemaid would not want to go out in the 
 cold for a spool of thread or a roll of tape, 
 for which she had been sent, and she would 
 employ Freddy to run around the corner 
 and get it, and gave him a penny for his 
 trouble. And sometimes he made money 
 by playing at the railroad depots and steam- 
 boat landings. Good-natured old ladies 
 and young mothers, with little ones, who 
 laughed at the odd capers of Freddy's wild 
 dance, would give him money ; and other 
 mothers, who had watched the light fade 
 and die in eyes as bright as Freddy's, would 
 drop a five-cent piece quickly in his ragged 
 cap, and hastily pull down their vails. 
 
 In one way and another, he managed to
 
 QO FIDDLING FREDDY. 
 
 scrape together quite a nice little sum. 
 His errand business prospered finely : after 
 awhile, and when it was seen that he was 
 honest, and brought the right change home, 
 the servants forgot to keep his fiddle as se- 
 curity during his absence, as they did at 
 first. Some days he would bring as much 
 as a dollar to Tonio ; then again he would 
 have poor luck, and only get fifty cents, or 
 maybe less ; but whatever the sum was, he 
 always reserved Lisa's penny, and bought 
 her roll. 
 
 As the winter wore on, he became very 
 tired of the tunes he played ; they were very 
 monotonous, notwithstanding the flourishes 
 he contrived to throw in. He had become 
 quite expert in playing on his fiddle, and 
 he would listen to every whistling boy or 
 strolling band, and catch the tunes they 
 played, and then reproduced them in his 
 own fashion. He never played the dismal 
 tune, except when hard pushed by hunger 
 or cold ; it was always sure to bring money,
 
 FIDDLING FREDDY. 9! 
 
 for nobody could stand it long, and would 
 pay quickly to be rid of it. But Freddy 
 never liked to do this, and only had re- 
 course to it when times were very bad. 
 
 The cold weather seemed to make a great 
 many people cross ; they would not stop to 
 listen, as they hurried along with their 
 hands in their pockets, and their shoulders 
 shrugged up almost to their ears. But 
 Freddy always looked on the bright side. 
 
 " They'll like it better when the spring 
 comes," he thought, and he began to re- 
 volve a plan in his mind by which he might 
 still increase his little earnings. 
 
 " Folks want their shoes blacked if 'tis 
 cold," said he ; and he asked Tonio to let 
 him buy a box of blacking and brushes. 
 But Tonio would not consent to the out- 
 lay ; he said Freddy would do better if he 
 kept to one thing. But Freddy thought 
 he could do both, it was not much trouble 
 to carry his box over his shoulder, and he 
 could lay it down beside him while he
 
 Q2 FIDDLING FREDDY. 
 
 played. Then if nobody wanted music, he 
 could black their boots. He had learned 
 how to do this, for many a time he had 
 helped the waiter, in one of the houses 
 where he was employed as errand-boy. 
 He consulted the waiter himself on this 
 point, who thought it an excellent idea, and 
 gave him sixpence to begin with. He ad- 
 vised him to ring at the front-door bells, 
 and ask the gentlemen inside if they would 
 lend him enough money to buy the neces- 
 sary articles, and let him pay them by 
 blacking their boots every morning. So 
 Freddy acted on this suggestion, and bold- 
 ly rang at a door and asked to see the gen- 
 tleman who lived there. 
 
 " Is it important for you to see him ?" 
 asked the girl who opened the door ; " be- 
 cause he is very busy, and I don't like to 
 disturb him." 
 
 " Oh, yes, it's very important," said Fred- 
 dy ; and the girl, thinking perhaps he knew 
 of a dog that her master had lost and ad-
 
 FIDDLING FREDDY. 93 
 
 vertised, went to the dining-room to call 
 him. When he appeared, Freddy made him 
 a bow, as well as he knew how, by bobbing 
 his head suddenly, and throwing his left leg 
 back with a jerk. 
 
 "Well, what do you want?" asked the 
 gentleman ; " have you come to tell me 
 about my dog ?" 
 
 " Dog ?" said Freddy ; " I haven't got no 
 dog." 
 
 " But you know where he is !" said the 
 gentleman ; " and if you tell me truly, you'll 
 get five dollars." 
 
 " Five dollars for a dog!" exclaimed Fred- 
 dy, in wonder ; he knew of lots of dogs that 
 he could get for nothing miserable prowl- 
 ing curs that roamed through the streets at 
 night. The idea of getting five dollars for 
 a dog was astonishing to Freddy, who did 
 not in the least understand that it was only 
 for his own particular dog that the gentle- 
 man offered a reward. 
 
 " Come, now !" said the gentleman. " don't
 
 94 FIDDLING FREDDY. 
 
 keep me waiting. Tell me where he is, 
 or go and bring him, and you'll get your 
 money." 
 
 " Why, that'll be more than enough to 
 get my blacking-box, won't it ?" said Fred- 
 dy, delighted. 
 
 " Are you going to set up in the black- 
 ing business ?" asked the gentleman. 
 
 " Yes, sir, I be, leastways if any one will 
 lend me the money, an' I'll work it out. 
 I'll shine them boots o' yours splendid 
 every morning, sir, if you'll let me have 
 the money. But I won't need to ask it if 
 you give me five dollars for a dog. I'll 
 get you one in less than no time ; just let 
 me run to the butcher's for a bit of meat, 
 an' I'll have a dog here in less than an hour, 
 I bet." 
 
 Freddy's black eyes shone with impa- 
 tience to be off. Already in his imagina- 
 tion saw himself established in a flourishing 
 blacking business. 
 
 " Why, you're a precious young rascal,"
 
 FIDDLING FREDDY. 95 
 
 said the gentleman, suddenly ; " you needn't 
 try any dodge on me. I'll have my own 
 dog, and no other. What do you mean by 
 talking so ?" 
 
 " Didn't you say as you wanted a dog ?" 
 asked Freddy, somewhat startled. 
 
 " Yes ! I said I wanted my dog, my black 
 Newfoundland, that I lost yesterday, and 
 offered a reward for in the morning pa- 
 pers." 
 
 " Well, I ain't got him !" exclaimed Fred- 
 dy, in intense surprise ; he did not know 
 that the girl had said there was a boy wait- 
 ing to see her master in reference to his 
 dog. 
 
 " Then go about your business !" said he, 
 angrily. " What do you mean by disturb- 
 ing me for nothing ?" 
 
 Freddy was so astonished by the sudden 
 change of affairs that he stood speechless, 
 his eyes and mouth open, staring hard at 
 the angry gentleman. 
 
 " Simpleton !" said he, " what are you
 
 96 FIDDLING FREDDY. 
 
 staring at ? The boy's a fool," he mutter- 
 ed, as he turned away. 
 
 " Now, look'ee here !" cried Freddy. " I 
 didn't call you no names, an' you've no 
 right to call me none. You said dog, an' 
 I said dog. I ain't a simpleton, nor yet a 
 fool. I said I'd get you a dog, an' then you 
 got mad ; / don't know why I never did 
 nothing to you." 
 
 But Freddy's explanation was cut short 
 by the gentleman, who took him by the 
 shoulders, pushed him violently through 
 the door, and then slammed and locked it. 
 Freddy's blood boiled. He fairly danced 
 on the doorstep with rage. Conscious of 
 no offence, he could not understand what 
 he had done to make the gentleman so an- 
 gry. He felt as if he could scream with 
 indignation. What had he done to be treat- 
 ed so? Stooping down, he put his mouth 
 to the keyhole. 
 
 " Pepper-pot !" he cried, in a high key. 
 "Old Pepper-pot! Simpleton yourself!
 
 FIDDLING FREDDY. 97 
 
 Say it again, will you, Old Snappin- tur- 
 tle ?" 
 
 Fortunately for Freddy, the inner door 
 was closed, and these complimentary re- 
 marks could not be heard in the house. 
 When he had exhausted his breath, and 
 worked off most of his excitement, he 
 slowly descended the steps. His anger had 
 made him weaker than many a long day's 
 tramp. His feelings had been wrought to 
 a high pitch, first by the prospect of so 
 much wealth, then by the sudden disap- 
 pointment, and finally by the ignominious 
 way in which he had been turned out when 
 he tried to vindicate himself. He sat down 
 on the opposite door-step and shook his fist 
 violently at the unoffending front-door. 
 
 " I'll fix you yet," said he. " I'll find out 
 your dinner-hour, an' I bet- I'll give you 
 that there tune loud and hard." 
 
 A burst of childish tears relieved him at 
 this crisis, and Freddy walked away with a 
 sadder heart than he had felt for many a 
 9
 
 98 FIDDLING FREDDY. 
 
 day. He had scarcely courage enough to 
 ask for money elsewhere that day. He 
 looked upon his first experiment as a fail- 
 ure. But after a few hours he became more 
 cheerful, and forgot his sorrows completely, 
 when one of the rosy children ran out from 
 a house before which he played, and gave 
 him a ten-cent piece. 
 
 " I saved it for you, out of my money- 
 box," said she. " Please to sing for me and 
 dance." And she ran in hastily out of the 
 cold, while Freddy sang and danced with re- 
 newed spirits at this piece of good fortune.
 
 VI. 
 
 had not a malicious nature, 
 -L though it was quickly roused to an- 
 ger. I am not holding up my little hero 
 as an example in any way to my readers. 
 They must remember that he was a poor, 
 ignorant, neglected child. 
 
 He had naturally a warm, loving dispo- 
 sition, but he knew nothing of the virtue 
 of self-restraint, and when he was excited 
 he spoke angrily, almost fiercely. He was 
 always ready for a fight. Poor little fellow ! 
 he had been thrashed by the big boys in 
 his neighborhood ever since he could recol- 
 lect anything, and now that he was older 
 he thought it was the only way to settle 
 difficulties ; and the result was, that he 
 often gave and received black eyes and 
 sore bones. 
 
 (99)
 
 100 FIDDLING FREDDY. 
 
 Do you know any little well-taught boys 
 who do the same ? I have met a few. They 
 seem to forget that " he that is slow to an- 
 ger is better than the mighty ; and he that 
 ruleth his spirit, than he that taketh a city." 
 Or, if they don't forget it, they don't believe 
 it. " Pshaw !" they say, " the right way is 
 to pitch in and let fly, and show fellows you 
 know how to handle them, and then they'll 
 let you alone." 
 
 Well, now, I have my own private opin- 
 ion about this. I know that, as long as you 
 live, you'll find some fellows who wont let 
 you alone. What are you going to do about 
 it then ? Shall you go through the world 
 with a shillaleh and a cowskin,whack,whack, 
 swish, swish ? No, for policemen and po- 
 lite society do not allow such proceedings, 
 and, moreover, black eyes are not becom- 
 ing when permanently worn, and sore bones 
 are not comfortable as a steady thing. 
 
 Well, then, you see, since you have got 
 to learn to control yourselves, you might as
 
 FIDDLING FREDDY. IOI 
 
 well begin early and acquire the habit of 
 slowness to anger. I'll tell you what I would 
 do if I was a boy. 
 
 In the first place, I'd try not to get angry, 
 of course ; but if I found that I couldn't 
 help it, I would just go away off by myself 
 and hit from the shoulder as hard as I could 
 go it for a few minutes till I felt better 
 only in the air, you know, or into a sand- 
 bag, or a sofa-cushion. There is a much 
 better way yet but I must stop, or some 
 boy will slam down the book and say, 
 " Now, if old Neil is going to preach, I just 
 won't stand it ;" so I'll go on with my story. 
 
 Freddy did not know who it was that 
 said, " Love your enemies ;" he did not 
 even know that such words had ever been 
 spoken. But, as I said, he had a generous, 
 forgiving nature, not a sulky, mean, re- 
 vengeful one. So he soon forgot to be an- 
 gry at the gentleman who had been so un- 
 kind to him, and he never carried out his 
 plan of vengeance after all. 
 9*
 
 IO2 FIDDLING FREDDY. 
 
 He was passing by the house some days 
 after, when he saw a chubby little boy, 
 about four years old, flattening his very 
 small nose against the window-pane. He 
 had curly, golden hair falling round his fat, 
 white shoulders. 
 
 When he saw Freddy's fiddle he began 
 to laugh, and called out, " Turn and p'ay 
 for me, turn and fiddy for me." His nurse, 
 who was with him, beckoned to Freddy to 
 play. For a moment he thought he would 
 not ; he would rather go without his cent 
 than do anything for anybody in that house, 
 he thought. Then the idea occurred to him 
 that he could play that horrible tune that 
 made even the dogs howl. But, looking at 
 that sunny little face dancing up and down 
 before the window, he felt that he could not 
 do it, and he did not want to, either. So 
 he stopped in front of the house, screwed 
 up two or three keys of his fiddle, tucked it 
 into his neck, and played his prettiest, mer- 
 riest airs.
 
 FIDDLING FREDDY. IO3 
 
 And the little boy jumped up and down 
 on the soft, springy window seat, and laugh- 
 ed and shouted and clapped his hands joy- 
 fully. Freddy laughed, too, and soon be- 
 gan to dance ; and the little fellow inside 
 fairly screamed with delight, and put his 
 rosy lips close to the window-pane, and 
 kissed it, instead of Freddy, as he meant 
 to. When the dance was over Freddy held 
 his cap under the window. It was a broad, 
 low window, through which he could see 
 all the room, with its cheerful crimson fur- 
 niture and the bright coal fire glowing in 
 the grate. 
 
 Freddy saw the nurse lean back from her 
 chair, take a silver portemonnaie from a 
 pretty work-stand, an.d take out a cent, as 
 he supposed, which she threw to him, hast- 
 ily shutting the window for fear the cold 
 air might chill the little boy. Freddy bow- 
 ed and walked away, but had not gone far 
 when he saw that, instead of a cent, the 
 nurse had given him a gold piece. He
 
 104 FIDDLING FREDDY. 
 
 stopped and stared at it. He had never 
 seen a coin like it but once in Tonio's bag, 
 and did not know its worth, although he 
 knew it was much more than a cent. 
 
 " I wonder if she meant to give it to me," 
 he said ; " I guess she thought it was a 
 penny." He turned it over and over in his 
 dirty little brown hands. 
 
 " How bright it is !" said he. " I guess 
 it's enough to buy a blacking-box. I'll go 
 see ; and if 'tis, I'll get one and say nothing 
 'bout it to Tonio. When he sees me fetch- 
 ing in the money for shining the boots, he'll 
 be glad I did it." 
 
 As Freddy stood absorbed in the contem- 
 plation of his treasure, he was startled by 
 a hand laid on his shoulder. Looking up, 
 he saw Mr. Browning smiling at him. 
 
 " What have you got there that you are 
 talking to, Freddy?" he asked, pleasantly. 
 
 Freddy held up the gold coin. " I don't just 
 know myself," said he. " It's money that was 
 give me for playing; what's it worth, sir?"
 
 FIDDLING FREDDY. 10$ 
 
 " Why, Freddy, that's worth two dollars 
 and a-half two hundred and fifty cents." 
 
 " Whew !" whistled Freddy shrilly, cut- 
 ting a caper ; " never had so much in all 
 my life !" 
 
 " But who gave it to you ?" asked Mr. 
 Browning. 
 
 Freddy told him all about it, and also re- 
 lated the unkind treatment he had received 
 at the same house a few days before. 
 
 Mr. Browning listened patiently to the 
 long story, and then said, " I'm afraid you 
 ought not to keep the gold piece, Freddy." 
 
 " Why, it was given me !" he exclaimed. 
 
 " I know it, but it was given in mistake." 
 " But I've nothing to do with that," said 
 Freddy, stoutly. " The woman, she should 
 a-looked at it harder and been more care- 
 ful if she didn't want to give so much." 
 
 Mr. Browning tried to teach Freddy the 
 golden rule of doing unto others as you 
 would be done by. " Very likely she will 
 lose her place for her carelessness," said
 
 IO6 FIDDLING FREDDY. 
 
 he. " I'm sure you would be sorry for 
 that ; perhaps she is as poor as you are. 
 Besides, if it was given to you by mistake, 
 you ought to take it back to its right 
 owner." 
 
 But Freddy only shook his head. 
 
 " It's a heap o' money," said he ; " more'n 
 I ever had in all my life. I can buy my 
 blacking-box and brushes with it. I ain't a 
 going to take it back. It was give to me." 
 
 " Well, Freddy," said Mr. Browning, " I 
 cannot make you take it back, nor can I 
 give you a tender conscience, and make 
 you see how wrong it is to keep what be- 
 longs to another ; but I can tell you what 
 is right, and I do hope you will do it. You 
 were very glad to know that God loves 
 you, and would take care of you, were you 
 not ?" 
 
