The Boarded Up House by Augusta Huiell Seaman Ch 9 Memories of Great Aunt Lucia.

chapter 9 of the boarded up house this is a librivox recording all librivox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit librivox.org recording by linda lee paquette the boarded up house by augusta huell seaman chapter 9 the memories of great aunt lucia

cynthia sat at her desk in high school alternately staring out of the window gazing intently across the room at joyce and scowling at the blackboard where the cryptid symbols bracket a plus b close bracket squared equals a squared plus two a b plus b squared were being laboriously expounded by the professor of mathematics of this exposition it is safe to say cynthia comprehended not a word for the following simple reason early that morning joyce had returned from the visit to her great aunt lucia and had entered the classroom late cynthia had not yet had a moment in which to speak with her alone it was now the last period of the day and her impatience had completely conquered her usual absorbed attention to her studies the professor droned on the class feverishly copied more cryptic symbols in its notebooks but at last the closing bell rang and after what seemed interminable and totally unnecessary delays cynthia found herself out of doors arm and arm with joyce then all she could find to say was now tell me but joyce was very serious and very mysterious too not here she answered i couldn't wait well where and when then cried cynthia home said joyce then after a moment no i'll tell you in the boarded up house that's the most appropriate place we'll go there straight after we get home so cynthia was obliged to repress her impatience a little longer but at length they had crept through the cellar window lighted their candles and were proceeding upstairs come into the library said joyce i want to stand right where i can look at the lovely lady when i tell you this it's all so strange so different from what we thought so they went through the drawing room entered the library and placed their candlesticks on the mantle where the light would best illuminate the portrait of the lovely lady then joyce began great aunt lucia is very old and very feeble she seemed so glad to see us all especially me she talked to me a great deal but i did not have a chance to mention this place to her at all till the last evening we were there mother and father had gone out to call on some friends but it was raining and i had a sore throat so they decided not to take me i was so glad because then i could stay home and talk to great aunt lucia and it was the first time i'd been with her long alone she had been telling me a lot about when she was a little girl and asking me about myself and i had told her about you and how we'd been together so many years and what we did when we weren't in school and finally i mentioned just casually that we often played in the grounds of this old house next door and described the place a little to her well that started her as i was sure it would she began telling me that it was so strange that she had been in this house once and curiously enough just before it was closed for good then you can warn i listened with all my ears she said she had become acquainted with the lady through meeting her a short time before at the house of a friend in new york this friend had to then introduce them mrs hubert kenway mrs fairfax collingwood mrs collingwood cried cynthia and we thought she wasn't married well she was and we've made several mistakes beside that cynthia sprague as you'll find out later it seems that great aunt lucia took quite a fancy to young mrs collingwood she was so sweet and gracious and charmingly pretty later great aunt lucia discovered that she was a widow living out here her husband had been dead a number of years ten i think she was a southerner having come originally from south carolina greet aunt lucia did not see...

The Boarded Up House by Augusta Huiell Seaman Ch 9 Memories of Great Aunt Lucia.

chapter 9 of the boarded up house this is a librivox recording all librivox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit librivox.org recording by linda lee paquette the boarded up house by augusta huell seaman chapter 9 the memories of great aunt lucia

