Evening Republican, Volume 22, Number 284, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 25 November 1919 — THE OLD MELODEON [ARTICLE]

THE OLD MELODEON

There, like some ancient visitant Of bygone days it stands; Its yellow keys a welcoming Extending to the hands. No fingers wander o’er the keys, No feet its pedals press; *ReTt of the sou L-of music there It waits some hand’s caress. It leans against the chamber wall Lake some old broken form, Too weak to stand alone without Assistance in the storm. Its bellows gaping wide i§ hung With cobwebs to the floor; The dust upon its yellow keys Is strewing thickly o’er. As in the stillness of the night The ancient thing it grieves, And plaints in echo to the soft, —L>ow whispering of the leaves, Then from the lonely chamber floaty —Sweet tones of ’Ueuiah Land;" T A spirit song from spirit throat Chorused by spirit band. But when the light of morning falls —hr glory everywhere The dust upon the yellow keys Is strewing thickly there. From Beulah land the player cam® To spell away the gloom; And, passing, left behind the same Sweet lavender perfume. —Horace,S. Keller in New York Sun.