 " Yes, sir," said Freddy ; " but I don't 
 see that's got anything to do with it." 
 
 " It has, however, Freddy ; for if you 
 want God to take care of you, you must
 
 FIDDLING FREDDY. 
 
 love him ; and if you do that, you must 
 try your best to keep His commandments. 
 Only those who do so are His children." 
 
 " Well, I guess God can't see me," said 
 Freddy, with an uneasy glance up at the 
 cloudy sky. 
 
 " Yes, He can, and He does. He sees 
 light into your heart, and He knows what 
 you are thinking about." 
 
 " Then He knows how much I want a 
 blacking-box," said Freddy, quickly. 
 
 " If you try hard and please Him, He 
 will give you all that is necessary for you 
 to have." 
 
 " If I take this bit of money back, f 'rin- 
 stance," said Freddy, eagerly, " would He 
 make a blacking-box come to me somehow?" 
 
 " No, I do not say that He would," an- 
 swered Mr. Browning ; " but He will love 
 you for trying to please Him, and He will 
 certainly take care of you." 
 
 Freddy stood earnestly rubbing his pur- 
 ple feet together.
 
 108 FIDDLING FREDDY. 
 
 " Don't you believe what I say ?" asked 
 Mr. Browning, thinking he saw doubt ex- 
 pressed in his face. 
 
 " Well, sir, I wouldn't like to go so far as 
 to say you lied, you know," said Freddy, in 
 a hesitating way, " but I don't think I be- 
 lieve as He would trouble himself to look 
 after such a horrid little chap as I be." 
 
 Mr. Browning could not help smiling as 
 he said, " But He does take care of you, 
 Freddy, whether you believe it or not ; and 
 He does love you, and will give you what 
 is best for you to have." 
 
 " I'd rather have a blacking-box than any- 
 thing" said Freddy. 
 
 " Would you rather own a blacking-box 
 than to have the Great God for your friend ?" 
 asked Mr. Browning. 
 
 " Well, sir, I could see a blacking-box, 
 you know," answered Freddy, in an obsti- 
 nate, persistent way. 
 
 " Well, my boy, I'm in a great hurry to- 
 day. I cannot stay any longer. I've told
 
 FIDDLING FREDDY. 
 
 I0 9 
 
 you what was right. Good-bye, Freddy." 
 And Mr. Browning walked off rapidly. 
 
 Freddy followed slowly. He wished Mr. 
 Browning had not come along just then. 
 What business was it of his, anyway ? Why 
 didn't he let him alone ? " Plaguing a fel- 
 ler's life out with his right an' his wrong. 
 Don't Vlecve God can see me. S'pose He 
 can what then?" Freddy tried to whis- 
 tle, but found he was whistling the dismal 
 tune, and he stopped. He felt very uncom- 
 fortable. He pulled the gold piece out of 
 the little money-bag that hung around his 
 neck. He wanted to look at it, and thought 
 it would make him feel better. It was very 
 bright and very beautiful, but he put it back 
 soon, and did not feel any better at all, he 
 said to himself. 
 
 " It's a good thing, I s'pose, to have some 
 one love you ; Lisa thinks a lot of it. Won- 
 der what it's like up to heaven. Guess it's 
 warm up there that's where the sun is. 
 It's dreadful cold here. And folks don't 
 10
 
 1 10 FIDDLING FREDDY. 
 
 beat folks up there, Lisa says. I'd like to 
 go first-rate. I'm kinder 'fraid o' the bad 
 place it's horrid there. Wonder if I'd be 
 there if I didn't go to heaven. S'pose I 
 would. 'Tain't worth while going there 
 for a blacking-box. I'll go home and ask 
 Lisa." 
 
 Home he went, for it was getting late, 
 and he was tired. He ran after a street 
 car, and caught hold of the rail to swing 
 himself up on the step, and get a ride, for 
 he had a long way to go and his legs ached 
 with the cold. But the conductor came 
 out and angrily ordered him off, and Fred- 
 dy had to step down again. 
 
 " They let boys with blacking - boxes 
 ride," said he to himself, " for I've seen 
 'em blacking men's boots on the steps while 
 the cars were going." 
 
 It seemed to him just then that the bene- 
 fits arising from the possession of a black- 
 ing-box were numberless, and he resolved 
 not to part with his money. But he ad-
 
 FIDDLING FREDDY. Ill 
 
 hered to his purpose of telling- Lisa all 
 about it, and did so as soon as he could 
 find her on his return. Lisa listened eag- 
 erly till he had finished his story, and heard 
 his complaints against Mr. Browning's in- 
 terference, and his own resolution to keep 
 the money. 
 
 " Now, Lisa, you don't think I'd oughter 
 take it back, do you ? " 
 
 Freddy thought she would agree with 
 him in this as she did in all things. He 
 was surprised, therefore, to hear her say : 
 
 " I think you'd oughter, Freddy." 
 
 " There now ! " exclaimed he, angrily, 
 " what's the use in talking to girls ? They 
 don't know everything by half, though they 
 think they do ; " and Freddy looked very 
 angry, turned his back on Lisa, and poked 
 his big toe down a knot-hole in the floor 
 with as much care as though it was the 
 object of his life to get it in. 
 
 Lisa said nothing, but the tears started 
 as she thought perhaps Freddy would
 
 112 FIDDLING FREDDY. 
 
 always be cross to her now, because she 
 said that ; but she still thought he ought to 
 take it back, since Mr. Browning had said 
 so. Freddy turned partly round to see 
 what she was doing, and why she did not 
 speak. He felt a little ashamed when he 
 saw her crying softly. 
 
 " Don't be a goose ! " said he, quickly. 
 " What you crying for? " 
 
 " Oh, Freddy," said she, " don't be mad 
 with me, but do please take back the money. 
 It scares me to think meb'be God won't 
 love us if we keep it. If you'd oughter do 
 it .you'd oughter, and Mr. Browning 
 wouldn't a' said you'd oughter, if you 
 hadn't oughter ! " 
 
 This sound reasoning and Lisa's funny, 
 little, serious face made Freddy laugh, and 
 when he did that all the badness seemed to 
 melt right out of his heart. 
 
 " I'll take it back," said he, quickly ; 
 " 'tain't worth all the fuss. But it's an 
 awful plague though, all this you d oughter / "
 
 FIDDLING FREDDY. 113 
 
 Freddy felt at that moment as if he wish- 
 ed he never had heard about right and 
 wrong. He thought there was more plague 
 than profit in doing what was right. Many 
 an older person has thought so too, but 
 lived to find out their mistake. 
 
 The next day he set out on his journey 
 up-town at a very rapid rate. He was 
 afraid to stop till he had given up the 
 money, for he knew if he saw a bay with a 
 blacking-box it would be too much for him 
 he never in the world could get by with- 
 out stopping to trade ; so he almost ran till 
 he reached the house. To his great surprise 
 the front door was open, and the hall seem- 
 ed to be full of people, all talking loudly 
 together and gathered around a woman 
 who had on her bonnet and shawl, and was 
 crying violently. 
 
 A policeman stood by her, and just as 
 Freddy came up, he was saying, " Come, 
 now, young woman, don't keep me waiting 
 any longer; come on, and take it easy."
 
 114 FIDDLING FREDDY. 
 
 Freddy pushed forward, eager to see 
 what was going on, and, to his surprise, 
 saw the good-natured face of the nurse who 
 had given him the money bathed in tears, 
 as she struggled violently to rid herself of 
 the policeman's firm hold. A lady stood 
 by, with an anxious, disturbed face, and a 
 crowd of servants, all crying and groaning, 
 filled the hall. 
 
 " Is she a-being took up?" asked Freddy 
 of the nearest girl, who was a servant from 
 a neighboring house. 
 
 " Yes," she replied with a sob, " they're 
 a-going to take her to jail, and she's done 
 nothing at all but they won't believe her." 
 
 " Susan ! " said the lady, turning sharply 
 round upon the girl who had spoken, and 
 not noticing Freddy, " Susan, don't speak 
 in that way ! You know that I would not 
 have Ellen taken to jail for nothing ! I have 
 missed many things lately, little articles of 
 jewelry and other things, and yesterday a 
 gold piece was taken from my purse. No
 
 FIDDLING FREDDY. 115 
 
 one but Ellen could have taken it, for she 
 was the only one in the room where it was. 
 I am quite sure she has it, and it confirms 
 me in my suspicion that she stole all the 
 other things I have lost." 
 
 But poor Ellen sobbed harder and harder. 
 
 " I never, never did take anything" she 
 cried, " and I never touched your money, 
 except one cent I took to pay a little boy 
 who fiddled for Archie ; and you always said 
 I could give pennies to them playing boys." 
 
 " It's not only the gold piece," said the 
 lady ; " that is only the means of fastening 
 my suspicion on you. I have lost many 
 things." 
 
 " And no wonder," said Susan, snappishly, 
 " for you never takes care of your things. 
 You leaves them round and loses them 
 yourself, and then says folks has taken them." 
 
 " Leave my house ! " said the lady. " Go 
 home immediately I'll have no imperti- 
 nence." 
 
 Now all this time Freddy was standing
 
 Il6 FIDDLING FREDDY. 
 
 with eyes wide open, wondering much at 
 all he saw, and greatly interested. Here 
 was somebody being took up a thing he 
 had heard of all his life, but never had wit- 
 nessed till now. The figure of the police- 
 man seemed to inspire him with awe. He 
 had never been quite so close to such 
 majesty in his life. He almost forgot what 
 he had come for, in his anxiety to hear all 
 that passed. But the policeman tapped the 
 girl on her shoulder. 
 
 " Come, now, young woman, you'd best 
 take it easy. Take my arm and come 
 along ; " and he put his arm around her, as 
 if to force her to accompany him. 
 
 Ellen screamed, and held on to the bal- 
 ustrade, and a great scene of confusion fol- 
 lowed. Suddenly Freddy ran forward. 
 
 " Lookee here ! Stop now, will you ? " 
 he cried. " I say, P'leece, hold on ! " and 
 he dragged off the little bag from his neck. 
 " See here, will you ? That there young 
 woman give me this yesterday in a mistake.
 
 FIDDLING FREDDY. II? 
 
 She thought 'twas a cent, I reckon, an' I 
 come for to fetch it back to her." 
 
 It would be impossible to describe the 
 scene that ensued. The policeman released 
 Ellen, who ran to Freddy and kissed him 
 frantically, to his great dismay. His breath 
 was quite taken away as he gasped " Oh ! 
 I say, now, don't you do it ! Young woman, 
 hold on, I say." 
 
 The lady held the gold piece in her hand, 
 and looked at it closely, with a very red 
 face, while all around her rose the clamors 
 of the indignant servants, who left off cry- 
 ing for Ellen, and took to loud vociferation 
 instead. The hall was like Babel, so great 
 was the confusion of tongues. 
 
 " Did ye iver hear the loike o' that, nowi 
 Poor craiture ! Git out wid yez, P'leece ! 
 ye'll git none here the-day ! Ah, the poor 
 lamb ! But she's been harshly thrated ! 
 Coom, Ellen, darlint, look up an' stop cryin '. 
 Sure your ch'racter's cleared quite entoirely. 
 Ah, bad luck to ye, p'leece-man ! G'out
 
 118 FIDDLING FREDDY. 
 
 now, an' don't be shtandin' round aggrava- 
 tin' us ! " These were a few of the remarks 
 made, all in loud, excited tones. 
 
 The lady drew the policeman aside, and, 
 after talking to him for a few moments, he 
 touched his hat and turned to go. Nobody 
 had noticed Freddy in the general excite- 
 ment ; they were all clustered around Ellen, 
 who now sat on the lowest step of the stairs, 
 crying as if her heart would break. As the 
 policeman left the hall, Freddy followed 
 him, and they went down the steps together, 
 Freddy glancing up at him timidly. As 
 they reached the street, the great man 
 stopped, took Freddy by the chin, and look- 
 ed hard at him for a moment. 
 
 " You didn't make much by that job, 
 youngster," said he, kindly ; " but I'll know 
 you when we meet again." So saying he 
 walked off in one direction, and Freddy in 
 another, pondering on all he had heard and 
 seen, and thinking that perhaps there was 
 some use in " yoiid oughtcr" after all.
 
 VII. 
 
 FREDDY took his way toward one ot 
 the principal railroad depots, thinking 
 that he could earn as much there as else- 
 where, and keep himself warm at the stove 
 in the waiting-room. He had not eaten 
 much breakfast that morning, for his mind 
 had been in a tumult about restoring the 
 gold-piece, and, although he had firmly re- 
 solved to do so, he felt very low-spirited and 
 forlorn. Tonio had been cross and exact- 
 ing, and altogether he had felt so uncom- 
 fortable that he could not eat heartily as 
 usual. 
 
 Now that the excitement was all over, he 
 began to feel very hungry, but he was far 
 from any of the houses where he was accus- 
 tomed to go for a bit of bread and butter, 
 which was given as payment for some small 
 (119)
 
 I2O FIDDLING FREDDY. 
 
 service rendered to the servants. So he en- 
 tered one of the little corner groceries that 
 abound on the west side of the city, and 
 asked for an egg, producing, at the same 
 time, his only cent to pay for it. When 
 he heard that eggs were four cents apiece 
 he was quite dismayed, and stood disconso- 
 lately looking at his money, and wishing 
 that he might have kept the gold-piece. It 
 seemed to him that he had wilfully thrown 
 away a splendid chance to make his fortune, 
 and disregarded a golden opportunity. 
 
 He was not quite sure that after all he 
 had not been " a softy," as he called it. But 
 the remembrance of Ellen's face comforted 
 him, and he sighed a little sigh, and then 
 said, quite cheerfully, " Then hand over a 
 herring, ma'am, if you please." The gro- 
 cer's wife, who was waiting on customers, 
 was a fat, jolly-looking woman, who had 
 five boys of her own, who, she did declare, 
 were the plague of her life. But it is a sin- 
 gular fact that mothers grow good-natured
 
 FIDDLING FREDDY. 121 
 
 when they have plenty of such plagues 
 about, and they generally have a very warm 
 spot somewhere in their hearts for little, 
 cold, hungry boys such as Freddy. So it 
 happened that, when she saw his disap- 
 pointed face, she said cheerily : 
 
 " Set your heart on an egg, bubby ? Well, 
 you just play a tune on your fiddle for baby, 
 and I'll find one somewhere for you. It 
 won't be over-fresh maybe, but I don't sup- 
 pose you mind that ?" 
 
 " Oh, no !" said Freddy ; " I'm no ways 
 over-pettikler." 
 
 So he played " Champagne Charlie " for 
 her, with variations of a decidedly discur- 
 sive nature, and she danced her baby on 
 the counter, and declared that it kept time 
 to the music itself with its own little crooked 
 red legs, a fact she called Freddy to witness, 
 as she asked him if he did not think it was 
 an uncommon child in every way. 
 
 " I don't know much about babies," said 
 he. " I like the kind that sucks their thumbs
 
 122 FIDDLING FREDDY. 
 
 and waggles their heads kinder good an' 
 wobbly; you know some of them do sit so 
 stiff and scream so vicious." 
 
 Now this was a lucky remark, for this 
 particular baby happened to be a thumb- 
 sucking, waggle-headed, wobbly baby, and 
 the woman laughed ; and, after declaring in 
 a high key that it was " ye tiddiest little sing 
 in all e' world," she stooped down and drew 
 out an egg from a box under the counter, 
 which she handed to Freddy, refusing his 
 money, and saying, " Oh, you step in along 
 some time and give the baby a tune or so, 
 and that'll do." 
 
 Freddy thanked her, and went on his way 
 to the depot. The next train would not 
 start for half an hour, and the large wait- 
 ing-room was nearly empty, when Freddy 
 timidly opened the door and glanced around 
 to see if the smart colored woman who pre- 
 sided over the room was there. He knew 
 she would not let him enter, but she was 
 nowhere to be seen, and he ventured in.
 
 FIDDLING FREDDY. 123 
 
 A few ladies were sitting at the farther end 
 of the room, and one was warming her feet 
 at the bright, hot stove where Freddy want- 
 ed to warm his numb hands. She had a 
 kind, pleasant face, and he thought she 
 would not order him away, so he drew 
 near very quietly. 
 