cynthia sat at her desk in high school alternately staring out of the window gazing intently across the room at joyce and scowling at the blackboard where the cryptid symbols bracket a plus b close bracket squared equals a squared plus two a b plus b squared were being laboriously expounded by the professor of mathematics of this exposition it is safe to say cynthia comprehended not a word for the following simple reason early that morning joyce had returned from the visit to her great aunt lucia and had entered the classroom late cynthia had not yet had a moment in which to speak with her alone it was now the last period of the day and her impatience had completely conquered her usual absorbed attention to her studies the professor droned on the class feverishly copied more cryptic symbols in its notebooks but at last the closing bell rang and after what seemed interminable and totally unnecessary delays cynthia found herself out of doors arm and arm with joyce then all she could find to say was now tell me but joyce was very serious and very mysterious too not here she answered i couldn't wait well where and when then cried cynthia home said joyce then after a moment no i'll tell you in the boarded up house that's the most appropriate place we'll go there straight after we get home so cynthia was obliged to repress her impatience a little longer but at length they had crept through the cellar window lighted their candles and were proceeding upstairs come into the library said joyce i want to stand right where i can look at the lovely lady when i tell you this it's all so strange so different from what we thought so they went through the drawing room entered the library and placed their candlesticks on the mantle where the light would best illuminate the portrait of the lovely lady then joyce began great aunt lucia is very old and very feeble she seemed so glad to see us all especially me she talked to me a great deal but i did not have a chance to mention this place to her at all till the last evening we were there mother and father had gone out to call on some friends but it was raining and i had a sore throat so they decided not to take me i was so glad because then i could stay home and talk to great aunt lucia and it was the first time i'd been with her long alone she had been telling me a lot about when she was a little girl and asking me about myself and i had told her about you and how we'd been together so many years and what we did when we weren't in school and finally i mentioned just casually that we often played in the grounds of this old house next door and described the place a little to her well that started her as i was sure it would she began telling me that it was so strange that she had been in this house once and curiously enough just before it was closed for good then you can warn i listened with all my ears she said she had become acquainted with the lady through meeting her a short time before at the house of a friend in new york this friend had to then introduce them mrs hubert kenway mrs fairfax collingwood mrs collingwood cried cynthia and we thought she wasn't married well she was and we've made several mistakes beside that cynthia sprague as you'll find out later it seems that great aunt lucia took quite a fancy to young mrs collingwood she was so sweet and gracious and charmingly pretty later great aunt lucia discovered that she was a widow living out here her husband had been dead a number of years ten i think she was a southerner having come originally from south carolina greet aunt lucia did not see...

The Mystery of the Downs by Arthur J. Rees; John R. Watson Chapter 9 Free Teens Audiobook.

chapter 9 of the mystery of the downs by john watson and arthur j reese this librivox recording is in the public domain recording by tony oliva chapter 9. stavely only differed from a hundred other english seaside resorts by having a seafront which was quite flat the cliffs which skirted the coastline from ashling sea falling away and terminating in sand dunes about half a mile to the south of the town at that point the cliff road after following the coastline for nearly 12 miles swept inland round the sand dunes which had encroached on the downs more than half a mile from the sea but turned back again near the southern outskirts of the town in a bold picturesque curve to the seafront from the seafront the town rambled back with characteristically english irregularity of architecture to the downs there was the usual seaside mixture of old and new houses the newest flaunting their red tiled ugliness from the most beautiful slopes of the distant hills crew and marceline drove slowly along to high street by way of the front after leaving the police station a long row of boarding houses and hotels faced the sea and there were pleasure boats bathing machines appear and the bandstand the season was practically over but a number of visitors still remained making the most of the late october sunshine decorously promenading for air and exercise it was a typically english scene except that the band was playing german music and the cursal still flaunted its german name the front was bisected about midway by the main business thoroughfare of the town and there was a sharp distinction between the two halves of the promenade which it divided the upper half was the resort of fashion and the mode the hotels were bigger and more expensive the boarding houses were designated private hotels all the amusements were situated in this part of the front the pleasure boats the pier the band the goat carts and the bath chairs the lower part of the front was practically deserted its hotels and boarding houses looked empty and neglected and its whole aspect was that of a poor relation out of place in fashionable surroundings although marceline did not know much about stavely he was able to guide crew to kurzen street and once in curzon street they had not much difficulty in finding the shop kept by mr grange it was a curious little white house standing back a few feet from the footpath and trays of second-hand books were arranged on tables outside crew after getting out of his car began an inspection of the books on the trays outside the shop and while engaged in this way he saw a young lady being shown out of the shop she was a well-dressed graceful girl not much more than twenty behind her was the shopkeeper a tall thin man past middle age with a weak irresolute face disfigured by some cutaneous disorder small verity gray eyes and a straggling beard as he opened the door to let the young lady out crew's quick ears heard him remark well as i said we didn't go because we saw the storm coming up i'm very glad now we didn't as things turned out it's a dreadful affair dreadful to crew's surprise marslin stepped forward when he saw the young lady lifted his hat and put out his hand crew thought she hesitated a little before responding i am glad to see you miss maynard marceline declared you are the very person i wanted to see but this is quite an unexpected meeting it is very kind of you said the young lady with a smile to crew it was evident that she was more embarrassed than pleased at the meeting marceline walked along the street a few paces with miss maynard and then came back to crew please excuse me for half an hour or so crew i had some things to talk over with this lady he rushed back to miss maynard's side without waiting for an answer crew watched them for a moment and then he became aware that the shopkeeper standing at his doorway was...

