EISENACH AND BACH
"Our great chance will come in Leipzig," said Mitzi.
She was sitting on the steps of their wagon, sewing. Fritz sat beside
her. He held an open book in his hands.
The Toymakers had made their camp outside of Eisenach ([=I]´z[)e]n-äk).
Mr. and Mrs. Toymaker had gone to town, leaving Mitz and Fritz with the
wagon. Mitzi wanted to finish that costume before they arrived in
Leipzig. Fritz was reading about Johann Sebastian Bach (Bäk), who was
born in Eisenach.
"Bach came from a family of musicians," read Fritz. "The name 'Bach'
means 'brook.' Beethoven once said, 'He is not a brook but an
ocean!'"
[Illustration: EISENACH]
"Come," interrupted Mitzi. "Try on the cloak. I am afraid I have made it
too large."
[Illustration: "LET ME TRY IT ON"]
"No," said Fritz, as he tried it on. "It fits me perfectly. How pretty
it is, and how clever is my Mitz!"
Mitzi waggled her head proudly.
She said, "Many people will be in Leipzig for the fair. When you give
your concert, I'll fetch Father and bring him to where you are playing.
Oh, how surprised and pleased he'll be!"
Fritz smiled. Then he went on reading from his book while Mitzi sewed.
"'When Bach was a boy,'" read Fritz, "'his father died and he lived with
his brother Christoph. One day Christoph brought home a book full of
beautiful music. The little boy longed to play it. But Christoph was
jealous of Sebastian's talent. He refused to let him have the music book
and locked it up.
"'Poor Sebastian wanted very much to play that music. So every night he
got up and stole downstairs into the music room. He pulled the book out
from between the bars of the bookcase. He sat in the light of the moon
and copied the notes.
"'At last, after many weeks, he had copied the whole volume. He went to
sleep with his work under his pillow. He was very happy. But next day a
terrible thing occurred. While Sebastian was playing the music on the
harpsichord, his brother Christoph came in. When Christoph saw what the
boy had done, he took away Sebastian's precious copy book.'"
[Illustration: THE HOME OF BACH IN EISENACH]
"And what happened then?" asked Mitzi.
She was interested in this poor little fellow who had longed so
much for music. She was very angry with the brother.
Fritz read on: "'Sebastian fell ill. He was so unhappy that he could not
eat. Then, one day he discovered that he could play the beautiful music
without notes. It was all written in his heart!'"
"Ah," said Mitzi. "That is good!"
"'But just as he was playing it,'" continued Fritz, "'in came his
brother Christoph again--'"
"The goose!" sniffed Mitzi.
"'Christoph stood in the doorway listening,'" read Fritz. "'At first he
was ready to stop the playing. But at last it dawned upon him that his
little brother was truly a great artist.'"
"So he stopped being jealous?" asked Mitzi.
"Yes," said Fritz. He closed the book and sighed, adding, "It must have
been terrible for Sebastian when his brother took away the music he
loved."
Mitzi sighed, too. Then she jumped up quickly, frightening Fritz so that
he fell off the steps.
"But now I am hungry," said Mitzi. "Let us go and get some cheese!"