 There was a large open kettle on top of 
 the stove in which the water was boiling at 
 a great rate, for this was a bitter cold morn- 
 ing, and the few who ventured to travel 
 were glad enough to warm their feet before 
 starting, and make themselves as comfort- 
 able as they could ; so the colored woman 
 had built a great fire, and placed the kettle 
 on top to keep the air moist and pleasant, 
 little dreaming that it would be used to 
 cook breakfast for a fiddling boy. But 
 Freddy had calculated all these chances, 
 and when he saw that the young lady who 
 sat by the stove smiled when he spread out 
 his poor, cold hands to the fire, he seized 
 his opportunity, and, with another hurried
 
 124 FIDDLING FREDDY. 
 
 look around the room, suddenly popped the 
 egg into the kettle. Now if, by great good 
 luck, that cross colored woman would stay 
 away three minutes, he would have a hot 
 boiled egg to comfort himself with ! The 
 young lady laughed, and asked him in Ital- 
 ian if that was his breakfast. 
 
 " Nix forstayn," answered Freddy. 
 
 The lady then repeated the question in 
 German. 
 
 " Nix forstayn, I tell you !" said he in a 
 loud tone, thinking she would understand 
 better if he shouted to her. 
 
 Freddy had bright, dark eyes and a dark 
 complexion, and the lady had mistaken him 
 for a foreigner, and supposed he only un- 
 derstood Italian, whereas Freddy, poor 
 child, talked a peculiar language of his 
 own, which could not in truth be called 
 English, but was a mixture of all the street 
 phrases he had picked up from other boys 
 and a most ungrammatical version of what 
 might originally have been English.
 
 FIDDLING FREDDY. 12$ 
 
 He heard a great deal of Italian and 
 French spoken, for many of the men in the 
 neighborhood were foreigners, but they 
 generally kept together in rooms by them- 
 selves, and did not mix much with others. 
 The few who lived in the house with him 
 were not the best of the class they repre- 
 sented, and were of all nations apparently. 
 Their strange patois was very confusing, 
 and Freddy had taken more naturally to 
 the language spoken with such force by 
 Sally and others of her stamp around 
 him. 
 
 " No understandy you," he explained to 
 the lady ; " me no talkee Dutch nor nothin' !" 
 and he tried to help out his meaning by vio- 
 lent pantomime, pointing to his mouth, ears, 
 eyes, and nose, and shaking his head very 
 hard. This was intended to convey the idea 
 that he was not acquainted with foreign 
 tongues, but an inexperienced observer 
 might have thought he meant to insinuate 
 that he was deaf, dumb, blind, and deprived
 
 126 FIDDLING FREDDY. 
 
 of the senses of taste and smell. The lady 
 laughed heartily. 
 
 " I asked if that was your breakfast," said 
 she, pointing to the egg which was bobbing 
 around in the boiling water. 
 
 " Well, yes'm, I suppose so," answered 
 Freddy, standing on tiptoe to look at it. 
 
 " How are you going to get it out ?" she 
 asked ; " you'll scald your hands with that 
 hot water." 
 
 Freddy nodded his head as much as to 
 say he knew what he was about, and then 
 began to poke the egg round in the kettle 
 with the end of his fiddle-bow. This was 
 slippery fishing ; he would raise it nearly 
 to the top of the kettle, when back it would 
 go again into the scalding water, with a 
 splash that made him wink his eyes, and 
 this was repeated till the egg had been 
 caught and lost about twenty times. The 
 lady sat by, watching the proceedings with 
 great amusement. 
 
 " You'll never get it out," said she at last.
 
 FIDDLING FREDDY. 12? 
 
 " Oh, yes, I will, ma'am," answered Fred- 
 dy, cheerfully ; " I 'spose you couldn't lend 
 me that hooky stick ?" pointing to the handle 
 of her small silk umbrella. 
 
 " Well, no, I don't think I could," said 
 she ; " it would break in that hot water." 
 
 " Oh, you needn't put it in ; just wait till 
 I fish up the egg again, an' then you steady 
 it for half a shake with that stick, an' I'm 
 bound to get it." 
 
 " Very well," said the lady, laughing ; 
 and, getting up, she stood ready to steady 
 the egg as Freddy desired. But it seemed 
 possessed to whirl round in the kettle, while 
 Freddy, always on tiptoe, made frantic dabs 
 at it with his fiddle-bow. It became quite 
 exciting. 
 
 "Now, now!" he exclaimed, and the young 
 lady hastily tried to hook it with the end of 
 her umbrella. Over and over again they 
 tried and failed, till the lady became as 
 much interested as Freddy in the result. 
 Holding her silk skirt back with one hand
 
 128 FIDDLING FREDDY. 
 
 from the glowing stove, she plunged her 
 umbrella handle in when Freddy gave the 
 word : 
 
 " Here 'tis ! steady now ! Hook him up, 
 ma'am ! There, now, you've let it go again !" 
 
 At last a prolonged ah-h-h-h told of the 
 moment of victory, and in another instant 
 the egg was rolled to the top of the kettle, 
 and out into Freddy's hand. 
 
 " We did that first rate !" said he, his eyes 
 sparkling with excitement ; " it's lucky for 
 us the darkey woman didn't come in and 
 catch us !" 
 
 The lady's laugh was echoed by a louder 
 one, and, looking up, Freddy saw a gen- 
 tleman standing by her, who had been an 
 amused spectator of the transaction, and 
 who now advanced with a bow, and offered 
 his hand to Miss Ashton. She colored as 
 she returned the salutation, and looked a 
 little embarrassed for a moment ; but it was 
 only for a moment, as she began to laugh
 
 FIDDLING FREDDY. 1 29 
 
 " I really couldn't help it," said she ; " it 
 \vas so exciting to fish in boiling water." 
 
 " Wasn't it fun !" exclaimed Freddy, ea- 
 gerly. 
 
 " Well, you had better go and eat your 
 egg," said the gentleman, " and then you 
 can come back and carry some of these 
 bundles." 
 
 Freddy did as he was bid, retiring to the 
 street, where, sitting on the curbstone with 
 his legs doubled under him to keep warm, 
 he clipped his eggshell and enjoyed his 
 dainty, which, as the woman had said, was 
 none of the freshest. But a hungry boy of 
 nine will eat many a thing which I, for in- 
 stance, would not crave. Meanwhile the 
 lady and gentleman were talking about him. 
 
 " He has a much better face than boys of 
 his class usually own," said Miss Ashton, 
 " and he was such a bright-eyed, cheery 
 little fellow, I could not help doing what he 
 wanted me to." 
 
 " I have no doubt the contents of .your
 
 130 FIDDLING FREDDY. 
 
 portemonnaie will make him more cheerful 
 than ever," answered the gentleman. " You 
 had better look in your pocket and see if 
 you have it still." 
 
 " You may laugh at me, if you like," an- 
 swered Miss Ashton, " but I pride myself 
 on being able to read faces accurately, and 
 I'm quite sure that is an honest boy. If he 
 were not, he could not have looked so fear- 
 lessly into my eyes and laughed so merrily. 
 No, thank you ! my money is quite safe," 
 said she laughing, as the gentleman offered 
 his pocket-book and suggested it would be 
 well to supply herself for her journey, in a 
 mocking tone. 
 
 At that moment the bell began to ring, and 
 every one hurried to the cars ; the half hour 
 had slipped away, and now there was not a 
 minute to be lost. Freddy appeared sudden- 
 ly with his fiddle tucked under his arm. 
 
 " Where's them bundles?" said he, breath- 
 lessly ; " give 'em to me quick, the cars is 
 going !"
 
 FIDDLING FREDDY. 131 
 
 " Don't excite yourself, my young friend," 
 said the -gentleman slowly, giving him a 
 heavy bag to carry, and offering his arm to 
 Miss Ashton. 
 
 The crowd jostled and pushed, and Fred- 
 dy had hard work to stagger along under 
 the bag. Everybody ran over him, and 
 pushed him aside, and seemed to think he 
 had no right to be there at all, and he had 
 to hold his fiddle tightly under his arm, and 
 carry the bag with both hands. It was 
 harder work to keep the gentleman and 
 lady in view as they walked down the long 
 platform and got into the car. Freddy, 
 tugging the bag, kept up manfully, but a 
 rush of people at the steps crowded 'him 
 away as often as he tried to get up, and it 
 was not till they had all passed in, and the 
 bell had rung, and the whistle soundect, that 
 the poor child struggled on to the platform 
 of the car, and, just as he did so, the engine 
 gave a snort a pant -a shriek and they 
 were off.
 
 132 FIDDLING FREDDY. 
 
 What could Freddy do ? He could not 
 jump down, for he had to give the bag to 
 its owner. He pushed, and elbowed his 
 way through the narrow passage between 
 the seats, looking right and left for the gen- 
 tleman and lady, who were nowhere to be 
 seen, and all the time the motion became 
 more and more rapid. 
 
 It was with feelings of the wildest impa- 
 tience that he was obliged to wait and allow 
 fussy people to bustle round directly in his 
 way, keeping him waiting, or to push by 
 gentlemen who stood in the passage-way 
 very much at their ease, talking quietly to 
 friends, while Freddy's poor little heart was 
 beating harder every moment as the train 
 moved with greater speed ; and when a 
 very slow and very fat woman obstructed 
 the way and leisurely proceeded to make 
 herself comfortable, Freddy felt as if he 
 could actually fly over her broad back. 
 Then, just as he had passed her, after long 
 delay, he was pushed back by a brakeman,
 
 FIDDLING FREDDY. 133 
 
 who, seeing his fiddle, thought he had smug- 
 gled himself on the cars to play for money, 
 and it took some time to explain matters to 
 him. 
 
 With one thing and another the train was 
 running at full speed before Freddy reached 
 the forward car. He could hardly keep on 
 his feet as he staggered toward the gentle- 
 man, who had given him up, and was now 
 laughing at the lady about her ability to 
 read honest faces, 
 
 " Your theory has cost me my bag and all 
 therein," said he, and Miss Ashton looked an- 
 noyed, but kept eagerly watching for Freddy. 
 
 " There he is !" she exclaimed, as his red, 
 anxious face appeared at the door. 
 
 The poor little fellow was quite tired and 
 breathless, and came panting along with the 
 heavy bag, which he dropped at the gentle- 
 man's feet, and then turned away to hide 
 the tears that came faster and faster as he 
 realized that he was being carried away 
 from his home at lightning speed.
 
 134 FIDDLING FREDDY. 
 
 " Poor little fellow !" said Miss Ashton, 
 " he has been carried off by the train. It's 
 too bad, I declare. What will he do ?" 
 
 " Why didn't you keep up with us ?" 
 asked the gentleman. 
 
 " How could I keep up when folks was 
 all a-pushing me back all the time ?" he 
 cried. " I did try to, but there was no 
 time. They scrouged, and they pushed, 
 and they wouldn't let me get up, and now 
 I don't know what to do." . 
 
 Poor Freddy did not know how far the 
 train was going. He had some dim vision 
 of being carried off to the ends of the earth 
 and landed among savages. His ideas on 
 the subject of traveling and geography were 
 more comprehensive than correct. 
 
 " Well, don't cry," said Miss Ashton ; 
 " we will get you home again. Come, sit 
 here by me, and tell me if your egg was 
 good." 
 
 " Tolerable, ma'am," said he, absently. 
 His eyes were fixed on the window, through
 
 FIDDLING FREDDY. 135 
 
 which he saw the surrounding country ap- 
 parently flying past him. He almost forgot 
 his troubles at this wonderful sight ; but 
 when Miss Ashton asked him where he 
 lived, he suddenly remembered his unfor- 
 tunate position. How should he ever get 
 back? He felt sure he never could walk 
 all that long distance home again. But Miss 
 Ashton felt very sorry for him, and hasten- 
 ed to set his little mind at rest by explaining 
 to him that, before very long, the train would 
 stop, she would get out, and he should, too, 
 and then she would put him on another train 
 which would take him back to the city. 
 
 The gentleman who was with her, and 
 anxious to talk to her, thought she gave 
 herself much unnecessary trouble about the 
 matter. He thought Freddy was only a lit- 
 tle fiddling boy, of no particular conse- 
 quence one who probably knew well 
 enough how to take care of himself, and 
 who, if he got into a scrape, ought to be 
 able to get himself out again.
 
 136 FIDDLING FREDDY. 
 
 But Minnie Ashton entered into a little 
 child's feelings. She remembered how im- 
 portant little matters were to her when she 
 was a child ; how terrible little dangers 
 seemed ; how comforting a few kind words 
 were ; and she never slighted children's 
 sorrows, as so many do, but always spoke 
 the kind word, and did the little kindness, 
 and many childish hearts blessed her, un- 
 consciously, for her delicate sympathy. 
 Freddy thought he had never seen any 
 one half so lovely, as he looked into her 
 pretty, kind eyes, while she was smiling 
 and talking to him. 
 
 Now that he was reassured on the subject 
 of getting home, he greatly enjoyed the ex- 
 citement. The rapid movement delighted 
 him, and he soon became bright and joyful 
 again, and answered all Miss Ashton's ques- 
 tions. Little by little she drew from him 
 the simple story of his life, and her eyes 
 were more than once filled with tears as 
 he told of his home, manner of living, and
 
 FIDDLING FREDDY. 137 
 
 of Lisa. Even the gentleman seemed to 
 take an interest after a while in the boy's 
 odd way of talking, as he unconsciously 
 showed his joyless, hard life, speaking of it 
 as a matter of course, and without a thought 
 of its being in the least extraordinary for a 
 child of nine to earn a living for two peo- 
 ple. When he told about the gold piece, 
 Miss Ashton glanced triumphantly at her 
 companion. 
 
 " I knew he was honest," she said. 
 
 " So you want to establish yourself in the 
 blacking business," said the gentleman. 
 
 " I'd like to make more money, sir, if I 
 could, for it's not everybody as likes to lis- 
 ten to my music." 
 
 " No ?" said the gentleman, in a tone of 
 surprise. " Why, you astonish me !" 
 
 " No, sir," said Freddy. " Some folks 
 sends me away, and some says, ' Plague 
 take his fiddle.' Children seem to like it, 
 though. But, if I had a blacking-box, I 
 could make a lot more money, you know."
 
 138 FIDDLING FREDDY. 
 
 " How much have you got ?" asked Miss 
 Ashton. 
 
 Freddy replied by holding up a cent. 
 
 " Now, Frederick," said the gentleman, 
 " if I advance capital enough to enable you 
 to go into business on your own account, 
 will you promise me not to speculate with 
 it?" 
 
 "What's that, sir?" asked Freddy, quite 
 mystified. 
 
 " Will you invest the sum in a legitimate 
 way ?" continued the young man. 
 
 Freddy turned to Miss Ashton. " He do 
 say such long words," said he. 
 
 Miss Ashton explained : " If he gives you 
 money for a blacking-box, will you promise 
 to buy one, and nothing else ?" 
 
 " Oh, yes, sir !" cried he, joyfully. 
 
 " Well, then, my young friend," here is a 
 dollar for your blacking-box, and here is 
 fifty cents for you to do as you like with. 
 It is to pay you for carrying the bag, for 
 your valuable time, and for the damage
 
 FIDDLING FREDDY. 139 
 
 done to your feelings. But I won't let you 
 give it to Romeo, or whatever his name is." 
 
 "Tonio! Oh, no! I'll keep it under a 
 board, in the hall ; Lisa and me'll keep it !" 
 
 " A very safe and excellent method of in- 
 vesting it," said the gentleman, as he placed 
 what seemed a perfect mine of wealth in 
 Freddy's hands. 
 
 " Oh, my goody !" cried he. " What a 
 jolly lot o' money !" and he looked grate- 
 fully towards Miss Ash ton. " Oh, thank 
 you, ma'am !" 
 
 " Why, Freddy," said she, " I didn't give 
 it to you you must thank Mr. Wilton 
 for it." 
 
 Upon which, Freddy thanked him. 
 
 " But he did it for you, ma'am," said 
 he. " I mean he give it to me to make 
 you glad." 
 
 Freddy wondered why Miss Ashton's 
 cheeks suddenly turned so rosy red ; but 
 at that instant, the engine-whistle sounded. 
 The train slackened its speed, and soon
 
 I4O FIDDLING FREDDY. 
 
 stopped altogether, and our party got out, 
 Freddy keeping close to Miss Ashton to 
 prevent further mistakes. 
 
 They were hardly off the steps of the car 
 when the engine began to pant again, at 
 first slowly, then quicker and quicker, and 
 in a minute the long train was whirled 
 away, rushing, rumbling and rattling, and 
 Freddy stood watching it till it was lost to 
 sight, and the last faint sounds died in the 
 distance. Then how quiet everything was ! 
 He turned to look around him. 
 
