The Extra Ticket.

Waikato Times, Volume XXII, Issue 1836, 12 April 1884, Page 6 (Supplement)

The Extra Ticket.

Bx Eliot McCoumick.

Mr. John Stevens was the teacher of a Sunday-school class of seven boys. They were engaging bojs; that is, they engaged their teacher's undivided attention in the class, since lie was never sure but that they would fire paper wads across the room, or draw the curtain that ran on a rod directly above their heads, or otherwise misconduct themselves so as excite the just wrath of the Superintendent, and disgrace both Mr. Stevens and themselves. To tell the truth, they had never done these tilings, at least since John Stevens had been their teacher, but ho had heard of their doing them before, and fancied that they might do them at some time again, and so kopt his eyes pretty steadily on Tom Drew and Percy Mint, knowing that if he could hold these two, he was pretty sure of the rest. Notwithstanding their faults and the trials which they often caused his patience, Mr. Stevens was fond of the boys, and believed that they were fond of him. Once in a while lie would have them around to his house, or take them out for an afternoon, and on one omission they all went to the American Institute Fair. The boys arc several years older now than they were then. They do not fire paper wads, the curtain hangs undisturbed, and their general conduct is quite correct. But as long as they may live they will never forget the excursion of that night, and the little drama in which they took part. If George Maclay had been able to go, there would not have been any drama at all ; but after they had got so far as to buy the Fair tickets at the elevated railroad station George became suddenly ill, and declared that he must go home. He would not let anybody go with him. It was bad enough to loso his own fun, without spoiling any one else's; so lie mournfully bade them good-night, and went down the long flight of steps. This left Mr. Stevens'' with one ticket over, 1 and after they had got in the car tho boys discussed among themselves what should bo done with it. " Let mo sell it for yon, Mr. Stevens," Tom Drew proposed. "I'll stand outside the door and offer it for forty cents. 'Most anybody 'ill give me that for it." " Oli, get out !" objected Percy Flint. "You don't suppose Mr. Stevens is* going to sell it, do 3ou ? Ile'lt give it away. Ain't you going to give it away, Mr. Stevens ?" Mr. Stevens laughed. "I'll tell you what I'll do," lie said; "I'll give it to any one whom you six bo^s agree upon." Tins was putting a heavy responsibility upon them, and the boys looked at one another with as much gravity as if the ticket had cost five dollars. " Well," said Tom Drew, looking up and down the car, " suppose we give it to that old fellow down there in the corner." " Thai foreigner !" exclaimed Bob Merritt, surveying the mnn's shabby clothing and sad countenance. " He'd better go to tho poorhouse ; that's tho place for him." Tin's seemed the opinion of the rest ; and, indeed, there appeared to be no one in the car on w horn they could all agree. " Oh, there's nobody hero that wants one," said Percy at length. ' " Let's wait till we get out. There'll be somebody hanging around the door. When finally the} readied the Fair station, and had descended to the ground, they looked eagerly around for a subject, so eagerly, in fact, thai Pete Terry missed his footing, and fell half down in a dirty pool of water. "There, now !" he exclaimed, discoutentedly. "My clean cuffs, too ! That's just my luclv !" " Woll, you'll have Lo let them dry," said Mr. Stevens. " But you can let this boy rub off your shoe. Here, boy," addressing a bright-faced boot-black, "just clean off this young man's shoe, will you ? The boy planted his box at Pete's feet, and looked inquiringly into the other's face. "They're all wet," said Pete complainingly. " It is only on the outside that they are weV' spoke the bo t >, with a quaint German accent. "See! I wilt rub the mud off, and then they will be dry again." He began rubbing ugoi-ously, while the oilier boys looked on. "They would be better yet, but I am only a beginner." Tho bojs drew a little nearer, while the foreigner whom they had seen in the car brushed by them into the Fair. " Well, you do first -rate for a beginner," remarked Percy, approvingly. Then turning to the rc«t : " I say, fellows, why can't we gno the ticket to this little chap ? He looks as if he'd appreciate it. Have you ever been inside here ?" ho asked. The boot-black shook his head. "I am waiting here," he said, "for my father." "Your father?" said Percy. "Why, where Jias he gone ?" A pained Yaok came into the little boy's face. "Ah, Ido not know,"' "nis saiu. "But when did he leave jou?" asked Percy. "Did he tell jou you mustn't go till he came back?" "All, no. It A\as six months ago that he left me, and I have been looking for him ever since." " But did you slay in the house where he left you ?" asked Mr. Stevens. " The woman would not let me stay, and I had no friends. We had only been one month in the country." Percy moved up to Mr. Stevens. •* May we give him the ticket, sir?" he asked. "Are you all agreed?" the teacher inquired. Eacli boy nodded. "All right, then," aaid Mr. Stevens. " Here it is." Percj turned toward the boot - black. " Here, Carl, or Hans. What is your name, anyway ?" "My name is Max," he said, ainiply — " Max Stcinkamp." " Well, Max," said Percy, a little embarrassed at the idea of making a presentation address, " you see we've got one extra ticket, and Mr. Stevens told us we might give it to anybody we pleased, and we're going to give it to you." The boy's eye shone with a misty glow. "To me!" ho exchimed. "Is it me you mean ?" Percy pushed the ticket in his hand. "Why to be sure," he said. "Here it is. Go in now, and sec the whole thing." Max looked at it for a moment. "And will it let me hear the music too ?" he asked. The boys laughed. "You ain't deaf, are you?" asked Tom, not unkindly. "If you once get inside the building you can't very well help hearing the music." He drew a long breath. "Ah!" he exclaimed, " that will be himmelschon /" dropping, without knowing it, into a language where the boys could not follow him. Tom laughed again as he turned away. " Listen to the little fellow speak Dutch !" he said. " I shouldn't wonder if he is a sort of genius." " You don't think he'll sell the ticket, do you, Mr. Stevens ?" said Bob Merritt, as the boy "till lingered outside. The teacher smiled gravely. " I would as soon expect one of you to sell his," he said. " Max is waiting till we get in 5 that is all.' He has a sort of delicacy about intruding his company upon us. If you wait a minute you'll sec him come in." They stopped for a moment just outside the door, and presently, as Mr. Stevens had said, Max entered. His box was slung over his shoulder, and people looked afc him wonderingly as he went by, as though a bootblack were out of place amid such fine surroundings. But he was too much interested in what he saw to care for their looks or their remarks. He had stopped short on entering, and stood looking down the long building, thronged with people and showcases, and brilliant with electric light.