The Mystery of the Downs by Arthur J. Rees; John R. Watson Chapter 9 Free Teens Audiobook.

chapter 9 of the mystery of the downs by john watson and arthur j reese this librivox recording is in the public domain recording by tony oliva chapter 9. stavely only differed from a hundred other english seaside resorts by having a seafront which was quite flat the cliffs which skirted the coastline from ashling sea falling away and terminating in sand dunes about half a mile to the south of the town at that point the cliff road after following the coastline for nearly 12 miles swept inland round the sand dunes which had encroached on the downs more than half a mile from the sea but turned back again near the southern outskirts of the town in a bold picturesque curve to the seafront from the seafront the town rambled back with characteristically english irregularity of architecture to the downs there was the usual seaside mixture of old and new houses the newest flaunting their red tiled ugliness from the most beautiful slopes of the distant hills crew and marceline drove slowly along to high street by way of the front after leaving the police station a long row of boarding houses and hotels faced the sea and there were pleasure boats bathing machines appear and the bandstand the season was practically over but a number of visitors still remained making the most of the late october sunshine decorously promenading for air and exercise it was a typically english scene except that the band was playing german music and the cursal still flaunted its german name the front was bisected about midway by the main business thoroughfare of the town and there was a sharp distinction between the two halves of the promenade which it divided the upper half was the resort of fashion and the mode the hotels were bigger and more expensive the boarding houses were designated private hotels all the amusements were situated in this part of the front the pleasure boats the pier the band the goat carts and the bath chairs the lower part of the front was practically deserted its hotels and boarding houses looked empty and neglected and its whole aspect was that of a poor relation out of place in fashionable surroundings although marceline did not know much about stavely he was able to guide crew to kurzen street and once in curzon street they had not much difficulty in finding the shop kept by mr grange it was a curious little white house standing back a few feet from the footpath and trays of second-hand books were arranged on tables outside crew after getting out of his car began an inspection of the books on the trays outside the shop and while engaged in this way he saw a young lady being shown out of the shop she was a well-dressed graceful girl not much more than twenty behind her was the shopkeeper a tall thin man past middle age with a weak irresolute face disfigured by some cutaneous disorder small verity gray eyes and a straggling beard as he opened the door to let the young lady out crew's quick ears heard him remark well as i said we didn't go because we saw the storm coming up i'm very glad now we didn't as things turned out it's a dreadful affair dreadful to crew's surprise marslin stepped forward when he saw the young lady lifted his hat and put out his hand crew thought she hesitated a little before responding i am glad to see you miss maynard marceline declared you are the very person i wanted to see but this is quite an unexpected meeting it is very kind of you said the young lady with a smile to crew it was evident that she was more embarrassed than pleased at the meeting marceline walked along the street a few paces with miss maynard and then came back to crew please excuse me for half an hour or so crew i had some things to talk over with this lady he rushed back to miss maynard's side without waiting for an answer crew watched them for a moment and then he became aware that the shopkeeper standing at his doorway was...

The Riddle of the Sands by Erskine Childers Chapter 11 The Pathfinder Free Teens Audiobook.

chapter 11 of the riddle of the sans this is a librivox recording all librivox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit librivox.org recording by gazina

