Axel Munthe - "For Those Who Love Music"

FOR THOSE WHO LOVE MUSIC

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

It is well known that the barrel-organ, like the violin, gets a fuller and more
sympathetic tone the older it is. The old artist had an excellent instrument,
not of the modern noisy type which imitates a whole orchestra with flutes
and bells and beats of drums, but a melancholy old-fashioned barrel-organ
[Footnote: A melancholy barrelorgan. What does the author mean by this?]
which knew how to lend a dreamy mystery to the gayest allegretto,
Footnote: Allegretto: lively, a musical term to denote the tempo of a
composition.] and in whose proudest tempo di Marcia [Footnote: Tempo di
Marcia: marching time.] there sounded an unmistakable undertone of resignation.

And in the tenderer pieces of the repertoire, where the melody, muffled and
staggering like a cracked old human voice, groped its way amongst the rusty
pipes of the treble, then there was a trembling in the bass like suppressed sobs.
Now and then the voice of the tired organ failed it completely, and then the old
man would resignedly turn the handle during some bars of rest more touching
in their eloquent silence than any music.

True, the instrument was itself very expressive, but the old man had surely
his share in the sensation of melancholy which came over me whenever I heard
his music. He had his beat in the poor quarter behind the Jardin des Plantes,
[Footnote: Jardin des Plantes: the botanical garden.] and many times during
my solitary rambles up there had I stopped and taken my place among the scanty
audience of ragged streetboys which surrounded him.

It was not difficult to see that times were hard--the old man's clothes were
doubtful, and the pallor of poverty lay over his withered features, where I read
the story of a long life of failure. He came from the mountains around Monte
Cassino, [Footnote: Monte Cassino: a monastery on a hill near Cassino, Italy,
about forty-five miles from Naples.] so he informed me, but where the monkey
hailed from I never quite got to know.

Thus we met from time to time during my rambles in the poor quarters. Had I
a moment to spare I stopped for a while to listen to a tune or two, as I saw that it
gratified the old man, and since I always carried a lump of sugar in my pocket
for any dog acquaintance I might possibly meet, I soon made friends with the
monkey also. The relations between the little monkey and her impressario
[Footnote: Impressario: the conductor of an opera or a concert.] were unusually
cordial, and this notwithstanding that she had completely failed to fulfil the
expectations which had been founded upon her--she had never been able to learn
a single trick, the old man told me. Thus all attempts at education had long ago
been abandoned, and she sat there huddled together on her barrel-organ and did
nothing at all.

Her face was sad, like that of most animals, and her thoughts were far away.
But now and then she woke up from her dreams, and her eyes could then take
asuspicious, almost malignant expression, as they lit upon some of the street boys
who crowded round her tribune [Footnote: Round her tribune: a curious use of this
word, which means a pulpit or bench from which speeches were made.] and tried
to pull her tail, which stuck out from her little gold-laced garibaldi. [Footnote:
Garibaldi: a jacket which took its name from its likeness in shape to the red shirt
worn by the Italian patriot Garibaldi.] To me she was always very amiable;
confidently she laid her wrinkled hand in mine and absently she accepted the little
attentions I was able to offer her. She was very fond of sweetmeats, and burnt
almonds were, in her opinion, the most delectable thing in the world.

Since the old man had once recognized his musical friend on a balcony of the
Hotel de L'Avenir, [Footnote: Hotel de L'Avenir: literally, "Hotel of the Future."]
he often came and played under my windows. Later on he became engaged,
as already said, to come regularly and play twice a week,--it may, perhaps, appear
superfluous for one who was studying medicine, but the old man's terms were so
small, and you know I have always been so fond of music. Besides it was the only
recreation at hand--I was working to take my degree in the spring.

So passed the autumn, and the hard times came. The rich tried on the new winter
fashions, and the poor shivered with the cold. It became more and more difficult
for well-gloved hands to leave the warm muff or the fur-lined coat to take out a
copper for the beggar, and more and more desperate became the struggle for
bread amongst the problematical existences [Footnote: The problematical
existences. Explain this expression.] of the street.

Now and then I came across my friend, and we always had, as before, a kind word
for one another. He was now, wrapped up in an old Abruzzi cloak, [Footnote:
Abruzzi cloak. Abruzzi is a division of western Italy including three provinces.]
and I noticed that the greater the cold became the faster did he turn the handle to
keep himself warm; and towards December the _Miserere_ itself was performed
in allegretto.

