could reply:

"Perhaps, if Stephan is steady and careful enough, I can trust him here
alone every morning to sweep and dust the warehouses, for which I will
pay him thirty kreutzers a week (nearly a shilling). I suppose he gets
little more than that for tending the goats."

"Oh! thank you, sir," said the boy eagerly, anticipating his mother's
reply, "I will, indeed, be careful and steady."

"Gently, boy, your mother is to decide."

"I cannot thank you enough, sir," she quickly answered. "Your offer is
more than we had ever hoped for, and I trust my child's conduct will
prove how grateful we both feel. He would like to begin at once, I know,
but must, of course, wait a few days till another boy is found to take
his place as herd-boy."

Herr Dahn nodded approvingly, and told them to let him know as soon as a
substitute was found. How thankful they were that evening as they talked
over the happy termination of their troubles, and still more so when a
neighbor came in to tell them that Bridgetta and some others of the
village had voted against Stephan continuing his post as herd, alleging
that they feared to trust him any longer with their goats. This was, of
course, very unpleasant news, for it was a sort of disgrace to be thus
displaced, however undeserved. It also explained the cause of
Bridgetta's extreme coolness and indifference as to how they had
obtained the money. No wonder she was unfriendly after her action,
which, but for the fresh turn affairs had taken, would have seriously
injured them.

However, Stephan was now free to begin his new work the next day, when
all arrangements were made, and he was introduced as an apprentice to
his new master, Heinrich Brand.

PART II.

Stephan had been with the violin-maker about six weeks, when one day the
little Gretchen, his master's daughter, rushed in to tell them the cows
were coming down from the Alp.

It is the custom in the Bavarian Tyrol to send the cows to small
pastures high up among the mountains where the grass is green and
plentiful, being watered by the dews and mists, and less exposed to the
scorching sun. Here the cows remain all the summer under the care of two
or three men, called "senner," or women, called "sennerinnen," who are
always busily engaged making butter and cheese, and rarely come down to
the valley, even for a day, till the season is over, when, collecting
their tubs, milk-pans, and other dairy utensils, they descend the
mount