 What a clean, white, silent, beautiful world 
 this was to which he had been brought. The 
 sun, now high in the heavens, made every- 
 thing sparkle and glitter in its icy sheath. 
 Every little dried fern and tall blade of 
 feathery grass was covered with crystal, 
 and sent bright, flashing colors directly 
 into Freddy's eyes, as he looked around 
 in wonder. The sky was dazzling in its 
 intense blue, and the ground no less so, 
 covered with purest white. The tinkling
 
 FIDDLING FREDDY. 141 
 
 fall of little icicles from the laden boughs, 
 or the crisp, yet soft crackling noise made 
 by the icy branches of the trees as they 
 gently moved in the wind, was all that 
 broke the stillness, till a far-off factory-bell 
 began to sound. How clearly and how 
 sweetly it fell on Freddy's ear, and then 
 died away. He thought of the jangling, 
 discordant noise he heard daily from hun- 
 dreds of bells and steam - whistles in the 
 city, at noon, and of the incessant roar and 
 rush that prevailed there. How wonder- 
 fully different it was here. The stillness 
 was delightful, but almost oppressive. He 
 felt awed by it, and started violently when 
 Miss Ashton broke the silence by asking 
 him what he was thinking about. She and 
 Mr. Wilton had been watching him as his 
 bright black eyes had wandered over the 
 snowy scene with such a reverential, won- 
 dering, earnest gaze. 
 
 " Do you like it here, Freddy ?" she 
 asked.
 
 142 FIDDLING FREDDY. 
 
 " Oh, yes, ma'am ! It's ever so much 
 nicer than the city. It's so quiet and still, 
 like as it was up to God's house. The city 
 do smell so abominable !" and Freddy 
 wrinkled up his nose at the rememb- 
 rance. 
 
 " You must come and see me in the sum- 
 mer, when it is all green," said Miss Ash- 
 ton, laughing. " I live in that brown house 
 over there. Don't you ever go in the coun- 
 try with your fiddle, in summer?" 
 
 " No, ma'am," said Freddy, but inwardly 
 resolved that he would do so as soon as he 
 was his own master. But now the distant 
 rush of an approaching train was heard, 
 and Freddy's reveries and reflections were 
 broken by the necessity of listening to Miss 
 Ashton's instructions for his homeward 
 journey. She gave the conductor money 
 to pay his fare, asked him to keep an eye 
 on the boy, and then saw him safely into 
 the proper car. A minute more and Fred- 
 dy was hurrying back to his home ; but, as
 
 FIDDLING FREDDY. 143 
 
 long as he could, he kept his head turned 
 to look at the pretty, smiling face of Minnie 
 Ashton. 

 
 VIII. 
 
 IT was not long before Freddy had com- 
 pleted a bargain with a boy he knew for 
 his entire blacking establishment, and 
 proud and happy was he that night when 
 he got home to show it to Lisa. He deter- 
 mined to say nothing about it to Tonio till 
 he could show him the glorious results of 
 his enterprise. The fifty cents were safely 
 stored away under the broken board in the 
 hall, and no one but Lisa suspected the hid- 
 den treasure. Freddy had told her, and, in 
 fact, she had helped him to hide it ; but he 
 knew she would not reveal the secret, and 
 so that great amount of wealth was as 
 secure as though held under lock and key. 
 It had troubled Lisa very greatly because 
 she knew that Freddy always kept her 
 penny out of the money he should have 
 (44)
 
 FIDDLING FREDDY. 145 
 
 handed to Tonio, and once she had even 
 gone so far as to ask him not to buy her roll 
 for her. But Freddy represented that he 
 worked for the money, and had a right to 
 some of it. When he had begun this prac- 
 tice of keeping back a cent, he used to 
 deceive Tonio, and tell him a falsehood, say- 
 ing that he handed to him all that he 
 received. Lisa knew he did so, but at that 
 time she did not care. She had not been 
 taught that it was wrong to steal and tell 
 lies. Her only instructions had been given 
 in the shape of blows when she was caught 
 doing wrong, and they were given in anger 
 and vengeance, not with the desire to teach 
 her what was right. But since Mr. Brown- 
 ing had talked to her so kindly, and told 
 her of the love that God felt for her, and 
 the happiness that awaited her if she would 
 do his will and be his child, she had tried 
 very hard to be good. She had a timid, 
 shrinking nature, a sensitive conscience, and 
 an earnest longing for love. In her own 
 13
 
 146 FIDDLING FREDDY. 
 
 simple little way, she hungered and thirst- 
 ed for righteousness. No sooner had she 
 heard what was required of her, than she 
 tried very hard to fulfill the terms ; easy 
 terms they were to this loving ignorant 
 child. 
 
 Starved and beaten and cruelly used by 
 the woman who should have protected her, 
 she turned to accept the only love she knew. 
 Oh, how easy it was to love ! Does any 
 child reading this story wonder what I 
 mean, and think it strange that a little, 
 dirty, ragged girl, who could not even read, 
 who had been brought up in wickedness, 
 should dare to love the Great God ? 
 
 Well, I must tell you that it seems a 
 great deal stranger to me that so many 
 children who are well and carefully nurtur- 
 *ed, surrounded by loving friends and all the 
 precious gifts of God, should accept them 
 all so thoughtlessly, should rise in the 
 morning and go to bed at night, unmindful 
 of the love that keeps them from harm, and
 
 FIDDLING FREDDY. 147 
 
 never once stop to think of the dear Lord 
 Jesus, who gave his life for them. How 
 clearly he loved little children! Why 
 should it be strange for them to love him ? 
 Lisa found it neither hard nor strange ; it 
 was all the happiness she knew. So, as she 
 began to see what was right and what was 
 wrong, she was troubled about the cent that 
 Freddy kept back for her. Now, therefore, 
 when he told her that he intended to keep 
 the fifty cents for her bread, she was 
 delighted. 
 
 Fifty cents worth of rolls ! Fifty suppers ! 
 Why, she could not think beyond that! It 
 seemed to her that it would last all her life- 
 time. And Freddy felt as though he were 
 treading on air the day after his journey. 
 He could hardly walk soberly along the 
 street ; indeed, he found it quite impossible. 
 He felt all the excitement and glory of a 
 successful business career, as he sallied forth 
 with his fiddle under his arm and his black- 
 ing-box slung over his shoulder. Nothing
 
 148 FIDDLING FREDDY. 
 
 but the fact of carrying so much property 
 about him prevented him from standing on 
 his head at every lamp-post. He was 
 obliged to let off steam by whooping and 
 yelling as he danced along sideways, imi- 
 tating dogs, cats, and engines, and occasion- 
 ally representing a train of cars rushing at 
 full speed. 
 
 He had paused to take breath, when he 
 was hailed by the conductor of a street car, 
 which was just starting on its early trip. 
 Freddy reached it in three bounds, and 
 swung himself on to the platform. 
 
 " Shine your boots ! " said he in a busi- 
 ness-like way, recognizing the very con- 
 ductor who had put him off a few days ago. 
 Oh, what glory this was ! How much more 
 important he was than he had been. The 
 conductor seated himself leisurely on the 
 rail of the car, and put out his foot, which 
 Freddy seized, and began such a rubbing 
 and spitting and polishing, one would think 
 he had been brought up to the occupation.
 
 FIDDLING FREDDY. 149 
 
 The conductor's toes tingled that morning 
 by the time Freddy was half through, and 
 he ratber objected to the extra polish which 
 was so enthusiastically administered. But 
 Freddy looked at the two big feet with all 
 the delight an artist feels in his work. 
 
 " Shine like glass bottles, they do," he said 
 in a delighted tone. As he caught the two 
 five-cent pieces that were thrown to him, he 
 felt much happier than when he had received 
 the gold-piece. They looked to him like 
 the beginning of a large fortune, and he re- 
 placed his brushes in his box, and rode along 
 on the step of the car, feeling that he could 
 defy the fates, now that he carried a fiddle 
 and a blacking-box. The world was divided 
 into two classes, in Freddy's mind those 
 who wanted music, and those who wanted 
 boots blacked. 
 
 Agreeably to this idea he was not in the 
 least surprised when, on leaving the step, 
 he was again hailed by a gentleman at the 
 corner of the street. The " Here, boy!"
 
 150 FIDDLING FREDDY. 
 
 which was accompanied by a whistle, was 
 music in Freddy's ears, and it did not occur 
 to him it was wonderfully like the manner 
 of calling a dog. He started and ran to 
 the corner, but not before another boy had 
 heard the summons, and was making for the 
 same spot at the top of his speed. It was 
 the work of a minute to get there, but 
 Freddy knew that whoever touched the 
 boot first had the job ; the other must re- 
 tire at once, according to the law of the 
 boot-blacks. His short legs flew over the 
 ground with incredible speed, and he flung 
 himself forward, clasping the gentleman's 
 boot just as the other boy brought up sud- 
 denly with a force which jerked him over, 
 and he fell on top of Freddy. The two 
 struggled for an instant, but Freddy would 
 not let go of the foot, notwithstanding that 
 the gentleman kicked violently to rid him- 
 self of the disputants. 
 
 " I got it first !" cried Freddy, as though 
 that muddy boot were a jewel of great
 
 FIDDLING FREDDY. 151 
 
 price ; and the other boy was obliged to 
 withdraw, which he did, muttering oaths 
 and calling Freddy very bad names indeed. 
 The voice seemed familiar, and Freddy look- 
 ed up in the midst of his brushing and rec- 
 ognized Tom, the big boy who had sung 
 in the chapel and laughed at Lisa. 
 
 This was the first time he and Freddy 
 had met since then, for he had been sent 
 away from the institution, and not reap- 
 peared at the singing-class. Freddy felt 
 that he was in for a fight, but knew it must 
 be postponed till the boots were finished, 
 so kept on steadily with his work, whistling 
 to denote carelessness of the fact that Tom 
 was vowing vengeance at his elbow. Sud- 
 denly he felt a twitch and a jerk, and in an 
 instant saw Tom running off with his fiddle 
 and bow, which he had laid beside him, 
 resting his knee lightly on it for safety. In 
 turning to get a brush he forgot it, and 
 Tom had seized it and was off. 
 
 With a wild shout he jumped up, clutch-
 
 152 FIDDLING FREDDY. 
 
 ed his box, threw in his brushes hastily, 
 never waited for his pay, but was off like 
 an arrow shot from the bow in pursuit of 
 Tom, shouting, " Stop thief! stop thief!" 
 at the top of his lungs. Away flew the boy, 
 and away flew Freddy in hot chase, and was 
 instantly joined by a crowd of boys, who 
 seemed suddenly to spring out of the ground, 
 so instantaneous was their appearance on 
 hearing the cry. 
 
 " Stop thief ! stop thief !" resounded 
 through the street as they all rushed along 
 pell mell, hardly knowing what they were 
 after, and never looking where they went. 
 Freddy kept on well in advance of the rest 
 his legs seemed to have wings. His pre- 
 cious fiddle was just visible at times about 
 half a block ahead of him, but he was gain- 
 ing on Tom every moment ; he thought he 
 would surely catch him at the next corner. 
 
 Suddenly Tom turned aside, and darted 
 down a side s'reet. For an instant Freddy 
 lost sight of him, but he dashed down the
 
 FIDDLING FREDDY. 153 
 
 same street, with the crowd after him ; he 
 was nearly wild at the idea of losing his 
 fiddle, and tore along, panting and too 
 breathless to cry "stop thief" any longer. 
 Now, Tom had taken a short turn into an 
 alley, which Freddy had not seen as he ran 
 by, and there he stood for a minute, hidden 
 by a large wagon, till the yelling crowd had 
 rushed past, when he suddenly ran out and 
 joined in the pursuit apparently, scream- 
 ing " stop thief" louder than any one. 
 
 By this time the policeman became aware 
 of the trouble, and took measures to put a 
 stop to it. An officer stationed himself at 
 the next turn, and just as Freddy, who was 
 running furiously ahead of all the others, 
 dashed round the corner, he seized him by 
 the arm, supposing him to be the thief run- 
 ning from his pursuers. Freddy struggled 
 violently, but could not shake off the firm 
 hold. The crowd closed around him in a 
 moment, loudly vociferating, and Tom's 
 voice rose high above all the others.
 
 154 FIDDLING FREDDY. 
 
 Freddy was stunned by his sudden cap- 
 ture, and he was too breathless to speak, 
 but he pointed to Tom, and gasped, writh- 
 ing in the officer's grasp in the frantic de- 
 sire to get hold of him and wrench his fid- 
 dle from him. But the policeman, without 
 waiting to hear the merits of the matter, 
 began to march Freddy off to the station- 
 house, which was near at hand. The crowd 
 of boys followed, jeering and calling out 
 insulting things to him as he was dragged 
 along, resisting every inch of the way. 
 
 Tom kept at his side, and was the most 
 aggravating of all. In vain did Freddy try 
 to rush at him ; the officer held him tightly 
 and marched him off briskly. Poor Fred- 
 dy's breath came in quick, short pants, al- 
 most like sobs. He felt as if his chest 
 would burst, and seemed to taste blood in 
 his throat. His rapid race and sudden 
 check had been almost too much for him, 
 and he could not speak one word. 
 
 Tom, seeing him in this defenceless state,
 
 FIDDLING FREDDY. 155 
 
 thought himself quite secure, and was highly 
 delighted with the success of his plan. He 
 continued his taunts and insults till they 
 arrived at the very door of the station-house, 
 when he thought it would be safest to make 
 off with all possible speed ; but, the officer 
 relaxing his hold somewhat, Freddy, with 
 a violent jerk, broke from him, and, before 
 Tom could get off, he had rushed at him 
 like a wild beast, and knocked him down. 
 And now a desperate struggle ensued. 
 The two boys grappled, wrestled, hurled 
 each other down, wrenched off their ragged 
 jackets, and pulled out hair from each oth- 
 er's heads. Oh, it was a terrible fight, I can 
 tell you much more like two dogs than 
 two boys possessed of reason. The officer, 
 however, put a stop to it by seizing both 
 and shaking what breath remained out of 
 them, and then half led and half dragged 
 them into the house. Freddy's head whirled 
 so he hardly knew if he were standing on 
 it or his feet.
 
 156 FIDDLING FREDDY. 
 
 Tom blubbered and whimpered, and, see- 
 ing that Freddy could not speak, told the 
 officers that he had stolen his blacking-box 
 and run off with it. 
 
 " You lie !" gasped Freddy, but could get 
 no further. 
 
 Somebody handed him a glass of water, 
 which he drank, and little by little recov- 
 ered himself. But he saw at once that 
 everybody believed Tom. None of those 
 who had given chase had the least idea who 
 they had been pursuing ; they had merely 
 joined in when they saw others running. 
 
 The officer who had captured Freddy tes- 
 tified that he was in advance of all the rest, 
 and seemed to be the thief, and that Tom 
 had been in the rear of the crowd when 
 he was taken. And Tom cried, and said 
 that Freddy had knocked him down and 
 taken his box and run away with it. The 
 officers were all very rough and gruff, and 
 hardly listened to Freddy, and it is proba- 
 ble that he would have been forced to hand
 
 FIDDLING FREDDY. 157 
 
 over the blacking-box to Tom, and see 
 him go off triumphantly with that and 
 the fiddle, when a bright idea occurred to 
 him. 
 
 " Look here !" said he, still panting for 
 breath. " You don't b'leeve me, but just 
 wait. I say that fiddle is mine, and he 
 hooked it. Now, if it's his, just let's hear 
 him play on it. Come, now ; that's fair ! 
 Make him give us a tune." 
 
 Tom saw that he was caught, for he never 
 had played in his life. He turned very red, 
 and muttered something about a sore hand ; 
 but the officers began to laugh and clap 
 Freddy on the back in an encouraging \vay, 
 and public opinion began to veer round in 
 his direction. 
 
 " Make him play," cried several voices, 
 and Tom was told to begin his performance. 
 He took the bow and tried to scrape it on 
 the fiddle, but everybody laughed at his 
 ludicrous attempts and queer faces. Freddy 
 stood by watching with great anxiety, and,
 
 158 FIDDLING FREDDY. 
 
 when he saw Tom's discomfiture, he gave 
 a little shout of triumph, and, seizing his 
 fiddle, played his liveliest jig, as though 
 new life had been given him. In the excite- 
 ment he forgot his weariness. 
 
