Show TENOR T E N i 1 13 i 1 N bmw T K H 0 U S E L derelict with great voice S singa gnp himself out of prison to sick wife by S the way of tho the sor the cleric veered with kin dries aforethought and supplied a crumb ol 01 cin c comfort in fort instead of censure the way nay of the transgressor ma anon be bordered with roses of sweet peace and solitude the moments ol of bygone days may drift b back aek to you and tide your our souls heavenward in your hearts oil are not bad you bat perhaps sinned and your bins bills ha ba identified you ou but that does not hold you ou from about facing to home and ION ened ed ones who still trust you the then rc is good ahead when you have pala the count county its penalty be sure yot yoi cichow that sins identity waa not corn com it was song bong service day at tho the workhouse aag 14 now said the minister lets sing th that good old song Bles blesse Bl esad sd bo be the tia that binds everybody sing many of you ou havo have good voices the little chapel organ began and the leaders pitched the tune before the second verse was reached thi c hope chapel was filled with music then the visitors bent forward and scan ned the faces of the prisoners A oleo somewhere among them rang out in rich tenor clear and clean as a clarion call it carried its as aa might a super chorister the old song echoed and ie echoed through the cell halls and the tenor led all the rest there was a 0 olce fee that might have hava drawn dran encore a and n d from th the most fastidious and critical audience yet it was as among the prisoners but bul where here the third arse was beginning when the rapturous tenor was located hii head was thrown back and his eyes beaming with some secret vision r Y 1 Q looked up through the bars to the si sky Y looked beyond the rafters ho he waa singing the song of a feathered throat warbling and swelling gliding and Ow dwelling elling lie he was not aware that he waz wa being watched that his song was heard then lie he dropped his eyes as if drawn b the magnetic gaze gae of the curious cu rions anti and saw A note wafted wafred over the room liall hall sung next day music lovers went through the workhouse e looking for ae the man who sang tenor at the song service ile he was not found tie the result was the same as when immediately fol lowing the song they had bad rushed to the superintendent to know the sing ers rs name he himself had not located the voice arid and did not know they went among the prisoners and asked no one s seemed emad to know A singer like that unknown A voice that a critic had admiringly as sorted would rival a caruso was iu in the workhouse latent unrequited and timid beyond measure could it be that a famous songster had fallen the critic who had discovered a voice would not be satis satisfied fled H he imagined a beautiful mystery in the Ein singers gers reticence that ho he was a pr ioner was nas certain he had been seen and lie boro bore the prisoners E label although for his lay day ol of rest every man at lits his work woric and in the cells had been questioned the singer had bad somewhere among them abib an erod err d 1 I do not know him then the m happy thought he be could not be identified because lie be was grim and soiled he might be located an all other sunday when he essayed clean liness A singer like that must be bc cleanly clean lv so they looked again at pr prisoner Ioner after prisoner and into cell after cell call in the last cell but one a man was wae reading they were walking noise lessly and he did not see pee them it was wa s a song book he held then he be loo looked ked up quietly slipping the bool book backup back bac Imil up on the bunk lie he arose and fumed to the narrow windows bars some one called to blin him apparently he did not hear thoy called again how they wished they had bad been able to use his name but how bov could they know it stop step this way you at the window we want to speak sp eak to you he started as V 1 undecided th 7 I 1 rew new he livard heard thon very very slowly and timidly he cue to them it was the tenor what more do oil want it was not liko the voice they hd avd anticipated it was bruu and affected there wm an inflection of 0 d idt I 1 amt the tha faco face bad passed out of that beauty it posse possessed sed a hen he bang it was marked m by inebriety yet withal alio efte external nal viciousness was pierced byo by inherited touches of refinement from rom beneath where did you ga get t that voice that tenor one asked abruptly oh I 1 thought you had another CT arrant for me when I 1 got get out la Is that all aon ou want honest we have no warrant for you wo do not know anything about you dut but we want to know about yourself about that voice weve were come com e to help you that tenor has no place panco in a workhouse so why you yon watched me I 1 know I 1 asked the boys not to let you find me its that voice that voice tell us did ou oil ever sing in opera a critic put in in opera no I 1 sung in years till that day I 1 guess I 1 have been too busy at the foam to sing la Is that why you came they had found a singer who had not found himself they lod led him to talk when men I 1 was wag a boy bor I 1 used to sin in sunday school A big fellow from the church choir once told me that I 1 would be a great singer some day th that it I 1 had a voice to ho be envied but I 1 never tried when I 1 pot got grown I 1 followed the boys ive been here before after a whiz and that day was the first time almo I 1 ever sang sane like a man the sky gulde guide somehow got on oil my nerves and maddt me forget 1 I have lave boon been in this time fifty five days just got five now im glad too for ill never bo be back worst timo time I 1 could have picked the singer paused and swallowed hard cifes sick gods goda best beat little worn an little girl my one 0 no best bet abes got diphtheria I 1 got to thinking when the fellow said I 1 was not bad and when he started the old song I 1 had to sing till you saw me ive got a good voice do you know if it might help e stopped and turned back to the little window he looked up through the bars to the sky and his face regained some of that soul light it had when he sang then he faced about if my baby can live 11 they stopped him before he could make his pledge you will be out tonight said one who seemed to know the mayor will pardon you this afternoon sing the sick ones back to health then come to me some som e lay day I 1 will tell you something worth while the big tenors face stared wonder ingle into the future they shook hands with him and passed down the corridors no one spoke but as they neared the end of 0 the cell rows heard a song follow ing passing leading them it B seemed emed on its way to the former derelict home and as they passed out the groaning gates the silvery tenor notes bore bor to them the beatitude blesse Bles sd be the tie that binds 1912 by W G chapman |