the riddle of the sans by erskine childers chapter 11 the pathfinders

in the late afternoon of the second day our flotilla reached the albert brunsbury and ranged up in the inner basin while the big liner whimpering like a fretful baby was tenderly nursed into the lock during the delay davis left me in charge and built it off with an oil can and a milk jug an official in uniform was passing along the key from vessel to vessel counter-signing papers i went up to meet him with our receipt for views which he signed carelessly then he paused and muttered dolczy bella scratching his head that was the name english he asked yes little lust cutter that is so there was an inquiry for you whom from a friend of yours from a big barge yacht oh i know she went on to hamburg i suppose no such luck captain she was outward bound what did the man mean he seemed so vastly amused by something when was this about three weeks ago i asked indifferently three weeks it was the day before yesterday what a pity to miss him by so little he chuckled and winked did he leave any message i asked it was a lady who inquired whispered the fellows sniggering oh really i said beginning to feel highly absurd but keenly curious and she inquired about the delta bella hair got she was difficult to satisfy stood over me while i searched the books a very little one she kept saying and are you sure all the names are here i saw her into her client aboard and she rode away in the rain no she left no message it was dirty weather for a young frey line to be out alone in

she was safe enough though to see her crossing the air when a chop of tide was a treat and the yacht went on down the river where was she bound to how do i know bremen wilhelmshafen empten somewhere in the north sea too far for you i don't know about that said i bravely ah you will not follow in that are you not bound to hamburg it seems a pity to have missed them think twice captain there are plenty of pretty girls in hamburg but you english will do anything well fuch look he moved on chuckling to the next boat davis soon returned with his cans and an armful of dark rye loaves just in time for the liner being through the flotilla was already beginning to jostle into the lock and bottles was growing impatient

they'll last ten days he said as we followed this throng still clinging like a barnacle to the side of the johannes we spent a few minutes while the dock was emptied in a farewell talk to battles carl had hitched their main halyards onto the windlass and was grinding at it in an ashran more of industry his shock head jerking and his grubby face perspiring then the lock gates opened and so in a babel of shouting whining of blocks and cricking of spars our whole company was split out into the dingy bosom of the elbow the johannes gathered way under wind and tide and headed for midstream a last shake of the hand and bottles reluctantly slipped the head rope and we drifted apart good riser good riser it was no time for regretful gazing for the flood tide was sweeping us up and out and it was not until we had set the fossil edged into a shallow bite and let go our anchor that we had leisure to think of him again but by that time his and the other craft were shades in the murky east

we swung close to a glass sea of smooth blue mud which sloped up to a weed-grown dike behind lay the same flat country colorless humid and opposite us two miles away scarcely visible in the deepening twilight round the outline of a similar shawl between royal detergent elbe the sticks flowing through tartarus i thought to myself recalling some of our baltic anchorages

The Riddle of the Sands by Erskine Childers Chapter 11 The Pathfinder Free Teens Audiobook.

chapter 11 of the riddle of the sans this is a librivox recording all librivox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit librivox.org recording by gazina

the riddle of the sans by erskine childers chapter 11 the pathfinders

in the late afternoon of the second day our flotilla reached the albert brunsbury and ranged up in the inner basin while the big liner whimpering like a fretful baby was tenderly nursed into the lock during the delay davis left me in charge and built it off with an oil can and a milk jug an official in uniform was passing along the key from vessel to vessel counter-signing papers i went up to meet him with our receipt for views which he signed carelessly then he paused and muttered dolczy bella scratching his head that was the name english he asked yes little lust cutter that is so there was an inquiry for you whom from a friend of yours from a big barge yacht oh i know she went on to hamburg i suppose no such luck captain she was outward bound what did the man mean he seemed so vastly amused by something when was this about three weeks ago i asked indifferently three weeks it was the day before yesterday what a pity to miss him by so little he chuckled and winked did he leave any message i asked it was a lady who inquired whispered the fellows sniggering oh really i said beginning to feel highly absurd but keenly curious and she inquired about the delta bella hair got she was difficult to satisfy stood over me while i searched the books a very little one she kept saying and are you sure all the names are here i saw her into her client aboard and she rode away in the rain no she left no message it was dirty weather for a young frey line to be out alone in

she was safe enough though to see her crossing the air when a chop of tide was a treat and the yacht went on down the river where was she bound to how do i know bremen wilhelmshafen empten somewhere in the north sea too far for you i don't know about that said i bravely ah you will not follow in that are you not bound to hamburg it seems a pity to have missed them think twice captain there are plenty of pretty girls in hamburg but you english will do anything well fuch look he moved on chuckling to the next boat davis soon returned with his cans and an armful of dark rye loaves just in time for the liner being through the flotilla was already beginning to jostle into the lock and bottles was growing impatient