" Ach /" they heard him say ; "co schon !" Then he moved slowly away, like one in a dream, and in a moment was lost in the crowd. The boys, following Mr., Stevens, soon found their attention absorbed by the objects of interest on evory side. They "accepted freely all the cards and circulars that were offered them, gazed with fascinated delight upon the mechanical furniture that became by a touch "a bed by night, a chest of drawers by day," prowled dangerously near the engines, crushing machines, and jig-saws, and exploded in riotous laughter over the convex and concave mirrors, which expanded Pete Terry's round face into the size and shape of a mammoth pumpkin, and narrowed Bob Merritt's lean visage into the thinness of a bean-polo. Finally, when they had quite exhausted the lower floor without having seen their little boot-black again, they went upstairs. Here, as they entered the door, they discovered Max standing by one of the pianos, listening to the performance of a lady. His back was turned, so that ho could not see them. Presently the lady stopped and left the piano ; and then tho boys, who waited at a little distance, saw Max draw a step nearer to the stool, and lay his hand upon the key"'. " I wonder if the little chap thinks he can play," whispered Tom Drew. He had hardly spoken when Max touched a few notes ; and then, as if awakened by the sound, he sat down at the instrument, and struck a full rich chord. The blacking-box flipped from his shoulder, and withdrawing one hand from the key-board, he let the box fall upon the floor. Then, unheeding the crowd that was already gathering around, ho began to play. And such playing few of tho company had ever heard. How had tho little boot-black ever become such a master of tho art ? Where had he got his wonderful execution, and the still moro wonderful touch that made people's hearts beat and their breath come and go with every note? If the boy were not plaj ing before his eyes, Mr. Stevens could not believe that it was he, but the testimony of both his eyes and ears loft no room for doubt. By-and-by Mr. Stovens became aware that somo one wa9 crowding in between Percy and himself, and turning around, he met the excited gaze of their foreign-looking friend. " Who is that?" the man asked, hoarsoly. " What is the boy's name ?" Percy looked at Mr. Stevens, ond the teacher nodded. "His name is Max Steinkamp," the boy explained ; and then something prompted him to saj, " And he's lost his father." The man would have fallen if Mr. Stevens had not held him up. In a moment, however, he had recovered himself. "Ah, my little boy," ho murmured, "it is I who am his father. And I have searched for him — ah, so long! — ever since I came out of the hospital. Listen to the air which he plays. It is that which his mother used to sing to him. When I heard it outside I knew it was the little Max that was placing, and that ho was playing it for mo. But Ido not want to make what you call a scene here. Will you not tell him to como dow n-stairs, and I will bo there?" "AVe'll go down with you," said Mr. Stevens, who was not going to run the chance of losing Mr. Steinkamp again. " Percy, you wait here, and bring Max down in a minute or two." " But do not tell him," said tho German, "until he stops playing. His soul is far away from here ; wait till it comes back." It was some minutes that Percy had to wait, while tho boy went on with his beautiful and bewildering music ; but if the father could bear the delay, he certainly could, and so he did not move forward until tho music died away in a low sweet strain. Then he laid his hand lightly on Max's shoulder. i The boy looked up m a frightened way, while the people round, who took Percy for some kind of an official, murmured their disapproval. "Did I do wrong?" Max inquired, recognising his iriend. " Ought I not to have played ?" "No, no," was the reply, "you did quite right. It was beautiful. I never heard such playing in my life. But Mr. Stevens wants to see you down stairs. Who taught you to play ?" he asked, as the crowd scattered, and they went towards the staircase. The boy's eyes filled. "It was my father," he said. "Ah, he was a Professor, and a great player. Sou would see his name all over Germany. But now — " They had 'nearly reached the foot of the stairs, and looking down on the crowd, the boy had caught a sudden glimpse of a strangely familiar face. Max hesitated doubtfully for a moment. Then lie jumped down the three remaining steps, and rushed up to tho waiting group. "My father !" he cried. " Hast thou come at last?" The Professor took his little boy in his arms. "Ah, mine son !" he exclaimed, "it was the music and these good friends that gave thee back to me." ""Well, .really," said Percy, as though the class ought not to tailt %ny undeserved credit, "it was George Maclay that" ftib! it7*forUise~ hadn't staid home, there wouldn't have been any extra ticket. Only it's a pity that George | couldn't have had the fun too." " You can't have your cake and eat it too," remarked Mr. Stevens. "And now we'll leave Mr. Steinkamp and Max to themselves. Only we want to see you both again." The Professor promised that they should, and so, in fact, they did. For this, as I have i said, happened some time ago 5 the Professor is now a prosperous man, with more pupils than he can teach, and Max if becoming a wonderful performer. And when some day or other you hear him at the Academy of Music or tho Music Hall, you may remember how it was tho extra ticket that put him in the way to develop his great talent. — • Harper's Young People.