 But Tom had his bright ideas too, though 
 they were wicked ones ; and he now de- 
 clared that the fiddle was his brother's 
 that he 'was carrying it to his brother that 
 he didn't know how to play on it, but it was 
 his for all that ; at least, it was his brother's, 
 and he was " a-takin' it to him." 
 
 Freddy was aghast at this statement, but, 
 looking round the room, to see what im- 
 pression it made, he caught sight of a face 
 he knew. There stood the officer who had 
 arrested Ellen, the very one who had said 
 he would know Freddy when he met him 
 again. Freddy ran up to him. 
 
 "I say!" he cried. "You said you'd 
 know me again. Don't you remember? 
 I'm the boy that gave you the gold-piece 
 t'other day. I had my fiddle with me then.
 
 FIDDLING FREDDY. Ig9 
 
 You saw it. Won't you tell 'em so ? May- 
 be they'll b'leeve you." 
 
 The officer thus addressed turned and 
 looked at Freddy, and asked what the mat- 
 ter was. When it was explained to him, he 
 walked up to Tom and gave him a shaking 
 that made his teeth chatter. 
 
 " You young rascal !" said he. " Tell the 
 truth this moment. I know that fiddle be- 
 longs to that boy. How did you get it?" 
 
 Tom, nearly as breathless from his shak- 
 ings as Freddy had been from running, 
 could only cry and dig his knuckles into 
 his eyes, and shuffle his feet uneasily on the 
 floor, and hang down his head. Then the 
 officer told the others the story of Freddy's 
 returning the gold-piece, and that he had 
 seen him at that time with his fiddle. 
 
 Freddy's character was now established, 
 and the fiddle was restored to him. Tom 
 was told to take himself off, and behave him- 
 self, or it would go harder with him in the 
 future. He slunk away, followed by the
 
 160 FIDDLING FREDDY. 
 
 boys who had waited to hear the conclusion 
 of the matter, and who so twitted and tor- 
 mented him that he was glad to run away, 
 to escape from them. 
 
 Freddy received much good advice from 
 his officer friend, while he blacked his boots 
 with a vigor inspired by gratitude. 
 
 " You see the value of a good character," 
 said he. " If I hadn't known you had been 
 honest, the other day, I couldn't have done 
 much for you, for appearances were against 
 you. Now, as to that Tom, we all know 
 he is a scamp, and shall not let him off an- 
 other time so easily. He's earned a bad 
 reputation by his tricks. Now that you 
 have a good one, see that you keep it. 
 ' Honesty is the best policy !' Remember 
 that." 
 
 Freddy was very glacl to know that he 
 held a good character, but he remembered 
 how very much he had wanted to keep the 
 gold-piece. 
 
 " If it hadn't been for Lisa, I never should
 
 IDDLIXG FREDDY. l6l 
 
 have took it back," he said to himself. " I 
 wonder why she wanted me to take it back 
 so much." 
 
 He asked her the question that evening, 
 after relating his day's adventures. 
 
 " I don't know why, Freddy," she an- 
 swered, " 'cept that Mr. Browning said 
 you'd oughter ; and ever since I know'd 
 God loved us, I've kinder wanted to do 
 what we'd oughter, so as he'll let us go live 
 with Him bimeby, you know. I guess we 
 don't know much how to be good, but Mr. 
 Browning said if we'd try hard, that would 
 please Him, an' I try, 'cause I do want to 
 go up to the sky so much to live with Him." 
 And Lisa raised her little thin hand, and 
 pointed to the beautiful bright star. " That's 
 where he is Jesus, you know ; him as loves 
 us." 
 
 Little ignorant Lisa had learned a lesson 
 that many of the rich and great of earth 
 have failed to get by heart. She had found 
 out the reason for doing right and leading
 
 l62 FIDDLING FREDDY. 
 
 a good life not because honesty is the. fast 
 policy, as the policeman had told Freddy 
 not because to bear a good character helps 
 us along to a good position in the world. 
 It is true that all this is necessary to our 
 earthly happiness, but .Lisa knew a higher 
 motive than this. " If ye love me, keep 
 my commandments," said the holy Saviour, 
 whom Lisa loved, because he first loved her.
 
 IX. 
 
 THE long, dreary winter came to an 
 end, and Freddy began to rejoice in 
 the brighter sun and milder air of spring. 
 He was delighted to see the high snow- 
 banks gradually melting, and, when three 
 warm days had actually converted them 
 into rushing streams of dirty water, he 
 splashed about joyfully in the gutter with 
 his bare feet, and was perfectly happy sail- 
 ing chip -boats and building bridges and 
 dams with old shoes. 
 
 A country boy would scarcely recognize 
 a city snow-bank, it is such a different affair 
 from the white, glistening heap to which he 
 is accustomed. In the country the snow 
 lies quietly where it has fallen, and the 
 spring sun turns it into clear water, that 
 
 dances off in little, sparkling rivulets, bright 
 (163)
 
 164 FIDDLING FREDDY. 
 
 and blue with the reflection of the sun 
 and sky ; but in the city, as soon as the 
 snow falls, it is attacked by men and boys 
 with shovels, who hurry to get it off the 
 sidewalks, and pile it up by the side of the 
 street. There it freezes, in great, irregular 
 heaps, solid enough to hold all the refuse 
 that is thrown upon them from the houses 
 in the poorer parts of the city. Before 
 long, not a trace of white is to be seen, and 
 the snow-bank like a collection of old cab- 
 bage-ends, ragged shoes, dirty dish-water, 
 dead kittens, and potato-parings. 
 
 Freddy thought it was splendid to sec 
 the heap melt, and go rushing down the 
 gutter ; and he did not mind a dead kitten 
 or two any more than you or I would a 
 loosened root of violets on a clear stream. 
 He begged Tonio to leave his cold, dull 
 room, and to come and sit on the sunny 
 door -step, declaring that it was bully out 
 of doors ; but poor Tonio was too weak to 
 go up and down stairs now, and he only
 
 FIDDLING FREDDY. 165 
 
 sighed wearily, and looked out of the win- 
 dow. 
 
 Notwithstanding Freddy's prophecy 
 that he would be all right in the spring, 
 when the sun was warm he had grown 
 steadily worse. All the big medicine bot- 
 tles which Freddy brought him failed to 
 perform the wonderful cure they promised 
 on their bright wrappers, and Tonio was a 
 dying man, though Freddy did not know 
 it. He was in capital spirits, for his busi- 
 ness was prospering finely. There were 
 quantities of boots to be blacked, and it 
 was really delicious to see the streets in 
 such a fearful condition. Freddy hoped it 
 would be a long time before they became 
 clean. He had as much as he could do 
 now, and blacked boots till his arms ached ; 
 but the money-bag grew heavier and heav- 
 ier, and he felt that he should be a rich man, 
 if the streets would only always be muddy. 
 
 He left his fiddle behind him now ; there 
 was no time to play on it, and his expe-
 
 166 FIDDLING FREDDY. 
 
 rience with Tom had made him cautious. 
 But all things change which is a comfort- 
 ing reflection, when they go crooked, but 
 not so much when all is prosperous. With 
 a sigh Freddy watched the streets drying 
 up and becoming dusty. At last he saw a 
 man one day take out his pocket-handker- 
 chief and dust off his own boots. 
 
 " Mean fellow !" said Freddy to himself, 
 with a look of scorn. " Calls himself a gen- 
 tleman, too, I dessay." 
 
 But he knew by this sign that his black- 
 ing business must henceforth decline, and 
 he determined once more to try his luck 
 with his fiddle. People no longer hurried 
 by with their hands in their pockets ; they 
 sauntered more slowly, and looked better- 
 natured. So, one bright, sunny day, he 
 tuned up his fiddle, flourished his bow, and 
 set out on a long tramp to the Park, where 
 he knew he should find an admiring audi- 
 ence of children. 
 
 There they were, to be sure, in quanti-
 
 FIDDLING FREDDY. l6/ 
 
 ties, big and little, trundling hoops, running 
 races, dragging toy carts after them, hang- 
 ing on to their nurses' dresses, or sitting in 
 pretty little wheeled carriages, as they were 
 pushed along the gravel -paths. Freddy 
 took his stand and played merrily. A lit- 
 tle crowd soon gathered around him, en- 
 joying his music, and looking with mingled 
 admiration and wonder at his extraordinary 
 dancing. He could not resist a few extra 
 jerks and flings this morning, and he wheel- 
 ed about and jumped about and danced Jim 
 Crow generally, occasionally varying his 
 performance by standing on his head, which 
 was a figure of the dance highly approved 
 of by his young friends, who clapped their 
 hands and greeted him with shrill cheers 
 when he came right side up, and once more 
 stood erect before his fellow-boys. 
 
 I cannot conscientiously call him a grace- 
 ful dancer, but the children admired him 
 greatly, and did not grudge their pennies. 
 He made more than he had for a great
 
 1 68 FIDDLING FREDDY. 
 
 while ; even more than the man who sold 
 balloons and bag-pipes, and almost as much 
 as the candy-woman. There was a little 
 four-year old boy in the Park, whose nurse 
 became so absorbed in conversation with a 
 friend, that she paid no attention to his re- 
 peated requests that she should take him to 
 hear " the muthick ;" so at last he slipped 
 away from her and joined the circle of 
 Freddy's patrons. But Freddy by this time 
 was preparing to move on, and he shoul- 
 dered his fiddle, and marched off, not know- 
 ing that the little boy was following him. 
 At last he stopped again and commenced 
 to play for a fresh audience. 
 
 The little boy took his stand directly in 
 front of him, where he remained as solemn 
 as a judge, looking at him with an air of 
 absorbed interest, his fat little legs planted 
 firmly and widely apart, and with air of im- 
 movability that was very funny. One group 
 of listeners succeeded another, and still he 
 remained, while the careless nurse, now
 
 FIDDLING FREDDY. 169 
 
 left far behind, continued her conversation 
 quietly, supposing that he was still by her 
 side. At last the other children all ran off 
 to play, and Freddy, stopping to rest his 
 arm, looked around and saw him. 
 
 " Hallo, little short and fat, where did you 
 blow from ?" he asked. This address, some- 
 what abruptly made, seemed to rouse the 
 child to a sense of his position. Looking 
 about him and seeing no friendly face, he 
 began to cry. 
 
 " Maggie !" he called, but no Maggie was 
 there to answer. 
 
 " Whereth Maggie ?" he asked Freddy. 
 
 " Oh, she's married the policeman, and 
 gone up in a balloon," answered he. 
 
 This was not a comforting answer. The 
 little fellow sat down flat on the ground 
 and cried bitterly, calling Maggie in such 
 a piteous tone, that Freddy turned back as 
 he was about to walk away, and saw that 
 he was entirely alone, a fact he had not 
 noticed till then. 
 15
 
 I/O FIDDLING FREDDY. 
 
 " Lost your ma ?" he asked. 
 
 " I want Maggie whereth Maggie ?" re- 
 plied the sobbing child. 
 
 " Well, now, that's the meanest thing I 
 ever did see !" exclaimed Freddy, " to go 
 and let a little chap like you off all by your- 
 self. Come along with me, and we'll find 
 Maggie ; and looker here, when we do, just 
 you put in, and punch her head for losing 
 of you, will you ?" So saying, he took him 
 by the hand to lead him along, and he, look- 
 ing up into Freddy's face, trotted along fear- 
 lessly by his side. 
 
 Unfortunately for them, they took the 
 wrong path, one which led directly away 
 from the nurse, who by this time had discov- 
 ered the loss of her charge, and was running 
 about looking for him, and growing more 
 and more distracted every minute. Fredd} T 
 passed many a nurse, and he stopped by 
 every one, hoping it might be Maggie ; 
 but the little boy only shook his head, and 
 said :
 
 FIDDLING FREDDY. 171 
 
 " No, that'th not Maggie." At last, per- 
 fectly tired out, he sat down and refused to 
 move. " Me tired," was all he would say ; 
 nor would he obey Freddy's injunctions to 
 get up and come along. 
 
 " But I can't stay here all day, young 
 hoopen-scoopel !" cried Freddy, beginning 
 to lose patience, for he was too tired, and 
 wanted to get home. 
 
 "Me not hoopy - thcoopy me Willie," 
 said the child, objecting to the honorary 
 title bestowed on him by Freddy. 
 
 "Well, come along then, Willie. If you 
 want to get Maggie, it's time we were mov- 
 ing." 
 
 " Can't. Me tired," was his answer. He 
 seemed to be perfectly at his ease, now that 
 some one had him in charge, and evidently 
 had not the least fear that Maggie would 
 remain long away. 
 
 But Freddy became very uneasy ; he did 
 not know what to do. He felt that he could 
 not leave the child entirely alone ; yet it
 
 FIDDLING FREDDY. 
 
 was getting late, for many hours had slip- 
 ped away since he entered the Park. He 
 was tired and hungry, and wondered, with 
 dismay, what he should do with Willie, if he 
 could not find his nurse. It certainly was 
 provoking of the child to be so perfectly at 
 case, he thought, while he was so perplexed ; 
 but Willie had a stolid, solemn little way 
 with him that was very funny, and his queer 
 lisp amused Freddy, who felt inclined to 
 humor him, although he found it somewhat 
 hard to accede to all his whims. They had 
 walked a long way, and Willie was really 
 tired, and nothing that Freddy could say 
 would induce him to move. 
 
 " Play more muthick," said he. 
 
 "Will you come along, if I will?" asked 
 Freddy, thinking he could coax him. 
 
 " Yeth, me will," was the satisfactory 
 reply, and Freddy played a tune. 
 
 " Now, danth thome more," was the next 
 order. 
 
 " No, I won't," cried Freddy ; " I'm tired
 
 FIDDLING FREDDY. 173 
 
 too. Come. You must come ! " But Willie 
 hung back. 
 
 "You mutht cally me, then," said he. 
 
 Poor Freddy saw no help for it. This 
 dreadful child had already become his 
 tyrant. He stooped and raised him, and 
 then went staggering under his load, with 
 his fiddle and bow sticking out under one 
 arm, as he tried to clasp the child, who 
 seemed to grow heavier every moment, like 
 the little old man of the sea. 
 
 " I tell you what, I can't stand this long," 
 gasped Freddy. " If you was solid gold, 
 and all my own, I don't believe I could lug 
 you home. I'll take you to a pleeceman." 
 But at this Willie set up such a howl, with 
 his mouth close to Freddy's ear, that he was 
 almost deafened. 
 
 " Oh, don't take me to the pleethman oh, 
 don't, don't ! " he screamed. " Pleethmen ith 
 bad; they wip little boyth till the bleed 
 comth," he sobbed, and then screamed again, 
 till Freddy felt as if he must shake him.
 
 1/4 FIDDLING FREDDY. 
 
 ' Well, stop your bellowing, and I won't 
 take you, then," said he ; " though I know 
 I'd oughter, for they'd get you home some- 
 how, I guess." 
 
 But Willie had been too often frightened 
 by his nurse, who had used the threat to 
 him, when naughty, that she would call the 
 police-officer, and the mere sight of one in 
 the distance was enough to throw him into 
 a frenzy of fear. 
 
 The prospects of meeting Maggie seemed 
 to grow fainter, as they had strayed into a 
 retired path, which was a very lonely one, 
 and they no longer met any one. Freddy 
 staggered on bravely, thinking every min- 
 ute that they would come to a turn which 
 would bring them out on to a thoroughfare. 
 Willie, having screamed almost all the 
 breath out of his body, now began to grow 
 sleepy. His head nodded, and nodded, and 
 finally dropped on to Freddy's shoulder 
 he was fast asleep. 
 
 "Well, I never!" said Freddy, in an
 
 FIDDLING FREDDY. 1 75 
 
 exasperated tone. " If this isn't the provok- 
 ingest young one." 
 
 He could walk no farther, for his strength 
 was all gone, and he fairly dropped at the 
 root of a tree, and leaned back against the 
 trunk panting. 
 
 " Now I wonder how long I've got to 
 stay here?" he sighed. "Oh, dear, I'm 
 awful tired! I'll ride home, anyhow, for I 
 can't walk so far and I've made a lot to-day." 
 
 He took off the little greasy money-bag 
 which hung round his neck, and counted his 
 day's earnings. He had more than a dollar. 
 
 " Pretty good," said he, as he replaced 
 the bag. " Yes, I'll ride home ; but when 
 on earth I'll ever get there, with this young 
 one to see to, I'm sure I don't know. He'll 
 have to walk when he wakes up, my arms 
 ache so, lugging him. He's a pretty little 
 chap," he thought as he looked at the curly 
 head nestled so confidingly on his arm. " I 
 wonder where he do live, and how I'll ever 
 get him home ? "
 
 FIDDLING FREDDY. 
 