they'll last ten days he said as we followed this throng still clinging like a barnacle to the side of the johannes we spent a few minutes while the dock was emptied in a farewell talk to battles carl had hitched their main halyards onto the windlass and was grinding at it in an ashran more of industry his shock head jerking and his grubby face perspiring then the lock gates opened and so in a babel of shouting whining of blocks and cricking of spars our whole company was split out into the dingy bosom of the elbow the johannes gathered way under wind and tide and headed for midstream a last shake of the hand and bottles reluctantly slipped the head rope and we drifted apart good riser good riser it was no time for regretful gazing for the flood tide was sweeping us up and out and it was not until we had set the fossil edged into a shallow bite and let go our anchor that we had leisure to think of him again but by that time his and the other craft were shades in the murky east

we swung close to a glass sea of smooth blue mud which sloped up to a weed-grown dike behind lay the same flat country colorless humid and opposite us two miles away scarcely visible in the deepening twilight round the outline of a similar shawl between royal detergent elbe the sticks flowing through tartarus i thought to myself recalling some of our baltic anchorages

The Water-Babies by Charles Kingsley 4:2 Free Children's Books Public Domain Free Copyright.

chapter 4 part 2 of the water babies by charles kingsley read for librivox.org by corey samuel

so ellie and he were walking on the rocks and he was showing her about one in ten thousand of all the beautiful and curious things which had to be seen there but little ellie was not satisfied with them at all she liked much better to play with live children or even with dolls which she could pretend were alive and at last she said honestly i don't care about all these things because they can't play with me or talk to me if there were little children now in the water as they used to be and i could see them i should like that children in the water you strange little duck said the professor yes said ellie i know there used to be children in the water and mermaids too and merman i saw them all in a picture at home of a beautiful lady sailing in a car drawn by dolphins and babies flying around her and one sitting in her lap and the mermaids swimming and playing and the merman trumpeting on conch shells and it is called the triumph of galatia and there is a burning mountain in the picture behind it hangs on the great staircase and i have looked at it ever since i was a baby and dreamt about it a hundred times and it is so beautiful that it must be true

but the professor had not the least notion of allowing that things were true merely because people thought them beautiful for at that rate he said the bolters would be quite right in thinking at a fine thing to eat their grandpapas because they thought it an ugly thing to put them underground the professor indeed went further and held that no man was forced to believe anything to be true but what he could see hear taste or handle he held very strange theories about a good many things he had even got up once at the british association and declared that apes had hippopotamus mages in their brains just as men have which was a shocking thing to say for if it was so what would become of the faith hope and charity of immortal millions you may think that there are other more important differences between you and an ape such as being able to speak and make machines and know right from wrong and say your prayers and other little matters of that kind but that is a child's fancy my dear nothing is to be depended on but the great hippopotamus test if you have a hippopotamus major in your brain you are no ape though you had four hands no feet and were more apish than the apes of all apiaries but if a hippopotamus major is ever discovered in one single apes brain nothing will save your great great great great great great great great great great great greater greatest grandmother from having been an ape too no my dear little man always remember that the one true certain final and all-important difference between you and an ape is that you have a hippopotamus major in your brain and it has none and therefore to discover one in its brain will be a very wrong and dangerous thing at which everyone will be very much shocked as we may suppose they were at the professor though really after all it don't much matter because as lord don dreary and others would put it nobody but men have hippopotamuses in their brains so if a hippopotamus was discovered in an apes brain why it would not be one you know but something else but the professor had gone i am sorry to say even further than that for he had read at the british association at melbourne australia in the year 1899 a paper which assured everyone who found himself the better or wiser for the news that they were not never had been and could not be any rational or half rational beings except men anywhere anywhere or anyhow that nymphs satis thorns inui dwarves trolls elves gnomes fairies brownies nixes wills kobolds leprechauns chlorocorns banshees will of the wisps follets lutins maggots goblins afrids marrieds gins ghouls perry's...

