Part 17 (1/2)

Hy Then ca; after hi queen; and lastly the neophytes ere to receive baptis seedom promised me?” he asked

”No,” said the bishop; ”but it is the entrance to the road that leads to it”

At the baptistery the bishop said to the king,--

”Lower your head with humility; adore what thou hast burned; burn what thou hast adored”

Clovis was then solemnly baptized, and with hi rite, Christianity in France began, and with hi Cathedral

[Illustration: CLOVIS]

Charlie Leland furnished the

It well illustrated features of German and French musical life that are unknown in Aanist of the town is a very ianist in these towns is a very interesting event, and during the last century excited more discussion than at the present time

THE YOUNG ORGANIST: A MYSTERY

The towns on the Rhine are all faanists they have had in the past Each town points with pride to soend and history

The story I have to tell is associated with an ancient provincial town

It is now hardly more than a small town, and possesses not above a thousand inhabitants; but in the latter part of the last century it was more than ten times its present size, and its church, now in ruins, was then one of the most beautiful ever seen in that part of the country

This church was finished in the year 1795, and was for a long tireat object of curiosity for miles around It was of the Gothic and Romanesque style of architecture, and was not only finely proportioned on the exterior, but had within a nificence of decoration that astonished one azed upon it

The church, unlike sonificent organ This had been paid for by a separate subscription, raised in s been built by skilful workth set up in the church amid considerable enthusiasrand instruanist be selected?

The people were greatly interested in the matter, and discussed it on the corner of the _rues_, in the _brasseries_ or taverns; and for a period of six or eight weeks youearnestly together, that they were deliberating upon the choice of an organist

Since the people, both high and low, had so freely contributed for the purchase of the organ, it was thought very proper that they should be allowed to choose a person to play it And, the decision being thus left to the ested was that all should go, on an appointed day, to the church, and should then listen to the playing of the various candidates

There were, in all, nearly a score of aspiringfor a favorable decision for hiave no end of little suppers and parties, so that the influential ones a the townsmen fared sumptuously from all

But out of the entire number there were two, bethom the choice really lay These were Baptiste Lacoot

The former of these had lived in the town only five years He had coh he astonished everybody by his skill, he had not been liked from the first He was very reserved and parsimonious, and his eye never met frankly the person hom he talked But no harue plenty of exercise for his art

Raoul Tegot, on the contrary, was a native of the town; and, together with his young son, Francois, was beloved by all He had e maidens, and had been so inconsolable at her death, which occurred when Francois was a baby, that he never thought e, but devoted himself to his child and his art

He was certainly a very able ed that a public performance be dispensed with, and that he be elected at once But although Baptiste Lacombe was not _liked_, his _skill_ foundto the worthy countryfolk to think of sitting solereat church; and so the proposed plan was adhered to

[Illustration: MONSIEUR LACOMBE AND THE ORGAN]

Finally, the weeks of anticipation ca to the arrangements previously reat doors of the church were swung open, and the throng, orderly and even dignified, entered and filled the edifice