STRANGE MUSIC
I slept well in my strange little bedroom, although I was awakened early
by the sunlight streaming in at the window. I jumped up and looked out.
The sun was rising over the sea, and a flood of golden light was
streaming across it.
I dressed quickly and went out. Very few people were about, for the
fishermen had not yet returned from their night's fishing. The cliff
looked even more beautiful than the night before, for every bit of
colouring stood out clear and distinct in the sunshine. 'I shall get my
best effects in the morning,' I said to myself, 'and I had better choose
my subject at once, so that after breakfast I may be able to begin
without delay.'
How many steps I went up, and how many I went down, before I came to a
decision, it would be impossible to tell; but at last I found a place
which seemed to me to be the very gem of the whole village. An old
disused boat stood in the foreground, and over this a large fishing net,
covered with floats, was spread to dry. Behind rose the rocks, covered
with tufts of grass, patches of gorse, tall yellow mustard plants and
golden ragwort, and at the top of a steep flight of rock-hewn steps
stood a white cottage with red-tiled roof, the little garden in front of
it gay with hollyhocks and dahlias. A group of barefooted children were
standing by the gate feeding some chickens and ducks, a large dog was
lying asleep at the top of the steps, and a black cat was basking in the
morning sunshine on the low garden wall. It was, to my mind, an
extremely pretty scene, and it made me long to be busy with my brush.
I hurried back to my lodging, and found Polly preparing my breakfast,
whilst little John looked on. He was sitting in his nightgown, curled up
in his father's armchair. 'I'm daddy,' he called out to me as I came in.
There was a little round table laid ready for me, and covered with a
spotlessly clean cloth, and on it was a small black teapot, and a white
and gold cup and saucer, upon which I saw the golden announcement, 'A
present from Whitby,' whilst my plate was adorned with a remarkable
picture of Whitby Abbey in a thunderstorm.
There were herrings, of course, and Polly had made some hot cakes, the
like of which are never seen outside Yorkshire. These were ready
buttered, and were lying wrapped in a clean cloth in front of the fire.
Polly made the tea as soon as I entered, and then retired with little
John in her arms into the bedroom, whilst I sat down with a good
appetite to my breakfast.
I had not quite finished my meal when I heard a great shout from the
shore. Women and children, lads and lasses, ran past the open door,
crying, 'The boats! the boats!' Polly came flying into the kitchen,
caught up little John's red cap, thrust it on his head, and ran down the
steps. I left my breakfast unfinished, and followed them.
It was a pretty sight. The fishing-boats were just nearing shore, and
almost every one in the place had turned out to meet them.
Wives, children, and visitors were gathered on the small landing place;
most had dishes or plates in their hands, for the herrings could be
bought straight from the boats. The family from York were there, and
they greeted me as an old friend.
When the little village had been abundantly supplied with fish, the rest
of the herrings were packed up and sent off by train to be sold
elsewhere. It was a pretty animated scene, and I wished I had brought my
sketchbook with me. I thought the arrival of the fishing boats would
make a splendid subject for a picture.
Duncan was too busy even to see me till the fish were all landed,
counted, and disposed of, but he had time for a word with little John,
and as I was finishing my breakfast he came in with the child perched on
his shoulder.
'Good morning, sir,' he said; 'and how do you like our bay this
morning?'
My answer fully satisfied him, and whilst he sat down to his morning
meal I went out to begin my work. It was a lovely day, and I thoroughly
enjoyed the prospect before me. I found a shady place just under the
wall of a house, where my picture would be in sunlight and I and my
easel in shadow. I liked the spot I had chosen even better than I had
done before breakfast, and I was soon hard at work.
I had sketched in my picture, and was beginning to paint, when I became
conscious of the sound of voices just over my head, and I soon became
equally conscious that they were talking about me.
'It's just like it,' said one voice. 'Look--do look. There's Betty
Green's cottage, and Minnie the cat, and the seat, and the old boat.'
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'Let me see, Marjorie,' said another voice; 'is it the old one with
white hair and a long, long beard?'
'No, it's quite a young one; his hair's black, and he hasn't got a beard
at all.'
'Let me look. Yes, I can see him. I like him much better than the old
one; hasn't he got nice red cheeks?'
'Hush! he'll hear,' said the other voice. 'You naughty boy! I believe he
did hear; I saw him laugh.'
I jumped up at this, and looked up, but I could see nothing but a garden
wall and a thick bushy tree, which was growing just inside it.
'Hullo, who's there?' I shouted.
But there was dead silence; and as no one appeared, and nothing more
happened, I sat down and went on with my picture.
Many people passed by as I was painting, and tried to look at what I was
doing. Some glanced out of the corners of their eyes as they walked on;
others paused behind me and silently watched me; a few made remarks to
one another about my picture; one or two offered suggestions, thought I
should have had a better view lower down the hill, or hoped that I would
make the colouring vivid enough. The children with whom I had travelled
seemed to feel a kind of partnership in my picture.
'Let's go and look at _our_ artist,' Bob would say to Harry; 'his
picture is going to be the best of the lot.'
They were so fond of watching me, and so much excited over what I was
doing, that, as time went on, I was often obliged to ask them to move
further away, so eager were they to watch every movement of my brush.
I thoroughly enjoyed my morning's work, and went back very hungry, and
quite ready for the comfortable little dinner which Polly had prepared
for me. In the afternoon the light would be all wrong for my picture;
but I determined to sketch in the foreground, and prepare for my next
morning's work.