The Water-Babies by Charles Kingsley 4:2 Free Children's Books Public Domain Free Copyright.

chapter 4 part 2 of the water babies by charles kingsley read for librivox.org by corey samuel

so ellie and he were walking on the rocks and he was showing her about one in ten thousand of all the beautiful and curious things which had to be seen there but little ellie was not satisfied with them at all she liked much better to play with live children or even with dolls which she could pretend were alive and at last she said honestly i don't care about all these things because they can't play with me or talk to me if there were little children now in the water as they used to be and i could see them i should like that children in the water you strange little duck said the professor yes said ellie i know there used to be children in the water and mermaids too and merman i saw them all in a picture at home of a beautiful lady sailing in a car drawn by dolphins and babies flying around her and one sitting in her lap and the mermaids swimming and playing and the merman trumpeting on conch shells and it is called the triumph of galatia and there is a burning mountain in the picture behind it hangs on the great staircase and i have looked at it ever since i was a baby and dreamt about it a hundred times and it is so beautiful that it must be true

but the professor had not the least notion of allowing that things were true merely because people thought them beautiful for at that rate he said the bolters would be quite right in thinking at a fine thing to eat their grandpapas because they thought it an ugly thing to put them underground the professor indeed went further and held that no man was forced to believe anything to be true but what he could see hear taste or handle he held very strange theories about a good many things he had even got up once at the british association and declared that apes had hippopotamus mages in their brains just as men have which was a shocking thing to say for if it was so what would become of the faith hope and charity of immortal millions you may think that there are other more important differences between you and an ape such as being able to speak and make machines and know right from wrong and say your prayers and other little matters of that kind but that is a child's fancy my dear nothing is to be depended on but the great hippopotamus test if you have a hippopotamus major in your brain you are no ape though you had four hands no feet and were more apish than the apes of all apiaries but if a hippopotamus major is ever discovered in one single apes brain nothing will save your great great great great great great great great great great great greater greatest grandmother from having been an ape too no my dear little man always remember that the one true certain final and all-important difference between you and an ape is that you have a hippopotamus major in your brain and it has none and therefore to discover one in its brain will be a very wrong and dangerous thing at which everyone will be very much shocked as we may suppose they were at the professor though really after all it don't much matter because as lord don dreary and others would put it nobody but men have hippopotamuses in their brains so if a hippopotamus was discovered in an apes brain why it would not be one you know but something else but the professor had gone i am sorry to say even further than that for he had read at the british association at melbourne australia in the year 1899 a paper which assured everyone who found himself the better or wiser for the news that they were not never had been and could not be any rational or half rational beings except men anywhere anywhere or anyhow that nymphs satis thorns inui dwarves trolls elves gnomes fairies brownies nixes wills kobolds leprechauns chlorocorns banshees will of the wisps follets lutins maggots goblins afrids marrieds gins ghouls perry's...

Stories of Great Composers for Children by Thomas Tapper Edward Grieg The Boy in the Midnight Sun.

section 10 of stories of great composers for children this is a librivox recording all librivox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit librivox.org

edvard grieg the story of the boy who made music in the land of the midnight sun by thomas tapper

this is the picture of a boy who was born in the north of the world he loved his mother country and the music which the people sang but he had music all his own that sang and sang in his heart it was happy music and sad solemn and joyous you will hear it someday and love it all even when this little boy was in the primary school the music knocked at his heart's door as if it would say let me out into the world so that people may hear me

when he was 12 years old he started out one morning as usual but instead of taking his school books he took with him his music writing book which contained what he termed variation on a german melody opus 1. can you not imagine how proud he must have been of his opus one

his schoolmates were very proud to see the music of their companion edvard but alas while they were looking at it and talking about it whom do you think came creeping up behind them why the schoolmaster to be sure he gave little edvard a rough shaking up and told him how severely he would be punished if ever again he brought such nonsense to school poor old school master he did not know what edvard grieg would one day mean to the land and people of norway for edvard loved not only the music that kept singing in him but he loved norway and all its people do you think anyone could help loving such mountains as these and here's a photo of a beautiful norwegian mountain scene but all the grown-up folks of edvard's world did not call his music rubbish his mother loved music and played beautifully it was from her that edvard had his first lessons just as mendelson was first taught by his mother

then one day something wonderful happened a great violinist ole bull by name visited the greig family in the country he was so kind to the little composer that the boy just loved him