 Willie shivered as he looked at him, for 
 the afternoon was growing chilly and damp. 
 
 " Poor little chap, he's cold. I 'spose 
 he's used to being kept warm with lots of 
 blankets. Shouldn't wonder if he's always 
 fed with a gold spoon. Now I wonder why 
 I didn't belong to rich folks, and have gold 
 spoons and blankets too." 
 
 As he thought this he gently shifted the 
 child's position, so that he could draw his 
 arms out of his own ragged jacket, which 
 he wrapped round Willie, who cuddled 
 closer to him, and drew deep, long breaths. 
 
 " He's about as badly off as I be now, any- 
 way," continued Freddy, "for he's cold and 
 hungry, and glad of my old jacket. Maybe 
 'tain't so awful good to be rich after all ; " 
 and he hugged the child closer to keep him 
 warm, and forgot how provoking he had 
 been, and how heavy to carry. 
 
 They sat in this way nearly an hour, and 
 Freddy was getting very drowsy himself, 
 when footsteps suddenly approached, and
 
 FIDDLING FREDDY. 177 
 
 he heard loud voices, in eager conversation, 
 drawing nearer and nearer. In another 
 minute, Freddy saw a lady and a policeman 
 hastening along the path, in his direction. 
 He made up his mind to ask them what he 
 had better do, and as they came near, he 
 called out : 
 
 " I say ! beg pardon, but will you hold on 
 for a minute ? " 
 
 Thus addressed, they turned and looked 
 at him ; the lady started violently, gave one 
 bound to his side, and snatched the sleeping 
 child from him. 
 
 " Here he is ! " she cried. " Oh, Willie, 
 Willie, WILLIE ! " and down she went on 
 the grass, hugging and kissing the child as 
 if she had gone crazy. 
 
 " Is he her boy ? " asked Freddy, taken 
 greatly by surprise at the sudden change in 
 the state of affairs. 
 
 " Yes ; and we've been hunting for him 
 more than an hour," answered the officer. 
 
 Then Freddy learned that the nurse, after
 
 178 FIDDLING FREDDY. 
 
 an unsuccessful search for Willie, had gone 
 homeland confessed that she had lost him, 
 and, ever since, all his family had been 
 hunting for him, far and near, in the Park. 
 The lady talked very rapidly, and seemed 
 to be in a great state of excitement. 
 
 " And so, here he is, after all, poor dar- 
 ling ! precious little toady woady ! and you 
 got him, did you? How did you get him, 
 I wonder? Tell me, quick; and was he 
 crying his eyes out for mamma? and, oh 
 dear ! I know he's caught his death of cold, 
 and he'll die, to-night, of croup ; and what's 
 your name, little boy ? Oh, a fiddle ! You're 
 a fiddling boy, to be sure, and you found 
 Willie; and where did you find him? Oh! 
 that horrid Maggie ! and what's this dread- 
 ful little thing round him ? oh, horrid ! 
 Why, it's your jacket how lovely! And 
 you took it off to keep him warm ! I'll give 
 you a new one ; come home with me and 
 get it. Oh, dear ! But, I hope you haven't 
 any dreadful disease, boy ! Oh, yes ! I'm
 
 FIDDLING FREDDY. 179 
 
 sure you have, and Willie will get it. Oh, 
 how horrible ! My poor precious popetiny ! 
 But, you're a good boy, a very nice boy ; 
 are you sure you haven't got the small-pox ? 
 Oh, my goodness gracious." 
 
 Freddy was bewildered by this outburst 
 as well he might be ; he tried to answer 
 the questions, but she gave him no time. 
 Now that she was out of breath, however, 
 she paused, and Freddy said : 
 
 " No, ma'am, I ain't got nothing as I 
 knows of, but I'd like to take my jacket 
 and get home." 
 
 " Oh, to be sure ! " again burst forth the 
 lady. " Yes, of course. Here's your jacket 
 bless me, what a rag ! Come and see me 
 to-morrow, and I'll give you one of 
 Georgie's. Yes, that'll be perfectly lovely. 
 Georgie's just .your size ; yes, to be sure. 
 Oh, how I wish I'd brought my money 
 came out in such a hurry, you know. Oh, 
 my dear Willie, my precious little toosy 
 loosy poosy, how could you run away from
 
 180 FIDDLING FREDDY. 
 
 Maggie, and go and get lost, and wrapped 
 up in a fiddling-jacket? Here, take your 
 jacket, boy. What did you say your name 
 was Peter ? Very nice name ; very nice 
 boy, I'm sure. Police, can't you lend me a 
 shilling for Peter? I'll pay you to-morrow. 
 Come to my house, to-morrow, and get 
 your jacket." 
 
 So saying, the excited lady got off the 
 grass, with Willie in her arms, and, just 
 then, her husband appeared and joined her 
 and she began a voluble account of the 
 finding of Willie, during which the officer 
 walked off, followed slowly by Freddy, who 
 wanted to ask where she lived, but could 
 not find a chance, as the gentleman took 
 Willie and walked in an opposite direction, 
 while she never stopped talking, and Fred- 
 dy heard her voice till they turned the cor- 
 ner and it was lost in the distance. 
 
 The officer did not offer the shilling 
 to Freddy as she had suggested, and, 
 with weary legs and aching arms, he
 
 FIDDLING FREDDY. l8l 
 
 made his way out of the Park to a street 
 car, and was soon jingling along toward 
 his home. 
 
 16
 
 X. 
 
 " /~\H, Freddy!" cried Lisa, meeting 
 
 \~-s him at the door on his return, 
 " Tonio's dead !" 
 
 " What !" he exclaimed, aghast, " Tonio 
 dead !" 
 
 Then Lisa told him how poor Tonio had 
 had a sudden hemorrhage of his lungs, 
 and had died almost instantly. " It wasn't 
 more than an hour after you went out," she 
 added. 
 
 Freddy felt a sickness creeping over him, 
 and he leaned against the door for support. 
 This was a terrible shock to him. 
 
 " Are you sick ?" asked Lisa, frightened 
 at his white face. 
 
 " I feel queer," said Freddy, faintly. " Let 
 me alone a minute." 
 
 He sat down on the door-sill, and put his 
 (182)
 
 FIDDLING FREDDY. 
 
 head between his hands, and bowed it on 
 his knees. He wondered what was the mat- 
 ter with him. What a dull, heavy aching 
 there was at his heart. Yet he had not 
 known that he loved Tonio ; he did not 
 think he had ever done so. He used to be 
 afraid of him, not very long ago, when he 
 trotted behind his organ, and was sworn at 
 and scolded by him, and often even struck 
 or beaten. But lately Tonio had been very 
 gentle and kind. 
 
 He had liked to hear Freddy's account of 
 his day's work, and would often sit up in 
 bed and show him how to play a new tune 
 on his fiddle ; or he would tell him, in a 
 weak voice, stories of his own young life, 
 in which Freddy had been greatly interest- 
 ed. In fact, Tonio in his illness had become 
 much attached to this cheerful, bright-eyed 
 boy, who worked so willingly for him. Now 
 that he was dead, Freddy forgot all his harsh 
 treatment, and remembered only that he 
 had sheltered and protected him as long as
 
 1 84 FIDDLING FREDDY. 
 
 he could remember; for Freddy was the 
 child of a friend who had died, and Tonio 
 had given him a home, such as it was. 
 Freddy's heart ached sorely, and, as the 
 days went on, it grew heavier and heavier. 
 It was so strange to come home at night to 
 an empty room ; it was so sad to look at 
 the bed where Tonio had lain so long, and 
 not see him there. He had worked hard 
 all for Tonio, and, now that he was gone, 
 he felt as if he could hardly work at all. 
 The warm spring days made him feel sor- 
 rowful, and took away his strength, too, 
 and he became despondent and miserable. 
 
 If it had not been for Lisa, he would have 
 been very desolate. Poor child ! he was 
 only nine years old, yet he was all alone in 
 the world, and dependent upon his own ex- 
 ertions for support. But this fact did not 
 trouble him. He knew that he could do 
 very well as long as he had his fiddle. But 
 he soon found out that Tonio had been of 
 more service to him, even when sick, than
 
 PIDDLING FREDDY. 1 8s 
 
 he had supposed ; for as long as he was 
 alive, no one had dared to interfere with 
 him. But now every one in the house 
 seemed to think they had a right to his 
 services. He was known to be a smart, 
 active boy, who could make money, and 
 Tito's father insisted upon it that he should 
 join his band of musicians. But Freddy 
 stoutly declared he would not. He said 
 he could take care of himself; he had no 
 idea of handing all the money he made 
 over to another. Then the men said he 
 should not eat with them any longer, and 
 turned him out of the room. This was a 
 great inconvenience, for he could not afford 
 to buy his meals, and have them cooked 
 only for himself. Then Sally refused to 
 wash his clothes ; but this, I grieve to say, 
 did not trouble him at all. 
 
 But he was very indignant when he found 
 that the men had .divided Tonio's clothes 
 among them, and had not left him one sin- 
 gle suit, for his own were mere rags and 
 1 6*
 
 1 86 FIDDLING FREDDY. 
 
 tatters, and Tonio had promised to have an 
 old patched suit cut over for him. 
 
 The next blow came from Sally, who de- 
 clared that Tonio owed her ten dollars, and, 
 though Freddy knew this to be false, he 
 could not prevent her taking his bed and 
 all the poor furniture of his little attic room. 
 Moreover, she would not cook a meal, or 
 allow him a shelter for which he paid, un- 
 less he performed just so much work daily 
 for her, and every day this work was made 
 harder and lasted longer, so that after a while 
 he had no time to go out with his fiddle. 
 Of course he made no money this way, and 
 was obliged to resort to his hidden sum, 
 which he had resolved to keep entirely for 
 Lisa's use. 
 
 Sally drank more than ever now, and was 
 more brutal even than she had formerly 
 been in her treatment of poor little Lisa, 
 and now she included. Freddy, and gave 
 him many a beating when she was drunk. 
 But he bore it manfully, knowing that every
 
 FIDDLING FREDDY. l8/ 
 
 blow he received saved Lisa. But this state 
 of things broke the poor little boy's spirit. 
 Instead of the merry, dancing, singing, fear- 
 less Freddy, he was now cowed, listless and 
 miserable. 
 
 One evening he was replacing the broken 
 board in the hall, from which he had just 
 taken two cents, when he was suddenly- 
 seized by his shoulders, and, looking up, 
 he saw that he was in the cruel hands of 
 Pierre, that bad brother of Tito, who used 
 to tease him so. He had been away all 
 winter, and had but just returned. 
 
 "Aha! you young miser! I've caught 
 you, magpie ! Hiding money, eh ?" and, 
 holding him down forcibly with one hand, 
 he raised the board with the other. 
 
 " Ah, here we have it !" he cried. " Let 
 me see fifteen cents. Is that all ? No, in- 
 deed. Where's the rest ?" 
 
 " That's all I've got in the world," de- 
 clared Freddy, " and if you take it, Pierre, 
 I shall starve to death."
 
 188 FIDDLING FREDDY. 
 
 " Who cares?" cried Pierre, releasing him, 
 and jingling the money in his pocket as he 
 ran up-stairs. 
 
 Freddy sat on the door-step with a feel- 
 ing of utter misery in his poor little heart. 
 It was only two weeks ago that he had been 
 happy and prosperous ; now every day saw 
 him more and more wretched. His last cent 
 was gone now, and he well knew that his 
 fiddle and blacking - box would soon be 
 taken from him. Then what would become 
 of him ? He would be forced to join that 
 strolling band of bad men, and he would 
 never have another chance to make his own 
 living. 
 
 " Why do I stay here ?" he asked himself. 
 " No one has a right to make me stay and 
 work for them. I won't do it any longer. 
 I'll run away." He thought of the quiet 
 country place where Miss Ashton lived. 
 " I'll go there," he thought, " and maybe 
 she'll give me work. I'll tell her about 
 Lisa, and maybe she'll come and take her
 
 FIDDLING FREDDY. 189 
 
 away from Sally. Poor Lisa ! What will 
 she do when I'm gone ?" 
 
 At that moment Lisa came creeping soft- 
 ly down the stairs, and sat down by him. 
 She had come for her roll, but Freddy did 
 not have it. He told her what had hap- 
 pened. " It's all gone, Lisa, every cent, and 
 I can't get you any more bread." 
 
 Lisa could not help crying, but, looking 
 at his face, she stopped. " Don't feel so bad, 
 Freddy ; I'll get along somehow. But ain't 
 you hungry, too?" 
 
 " Yes, I'm awfully hungry," he answered. 
 " Look here, Lisa, I'm not going to stand it 
 any longer. I'm a little chap, I know, but 
 I can make my own living, and I'm going 
 to. I'm going away this very night, before 
 that Pierre gets my fiddle and blacking-box. 
 When I get rich, I'll come back for you." 
 
 " Oh, Freddy !" cried Lisa, and then threw 
 herself on her face, moaning in a low tone, 
 as if her heart was broken. 
 
 " Don't, Lisa, don't," sobbed Freddy.
 
 190 FIDDLING FREDDY. 
 
 " You see I ain't no use to you now. I've 
 no more money to buy your bread." He 
 little knew that his kind words were more 
 to the famished child than bread. 
 
 " Look up, Lisa, and say good-bye, for 
 I'm going now," said he, in a choked voice. 
 <* If I could help you, I'd stay by you, but 
 I can't, and it's best for me to go and try to 
 get money. If I do, I'll send you some sure, 
 and when I'm big I'll come and take you 
 away." 
 
 Suddenly Lisa jumped up. " Take me 
 now !" she cried ; " I'll go, too. Freddy, 
 I'm going with you. I can't sing, nor help 
 you, but I'll die here without you. Oh, 
 don't say I can't go ! I won't be a bit of 
 trouble. I'll carry your fiddle for you. Oh, 
 Freddy, you will take me, won't you ?" and 
 she looked imploringly into his face. 
 
 " If Sally found you, she'd kill you," said 
 he. " She'd hunt you up, and make you 
 come back." 
 
 " She'll kill me if I stay," answered Lisa.
 
 FIDDLING FREDDY. 191 
 
 " She'll surely kill me some day when she 
 is drunk. Oh, Freddy, do take me with 
 you !" 
 
 " Well, come along, then," said Freddy, 
 more like himself than he had been for a 
 fortnight. " I'll run up-stairs and get my 
 fiddle and box. I hid them under the raft- 
 ers, for fear they'd take 'em from me. The 
 men are all at supper now. Wait here and 
 don't move, and I'll be back in a minute." 
 
 Lisa sat down, her heart beating wildly. 
 What if the men should hear him, and catch 
 him coming down-stairs, and take his fiddle 
 and box and make him stay? She knew 
 that Sally was too drunk to hear anything, 
 but she listened with intent eagerness to 
 every creak of the stairs, as Freddy ran , 
 along. Then she heard him enter his room, 
 and then there was a long silence. Oh, how 
 long it lasted ! It seemed to her that it 
 would never end. What if any one should 
 come ? She forgot that there was nothing 
 unusual in her sitting there. She felt as if
 
 192 FIDDLIIS 7 G FREDDY. 
 
 every one suspected their design, and would 
 detain them. 
 
 Suddenly she started. Freddy stood at 
 her elbow. " Come," he whispered, and 
 she got up and followed him. The eve- 
 ning was a dark one. Heavy black clouds 
 hung over the city, and hid all the stars, 
 and they could hear the distant rumbling 
 of thunder. But little did they care for 
 that. They were thankful for the darkness, 
 and, stealing out of the house softly, the 
 two children left their miserable home, 
 never to return to it, and hurried out into 
 the bleak but more friendly streets.
 
 X. 
 
 IjlREDDY and Lisa hurried along, feel- 
 -A- ing very guilty, and expecting any mo- 
 ment to hear the sound of pursuing footsteps. 
 Their hearts beat rapidly, and tbeir breath 
 came in quick, short sobs ; but they held 
 each other's hands, and hastened on. There 
 was no occasion for so much haste or anx- 
 iety, for nobody missed them, nor was it 
 likely that any one would till morning, when 
 they would be needed for work. Sally was 
 too much intoxicated to know or care where 
 they were to-night. She lay in a profound 
 stupor, and the men were engaged in their 
 evening amusement of gambling. Even 
 Pierre was too much absorbed in playing 
 pitch-penny to notice Freddy's absence, and 
 the poor little ones might have sauntered 
 slowly without risk of pursuit. But they 
 17 093)
 
 194 FIDDLING FREDDY. 
 
 felt they were not safe while in the vicinity 
 of their home, and neither of them spoke a 
 word as they ran, till at last they reached 
 a broad, crowded thoroughfare, glittering 
 with gay shops, and brilliantly lighted with 
 gas. 
 
