with him three thousand
warriors. With the imposing rite, Christianity in France began, and
with him began that great monument of the faith, Strasburg
Cathedral.

[Illustration: CLOVIS.]

Charlie Leland furnished the most interesting story on this evening.
It well illustrated features of German and French musical life that
are unknown in America. In Germany and in the French provinces the
organist of the town is a very important person. The choice of an
organist in these towns is a very interesting event, and during the
last century excited more discussion than at the present time.

THE YOUNG ORGANIST: A MYSTERY.

The towns on the Rhine are all famous for their organs, and proud of
the eminent organists they have had in the past. Each town points
with pride to some musical legend and history.

The story I have to tell is associated with an ancient provincial
town.

It is now hardly more than a small town, and possesses not above a
thousand inhabitants; but in the latter part of the last century it
was more than ten times its present size, and its church, now in
ruins, was then one of the most beautiful ever seen in that part of
the country.

This church was finished in the year 1795, and was for a long time
the great object of curiosity for miles around. It was of the Gothic
and Romanesque style of architecture, and was not only finely
proportioned on the exterior, but had within a magnificence of
decoration that astonished one more and more the longer he gazed
upon it.

The church, unlike some of the older ones standing at that time, had
a magnificent organ. This had been paid for by a separate
subscription, raised in small sums by the common people, and, having
been built by skilful workmen in Bordeaux, was at length set up in
the church amid considerable enthusiasm and excitement.

But who should play this grand instrument? How should a competent
organist be selected?

The people were greatly interested in the matter, and discussed it
on the corner of the _rues_, in the _brasseries_ or taverns; and for
a period of six or eight weeks you might be sure, if you saw more
than two people talking earnestly together, that they were
deliberating upon the choice of an organist.

Since the people, both high and low, had so freely contributed for
the purchase of the organ, it was thought very proper that they
should be allowed to choose