The monkey had now become civilian, and wrapped up her little thin body in a long
ulster such as Englishmen wear; but she was fearfully cold notwithstanding, and,
forgetful of all etiquette, more and more often she jumped from the barrel-organ
and crept in under the old man's cloak.

And while they were suffering out there in the cold I sat at home in my cosy, warm
room, and instead of helping them, I forgot all about them, more and more taken
up as I was with my coming examination, with no thought but for myself. And then
one day I suddenly left my lodgings and removed to the Hotel Dieu to take the
place of a comrade, and weeks passed before I put my foot out of the hospital.

I remember it so well, it was on New Year's Day we met each other again. I was
crossing the Place de Notre Dame, [Footnote: Place de Notre Dame. The square in
front of Notre Dame Cathedral.] mass was just over, and the people were streaming
out of the old cathedral. As usual, a row of beggars was standing before the door,
imploring the charity of the church-goers. At the farther end, and at some distance
from the others, an old man stood with bent head and outstretched hat, and with
painful surprise I recognized my friend in his threadbare old coat without the Abruzzi
cloak, without the barrel-organ, without the monkey.

My first impulse was to go up to him, but an uneasy feeling of I do not know what held
me back; I felt that I blushed and I did not move from my place. Every now and then
a passer-by stopped for a moment and made as if to search his pockets, but I did not
see a single copper fall into the old man's hat. The place became gradually deserted,
and one beggar after another trotted off with his little earnings. At last a child came
out of the church, led by a gentleman in mourning; the child pointed towards the old
man, and then ran up to him and laid a silver coin in his hat.

The old man humbly bowed his head in thanks, and even I, with my unfortunate
absent-mindedness, was very nearly thanking the little donor also, so pleased was I.
My friend carefully wrapped up the precious gift in an old pocket-handkerchief,
and stooping forward, as if still carrying the barrel-organ on his back, he walked off.

I happened to be quite free that morning, and thinking that a little walk before
luncheon could do me no harm after the hospital air, I followed him at a short
distance across the Seine. [Footnote: Seine. Paris is on the River Seine. "buon
giorno": "Good day."] Once or twice I nearly caught him up, and all but tapped
him on the shoulder, with a"Buon giorno, Don Gaetano!" Yet, without exactly
knowing why, I drew back at the last moment and let him get a few paces ahead of
me again.

We had just crossed the Place Maubert [Footnote: Place Maubert: Boulevard St.
Germain: streets in Paris.] and turned into the Boulevard St. Germain; the boulevard
was full of people, so that, without being noticed, I could approach him quite close.
He was standing before an elegant confectioners' shop, and to my surprise he entered
without hesitation. I took up my position before the shop window, alongside some shivering street arabs [Footnote: Street Arabs. What is meant by this term?] who stood there,
absorbed in the contemplation of the unattainable delicacies within, and I watched the
old man carefully untie his pocket-handkerchief and lay the little girl's gift upon the
counter.

I had hardly time to draw back before he came out with a red paper bag of sweets
in his hand, and with rapid steps he started off in the direction of the Jardin des
Plantes. I was very much astonished at what I had seen, and my curiosity made me follow him.
He slackened his pace at one of the little slums behind Hopital de la Pitie, [Footnote:
Hopital de la Pitie: literally,"Hospital of Pity."] and I saw him disappear into a dirty
old house.

I waited outside a minute or two and then I groped my way through the pitch-dark
entrance, climbed up a filthy staircase, and found a door slightly ajar. An icy, dark
room, in the middle three ragged little children crouched together around a half-extinct braziero, [Footnote:Brazier: a pan for burning coals. Tuscan. Tuscany is one of the
divisions of northern Italy.] in the corner the only furniture in theroom--a clean iron
bedstead, with crucifix and rosary hung on the wall above it, and by the window
an image of the Madonna adorned with gaudy paper flowers; I was in Italy, in my
poor, exiled Italy. And in the purest Tuscan the eldest sister informed me that
Don Gaetano lived in the garret.