 " Now we're safe," said Freddy, " for no- 
 body could ever find us in this crowd ; be- 
 sides, I knew a lot of good dodging-places 
 hereabouts. So let's rest ourselves and go 
 easy." 
 
 But Lisa did not feel secure. " Oh no, 
 Freddy," she cried, " not yet not till we 
 get a great ways off," and she continued to 
 hurry on. 
 
 Freddy remonstrated. " There's no use 
 in killing ourselves," said he. " Don't you 
 be afraid. Why, they might as well hunt 
 for a needle in an ash-heap, as to look for 
 us here. There's such a lot of grown folks, 
 and you and I are little, though we are old." 
 
 Freddy -said this in good faith. Poor 
 child ! he hardly knew what childhood was.
 
 ' How good it do smell," said he li Don't you wish there was 
 a hole in the window ? Fiddling Freddie, page 195.
 
 FIDDLING FREDDY. 195 
 
 " Well, what are we going to do ?" asked 
 Lisa. " Where will we sleep to-night ?" 
 
 " Oh, I don't know," answered Freddy, 
 carelessly. " 'Most anywheres, so that the 
 pleece don't see us. You know they won't 
 let us sleep in the streets." 
 
 " Won't they ?" exclaimed Lisa in dismay. 
 " But nobody'll let us come into their houses 
 without paying money, will they?" 
 
 " No, indeed," answered Freddy, decid- 
 edly, " guess they wouldn't. But don't you 
 fret. I'll find a place somewheres. I'm go- 
 ing to play a tune pretty soon, and try to 
 get money for supper. I'm awfully hungry." 
 But, in spite of fatigue and hunger, Freddy 
 was more like himself than he had been 
 since Tonio died. He had Lisa to protect 
 and provide for, and his spirits rose with 
 the emergency. 
 
 At last they came to a baker's shop, and 
 Freddy halted. 
 
 " How good it do smell," said he. " Don't 
 you wish there was a hole in the window ?
 
 196 FIDDLING FREDDY. 
 
 I could just stick in my fiddle-bow, and 
 hook out some o' them cakes and things." 
 
 " But there is no hole," said literal Lisa, 
 " and it would be stealing too." 
 
 "Well," said Freddy, "then I guess I 
 won't do it." As he spoke, he screwed up 
 his fiddle, and drew his bow. He played 
 till his arm ached, but not one of the steady 
 stream of passers took^any notice of him. 
 " Take my cap, Lisa," said he, " and go into 
 the store, and hand it round." 
 
 Lisa was terribly afraid to do this, and 
 she hesitated for a moment ; but, remem- 
 bering her promise not to give any trouble 
 to Freddy, she did as he bid. Entering 
 timidly, she held the ragged cap before 
 every customer in the store, without suc- 
 cess, and then came slowly back to Freddy. 
 
 " They won't give us nothing," said she, 
 sadly. " If they knew how hungry we were, 
 they would." 
 
 As she spoke, a servant girl, with a plea- 
 sant face, came out of the store, and heard
 
 FIDDLING FREDDY. 197 
 
 what she said. She stopped, and looked at 
 the children. 
 
 "Are you really hungry?" she asked. 
 
 " Hungry enough to eat our heads, if we 
 could get at 'em," answered Freddy ; and, 
 as he looked at her, he recognized that 
 saucy Sarah, who had been present when 
 he returned the gold-piece. 
 
 She knew him too, and exclaimed, " Well, 
 I declare, if you're not the very boy that 
 saved Ellen Lowther from going to jail. 
 Yes, to be sure ! So now you're hungry, 
 are you ? Then I'll give you these buns, 
 and I'll go get some more with my own 
 money, for I believe you're a good boy, and 
 I never could abear to see any one hungry," 
 and Sarah put a bundle in Freddy's hands. 
 It was soft and warm, and smelt like the 
 baker's shop itself. 
 
 " Oh, how good !" cried both children in 
 a breath ; and, sitting on the nearest step, 
 they eagerly devoured the nice freshly baked 
 buns. 
 
 17*
 
 198 - FIDDLING FREDDY. 
 
 " It's the best thing I ever eat in all my 
 life," said Lisa, and Freddy nodded his 
 head with his mouth full, in token of assent. 
 When they had eaten them all, they felt 
 wonderfully better, and again took up their 
 march. 
 
 "Where are we going, Freddy?" asked 
 Lisa. 
 
 " Up-town," he answered. He had no 
 idea where they were going, but he thought 
 it best to appear self-assured, so as not to 
 discourage Lisa. 
 
 "Don't you think if we went to Mr.' 
 Browning's, he'd let us sleep in his house?" 
 asked Lisa. 
 
 " Oh, he don't live here no more ; he's 
 gone away off to the country somewhere. 
 I met him one day, and he said so ; but I'll 
 tell you what, Lisa, I mean to go to the 
 country too. If we could just get money 
 enough to ride in them busting, biling steam- 
 engines, I know where we'd go quick 
 enousrh."
 
 FIDDLING FREDDY. 199 
 
 " Where ?" asked Lisa. 
 
 " Oh, it's the prettiest place you ever did 
 see ; it's where my young lady lives, that 
 gave us the money, you know. It's all 
 quiet and still ; and I'd go to her, and ask 
 her to take care of you, and then I'll try to 
 get work near by. That's what I'm bound 
 to do, sooner or later." 
 
 But making plans for the future did not 
 help them for the present, and something 
 must be done, for the night was cloudy, not 
 a star was to be seen, and although, in the 
 rush and roar of the noisy street, they had 
 not noticed the thunder, it had been mut- 
 tering and growling and threatening all this 
 time. 
 
 " Now, that's too bad !" cried Freddy, as 
 a large rain-drop fell pat on his nose. " It's 
 going to rain, and nobody'll listen to my 
 music ; but," said he, cheering up again, 
 " it'll make lots of mud in the streets, and 
 then I can black boots to-morrow." 
 
 Oh, what a blessed thing it is to look on
 
 200 FIDDLING FREDDY. 
 
 the bright side of life. Freddy's happy 
 heart carried him through many a weary 
 hour. If he had not been a merry, cheer- 
 ful boy, I feel quite sure that he never would 
 have got along as well as he did. He now 
 determined to hurry on, and try to reach 
 one of the houses, where he was well known, 
 before it should rain harder. Lisa's little 
 legs ached, but she kept up bravely, deter- 
 mined not to complain, and at last they 
 stood before a handsome house. Freddy 
 tried the area-gate. 
 
 " Good !" said he, " they haven't locked 
 their gate yet." 
 
 He entered, went down the steps, and rang 
 the kitchen-bell. The cook came to the door. 
 
 "Oh, is that you, fiddling Freddy? and 
 where have you been all this time, and what 
 are you doing out this time of the night ?" 
 
 " I'm not doing much of anything," he 
 answered. " I thought maybe you'd let me 
 sit by the fire in the kitchen awhile, till the 
 rain stops."
 
 FIDDLING FREDDY. 2OI 
 
 "Why, bless your heart, child, you'd 
 better be getting home, for it will rain all 
 night." 
 
 " Well, now, lookee here," said Freddy, 
 " I ain't got no home. Tonio, he's dead, 
 and Sally, she's drunk, and beats us, and 
 I've runned away, and so has Lisa." 
 
 " Mercy on me !" cried the cook. " What 
 are you going to do ?" 
 
 " I'm going to fiddle, and black boots, and 
 run errands, and when I get money enough 
 I'm going out into the country," answered 
 Freddy. 
 
 " Come in, dear heart, you're lost with 
 cold and hunger," said the cook compas- 
 sionately, and Freddy and Lisa followed 
 her into the cheerful kitchen. 
 
 It was very late, nearly eleven o'clock at 
 night, and the other servants had all gone 
 to bed ; only the cook and her husband, the 
 coachman, were up. She made them sit 
 down by the fire, and gave them a drink of 
 coffee, which she warmed for them over the
 
 2O2 FIDDLING FREDDY. 
 
 range, while she made Freddy tell all about 
 himself and Lisa. 
 
 " And haven't you any place to sleep in 
 to-night?" she asked, as he concluded. 
 
 Freddy shook his head. " Not unless 
 you'll let us stay out there under the steps," 
 said he. He had formed this plan as they 
 came along, but was afraid he would not be 
 allowed to carry it out. " It's a dry place," 
 he urged, " and the pleece can't see us there, 
 if we hug up close to the wall, and it won't 
 hurt nothing. Mayn't we stay there ? If 
 you'll let us, I'll black the boots for you in 
 the morning," he added, turning to the 
 coachman. 
 
 " Lord help you," cried the woman, draw- 
 ing the back of her hand across her eyes. 
 " Can't you take them round to the stable, 
 John, and let them sleep there ? They won't 
 do no harm." 
 
 " Well," said John, slowly rising as he 
 spoke, " it's time for me to be harnessing my 
 horses, I s'pose. I don't mind if the chil-
 
 FIDDLING FREDDY. 203 
 
 dren come for once. I'll be up most all 
 night, for our ladies won't be home from 
 their ball till near morning'. What a world 
 it is, to be sure. Half the folks in it have 
 no place to sleep, and the half that has don't 
 seem to want to do it, going gadding about 
 at nights, and keeping their cattle up till 
 morning as well as theirselves." 
 
 " Ah, but they makes up for it in the morn- 
 ing, you see," replied his wife. " Now, 
 children, you may come round early, and 
 I'll give you the cold bits for your break- 
 fast. Yes, it's a queer world, to be sure, 
 but we must just make the best of it." 
 And, moralizing thus, the kind-hearted cook 
 went with them to the door, giving John a 
 large cotton umbrella, and telling all to 
 hurry through the rain. " Run between 
 the drops," was her last injunction, as she 
 closed the door behind them. 
 
 It was well for Freddy that he had so 
 kind a friend, for the rain was now pelting 
 pitilessly those exposed to it, and the wind
 
 2O4 FIDDLING FREDDY. 
 
 drove it along with fury, so that he and Lisa 
 would have been soaked through, even in 
 what he had called his good dry place. A 
 very few minutes' fast walking brought them 
 to the handsome private stable, where the 
 horses were much better cared for than 
 those poor children ever had been. John 
 unlocked the door, and led them in, then 
 taking them up a flight of stairs, he showed 
 them a hay-loft, where he told them they 
 could asleep. And thankful and glad they 
 were to cuddle down on the clean, dry hay, 
 where they soon forgot all their sorrows 
 and anxieties in a deep sleep. 
 
 They did not hear the thunder, nor see 
 the flashing lightning ; they did not even 
 wake when John drove into the stable with 
 a great noise at three o'clock in the morn- 
 ing, wet and tired. They had gone to sleep 
 with a blessed sense of security. This night 
 at least they were safely housed, and in the 
 morning there would be no Sally to waken 
 them with curses, or to beat them if they
 
 FIDDLING FREDDY. 2O5 
 
 failed to perform all their heavy work well. 
 The storm passed with the night, and the 
 morning sun shone through the stable-win- 
 dow on two pale but happy little faces lying 
 on the hay. Its bright beams woke Lisa, 
 who started up hurriedly, but lay back again 
 with a quiet smile as she remembered where 
 she was. 
 
 "Are you awake?" asked Freddy, rub- 
 bing his eyes. 
 
 " Yes ; I've been dreaming that you and 
 me had gone up to live in the sky," said 
 she. 
 
 " Well, I've been dreaming that there was 
 a great big boot to be blacked as big, oh, 
 as big as all out-doors and I kept on rub- 
 bing at it, and rubbing at it, and the more 
 I rubbed the taller it grew, till at last there 
 was no end to it at all. Now, I guess I'd 
 better hurry up, and get to work." 
 
 So saying he sprang up, and followed by 
 Lisa, they went down-stairs, where they 
 found John, quite sleepy and cross, but who 
 18
 
 206 FIDDLING FREDDY. 
 
 let them out of the stable, and told Freddy 
 to be sure and black the three pair of boots 
 he would find waiting for him. And so the 
 day began happily, for a good breakfast 
 made Lisa and Freddy very comfortable. 
 He was as bright as a button this morning, 
 and told the cook he knew he should get 
 along " first-rate." 
 
 " You may come back to the stable to- 
 night," said John, when he saw the three 
 pairs of boots nicely blacked ; " but be early, 
 for I shut up by nine o'clock to-night." 
 
 Freddy promised, and he and Lisa set 
 out in search of work. It was as Freddy 
 had predicted. There was plenty of mud, 
 and many muddy boots to be blacked that 
 day. Lisa held his fiddle while he worked, 
 or carried his cap round when he fiddled, 
 and all the time she thought what a clever 
 boy Freddy was. She confided it to him 
 after a while. 
 
 " How'd we ever get along, if I wasn't?" 
 was his answer; but he laughed as he said
 
 FIDDLING FREDDY. 2O/ 
 
 it ; and even if it was a little bit conceited, 
 we must forgive it, because he was so heart- 
 ily in earnest in his efforts to take care of 
 poor little Lisa. But that afternoon, just as 
 Lisa was beginning to recover a little from 
 the panic she had been in all day, for fear 
 of being seen by some one who knew them, 
 she suddenly caught hold of Freddy's arm, 
 just as he was executing a wonderful flour- 
 ish with his bow. 
 
 " Freddy !" she gasped, " Come ! Run ! 
 There's Tito's father and his band, and 
 Pierre. Oh, run !" 
 
 And away she darted, followed by Fred- 
 dy, who had looked up in time to see the 
 strolling band of musicians turn the cor- 
 ner. 
 
 Away flew the children. Oh, had Pierre 
 seen them ? If so, they knew he would fol- 
 low them, catch them, and bring them back, 
 and that Lisa would be sent back to Sally. 
 On and on they ran, never daring to look 
 behind ; on and on, across broad avenues,
 
 208 FIDDLING FREDDY. 
 
 down side streets, turning at every corner, 
 gasping, panting, but still running wildly 
 from their supposed pursuer.
 
 XL 
 
 AT last they stopped to take breath. 
 They had run a long way, and were 
 now far over on the west side of the city, 
 in the avenue which lies by the water's 
 edge. Freddy looked about him, unde- 
 cided what to do next. 
 
 "What shall we do?" cried Lisa; "they'll 
 be sure to find us," and she wrung her hands 
 in her distress, and looked fearfully over her 
 shoulder every minute. 
 
 " I don't believe they saw us," said Fred- 
 dy. " Pierre would have caught up to us 
 long ago, and I don't believe they saw us 
 at all." 
 
 " But you won't go back there will you, 
 Freddy ?" 
 
 " No," said he, " I won't ; I'm afraid to. 
 They might see us some time or other." 
 " 18* (209)
 
 210 FIDDLING FREDDY. 
 
 " Then where will we go ?" again asked 
 Lisa. 
 
 " Shut up for a minute, Lisa, can't you, 
 and let me think." Freddy said this with 
 impatience, but not with anger. He felt 
 all the responsibility of his position, and 
 knew no more than she did, yet he felt that 
 he was the one to decide and act in this try- 
 ing emergency. They sat down together 
 on the curbstone, and Freddy began to 
 count his day's earnings. 
 
 " Twenty cents ! " said he. " 'Tain't 
 enough." 
 
 " For what ?" asked Lisa. 
 
 " To pay our way on a steam-engine," he 
 answered. " I want to get out of the way, 
 off to the country, but I'll have to make 
 more money first. Come ! Let's walk on, 
 and I'll- fiddle before some barber's or bak- 
 er's store." 
 
 Both children were trembling with their 
 fright and rapid race, but they walked along 
 slowly again, keeping a look-out for an eligi-
 
 FIDDLING FREDDY. 211 
 
 ble place before which Freddy could play. 
 But nothing of the sort was to be seen. 
 Large piles of lumber stood by the side 
 of the street ; machine - shops and store- 
 houses and lumber-yards there were in 
 plenty, and horses and carts loading up 
 with cotton bales, and busy-looking men 
 with pencils in their mouths superintend- 
 ing workmen ; but it was evidently no place 
 for music. 
 
