Buergermeister, who undertook to pay the interest of it quarterly to the
Hoerstels on behalf of the child. True, the sum was small, but it was
sufficient to be a help; and a kind lady of the congregation, Fraeulein
Drechsler, said she would supply her from time to time with dress, and
when she could have her now and then with herself, instruct her in the
Protestant faith and the elements of education. Frida could already
read, and had begun to write, taught by her father. Every effort was
being made to discover if the child had any relations alive. The
Buergermeister had put advertisements in many papers, German and
English, but as yet no answer had come, and many of the wood-cutters
still held the opinion that the child was the offspring of some woodland
spirit. But in spite of any such belief, Frida had a warm welcome in
every hut in the Dorf, and a kindly word from every man and woman in it.

The "woodland child" they called her, and as such cherished and
protected her. Many a "bite and sup" she got from them. Many a warm pair
of stockings, or a knitted petticoat done by skilful hands, did the
inmates of the Dorf present to her. They did what they could, these poor
people, for the orphan child, just out of the fullness of their kind
hearts, little thinking of the blessing that through her was to descend
on them. The day of Pastor Langen's visit to the hut, some time after
her father's funeral, Frida was playing beside the door, and on seeing
him coming up the path she rose from the spot where she was sitting and
ran eagerly to meet him.

But though unseen by her, he had been standing near for some time
spell-bound by the music which, child though she was, she was bringing
out of her father's violin, in the playing of which she was amusing
herself.

From a very early age her father, himself a skilled violinist, had
taught her to handle the bow, and had early discovered the wonderful
talent for music which she possessed.

The day of which we write was the first one since her father's death
that Frida had played on the violin, so neither Wilhelm nor Elsie was
aware that she could do so at all. The pastor was approaching the
cottage when the sound of music reached his ears, and having a good
knowledge of that art himself, he stood still to listen. A few minutes
convinced him that though the playing was that of a child, still the
performer had the true soul of music, and only needed full instruction
to develop into