I went up there and knocked, but got no answer, so I opened the door myself.
The room was brightly lit by a blazing fire. With his back towards the door, Don
Gaetano was on his knees before the stove busy heating a saucepan over the fire;
beside him on the floor lay an old mattress with the well-known Abruzzi cloak thrown
over it, and closeby, spread out on a newspaper, were various delicacies--an orange,
walnuts, and raisins, and there also was the red paper bag. Don Gaetano dropped a
lump of sugar into the saucepan, stirred it with a stick, and in a persuasive voice I
heard him say, "Che bella roba, che bella roba,quanto e buono questa latte con lo
zucchero! Non piange anima mia, adesso siamo pronti!" [Footnote: "What nice things,
what nice things, how good this milk with sugar is! Don't cry, my darling, it is readynow!"]
A slight rustling was heard beneath the Abruzzi cloak and a black littlehand was stretched
out toward the red paper bag.

"Primo il latte, primo il latte" admonished the old man. "Non importa, piglio tu una,"
[Footnote: "The milk first, the milk first--never mind, take one."] he repeated, and
took a big burnt almond out of the paperbag; the little hand disappeared, and a crunching
was heard under the cloak. Don Gaetano poured the warm milk in a saucer, and then he
carefully lifted up a corner of the cloak. There lay the poor little monkey with heaving
breast and eyes glowing with fever. Her face had become so small and her complexion
was ashy gray. The old man took heron his knees, and tenderly as a mother he poured
some spoonfuls of the warm milk into her mouth. She looked with indifferent eyes
towards the delicacies on the table, and absently she let her fingers pass through her
master's beard. She was so tired that she could hardly hold her head up, and now and
then she coughed so that her thin little body trembled, and she pressed both her hands
to her temples. Don Gaetano shook his head sadly, and carefully laid the little invalid
back under the cloak.

A feeble blush spread over the old man's face as he caught sight of me.I told him that I happened to be passing by just as he was entering his house, and that I took the liberty
of following him upstairs in order to bid him good-morning and to give him my new
address, in the hope that he would come and play to me as before. I involuntarily
looked round for the barrel-organ as I spoke, and Don Gaetano, who understood,
informed me that he no longer played the organ--he sang. I glanced at the precious
pile of wood beside the fire-place, at the new blanket that hung before the window
to keep out the draught, at the delicacies on the newspaper--and I also understood.

The monkey had been ill three weeks--"la febbre," [Footnote: La febbre:the fever.]
explained the old man. We knelt one on each side of the bed, and the sick animal
looked at me with her mute prayer for help. Her nose was hot, as it is with sick
children and dogs, her face wrinkled like that of an old, old woman, and her eyes
had got quite a human expression. Her breathing was so short, and we could hear
how it rattled in her throat. The diagnosis was not difficult--she had consumption.
Nowand again she stretched out her thin arms as if she implored us to help her, and
Don Gaetano thought that she did so because she wished to be bled. I would willingly
have given in in this case, although opposed in principle to this treatment, if I had
thought it possible that any benefit could have been derived from it; but I knew only
too well how unlikely this was, and I tried my best to make Don Gaetano understand it.

Unhappily I did not know myself what there was to be done. I had at that time a friend
amongst the keepers of the monkey-house in the Jardindes Plantes, and the same night
he came with me to have a look at her; he said that there was nothing to be done, and
that there was no hope. And he was right. For one week more the fire blazed in Don Gaetano's garret, then it was left to go out, and it became cold and dark as before in the old man's
home.

True, he got his barrel-organ out from the pawn-shop, and now and then a copper fell
into his hat. He did not die of starvation, and that was about all he asked of life. The
spring came and I left Paris; and God knows what become of Don Gaetano.

If you happen to hear a melancholy old barrel-organ in the courtyard, go to the
window and give a penny to the poor errant [Footnote: Errant:wandering.]
musician--perhaps it is Don Gaetano! If you find that his organ disturbs you, try if
you like it, better by making him stand a little farther off, but don't send him away
with harshness! He has to bear so many hard words as it is; why should not we then
be a little kind to him--we who love music?



--AXEL MUNTHE (adapted).


[Footnote: What interested the author in the old organ-grinder? What was the music
like? Explain the title of the story. By what incidents does the author show the unselfish devotion of the old musician for his pet? Was his pet winning or lovable? Why did the
old man care so much for it? Is the picture of the old man dignified or sordid? Why?
Point out instances of dramatic contrast. Are the descriptions in the story
simple or elaborate?]

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