ole bull had traveled the world over playing the violin he looked over edvard's compositions and made the boy play them to him you can see him nodding his head in pleasure as he listens his fine eyes are lighted up he tells the boy composer that his music is quite good but that there is a lot for him to learn yet so he must study earnestly and make many sacrifices then ole bull sits down and talks with father and mother grieg it is a serious talk as one can see finally when the talk is finished ole bol takes the wondering boy by the hand and says to him you are going to leipzig to study and become a fine musician so edvard grieg left his home city bergen its mountains its fjords its people his father and mother and traveled south through norway across the water and into germany no doubt he was a lonesome boy life had become serious all at once and there was much to be done

it was all strange and new instead of hills and the waters of the fjords there were tall dark houses gloomy streets and such a lot of hurrying people

but he soon grew used to it all and was busy as could be with lessons in piano and harmony just as in the earlier days in school so in leipzig edvard wrote music as it sounded in his heart in the harmony lessons he could not make himself write plain chords to the bass which was given him as an exercise he wrote the light airy lovely fanciful tunes and rhythms that were singing within him and just like the schoolmaster at home the harmony teacher shouted at him saying no that is all wrong his harmony teacher was e f richter but you remember that ole bull understood the boy's music while here in leipzig there were many who understood it too bit by bit edvard made...

Stories of Great Composers for Children by Thomas Tapper Edward Grieg The Boy in the Midnight Sun.

section 10 of stories of great composers for children this is a librivox recording all librivox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit librivox.org

edvard grieg the story of the boy who made music in the land of the midnight sun by thomas tapper

this is the picture of a boy who was born in the north of the world he loved his mother country and the music which the people sang but he had music all his own that sang and sang in his heart it was happy music and sad solemn and joyous you will hear it someday and love it all even when this little boy was in the primary school the music knocked at his heart's door as if it would say let me out into the world so that people may hear me

when he was 12 years old he started out one morning as usual but instead of taking his school books he took with him his music writing book which contained what he termed variation on a german melody opus 1. can you not imagine how proud he must have been of his opus one

his schoolmates were very proud to see the music of their companion edvard but alas while they were looking at it and talking about it whom do you think came creeping up behind them why the schoolmaster to be sure he gave little edvard a rough shaking up and told him how severely he would be punished if ever again he brought such nonsense to school poor old school master he did not know what edvard grieg would one day mean to the land and people of norway for edvard loved not only the music that kept singing in him but he loved norway and all its people do you think anyone could help loving such mountains as these and here's a photo of a beautiful norwegian mountain scene but all the grown-up folks of edvard's world did not call his music rubbish his mother loved music and played beautifully it was from her that edvard had his first lessons just as mendelson was first taught by his mother

then one day something wonderful happened a great violinist ole bull by name visited the greig family in the country he was so kind to the little composer that the boy just loved him

ole bull had traveled the world over playing the violin he looked over edvard's compositions and made the boy play them to him you can see him nodding his head in pleasure as he listens his fine eyes are lighted up he tells the boy composer that his music is quite good but that there is a lot for him to learn yet so he must study earnestly and make many sacrifices then ole bull sits down and talks with father and mother grieg it is a serious talk as one can see finally when the talk is finished ole bol takes the wondering boy by the hand and says to him you are going to leipzig to study and become a fine musician so edvard grieg left his home city bergen its mountains its fjords its people his father and mother and traveled south through norway across the water and into germany no doubt he was a lonesome boy life had become serious all at once and there was much to be done

it was all strange and new instead of hills and the waters of the fjords there were tall dark houses gloomy streets and such a lot of hurrying people

but he soon grew used to it all and was busy as could be with lessons in piano and harmony just as in the earlier days in school so in leipzig edvard wrote music as it sounded in his heart in the harmony lessons he could not make himself write plain chords to the bass which was given him as an exercise he wrote the light airy lovely fanciful tunes and rhythms that were singing within him and just like the schoolmaster at home the harmony teacher shouted at him saying no that is all wrong his harmony teacher was e f richter but you remember that ole bull understood the boy's music while here in leipzig there were many who understood it too bit by bit edvard made...