I was very busy upon this, when suddenly I became conscious of music, if
music it could be called. It was the most peculiar sound, and at first I
could not find out from whence it came. It was evidently not caused by a
wind instrument; I felt sure it was not a concertina or an accordion.
This sound would go on for a minute or two, and then stop suddenly, only
to begin again more loudly a few seconds later. At times I distinguished
a few bars of a tune, then only disjointed notes followed. Could it be a
child strumming idly on a harmonium? but no, it was not at all like an
instrument of that kind. It was an annoying, worrying sound, and it went
on for so long that I began to be vexed with it, and stamped my foot
impatiently when, after a short interval, I heard it begin again. The
sound seemed to come from behind the wall of the house near which I was
sitting, and it was repeated from time to time during the whole of the
afternoon.
At length, as the afternoon went on, I began to distinguish what tunes
were being attempted. I made out a bar or two of the old French
Republican air, 'The Marseillaise,' and then I was almost startled by
what came next, for it was a tune I had known well since I was a very
little child. It was 'Home, Sweet Home,' and that was my mother's
favourite tune; in fact, I never heard it without thinking of her. Many
and many a time had she sung me to sleep with that tune. I had scarlet
fever when I was five years old, and my mother had nursed me through it,
and when I was weary and fretful she would sing to me--my pretty
fair-haired mother. Even as I sat before my easel I could see her, as
she sat at the foot of my bed, with the sunshine streaming upon her
through the half-darkened window, and making her look, to my boyish
imagination, like a beautiful angel. And I could hear her voice still;
and the sweet tones in which she sang that very song to me, 'Home, sweet
home, there's no place like home.'
I remembered one night especially, in which she knelt by my bed and
prayed that she might meet her boy in the bright city, the sweet home
above the sky which was the best and brightest home of all. I wonder
what she would think of me now, I said to myself, and whether she ever
will see me there. I very much doubt it; it seems to me that I am a long
way off from Home, Sweet Home now.
My mother had died soon after that illness of mine, and I knew that she
had gone to live in that beautiful home of which she had so often spoken
to me. And I had been left behind, and my aunt, who had brought me up,
had cared for none of these things, and I had learnt to look at the
world and at life from her worldly standpoint, and had forgotten to seek
first the Kingdom of God. Oh! if my mother only knew, my pretty,
beautiful mother, I said to myself that day. And then there came the
thought, perhaps she _does_ know, and the thought made me very
uncomfortable. I wished, more than ever, that that cracked old
instrument, whatever it was, would stop.
But, in spite of all my wishes, the strange sound went on, and again and
again I had to listen to 'Home, Sweet Home,' and each time that it came
it set my memory going, and brought back to me the words and the looks
which I thought I had forgotten. And it set something else going
too--the still, small voice within, accusing me of forgetfulness, not so
much of my mother as of my mother's God.
I began to wish most heartily that I had chosen some other spot for my
picture. But it was working out so well that I felt it would be a great
mistake to change, and I hoped that the individual, man, woman, or
child, who had been making that horrible noise might find some other
employment to-morrow, and might leave me in peace.
The next day my wishes were fulfilled, for I was not disturbed, and very
little happened except that my picture made progress. Then came two wet
days, on which I had to paint in my little chamber, and did not get back
to my seat under the wall.
I saw a good deal of Duncan during those wet days. He would come and sit
beside me as I painted, and would tell me stories of storms and
shipwrecks, and of the different times when the lifeboat had been sent
out, and of the many lives she had saved.
'Have ye seen her, sir? You must go and have a look at our boat; she
lies in a house down by the shore, as trim and tight a little boat as
you could wish to see anywhere!'
'I suppose you've been in many a storm yourself,
Duncan,' I said.
'Storms, sir! I've very near lived in them ever since I was born. Many
and many's the time I've never expected to see land again. I didn't care
so much when I was a young chap. You see, my father and mother were
dead, and if I went to the bottom there was nobody, as you might say, to
feel it; but it's different now, sir, you see.'
'Yes,' I said, 'there's Polly and little John.'
'That's just where it is, sir, Polly and little John, bless 'em; and all
the time the wind's raging, and the waves is coming right over the boat,
I'm thinking of my poor lass at home, and how every gust of wind will be
sweeping right over her heart, and how she'll be kneeling by little
John's bed, praying God to bring his daddy safe home again. And I know,
sir, as well as I know anything, that when God Almighty hears and
answers her prayer, and brings me safe to land, Polly and little John
will be standing on yon rocks a-straining their eyes for the first sight
of the boats, and then a-running down almost into the water to welcome
me home again. Yes, it makes a sight o' difference to a married man,
sir; doesn't it, now? It isn't the dying, ye understand, it's the
leaving behind as I think of. I'm not afraid to die,' he added humbly
and reverently, as he took off his oilskin cap. 'I know whom I have
believed.'
'You're a plucky fellow, Duncan,' I said, 'to talk of not being afraid
to die. I've just been at a death-bed, and--'
'And you felt you wouldn't like to be there yourself,' Duncan went on,
as I stopped. 'Well, maybe not, it comes nat'ral to us, sir; we're born
with that feeling, I often think, and we can no more help it than we can
help any other thing we're born with. But what I mean to say is, I'm not
afraid of what comes _after_ death. It may be a dark tunnel, sir,
but there's light at the far end!'
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