 After walking some time, the children 
 came to steamboat docks, and now there 
 was much more confusion. Foot-passen- 
 gers jostled each other, express wagons 
 came thundering along, orange - women 
 cried loudly to others to come and buy, 
 hackmen swore, policemen strutted, and 
 everybody was in a hurry. Freddy and 
 Lisa made their way, though Lisa narrowly 
 escaped being run over by a dray, and Fred- 
 dy's fiddle was nearly knocked from under 
 his arm by a passing candy basket. Sud- 
 denly he had a bright idea.
 
 212 FIDDLING FREDDY. 
 
 " Come along," said he, " I'm going aboard 
 that boat. We'll go wherever it goes as far 
 as our money will take us. We must get 
 out of the city, for I know we'll be took up 
 if we don't." 
 
 Nothing loth, Lisa followed him to a 
 barge lying at the wharf. It seemed to be 
 very full of cotton bales and boxes and fur- 
 niture, and men were running over the 
 plank between it and the dock with more 
 boxes, and nobody noticed the two chil- 
 dren, who crept timidly on board and hid 
 behind a large packing-case. Here they 
 carried on their conversation in whispers. 
 
 " We won't stir out from here till the 
 boat goes," said Freddy, "for if we did 
 they'd put us off." 
 
 " But how do you know where we'll get 
 taken to ?" asked Lisa. 
 
 " I don't know, but any place is better 
 than where we come from, I guess. Don't 
 you be scared, Lisa, we'll get along." 
 
 " Won't the cook and John think we're
 
 FIDDLING FREDDY. 213 
 
 bad if we don't come back to-night to the 
 stable, Freddy ?" 
 
 " Dessay they will, but I can't help it ! 
 What's a fellow to do ? We can't go back 
 to old Sally, anyhow you can fix it." 
 
 Lisa admitted the force of this argument, 
 and they both sat very still, breathing hard, 
 and occasionally nudging each other when 
 some passing footstep drew near their place 
 of retreat. The bustle and confusion in- 
 creased on the boat, and there was a great 
 deal of shouting and running and piling up 
 of trunks and then passengers came on board, 
 but they all went up a narrow pair of stairs, 
 and Freddy longed to run up too and see 
 where they went to, but Lisa begged him 
 not to, and kept tight hold of his jacket. 
 
 Soon a bell began to ring, and then a col- 
 ored man went by, beating a gong, and cry- 
 ing, " All ashore that's going !" This fright- 
 ened Lisa terribly, and she thought that he 
 had been sent on purpose to send them 
 away. She stopped her ears and hid her
 
 214 FIDDLING FREDDY. 
 
 face on Freddy's shoulders, trembling with 
 'fear. But the horrible din soon ceased, and 
 Freddy told her not to be afraid, that noth- 
 ing would hurt her, and that he had often 
 heard a gong before in the small hotels, 
 where he occasionally found his way while 
 fiddling or blacking boots. And now a hush 
 Seemed to fall on everything : all the bustle 
 was over, and Lisa wondered why it was 
 quiet so suddenly. 
 
 " We're sailing off now," said Freddy, 
 putting his head out and looking around 
 the corner of the box. " Oh, Lisa ! I can 
 see the shore a-moving off ! That's just 
 the way it does on the steam-engines, only 
 that it's a great deal faster. Oh, there's the 
 water! Look out, Lisa, and see the water!" 
 
 But Lisa was too frightened yet to look, 
 and she kept jerking Freddy back by his 
 jacket, which caused so many sudden ap- 
 pearances and disappearances of his curly 
 black head (for he "would insist on looking), 
 that finally the attention of a man standing
 
 FIDDLING FREDDY. 21$ 
 
 near was arrested. Just as Lisa for the 
 twentieth time was imploring Freddy to 
 keep still, she heard a gruff voice say, 
 " What are you doing there ?" and in a 
 minute a big, burly man stood before the 
 two children. 
 
 " What are you dqing here ?" he re- 
 peated. 
 
 " Nothing, sir," answered Freddy, trying 
 not to feel frightened, while Lisa now really 
 felt as if her last hour had come. 
 
 " Come out here, then ! What are you 
 hiding there for ? So you smuggled your- 
 self on board, did you, you young rascal !" 
 he continued, addressing all his remarks to 
 Freddy, and taking no notice of Lisa. " Now, 
 do you know what we do with boys who 
 come on board that way ?" 
 
 " No," said Freddy. 
 
 " We just chuck 'em overboard !" said 
 the man, taking Freddy by the collar. 
 
 Lisa screamed. 
 
 "Oh, don't, don't! He's got money to
 
 2l6 FIDDLING FREDDY. 
 
 pay, he will pay !" she cried, almost frantic 
 with terror, clinging to Freddy and push- 
 ing the man away with all her force. 
 
 Freddy said nothing, but took off his 
 money-bag and handed it to the man, who 
 opened it, and held it between his fingers 
 and thumb rather daintily. But, to tell the 
 truth, it was a greasy little bag; 
 
 " There's twenty cents in it," said Fred- 
 dy, "and that's all I've got, and, when we've 
 sailed twenty cents' worth, we'll get off. / 
 don't want to cheat you." 
 
 Now the man who spoke so roughly had 
 in reality a kind heart, and, when he saw 
 that Freddy had not intended to be dishon- 
 est, he spoke more gently, and asked them 
 where they wanted to go. When he heard 
 their story he looked very grave. 
 
 " Don't you know," said he, " that you 
 can make more money in the city than in 
 the country, where folks don't care much 
 for music, and wear mud an inch thick on 
 their shoes?" This was discouraging, and
 
 FIDDLING FREDDY. 2 1/ 
 
 even Freddy looked downcast for a mo- 
 ment, but he soon said, hopefully : 
 
 " I'm going to my young lady if ever I 
 can find her, and I know she'll help me 
 somehow." 
 
 This led to further inquiry, and Freddy 
 tried to describe the place he had been 
 taken to by the cars, and where Miss Ash- 
 ton lived. The man shook his head. 
 
 " The world's a big place," said he, " and 
 I'm afraid you won't find just the one you're 
 looking for, but I daresay you'll find others 
 who will help you along. You had better 
 go ashore the first time the boat stops ; it 
 is as good a place as any, and nearer to the 
 city in case you want to get back there." 
 
 " Oh, I'll never go back," said Freddy, 
 " not till Lisa is big enough to take care 
 of herself any way ;" and Lisa murmured, 
 " Oh, no ! we'll never go back." 
 
 The man thought of his own two chil- 
 dren, and a deep feeling of pity came into 
 his heart as he looked at these little ones 
 19
 
 2l8 FIDDLING FREDDY. 
 
 wandering about alone, their object being 
 to escape from the only home they knew. 
 He gave back the bag to Freddy, saying : 
 " Keep it, you'll need it all, I reckon," and 
 then he walked away, but when the boat 
 stopped at its first landing-place he watched 
 and saw both the children go on shore as 
 he had advised. The sun was setting as 
 they left the boat, and woods, rocks and 
 river glowed with golden light. Freddy 
 and Lisa walked slowly along the dock, 
 and then turned into a road which ran by 
 the water's edge. 
 
 " Why, here are the rails that the steam- 
 engines run on," said Freddy, seeing the 
 railroad track. " Oh, Lisa, maybe we've got 
 to the right place after all, for the rails and 
 the road was just like this, and the river too." 
 
 " Would you know it, if you saw it 
 again ?" asked Lisa. 
 
 "Well, I don't know, for everything's 
 green now, and then it was all white and 
 lovely."
 
 FIDDLING FREDDY. 219 
 
 " I don't believe it was a bit better than 
 it is now," said Lisa, looking around her. 
 
 Before her lay the broad, blue river, be- 
 hind were the green fields, while at a little 
 distance the trees of the woods were rust- 
 ling their early leaves, and the air seemed 
 full of the chirping of birds, as they darted 
 to and fro, hurrying home to their nests. 
 At her feet blue violets were springing, 
 while the delicate wild flower tossed its 
 white head above them ; dandelions lay like 
 stars in her path, and the buttercups were 
 doing their best to turn the fields into gold. 
 
 " It couldn't be more lovely," said Lisa, 
 decidedly, and Freddy began to whistle a 
 merry tune as they sauntered on. " And 
 Sally can't find us here," continued Lisa ; 
 " oh, Freddy, I am so glad we came !" 
 
 " Yes," said he, " but I wonder where we 
 are ; I don't see any houses hereabouts ; 
 not much money to be made here, I guess. 
 The trees don't want their boots blacked, 
 and the birds have their own music. Never
 
 22O ' FIDDLING FREDDY. 
 
 mind, come along ; I'm going to walk on 
 the rails and see where they go to." 
 
 " They don't go anywhere," said Lisa, 
 smiling. " We go !" 
 
 Freddy called her a goose, but he thought 
 at the same time how pretty she was when 
 she smiled. He had not often seen her 
 smile her hard life had not helped to 
 make her face a merry one ; but, though 
 the children did not know it, the time for 
 laughter and dimples was at hand for Lisa, 
 and smiles would soon be as natural to her 
 as tears had heretofore been. Just as they 
 turned a sharp corner around a bluff of 
 rocks, Freddy gave a shout. 
 
 " There's the very house !" he cried, 
 pointing to a pretty brown one that stood 
 on a hill at a little distance, somewhat re- 
 moved from the village which Freddy now 
 saw stretching out before him. " There's 
 the very house that my young lady lives 
 in ; come on, Lisa !" And, in a great state 
 of excitement, thcv started to run, and
 
 FIDDLING FREDDY. 221 
 
 soon reached the gate. But here they paused. 
 "What if she shouldn't help us after all?" 
 said Freddy, suddenly remembering that 
 he had no claim whatever on Miss Ashton. 
 Very likely she had forgotten him, or, if 
 she had not, there was no reason to suppose 
 that she would do anything for him. He 
 felt as if the ground had suddenly slidden 
 from under his feet. What an insecure 
 foundation he had built his hopes on ! If 
 she did not help them, what would become 
 of Lisa? He could get along, he said to 
 himself, most anyways, but what's to become 
 of Lisa? Oh, how mudi he felt the need 
 of a friend then ! 
 
 " I'll do my best," he thought, " and if 
 she won't help us, I'll take- care of Lisa. 
 I can do it somehow or other, I guess." 
 
 But it took some courage to face this 
 idea. Oh, if he only had some one to help 
 him ! Some confused recollection of what 
 Mr. Browning had told him about" God's 
 care of his children flitted across his brain.
 
 222 FIDDLING FREDDY. 
 
 " Lisa," said he, suddenly, " what did Mr. 
 Browning say about them birds, and who 
 takes care of them ?" 
 
 " He said God took care of them, and 
 that he takes care of 'us too, and loves us 
 ever so much better than the birds. Don't 
 you 'spose he made us come to the right 
 place?" she asked, simply. 
 
 " Maybe so," answered Freddy, absently. 
 He was wondering if it really was so, if 
 God did really care about them, and "had 
 brought them on their way. 
 
 " What's that thing Mr. Browning told us 
 to say to God every day ? I've forgotten." 
 
 " Oh, Freddy, didn't you say it ?" 
 
 'Well, I believe I did once on a time, 
 but I never had no time, you know ; what 
 was it, anyway ?" 
 
 " Lord, help me !" said Lisa, slowly and 
 reverently. It had been her daily prayer 
 ever since she had learned it. " Let's say 
 it now, Freddy, together ; maybe He'll help 
 us now, right away."
 
 FIDDLING FREDDY. 22$ 
 
 " That's what I was thinking," said Fred- 
 dy. " It don't seem as if anybody else was 
 a-going to, we're all alone so ; do you 'spose 
 he can hear?" 
 
 " Yes, I know he can ; come, Freddy, let's 
 say it now." And with their eyes fixed on 
 the glowing heavens, these two poor little 
 wandering ones made their simple cry to the 
 mighty God, to the gentle, loving Lord who 
 had been homeless for their sakes, whose 
 everlasting arms of love were around them, 
 though they knew it not. 
 
 " I guess He will," then cried Freddy, in 
 a cheery voice. 
 
 " I knoiv He will," said Lisa, quietly. So 
 they opened the gate, and walked up to the 
 house. 
 
 " I'll fiddle a tune ; maybe that'll fetch 
 them out," said Freddy. He had not play- 
 ed long before a child ran out to hear him. 
 
 " Oh, sister Minnie !" she cried, " come 
 here, come quick ; here's a little fiddling 
 boy, just like the one you told us about ;
 
 224 FIDDLING FREDDY. 
 
 do come and see him." And pretty Min- 
 nie Ashton came to look. 
 
 " Is that fiddling Freddy ?" said she, plea- 
 santly. " Why, to be sure. How did you 
 find your way here?" 
 
 " I didn't just ezackly find it, ma'am," 
 he replied, bobbing his head and scraping 
 with his foot, " the boat kinder brought me 
 along." 
 
 " And how have you been all this time, 
 and how is Tonio?" she continued, think- 
 ing that it would please him to see that she 
 remembered about him. Then Freddy told 
 his story, and how he and Lisa had run 
 away from Sally's cruelty. 
 
 " I thought if I could get Lisa here, may- 
 be you'd take care of her," said he, simply, 
 "and so I brung her. Look up, Lisa," he 
 continued, pulling her forward. " Here she 
 be, ma'am ; she's a dreadful nice little girl 
 when you come to know her ; sews beauti- 
 ful, washes dishes, scrubs, does most any- 
 thing but sing. And she's real pretty when
 
 FIDDLING FREDDY. 225 
 
 she's clean wish I'd washed her face as we 
 came along," he added to himself. 
 
 Freddy's earnest face was far more im- 
 pressive than his words, and Lisa's delicate 
 figure and soft, sweet eyes, now bright with 
 hope, spoke volumes for her. 
 
 But it was rather a startling- proposition, 
 to take an unknown child into her house, 
 and Miss Ashton felt somewhat bewildered. 
 But she brought them into the clean, bright 
 kitchen, ordered supper for them, and told 
 them they should stay there until she could 
 form some suitable plan for them. Well 
 pleased, Freddy became his own joyous 
 self again, and that evening the kitchen 
 resounded with merry music and laughter, 
 as Minnie's little sisters danced, while Fred- 
 dy fiddled, and Lisa, quiet and happy, sat 
 by, and looked and listened. 
 
 Minnie was the mistress of the house, her 
 mother having died some years ago, and 
 her father, who was wholly engrossed in 
 business, was only too glad to leave his lit-
 
 226 FIDDLING FREDDY. 
 
 tie ones in the loving care of their sis- 
 ter. The responsibilities of her position 
 had made her older in thought and action 
 than most girls of her age, but her heart 
 was always young, though in following its 
 generous impulses she was guided by wis- 
 dom. Very carefully and earnestly and 
 prayerfully she considered the case of the 
 poor little wanderers. She was well ac- 
 quainted with Mr. Browning, who had 
 lately moved into that neighborhood, and 
 to whom she applied for the verification of 
 Freddy's story. He was able to vouch for 
 its truth, and earnestly begged Miss Ash- 
 ton to befriend little Lisa, telling her what 
 a terrible life she had led with Sally. This 
 decided her, and she determined to take 
 Lisa into her family, and teach her all that 
 was necessary to learn in order to fit her- 
 self to gain her own livelihood in future 
 years. 
 
 Freddy was to work under the gardener 
 and help to take care of the horse, an ar-
 
 FIDDLING FREDDY. 227 
 
 rangement which met with his hearty ap- 
 probation. Both children remained, there- 
 fore, in this quiet, happy home to which 
 they had been led so mercifully, and in the 
 neat, pretty, happy little girl, and bright, 
 energetic, steady boy, no one would have 
 recognized the neglected children who had 
 wandered through the desolate streets. 
 Freddy's fiddle had to give place to a hoe, 
 but his clear, sweet voice rang merrily as 
 he worked and sang at the same time, and 
 when the day's work was over he was never 
 too tired to play his lively jigs for the little 
 ones. 
 
 But there was one tune he kept for Lisa, 
 because she loved it better than any other. 
 And often, when the golden sunlight fell 
 softly on the trees, and the lengthening 
 shadows reached the vine-covered porch, 
 Lisa, sitting on the door-step, making mel- 
 ody in her heart, would look happily into 
 Freddy's earnest face as he shouted " the 
 glad tidings," and, when the last sweet note
 
 228 
 
 FIDDLING FREDDY: 
 
 
 was sung, she would say, " Those were 
 tidings of great joy to us, Freddy dear 
 glad tidings of great joy." 
 
 
 THE END. 
 
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